Shalandara

One of the Park West people cornered my friend on a recent cruise (she was naive and unknowing and went into their gallery space). Understand that my friend used to work at the Archives of American Art (its a division of the Smithsonian and is confused with their other galleries sometimes but you can figure out what its specialty is). She actually did not tell them what she really thought of their claims and descriptions of the artwork .....

While I do always look at VMax1700's charter/group list there is no way to know for certain the size of the group involved. Case in point, I was part of a group booked on an Alaska cruise on the Koningsdam. (It was a Genealogy group). We were about 150 total and did have exclusive use of some rooms and the theater on sea days. That was it. Some people probably had no idea we were on the boat really. But only the group knew how many people were booked beforehand -- so unless you were in on those communications you wouldn't know. We could have been 10 times that amount (unlikely, I know) and then it would have impacted the rest of the people. (To be fair it was also in 2022 and the ship did not sail at full capacity but it was full-ish). And depending upon how the group worked their contract/deal with HAL it might not be until close to the sail date that they have a final total # of cruisers. Which might put it after final payment for normal cruisers. So take the list as a warning, and if you do book on one of the listed weeks with a group be prepared/forewarned. You could try to do some web sleuthing to figure out if the group might be considered annoying to your cruise ideals but you may or may not turn up useful info on number of attendees. And yes, it is possible for the group to show up a bit after booking opens -- all depends upon how "put together" the management of the group is perhaps.

I had a good time. It is different from a regular cruise ..... so if you love all the gimmicky sales things that happens on a regular HAL cruise you will not like it. But the other things make up for it I think. I did find it oddly quiet in the evenings if you were not in the main theater -- nothing else going on usually. And definitely runs later in the night than other HAL cruises and cruise demographics!!! We booked again for 2025 -- mainly because hubs is a big They Might Be Giants fan. In 2026 they will sail out of San Diego which is a no-go for us (plus we have other travel plans that year).

I was on Oosterdam's fall TA crossing and did not think the condition of the ship was as bad as you seem to think it is. Is João still teaching the Tai Chi class? That was a highlight of my day on that trip.

I found Grand Turk to be the perhaps the best "public" stop on my cruise in March. (Half Moon Cay is a "private" stop afterall). Since it was our first time there 4 of us rented a golf cart and puttered around. Made it up to the lighthouse (cheesy but nice views) while only getting lost once. Our best find was the island museum. So much in such a small building! And well done. (I am a librarian afterall and work in a place that also houses a museum). I suppose after a few visits it might get boring.... 🤷‍♀️

So, some of this is probably the idea of keeping people interested in HAL even when not on the boat. By promoting book clubs that meet outside of the actual cruise they are fostering a community spirit that is not involved with "commercial" social media or similar (such as our forums or FaceBook, etc.) So in that sense people on these forums are *not* the target demographic although if they pull us in as well that is fine. Also forums/places where they can slightly control the feed as well as see exactly who is interacting in order for them to get a better sense of demographics. (Its all about metadata at times). Seeing as how many people cannot detach themselves from their electronic devices giving them a hook to continue to do so on board is another point of consideration. And remember that they are seeking to expand the demographics on board -- so things that you might not think is nice or attractive might be to someone who they want to court and keep as a customer. Also add in the weight and bag limits when flying -- those paper books add up. And if trying to fly without checking any luggage (it can be done depending upon itineray, cruise length, personal clothing preferences) those books get left behind at home.

Bon Voyage! Looking forward to the paparazzi shots of Poohby Joe!

Yes, but it was about calling people (i.e. staff) to certain fire drill stations and other info. It took a bit to realize that there was no call for lifeboats and to process the lack of the blasts signaling that. As I said, I was really groggy and brain was slow. The next morning even the "experienced" cruisers were saying how they had been in similar state of almost confusion. Not sure if that assured the newbies or not! While I like the safety videos there is much to be said for doing the actual muster sometimes. I feel the same at work for fire drills. (My job includes the aspect that we have public visitors to the building so we need to know what we are doing so we can also shepherd others to the correct exits).

I was on the NA the week prior to this one (the JoCo24 charter), and a few from our charter remained onboard for this week. On our trip (3/9-3/16) we had a fuel leak sometime after midnight the first night -- serious enough that that there was almost the full alarm. I was groggy with sleep and it took me more than a few moments to realize that we did not have the final blasts needed to sound the evacuation and I didn't need to go to the lifeboats. Closest I have ever come to hearing those in real time (and not a drill) basically. I doubt that the fuel leak was tied to the current incident -- its a big boat and there are lots of systems. But it saddens me that there were deaths.

OK, well after the fact, but thanks for all the good wishes. It was a glorious cruise -- I just had so much to do leading up to it that getting around to the forums wasn't in the cards. This was a charter (a cruise boat filled with nerds basically). But here is what I was working on so hard for the cruise. Some of you may appreciate the humor in it, while it is fine if others are just plain confused: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4g6sYaMN9X/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Follow up now that I returned from the cruise. Yes, they noticed the bottles of wine in the bag -- (DH actually put it in his medicine bag!) Yes, I signed a slip if paper charging me the corkage fee. But, the fee never showed up on my statement. (Will see about final one once the last day morning drinks are put into it). They did not tag the bottles at all, nor did we even consider storing them with wherever they keep wine. We kept them in our cabin and brought them with us to Pinnacle and MDR. YMMV.

Yes — the JoCo charter. I’m onboard. Was standing on my verandah (port side — 7th floor) and waved away. Thanks and bye!

I can confirm we are moving! Just not certain where 🤣

We were “missing” 10% as of 3:30 great passive aggressive shade from the cruise director

I’m on the NA now …… there were people not doing the muster drill on time