Mimie03

1 minute ago, tidecat said:

Not on embarkation day. Your lunch choices will be on the Lido Deck, Deck 17 (Guy's Burger Joint), or on Deck 8.

 

Embarkation day is actually a good time to try the deli and pizza places on Deck 8 before most of the passengers discover them 

Thanks so much. The deli (or Guys) sounds like a good choice for us. Hubby loves evening pizza raids so I’m sure he will get there.  

Is the Dining room open for lunch?

2 hours ago, Marie51 said:

Did you end up booking the hotel? I was going to suggest looking up downtown Miami hotels and seeing which one has a $37 per night resort fee.

also, how did $150 per night turn out to be $448 for two nights?

We wound up booking the NOVOTEL MIAMI BRICKELL for $190/night. Dec 20-22. I booked thru Priceline but I can cancel up to the 17th. For that time of year I didn’t think it was too bad. 

Looking for hotels in Downtown Miami. Want to be near the Marketplace. 
 

does anybody have any idea what hotel this is? It says that there’s a $37 a night resort fee that will be added automatically to your bill once you get there.  

Just now, Haljo1935 said:

Correct the wifi w/the regular HIA is not premium. It was $50 to upgrade on a recent 14 day cruise; at day 7, that dropped to $40 and on day 4 it was $20. Those prices are 1 person, single device.

There is a "beefier" HIA package that includes grats and premium wifi, so you would need to verify which HIA package you have.

 

I’m pretty sure I got the basic. It included drinks, one excursion, one specialty dining, wifi and that’s it. it doesn’t include gratuities. We only need it for one person so I guess I’ll upgrade once I get on board. Because it’s Christmas I’m darned if I’m not gonna talk to my kids or my best friend. 

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

If you plan on doing anything more than reading emails and surfing some websites, the basic Wi-Fi is worthless anyway. To use Wi-Fi streaming, phone calls and video calling you will need the premium package.

I’m assuming that with the have it all package that they give you the basic Wi-Fi. Can you upgrade once on board to the premium package? And if so, does anyone have an idea of how much that would be?

1 minute ago, librarylady19 said:

When do included specialty dining reservations become available for booking online? We have 2 included for the Baltics cruise on NS May 5 sailing but not able to book yet. 

Just keep trying. Or call specialty dining at HAL. They will tell you. I think it was 3 months out for us. And you have up to 4 days out to change or cancel for free.  I canceled one of mine 4 days out for one of mine. I called them. 

Just now, Seasick Sailor said:

 

Not true. I'm on board Rotterdam. My PCC had us down a year ago for fixed early dining. When you board your room key card already has your table number on it. We have the same table for 51 days, as we did last year, as we did the year before.

That’s not what I meant. You can change from a set time to an Anytime dining. What I was referring to was if you have any time dining, and you want to book a specific time, save for Christmas day, which is what I tried to do, then they cannot do that for you.  You must wait until you were on board and as soon as you get on board you need to go and ask at the main dining room. I do not want to get stuck with an 830 dining time so the second we get on we are going to then ask for a reservation for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Sorry if I wasn’t complete in my answer the first time. I hope this clarifies what I was trying to say.

1 minute ago, twosit said:

Is there a way to reserve a dining time prior to boarding? What about switching from “anytime” to conventional? I can’t find a place on the website to do that.

No you can’t. I asked a HA Representative last night about it. They can add or refund specialty dining reservations, but they cannot do the main dining room. That can only be done once you are on board. if you go to make a reservation or they do for specialty dining, if there’s no actual time that you can select, it means that they are sold out for that night. Hope that helps.

1 minute ago, islandwoman said:

Don't forget, as most people seem to, that you've already paid for a meal in the MDR as part of your cruise fare.  Add that value to the charge for the Pinnacle Grill and its supplemental fees when deciding whether it's worth it to pay to dine in an alternative restaurant onboard.

We got one reservation at a specialty restaurant as part of the have it all package. We chose the pinnacle.  We already had one for the tamarin. So that makes two on each of the days. I think those are also the formal days or what used to be called that and so therefore I’m happy to be in a specialty restaurant that night.

12 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

Would that require making a reservation before boarding?  How can that be done?

We are going to make ours once we get on board. Pretty sure that if I make a reservation at noon time then I will get something for dinner. 

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll stay where I am. I kind of suspected it was a bit much for just a seven day cruise, but I’ve never been offered an upgrade before, so I wasn’t entirely sure.

We did upgrade to the habit all package and that was already a bit of a sticker shock so I think we’ll just stay where we are. Usually the full balconies are a bit bigger anyway. The thing is my husband thinks we are midship when I saw this full aft become available, I jumped on it. I haven’t told him about the change. I want to surprise him. I was willing to surprise him with an aft or a suite but I think I will stick with what I have. Pretty sure I can use that $800 in Cardow jewellers in St. Thomas. Haha 😆 

I’d like some opinions please. We are booked in a full aft (8164) for our upcoming cruise on tgg by e Eurodam in a couple of weeks. 
 

I hit an email from HA offering an upgrade to a signature suite for $400/pp. This is a 7 night cruise. 
 

My question for you in the know, should I do it? Or stay where we are?  We do love watching the wake at the stern of the ship but a suite…

Opinions please?

7 minutes ago, blue_water said:

My wife likes to find something unique, or symbolic of each destination we visit too, whether cruising or staying on land. For the VI it was the Hook bracelet from St John Bracelets. She prefers yellow gold, but they designed a bracelet for her that day that incorporated both silver and yellow gold and she hasn’t taken it off in years. 

