Jen1000

I am very prone to motion sickness and would never go on a cruise not prepared.  At any time conditions can change and it may get rough.  For example, a cruise I took in January was very smooth and then a wind and cold front came in and the ship was really rocking and some people felt sick. Luckily that was only for 1.5 days or the 8 night cruise.

I always take OTC motion sickness pills and increase them if the cruise is rough or take the minimum if it is smooth.  I also wear Sea Bands.  I keep on hand saltines, ginger cookies, ginger tea and some sort of ginger lozenge or candy (last cruise I took Up Spring stomach settle and have taken other brands and types in the past).  

Some other tricks if you start to feel ill is to get outside in fresh air on as low a deck and mid ship as possible.  Hopefully, you cabin is low and mid ship as that really helps not feel sick.

Jen

The cruise was not to the PC.  We went to Belize, Cozumel, Roatan, Grand Cayman and Costa Maya out of Tampa.  

I don't think there was the hairy chest contest on this cruise but I could have missed it on the schedule.  It is a bit harder for me to stay on top of all activities with the app.  Carnival's app was easier to use for activities vs. the Princess app.  Late in the cruise I found the printed schedules were near the Piazza Cafe with the puzzles of the day.

The Serenity area was free.  

We never figured out if the overboard was a prank or if someone saw something fall off the ship and thought it was a person.  What I was impressed with was how professionally and calmly it was dealt with.  There was a plan and the staff executed that plan well.  

Jen

I was on the Carnival Pride last month out of Tampa for 8 nights.  I have been on HAL, Princess, RC, Celebrity and Carnival in the past.  Most recently on Princess I heard multiple people criticizing Carnival and they definitely thought that a Carnival cruise was beneath them.  It was fun to let them know we like Carnival and see how they respond.

I think each of the lines does different things well.  Carnival is great with activities and entertainment and I found that to be true on the Pride.  The cruise director and his team were great.  I think HAL overall has better food than Carnival but lacks in activities.  I remember one night in the main show room on HAL was pretty bad and people in my party walked out.  Other entertainment on HAL is superior to Carnival. 

The staff was very good on the Pride and no complaints there.  The balcony cabin we had on the Pride was a good size and in good shape.  The cabin was larger than my balcony cabin on a recent Princess cruise.  The cabin TV was really small and the channel choices are a joke, there are a lot of Carnival channels and almost no real channels to watch.  I don't watch a lot of TV on a cruise but I do like to watch some and could not find much worth watching.

Good Food on Pride - I found the dining room to be good and was happy with dinner and ate there 7 of my 8 dinners.  I ate breakfast in the dining room twice and it is better than the breakfast buffet.  The pizza at the Pizza Pirate station was great. PP was the only food  available after 11 PM aside from paid room service.  Lunch and dinner "buffet" station was overall very good and there is carved meat at lunch and dinner and at some meals the most delicious mashed potatoes.  Blue Iguana is great.  I loved the meat tacos and also went there for breakfast a few times.  They have arepas at breakfast and they were delicious, especially with beans.

Not so good Food on Pride - The dessert station on the Lido was not to my taste and there was almost no dessert I liked or finished.  The Chopstix station was not good.  There is soup at Chopstix that was fine but the rest of the food was not good.  

We had a couple of odd incidents on the trip.  We did stop to make contact with people in a small boat to see if they needed assistance.  The people on the boat did not want to get on the ship and in the end the ship provided food, blankets, water and a radio.  Another day we had a "person overboard" incident.  After the ship went back and there was a good amount of looking no one was found.  Everyone on board had to report to their muster stations and check in.  It took a while and there were people called by name that had not checked in but in the end all passengers, crew and contractors were accounted for, so it was a false alarm.  Both incidents were handled very professionally by the crew.

I hope this helps and have a great trip.

Jen

If you will return to see Chichen Itza another time in a way that will not require so much time in transit, save it for then.  If not, go with the cruise ship.  Chichen Itza is far superior to Tulum.

