cruz chic

Cool. Thx for the tip. I don't usually buy obc but I did this time based on the dire predictions on this board regarding the cdn to usd exchange. Live and learn.

Personal choice. Tablecloths were suggested to wife who said no need.

I'm with you on that one. Maybe I'm just not fancy :D. I hear about people packing them, personally I'd rather bring more clothes.

Panama Canal perhaps? I'm pretty sure the maasdam is doing a couple of canal cruises in March.

There aren't conflicting reports, although some have reported conflicting answers.

 

The MDR serves lunch on embarkation day, pretty much every time. The question is more one of who is eligible to eat there. There seems to no longer be a Mariners-only lunch, but there is occasionally a "private" lunch offered for travel agents, local dignitaries, etc. You won't know until you board if you are able to lunch in the MDR.

There are conflicting reports. There was no embarkation lunch on the world cruise in the MDR. There was also no embarkation lunch on the Oosterdam in February as reported by retired mustang so it's not available "pretty much every time".

I've been in the Hal site several times with no issues.

I think that part of your wine problem was this procedure is fairly new to HAL (about a year as I recall) and they really have never figured out how to easily handle it.

 

Prior to this new procedure we were allowed to bring as many bottles as we wanted on board for free. HAL then decided to limit this, as at some port guests were bringing on cases of wine, thus obvious reducing wine sales on board.

 

So, I think that HAL is not wanting to be a "wine policeman", but rather just to have an official policy to stop large amounts. I normally carry on two bottles myself (one for each of us) and never gotten a second look or question on HAL, while my one experience with Carnival was a real hassle.

 

Just my thought.

Actually I think it's been closer to 2 years. That should be long enough to figure it out but there are certainly inconsistencies. What might happen one week can be different than happens the next week.

Looking forward to reading more.

That's likely!

 

The latest DR menu calls it Eggs Royale.

For sure that is the name of it and it has been called that for a while.

On the Noordam last May we had every breakfast in the Pinnacle. I can't be sure what it was called on the menu, but the waiter (we had the same waiter almost every day) always called it "Eggs Neptune" when he delivered it. I had that every second day.

Maybe he called it that because you were in a Neptune suite :D;).

HAL calls Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon "Eggs Royale".

Yes, that's the name. As much as I like smoked salmon I'm not fond if it that way.

If you use your phone (I have an iPhone) I find that it's easier to go through a "mock booking" than when I use my laptop. When I go online, I have to enter in a bunch of information, but when I use my iPhone, I don't have to enter anything. I was able to see the open Signature and Neptune Suites on our boat. You just have to keep selecting different sections and decks. For my trip this summer, I am not going to hold my breathe for an upsell. There doesn't appear to be a ton of suites with verdandahs available. :(

 

Factor in that there are a few guarantees that aren't accounted for, but you'll get the general idea of how many suites are open.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

i have a Samsung phone and an iPad and it works well on those too.

Wow, that market sounds bizzare. Thanks for the update.

Even if that person got bumped up for free, HAL still made a profit because they were able to sell us an upgrade. I think it worked out to everyone's advantage. If we hadn't called, then we would have been in an OV and the high star wouldn't have gotten a free (or VERY low cost) upgrade. Beautiful customer handling on HAL's part!

Absolutely.

I'm hoping Hal will give me a nice cheap upsell or free upgrade on my next cruise.

Where can I get the detailed information (that you apparently have) on how much HAL spends on maintenance on each of its ships?

I've sent you an email. Keep your eye out for it. Hal sends me all of their maintenance records:).

They were advertising that cruise -verandahs and suites priced the same-yesterday on a well known last minute cruise site.

 

You might want to call and see what sort of offer HAL will extend to you.

That is because the balconies are considered suites on that class of ship.

This is what happened on our very first cruise with HAL (It cemented our relationship) We were booked on an Alaskan cruise OV. We got the usual email a few days ahead selling a suite, By the time I saw the email and called to book it..they were "all sold out". Disappointed but life goes on. Literally 18 hours before shove off, my DW calls Seattle and asks if any upgrades are available, the nice rep on the phone says "please hold for a minute and I'll check". Five minutes later she comes back on the line and offers us a Signature Suite for $150 more PP. We didn't know what it was but we took it anyway. Needless to say we we VERY happy. When we got in the cabin, someone else's luggage and stationery was still there, including a casino premium. Of course the cabin steward dealt with it all beautifully. It wasn't long before we got our own luggage and even our personalized stationery just like it was supposed to be. All I can figure is, when my DW called Seattle, they checked the roster and moved a high star mariner up to a nicer cabin and sold us the upgrade. Moral of the story is...it pays to ask. :D

As a high star mariner I can tell you that is rare from my perspective. The person likely took an upsell to a higher cabin.

Dumb question but how do you determine what the availability left is? Thanks.

You can do a pretend booking to see available cabins. As has been mentioned guarantees will take up some of the total.

I don't enjoy the smaller, older ships. No contest, I'd pick the NA.

We just got off the Maasdam from the 47 day Rio Amazon cruise. The ship had a lot of mechanical problems, mainly cabins flooding from over flowing toilets, three members of our roll call had to be moved to new cabins. From the first day we left Ft Lauderdale there were buckets catching water in the halls & stair ways & fans trying to dry out wet carpets. One day they had 5 buckets in the Lido, 3 at the coffee machines & 2 at the salad bar. The sight lines from deck 8 in the Show Room at Sea are terrible, none of the seats face the stage you have to turn your head to look at center stage. People get up & move 4-5 times every time they came into the show room trying to find a seat to see the stage.The glass partition at the front has a bar along the top which is right at eye level, so to see the stage you have to try & see over or under it. The new bar in the Crows Nest takes space away from the floor area so when we had a ships function there it was very, very crowded. We found most of the chairs in the public area uncomfortable, the top of the seats cut across your back. This is not sour grapes, we are four star mariners & have cruised on HAL ships for many years and will continue to cruise HAL. We just found that the Maasdam was the worst ship with the most problems we have seen in all our cruises.

Your post doesn't sound like sour grapes at all. It's simply the truth as you experienced it. I'm not a fan of the older ships. I wish Hal would devote more money to maintenance. This is not acceptable in my mind.

Deep fried tarantula :D. I'd pass on that too. Interesting update.

What a great idea! Since they no longer supply the round yellow citrus glycerine soap, they would have many past guests purchasing that item. Of course, as long as the price was reasonable.

Ifs it's the same mark up as most things it won't be reasonable. I usually bring along a bar of soap from my pre hotel or I buy one once I get to my destination.

I'm right at the 30 day mark for my cruise. There is quite a lot of balcony availability for my cruise. There hasn't been any upsells issued yet.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this. There is going to be a political group on the NA on November.20/16. Further info at the rebel cruise dot ca

All this is very interesting! I do smoke and do not like being lied to [ not saying who is spreading misinformation because I honestly do not know yet so please do not "jump" on me!].! Had a choice between HAL ships and called to see if the information on Cruise Critic concerning no smoking in casino on the Eurodam was correct. The person I was speaking with called ship services to be sure she was giving me correct information. I was told that Cruise Critic was not correct, was not an "official arm" of HAL and was quoted HAL's official policy concerning smoking. Was also told that you could only smoke if you were playing.

Seattle is known to give out incorrect information. Many people have reported the eurodam is now smoke free in the Casino.

Thx for posting.