boulders

Early to mid-May prices for flights and the cruise should be the lowest for the April/May timeframe. Besides the Easter break, many east coast schools have the 3rd week of April off which will increase airfares. The first week of May is a popular time for Japanese tourists to visit Hawaii, so prices can be higher then for hotels and the cruise.

Right now, you are seeing the results on prices of being about 90 days out - the cruise prices are down because they are trying to fill berths and the air prices are up because they are trying to squeeze the last dollar from the remaining seats. The best strategy is to buy the air tickets early and the cruise tickets late (or when they're first released).

April is a more popular time to visit Hawaii because the weather is still a lot nicer than many parts of the mainland. The whales should also still be there. They'll be gone in May.

The nice thing about American Express Membership Rewards is that you can use just some of them to offset the cash price of the ticket. Generally it's about a 1:100 ratio, so 52000 points would get you a $520 discount on a ticket. This allows you to book all your travel on one ticket.

The 30000 United miles won't really do much for a transatlantic ticket.

I've cruised Alaska an Royal Caribbean and Princess.

I was not impressed with Glacier Bay. I loved Hubbard glacier.

Radiance of the Seas was a much better ship to see Alaska, imo.

There are plenty of other locations besides the teen club to hang out.

What is a, ready, set, sail promotion, how do you get it, is it for all cruises? Never heard of it.

Allan & Marlane

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/SpecialOffers.action

Click on the red special offers button.

Once you have made your reservation, you can log into the website to book the shore excursions. The discounted price and the original price will both be on the shore excursion descriptions. Not all shore excursions will be discounted.

We are cruising from Singapore to Southampton, on the Rotterdam. Arriving on 6th of April. Trying to arrange transport from Southampton to Preston, Lancs. Holland America and Imagine cruising, say it's not their Problem. They never mentioned that when we booked with them. The girl on the phone said that they were associated with Cunard. This apparently is news to Cunard. Any help please.

Holland America and Cunard are both owned by Carnival Corporation. Yes, they are associated. But they are different companies.

We did this cruise last year at Christmas. It was fabulous. We stayed at Iguassu Falls pre-cruise. Our cruise left from Rio, so we stayed at the Brazilian side. You could stay on the Argentinian side (Iguazu Falls) pre or post cruise. It's a short plane ride from Buenos Aires. The tropical landscape is an excellent complement to the scenery of Antarctica.

This year, we had a trip to Hawaii planned. We just got back yesterday. At least 2 of 4 of us were wishing we were in Antarctica. We loved our Zaandam cruise that much.

Westjet, Air Canada and United all have nonstops between Chicago and Montreal.

Hot chocolate and tea used to be available for free. Has that changed?

HAL has a website where you can buy their beds or linens. http://www.shophollandamerica.com/

Whew! Lots of questions. I'll give some of these a shot.

You can see the cruise lines I've cruised in my signature. All of these have been with ds who was 7 or younger on all the cruiselines, as well as his two older siblings.

Hi! We are first timers essentially to cruising with kids. We can really use your help and I hope it is OK to post here. We went on Coral princess to alaska, and norwegian dawn to caribbean before kids, and we just did quantum of the seas with the kids but it included work time (conference) and also was a bit of a nightmare experience. SO. I have read lots, and read lots of articles about the different kids clubs, and read lots of posts including a fairly recent one about a princess ship kids club - and I am so confused!! We may look into disney to see if we can afford it but I think it is out of reach price wise. Also, aside from Frozen and Cars, our kids have no clue and don't really get much out of big dressed up characters - they just don't know much about it.

 

We are starting fresh and trying to figure out the best line/ship for us to try. Here's what we have learned is important to us, in priority order, based on our prior cruise experience. Is there a particular ship you recommend?:

 

Ideally, cruises out of NY or NJ port. We can drive there, and see family, and that makes it affordable and even more meaningful. Ideally, cruises that go south so we can have some warm time. Ideally, February/November/December type timing for cruises (so we are actively looking for end of Feb now):

 

1. Kids club - happy, engaged staff who love kids and make the best of every minute and can get to know the kids and what the kids will enjoy and what will engage the kids. Ideally, outside spaces the kids can go, and more than one room they can move between. High quality care - not babysitting but the best of nurturing and development. Great hours, including being open on embarkation day, and offering kids club lunches (with healthy foods) if we choose.

