cheeto

The staff can watch from the bridge wings and correct the smoking.

They do watch because on Glacier Bay day they called out a specific cabin on deck 7 for feeding the birds over the speakers. That would be funny if they had called out the cabin numbers of the smokers too. It is hard to hear the speakers from the balcony though so I am not sure if everyone can hear the announcements.

The spa contractors on most of the cruise lines are Steiner employees and most will give you a hard sell when you are relaxed and maybe naked.

:'):') I am so happy I was not sipping my coffee at this moment.. i thought it was too funny!

I really only mentioned those 2 negatives because we noticed them and a review should mention both the good and the bad. But really in all seriousness we considered them to be very LOW and they did not take away from our enjoyment of the cruise / Alaska. We really liked the Eurodam and HAL. One thing we are turned off by Royal Caribbean is their addiction to building MAMMOTH ships. We almost felt the Eurodam to be too large or maybe we are too lazy on vacation and don't want to walk from one side to the other all the time. I knew we would be far from the Neptune Lounge being AFT 4th deck but it was our first suite and I had no idea my daughter would fall in love with the chocolate covered strawberries there and that she would ask to go there every day multiple times a day to "see" what new snacks they had. I think HAL fits what we are looking in a cruise ship, I do wish they sailed the Caribbean in the summer. We have a RC cruise booked out of San Juan next June and I think we are going to miss HAL. With my daughter starting HS and being in the Marching Band, we are limited to early summer travel for the next 4 years.

No is an easy word to say.

I agree, and we did say NO several times. We don't remember feeling this way on any of our other cruises so it was new to us and it was a negative feeling for us.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Sorry that you had cig and cigar smoke while on your veranda. What deck was your Neptune suite and is there a chance it was coming down from the sea view deck where smoking is allowed?

I ask this because I would think all guest have been notified about no smoking on verandas. Understand some guests feel rules do not apply to them

We were on the 4th deck, port side. I know for sure there was one smoker to the side of us, not the next door cabin but either the one after or 2nd after. My DH took a quick picture of her hand on the railing with the cigarette. At the time while trying to enjoy the view, looking at the little small screen on the camera I could not tell exactly which one it was and I didn't want to break away to report it.

I did wonder if any of the smoke was coming from the smoking section because we did smell it and seemed to be coming from above and not the side wind. I wasn't really sure.

We just had our very first cruise with HA and first to Alaska. We are a family of 3 in our early 40's and daughter is 13. We absolutely enjoyed it and we even booked a future cruise deposit for all 3 of us on our last day of the cruise. This being a 7 day cruise in the Summer to Alaska, I understand that the demographics are a little different but we did not feel out of place or think it was a cruise exclusively for an older crowd at all. We really really liked the mix of guests and really enjoyed HA's "feel". We have cruised Disney, Royal Caribbean, and once with Celebrity many many years ago before our daughter was born.

We were in a neptune suite so I am not sure if that skews our thoughts on HA's service or not. Also my daughter has never used the kid's clubs on any of our cruises and prefers to be with us which is just fine with us. So this might also be important to families who do want to partake in the kid's clubs.

The negatives we did have about the cruise:

1. Smoking on balconies - We had 2 close smokers to our balcony and we had booked a corner wrap aft neptune suite specifically to spend as much time as possible looking at the amazing views and searching for animals. I would not say it was ruined but we did have to put up with smelling cigarette smoke and one time cigar smoke during Glacier Bay and other days. I would have reported it but I wasn't exactly sure who the offending balconies were. I did mention in my survey to HA that a simple "no smoking" sticker on the balcony door would help deter the offenses. We do not normally book suites but we do prefer the very aft/stern location on our other cruises and HA only has the corner suites available for 3 guests, the other stern cabins are only for 2 guests. After a lot of consideration we decided to pay the higher cost in order to be able to maximize our balcony time in Glacier Bay and views of Alaska; so we were a little disappointed with the smoking smell. But in all honesty, when we booked smoking WAS still allowed and we knew going in the risk. We were super thrilled to find out about the policy change starting in January, but it didn't help us at all. Hopefully HA will do more to inform guests about the new policy.

