NCTribeFan

Looking forward to Hawaii on her next November.

There's an entire board here on Cruise Critic dedicated to Travel Insurance. I used to purchase coverage per trip via insuremytrip dot com. Once I got to the point where I was sailing more than twice a year &/or taking road trips, I started buying an annual policy from Allianz.

There are no deck chairs on the exterior promenade deck!?!? I sailed K'dam 5 years ago. I don't recall that being the case on that ship. But that was one of the rare times I booked a balcony, so maybe I sat out there to read. I just spent 32 nights on Carnival Pride and I thought that was the first cruise (probably close to 50 total) that there were no loungers out there. I was not happy. Try finding anywhere even remotely quiet on a Carnival ship! Even empty lounges & other areas have awful pop music blasting 24/7. I do wish this class ship had the wonderful large interior cabins like the Vista and Signature class ships have. Love them. So roomy. Anyway, I most definitely will check out Rotterdam's library. I'm just happy they actually have one!

Yes, would be nice if there was more seating. I'll be on the ship for 26 nights beginning 4/3/23 with the TA. As someone who sails in inside cabins, it is nice to be able to find somewhere quiet to sit and read and not have to retreat to the cabin to get away from horrible background music and people who think they must bellow at full volume at all times. I expect it will be too cold in the north Atlantic to sit out on the Promenade deck, which is typically where I park myself. I'll make sure to visit the library early on and get some reading material.

I have 2 or 3 somewhere. Will find them and pack for my Rotterdam sailing. Have HIA on the TA but the 2 5-night cruises following are casino offers, so have free drinks while gambling. I can use these for pre-dinner drinks a few nights on those legs. Just have to find them! 😄

Yep, as much as hate the paper and ink waste, I print out every confirmation of everything that I pre-purchase and take it with me so I have proof of purchase. Have never pre-purchased casino funds. I may consider doing that before my Rotterdam sailing in the spring. So far, the pre-booked specialty dinners have never been correctly booked. I tend to go straight to the podium on boarding day to check. Some times I've been able to get them to straighten it out. Others, I've had to get my CO maitre d to help. Others, at GS while there about other issues. They encourage people to book those early, but then they don't get them right and then tell you the time YOU ALREADY BOOKED is full. That's annoying. I recently booked Volendam for Hawaii next fall. My first HAL cruise was to Hawaii on Zaandam. I'm looking forward to that class ship again.

The perks are use-it-or-lose-it. All of them. I don't come close to drinking 15 drinks a day. I don't particularly like ship excursions. I do enjoy the specialty dining. When I can add HIA at $50/day, it's "worth" it for me. Once I hit 4* and start getting some real discounts, that may change. Hey, I'm an accountant. I do a "cost benefit analysis" for every single thing I do in life. Can't help myself! 😄

Yes, when I spoke with her to finalize the booking, she got me OBC that hadn't shown up when I put the cruise on hold. So, there is some obvious benefit to using a PCC. Would someone from the general 800 # have found that? Possibly. But I just prefer to work with one person. I use a TA for booking other lines. She declined to book my "free" casino offers on HAL so I decided to give all my HAL bookings to my PCC. I use my TA for other lines. Back to the thread title - I didn't ask about booking with an online agency. I asked about online with HAL vs a PCC. So, yes, dragging up (yet again) the "benefits" of booking with an online agency was outside the scope of my original question. If people want that info, they're welcome to start a thread about it so I can avoid it altogether. 😁

I started this thread with a fairly simple question. Pretty sure we all know about big online TAs. I'm not interested. And I'm also pretty sure that those of us here don't need the lectures about how stupid we're being if we opt to not use one. So please stop hijacking threads to "educate" us dummies.

I'd also like to see an Amazon Explorer offered. I couldn't go this year and was disappointed that there wasn't one for 2023. I was looking at Alaska 2024 this morning. I saw a couple of sailings on NA, and then there was nothing, so don't know if she'll be moving to a different home port or what. I liked the idea of doing a B2B (northbound/southbound). I only see that offered once. Guess I'll just wait and see.

I did put a hold on the sailing and emailed my PCC. She called me the next morning and I gave her my deposit. When my original PCC left, we were in the middle of adding either HIA or CO to a booking and I needed to get that done. I believe I called his extension and left a message, hoping that someone had taken over his clients and was checking his VM. I couple of days later, I got a call from someone saying she was part of the group of "unassigned" PCCs that handle that sort of situation. She said she'd be sure someone was assigned to me quickly since I needed assistance on that booking. I got an email from the new PCC introducing herself and asking me to call her to talk about my needs. She had been quite helpful up until the cancellation (surprise!). But she did get an added OBC for me that hadn't shown up when I was booking online.. Yes, I could do it all myself. I know exactly what cabin I want and what the fare should be. But sometimes the PCC sees something that hasn't popped for me when I log in to check fares. That's why I use a PCC.

Pins? What pins? I turned 3 star after my NA cruise last December. Most of my points were from spending, not nights. I did not receive a pin when I was on Zuidy in June on an Alaska B2B. I've never received a pin. I have a drawer full of ship pins from Carnival (think I have 35 cruises and once you reach Platinum, you get a pin on every sailing). Used to have them on my lanyard, but they got too heavy. 😄

So, my PCC left after being with HAL for many years. I was surprised when he was still with the firm after the restart (because so many said theirs had departed).. But he's gone. I have a new PCC and she was ok the first couple of times I needed her. I called and left a voicemail to cancel the fall cruise I'd recently booked and heard nothing from her. Sent an email a week later and got no response for five days when I finally got the cancellation email. I'm looking to replace that cruise and see a decent fare online. If I go ahead and book it myself (while the deposit is 50%), will she still get credit for the booking and be able to handle any questions I may have or upgrade/additions I may want? My guy I had at Carnival for years always told me to go ahead and grab what I wanted (I always know exactly what I want when I get ready to book), because he'd get the credit and could help with any changes. Don't know if HAL hand'es it the same way or not. Thanks for your help!

