Haljo1935

As @Horizon chaser 1957 said, your excursion is an excellent choice - you'll get off the ship and just return at end of day by All Aboard time; it will seem almost like just another port day for you. I highly recommend getting your new cabin keys early morning before breakfast and remember to get your name marked off the list at the in transit meeting location. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

Hey @washiotter first, Welcome to HAL!! Second, a tad late to the party - sounds like it was a great party, too! I kept passing by this thread b/c I have not been to and have no plans to go to the Baltic, but finally decided to read as I really like Nieuw Statendam and am curious about first-timers insights. So glad your family had a complete experience - from absolutely amazing to the bucket o' tears, that's a complete experience! 🥳 Panama Canal was on my very short bucket list; was able to go at the Covid restart and it was everything I hoped. I hope you will go and take Mr14 & Ms18 - based on their reaction to the Baltic cruise, I think they will really like it. Especially for a budding engineer, it's pretty amazing. If you do go, be sure to attend the pre-port presentation as it does a great job of describing the locks, what to expect and shows videos of previous visits. I got so much more out of the passage through the locks b/c I had been to that presentation. The day of crossing the canal is a looooong day, though. I spent 5 hours on the bow (some of it in the rain) beginning at 5am to experience the locks before getting off the ship to go on an excursion. Completely worth it, no regrets, would do it again, just be prepared. Also want to mention for your next cruise, please be sure to complete the medical form for Mr14. That alerts the chef and service staff of his peanut allergy. On nights you're in MDR, they will bring him the menu for the following night and will note his allergy on it after he makes his selections. He can always change when y'all order if he wants, so not set in stone, but sure helps prevent (or at least minimize) the potential for disaster. You may already know to do this, but having read the "don't eat that" experience, thought I'd mention it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and pictures and hope your next adventure is even better than this one!

Was on a Princess ship that had an active Noro outbreak, which neither of us caught. Immediate change in protocols: nothing on tables or counters anywhere - had to ask for salt/pepper/sugar/etc which crew would apply for you, no self serve anything including tea bags/cereal/etc, hand sanitizing stations put up throughout ship, signs on every public restroom to only use if necessary and to wash hands, very frequent announcements reminding passengers to use restrooms in their cabins when possible and only use public restrooms if absolutely necessary, stay in cabin if feel unwell and call Medical, no public gathering/all shows canceled. There were noticeably less passengers moving about the ship as the days went by. It was taken very seriously and the ship seemed to take immediate swift action to mitigate the outbreak.

On HAL the room service cold cereal is no longer delivered in a box, it's in a bowl. And yes, all room service except for a few items is no charge.

Thanks - we didn't need paper boarding passes on Carnival right after Covid (sailed from NOLA) and not at all on HAL, so I'm trying to be prepared.

Once you cross over the little road behind the ticket hut, there will be golf carts driving people around. You can flag one down to take you further down if you don't want to walk. Friendly and free (golf cart rides, not clamshells, just to be clear, lol).

What about other drugs that require refrigeration (not insulin)? I guess just better to visit medical and be safe. My sister (who will be my cabin mate) has always just put her meds in the mini fridge even though we both comment on how not-cold they are. She does get a sharps container and nobody has ever mentioned to her a medical fridge. Is a medical fridge an actual mini-fridge or more like a cooler?

Not so thrilled to hear the ship was warm. We tend to be warm-to-comfortable wearing s/s t-shirts & sandals on most ships, so that's a bit concerning. Maybe they'll get the HVAC figured out before we board in Sept. 🙄🤔🫠

HAL, part of the CCL family, charges $50 for a name change. Just did one this week. Of course, it cannot be pax 1, as that is who the rate is tied to. And yes, they charge the fee just because they can. Other than the hourly wage paid to the person who physically changes it in the system (3 min or less?) they do not incur an expense they're recouping.

Ships may handle execution a bit differently, but the process is dictated my customs requirements and local authorities. It's really not a big deal, so long as ALL in transit passengers check in as required per the instructions they receive. I like turnaround day - it feels a little different and special. 🤭 Your willingness to be flexible will certainly help make it smoother and less stressful.

