fatcat04

On 10/13/2022 at 3:45 PM, mightycruisequeen said:

It's funny that something as seemingly innocent as door decorations on a cruise ship could possibly become controversial.  Gotta love this board!

I know right? Seriously, unless it is impeding your ability to travel down the hall and that is obviously a hazard, the random Happy Birthday/Anniversary/whatever sign or magnet or card shouldn't really bother a grown person enough to be insulting and sarcastic. Now if you are 12.. I understand but it's also probably past your bedtime. 

So if I rent a 2 person cabana and am in a family cruise group of 15, we can pay $25 each for the other 13 and all party hardy in the cabana area? That sounds like a horrible policy. Not very "Retreat" like that's for sure.

I too think that as long as the same number of people is utilizing the space (2 for a 2 person, 4 for a 4 person), why does it matter which 2 or 4? Who is sitting there keeping notes? I mean they rent them out daily as well, not just cruise length rentals so 14 different people could occupy one cabana in a week without question. 

On NS 2 weeks ago, when we got to our room our steward gave us a little list with checkboxes next to items/services we could request from our room stewards along with a few lines to write in requests. I wanted a note pad and pen as none were in the cabin. When we came back that evening, we had turn down service and our requested items. We had our 4 year old with us so towels animals were every day (she had fun guessing what they were and we would set them above her bed at night.) Pillow chocolates were on "gala" nights only. In a cabin for 3+ with a bed that has to be pulled out every evening and put back every day, turn down will remain necessary. I wouldn't even try to figure out those hide-away sofa beds. 

The Elite package has a daily limit of 15 alcoholic beverages with a menu price of $15 or less. Unlimited non-alcoholic beverage.

The Signature package has a daily limit of 15 alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks with a menu price of $11 or less.

The Quench Beverage Package is limited to 15 non-alcoholic drinks daily.

From:

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/faq.html

39 minutes ago, brutidog said:

Thanks for the info, so glad there might be a solution.   What type of container is the water in?  How does he pore from the gallon container or does it have a tap?  Is this  water distilled  on the ship? 

Which  Cruise boat/company is this offered?

It's a gallon milk sized jug like he buys at the local Publix or Kroger grocery, the same he uses every night for his cpap. We have gotten this same type item on every HAL ship we have been on (6 ships). 

32 minutes ago, brutidog said:

Totally understand cruisintwinsmom.  I need bottle water to clean contact lens. I bring  a case on board for that purpose  as it is resealable and lighter.  Tap water is too gritty and contact lens cleaner needs  a rinsing.  Anyone with a solution?

I know dh preorders a gallon of distilled water on HAL for his cpap for I think around $2.95. Idk if that works for your needs. 

Got off in Boston on the 2nd. Lawrence at the Lido Bar will take care of you. He told us to remember his name. I said  "Easy man, we were cruising on your river." Great guy. He kept our 4 year old Tatiana in great smoothie combos and me and dh in Chandon. The Lido pool space is nice day or night. Watched Back To the Future there. What a blast from the past. 

1 hour ago, cruisintwinsmom said:

I wish I could drink the water on ships. I would love to fill up a refillable bottle rather shop for a case of bottled water to bring onboard or purchase a drink package. Not sure what they do in the filtering of it, but it causes a lot edema in my feet and legs. After experimenting on many sailing, I found that if I drink bottled water, it does not happen. 

You do what you gotta do. The ship water doesn't agree with everyone. We like the Acqua Panna for in cabin use and always get them preordered. 

20 minutes ago, sndral said:

Thank you for posting this, it’s helpful to someone such as myself researching various lines longer cruises. It’s interesting that the cc hold for a 24 day cruise is $1440 pp compared to the cc hold of $900 pp for a 30 day cruise. I am curious if any have had the hold on unspent funds take as long as 30 days to be removed.

Exactly. I knew longer cruises had lower cc holds. Good reminder. 

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I think this awareness and the accompanying shock started when technology advanced and we get text messages announcing the “charge”.  Prior we were happily oblivious and by time we got home to see our accounts the charge had dropped off 

Bingo. I always overspend on cruises (I am a spa rat, or so dh says) and being the bookkeeper and chief bottle washer of the household I kept getting texts about additional holds being placed. No biggie as we had budgeted extra (dh knows me well) but heck, I don't want reminders like that when I am on vaca but it is what it is. 

And when you go past the hold amount, they will add more to the hold as you spend. It eventually gets settled as an actual charge a few days post cruise. 

Based on our cruise on NS 2 week ago:

1) Yes the larger bottles are NOT included in any drinks package (unless they run out of the small Open Water bottles and then all bets are off, we hefted back to the cabin quite a few glass liters when they ran out of Open Water on day 3 of 8 this last cruise)

2) Yes, we upgraded at $10 per adult per day +18% grats and had unlimited non-alcoholic bevs + 15 alcoholic drinks. Even with the hassle, it was still worth it to us and we came out ahead $$ wise. 

3) Okay, 1 drink at a time is the "rule" but the number of times we ordered a double shot of High West Rendezvous Rye neat at the bartenders suggestion tells me otherwise. For liquor shots (neat, on the rocks, etc) doubles are not unusual. I think if you wanted to buy 3 Buds via the bev pkg at once, they would balk. 

4) The wee still bottles are Open Water. The larger still are Acqua Panna. For bubble water, Perrier for small (included in bev pkg) and S. Pellegrino for larger bottles (again not included unless they run out of Perrier.. and then all bets are off, had that happen in Tamarind this last cruise, dh and I shared the larger of S. Pellegrino)

They ran out of those resealable aluminum water bottles on NS a couple weeks ago on about day 3 of 8. We had the bev package and ended up hefting 2 of the glass liters back to the room (they made those the default water for the bev package, if you wanted still water) when we wanted bottled water in the cabin at night. Tap water was also fine. But the bottled waters were included in the bev package so why not?