Jen

I went on the October 19 80's cruise out of LA. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time.  Because I live in SoCal the ports were not the appeal, the theme was the draw and it is an easy drive for us to the port.  We did get off in both ports and did short activities and then got back on the ship.  As I recall, there were things to do when we got back on the ship.  We had DSB, Wanted and Carlos Oscar on our cruise.  The bands were really good.  Wanted also did a New Wave show in a smaller venue and that was awesome as well.  We saw 2 different Carlos Oscar shows and he was hysterical.  

Jen in SoCal

I am just off a Princess cruise and have a Carnival cruise booked for January so I have been receiving Carnival's emails about the changes.  I am not bothered by most of the changes at Carnival because most do not pertain to me.  However, having all room service at a fee (except for some limited breakfast items from 6 AM to 10 AM) does bother me.  On Princess there was only the International Cafe for late night snacks and it was often out of most items so we would order a snack from room service.  There is a good selection of free room service items on Princess.  Carnival is now charging for everything except the "continental" breakfast from 6 AM to 10 AM.  So far I don't think Carnival has any free dining after 11 PM but I cannot be sure.

Jen

The bus ride was not bad, you get to see a lot of Belize from the bus, which I actually enjoy.  On the way back we stopped for lunch so that broke up the trip back.  The day we visited was not very crowded so that was great as well.   I have not been to Lamanai but I have been to several others ruins big and small and Xunantunich is still one of my favorites.  I would only book with the cruise line though.  We were the last bus back and rode the last tender back!

Jen

In Belize is Xunantunich offered by your cruise line?  If so, I recommend that over Altun Ha.  Xunantunich is far from the port but I did the tour with the cruise line and would only do it with the cruise line to be safe in terms of time.  

Jen

If I want to go January 15 to Atlantis do I book the night of the 15th?  How early can I arrive at Comfort Suites to get my Atlantis passes?

How best to get there from the port, we will be on Royal?

I actually stayed at the CS a few years back and it was great.  

19 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

American greenbacks and yes

Thank you

I assume S and S for on board spending but I wondered if it was in USD or Euros.

I have a Carnival gift card and the find print says something like ship board account and shops need to be in USD.

Jen

We will be on a Legend Med cruise in 2020.  Is the on board currency in USD?

Will there be the tipping added to the account in USD?

Thanks,

Jen

59 minutes ago, bound4dbeach said:

I just got off the Legend 4149. 4K room between lifeboats.    The doors have been replaced with 2 floor to ceiling windows.   I knew that and was fine with it.   You want to be on deck to go side to side for best views and for uncooperative wildlife.

 

its still a great value room!

Thanks for the information.

I am going ahead with the 4K, disappointed it will not open but that is OK.  I was on HA in January with an obstructed OV cabin behind a life boat and it was fine.

As for needing a balcony in Alaska, I had a 4K in Alaska and others had balcony cabins in my group.  I do not think it is a necessity to have a balcony, there was plenty of room to go on deck.  How much time will you be in your cabin?  How much extra is it? 

For our Med cruise I know I will rarely be in the cabin so it is not worth it to me to get a balcony but to others in my group it is.

Jen

That is too bad.  I have tried finding pictures or videos but have not found anything recent.  We have had 4K before and really liked them.

Jen

We will be on the Carnival Legend for a Med cruise in 2020 and booking cabins now.

4K- Do these still open for fresh air?  

Starboard side balcony cabins deck 4- can you smell smoke from deck 3?

Thanks,

Jen

On 1/18/2019 at 10:57 AM, rotjeknor said:

 According to a staff member this was done because the games became too competitive , with people using their phones to look up answers . On our last Rotterdam cruise we did win HAL cookbooks on the last day though 😉

Members of the EXC team also participate in hosting activities , at least they did on Zuiderdam last february and the Rotterdam in april. They hosted several Trivia games ( animal sounds and travel trivia) as well as some games on deck.

