bcd2010

...One advantage in transferring is that TAs, whether a big-box warehouse retailer's Travel Dept, or an independent agency, usually offer substantial extras, i.e., OBC, extra premium dinners...

I have read here and elsewhere that FCC's are automatically transferred to the TA who handled the cruise I will be on. My question is more or less the opposite of OP's - when I book a FCC, I do not want the automatic transfer, I will be looking for a new TA - will they honor my request to not transfer until I notify them?

The TA I have works for an agency that has been identified as one who gives such perks as in the above quote - only I had to ask for a discount - she finally gave us 3% because she felt we already had a lot of (too much?) OBC from HAL - the anniversary OBC and dinners at Tamarind and Caneletto, welcome back OBC (because our last FCC was nearing expiration) and my son's shareholder OBC.

$10 for lunch and $29 for dinner -- per person.

 

If you are a 3 star Mariner you will get 25% off the meals. 4 and 5 star Mariners get 50% off the meals.

I know that 3* and above get discounts but must pay the full price if they pre-book online before the cruise, then get the discount once on board. Does the discount apply to LeCirque, also?

Thanks for the info on the soda card vs NA beverage card. There would be a savings with the soda card (but a trade off in product, i.e., fountain vs unopened can). I'm thinking it would be used more for the NA drinks and only an occasional soda - don't drink that much soda, water most of the time and we'll be carrying a case on. Unless I can confirm what I think I read here recently that we can order water for $3/6 pack on board.

Quote KK: "You can buy the regular Beverage cards -- $50, $100, or $250 cards and use them for non alcoholic ... drinks"

Just for clarification, does "non alcoholic" include sodas? Was going to buy DS the non-alcoholic card and me the soda card but if the NA card includes soda, will buy just the one card (larger amount, of course).

CC member WCB posts daily reports while on a WC, of which they have taken many. Something s/he mentions is that several activities take place after the first seating and those at the second seating miss out on them or get there late - some include special give-aways and gifts/prizes. Those who dine later have complained but more people eat early and they are the ones who are catered to. If those evening activities matter to you, consider this. I cannot remember which activities (others may be able to help out with this) but it seems to me they are games and special balls (e.g., black and white ball).

"I would never tell someone to ignore the written dress code. If they got turned away on my advice, I'd feel terrible. What's the poor guy supposed to say? "Why, yes. Yes I can read. But the anonymous people on CruiseCritic said that this was a perfectly acceptable outfit!"

Find a cause for celebration. Pop the cork on some Champagne. You've dressed up. Have a party."

Exactly! Thank you for pointing out these 2 important factors.

Just a quick followup - TA gave us a tiny discount. Next time I'll shop around more - health reasons have me too tired to do much now. Thanks for all your replies.

DS and I really like them and have dozed off - we were the only ones in the room, so no competition. We were on the Zaandam and Statendam, which do not have the hydro pool. Next we will be on the Eurodam for a week - does anyone who's cruised recently on a ship with the hydro pool know what the per week cost is? We would both sign up on embarkation day for the maximum discount.

I called an online agent that specializes in cruises (it's quite well-known on CC) to book a cruise - first time using an online agent. She said I would get an OBC and Dine Around package. When I looked it up, these come from various HAL promotions.

I was under the impression from what I've read here that such agencies also give you an OBC that offsets the price of the cruise by 8-10%, which is one of the reasons for using them. What do you think I should do? Should I tell her what I know and ask for an OBC from the agency?

See page 2 of this journal entry for photos of the Indonesian Tea: http://www.bcdenterprises.net/PCcruise/PDFs/909SeaDay.pdf

1. Omigosh, I have never seen anything that makes my mouth water so much!

2. Did you get this in the PG? I can't imagine the amount of time it would take enough to make for all/most/many pax in the MDR.

3. The ball looks like the "fillable" plastic ornaments they sell at craft stores around xmas time - I seem to recall they had larger ones (larger than the standard 3").

TY you Joanie for posting this.

Joanie - thank you for such a detailed answer! I've been wondering about this myself.

I am probably the only person who thinks that Stein Kruse's remarks to a client on a high dollar cruise was at best rude, perhaps unprofessional and cocky. To then laugh about it with the special few tosses it into really unprofessional. He is in charge of both cruise lines and it was a legit question, was the implication that Princess (one under his watch) is much lower than HAL?

No, you're not the only one, I got a negative vibe, too - hope you/we don't get flamed.

If HAL is looking for new places to cruise in the summer months, they should take a good look at northern Atlantic itineraries. There's lots of itineraries that could include New Brunswick, Newfoundland, St. Pierre & Miquelon, and even Greenland for variety of ports and duration.

They could sail from, and return to US ports that are easily reachable for most Americans and Canadians.

