smoothdancer

As everyone else has said, what a shame you did not know there was no cost in the main dining room, maybe next time!!

BTW, I was on the Eastern part of this cruise and I stayed on the ship while in half Moon and the lido was open with plenty of options for lunch. It sounds like thought you had a good visit there.

I don't understand removing the hotel costs either. If I go to a resturant I would not consider not tipping. I don't know why hotel costs would be any different.

I am also looking at the August 2018 Boston to Montreal.

The only flight out we can get is at 4:40PM.

There is a 10AM but I am afraid this cuts it too close.

For anyone who has gone this route do you know if they offer shore excursions in Montreal where the bring your luggage on the tour with you and then bring you to the airport?

I recently returned from a 7 day Holiday cruise of the Eurodam. While what I have to say is probably not new to most of you on this board... here are my impressions.

We use to sail often and then changed up our vacations to land vacations. So while we have been on 10+ cruises, this was my first time on a HAL ship after not taking a cruise close to 5+ years.

We arrived at the pier by taxi around 12:30, a half hour prior to the published boarding time. How nice, there were no lines at all and I think, at most, by 12:45 we had boarded. I also liked that the cabin was ready and I did not have to wait around to get into my cabin. On the flip side exiting the ship when the cruise ended was just as easy.... This was wonderful.!!

I found a few unexpected in our cabin. I entered the ship with known on board spending.

100 for my CCL stock and 200 for booking thru my Hilton Honors CC. I also received prepaid hotel fees(tips).. I am not sure how that came about, it just showed up on my cabin desk. Also don't know where the bottle of champagne came from! Both were a nice surprise.

We booked a balcony cabin, well decorated and plenty of storage . For me though what I liked the best about the stateroom was the flat screen TV facing the bed. We laid around watching movies, so it was in a perfect spot. There was a large variety of things for us to watch, also nice!! Well I know I had a room stewart because my cabin was always made up, but I never saw him. I appreciated the non intrusive way this was carried out.

I liked the talk on board for new HAL cruisers. The informal chat gave me information I may not of known otherwise.

Dinner twice at Pinnacle and twice at the Japanese resturant. While I read prior great reviews on Pinnacle we liked the Japanese better. There was nothing wrong with Pinnacle, it just did not wow me. The other resturant the service did wow me with the wait staff friendly and really on top of everything. Not to mention I really enjoyed the food.

We were at first disappointed with the main dining room. Without a reservation we were put at a table right by the door and the worst of it was people waiting for a table were crowded around our table. It was right by a linen closet and wait staff in and out of the closet...AUGGH We ate quick and left. This table should not have been there at all. The next time we booked a reservation for a large table, enjoyed the company and ended up much happier.

I have some digestive issues and need to be careful with what I eat.There was very little at the buffet that I was willing to chance I so did not eat there much. However since the days that I have cruised it was good to see that self serve is now gone and the salad station on the ship was impressive and good. The wait service at the buffet always seemed to be on top of things. I knew there were other options for me than a buffet so overall, no food or dining complaints.

Onto the things that of what I have to say that may not be so well received.

Well, this was a holiday cruise and maybe there were more kids than normal. The kids used the lido pool while I was usually in the adult pool section and personaly I was not bothered by the kids. One day while sitting at a table a fellow was screaming at a server because there were 2 kids swiming in the pool in the AM. This fellow treated the server so horrible and I could see he was near tears.... The fellow did not want a resolution he just wanted to scream and belittle the server...All I could think of is why would anyone treat anothe person this way. The next day at the Lido pool eating breakfast I again saw another gent screaming at a server because he addressed him while eating his breakfast..I continued to see this a few more times through out the cruise. This is something I have never seen before either on a cruise or land vacation. I found it upsetting and even thought of it after I left the ship. I just dont undersand this behavior. Is this unique to HAL, I wondered?.

Next unfavorable topic, smoking!!

I am a smoker and will pick a ship that has a smoking section I can go to. This feature is important to me. There were, I dont know, maybe 8 tables in a smoking section by the adult pool and I found the arrangements acceptable. The tables were shared by the smokers and all was fine. Interesting, when I first got on board I noticed a lady grab an ash tray off of one of the tables and move to another table a bit away from this section... A server pretty quickly let her know she could not smoke there. Then as the cruise went on I noticed that they expanded the smoking area quite a bit, and in my opinion not necessary.... I think on this cruise there may have been more smokers than normal, but things did definetly shift for some unknown reason... Who knows maybe a smoker complained. So as a smoker, why would this bother me? If the ship is non smoking, I will not be on that ship..period.. I need the smoking section to be reasonable and not take over a large section of the ship so that the powers to be will continue to offer smoking sections. IMO, this was a miss by the crew to expand the section. OK, rant over.

