boulders

I took a 24 day Med cruise on HAL with my 3 kids, aged 16, 13, 6. There were plenty of families. Over 300 kids under 18. It was plenty lively. There were 4 of us in an inside. We had a great time and would do it again.

I've found fellow HAL passengers to be very friendly towards children. We've done one 24 night cruise and one 21 night cruise. Lots of kids on the first, very few on the second. HAL is dd16's favorite line. It's ds19 and ds9's second favorite, after RCCL.

I'm pretty sure the always available steak is a NY strip. I had it multiple times on our 21 night cruise last year.

HAL's insurance covers "cancel for any reason".

I just got an email from a TA announcing the itinerary for the 2017 world cruise. It has it going to Hawaii, Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Jordan and the Med. Full itinerary is below.

I'm happy to see overnights in Beijing, but I was hoping for Australia and the South Pacific. Probably going to give it a pass and cross my fingers for 2018.

Jan 4 Wednesday Ft. Lauderdale, Florida -- 10:00 pm

Jan 8 Sunday Transit Panama Canal -- --

Fuerte Amador (Panama City), Panama* 8:00 pm --

Jan 9 Monday Fuerte Amador (Panama City), Panama -- 5:00 PM

Jan 11 Wednesday Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera), Costa Rica 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

Jan 12 Thursday Corinto, Nicaragua 10:00 AM 6:00 PM

Jan 13 Friday Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala 9:00 AM 7:00 PM

Jan 16 Monday Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Jan 19 Thursday San Diego, California 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

Jan 25 Wednesday Hilo, Hawaii 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

Jan 26 Thursday Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii* 7:00 AM --

Jan 27 Friday Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii -- 4:00 PM

Feb 01 Wednesday Cross the International Dateline -- --

Feb 02 Thursday Majuro, Marshall Islands 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Feb 06 Monday Chuuk, Micronesia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Feb 08 Wednesday Guam 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Feb 09 Thursday Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Feb 13 Monday Osaka, Japan* 8:00 AM --

Feb 14 Tuesday Osaka, Japan -- 11:00 PM

Feb 16 Thursday Nagasaki, Japan 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Feb 18 Saturday Kanazawa, Japan 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Feb 20 Monday Jeju City (Cheju), South Korea 8:00 AM 4:00 PM

Feb 22 Wednesday Xingang (Beijing), China* 6:00 AM --

Feb 23 Thursday Xingang (Beijing), China -- 6:00 PM

Feb 26 Sunday Shanghai, China* 8:00 AM --

Feb 27 Monday Shanghai, China -- 11:00 PM

Mar 2 Thursday Hong Kong, China* 8:00 AM --

Mar 3 Friday Hong Kong, China -- 6:00 PM

Mar 6 Monday Nha Trang, Vietnam 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Mar 7 Tuesday Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Mar 9 Thursday Singapore* 8:00 AM --

Mar 10 Friday Singapore -- 7:00 PM

Mar 11 Saturday Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Mar 15 Wednesday Colombo, Sri Lanka 8:00 AM 7:00 PM

Mar 18 Saturday Mumbai (Bombay), India* 8:00 AM --

Mar 19 Sunday Mumbai (Bombay), India -- 6:00 PM

Mar 22 Wednesday Muscat, Oman 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

Mar 28 Tuesday Al A'qabah (Petra), Jordan* 8:00 AM --

Mar 29 Wednesday Al A'qabah (Petra), Jordan -- 11:00 PM

Mar 31 Friday Transit Suez Canal -- --

Apr 2 Sunday Rhodes, Greece 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Apr 3 Monday Dardanelles - scenic cruising only -- --

Apr 4 Tuesday Istanbul, Turkey* 8:00 AM --

Apr 5 Wednesday Istanbul, Turkey -- 6:00 PM

Apr 6 Thursday Dardanelles - scenic cruising only -- --

Apr 7 Friday Mykonos, Greece 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Apr 9 Sunday Valletta, Malta 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Apr 11 Tuesday Palma de Mallorca, Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Apr 12 Wednesday Barcelona, Spain* 8:00 AM --

Apr 13 Thursday Barcelona, Spain -- 6:00 PM

Apr 15 Saturday Cádiz (Seville), Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Apr 16 Sunday Casablanca, Morocco 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

Apr 18 Tuesday Funchal, Madeira, Portugal 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

Apr 26 Wednesday Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 AM

You can do a pre-booking just like an FCC but with more specific requests like cabin number (we have a distinct favorite and this will be the 4th or 5th time for that cabin), dinner requests. No advantage except we are fairly certain that we will get our favorite cabin. Our TA says HAL's computers are not quite ready to input everything but our requests have been noted. It is $100 per person, fully refundable.

Is the $100 the whole deposit or just for the pre-booking?

