Real NHDOC

Cancellation insurance is a huge margin item for the cruise lines. They make the punitive cancellation rules then sell you “insurance” to reimburse you 80% (the 10% you pay up front plus the 10% you lose when you cancel) for coverage that only applies to the 90 days before the cruise that you can’t cancel within. Everyone has to make their own decision about the value of the insurance to them but personally I have never bought it and never had to cancel so am way ahead. We usually pay with a credit card that covers up to $10K per trip but would not hold our breath waiting for them to pay out. We’ve been lucky but figuring we’ve probably spent $150K on cruises over the past 5 years have pocketed $15K we would have paid for insurance so could absorb a loss if we had to and still be way ahead.

We were recently on Zuiderdam for a South Pacific cruise and it had several pop up Tamarind nights in the Pinnacle. I was so disappointed by the first one we cancelled our reservation for the later ones. The menus were limited to just a few of the usual Tamarind items and weren’t as well prepared. Combine that with paying full price (no mariner discount) made it a no brainer to pass on any future pop ups. Based upon my experience I would not get too excited about those dinners. Unless you’re on a ship with a real Tamarind (Pinnacle or Signature Class) you may be as disappointed as we were with the offerings. Nothing compares to the real Tamarind.

I called in last week and found offers for my next three cruises through 4/1 were available even though my TA swears nothing came from HAL. We upgraded to Neptune or Vista suites from interiors on three cruises and were happy with the offers and locations of the cabins. Sometimes you need to do a double upgrade in order to get a Neptune suite offer because they sometimes limit the number of categories you can jump in an offer. In other words I first upgraded from interior to Veranda then call back and are offered to go from Veranda to the suites. Sometimes you can ask for going all the way up but sometimes they don’t provide it as an option. I think it has a lot to do with the luck of who answers the phone and how hard they want to work to make you happy. Still waiting on our 4/8-4/29 sailings to the Mediterranean on N-S. Hopefully something will open up soon for them but since we already have veranda cabins it’s not that important to upgrade.

I am on Rotterdam now with T-Mobile Magenta and with ships wifi we can use free WIFI calling, IMessage and standard text messages. Also, FaceTime for both voice and video work too. Rotterdam internet is the best of any HAL ship we have ever been on. The first time I can say we’re happy to buy it!

Good to know. Maybe they got in trouble and were sued over deceptive advertising practices. I wish HAL did this.

What’s cool and warm is pretty subjective and so the best advice anyone can give is be prepared for anything but if you’ve been of the opinion that the public spaces have been cool in the past you’re probably going to feel the same way. There’s just no way for anyone to answer your question because one person’s (ie husband’s) “warm” is likely another’s (wife’s) cool. Plus you can’t control it so if you pack suitable clothing to keep warm you’ll probably be comfortable regardless of how the ship is. We’re onboard Rotterdam right now. I don’t think the public spaces are uncomfortably cool but that’s just one man’s opinion! My wife would probably give you a different response.

While the vista class has some more options in terms of interior cabins the photos don’t help the OP who was asking about the Rotterdam. One of HAL’s deceptive practices that bothers me include showing the photos of those large interior cabins as being typical when one books an interior on the Vista class, however there aren’t that many like those and you’re more likely to get a small cabin on those too. It’s not until you open the cabin door that you realize your cabin doesn’t look anything like that.

In a word: greed.

It’s the width of the cabin times the length of the small couch that is missing from them. If you figure the couch is about 5’ long and the cabin about 10’ wide you get 50 sf. Maybe I am being generous so I say 40-50 sf. The verandas are the width of the cabin times their depth. The depth varies from about 3-5 feet on up to the very deep ones at the transition points. So probably 30-50 sf on average. We’ve spent about 300-400 days on pinnacle class ships in every type of cabin from interior to neptune suite. You can justify a lot of things to make the case for taking an interior cabin, you just can’t say they’re about the same size because they’re just not.

Truth in advertising is not adhered to in the cruise business. Cabin size is almost never disclosed except in ranges. I would doubt very much there is a 225 sf interior cabin on a pinnacle class ship, except of course the handicap rooms discussed above. Those are pretty roomy. Just not available to everyone.