We attended a few shows, they were neither great or bad. We enjoyed them enough.

For us this cruise was a week of relaxation, we had previously been to all ports so we did not do many excursions. On sea days the chairs were taken pretty fast so I did use the pools/chairs on port days... All was well and we reached our goal of just a relaxing week.

A evening note... This was a holiday cruise but even so I found on the optional formal nights most ladies were dressed for the evening and a good number of the gents in either a tux or suit... Since dressing up is enjoyable to me, I was happy with this.

So at the end of the week HAL left a good impression with me. I walked off of the ship with the feeling that this was a good vacation and can see myself booking another cruise with HAL again.

hope you will all find this amusing...

Wearing these shoes around the house with socks to make them comfortable.

Kinda look the the grinch!! Merry X-mas!!

If not I have these Ann kleins that are so cute too... .

Very into red this year!!

I am quite interested in purchasing an omega necklace.

Right now X-mas sales are pretty good.

I cant decide if I should wait while we are in St Thomas or if I would make out better purchasing now. Any thoughts?

oh good, I am so glad you all agree!

Good point about the new shoes, thought.

I bought a pair of Birkenstock sandles for the trip and have been wearing them around the house the last couple of weeks to mold them to my feet... I think I am going to have to switch this week to the red shoes! Just another reason for my husband to shake his head wondering what on earth is she doing now!!

Love that dress.

I really don't think this is over the top at all.

I would certainly wear it.

talking about red shoes!!

I am going on a X mas cruise and I searched high and low for the perfect pair of red pumps and bag. After sending back more than a few I purchased on line I found the most awesome pump, that is just the right height for a ship, while still attractive.I had my heart set on a black lace dress with red pumps for Christmas dinner.. Success

So now I also have a white dress with a blue color block on the sides and sleeves (3/4).

Do you think I can get away with wearing the red pumps again without looking like the flag!!

I cant stand the idea that I can only wear these shoes once on the cruise and they wont go with anything else I am bringing... That, and we are flying Spirit and I will only bring one suitcase so watching my room in the suitcase.

I cant seem to find on the HAL website where to call to reserve a cabana.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.. might have to change my mind on waiting!

LOL, and I am the opposite.

I prefer not to lock myself into a schedule while on vacation, and will not book dinner reservations in advance. I will say though, we are not very picky on the time we go to dinner, so that helps.

I have never cruised HAL before. Do you think I will have a problem getting a reservation, if I wait until we are on the ship?

If not, no problem as I am sure we will like the main dining room just fine.

Actually, I am far from a kid but I am a tad concerned about the main dining room.

I have "controlled" digestive problems where I just cannot over eat or eat to much or I end up feeling horrible all evening. So I eat smaller portions, and not starters or multiple courses and then I feel fine. From cruising prior, I know there is enough on the menu that I can make good choices without requesting any special menus. Yet my husband really enjoys the multiple courses so the MDR is the right choice for us. And we like meeting people at dinner so I would not want to take the experience away from my husband and eat solo. And you all know the servers note when you are not ordering and try to help with alternatives.

I am a bit worried that when I skip some servings I might make other at the table uneasy while they are eating and I am not. This meal situation/limitation is fairly a new development for me and have not had to deal with this on prior cruises. It is making me a bit nervous.

I work with a gal, and her parents live in PR.

She tells me that the airlines and packages she sends from NJ to PR are very delayed.

Yet she also tells me that San Juan is pretty much up and running and it is just packages and airlines that are still struggling.

It may be that the cruise lines have assessed the port stop and all is OK, while airlines are different... I certainly feel the pain and sorrow of Canadian travelers but I have confidence that as a port stop HAL might be OK

Just my 2 cents!..

.

I never heard of a carry on drop of location.. That is sure nice. I have never been on HAL before. I am wondering if anyone one who has been on recent sailings has seen this option. Love this idea.

I am on a 7 day cruise in December and if I could, I would cancel this trip.

I do know however that the cruise contract does not guarantee ports and not a valid reason to request a refund or cancellation. I don't expect or would ask for either. And it is not just HAL, all cruise contracts read this way and it is usually not a big risk.. Unfortunately this time the risk did not work in my favor.

