3rdGenCunarder

Sheltered balconies are a little deeper, but same width as regular balcony cabins. I haven't noticed a difference when I've been next to a bulkhead vs not. I agree with @exlondoner that you do get noise through the door when you have a connecting cabin.

If you booked through a TA, it won't appear on your booking page on the website. Even the cabin number doesn't show. HAL sends a confirmation to your TA who then sends it on to you, or sends their own version of it. That's the only record you're likely to have. HAL typically won't talk to you about your reservation. You have to pester the company you booked through. There is a way to move a reservation to a different agency, but I don't know how it's done, or if it's something that's allowed under Australian booking rules.

I've never seen priority for returning to the ship, not even on HMC, where HAL controls the process. There sort of is CO on the non-Pinnacle ships. No separate dining room, but there is a priority line for open seating in the MDR and a special menu with one extra entree at dinner. Supposedly an "enhanced" breakfast menu, but I don't know what that entails. CO on those ships might also get the better room service menu, but I'm not sure. It does give you priority embarkation, tendering, etc. I think there's a CO line at the front desk. And, yes, you get a special tote bag!

There's some vague wording about an onboard perk or "experience" in lieu of the upgrade if upgrades aren't available. If you book the top of one metacategory, CO will not take you into the next metacategory.

Good luck with the refund. If you don't get the money by day 60, call Amex on day 61. At least they let you know about the cancellation. The itinerary for 2023 Chicago-Toronto was changed, and I never received notification. I stumbled on the information when I was checking for tours. I was on their site earlier today because I'm still checking to see if the "premium" tours for Escanaba will ever show up. When I did a search, the site allowed me to search for Great Lakes next summer. So I went back to see if I was remembering correctly, and yes, there are plenty of Great Lakes itineraries showing for the Voyager and Navigator. If you were notified last week, AQV should have updated the website by now.

They're supposed to be ready, but this January on Eurodam, the first people to board (priority at 11:15) were told that cabins weren't ready. So I had a drink at the aft pool, and waited for an announcement. No announcement came by noon, so I just went to my cabin and it was ready. I should know not to listen to the "herders" who just send everyone to the Lido. Other than that, embarkation was fast. I got to the terminal a little after 11:00, no line at security and not many people waiting to check in (those who were not able to check in at the kiosk). because I'm 4-star, I was able to go upstairs to the priority lounge, where people were just starting to board. The last time to check in (according to boarding passes) was 1:30 or 2:00, but it was clear that a lot of people had arrived before their assigned time. The downstairs seating area was full. AT 11:15, the woman at the waiting area was giving out boarding number 19 for downstairs and Priority 2 for upstairs. I don't know how long people had to sit before 19 was called.

Very good! When I was teaching, and kids whined about something, I would say "Don't make me quote Mick." To get back to the smoking issues, I don't smoke and I hate the smell, but I have to accept that people do smoke. I can't think of a better place for the smoking section (from a nonsmoker's POV) than outside on a deck. Maybe the wind doesn't always blow the smoke away, but at least there's a chance that it will. And if it doesn't, I have other places I can go. Where the smell cannot blow away is the adjacent area of the Lido. On Eurodam this winter, the inner doors between the aft deck and the Lido were usually propped open. Every time someone came in from the bar/smoking side, the outer slider doors opened wide, and a gust of smoke smell blew in. Sometimes worse than others, but it definitely was there. I suppose I should have found a supervisor (don't know that I ever saw one) to complain about the doors, but I just tried to always go to the salad bar on the other side.

I have been to both, and they're excellent. It shouldn't be a long bus ride, which is nice. It's too bad there isn't a full day tour so that you could see both. (I checked my cruise, and they offer two separate afternoon tours.)

I saw someone on a scooter having a difficult time making it around one of the corners in a hallway, making me wonder if the corridors are slightly narrower than on other ships. Steward carts in the hall were a bit of a squeeze to get by walking without any assistance device. I don't know what someone on a scooter does when a cart is in the hallway.

I've never noticed that in any of HAL's spas. There often is a little "aromatherapy" device sending out steam, either near the check-in desk or in the hallway, but it didn't have any aroma that I detected. On one of the ships, the device was a round brown thing with steam coming out the top. It looked like an ACME bomb from a Roadrunner cartoon!

Your holiday experience can happen on almost any ship because so many families travel using the cabins that will take 3 or 4 people. But given that K'dam's stated capacity is around 2600 (with only 2 people per cabin), I don't think you will get the 1800 passenger experience again.

It's a good idea to browse online by doing dummy bookings to see what's available. But HAL doesn't show everything that's available, so if there's an area you like, but it doesn't show as available online, don't be afraid to ask. When I did the CO upgrade recently, it looked like all the midship cabins on one of the decks were sold. I mentioned this to my TA and she looked at her system and said, "Plenty of availability. Give me a couple cabin numbers." And I got my first choice.