 

The cruiselines that offer lunches, ime, are Disney, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. None of them were what I would call "healthy". Chicken nuggets, hot dogs etc. Disney was free. There was a charge for Royal Caribbean, and you had to sign up. Not many kids did.

 

2. unobstructed BALCONY that is affordable to get two, or one suite or family jr suite etc - overall cost of accommodations (two balconies or one suite), taxes and grats preferably in the $4500 dollar range. two adults, two kids under age 7.

 

Royal Caribbean is the best for staterooms for families, imo. It's sometimes possible to get a "family" stateroom for 4 people, but usually you have to have 5 or more. Disney will say that their staterooms are larger,, but the extra space is in the split bathroom. Most of the bathrooms on Disney ships have 2 rooms - one with the bathtub and sink and the other with the toilet and sink. Both rooms felt tiny to me. The rest of the room - we were in a balcony- was the same size as a regular Royal Caribbean balcony.

 

3. ability to communicate almost instantly - e.g. kids club gives phones you can use to call or text each other. or open enough boat that you can use walkie talkies. The latter really didn't work on our recent Quantum cruise b/c so much is inside and the ship is so big. Using the room phone and leaving/getting messages is fine but not if you are trying to do something quickly or spur of the moment and can't run to where the other person is (e.g. due to having the kids) We don't have a US cell phone that can do an international texting plan over the open seas.

 

Disney might have this - they didn't when I sailed 4 years ago. All cell phones will be charged about $3/minute for calling on the ship- in addition to your carrier's roaming fees.

 

4. Down to earth, middle of the line other passengers of all ages. We found this on Quantum and Princess. I don't remember Norwegian. We generally are able to find nice, happy, decent people everywhere but aren't looking for the extremes in either direction.

 

The couple of times I've had issues with fellow passengers, it's been on Royal Caribbean - my kids being called racial epithets by other kids...This was on the one cruise we did out of NY/NJ. Another time out of San Juan - a woman threatened my 2 year old. :mad: and a larger child ran over the same 2 year old in the MDR. :mad:

 

5. Decent, big enough shower preferably with glass door but at least with nice curved shower rod. (we can do duct tape) Quantum bathroom really was excellent.

 

This will vary with the cruise ship, not with the cruise line. Overall the bathrooms have been fine on any ship I've been on.

 

6. Enough storage space - Quantum again excelled at this. With one adult and one child per inside basic stateroom, in one room we had some space to spare - and we always overpack!

 

Same answer as question #5.

 

7. Ideally, some good dancing fitness classes or other dancing type opportunities during the day. One of us is fine with lots of trivia, which we can always find, but the other needs active fun that is free and regular and easy like dancing. Quantum had latin dance fitness class and it was AWESOME!

 

HAL has Dancing with the Stars:At Sea which is a lot of fun. Royal has the reputation of being the most active cruise line.

 

8. Ability to not have formal night or to not do it if desired. But i think anywhere, you can skip formal night and go to buffet right?

 

You don't have to dress formally for formal night on any cruise line - and you can still go to the MDR.

 

Thanks in advance. If this is too much, please let us know. Our one TA we have used was basically useless (I'm sorry to have to say), so we continue to rely on all of you!!! And thanks for the recent M&M, cabin crawl etc. Cruise critic is the best!!

My favourite cruise line is HAL.

DD16's favourite cruise line is HAL. She says they have the nicest people.

DS19's favourite cruise line is Royal Caribbean.

DS9's favourite cruise line is Royal Caribbean. He doesn't want to go on another Disney ship - too crowded and chaotic in the kids club. He cried when it was time to leave our Princess cruise. He likes HAL.

Our Carnival cruise was when oldest DS was 12. He asked me to never take him on one of their cruises again. ;)

How was your account hacked????:confused: Your account was charged incorrectly. It wasn't hacked.

There are lots of ways to keep busy in Alaska. The shore excursions are great for kids. Both HAL and Princess kids clubs are very good. DS6 cried when it was time to leave the Princess kids club after 2 weeks in Alaska. I personally like HAL better. My fellow passengers seem to be more friendly on HAL.

