Real NHDOC

Has that access door ever been usable? We've sailed several times in the spa cabins (not by choice, they were assigned to us by a guarantee cabin purchase) and the door was always locked. Found it very frustrating as it is a nice shortcut to the fitness center but we were never able to use it.

Again, I must ask, why would anyone buy a beverage card? Even if the unused balance were refundable why not just charge drinks to your room? Just seems like more effort to carry two cards with you (key and beverage) and offers no real advantage. Plus, what happens if you happen to lose the card? Or if the server forgets to give it back to you and you forget to ask for it? It's basically gone, right?

I don't see any advantage to buying a beverage card. They charge you up front and if you don't use the amount of the card you essentially lose it (I am not sure if it is usable on a future cruise or not). From what I have been able to glean they don't give you any discount on drinks by using the card, so why not just put drinks on your cabin account and pay at the end? Makes no sense to me. The only reason I can see for having one is if you get one for free (some TA's give them as gifts) in which case, OK, it's free. But the risk of leaving money on them (or losing the card) seems to be reason enough to avoid buying one.

The pinnacle ship's interior cabins are almost all very small and almost none have any extra seating in them - some triples have a useless couch shoehorned alongside the bed. Typically the room is slightly larger than the bed with a small dressing table and a cube that serves as both a seat and a tray table for room service. Disregard anything that says "large interior cabin" on it. There are 4 "I" category interiors on deck 1 in the rear that have more space (1111, 1115, 1124 & 1128 - it seems like they were supposed to be designated as disabled cabins but weren't) but even those haven't got a separate seating area - just more space inside to walk around. We've stayed in them and they are the largest interior cabins on the Pinnacle class that aren't designated for the disabled. Spa interior just means they're on deck 10. They aren't any larger or offer any great amenities you don't get anywhere else (unless you consider a free bottle of water and a yoga mat a great amenity). See this thread too for the same information:

I misunderstood your comment. I thought you meant relying on the Navigator app to check-in at the excursion. I have heard of people who got to the pier and weren't able to open their tickets on the Navigator app because they weren't able to connect to the ship's wifi from outside - for those people they can use their key card. If you don't use the app at all to keep track of your itinerary then I guess your only choice is the paper tickets. But I would advise that you double check on the app too because we've had them change times on us without notifying us and the only way we would have seen it is by looking at the app. If we had relied on paper tickets and not received notice then we'd have been out of luck. Like it or not, HAL is trying to get people to rely on the Navigator more.

In your case it sounds like they gave you the extra bonus points although technically you probably weren't entitled to them. As I have said many times about HAL the one thing they do consistently is be inconsistent!

Taxi from Logan to the cruiseport should run about $25. You could also do Uber for about $20. Beers usually run around $7.00-$7.50 onboard. Never been on Zandaam but none of the ships include premium coffees unless you have a beverage package but they aren't that expensive (a few $). I have never heard of them not allowing an empty water bottle - in fact they sell water bottles onboard in the shops.

It's actually on the lunch menu in the Pinnacle grill. And it is very good too!

Our travel agent always (still) asks us if we (or any member of our traveling party) has any special dietary needs whenever we book a trip. Very conscientious of him, and then he notes it on the booking. We have a relative that is gluten free and HAL has lots of ways to make many of their dishes without gluten, including the gluten free pasta in Canaletto. It is amazing that with all the people aboard they can cater to all the people with special restrictions as well as they can.

I also don't know how they come up with who gets free offers...just know we never got one! But we've been pretty consistent customers of HAL and since the restart have been on too many cruises to count (we were on the third voyage after restart on Nieuw Amsterdam in Alaska in August of 2021 and I think have spent more time on ships than at home since). I am sure that enters into it (why give something to us for free when they are pretty certain we'll pay).

That's a pretty good offer from a free fare! Our last one was terrible by comparison ($849 PP for the same upgrade on a 10 day cruise - and one we PAID FOR!).

FYI, you don't need tickets or the app for excursions any longer. Just your key card which you have to have with you. They scan the key card bar code and it works just like a ticket. Of course, if you feel more comfortable having a paper ticket then get them, but just thought you would like to know that for the past year or so they have been scanning key cards when checking in for them and it has worked just fine.

Yes. If you've already booked your cruise you can browse flights that are available by just going to the "manage my bookings" section and clicking on the "travel planning" tab and checking the "flights" box and following the instructions for departure airport, dates and whether you want nonstop or not. Then you can see what Flight Ease can offer for yourself. As I said in a previous reply, even if you haven't booked a cruise yet you can initiate a courtesy hold for it and see what's available the same exact way. If you have trouble with the internet you can always call in and an agent from HAL can help you but I find it's easier to see the options offered and choose that way.

We were given a nice tour of the Pinnacle suite on the Pinnacle class by our "lowly" Neptune suite concierge during a changeover day and it is a spectacular space worthy of praise. Given that there is only one Pinnacle suite per Pinnacle class ship the odds are small we could ever get one but it's always nice to see how the 1% lives!

I believe you are confusing the daily price onboard of $20 to the package price onboard, which I believe is $299, so, again, you save 20% by prebooking but it's not 50% unless you were to pay by the day for all 24 days (and why would you do that?).