Everyone is entitled to their own reality. If you believe it to be true I cannot convince you otherwise. HAL exaggerates their numbers and never actually tells you the size of YOUR cabin (or any particular cabin) so it’s not possible to compare their published ranges of areas. The fact is that every cabin above an interior on the pinnacle class has at least an extra 40-50 SF of area that the interiors don’t have. Doesn’t sound like a lot but if it’s the difference between 150 and 200 SF it’s pretty dramatic

For one person, yes. You can sit on the cube and eat at the dressing table. That is assuming you don’t keep things out on that table that you would have to move each time. As for the response that said their inside cabins were as big as a VF this is clearly inconsistent with reality. Maybe they are confusing an ocean view with an inside but the inside cabins are much smaller because they lack all of the extra area normally used for the small couch across from the dressing table. The pinnacle class OV cabins are about the same size as a veranda cabin but just without the veranda but the interior cabins are not even close. I would say they are probably no more than about 70% the area of the OV or Veranda cabin.

I am pretty sure that there usually are ping pong tables outside those deck 10 cabins and the giant TV screen is in front of them too. If there was a window there I don’t think you would get much natural light because they’re under a deep overhang roof but I am pretty sure they don’t have any windows.

Technically when you’re connected to the ship’s wifi you have an internet connection even if you don’t buy an internet package. The IT department sets up filters that allow access to various services such as IMessage. That’s why you can access the new york times and certain websites without purchasing internet. It is possible that IMessage works on some cruise lines wifi without purchasing internet but HAL has blocked it.

Idle threats...never seen anyone enforce this rule. That's why (inconsiderate) people so blatantly ignore it.

In order to use the internet you need to be logged into the account of the guest who has the plan, that is the only "hitch". So if a husband buys the plan and his wife wants to use it she needs to log into his navigator account and log in then. After that she can log out of his account and will stay connected until the next device is connected.

They make a pretty good vegan "beef" chili on the Lido that's available most days. I'm not vegan or even vegetarian but like it. We have traveled with people who had special dietary needs in the past and usually if you ask in advance the specialty restaurants can make special accommodations. Vegan diet is a bit more restrictive so it's probably much more challenging for them than say, vegetarian, but depending on the crew they may go the extra mile for you if you give them some heads up. Having said that, I will say we have noticed that now that the ships are fuller there's less of the individual attention than there used to be when we were cruising at 50% or less capacity.

I'd call the excursions desk (if you haven't already - 1-888-425-9376 or 206-626-7320) and ask. I just looked for our March sailings and they show the full compliment of excursions on HMC. About 10 different activities. Sounds like a glitch in their system if you aren't seeing them.

The interior cabins on deck 10 don't have any windows. Deck 11 - cabins 11057 and 11058 each have one window that looks out onto the track.

Thanks for the explanation. I will ask my TA about this and see what he says. Since he's booked all of our cruises and knows we're B2B and I assume he's done this because HAL always seems to know we're staying onboard (and even when we switch ships we receive notice of the offering of a transfer bus to the other dock). But I can't swear our cabin keys have worked without having to get new ones - usually they are just waiting for us outside of the new cabin if/when we move.

Not had huge luck getting the same cabin for a lot of B2Bs. Don't know what having your TA "combine the bookings" means. Maybe Bruce can explain that? The bookings are separate trips in the eyes of HAL so each will always have a different booking number (as far as I know) other than booking "collector cruises" where HAL combines two legs into one booking. Not all are available as collector cruises but some are and for those you always get the same cabin however sometimes those book up and you can still book the individual legs separately (and sometimes even get the same cabin for both). It's all a matter of what's available at the time you book. If you see availability of the same cabin for multiple legs after you book in the same cabin category you can always ask to switch to minimize moves.

Yes, like this...

NICE! All the more reason to indulge!

If that's the case I would say go for it. For those who don't know you cannot use your HIA or other drink packages on HMC so don't be shocked by that restriction.

You should ask if the service is provided by ship staff or island staff (if anyone at HAL even knows). I have never been impressed with the island staff at HMC but if they're using someone from the ship then I wouldn't hesitate to get it.