My good people,

 

Cruising is changing. Bigger ships, more options, and fare prices that are less than they were 20+ years ago.

 

Now, the cruise lines are building billion$+ ships, and offering more on board amenities, some free some not. They use economies of scale to keep the fares low, but you are on a moving resort that costs a lot of money to operate. They have to make money someowhere to keep the shareholders happy! Economies of scale alone won't do it.

 

I just thought I'd do a little comparison. Land vacation vs cruise.

 

I selected a hotel I am familiar with over several visits, the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, PR. It is a resort hotel, with big pool, private beach, several restaurants and bars, spa/gym, and is the second largest hotel in Puerto Rico.

 

I priced a king bed room with balcony from 1/17-1/13 2015 (7 nights). Total cost with taxes and resort fees was about $2941 for two, without ANYTHING for free, and their restaurants and drinks are not cheap. I figure another $1,000 minimum for that, however I can sneak liquor in, but who wants to drink solely in their room?

 

Next, I priced the same dates on OASIS in a Boardwalk balcony cabin (OV balcony was sold out) and the all-in price was 2362.50, and I get free food if I so desire.

 

I could get more detailed but, seriously, cruising is still a great value. The ship is expensive to operate, takes you to different ports, etc. The hotel stays where it is.

 

In 1985 I took my first cruise on Costa Riviera with a friend in a small, obstructed view outside cabin. The ship was some 30,000 tons, and the price for two was around $2200. Oh sure, all the food was free (one MDR was it, plus buffet and pizza place) but we still paid for drinks.

 

Hmmm... am I making any sense here? Me thinks so!

That hotel room is twice the size of the boardwalk balcony. A better comparison might be a junior suite or grand suite. Those generally go for $5-7K. You also get wifi included with the hotel. You are free to go out of the hotel and purchase your drinks/snacks/meals at any other location. You are a captive audience on a cruise ship. If you want to eat - you have to eat what is available on the ship. There's no shopping around. Hotels also operate at lower occupancy rates than cruise ships do, so your hotel nightly rate is taking into account that 20-50% of the rooms are unoccupied at any one time.

I worked for a public transportation company for 26 years. We had quite a few hours of training with the new "service animal" regulations. I could not find, in reading all the posts, was why she had the dog

 

We were trained to approach the passenger, with a smile, and ask if the animal was a pet. If they answered yes, they were denied service.Anything other than a dog or miniature pony (no, we never had anyone try a pony) is no longer considered a service animal. If the individuals answer was it is a service animal, we then asked the only other question we were legally allowed to ask. " Without disclosing your disability, what service has your dog been trained to provide?" Individuals with true service animals will give an answer something like " My dog has been trained to push against me if he/she senses a seizure coming, so I can take some medication" The law does not prohibit me from asking for specifics. It does prohibit me from asking about their illness. I want to know what specific task this dog does, not a generality.

 

"Comfort Animals" are no longer qualified, so the new title for those that just want to travel with their dogs is "seizure dogs" Sometimes, when you know the dog is a pet, it is rather fun to get the owner to be specific when they cant. It was also our policy to greet the animals when we talked to the owners. We would ask if we could say hello. A true service animal should be "working", and the owner would prefer us not say hello. We would ask, because untrained dogs will jump to be friendly or get attention. That is not a trained dog. It would also let us know if the dog might be aggressive.

Very interesting.

If the owner couldn't describe the specific task or the dog jumped up when you greeted it, what were you authorized to do then?

We were on that cruise last year. The internet was the usual sloooooow when I was web surfing. Certain times of day were much worse than others. I think early morning was pretty good. Evening was awful. I tried to post to cruisecritic, but it would rarely go through.

Hawaii is sooo much better than a Caribbean cruise. I've taken small children to Hawaii multiple times. We're going again in a week.

Explorer of the Seas will be sailing out of Southampton next May. It has some interesting itineraries and is a lot less expensive than Allure.

OR

Quantum of the Seas will be passing through the neighbourhood on its way to China next May - also for less than Allure. Quantum is Royal's newest shiniest ship.

