terrydtx

On 3/30/2024 at 4:34 PM, Toad said:

Oh dear I will have to think of an amazing alternative 😏

8 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Doh! I didn't think of that! 🙄  Actually, I thought that the mic on the phone was disabled when using BT.  I will need to experiment!

Thanks!

Most BT hearing aids only stream one way to the HA so you have to use the mic in the phone to speak. However there are some newer generation HAs coming to the market that will work both ways much like BT ear buds. They utilize the built-in mics in the behind the ear hearing aids. This would then be no different that seeing people without hearing aids who use ear buds, like I Pods, for 2 way conversations.

2 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

As I am just newly admitted to this audio assistance world, how do you deal with actually speaking on the 'phone'.  I am very consious of appearing to speak to no one when having a conversation on the BT hearing aids.  I tried talking with my hand over my mouth, but that just muffles the sound to the aids.  How do you manage?

(apologies for thread drift)

 I am not conscious at all of how it looks to others, but at least I do not walk around with the much more obvious ear buds showing. I do not have to be loud when speaking like with ear buds, I just speak into the mic on my phone.

9 hours ago, cindy1957 said:

My research is indicating no need for a special visa for or May trip to Netherlands and Norway. Just my passport. Am I correct?

Correct just make sure your passport expiration date is not less than 6 months from your return date.

2 hours ago, Menocchio said:

Or a very specific regional stereotype. Maybe people in Gothenburg are infamous for doing that. I've never been to Sweden. 

 

It does annoy me more when people use their phones in public than when they have face-to-face conversations. I'm not sure why. I think it's mostly because people are usually pretty good about moderating their volume to best match the actual space. But they crank up the volume on their phones and shout into them. 

 

Personally I find it mortifying if my phone makes a sound in public. Like if parts of my anatomy made a noise in public. But I think my attitude is becoming increasingly rare, and I worry it's going to become much worse. I'm seeing (and hearing) a lot of parents hand their kids a phone or tablet and having them play games or videos with sound on speaker. I'm not going to criticize the parents for the screentime- That's a debate I have no interest in participating in and I probably prefer to half hear an episode of Bluey while at the diner than have a toddler melt down at the next table. But I do wish they'd start teaching the etiquette of using mute or headphones/earbuds from a very early age.

Fortunately I wear hearing aids that stream to my ears from my phone by Bluetooth, so I never need to use the speaker when making calls. When I have a call in a nosy place the nearing aids block out the background noise when the phone is streaming to them.

9 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I'm confused about that, too.  I don't know if OP will explain.

A victim of AI spellchecking,

35 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

If you know, tell us which one it was so we can avoid her YouTube videos.

I have no idea, but I saw her streaming in the Buffets and going over every dish she was trying. I never watch or listen to any of these so call influencers. IMO just a bunch of Millennials or younger, to lazy to get a real job.

Last year on the Celebrity Apex one night in the Fine Cuts Steak house, the table next to us, one of those so called "Influencers" had set up the table with all of her streaming equipment so she could have dinner with her "followers".  I complained first to her about the noise and distraction, to which she told me it was her "right" to do this. I then asked the manager to be moved to another table, but none were available, and the manager told me the woman had pre-cleared her direct streaming. We got up and left demanding we not be charged for our dinner we did not eat, we did get the credit back. I saw this same woman doing her streaming all over the ship but Celebrity would do nothing to stop her. Thankfully this woman was not in the Retreat so we did not have to put up with her in Luminae and the Retreat Lounge. I would hope HAL would not allow this same very annoying and distracting activities by these "Influencers"

18 hours ago, Dismomx5 said:

Also note, that if you watch some and turn it off.....you have to start all over again. 😉 

After we board and go to our cabin to drop off our carry on items, I turn on the TV and the video, then leave for lunch and let the video run. Have heard the safety message so many times that I do not need to watch again.

The HAL app is a waste of time and almost useless until you board. It would be nice if we could see the menus for all nights of our cruise before we board, this can be done with Celebrity's app. 

2 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

If the itinerary works out on HAL for my next cruise,  I will try HAL again.  For Celebrity the entertainment is grade C at best.  The music walk is something that I just might enjoy.  On Celebrity I found myself skipping most of the shows.

22 days on the Edge in January and we only went to 2 shows, the magician and comedian, the rest has zero appeal to us. Last November on the HAL Koningsdam we spent every evening in the Billboard Onboard venue.

11 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

She was very vague, but reading between the lines it sounds like they are going to focus on revolutionizing Solstice class ships since they still have a lot of life left in them, but Summit class ships will not see major renovations since they're much closer to the end of their useful life.  They will simply get decor updates, like paint, carpet, upholstery etc.

That was my take as well, but no time lines its all about the cash needed. My best guess this will be the end of the M class ships as they are just getting too old  and will be sold off in the next few years.

35 minutes ago, odysee said:

Elite Plus used also to get free pressing (think was 2 items) and 1 dry cleaning item.  Did these benefits disappear ?

