boulders

American citizens under 16 on a closed loop only need their BC. That's it.

Unless the cruise line requires a passport.

Or they weren't born in the US.

Also, if they're not traveling with both parents, they need documentation showing that whoever they're traveling with, has the authority to take them on that cruise.

I'm doing a similar cruise. I've already got my visa. What happens to those people that HAL tells to go online to get their visa while on the cruise and then the Australian government denies the visa? Shouldn't they be requiring the visa when you board the ship?

There was someone who posted on CC a number of years ago. He was denied boarding his Caribbean cruise because all he had was his birth certificate from an army base in Germany. Have her get a passport.

Scott, my first cruise on HAL was when I was 48 (not that long ago!). I certainly have never felt out of place on a HAL ship because of my age. I find HAL cruisers to be well travelled and friendly. On our first HAL cruise, one night I wasn't feeling well and planned to stay in and order room service rather than going to the MDR. My teenagers asked me if they could go to the dining room without me, because they enjoyed talking to the couple (in their 70's) who shared our table. The age of your fellow passengers doesn't really matter.

I hope you enjoy your HAL cruises.

I've sent out very delicate items and they have returned in perfect condition.

One of my favorite things about a HAL cruise is the $7/day unlimited laundry.

I wouldn't fly to Sydney to get to Auckland. That's an extra 4 hours in the air. American Airlines seems to have very good prices around your dates for a multi-city itinerary into AKL and out of SYD.

I booked a collector's cruise through my PCC about 2 months ago. The cruise is still 18+ months away. Although the cabin I wanted wasn't listed as available for the collector's cruise, it was available for the 2 individual cruises. She just went in to the inventory and moved the cabin so that it was now available for booking and booked it.

I think you've been having a PCC issue, not a HAL or collector's cruise issue.

It sounds like you're past final payment. If that's true, then I'd just enjoy what you have. Ask your PCC to be informed of any upsells that are available.

If you're not past final payment, then you can certainly cancel and switch to a cabin that you like better, unless you have a non-refundable deposit on the booking.

You can pre-purchase a Dam mug online to be delivered to your stateroom. It's under Gifts and Indulgences.

If you get into your booking on the HAL site and then click on itinerary, a day by day itinerary in table format should appear. On the left of the table is the date and the port of call. On the right is the name of the excursion, the time, the people booked and finally " Cancel this EXC tour?" should be highlighted.

I was able to upsell a cabin with 4 people on a Zaandam South American cruise just 3 weeks before sailing. But that was only possible once HAL contacted us regarding an upsell.

There are no changes to cruise ship itineraries right now. The air quality on the Big Island is the best it's been in over a decade.

It's illegal to approach dolphins in the wild in Hawaii. So, it makes it a no-brainer to go with the Merriman's tour.

Go to this page https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=987 and click on the blue button two lines below Koningsdam Roll Calls that says New Thread.

Actually, the opposite is true. HAL is known for it's older demographic...especially when compared to Princess. Of course, both lines will have a varied age group of passengers, but HAL's is typically older overall.

Not according to one of the ship's officers on my last HAL cruise. Princess, at the time anyway, had a slighter higher average age, taking into account all of their cruises.

It's been a few years since my cruise, but I seem to recall that the motion was in all dimensions. Up and down, swaying side to side. We were on deck 7, in the middle. I was quite nauseous on the Drake crossings and the seas weren't particularly rough. I don't recall the theater or the dining venues, which are at the ends of the ship, being any more rough than my midship cabin.

I don't get double loyalty points at a hotel when I stay as a solo. I didn't get double loyalty points on Royal Caribbean when I cruised as a solo. I don't expect double loyalty points on HAL if I cruise as a solo.

Looking at the 4 and 5 star mariner benefits, they're not all that great. Three star mariner status is still a long way off too, so I'll have to pay for my own laundry for a while. At least paying for the laundry will increase my mariner status.

Maybe HAL and other cruiselines should go to the model of hotels and price by the room instead of by the passenger.

You can check through the HAL website to see if it will let you do it. Go to manage my booking and then travel planning. When I look at Flight Ease for my upcoming cruise to New Zealand and Australia, it will let me choose flights into other other cities in NZ and Australia, but not other places in the world.

My first cruise with HAL was in the Mediterranean in July on the Nieuw Amsterdam. About 15% of the passengers were under 18. The Baltic cruise should have a similar number. It was a very lively group in Club Hal. Depending on numbers, the age groups were sometimes combined. Ds7 and dd13 had loads of fun.

The VOV cruise would have fewer kids, but there should still be some. Our second cruise was on an older ship and had fewer than 30 kids but ds8 and dd 15 still found friends to do things with. In Club Hal, there were no dance parties, but the kids played video games/ colored etc.

Royal Caribbean on an Oasis class (Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas or Symphony of the Seas) or Quantum class (Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas or Ovation of the Seas) or Freedom class (Freedom of the Seas, Independence of the Seas or Liberty of the Seas) would be my choices for a 14 year old boy.

It takes over a week to get to the major New Zealand ports. So, any cruise that sees the major New Zealand ports plus Fiji has to be a very long one. Holland America has some cruises that might suit you. The shortest one I was able to find is a 17 day cruise starting in Auckland, going to 2 ports in New Zealand, then Fiji and ending up in Brisbane. It departs Auckland on March 28/19.

The 29th is a Saturday and the 1st a Sunday. Is the website at least consistent with the day of the week?

Looks like they've fixed it.

I've got a March 1, 2020 cruise booked. Sometimes the website tells me that I'm sailing on Feb. 29. I'm sure at some point someone is going to show up on the wrong day for their sailing because of misinformation from the website. HAL better get its act together soon.

I have sent laundry out on my past several cruises, on HAL and RCCL. Both my HAL cruises were 20+ days each and I was traveling with 3 kids, so laundry was sent out almost daily. Every piece has come back perfectly. I've sent out delicate blouses with no additional instructions and they've come back just fine.

On my last cruise on Allure of the Seas, I took a whole ship tour which included the laundry facilities. They took us past the rack where they put the day's laundry for passengers after it's done. The passengers laundry was done in a separate area than the linens. I was surprised to see that there were maybe only 20 cabins worth of laundry there, including mine. Allure has almost 3000 cabins. So it seemed that not many people were taking advantage of the laundry service on that particular 7 night Caribbean cruise.

Make sure the deposits are refundable up until final payment. If they are, then you can cancel before final payment (60-90 days before the cruise) and get your deposit back. Quite a few cruise lines are going to non-refundable deposits. You can get most of your deposit and fare back, even after final payment date, or even if it's a non-refundable deposit, if you purchase a cancel-for-any-reason protection plan. I know Holland America has these, but I don't know about other cruise lines.

I agree with the previous poster though, I wouldn't put a 3rd person in a cabin with my spouse and I unless that person was one of our children or maybe an elderly parent.