This, if it was 2 weeks or longer and round trip from a U.S. port, would tempt me to sail in the summer. What a refreshing set of ports!

I like to cruise when school is in session, so no, I would not - not in the Caribbean or anywhere else.

Would you mind sharing what the cost was for the all pictures package?

This was a B2B cruise, 2 weeks each segment so 4 weeks total. The photo package (3 years ago) was $299/week, half price for the second segment, so $450. We got at least 70 different photos and well over 100 with duplicates, e.g., formal portraits had a large photo and 2 smaller ones all on the same sheet. Because we bought the package, we made sure we got lots of pictures taken - every port, every formal night, every time we saw the ship's photographers. We ended up with far more pictures than we could ever use, but were able to sit at our leisure to select the ones we really wanted for the photo albums, etc. The rest we just put away with the other cruise-related "stuff". It was worth the price to us.

On our Panama Canal Cruise 3 years ago, we bought the whole (all photos) package. I can't remember that we had to find our photos more than once - after that they used facial recognition software and kept all our photos in a folder (they may even have used our ID photo with the FR software from the start). At the end of the cruise, we just picked them up. It appeared every photo taken was in the folder. The only exception was group photos, e.g., formal night photo of everyone at our table. We had to find those and get one put aside before everyone else from the table/group found them and claimed them. That was 3 years ago - facial recognition software is even better now. If you buy a smaller package, it's in their best interest to collect all you photos in a folder and let you choose from the whole set at the end of the cruise because you might end up buying more.

I'll have to try a dummy booking for the new ship and see how the prices compare.

Please post what you find.

To answer your popcorn questions, yes we plan to make some in our room occassionally. The popcorn the ship supplies to the Wajang Theater tends to be oily and salty. If you do not attend the movie, then you have to sneak in the entrance and swipe a couple of bags off of the tray. Once it is gone, then that's all there is for the day. We got the idea to bring a hotair popcorn maker when we heard on a previous trip that the occupants in one of the suites was supplied a small microwave oven to pop it. We have not had the chance to try it yet, but will soon.

Someone wondered earlier why you had so much luggage (7 big pieces) - let's see... popcorn popper, cheese bars (mentioned about being out in the sun on the dock on embarkation day) and other snacks, real books (not kindle), garden supplies... it does add up doesn't it?

I agree with what you said early on that clothes are not the bulk of what you take - there's all that "stuff"!

There has been discussion here that in addition to losing public space, there is an impact on HVAC and plumbing systems that were designed for x number of cabins but now have to support x + y number of cabins.

We have received many emails asking if we were blogging this cruise.

We did it as an email blog but we are posting the blog link for anyone who would like to read it. http://1drv.ms/1DNgf66

Orlin and Barbara

Is there any way to get on your email list? My email: critic at bcdenterprises dot net

Kween Karen did this on various grand voyages - left a small amount in each of the ports she visited. She posted pictures with an arrow pointing to them and captioned it "Mom". See photos in ports on her world cruise blog: http://world.kweenkaren.com/

For burial at sea, you can do an internet search for biodegradable urns which are designed to carry the ashes then break up rather quickly once they are lowered/dropped/placed in the ocean. HAL coordinates this with you, and can ask the ships clergy person to officiate if you want a ceremony, etc. Do let them know.

Edited to add: The biodegradable urns come in many styles and are quite decorative so you could use them at a memorial service before taking them to scatter ashore. You may be able to buy them locally rather than online but I'm sure they will cost more, if that's a consideration.

Looks like cruise lines have to look more closely at their psychological assessments of prospective cruise staff.

From the article:

He learned to be violent and to abusively dominate women from early in his life. A deep psychological assessment might reveal a problem - I don't know how much they (the cruise lines) delve into such things. I'm not a psychologist and if there is someone very knowledgeable about whether this could be discovered in a typical pre-hiring interview and assessment, perhaps s/he could let us know. I do know that abused children can become masters at hiding it.

I hope I don't need to say this but just in case: I am not excusing, condoning or mitigating his horrible actions, just addressing the quoted comment.

...they don't want to offend passengers.

Every brochure says something like this, which is from the ReadySetSail cruise catalog: "The two-tier main Dining Room with its sea views, white linens, sparkling crystal, and Rosenthal china, elevates each dining occasion." That's what they are selling us.

It is not unreasonable to want the ambiance of said "elevated" experience to include enforcement of the suggested dress code. Those who respect the attire suggestions, the occasion and their fellow diners' right to a somewhat upscale experience are not out of line if they feel offended. Those who do not respect these things, including those who don't enforce the code, are doing the offending.

MO. Aim your flame throwers somewhere else (need a suggestion as to where?).