I don't know if I would say the K'dam feels large. It certainly does not feel spacious. The promenade is narrow, with lots of turns to get around the "canned" life rafts. The only place to sit is on the benches that hold life jackets. The world Stage (Main showroom) is way too small for the number of passengers. When I sailed on K (two different times), if you wanted to get a seat for a show, you had to get there a half hour early. Forty-five minutes if you wanted a good seat (or had a preference for where you sat). The music venues along "Music Walk" are too small for the number of people who go there, so the crowd spills out into the walkway. Think Times Square on New Year's Eve, only louder. A really special itinerary would get me back on a Pinnacle ship, so never say never. But I will say not likely.

Thank you for posting this. whatsinport and cruisetimetables are great resources. I tend to chose "one-off" itineraries, so this information doesn't affect which cruise I book. But I do use it for planning purposes. If a port is going to be inundated with passengers from megaships, I do a tour that gets me out of the port or enjoy having the ship to myself.

I wonder if it depends on how many ships are at HMC? If there's only one, both island tenders can go to just one ship.

Something to look at in comparing itineraries is not just the ports, but how long the ship is in port. I hate feeling rushed to get back to the ship. I like Grand Turk better than HMC. You can walk beyond the cruise line's area and find beach bars (bucket of beer and free wifi!). I can't explain it. I guess I like that it's a real place, as opposed to a purpose-made development. I'm a minority voter here. I don't like the Pinnacle ships. IMO they feel more crowded. Cabins tend to be smaller than same grade on the older ships. I hope they did something about the MDR design for Rotterdam, because on K'dam, it was unpleasantly noisy. The lack of a proper promenade deck is another minus to me. I also dislike the layout of the thermal suite. The heated loungers are supposed to be a quiet, relaxing space, but on K'dam, that was the entry to the thermal suite, which made it noisy. The one thing I liked on K'dam that the smaller ships don't have was the movies by the pool. The music walk is a big deal on the Pinnacle ships. Because I dislike noisy, crowded places, I did not like it. But again, I'm in the minority. Sadly, there was little else by way of entertainment. HAL is making changes to their entertainment program, so it's hard to say what will be available late 24/early 25. I love the Vistas, and Zuiderdam is my favorite. I like the layout and the size. The thermal suite, my one big indulgence, is great. I recently sailed on Eurodam, and while it was a bit larger than I like (aft cabin made it a hike to the spa!), the ship was attractive, rode well, room was comfortable. One thing that Eurodam has that Zuiderdam (and all the Vistas) lack is Tamarind. If you like Asian cuisine, that's a big plus.

@Vict0riann, I'll be interested to learn whose "priority" was bettter/faster, CO or stars.

I had $200 shorex credit on my January cruise, and I was able to book tours in separate transactions. I booked inexpensive tours, and it let me use the "two tours up to $100 each" to pay for the three tours, which I hadn't expected.

I have a cruise booked for Feb 2024 and neither shore excursions nor specialty restaurants are available yet. That's HAL, consistently inconsistent. No, the HIA excursion credit is for excursions only. HAL cancelled an excursion I had on my recent cruise, and there wasn't anything else I wanted to book. The leftover shorex credit did not become available for anything else.

Stormin' the beach is right. I believe the tenders were from WWII.

Are you sure it was HMC? I remember those tenders "Little Norway 1" and "Little Norway 2" but we went to NCL's island, Great Stirrup Cay. Several comments about cruise lines "owning" islands. I thought they were all long-term leases.

I don't know which ship @vino100 is on, but the Vistas and maybe Signatures have a room to one side that can be set up with a long center table and then some people would be at side tables. Depending on how busy Pinnacle is, they could take up most of that room.

Thanks for the update, and yes, please do let us know when you get paid.

The service does do international shipping, but it's more expensive than domestic. I have shipped bags from the US to Southampton, England. It was around $100 more than shipping within the US. Shipping to Canada is more expensive, too. This is because the shipper acts as your customs agent. The forms for England required a very detailed list. Canada just needed a letter that said "Everything in here is my stuff." They give you a tracking number. The first time I did it, I was concerned because the bag was in customs for a few days, so I called DHL (the carrier Cunard was using). They told me not to worry, if a bag is early, they sometimes wait until they get around to it, but it would make the sailing. And the next day, tracking showed it had gone from Heathrow to Southampton. I haven't seen a porter an at airport in years. I haven't seen curbside luggage drops, either.

Six steps is a lot of planning and "what-ifs." I've had Uber drivers who thought just popping the trunk was enough assistance. Step 1 Call Luggage Forward (not luggage direct as I said earlier, that's the airport service). Luggage Forward® - Shipping & Luggage Delivery Worldwide Since 2005 Step 2. Pack Step 3. Arrive at your cabin and unpack.