On the Edge in January I was told the dry-cleaning benefit was no longer available.

 Last June we were on the Equinox with our 13 year old granddaughter in a Sky Suite. She got all of the HIA Retreat amenities, except the drinks package for her was the non alcohol one so she could have all the mock drinks, sodas and bottled water she wanted. Her gratuities were also included as the cruise was before they took that away from retreat bookings.

On 2/15/2024 at 2:29 AM, Bobal said:

It's actually 30 items (pair of socks count as one) , but that's a lot of laundry. Do be careful what you put in though. I had 2 items ruined on our recent cruise- pair of shorts shrunk and white top came back really grubby looking. Washing all goes in together and on a very hot wash

It is not limited to 30 items, it is one full bag. We used this 4 times on our 2 Edge B2B cruises in January. No limits just stuff the provided bag with as much as you can and write Elite on the laundry list. We had no problems and every item came back folded and clean, no shrinking either as we wrote cold water wash on the laundry list.

We did the double Denali with HAL in 2019. At that time the dining plan was ridiculous in price. We found that by crossing the street at Mckinnley Lodge we could dine at several excellent Non-HAL restaurants, including one very good Pizza and Italian food restaurant. The Loge had a very nice coffee venue where we got sweet rolls and coffee for a reasonable price for breakfast. The Denali tour had an option for a box lunch that was about $15pp as I recall. I was very happy we did not waste our money on the dining plan.

3 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

We jumped to HAL for the price, itineraries, food, cabins, and service.  We are easy going on entertainment, and live music works well for us

We jumped to HAL for the same reasons. We can sail on a new modern ship with no sun rooms passed of as a balcony, and have better selections and quality of great food in the MDR and even the Lido buffets.  We love the HAL Billboard Onboard music venue and is all the entertainment we need. We also have the options of longer itineraries without having to book B2B's that are of more intertest to us.

48 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

What I believe will happen — now that the prolific posting about it has done their marketing for them — is that they will raise the prices to their original pricing when it was new on the market.  The introductory pricing was $50/day for pinnacle ships and $35/day for non-pinnacle ships.

 

And when very few booked at those prices, the price dropped to $25 pp per day.

2 minutes ago, Sea Hag said:

This is what I've found to be true. I actually just look at the cost of the cabin I want to book, knowing I'll add CO and that the cost will be ballparky the same for the lower cabin with CO as for the higher level without.

My fear is that as more and more book this way with CO, HAL will take it away as a CO benefit. 

12 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

Re: Club Orange - depending on the cabin you booked the 'free' cabin upgrade is definitely worth looking into if you haven't already.  I booked the cheapest Oceanview cabin and was then able to use CO to upgrade to a larger Oceanview cabin that would have cost nearly 1,000 more if I had booked it originally.

We have done the same with CO, if you do it right the cost of the upgraded cabin often pays the added cost for CO. On our August Volendam cruise, we wanted a midship A category Vista Suite, we booked a B category added C and then upgraded to the A midship one we wanted The difference in cost from B to the A was within $10 of the cost for CO.

18 hours ago, rwethereyet1969 said:

 

 

Thank you for the detailed reply.  To clarify, could my DH take both of our cards and have one drink applied to each card without me being physically present?

Yes, I have done it many times. With a 15 drink per day limit on the HIA drink package this is the best way to do what you are asking.

9 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

So how has HAL changed since the Pandemic?

 

Many on this board say that all of the cruise lines have taken a step back.  Yet when I go to their respective pages, most say it is the same ...

We have been on 7 Celebrity cruises and 2 HAL cruises post Covid. While Celebrity has made many changes to the negative, specially concerning the Retreat Sky Suites, I can't say HAL is any worse than before covid. We found the food and service in HAL MDR's and Club Orange in many cases to be superior to Celebrity and Luminae, prior to Covid I would say this was the opposite.

On 3/18/2024 at 8:54 AM, Ipeeinthepools said:

Has Celebrity abandoned the “All Included” advertising campaign?  How long has Celebrity been using the “Have It All” description?   Lately I’ve been more interested in cruising with Holland America and I really don’t pay much attention to the Celebrity advertising campaigns, but this one caught my eye.  Have it All is the description Holland America uses for their drinks, wifi, free specialty ding and shore excursion credit package.  When I first saw this email, I thought it was a HAL email.  Seems like Celebrity might be trying to get some HAL passengers by creating this confusion.

Our last, which will be our last, Celebrity cruise was in January. We are now looking elsewhere after seeing too many changes by Celebrity taking away previous amenities while raising prices 40% or more. We have future cruises now booked with HAL and Oceania. We are also looking at Silversea, Windstar and other real premium and luxury cruise lines.

5 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Aligns with my experience - bring in carry-on, fully visible and disclosed, prepared to pay corkage, never charged.

Mine too

11 hours ago, cfgrandma said:

Does FaceTime calls work with the Surf plan?

 

Carolyn

No you will need premium and use WiFi calling on your phone to FaceTime.