SeaMatesNYC

An update: Staff on chat as well as at the World Cruise Reservation/Agency Transfer group confirm that nothing prohibits this by policy. The only hitch is that each transfer can take 5-8 business days. So the second one might not get within the 60 days. Not an issue for me since I am only 6 days from onboard booking.

I recently made a booking onboard which went automatically to the agency of record for the voyage I was then on. I want to change agencies. I know how to do this. My question is: Can I, within the 60 days of booking, do this twice? I want to take the booking back to direct first and then when I find the best home for it, transfer a second time to an agency. Why not wait and do it once, you ask? Because “new” agencies seem to want the confirm from HAL to provide a quote of their own if they are taking over a booking. Thanks! Michael (P.S., I plan to ask HAL as well, but wanted to hear from the experts first. 😀)

My medallion came in a box with a label on it with my Name and Cabin number printed on it. While not proof positive, it would suggest Mariner Society staff monitor the voyage where the day counts are met and supply or trigger production of the labels to the ship for the itinerary when the momentous event will occur. I doubt someone specifically onboard the ship itself is monitoring, but rather it’s done at head office and labels pushed out to each voyage and applied to boxes onboard. Most of the above is just supposition. Congrats in any case! And make a trip to Guests Services on Day 27 of it does not show. Or do as AV8rix suggests above. Or not. It’s a junky medal. I wore it for 5 minutes after steward gave it to me. “Wadchya win?” asked a man in the elevator.

Just got off a 6 nighter up and back the Pacific Coast and on the third night, I qualified for the Bronze. My cabin steward caught me in the hallway the next afternoon and pulled the boxed beauty from his storage closet and presented it to me with a flourish. Quite the tear jerker event. [smirk]

Production shows on the World Stage are typically at 7:30 (sometimes 7:00) and 9:00pm. The first night "Origin Story" is usually 8:00pm. You could go to dinner at 8:30 and catch the early show prior as they don't last an hour. You will have Rolling Stone set(s) after your dinner for sure if you can get out by say 10 or 10:15. If you've not already, you can check your Navigator, and if they have started downloading schedules you will see some (tentative) information about the plan for the day and night. Dressy will eventually show up in Tonight's Dress at the top of each day, and if you are not showing that yet, they may be struggling with when to have it if as you say your sea days are "first and last."

I tend to agree with your statement, as the most recent successful communication I had re: obtaining OBC the old way via email was 2/4/24. Have not needed since but have gotten StockPerks up and running. In truth, it looks to be a much simpler way without letters, uploads and emails.

I understand your hesitance. I felt the same. Even though my brokerage was on their list to connect electronically, I did it “manually” and just uploaded a redacted page from statement without account number and all other financial info blacked out. Arguably giving it to this vendor chosen by CCL (and other public companies) is no more insecure than sending via email to some department of HAL. In any case, in response to your request, the most recent email I used was: cclshareholderhal@hollandamerica.com best of luck whichever way you go.

Emphasis on "1 point per day." I.e, if you spent more than $2,100 onboard for a 7 day cruise, you would max out at 7 points; 1 per day.

I did just that for an upcoming 6 day cruise. Booked a “private fare” rate without HIA in November 2023 thru my TA and hours later just purchased the HIA through the website. Maybe “rules” have changed since then.

Note that the non-alcoholic wine they have had on my recent cruises is only offered for sale by the bottle and they denied it’s being poured under quench package. So that part’s suspect but you might ask and get a different outcome.

If they have them in stock, should also include flavored sparkling water in cans.

Keep an eye on your bill though. I have had the Quench recently and a number of times I was served a Heineken 0.0 but regular Heineken was keyed in and charged. Just speak with a bartender or supervisor (the roaming servers won't fix it). Sad that they are now excluding juices from Gelato. Last October on Rotterdam they were included with Quench.

Double cheeseburger!

Hope you have a great trip! Come back and share your impressions! It’s a good product (usually) and has lots of loyal customers. But I admire your trying something new. I’ll be 4* soon and I know, once I start getting the free laundry, I’ll be hard pressed to branch away again. 🤪

Nope. No loud or silent discos, unless you count the dance floor in BB Kings for the Orange Party, which can get sort of disco-y 🕺. There is dancing at BB Kings most nights, but it’s no disco. But it can sound pretty groovy! All depends what you like. I don’t think I’ve seen any dancing at the Rolling Stone Rock Room, but maybe?

Policy seems to be to put a meet up notice in the daily program for day 1 and sometimes day 2. This may or may not be “hosted” by a staff person who may or may not stay for more than a few words. The follow on meet ups are generally left to participants to organize and agree upon - e.g. let’s meet at Billboard at 5:00pm. Which can be fun if you want to join others for dinner. The overall “scene” around the ships varies greatly depending on the destination, time of year, etc. There are really not any late night venues as one might find on other lines with bona fide discos. From my “youth,” I remember G32 on QM2 and Skywalkers on the Princess ships. Plenty of cruising happened there! I gather hanging out at the casino drinking and gambling late does attract a crowd. Not our thing.

In 2023, on one voyage of ours, ShoreEx staff would do this and on another they would not. The "would not" scenario was the Head of ShorEx onboard. I do hope that it has now become routine on all ships, but I did experience an exception. Note that when it was permitted, it did not immediately go back to the pre-charged card, but rather onto the shipboard account as a refundable credit, which would go back to the card on file for the shipboard account (which can be a different card), assuming you don't spend it on something else!

Sounds like my impressions of his land-based restaurants. Good, not great. It's a good price compared with what you will spend on land. Any limits on what you can order (multiple starters, multiple mains to share, etc.)?

Oh gosh, that's the ship we are on!! Since it's "free," I think my expectations will be met. Care to share what was not good on the Koningsdam iteration?

There was also a random $25 per person Group Amenity from HAL (not the travel agent) that also showed up upon booking. I am thinking it was perhaps some culinary cruise group booking that I somehow qualified for. Not that I am some foodie, but I am excited to try it. I certainly hope that it is better than our past couple experiences in PG!

On an upcoming cruise, we have a complimentary/promo dining credit on our booking (not HIA) that allowed us to redeem/book a dinner at Rudi’s through Navigator app free of charge (full promotional savings for dinner for 2). Anyone ever see this? I researched online and found some “culinary” voyages on HAL offered through travel agents that have had this as a benefit in the past, but my online travel agency knows nothing about it. I’ll print and carry aboard the confirm showing the full promotional credit when I booked it at $0 to us, but I’m just curious if others have seen and used this. Again, this is NOT via Have It All benefit. Perhaps it was a technology bug, but it clearly shows in our Itinerary as reserved and the promotional savings on the emailed confirm shows fully comped.