Marelaine

This is not a dirty little HAL secret. The two other cruise lines that I have sailed do the same thing. When shopping for cruises for two passengers during early booking, they only show the cabins for two. As the lower occupancy cabins sell, they open up the higher occupancy cabins to all. I test this by making dummy bookings for three or four. Voila! Those cabins with three or four births open up. I call my TA and tell him which cabin I want and have never been denied.

Why they do this? The cabin price is the same whether there are one, two, three, or four passengers. But the bars, casinos, gift shops, specialty restaurants, and excursions make more money on the higher occupancy cabins. Also, they can’t put four passengers in a cabin for two. 
 

I wonder if the Upgrade Fairy might make an offer to you if she really wanted your cabin for someone else.

14 hours ago, dockman said:

Must be nice to sail  with HAL and get an offer for a free cruise??  Did OP spend a massive amount of $$ or play a ton in the casino?  If so maybe i can understand.

 

 I have been on 20 HAL cruises and never ever got any offer for free anything.

 

How do i get on the give me a free cruise list??  

After our first HAL cruise in November, I received an offer from the casino of a free inside cabin. It also included a $150 casino credit and free drinks while 

playing in the casino. There were many cruises to choose from. I didn’t respond because I thought it sounded too good to be true. 
 

My qualifications are one 9 day HAL Caribbean  cruise in a balcony cabin with the HIA package. On the days I went to the casino, I invested $25 to $50. On the next to last day, I won $500 and cashed out. Back in my cabin, I checked our account and discovered our cabin charges for the cruise tallied $504. Im not exactly a high roller or a big spender. 
 

If I get another offer, I’m going to book with upgrade to a window cabin and CO. 

Try clearing your cache and browser history. Then restart your device. Works for me every time I get the Bad Request error message.

With those prices, it's tempting to buy the unlimited package and have all my clothes cleaned before the end of the cruise. It would be wonderful to not have all that laundry to do when we get home.

On 9/2/2023 at 4:04 AM, Crew News said:

ROAST BEEF PANINI* caramelized onions, focaccia roll, Gruyere, cheese, Dijon mustard, shredded lettuce is available on the Zandaam Room Service menu:  Room Service Menu for Zandaam

 

 

Is that as good as it sounds?

3 hours ago, 1teach53 said:

“ 3. Perrier - we had Perrier at every bar and restaurant on the ship - every day and night. The Perrier are the single serving size bottles. When at a restaurant, we also ordered and received the large Pellegrino bottles for sharing. “ 

 

You were very fortunate!! NOT true on this, Westerdam 5-7-23 through 5-20-23 ! 

Can’t wait to pack my bags tonight!! Never felt this happy / elated to get off a cruise!! 
Boy ! HAL has changed, not for the better!! 
Go ahead haters start your hate- I’m speaking truth & observed facts, ( here & now) and over 5 Stars of experience on HAL. 

It's so sad to look forward to a cruise for months and then be disappointed.
I hope your next adventure is positive.
 

For the same reason, have gone to Guest Services on the first day and asked to trade my husband's CAL package to premium non-alcohol. We've always been accommodated, no questions asked. 

5 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Yes, the crew has lists - some of us have seen them on occasion.

 

Since @0106 was so kind as to find the thread - here is the post by Schmoo confirming the crew handbook also in that thread.  the remainder is their quote from it:

 

Here's a link to the employee handbook.  Scroll down to the "Tipping Not Required Policy" section.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2597164-tipping/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-56025003

 

And I quote:

"All ships have the Rewards for Excellence (RfE) Plan which consists of Hotel Service Charges and Beverage Service Charges.  If a guest chooses to adjust out of the RfE Plan and instead provide cash tips to an employee, the employee is required to turn in this cash to their Department Head so the money can be added to the RfE plan.  Any "tips" received above and beyond the guests standard amount may be kept by the crewmember.:"

 

This leads to another question. Are the cabin stewards notified of which guests have removed auto-grats? They must since they are required to pool tips from those guests.

I called HAL because a cruise I booked through a travel agent didn't show on my account. It was because the agent didn't enter my Mariner number to the booking. The HAL agent told me I could call Hall for any questions, purchases etc....other than paying for the cruise.

 

13 hours ago, iceman93 said:

Me too.  But judging by the number of posts piling on about how ridiculously disgusting this behavior is, I think you and I must be the outliers.

I'm with you, too. Crocs and some Tevas are waterproof and meant to wear in dry and wet conditions. They are washable and dry quickly. Why are they different from water shoes? Or bare feet, for that matter. Would it be bothersome if someone walked through the pool barefoot and then entered the hot tub?
 

On 4/3/2023 at 8:35 AM, PACD_JG said:

I'm curious as well.  Don't think I've ever seen anybody wear shoes in a pool.

People wear water shoes in a pool for exercise. Water walking, barefoot, for 30 minutes will likely irritate and cause calluses. 

