cruz chic

Thx for the updates.

Okay......have to know what it was before I knew if I just had to have it! Thankyou!

If you google picture of clamshell on hmc you will be able to see a picture.

There is a wait list for clamshells on my upcoming cruise. All I can say is, Really?!? How can they not have enough clamshells?

You'd be surprised. In 2014 I rented a clamshell. It was a zoo to get off the ship as they did not do tender tickets so I waited for the crowd to subside. I had one heck of a time finding one that was not being used and getting someone to set it up. I got passed from one person to the next. I wouldn't get one again. It's not worth it to me.

The whole pool area has waiter service. :confused:

We wanted a drink, we saw a waiter standing nearby, asked for our drinks and she went for them. No problem. Fast and easy. :)

Yes, it certainly does. They are too happy to get you a drink or whatever you like. I was sitting there chatting to friends on my last cruise for about ten minutes and I was approached within minutes of sitting there.

Every time we brought guests to Pinnacle Grill for dinner we always were charged according to our Four Star /Five Star Status for all at the table.

 

We Always tip in Pinnacle unless something most extreme were to occur that was unacceptable.

 

Those who say 'they look around and they don't see people tip' have no idea. It is so easy for someone to palm cash and shake the hand of their steward in thanks. No one saw and no one cares.

 

I get to know the ladies in the tamarind quite well. I understand this is not the pinnacle. On my last cruise I asked them about how many people tip percentage wise. I also said they were under no obligation to tell me. They had no problem telling me about 50%. While passangers might not know the wait staff should. They could have easily told me everyone does. For the record I do tip but that is a personal choice.

I've seen them up close, courtesy of Sapper1 and Shrimpboat123. If you like cabanas, they're very nice. Much nicer than the ones at Half Moon Cay - and they come with waiter service. They're also well priced.

 

Sapper1 had some wisdom on which to choose if you wanted sun or shade, but I'll be darned if I remember what it was. All u know is that it was wise. :)

I should read with my glasses. I thought you said WATER service:D.

Redundant

I've seen them up close, courtesy of Sapper1 and Shrimpboat123. If you like cabanas, they're very nice. Much nicer than the ones at Half Moon Cay - and they come with waiter service. They're also well priced.

 

Sapper1 had some wisdom on which to choose if you wanted sun or shade, but I'll be darned if I remember what it was. All u know is that it was wise. :)

Unless it's changed recently there is no water service in the cabanas on margaritaville. I drink a lot so I would have noticed.

You are over looking that there are plenty of day rentals. With a ship that is almost a thousand feet long and 12 stories high, don't you think it is a petty point to isolate the retreat area minuscule area as topic of criticism? Place it's placement is so obscure on the NA and Eurodam that the area really has no valuable re-purpose. I would challenge anyone to rent a cabana there for a day and say it isn't GREAT.

I think people get upset about the lido cabanas. I wouldn't take one if it was free. The retreat cabana space is not really taking up any valuable real estate.

Because Seattle is stubborn.p is my best guess. The overwhelming majority of cruises clearly oppose smoking, I worth be surprised if it's as simple as a few higher ups smoke so are ignoring them.

But Hal likes to post on Facebook that the smoking policy is what is wanted by most pax :D. I think you are right about the higher ups.

Replied to you nearly 3 hours ago, but the post has not appeared.

 

We boarded Noordam in Sydney Australia, October 25th 2015.

In our stateroom a letter from Captain Draper encouraging smokers to use the Oak Room instead of their balcony.

We were surprised as had not seen any such information on Cruise Critic.

 

When walking along the hallway beside the Oak Room it was quite obvious the room was being used by smokers.

Thank you :).

I've had one before but I'm lukewarm about them. There was an adorable kitten there the day I had mine. That was the highlight for me. The food is mediocre as you can imagine from a chain. I love the cabanas on the ship. This isn't anything like that.

Cruz Chic I found it!

 

You brought up the Noordam in post 2551 (12 Oct 2015) that someone had reported no smoking in the casino. Then in post 2554 you said you found the original post at Post 2483 (30 Sep 2015) by tyler919 on a cruise leaving from Vancouver. Noordam moved to Australia in Oct 2015 where none of the cruise lines have smoking in the Casino anymore so there would be no smoking in the Casino down under. It has been down under ever since. Maybe when the left Vancouver for the TPAC they were getting ready for the inside smoking ban in Australia. Maybe that's why the Oak Room with its renovation meets Aussie regs.

Could be. Thx for finding it. I'm pretty sure that erewhon did report it too.

I understand that the Pinnacle Grill is usually only open for lunch on Sea Days. When the Eurodam sails into Istanbul later this year, we don't dock until 4:00pm for our overnight. Any chance the Pinnacle Grill would be open for lunch that day?