 

 

Is this place downtown or near the port? I’d love to go check them out too. 

On 8/27/2023 at 11:06 AM, Denali2003 said:

 

I'm actually looking for a Pink Sapphire (or a pink stone).  I don't want Effy, Diamonds International, etc.  The last time I was at St. Thomas, 99% of the stores we walked past, there were SO many pushy sales people, that it made our visit there, less than happy.  We did not go into those stores, because of their pushiness. 

I’ve always had good luck with Cardow Jewelers. They are downtown. Very reputable. Once I had a problem (a few months after I got home) and they paid for me to ship it back, repaired it and returned it to me. All no charge. PS hubby likes that place too because of the beer garden in back. 

Just now, Dismomx5 said:

These cards are available before you get on the ship. On the laptop, I can click on "Purchase Beverages" and then the cards come up on the left side as "Beverage Cards (4)" I hope this helps.

Thanks. I’ll log in that way. It could be that they’re just not showing up on my mobile.  

4 hours ago, Dismomx5 said:

Here are the beverage cards that are available. One is for any non-alcoholic drinks, and one for any drink. We've used both the regular and the non-alcoholic cards in the past. Yes, when we had some money left on one (I'd prebought 3 and only used 2½) we were refunded the money that wasn't used. Basically it is like a gift card.

For these beverage packages, can you only purchase once on board? I’m not seeing an option for this on the HA site. Just the non refundable (you both need to purchase) packages. 

1 minute ago, Dismomx5 said:

If we don't get the Have It All, we get the beverage card. It is strictly for convenience and not having a fistful of receipts. Any monies left on the card will be refunded at the end of the cruise.

 🙂

So the beverage card you out a dollar value on it and if you don’t use it all, they refund you?  I’ve not heard of that before. 

25 minutes ago, RuthC said: 

OP, consider renting a rollator, and bring your cane. On shore excursions it can be folded and stored under the bus. It will be brought to you when you disembark the bus at each stop. If the stop doesn't require it, you can then just use your cane. 
At the end of the tour, if you can't walk, you can sit and have your companion push you. 

On Half Moon Cay there is usually a shuttle that you can ask for a ride. I have done that, and with a little help from friends, it has worked well. 
Oh, a rollator won't work well there, as the wheels are so small and sink in the sand. 

Good luck with your surgery. 

I do have a seated walker that has some good wheels with it. Good idea to bring both so I have options. I much prefer that idea over a wheelchair. 
 

Good to know that the private island has something to help you there and back. 
 

Thanks for the good wishes for my surgery. 

Just now, Mary229 said:

As recently as this spring San Juan and St Thomas had shuttles.  The San Juan was free, HAL provided.  The St Thomas was for a small fee provided by the port authority 

I’ll look for those. Thank you. I’ll happily pay the fee to save my energy. 

Thank you. In San Juan we have a half day snorkeling trip planned in Farajado. In St. Thomas it’s a site seeing, shopping, beach day (full day) and Grand Turk we are renting a golf cart so that’s an easy one. 
 

I do have a walker (traveller 3 wheel) I COULD bring but I really don’t want to. It’s just a pain all the way around. 
 

I think my biggest concern is St. Thomas since it’s an earlier excursion so we need to get there promptly. I guess it’s hurry to get off so I can go slowly and try to pace myself. 
 

Your information is thorough and good. Thank you. 

We are doing a Christmas cruise on Eurodam. 
 

Atm I’m walking with a cane (surgery in January). I’m concerned about walking to get to and from excursions. Does anyone know if there are shuttles of any sort at ports like San Juan, St. Thomas & Grand Turk plus the private island. Walking there won’t be as much of an issue as returning since after a day out, my foot is guaranteed to give me exhausted grief. I could bring a small walker but then there’s the ‘where to stash this thing’ on excursions and it’s just so cumbersome that I’d prefer to use my cane. 
 

So, with all that said, does anyone know if there’s some assistance available at these ports?

4 hours ago, ski ww said:

It happened to us once and we got an up grade from an inside cabin to a balcony after I noticed a price drop on our cruise after final payment.

When was this? I haven’t travelled since before Covid and things are much different now it seems. I feel like a cruise newbie sometimes and we are far from it.  I liked how things were before. Seems there’s some sort of restriction for everything. Hard to keep up. Thank goodness for sites like this! 

49 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

I'm booked on a 1/13 17 day Hawaii cruise out of San Diego.  I have already made my final payment and I have pre-paid my crew appreciation.  With that as context I have 2 questions:

 

1) Does having made the final payment preclude me from being able to take advantage of price drops?

 

2) My cruise is one of those that now has free crew appreciation.  Is that for new bookings only?  And if not would the fact that I've pre-paid my crew appreciation preclude me from getting a credit of some kind for the free crew appreciation that is now available?

 

Thanks for any info anyone can provide.  I'd like some idea of what's possible before I call my TA.

I know that the crew appreciation is just for new bookings. Happened for my cruise too and that’s what my TA told me when I asked. 
 

As for price drops, none after final payment. Before final only if you’ve booked with a refundable deposit. No changes at all if it’s not refundable. Worth that said, your TA can ask to speak to a Pricing Specialist that has the authority to make an exception. Again, it happened for my cruise. 
 

Hope this helps.