47 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Small bottles were so much better. 

I still have some of those little lotions squirrelled away. Just like the Sharp Shower Gel, none of those wee bottles of delight ever got thrown away. The smells take me back. 

The Thermal Suite and therapy pool/saunas have open times and whenever they are open, you can go. There is a posted time limit (25 or 30 mins) on the loungers if it is crowded. You can also utilize the changing and shower rooms with all bathroom amenities including a hair dryer plus fluffy towels and bathrobes as well which are very nice. Just check in at the front desk to get your access key card and wrist band key for the lockers. 

55 minutes ago, wdw1972 said:

You're probably talking about a Vista Suite - those on deck 8 have no cover.  A friend had one of those on the Koningsdam and hated it!  When sunny it's too hot, when raining it's unusable - she'll never do that again!

 

Sue/WDW1972

We were in an extended balcony verandah (8112) right next to a set of those Vistas a couple weeks ago on NS and yes, those Vistas have little to no cover at all. I think the cabins would be nice lower down with more cover but not deck 8. 

Here is a pic from our balcony showing the cover and the footprint of the adjacent Vista. Our balcony was great. Love deck 8 for it's location near the Lido though. 

On Pinnacle ships the handy dandy liquid soap dispenser (and lotion too) is right next to the sink and there are shampoo, conditioner, and body wash dispensers in the shower. 

The spa on NS was packed last week. The only time I saw the thermal suite facilities empty was very early and late, even on port days at peak midday times there were always a couple people in there. On sea days the loungers were full or maybe had only 1 open and the therapy pool regularly had 5+ people in it. Now, maybe I was just choosing the wrong time but I did peak in a few other times and it was a busy spot. As for spa services, I normally wait to get my appointments until I get on the ship. I won't be doing that again. I got some pretty miserable time slots for my 2 dressy night hair updos and my massage and facial were both at times that were not the first of my choosing. That said, the ladies that helped me said MANY people missed their appointments the last couple of days of the cruise despite no changes to the schedule for the last 4 days of our cruise. I can understand some missing at the beginning as we missed 2 ports and had a new port subbed in which changed up our sea day schedule completely. So, although every cruise will be different, this was a port heavy cruise and yet I had issues with appointments. 

As for discounts, they did not run the usual daily specials I had seen in the past (at least not that I even noticed, maybe they were posted somewhere I was not looking but they were definitely not in the Daily paper as in past times) but there was the 10/20/30% discount for booking 2+ treatments. Every treatment past 3 was discounted 20%. The prices for pre-purchasing treatments online do seem to be discounted from what you see on ship but those are specific to what time you choose. Off times during port days are cheaper. If you want a sea day treatment, you will be paying full price if prebooking. 

From everything I have seen, yes, every adult in a cabin must purchase the same drink package. (There might be medical exceptions for those medically prohibited from drinking alcohol however.)

The larger the party it seems the less issue immediately getting seated. But if you want to make a set "reservation" time for your party to consistently keep throughout your cruise, you could probably explain your situation to the head staff at the MDR. With a group that large they would probably see the advantage of just setting aside a table for your group at your preferred time. 

We do like the expanded wine options but the main reason is dh is a whiskey drinker and the selection is considerably larger for those few extra $$'s, especially on ships with Notes.

But tbh actually utilizing Notes was a challenge as it rarely seems to have anyone tending it and is mainly used for overpriced whiskey tastings. Dh just wanted to try the selection. Dh often had to seek out someone to find the person with the keys to open the case to actually serve him a drink from Notes and was even told during Notes posted open hours that no one with the keys to the bar was available and too bad so sad. This was actually one of the more disappointing parts of our cruise as dh had very much looked forward to trying several of the options available through the Elite package. 

You can not upgrade the HIA to the Elite package online. You can however do it on ship. $10 per person per day + 18%gratuity charge. You have to make this upgrade BEFORE you order your first drink onboard. We just did it on NS last month at the Lido Bar as one of our first "chore" stops once we got onboard. It took a few minutes and our server calling the beverage manager. We got the distinct impression this is a very rare request. 

We did later at our servers suggestion go to the front desk to get new cabin cards made with Elite beverage package on them as our old ones had HIA on them and sometimes there was confusion about what package we had when handing our card to bar staff or servers. We got tired of having to say to servers in loud music venues that we had upgraded when we would order something NOT included on the HIA beverage pkg. Just easier to go to the front desk after the initial couple days madness or maybe at a really off time and get the card redone. 

Greetings from Bar Harbor Dailyites! 

As is my family's custom on the first day of glorious October, join me in enjoying this poem.

“October’s Bright Blue Weather”

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather.

Helen Hunt Jackson

14 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 

Hope you're having a great cruise and see some right whales!  We had an email this morning from our favourite server on the NS - Apinya, a Thai girl who works in the Tamarind and Lido - please, please, if you see her, give her a hug from Pat and Ann.  Tell her we miss her - we know she is missing her little boy.  

Will do!! We sadly haven't seen any old familiar faces but we have made some new friends. And everyone knows our 4yo daughter's name. She is the youngest onboard of only 6 kids (which we expected) and quite the rock star. Me and dh, we are just her staff 

25 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:

I saw your menu for tonight on the Navigator app -- The Silver Gala menu.  Hopefully it will be the same menu for us during our cruise. I'll take the Orange Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, Caesar Salad, Filet Mignon Oscar, and Chocolate Souffle.  YUM!  What are you having?

That sounds pretty good actually!! 

25 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said: