SilvertoGold

Excellent! We have had a sticker on the back of our room card and each bottle was crossed off as ordered. That does not solve the problem of having a wine from another package, but it is a record of what you have used and we have not had problems that way. We never use the package outside the MDR, so that helps, too. One cellarmaster, Bernie, was really superb, always ready and willing to fix things and he trained waiters on how to imput the computer for the packages.

On three Noordam cruises last yearwe bought package #2s and I liked one of the wines from Package #1. When we ordered my #1 wine we were charged the per bottle pricing. The Cellarmaster always fixed this mistake. It turned out that our main waiter in the MDR didn't know how to imput this (very odd occurrance, apparently) into the computer. The Cellermaster trained him in the procedure after the third time this happend. No more problems after that. YMMV, but it would be nice to get waiters who know how to do this.

About the fancy bag: we received something very similar in quality last year and it weighs a ton. I can't imagine lugging it around with anything in it. It did a nice job of keeping all my HAL paperwork tidy and in one placeon the ship and now at home it serves the staging ground for the next cruise :)

Thank you for these updates, much appreciated. There is so much comprehensive info and it gives an overall look at the fleet. A fun read for me.

Next I might try phoning the number instead of filing out the form. Or maybe just wait until Monday and use my real, live TA. I just hope her HAL rep is still an actual person. Thanks everyone for the info!

Has anyone used the CHAT feature? This morning I spent 20 minutes trying to interfacing with what I am thinking must have been AI. What a waste of time. The HAL website is so miserable to use I though I would us Chat to ask about why, when I look at a specific cruise, one page says insides and balconies are available (with pricing) and then when I click "continue" it shows everything is "unavailable". I wrote in Mariner numbers and CND pricing: got a quote in USD. Wrote I wanted CND and asked them to use my Mariner number as the quote was not even close to what I saw yesterday (higher by $1000s). What a turn off! Has anyone figured out how to use Chat with good results?

Sounds as if a lot of perks and extras are the difference, maybe a few different ports and or overnights. When I look at the pricing for some of these Legendary cruises the pricing seems to indicate you pay less (sometimes much less) for a regular cruise with very similar itineraries.

Excellent! Thanks for your help. The daffodils are upand blooming here!

We we wondering if this is the way to go if you do not have any pre-existing conditions. Questions: 1. can you buy this annual policy to include (changing) pre-existing conditions? And, 2. how reasonable is the pricing when you add on extra days beyond the 18? How was the snow out there a while ago? Vancouver had two days of really bad roads!

We have seen the green flash many times in our crusing days with HAL, farther south than you are right now, but never in Hawaii, so consider your sightings a huge bonus!

How are people handling travel medical insurance for these really "last minute" cruises? I can imagine doing it all the necessary planning with maybe 3 days notice, but not for 24 hours!

Great post and thanks for the local newpaper link. Interesting to read the coments by locals, how some are interested in more cruise ships. Glad the Zuiderdam sailed to this port, it all worked out well and the part about Captain Frank getting the ship into port under less than great conditions was fantastic info.

That check-in is definitely good. We have had an easy time of it when they do it that way. If there aren't any other ships in, so much the better, too!

Don't count on it but you may be lucky with the Vancouver boarding. However our experience is this is early in the season for Canada Place and it is usually not well organized. "No one is the boss, everyone is the boss". Good luck and will watch for your blog to see how it went for you. Which ship are you on this year?

The waiters will tell their manager so he can seat others at your table for that evening. Makes thing easier all around if the know in advance,

Really wonderful writing: I will enjoy your thread ;). San Diego is the only HAL embarkation port I prefer not to have to use but it comes in handy. Last we were there we did not show up early, for a change, and it was smoother than expected. Stay calm and carry on: this is a lovely cruise. Bon Voyage!

Go up to the Tamarind when you board: there will be someone around after about 2 pm. Take a look at the tables and ask for what you would like.They really do aim to please. If you are very loose about the time, you should have no problem getting a table to your liking. If this is the Koningsdam, we do not like having a table overlooking the pool.

Fantastic photos! This ship does a nice job with Tamarind. A bit more fancy than what we have usually seen. Great blog, great commentary. Thanks so much for a very enjoyable thread!

If you can find the Indonesian rice pudding it is excellent! Sometimes on the MDR menu and I have seen it in the Lido at the Asian station. YMMV, however. Have a great cruise!

Interesting to know, Mary. I wonder what is next? We love not being big drinkers and not having to figure out if HIA is worth it to us, whether Happy Hour has the old, new, newer or newest pricing type :)

Agree with this post. Carnival must be putting the screws on HAL to up their bottom line. With fares up in many cases and sold-out ships more noticible than usual, HAL can do the pricing dance with HIA and Happy Hour. I noticed with Happy Hour soon after the ships came back after Covid HAL was giving only 50% off the second drink. There appeared to be a free-for-all among the ships to come up with different pricing schemes. So,this latest Happy Hour pricing is at least better than it might be.

Give them time. HAL should raise the HIA price by $10 - $15 per day. Surprised they haven't yet.

Change the $11.50 to $11 What OP describes is HAL is cutting it too fine, rather silly way of pricing. I can't even see this as deliberate: just one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing. Having an invoice at the end of the cruise with a lot of ,50 , .75 and even $1.00 charges would look ridiculous.

I have to agree that the emergency number is next to useless. We had an international flight to the ship and the ETD/ETA was changed twice within 2 hours of the scheduled ETD. We phoned FlightEase to see we would be changed to a flight with better ETA but they had no idea, told us to phone the airline. Of course the airline wouldn't do anything so we just kept our fingers crossed. Worked out fine but we didn't much appreciate the serious lack of interest by FlightEase.

Nice to hear about this. Those notebooks have been used for a while now and we have seen them look back several pages to find info. They really seem to be trying to improve Guest Services and put it on a more useful and profesional level.