The pinnacle is open on some port days. I have enjoyed lunch there. It's the MDR that generally isn't open on port days.

Cruz Chic can you point me to the post reporting no smoking in the Noordam casino (other than elegant nights of course like all the other DAM ships)? Or am I mixing up my cruise lines about the elegant night smoking ban?

 

I thought Noordam was reported different because they have the indoor Oak Room for smoking and were recommending using it (not ban, not discourage) instead of the verandahs.

I believe it was poster erewhon that posted it. I went back and looked at the posters posts for the last month and they have a lot of posts. It's seems to me it was posted a few months or more ago. I hope that poster happens by. I was on the Noordam in April 2015 and you could smoke at that time so it has to be after that date. It went into dry dock right after that so maybe that's when it changed. I don't recall non smoking nights being on gala nights but I may not have clued into it.

We always do open dining but on more than one cruise we were repeatedly walked upstairs to traditional. The open dining was pretty much empty, not sure why they were taking us upstairs. We noticed the head waiters/ maitre d types fussed over the traditional diners but ignored us. After a few nights we declined to go up there.

 

I think the bigger problem is HAL not keeping the Lido open longer at lunch, they close it at 2pm. Many people are just returning from port mid day and would like a good lunch. This policy has irritated us as we are not interested in burgers, pizza, etc.

It would be nice if they kept the lido open longer since they don't seem to have the MDR open for lunch at all on port days. I'm not interested in burgers or pizza either.

I LOVE my iPad but it presents a challenge at times :).

Could it be that they're abolishing smoking in the casinos on ships as they install new soft goods in those areas?

If that's the case, I really wish they'd install new soft goods on the passenger balconies next. :D

Never mind the casino, start of balconies first :D.

When I added by accident the 4 star in my signature, I just hunted someone who already had the 4 star in their signature. Then I right clicked on it to copy it, pasted it to my signature in the UserCP and saved it.

Did the same process when it was pointed out to me that I didn't have the 5 star symbol. Hunted someone with the 5 star already in their signature.

That's what I always did too. :confused:

I find that things look much different on an iPad or phone then they do on a desktop or laptop. You may be able to do things differently. I tried to cut and paste and I just got a string shown, not a picture. It's not a matter of understanding. I had a friend that couldn't understand that I had a different view then she did until I showed her my iPad. Now she gets it when I say that things look different depending on the device.

Exactly. It shouldn't be very hard for Security to track down the only person in the Casino with a cigarette in one hand and a little piece of paper in the other :D

That's if Hal decides to grow a pair. It's easy to see after one cruise on Hal they don't like to offend anyone. One thing to keep in mind is that there has been no reports of smoking in the casino being banned on any ships other than the eurodam and Noordam so smoking is allowed at the present time on other ships. The way Hal moves on banning smoking it will be 2090 before the fleet is done and likely none of us will be around.

Exactly. It would appear that as updates are done, casino smoking is being phased out. Pieces of paper with outdated info is not going to sway on board rules.

What difference does taking the paper on board make to you? If it makes Hal update their website to reflect proper smoking information how is that a bad thing?

It doesn't throw anything off. We had a table behind us in late fixed that was used for open dining every night.

What? I'm speaking of when they add people to tables that are part of traditional. I've had it happen and that's why I request not to be added to traditional. Also, I've been brought up long after traditional has started so that does throw them off because a table is in a different spot. While it may not bother some to add work to the dining steward, I don't want to do it. I guess they must have been overrun in open if they were bringing people up to late traditional. Another reason not to crash it.

But they do seat "open diners" at empty places in the upper MDR and I really doubt that one couple going to the lower level at 8:45 PM is going to force anyone else to wait...

If everyone had that same opinion it would be much more than one couple. Why not just pick one and stick with it? It's the right thing to do and it's not really too much to ask. Hal chooses to sit people upstairs at times. Open diners do not request it or simply seat themselves there. When they suggest that they might seat me upstairs I ask them not to do it as it throws things off in traditional.

Mine is still not working. I've noticed the AA is already crossed out on the dialogue box but it must be on text mode because when I hover over it, it says 'Remove text formatting'. Should there be a space after the first IMG? I've tried it both ways.

 

Ozcruizer

PS. Now the symbol doesn't show at all! :mad:

Could it be because you have your user ID in front of it?

Open seating dining is open until 9 p.m. - if you speak to the MDR manager the night before I'm sure they'll understand and allow you to go to open dining that evening.

Better yet switch to open. It's not really fair to those that have chosen open. I don't imagine those that chose traditional would like it if open diners took a table in traditional. When I did traditional I wouldn't dream of going to open. I made alternate plans. I shouldn't be a big deal for the op to make alternate plans for one night.