$7 day x 34 days = $238

HAL is dd16s favorite cruise line. It's ds19s and ds9s second favorite after Royal Caribbean. We've been on the newest ship and one of the oldest. They really didn't differ in the experience for either kids or adults. The only difference I could see was in decor. There were a lot more kids on the newer ship though. I would choose based on itinerary, with a preference to a newer ship.

HAL is dd16's favorite cruise line. She's been on all the cruise lines in my signature except for Princess. We've been on two HAL cruises. The first one was to the Med on the Nieuw Amsterdam, for 24 days, in July. That one had 300 kids on it. Dd went to the teen club the first night, made friends and had a posse to hang around with the rest of the cruise. They usually hung around the teen club.

Our second HAL cruise was over Christmas/ New Year's to Antarctica on Zaandam. There were 35 kids on that one. Dd still found 2-3 friends to hang around with, again usually in the teen club. Since they were usually the only teens in the teen club, the counselor changed the teen schedule so that every afternoon, they attended the tea in the dining room.

Dd says that HAL has the nicest teenagers of any cruise line.

After about 5 RCCL cruises, I tried HAL. I've done a 24 night cruise and a 21 night cruise. I find HAL's customer service a lot better than RCCL. My 24 night cruise was in the Med in July and there were plenty of families on board. The 21 night cruise was to Antarctica and while there weren't many families, I'd say the average age was late 50's. I didn't see anyone I thought was over 70 on that cruise. I'm early 50's. My dd16 prefers HAL. She likes that she can make friends more easily because there's not so many and she likes the afternoon tea. DS19 and ds9 prefer RCCL.

When you fill out the form it asks you where you are going in Brazil, city etc. if you are on a cruise that visits several places what do you say? This cruise begins and ends in Fort lauderdale. Thx.

I just printed out the cruise itinerary and my booking info. I was doing a precruise stay in Iguassu Falls and printed out my flight arrival and departure info and Iguassu Falls hotel reservation too.

I got the Brazilian visa myself at the consulate in Toronto a year and a half ago. It was relatively painless. I don't recall having to provide financial information. The website was given above. I was travelling with my children, one of whom was 18 at the time and the other two were under 18. The 18 year old did not have to attend the appointment.

From what I saw while waiting at the consulate - They will not discuss requirements at the consulate with you and will refer you to the website if you ask. They will not take your documents unless everything is in order. I was sitting next to a person from a visa service while waiting - they don't have any special pipeline to get the visa, so I would do it yourself unless your time is worth more money than the cost.

That sounds about the price we paid for a 24 night retreat cabana on the Nieuw Amsterdam in 2012. We didn't find it worthwhile either. We didn't use it at all the second half of the cruise. It was too hot and the service was too slow the few times we did use it. It was a great spot to watch the sail into Venice though.

You will need to book the friend into a room with an adult. Although cruise lines allow children to have their own room if a parent is travelling with them, minors who don't have their own parents on board are required to be booked with an adult in the same room. This is so the adult will have legal responsibility for whatever the minor decides to do.

Carnival or Disney?

If you try to book the cruise online with a birthdate of November 4 for the May 3 cruise, the booking engine won't accept it. You'll get an "invalid date" message.

Thanks a bunch for those who have spotted my message and are replying. Really hoping that someone who has gone through this would articulate what they did to get through it, though, as speculation of what "might" happen can go all over the map, and we can't fly down there based on speculation. It pretty much seems up to the US Customs and Immigration to tell us right here and now what they will accept at the port, period, and HAL shouldn't argue about that, because it isn't up to them. (see below)

 

I've read tons of old posts online, but mostly several years old. We called US CIS (Customs and Immigration Service) 1-800-375-5283 and they agreed we'd need to go to nearest immigration office to get an I-551 stamp on passport (like an advance on the green card process for a year, but not free cuz you've already paid $450 for the renewal). That requires an appointment miles away. They don't allow walk-ins anymore. Fortunately, there were appointments on their schedule every day next week, and ones as early as Monday (today is Friday).

 

The CBB (Customs and Border Patrol) website contacts were useless. Their idea of phoning them is to put you into an endless loop of info, with no option to talk to anyone, and it takes 30 calls to get past the busy signal or try later messages. Sending an e-mail prompted a response of we are behind. Don't expect a response for 2 - 3 WEEKS!!! :eek: Yes, our lovely gov't at work.

 

As you can imagine, I nearly fell over when the US CIS Infopass website allowed us to make an appt as soon as Monday but perhaps that is because he had already paid for his renewal online and had a receipt #. (It just hasn't gotten to the fingerprinting, photographing and documentation steps.) Green cards used to have NO expiration date, but now the gov't has gotten greedy and wants $450 every ten years, not because the alien will be exported out of the country if he doesn't pay to get the card, this fee is just to renew the "card" itself. This is part of the gov't plan to entice aliens to become US citizens, as it is cheaper to become naturalized, than to remain in the country as a LPR, legal permanent alien. But for some people, who work in other countries or want to retain the right to return home one day, it makes more sense to remain an LPR.

