terrydtx

We had a huge FCC from having Covid last year on the Oosterdam, we used it to book our November Koingsdam cruise and we did not have to pay any deposit. Our invoice shows the applied FCC amount as the deposit.

We got a $100 OBC pp for our Nov. Koingsdam cruise as we were already at the highest category verandah cabin category when we added. CO.

We booked an aft facing Verandah cabin, the last one available, for our Koningsdam Nov 4th cruise. A month later we decided to buy CO for the CO dining room and the priority boarding and tendering. San Diego can be a very crowded boarding port so with CO we will not be in long lines, our cruise also had 2 tender ports. We did not want an upgrade in cabins as the Aft facing Verandah was already the highest category, so HAL gave us each a $100 OBC instead. The math for us worked perfectly. We also booked CO for our NE/Canada cruise next year on the Volendam. We booked a B category Vista Suite towards the aft end of the ship and the CO got us upgraded an A category midship Vista Suite. Without CO we would have booked the A Vista Suite, but by doing what we did, the upgrade paid for the CO and now we get the priority boarding and tendering on a cruise with 4 tender ports. We also get anytime dining and with CO we get a special priority line for the MDR seating since there is not a CO dining room on the Volendam.

We were on the Equinox last month in a Sky Suite with premium Wi-Fi and the service was the best of any cruise ship we have been on. Made Wi-Fi video calls from our phones and downloaded almost anything we wanted. Also used Whats Up app for calls too.

We have a Santiago Chile to Buenos Aires cruise booked for March 2025, but it is not with Celebrity, it is with Oceania for 18 days and was too good a deal to pass up.

I am with you on that, also muscles and scallops are better in NE/Canada than anywhere else. We will be on the 2024 Volendam NE/Canada cruise, and lobster rolls will be my lunch when on shore.

I agree with you 100%. The cruise line booking agents are paid by the cruise line and not the customers she also answers to only her employer, the cruise line. My TA works only for me and her customers, and if she fails to take care of my needs or requests, she knows she will lose my business. I have been with her for 15 years. For the same reason I would never buy a house or property from the seller's agent.

Yes you can change this by going to Guest services once onboard.

Book a private transport and you will have a car and driver waiting for you. We use Welcome Pickups, which you can book online. Welcome - Making travel easy, friendly, personal (welcomepickups.com)

You can bring any of these, the only plastic bottles not allowed are one use disposable types.

Exactly how it was done last year in Trieste in August on the Oosterdam.

I have worn my TB shirts on some non dressy nights as well, but what I wear and what you describe meets the suggested dress code 100% for all nights on any cruise line we cruise, HAL, Celebrity and Oceania. In colder climate cruises like Alaska and South America I will even wear my nice non-torn black designer jeans. I have not once in 20+ years of cruising been told to change what I was wearing to enter eany MDR.

Eden is usually the first specialty restaurant to book and sell out pre cruise, which maybe is why you can't reserve it for your cruise next month.

Eden is usually the first specialty restaurant to book and sell out pre cruise, which maybe why you can't reserve it for your cruise next month.

Unfortunately, you do not get any preferences for land hotel rooms and I know from personal experience. We did the cruise land tour in 2019 on the Noordam in a Neptune suite. The hotel room we got at a very old and run down Anchorage hotel was at best worse than any Motel 6. Our room must have had heavy smokers in our room before we checked in and it was so bad we couldn't stay in the room. I complained to the HAL representative and was told the hotel had no other rooms available and was sold out, I called HAL customer service in Seattle and got nowhere with them too. They refused to move us to any other hotel as they kept saying everything was sold out. We ended up sleeping with the sliding door to the balcony open for the 2 horrible nights we were there. I will never do any cruise tour if we do not have a choice of hotels and rooms. I will say when we got to Denali Lodge we did get one of the new suites in the new building without having to pay extra, so maybe this was HAL's way of saying sorry for Anchorage.

I got rid of all of my suits and one tux over 10 years ago, I have one sport coat for funerals and other than that it doesn't come out of my closet. Do not listen to some of the "Traditionalist" in this forum who would love seeing us dress like back in the 1990's., You do not have any need to wear a coat or tie any night on any HAL cruise. Dressy night for me means I wear a button up shirt and long pants or golf slacks. My button up shirt will most likely be a Tommy Bahama print or Hawaiian style shirt. On all other nights I wear polo or golf shirts with a collar and long kaki style pants that are very comfortable. I never wear shorts or a T shirt like some try to get away with. BTW what I wear meets the same dress standards for Celebrity and Oceania out other cruise lines we cruise with.

Update: My TA was able to get us booked with SM today at no extra cost in our cabin. So this was a big win for us.

HAL FE and Princess EZ air are almost identical. Best for one way flights or using different airlines for each way. Last year we booked Untied to Rome and home from Venice on Delta using FE. I think you have to book the full RT fare when you book, but I would call FE to ask about your question.

Hello fellow San Antonian. American airlines flies directly to Vancouver from DFW, we did it in 2019. Both AA and Alaska Airlines fly direct to Seattle from DFW. Flying to Vancouver will require going through customs at the airport while Seattle has no customs. As you know living in SAT it is hard to fly anywhere without going through Houston or DFW. Once you book your cruise check out HAL Flight Ease online to compare costs for flying to either city. In 2019 we got our air for a lot less on FE than we could book ourselves. We flew American to Vancouver and home from Anchorage on Air Alaska.

Just more of Celebrity being consistent about being inconsistent.

I remember the CC discussions when the change was announced last year about no set time seatings on E Class ships, which made sense do to them having 4 different and distinct MDR's. Now it appears that is no longer the case, at least on your cruise, maybe Celebrity corporate caved on all the complaints from people insisting on set time dining?

A lot of what airlines are doing with changing schedules and flights have nothing to do with FE but FE gets all the blame. We booked direct with AA to FLL for our cruise last month with Celebrity. AA a week before our cruise canceled out noon flight home and put us on a flight leaving before the ship docked. It took waiting on hold for 2 hours to get AA put us on a flight from Miami at 1:40pm. BTW AA never notified us of the change in flights, I caught it by checking 3 or 4 times a week online our flight schedules. Whether you book direct or with any cruise line you have to take responsibility for your flights, realizing changes happen all the time, by checking online frequently all of your flights. Both HAL's FE and Celebrity FBC are much better at notifying us about airline changes in flights and schedules. Our FE experience last year with a covid delay getting home from Venice sold us on FE customer service. We got put into quarantine for 3 days after our cruise in Venice and missed our Business Class flight home. Once we were cleared to fly home it took only one call to FE to get us rebooked the next day on a BC flight home, something no airline would have done.

From other threads on CO, many say the Lemon shrimp, Duck breast and Peruvian chicken are excellent. We have CO on our November Koingsdam cruise and can't wait.

With no drink package 18% tip is added to each drink bought.

If they are on CC, they would recognize you immediately, LOL