For sure offer something to the people who schedule the elevator repair people! May Eurodam 2 mid-ship elevators (1 being starboard glass elevator) were out when we got on and did not work the entire cruise. People on the next 2 weeks reported they did not work, so there's definitely an opportunity with HAL elevator maintenance.

That is great! Would love to see pictures if you take some and are willing to post. That should be a very heart warming, special port day.💜

Interesting. Why would HAL make bookings available to TA over direct agents?

And I would continue to call, lol. Pretty sure they're not going to look at the waitlist (if there is one) and say, "oh sorry, Peter, I see you're on the list, we'll call you if something opens up." I confirmed CO availability on a current booking but didn't add it, next day when I called to add it, it was full, 2 days later called again and was able to add it being told they'd had a cancelation. So definitely worth checking back.

I am aware of 2 types of Casino Offers. One is tied to casino play and will come (usually) with some amount of free play, free drinks while playing and other perks, including ability to upgrade cabin (for a fee). These are called Casino Offers. I have heard of land-based casino offers, but not sure if they're the same as this or if they're a 3rd type of casino offers. Coming from Boyd Gaming, yours fits in here. The other is NOT tied to time or $$ spent in the casino, but are called Casino Rates. They will come w/free inside cabin (occasionally ov), some amount of OBC and ability to upgrade cabin (for a fee). I have NEVER spent a penny in any CCL casino but have received and booked free casino rate cabins on both Carnival and HAL.

Having sailed both Princess and HAL, I would go w/HAL. With that said, I've been on Nieuw Amsterdam but not Sky Princess and I don't travel w/20yo & 17yo, so my perspective is a bit screwed. Really enjoyed Princess when we were sailing her almost exclusively, but they were not the larger ships, which we now realize we don't care for. The young adults going on this cruise may well enjoy the opportunities of the larger Princess ship and the somewhat younger crowd. If they're "plugged in" they would likely enjoy the medallions and interactive maps on Princess - none of that on HAL; the interactive maps at the elevators are pretty cool. Parents may also appreciate the tracking feature of the medallion. If they enjoy nature, they may appreciate the larger balconies on HAL. HAL ships are easy to navigate once you get your bearings and I'm sure they could easily zip around quickly vs Princess. Service on HAL will likely be better, but that may just be me being partial. Oh and who can forget the candied bacon available on HAL!! Plase kindly update us as to your final decision and why as well as how the cruise went - very interested. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

Who can focus enough to actually complete a large puzzle? With those amazing views, I would be looking out the window all the time, lol. I seriously lose all track of time in the Crow's Nest taking in the AK beauty; hours go by without me realizing.

That was our experience, too @mcrcruiser in Dec on Koningsdam. We have not been on her since then. Eurodam in May 2023 and Nieuw Amsterdam in Feb were fine - no long lines. Don't know what caused the lines in Dec - if it was the ship or a different internal process, but it was not good.

Thanks @Andi Land for sharing and posting the pictures on HalFacts. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of view you had of the Glacier- very well worth $59 IMO. AK is awesome!!

True, but officer or other ship representative still has to show or all good intentioned planning doesn't matter.

That is indeed good news!! I take my wins where I can find them. 🤭

We're deck 7, 2nd week only Terrazza. We don't go til Sept, so I'll continue to monitor and see how it goes. Will take zip bags so we can get our own ice if necessary. That's just such a strange thing to eliminate and no communication. Level setting expectations goes a long way toward customer satisfaction.

Agree with @terrydtx you should call HAL. While some people do report just "going with it" and letting porter notify them of the cabin when they drop their bags at the pier, better to learn of an issue before you get that far. Especially on a sold out ship. It's a phone call. Proactive is better than reactive. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

First - am NOT saying she deserved to get burned, so please everyone no backlash on that... One may not expect coffee to be that hot, but who puts coffee between their legs? Isn't that what cup holders are for? Being in control of a heavy, fast moving vehicle, should require full attention and focus. If Driver is focused on preparing coffee in their lap, how much is left for focusing on controlling the vehicle?

That stuff is just nasty. Sorry to those who enjoy it, but (no pun intended) I just can't stomach it. Heave...🥺