It's all just marketing, people. Pretty sure every cruise line does it. Probably every business that sells to the public does it. I just look for the cruise I want in the time frame and if I find a price I'm willing to pay, I book. if it comes with perks, great. If not, then I wait and see if I can add some later. Sometimes I just go on a bare bones fare and pay for what I use. I try not to get sucked into "sale" adverts.

What I find ironic is that for the "free" casino offers, I pay $200 plus taxes/fees but get $200 OBC. And then that OBC is considered non-refundable so can't be used in the casino. What? But I just paid $200 for that casino offer and you say I can't use the offsetting OBC in the casino? How does that make any sense? Since my main entertainment is evening gambling (I'm a low roller), it would be really nice to know whether NR OBC can actually be used there or not. I bought a pair of earrings (which I've worn once) to use up some OBC because I wasn't sure whether it would be lost or whether, in the end, it would offset my total spending. To make matters more confusing, on parent company's Carnival line, your OBC can be used in the casino even though it's called non-refundable. I had huge OBC on each leg of my recent B2B2B and ended up spending it all. Friends on that sailing, who do not gamble, went to the candy store and bough gift cards to use theirs up, which they'll then apply to balances due on upcoming sailings. Is there anywhere on HAL ships where you can purchase gift cards or would you have to go online before the end of the cruise and purchase that way?

I switched to T-Mobile (Magenta Max) just before my trip to Rome in October and a B2B2B to Tampa on Carnival Pride. I did NOT try to use the phone on the ship except for what was included in my purchased wi-fi plan. So only photos I sent were via FB. I'll have wi-fi on the Rotterdam TA (booked HIA) but on the following two 5-night sailings, I don't have wi-fi. Would be nice to know if I can use my phone on those sea days to send w/o incurring extra charges. Typically, I'll just wait until the next day while in port.

Sadly, that's a bit out of my price range. Well, I could do it if I stayed home until then, but that's not going to happen! 😄

Mary, where/how did you purchase the OBC? Did you go online and do that or can you purchase somewhere on the ship? I'll probably purchase from AARP (if I have any points; they may have expired).

I'll continue to read this thread but, sadly, I have to cancel my November 2023 sailing.

I cruise in January and really don't want to wait to book but I guess I will. I'll look for a (semi) affordable room that has a refundable rate and keep checking with ValueTrips. Maybe they'll actually update prior to January.

Only had CO twice. First was Eurodam last November (first sailing once she arrived in the US). At the pier, I tried to head down the Priority line and was stopped. Told the rep I had Priority. She didn't want to let me in that line although I was showing her that my boarding pass (printed) clearly said Priority on it. But only two stars at that time. I finally said I had Club Orange and she was OK with that. Seriously, if my boarding pass shows Priority, why did she want to argue with me about it? In Vancouver, I took the HAL bus from Seattle, so we didn't arrive until after two. The confusion in the terminal there was the Verifly (or not) lines. I don't even remember seeing a Priority check-in line there but it was a mess. Funny that on Carnival, ,when they started selling their Faster To The Fun add-on, so started putting Priority on luggage tags for those, Platinum, and Diamond status pax, my luggage arrived later than ever. It was almost like the people who boarded first got their luggage last. Not much of a perk!!

My CO boarding passes have shown Priority on them. Nothing on the luggage tags. Don't think having CO gets your luggage delivered any quicker than anyone else's. No idea about boarding times.

I haven't come across a cruise line yet that is consistent in how the do anything. It is frustrating.

I had CO on Eurodam (Nov 2021) and Zuidy (June 2022). Both added after initial booking. But those were both Casino "free" offers, so the initial bookings had to be paid-in-full when booked. For the upcoming Rotterdam TA next April, I had booked the sailing, including HIA with my TA. While on Zuidy in June, the Anniversary sale came out. I convinced friends with me to book that while on board. They got a great rate. I bought a FCC while on board. When I got home, I cancelled my original booking with my TA and rebooked using my PCC, just the base Anniversary fare. It was less than half my original booking. Then I added HIA. Friends did as well and got the last large, angled balcony. Then I added CO and selected a different cabin. I did NOT pay for CO at that time. So, the only payment on this upcoming sailing is the $100 deposit from the FCC. Total including CO is still a couple hundred dollars less than my original booking. I added the 2 5-night sailings after the TA, both casino freebies and added CO. Paid both in full when booked. Really looking forward to the separate dining on Rotterdam. Not sure I'll add it for upcoming Vista-class sailings.

I have this booked for 2023. Well, just to Santiago. With the Rotterdam TA next spring, and hoping to book the Westerdam TP for spring 2024, I didn't have room in my cruise budget for the full 31 days. Just recently off 32 nights on Carnival Pride from Rome to Tampa. Wi-fi was nonexistent for a good part of the cruise. Not just in the middle of the Atlantic but also in the Med. So it isn't just HAL. How's the ship? I've sailed Zuidy twice and love the size and layout. I'll be in one of my favorite Cat J Large Interior cabins (I'm solo, so cost matters). LOVE those cabins! Miss having Tamarind but pretty sure I won't go hungry. Looking forward to reading about the ports.