Yes, regardless of where you booked your cruise you can call the ship inventory office to look into and buy upgrades. Their number is 888-628-8107.

People who make statements like this generally haven't used the service but I have used the service (Flight Ease) and can say from my actual experience we see all the same flights, including nonstops, with just a few exceptions (if an airline isn't a participant then their flights don't show up). On several occasions Flight Ease showed significant savings including on our return flight from Rome to Boston in May which offered a couple of nonstop choices that were, on average around 30-40% the cost of the online tickets for the same flights. Also, when booking international flights through Flight Ease we always get at least one free checked bag. As of now, the return flight we booked is $1600 PP online while the ticket we bought was $357. Also, when we departed from Rome once we were able to book an overnight nonstop flight from Boston and make the cruise the next morning with the guarantee that if we didn't the cruiseline would catch us up on the cruise. So we didn't have to fly in the day before and waste a day and night in a hotel near the cruise port in Rome. One tip I have learned from HAL was to place a courtesy hold on any cruise we were interested in seeing the available air service for. Once the hold was in their system, you can use Flight Ease to look at the flight selection and prices (but you cannot make a reservation until you actually book the cruise). This has allowed us to book several international cruises we wouldn't have booked otherwise because the airfares quoted online were prohibitively expensive. We have also recently encountered a situation where Delta changed the scheduled departure time for a return flight that was then earlier than the cruise line's cutoff for their guarantee to make the flight (11am) so they automatically booked us into the next available nonstop flight without us having to do anything. I'm not sure even if Delta would have allowed that change to be made without significant penalties but we didn't have to do anything and it was all done seamlessly. In answer to the OP's question - MAYBE you will save money maybe not (I have seen examples where the Flight Ease flights were much more expensive than the online prices) but in those cases we have made other plans and not used it. It all depends. Internationally, just getting free checked bags can save you a lot though and we've always gotten those with our Flight Ease bookings.

You can always call into the Ship Inventory office and ask about a paid upgrade even if you haven't received an offer. Sometimes they will tell you about an offer that is about to go out so you get first crack at it. Sometimes its an offer that went out to your TA but they didn't forward. I have had that happen a couple of times. We also once received a paid upgrade offer that was substantially worse than one we received on the prior leg of a B2B cruise and when I called in I mentioned that and they put me on hold and then came back and said I could have the upgrade for the same price we had been offered on the last leg. It never hurts to ask for something that you want. I don't see what the harm is in receiving the paid upgrade offers as there is no obligation to accept or even respond to them and sometimes for as little as $20 a day you can get a much better cabin. All I can say is based upon my experience we've saved thousands of dollars by accepting paid upgrade offers over what the same cabin would have cost to book directly, you just cannot count on it and have to be satisfied staying where you booked if nothing better is offered for a reasonable price.

The paid upgrade offers have a lot of variables. If the cruise is full or near full capacity then the odds are there will be no offers or they will not be financially sensible, however, on cruises where there are plenty of empty cabins you might get a good deal and can always refuse if you don't like the selection available (unlike a guarantee, you actually get to choose the cabin you get when offered a paid upgrade). We've had some good offers and some bad ones over the years but I am always open to trading up if it makes sense. The downside to these is that they are generally sent to your travel agent if you book through one and they rarely forward them to you unless you ask them to and even then it's a matter of how attentive they are when they come in. If you book directly with HAL you will receive them in your email. So if you want to make sure you get them tell your TA you want to see any upgrade offers they are sent.

We upgraded from an interior to a Neptune on last year's 45 day south pacific cruise on the Zuiderdam and it was well worth the extra $$$. It landed up doubling our fare (I don't recall the exact amount). The total cost was about 1/3rd the "published fare". It was the result of being offered an initial upgrade to a Veranada and then another offer to upgrade that to the Neptune suite. So watch for those offers!

We got one a couple of days ago for our 10 day Caribbean cruise in about 5 weeks on the Rotterdam. They wanted $849 PP to upgrade from an interior to Veranda which seemed high since we only paid $749 PP for the cruise so we passed on it. They also offered a Vista suite for $949 PP which, given the differential isn't bad but the Vista suite on the Pinnacle isn't more than a slightly larger Veranda so nothing special. Given how much time there is before the cruise I think we'll probably be given another opportunity. In the past we've received up to three offers before sailing.

The upgrade verbiage VF-VQ simply means you can choose a cabin in any unobstructed veranda category up to and including VQ (spa veranda) that is available without a surcharge for a higher grade within the category.

I haven't heard of this and just checked the website which still shows standard HIA as coming with surf. Only the "Bonus" early booking HIA gets an upgrade.

From what I have seen the premium package, which is the only pre-purchase option, is discounted 20% off the onboard price. If you can live with the surf package you can buy it onboard and save a little money. 5* Mariners will save 10% on internet purchased onboard too (discount is not extended to those who pre-purchase the premium package as they claim this one is already discounted).

That has happened to us to. We've had re-assignments at the last minute. FWIW a VA is not the lowest guarantee unless you specifically bought a VA guarantee. It's actually the second highest non-spa Veranda (behind V) and a pretty good one. The spa verandas, IMHO are not superior in any way to the non spa ones and arguably could be considered inferior due to their location (unless being close to the spa and fitness center is important to you). Generally speaking the V and VA have superior locations.