Itinerary #1 is the only one where you would actually see Antarctica. The other ones only go to South America. You will see icebergs and wildlife - whales and penguins, as well as the scenery of Antarctica while scenic cruising.

Cape Horn is an island. On our HAL cruise, we circumnavigated around it.

The one place that I'm sorry we didn't just stay at the port was Ushuaia. Great scenery at the port and a lot of shops. Otherwise, there just isn't much at the ports themselves.

Our tours ranged from about $50 for the tour we did in Ushuaia to $170 pp for the private tour we did to Volunteer Point in the Falklands. HAL's tour to Volunteer Point was $350. Volunteer Point was the best shore excursion I've ever been on.

I can't speak for Celebrity, but on HAL, we had great speakers who had been Antarctic researchers.

Yes BUT, It is NOT optional to dress Resort Casual on Formal Night on HAL and be allowed to be int he Public areas except for Lido. So the Options do NOT go Both ways. Trust me I talk with a LOT of Cruisers and potential cruisers over the past 5 and a half years many willing to spend 10K plus for a cruise vacation and they do NOT want to bring formal attire and dress up and do NOT want to feel looked down upon. So instead of them booking a Neptune Suite they choose another cruise line that will be optional for them.

What's different about formal nights HAL from other lines that we travel on...

 

-HAL does not offer any alternative casual dining venues other than Lido

(and I lump Caneletto into that)

 

-HAL closes the Lido at 8 which really means that they start closing down at 7:30 and not much fresh hot food makes it to the steam tables after 7:15

 

-HAL has this ridiculous request that if you are not dressed to MDR code you should avoid public areas....but not the Lido. Who on earth is going to follow this rule or even expect that others will follow it? Certainly not us.

 

Most intelligent people would ignore the third item. That leaves one and two. HAL only needs to offer an alternative casual dining venue on formal nights AND extend the Lido hours by an hour. I suspect that if HAL did this they might attract more potential customers.

I have sailed 45 nights on HAL in the past 2 years. I have never seen or heard a request regarding dress in public areas on formal night or any other night. HAL's only dress requirement on every night of the cruise is that men wear long pants in the MDR. HAL has a great room service menu if you do not want to go to the MDR. The newer ships have the Tamarind restaurant. All of the ships have the Pinnacle Grill. There are several choices other than the MDR and the buffet. No one gets "looked down on" if they are not wearing formal wear on formal night, in the MDR or any other location on the ship.

HAL is no more formal than other mainstream cruiselines. But, if you wish to avoid HAL in the belief that it is, that means more cabins available for me. :D

:confused: I guess I cannot understand why some of those that are worried about losing Formal night are so against those that do not want to have it required. In the past 8 months I did two NCL cruises both cruises had plenty of people wearing formal wear on the night that was a Dress up night. As a matter of fact I counted at least 10 men in passing wearing a Tux and several women wearing long gowns. It is Optional to dress up if you like on NCL but if am not not dressed Formal I am not denied entry into a restaurant, show nor do I feel out of place and looked down upon badly not being dressed up. There is absolutely nothing stopping anyone from dressing Formal if HAL was to eliminate this. Or is it that you are afraid you may also enjoy not having to dress up? :D On our last cruise we saw many couples very dressed up and also out dancing. No one felt out of place. I think it is wonderful if you enjoy the dress up thing and it makes you feel good about yourself. But seriously I really no longer want to do that. I guess I cannot understand why, I am not out to impress anyone. I already feel good about myself, dressing up does not make me feel better.

:rolleyes: This could be another perfect example of why HAL is having such a hard time selling their cruises, people talk with their wallet.

It's also optional to dress up on HAL. It's no different than NCL or RCCL.

Unlike some other cruise lines (Royal Caribbean), HAL ships aren't all that different from each other, imo. I'm not a big fan of Mexico, and I do like Grand Cayman, so I'd go with the Westerdam. The reviews of the Westerdam are slightly better as well.

It's not required to dress formally on formal night. I don't understand what some people have against formal night. If you don't want to wear formal attire, then don't! But some people do like to get "dressed up". It's part of what we like about cruising.