When we first boarded the ship my cousin said there was a group in the elevator studying for trivia!!! I have been on some cruises with multi day games to be the ship champions, those were pretty competitive.  My brother was even booed one time when he showed up for the progressive trivia to join my Mom who was sitting alone.   I cannot imagine that the trivia is any more competitive on HAL than the other lines lol!!! 

I was on an 11 night Celebrity cruise and it was pretty competitive and they had a variety of nice prizes (accumulate points and buy prizes on the last night).  Royal has a variety of prizes so it is not always the same thing.  I have not been on Carnival in a while but the ships on a stick and medals to me are just fun.  It doesn't really matter, we play trivia because we have fun.  I would not pick a cruise over the trivia prizes, it is just good to know.  

The EXC team did travel trivia each afternoon as well.  There were several sessions of trivia each day, just all of it after lunch so my comment is there was not a lot happening in the AM in general and it was often in conflict with other quality activities or our late dinner seating that they switched us to once on board.  The EXC team also did a few talks (ports on your own and other talks in general about Mexico) so you are right, they chip in with activities.  

There was also a couple of events in the art gallery that the lady in charge of the gallery ran, one trivia (my cousin was the only attendee) and a find the hidden objects in the art on the last sea day that I did attend.  The find the objects was well attended and fun.  Prizes for all were postcards of the art and the grand prize a bottle of champagne.  

Jen

On 1/17/2019 at 8:52 AM, Mimiya11 said:

Thanks for your review as we set sail this Sunday for the first time on HA.   Glad to read that both the food and entertainment were great.   I am particularly thrilled that the Lido is not self service.  A few questions

- Wondering how easy it is to get a table for breakfast and what times seemed busiest?

- Did you notice if they were offering discount on specialty restaurants on the first night?  We are going to Tamarind regardless but was curious.

- How is the coffee or will I be going to buy lattes each morning?

 

Regardless, am happy to be on a cruise considering we are expecting mega snow this weekend.   

Sorry I did not get back quickly, you probably already left.  But in case others see these questions, I will answer.  

It was usually easy to get a table at breakfast but we are on the early side.  It seemed busiest around 9 on sea days and it was packed at 8 on debarkation day.  In port we had pretty early departures so we went to breakfast early and had no trouble.  Typical lunch times were busy on sea days.  We ate all diners in the MDR.

There was a 25% discount on at least one specialty restaurant on the first night.  I do not recall if it was one specific restaurant or all of them.

I do not drink coffee but those in my party that do were happy with the coffee and none of them bought any coffee on the ship.  There is a good assortment of tea bags for those who drink tea.

On 1/17/2019 at 8:45 AM, Classiccruiser777 said:

Next month we will be on our first Eurodam cruise though we’ve taken several HAL cruises. Any tips you have that are specific to this ship?

The ship is pretty small so easy to get around and find everything.  I have not been on HAL before so not sure what is different about this ship vs. others.  I did not know about the games in the lounge off the casino until my brother found them.  Food is not the same on the two buffet sides so take a look around.  We started going in to the main show room on deck 1 so that we did not have to walk down so many stairs to sit near the front.

The pins would make sense if they had Mexico, California/San Diego, the ports of call, etc.  We got was Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Caribbean, it was just pretty funny at some point.

Good to know HAL is light on morning on activities on sea days in general.  We will be planning another big family cruise and need to weigh everything out for next time.

My last cruise was Oasis of the Seas and the entertainment was phenomenal.  I was not expecting anything like that though!  Food and entertainment is subjective of course.

Jen  

Have fun!

One more complaint, the trivia prize is totally awful.  They give a HAL pin for winning at trivia.  It was always a pin.  The kicker is, there are none that say Mexico.  We now have pins from destinations that we were not on.  These are by far the worst prizes on any cruise I have been on.  Also, I think there was only 2 people on the activities staff, the CD and her assistant so they are spread thin.