2. Hard Sells - Both my DH and myself did feel that virtually everywhere we went the first few days that we were given the hard sell speech. We enjoyed dinner at the Tamarind the first night and before we left the waitress or maybe hostess (I am not sure) came to our table and asked us if we had enjoyed our dinner and we of course all agreed at how good it was. We thought she was merely asking to know how it went, but her next comment was if we would like to come back and of course I was assuming she meant some time on a future cruise. I told her that we would definitely come again and she then proceeded to ask what day could she book me for our next dinner during our cruise. I then realized what she meant and told her that I wasn't sure and I would make arrangements later if we decided to come again. This happened with the Photography as well. And yes we got suckered into the Black Label complementary session. I had no idea it was going to be several thousand dollars for the package. We ended up purchasing only 7 pictures for a whole of money. I had asked for time to decide since we had NO plans of spending 1k on family portraits on our cruise that was already costing us a small fortune. She told us no that we only had the few minutes during our appointment to make a decision. My DH did not like that at all. She did the tactic of "asking her manager" for a small discount and guess what? He said yes. uh-huh. Any ways I did purchase the pictures because they came out nice and I have no idea when I would do it back home, yes I over paid but I wanted family pictures and now I have them. It will take 8 - 10 weeks for delivery because she said they "touch them up". I hope in the end they look as good as they present the portraits to be.

Other than those two negatives, which really are minor, the cruise was amazing and we are excited to plan for our future cruise with HA. We really did enjoy the Tamarind, more so than the Pinnacle. We did find the MDR a little hit or miss and we did not enjoy eating at the lido the few times we had no other choice available. I am not sure if I will be able to talk my DH into cruising on a ship without Tamarind which maybe limiting us somewhat.

I am waiting for my DH to work on our pictures so I can try to do a photo review.

This board was completely essential to all my planning and my family benefited from everything I learned here about both HA and Alaska. Thank you!

Nancy

Cheeto - We're on the same exact cruise! I wonder if our daughters would be interested in meeting (FB or Snapchat?) before the trip...?

I will definitely ask her tonight. I will let you know.

Curious to read the replies to this too. We have our 13 yr old daughter too. We will be on the eurodam on the 17th of June. She is too shy to go the teen club on her own so it will most likely be just the 3 of us together all the time. Which we enjoy anyways, I just hope she isn't too bored with us. I don't think it will be a problem since there is really only 1 true sea day. Glacier Bay should have us pretty busy and then the last day to Victoria I think we will be resting up from our intensive port days.

I did tell her we would go with her if she wanted to at least check out the Teen Club, so we shall see!

There are 2 reviews going on now from the Holland America board..

https://twocruisingsisters.wordpress.com/2017/05/20/leaving-seattle/ - this is a live blog for a cruise that departed yesterday.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2497409 - this is a review with lots of pics from the first cruise that left on 4/29/17 on HAL's Eurodam.

I am still waiting for the Alaska board to add the 2017 review folder at the top. We leave in less than 30 days and I am beyond excited. Can't wait!

Darn will miss the quilt show. But will be happy just to hit quilt shops. Not that I need fabric. I want fabric. So I guess that means I need fabric.:D

I know this feeling.. I am in the same boat and I am hoping to be able to convince my family to let me shop the quilt stores.

I have a related question. What if I only need a taxi to pick us up once we are finished? Do we still have to pay the $2 fee per person?

I hesitated to hijack the thread, but curiosity won out. What, exactly, is a true fjords itinerary?

Oh.. I am so happy you did, because I have this exact same question. I am interested in doing a Norway Fjord cruise next so I want to know too. I hope we find out.

They don't seem to be allowing the PDF either, oh well. I will take your word for it. I'm really exited that the Freedom is moving there because I've wanted to sail her, but was uninterested in her current route.

 

It sounds like they have released the information regarding where the ships will be deployed, but haven't actually opened up the bookings. I will keep my eyes out for them to open and I plan to book asap!

 

 

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It opened up Thursday Afternoon. I was able to put June 23rd on hold that night and booked a different cabin yesterday after more consideration. **But in order to do all this, I had to clear my history to even see it! and restart my computer. So Weird. But I was able to search and book after.

I am trying to book a corner aft for 3 and it won't show it (1700 or 1400), only gives me 7708 or 7408. I really don't like the forward facing view of that deck. I prefer deck 10. Do you think if I call them, i can book it?