I have been to all the ports on the Eastern Caribbean so changing ports is not a huge issue with me. What is however is that these Islands are not what we are use to seeing or enjoying. They are in bad shape and it is simply not a port change but more than likely not going to be enjoyable stops. Of course the islands want to get you back there soon so they can begin to generate income for all the people who live there, and try to get back to normal. I cant fault the islands for wanting this but I am realistic enough not to expect island life as normal.

I know many cruisers are OK with this and get tons of enjoyment just being on the ship. I am not one of these people. While I love the ships I equally love the stops. This is a year of savings for me and what I thought my vacation would be is not what it will be.... Just my honest take on this. I will have a good time regardless, just not what I had hoped for. If I had a crystal ball and knew this in advance I would be going on a land trip to Aruba!!

I download a copy of my brokerage statement containing the CCL holding. I convert the page with the info into a jpg. Then I use paint to select and cut any information other than my name/address, the brokerage company and the CCL holding. I saved the new jpg and sent it to corp for the shareholder credit which I received.

Perfect, thats what I will do.

Thanks

I own over 100 shares of carnival stock. I did not of course buy the stock for the credit, but in addition to this being a well performing stock in my portfolio, this is, in my opinion a very impressive benefit to the shareholder.

So now I would like to use this benefit. It bothers me that I would have to send my brokerage statement to HAL which I consider confidential financial information... What have others done? black out all the other stocks and account number?, ask your broker for a statement of CCL stocks owned?

I wonder if I am the only one uncomfortable with faxing this information, when it is a part of a larger brokerage statement.

I am looking at a cruise that sails over X-Mas. I was wondering if more ladies dress formal over a holiday cruise... or not!

Thanks

Any more comments on what the ladies wear? This will be my first time on HAL

From my point of view... Well OK, not dancing with the stars POV but....

In the competitions I do I hate when a coach and judge we use is judging us... They know all the imperfections we have and they score us much harder than someone who has not worked with us.... It is much harder to empress someone who knows you.....just my 2 cents...

Lois.. for a few years I also stopped watching this show, then for some reason I started to watch it last season... For me it was one of the best dancing on this show I have seen in years, so you never know... For me the prior season affected me deeply and motivated me to work much harder to achieve what I know I am capable of and tap into my emotions of what I can give to dance, what it can give back to me.... (Ok sappy part of post over)

Regarding Allison as SYTUCD... Actually she started her dancing early on as a young child in ballroom dance and then moved on to contemporary.... Do not discount her ability to access ballroom dancing... Often you will find dancers that move from one type of dance to another. Just my personal opinion but I think she will bring a lot to the judges table...

On the comp circut, Len has been judging at the comps in the states lately... So I understand why he may be missing... Lately I often see Len as a judge. He is a well respected judge, less the drama you see on DWTS... In competition they just give out a placement score with no conversation at all.... In fact a competitor is prohibited from having any conversation with a judge at all....

I am looking forward to the show. LOL, I cant believe I am saying this but I will miss Max. I will be on a wonderful 3 week cruise as the show begins, but oh poor me, I will take a greek cruise over this show.....I have been waiting for this cruise for over a year and it is almost here... Yippie

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Funny, I am going to miss this show too...

When they changed the host to Erin, I did not care one way or another but I have to say after this season I have really come to like her and think this was a good decision.. I loved her look for the final show (and her hair style.) Such a simple look but still so elegant.. I loved the dress. Giving me an itch to buy a gown even though, sigh, our next cruise is on NCL where formal is not the norm.

I understand why some of you would prefer that they not bring back someone like Meryl, a dead ringer. But for me the last few weeks of the show, and as a dancer myself I was just floored with her ability and loved watching her dance. For me it made this season very special for me to watch...

OMG, Len??? I did not read this, It would be a shame if we loose him, he is really the only one who has the credentials to judge. I mean, Carrie Ann has never even danced ballroom, is a joke, but as long as Len i there I can half tolerate her comments... I would be so very sad to loose him as a judge.

Great season!

Late to the conversation....

But if you would like to wear fishnets I would suggest you buy dance fishnets... Why?

Dancers fishnets have extra padding on the sole of the foot because after a while fishnets can hurt in a shoe... I guess because I dance I am not offensive to fishnets in a open toe, I think they look fine...

So if still something you would like to do go to Danceshopper.com Good selection of fishnets, good quality.