Not true. Becoming a US citizen does not affect your citizenship of other countries.

I'll try to keep others informed here, as I go through the process. Fortunately, Travelocity allows you to cancel most paid-in-full flights booked on a Friday as late as Monday at midnight, so you don't end up with high priced, poorly connected flights. Same free cancellations with some reasonably priced hotel reservations too.

 

We understand that the green card has mostly to do with being allowed back into the country, even on a closed loop cruise in the Western Hemisphere. However, HAL behaved very irresponsibly in answering by simply passing the buck to Orbitz where I made the reservation. You did not make a reservation with HAL. You made a reservation with Orbitz. Cruise lines will not talk to you about reservations made through a travel agency. You have to go through the travel agent. Orbitz has nothing to do with what HAL will accept on the ship or with customs potentially refusing to let him sail or potentially holding him up on return into the country. HAL is just playing games at this point, but I will be connecting with a different rep again to find out what occurs, if we are able to get that I-551 stamp on the passport.Your friend is responsible for making sure his papers are in order, not HAL and not Orbitz.

 

I mean, if the problem is that he may get held up upon re-entering the country awhile, so be it, we'll take that chance .... (I've read stories from 12 hours to a day or two if they want to get mean, :mad: but this is totally unnecessary since he's been here for 50 years, has valid state driver's license, working papers, medical, etc., so plenty of paper trail to prove he belongs here, plus his expired card and valid passport.), .... but to not be forthright about whether HAL themselves will or will not allow him on the boat is total BULL! He does NOT need a green card to travel to the islands, only his passport which is valid, so why should they care? and why not just be honest? :confused:

The cruise line would be fined if he did not have the proper documentation to re-enter the US. It doesn't matter what any rep on the phone told you - what matters is if he has sufficient documentation to travel to the countries on the itinerary and to return to the US to satisfy CIS when he tries to board.

After 50 years, he doesn't have citizenship?? Speaking as someone who used to have a green card, he really should have obtained citizenship a long time ago.

HAL doesn't launch zodiacs or make landfall in Antarctic waters. Any shore excursions will be in South America or the Falklands. There will be scenic cruising only in Antarctic waters.

I sailed in the area on the Zaandam, and we had many great talks on Antarctica, in addition to the usual onboard activities.

Thank you all for your responses. I'm especially encouraged by boulders response. I am an out of shape older woman with bad knees and feet and limited resources. I am no stranger to cold, snow, and ice, don't necessarily have to walk on it. I think it would be wonderful to see the wildlife.. Going to Antarctica is a dream and it looks attainable. Thanks again for the info!

Re: the bolded - Me too!/Moi aussi! :D There were lots of Canadians on my cruise. I plan to do the same cruise again.

I was on an Antarctic cruise with HAL last year. It is scenic sailing, similar to what the Alaskan cruises do. You are very close to the continent, for several days. HAL has 3 Antarctic experts on board who give excellent talks. It was the best cruise I've ever had.

I live in a place where I can walk on snow and ice. I don't need to pay 30-50K to do that in Antarctica. I paid a small fraction of that for my HAL cruise. We saw wildlife close up from our ship and on land in other ports.

Cruisecritic has an Antarctica board. I would recommend that the OP do some research there. Look under ports of call.

It depends on the ages of the kids and whether or not you need 2 bathrooms. With little kids, I would go with the family oceanview. With older kids (maybe 9 and older), the connecting staterooms would be OK. The family staterooms have more floor space for the little ones than 2 separate staterooms. I also don't like to have an exit door that I can't hear or see with little kids.

The alarm went off for my children who were under 16 no matter who was in front. For ds16, no alarm at all. Dd15 had trouble getting off the ship when I sent her with part of a shore excursion group I had organized.

An Iguazu Falls excursion was $1800 per person for our HAL cruise last year. The excursion left in the morning and returned the following afternoon to Buenos Aires. It included one night in a hotel and flights. By comparison, I arranged our own flights and 2 nights hotel on the Brazilian side before our cruise, in a package with our other flights through orbitz. Total cost for 4 people was about $1200.

Blue Hawaiian is the only helicopter company serving the four major islands, but they don't have multi-island packages, AFAIK.

I have been informed by many private tour guides in Hawaii that kids over 6 do not legally require a booster seat. Not sure I'm 100% comfortable with that for my 7 year old, so may just bring our own as we are doing tours rather than renting a car!

Every tour operator I have spoken with so far has said that they will supply a car seat for the 3 year old, but the 7 year old doesn't need one (Hawaii law). This has been for private tour guides, not sure about group tours. I'm sure in the bigger buses, etc, they would be exempt from needing seats at all!

 

Good luck!

This is incorrect information. Children under 8 years old are required to be in a booster seat according to the laws of Hawaii.

I always just brought my own car seats. They can be checked for free with the airlines as they are required equipment. You can either check them with the luggage or at the gate.