mikebsxm

We're two, mid-70's, reasonably healthy seniors who want to see the Parthenon on a cruise ship port call in Athens in mid June 2023. We are capable of walking a mile or so with no problems. Do most tours from the ship drop you at the bus parking lot and you have a specific free time period to walk up and back down on your own ? Or does the guide stay with you ? We, obviously, will need to stop and take a break a few times while walking up. We wouldn't want a tour guide hassling us to "keep up" with the group. What kind of walk is it ? I've seen YT videos showing long paths with occasional steps. We wouldn't want to spend money on the tour, only to find that half way up, we couldn't make it all the way. Any one in our age bracket who has done this walk recently, and can comment on it ?

I always bring a laptop. Once you're connected to the ship's Wi-Fi, click on network connections. Click on "Hot-Spot". Click on Edit Settings. Put in a password you can remember. Switch on the Hot-Spot. You should see the Hot-Spot name on your phone's ( or tablet's) available connections. Enter the password, and you are connected. You can check your laptop's WAN IP address, that will be issued by the ship's DHCP router. If you check your phone's IP address, you will see that it's not the same subnet as your laptop. That will prove that your laptop is acting like a router, and issuing your phone a completely different IP. The ship will only be authorizing one device connection on your account, even though you have 2 devices connected. But remember, with the "Surf" level of plan that your HIA package provides, your bandwidth is throttled down to a level that only one device would normally be using. You may experience buffering and sluggish response if both devices are browsing at the same time.

Bring back the very intimate Piano Bars with a talented musician/vocalist. Today's Billboard Onboard musicians weren't even born in the era of the music they perform, such as the 60's, 70's and 80's.

Totally accurate. The reason cruise lines offer lowball cabin prices is just to get a "head in a bed". They bank on the fact that your $600 seven day cruise will generate at least that much in on-board spending, hopefully more.

My next cruise will be in a signature suite on the Oosterdam, 12 days. I always book a specific table in the MDR in early, fixed dining. We're 4 star Mariners. I have "Have It All", so what advantage will paying $300 per person get me for Club Orange on this cruise??

I contacted the Ship's Coordinator for the Oosterdam, gave her the booking number, cabin number and my mariner number, plus a list of table numbers in the upper dining room, where fixed dining is served. I go to HAL FACTS dot com, and they have PDF's of each ships MDR, with table numbers. I make a list of 10 tables from that. I've always gotten one in MT top 5.

We usually book around a year out,, and are 4 star mariners, (not sure if that has any clout, but we always mention it). We send an email to the Ship Coordinator for the particular ship we are on. The email includes our booking number, cabin number, request for early fixed dining, and we include a list of 10 or more table numbers, in order of preference. We have always received one of our top 3 favorite tables.

Airlines ticket prices are based on supply and demand. 330 days out, they post fares based on research and history. Also, its based on the number of seats available across all airlines going to specific destinations. Lots of seats going from JFK/EWR to LHR or CDG results in lower fares. Similar destinations from PHL or CLT might cost more due to fewer seats available. As time progresses, if demand is low on a specific route, fares may drop. Conversely, if demand is high, then prices rise as inventory gets booked up.

Concerning pre-cruise hotels, I generally agree with CruiserBruce. Hotels booked through the cruise line are usually priced per-person, while if you book it yourself, the room is generally priced per night, for 2 people. So, you are paying almost double. Domestic airfares are usually close to the same cost, booked through the cruise line or directly through the airline. But international flights, especially premium economy and business class are much cheaper booked through the cruise line. And if you need a one-way or open-jaw international ticket, you can't beat the cruise line prices. Plus, the ability to reserve your flights and select seats, but not pay for the tickets until final cruise payment date, is a big plus, just in case you need to cancel.

Even if you could somehow get an HDMI cable plugged in, maybe with long forceps, the TV remotes are not standard major brand remotes. They are custom, and provide NO way to switch the TV's inputs. The data from the ship is fed to each TV by Ethernet. You can't switch from Ethernet to HDMI. The only possible way, if you could get your cable connected, is to bring a universal remote, and program it to control whatever brand and model TV your ship provides. Don't forget to switch it back to ship TV when you are done. But I'm with the others who say, "cut the cord, forget the TV, and enjoy the cruise you paid lots of money for".

The younger generation may be flush with cash, but they are still working, so its pretty tough to ask your boss at an investment bank for a month or two off to take a long cruise. Only us retired old farts have the discretionary funds AND the available time for long cruises. And it's exactly that demographic that enjoys Lincoln Center concerts.