I just called and was able to put 1700 on hold. I just need to pay online now, after I confirm everything. I don't know why RCCL website would not give it to me as an option. I even did a dummy reservation for 4 and it would not show it. It actually would only give me a handful of choices when I know most of the ship is available. Oh well, at least I able to book it.

I am trying to book a corner aft for 3 and it won't show it (1700 or 1400), only gives me 7708 or 7408. I really don't like the forward facing view of that deck. I prefer deck 10. Do you think if I call them, i can book it?

Help,

i can't see the Freedom sailings on RCCL.. i need for June 2018. Is the only way to book by phone?

makes sense. our cruise went down a little earlier in the week and today went up $500 pp. I checked my emails from last year and it was the Anniversary Sale that was offered at exactly this same time last year.

Our trip is the first week of August. I already have 87 pictures on my phone of the ship (Star Princess), and cruise, that are taken by others. All our excursions are booked. My wife on the other hand wants to know nothing. I am waiting for the new reviews to double check to see if I forgot anything. I'm surprised I have packed yet!! :D

I'm tempted to do a quick inventory check on clothes to see if any winter gear is missing/needed for Glacier Bay day. It will at least give me an alaskan cruise thing to do.;)

I can barely contain my excitement for our first cruise to Alaska this June. We booked a year ago and my patience is wearing thin, I want to go now! This board has been so helpful and I just can't wait for the Alaska season to begin so I can read the new reviews and see all the wonderful pictures. I can't believe the first Alaska sailings will be next month! YAY!

I have to set up small milestones in order to keep my excitement in check!

I have a good idea of what excursions we are doing and decided to follow the advice of staying near the Seattle Airport and taking the light rail into DT. This forum truly helped me make informed decisions and I am not worried at all, just excited.

Question on the 3 word TA, will they re-fare if price is lowered? I am trying to plan for the 2018 Summer release for the Caribbean.

oh Awsome, thank you!!

I am trying to get ready for the 2018 Release stampede. We are trying to travel with another and they are a family of 5. Are there any cabins on the Adventure that sleep 5?

Thank you!

I am not a big drinker but we have the explore4 promo on our 1st HAL cruise (Eurodam/alaska) so I would really like to take advantage of the promo with a few drinks. I enjoy Moscato or Riesling and from I what I have seen of drink menus, they don't have any under $8. Is this true? I am not sure that upgrading to the Elite plan would be worth it for me since I am not really a big drinker at all. Just not sure what kind of cocktail I could order that doesn't have a very strong alcohol taste. I know my Hubby will definitely enjoy these suggestions, I will need to share the list with him.

Last year on this very day, HA sent me an email for their "Celebrate National Plan a Cruise Month" promotion for up to an additional $400 OBC. Do you think they will offer this again this year?

I think you have just found out about "non-commissionable" fares. The cruise line takes their fare, and determines how much of that fare they will pay a TA a commission on (commissionable fare), and how much they won't pay a commission on. This is a completely arbitrary decision of the cruise lines, and the TA's don't really like it. However, it does allow some TA's to advertise the cruise fare as the "commissionable" portion, and then they call the "non-commissionable" portion as a "port charge" (differentiated from the legal port fee). You find that when you add the TA's fare and "port charge", you get a very close fare to the line's advertised fare.

You are so right!! I actually asked her the price break down and she mentioned the tax amount and the PORT amount. I then inquired about the PORT amount and told her that my HAL reservation does not list any PORT charges. Her answer was that it was being "hidden" in the cruise fare / already included.

The strange thing is that I went back and went through the motions on booking online and there are no PORT charges being added.

I decided to call to confirm the pricing and the agent I spoke with quoted me a lot higher than what the online price showed. I asked her to give me the price without Explore4 to see if that was the online price I saw but that was still higher. I guess in the end it is just a run around.

Online total price $6,481.94

Phone w/o EX4 $6,581.94

Phone w/ EX4 $6,861.94

The online total price lists Explore 4 and the same rebate she offered me as available bonus offers, but I am not 100% sure if they truly are in the price or not plus I would lose my cabin assignment by booking a new reservation online.