Jen

We just sailed the Eurodam from 1/6/19 to 1/13/19. 

Background-  12 in our group from 16 to 82 of extended family, 5 cabins.  This is my 9th cruise but first on HAL.  I have been on Carnival, Celebrity and RCL.  8 of us live in SoCal, 2 in SF and 2 in Oregon.  Most of us are well traveled.

Internet- My SIL bought middle tier on embarkation Sunday it was $99.99 for the entire cruise.  I bought the middle tier just after midnight at about 1 AM Monday and it was $89.99 for the duration of cruise.  For the most part the internet worked well all over the ship but at times it would be spotty or stop working for a bit.

Checking in water-  We checked in 3 flats of water, no problem.  They were delivered to our cabins.  One flat was still intact at the end of the cruise and my brother checked it as luggage for debarkation.  The water was delivered in tact with our luggage on arrival and at baggage claim on debarkation.

Entertainment-

BB King- Great band, very talented musicians, especially the trumpet player.  The female was ill and only sang the last night. 

Billboard- Fun piano bar duo, the male had just got on board when we did.  

Lincoln Center- Again great musicians

Stage Shows- Enjoyed 1000 Steps, not so crazy about One World.  4 in our group left One World after about 3 minutes.  Comedian excellent.  Really enjoyed the BBC Earth with live orchestra.  I did not see the magician or the show the final night that was the comedian and magician with new material.

Activities-  Really enjoyed the Mexican ambassadors.  Great entertainment with the folkloric shows.  Not much of interest to our group in the AM on sea days.  No morning trivia like all other lines I have been on.  It seemed that all of the activities we would enjoy were lumped at the same time in the afternoon.  This is one area this ship could be improved.

Food-  Loved that at the buffet the staff serves the majority of the food.  I dislike using the same serving utensils as hundreds as other people so this was a biggie to us.  We all agreed that the food was great in both the Lido and the MDR.  Great fries at Dive In.  Tried a piece of pizza and it was OK.  Compared to Carnival, Celebrity and RCL, we all agreed this was the best food we have had.  Liked that there was a legitimate late night buffet each night from 10:30 to 11:30.

Staff-  Incredibly friendly and accommodating.  Top end of what we have experienced on other lines.  I have no complaints about the staff, they were really amazing.

Other guests-  I was expecting an older crowd but it was actually skewed more to middle age, with some younger and some older.  There were about 1/3 the number of kids on the ship per our waiter vs. the holiday weeks prior to ours.  Kids running around at the pool was a bit dangerous and no one said anything.

Ship- nice small size and in very good shape.  No smoking indoors!!!!

Cabins- I was in an obstructed OV.  The view was mostly of one of the shorter life boats so we could see light and some things over the life boat.  The cabin seemed smaller than other ships but the bathroom was much better with a tub, room to actually move around some.  Lots of cabinets and storage, we did not even need it all.  

TV- I did not watch much but there was a very good selection of live TV, movies, America's Test Kitchen, etc. plus the dinner menu.  I was on one ship with so little TV it became a joke that I kept watching the same episode of Big Bank Theory over and over in various languages!

Question, please ask......

Jen

We arrived at the terminal about 11:45 and we were on the ship by 12:30 and in the buffet before 1!

Jen

Thank you all, very helpful.

Does anyone know when check in and boarding starts in San Diego?  My documents say 1 PM but I would expect it is earlier.  We were planning to arrive about 11 but I am wondering if that is too early.

Thanks,

Jen

16 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Welcome to Holland America, Jen!  You will receive the same rewards as a Star Mariner.  Here is a link to the rewards:  Mariner Society Rewards

Do I need to provide HAL with my Carnival number to get the rewards?  Some on our cruise have cruised HAL previously and I would like to join them at the lunch and brunch.

Thanks,

Jen