My problem with Flight Ease is when selecting flights, I pick their "Top Pick" recommendation. I go through the many screens to book, and when I click on the "Book It" tab, I get a notice that "my selected flights are not available, Try Again". I wait a few hours, and try again. The same flights are still there, same price. I try booking again, and still get the "flights not available" message. When I eventually get some flights booked, I check a week later, and I'm advised that my "flights are no longer available and will be updated soon". That update never happens. I've used Flight Ease over the years with no problems, until now. The system is almost useless as it stands now.

Cruising out of Trieste, but need a RT flight from PHL to VCE, Marco Polo on June 8, 2023. Checking Holland America's Flight Ease, most of the lowest price fares are sold by ITA, but actually flown by Air Canada, United, etc. Some are sold and operated by ITA using an A-330. I guess ITA is the replacement for the defunct Alitalia. Anyone have an experience with ITA?

The music style performed in Lincoln Center Stage does not lend itself to having waiters moving through the chair rows, asking for drink orders. Moving the Lincoln Center Stage performances to the World Stage will allow people to flag down a waiter and order without disturbing others listening to the performance. As we have seen with HAL in other venues, every square foot must generate enough revenue to justify its existence. A quiet room with a string quartet playing just doesn't rack up enough drink orders.

I agree. Most of the musicians, especially in Billboard Onboard, are so young that they were not born until the late 90's. They know nothing about 70's music, except the playlists that Billboard expects of them. Neil Diamond has so many wonderful hits, but all you hear is Sweet Caroline (ba ba bah) played in every set. Back when HAL had true "Piano Bars", the artist was wide open to requests and knew most of the songs requested. But those older piano bars, with a single piano and one well seasoned artist, are long gone, because they couldn't seat enough thirsty drinkers around the piano to justify the real estate on the ship that the piano bar was occupying.

Another advantage of a Neptune over Signature Suites is the king-size bed. Signatures have a Queen-Size.

On HAL, their Elite beverage package includes 15 alcoholic beverages and unlimited "zero-alcohol" beverages. The regular Signature Beverage Package includes alcoholic beverages and zero alcoholic beverages, but both types add to your 15 drink limit.

A friend travelling with me using the SBP was drinking Tequila shots, but doubles. So after a day of other beverages. He was shocked when he saw his account total the next day. He forgot that a double shot counts as 2 of your 15, and the waiters Just kept on pouring. They let accounting figure it out and his account was billed for each one over 15, including the 18% tip.

Flight Ease has been down for 2 days.

I am flying from Philadelphia to Venice in June 2023. My flight connection is in Toronto. I assume my luggage will be forwarded onto the Venice flight on Air Canada. Will I have to clear Canadian immigration, or will I be just transiting, and no clearance needed?? My flight from PHL is also Air Canada express.

Check out Cruise deck plans dot com. You can see actual pictures of cabins all over the ship, even a few videos. These pictures were taken by people who sailed in those cabins. They are dated, so you can tell if they were shot before the 2017 dry dock or after. To see the pictures, you may have to join, but there's no charge.

I'm trying to book a RT flight from PHL to Venice, next June. HAL's Flight Ease is showing a booking from PHL to VCE, with a connection in YUL, Montreal. The flight from YUL to VCE (Venice) is an Airbus A330-300. Has anyone flown a long haul flight in Air Canada's A330-300 ? What was the seating like, service, food ?

Agreed. If your flight was Athens -> JFK -> then onto a small airport in the US with no facilities for immigration and customs clearance, you would have to clear at your first airport in the US. JFK could not automatically forward your bags to the domestic flight, they have to be cleared before transferring them to your connecting flight. The only time that doesn't happen is in specific foreign airports where US customs and immigration have a "Pre-Clearance" system setup. You Pre-Clear before you board the flight, and when it arrives in the US, the passengers are treated as if they are coming off of a domestic flight. Here's the foreign locations where Pre-Clearance is setup, from the CPB.gov website: "Today, CBP has more than 600 officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 16 Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg in Canada."

Use the Princess site. Do a search for a similar cruise area and similar dates. Pick one that departs close to the HAL cruise you have in mind. When you get to the details page, click on Airfares. It will suggest your arrival airport close to the Princess cruise. For example, if the Princess cruise leaves from Barcelona, you can use the pull-down and select Rome or some other city. Princess and HAL use the same airfare search engine, so you can get a rough idea what your air cost will be.

I'm the OP on this. I was referring to the many ads seen bragging about 50% or more off on business or first class airfares. I have used HAL's Flight Ease many times and I always get an airline Record Locator code after booking, and in most cases, I can see my reservation on the airline's website. I can also do seat selection and get boarding passes. The cruise line's air programs are totally legit. But thanks to the many responses I received above, I will definitely stay far away from the "Air Fare Consolidators".