It's better to have meds and not need them. Bring a pack of Bonine (meclizine) with you, just in case. Make sure you spend time on the open deck while you acclimate to the movement of the ship.

3 hours ago, lissie said:

If I eat too early - I get hungry again later in the evening - late sitting on Cunard was 8:30 or 8:15 which was fine by us - particularly if afternoon tea had happened! 

Oh dear, I forgot about afternoon tea. When we indulge in tea, we skip dinner. I look forward to that treat.

1 hour ago, Destiny0315 said:

 

So far my take away from this thread is...don't book an inside room if your looking to get 'born again'.🙂

 It takes a balcony or higher for me to have one of those 'O God!' moments. 🤣

2 hours ago, lissie said:

Is this an American thing eating so early? I've not eaten before 6pm since I was about 10!  I guess we'll be doing late sitting or anytime dining. We are cruising Greenland and Iceland and many of the ports we don't leave until 7pm so I guess no one will be do early sitting 

Yes, we get too hungry for dinner at eight.  🙂

Six o'clock dinner is our preference. It's a good thing that we are all different. The MDR can't accommodate all passengers at the same time.

Our neighbors on a Celebrity cruise were comprised of parents and their two teenage sons. One son spent the day talking on his cell phone on his balcony. Early in the cruise, he received news that his friend was killed in an accident. I was on my balcony when he broke the news to his mother and when he received other calls from friends commiserating about the tragedy. Needless to say, I did not enjoy my balcony on that cruise. Neither did I call in a complaint to guest services because of the circumstances. 

@RedneckBob We were advised on one cruise that a couple on the previous cruise was arrested in Dominica for having a 'religious experience' on their port-facing balcony while in port. 

Once, we had neighbors who enjoyed playing music on their balcony. Fortunately, for me, they enjoyed the same classic rock that I like.  

3 hours ago, bebe08 said:

We went every night on a 10 day cruise in September and the sets were always different.  I never found it overly loud and there were often people up dancing.  Was so much fun 🙂 There may be the odd song that gets repeated, but certainly lots of variety.  We loved it! 

 

Also loved the Dutch Cafe 🙂 It can get busy but service is quick and they will give you a number and bring your order to your table.  

Thank you so much.
 

On 2/22/2023 at 10:26 AM, albingirl said:

It's all in the eyes of the beholder. We weren't bored in the evenings. We loved Bb King show and thought this one was outstanding. We are late diners, so that may have something to do with never being bored. 

 

 

 

Is there a different show in BB King and Rollingstone every night or do the bands play the same sets every night? Were there any Lincoln Stage concerts? This will be our first HAL cruise and the music is what I'm excited about.

On 2/21/2023 at 3:15 PM, dreamer321 said:

Can someone explain to me how reusing your filthy disgusting FreeStyle cup over and over again in the FreeStyle machine is OK but they want you so use a clean cup each time you get a drink from the fountain dispensers in the Lido Market? I don't have a drink package but I drink a lot of ice tea and will bring a large insulated metal cup to fill up and take with me.  

 

(Yes, for you germophobes out there, I will use a clean HAL provided cup each time to fill it up with ice and either ice tea  from the dispenser or brew some fresh hot tea myself.)

I'm with you on that. I haven't been on a ship with a FreeStyle machine, yet, but I've seen them in fast food restaurants, such as Mo's. They are disgusting, sticky messes with customers refilling their dirty cups I'd rather have a bartender pour a fountain soda or give me a can.

The Nojitos are refreshing - mint, lime syrup, seltzer with a little lime wedge and a cherry. ❤️ We used to call them Lime Rickeys. And the Virigin Mudslide if you're trying to gain weight. 🤣

2 hours ago, mfs2k said:

So my homemade short cutoff jeans from 1974 are ok even though I’ve gained over 125 pounds since then ?

We'll need to see a picture of that before we weigh in.

On 7/14/2022 at 2:39 PM, Torfamm said:

We sail on both lines frequently and find that they are more alike than different.  There are pros and cons to both and I can't say that I have a clear favorite, the decision is usually based on itinerary.

 

in my opinion, Celebrity has significantly better food and we love that there is no smoking anywhere inside the ship, including the casino. Smoking in the casino is the biggest negative to sailing with Princess for me.

 

On Princess, we like the fact that there is savory food available in the International Cafe rather than just the pastries and desserts available in Cafe al Bacio on Celebrity. We also like that availability of self-serve laundry on Princess ships.  It makes a big difference on long trips. We also enjoy formal nights. We also like that option to order from the Medallion app on Princess ships, it's especially convenient for coffee in the morning and enjoy formal nights.

It was disappointing when Celebrity went to sweets only at Cafe al Bacio. But if anyone wants afternoon tea, head to the buffet. Celebrity puts out a nice spread of savory sandwiches, charcuterie, pastries, and fruit.

Duplicate

It's not awkward, at all. As a regular balcony passenger, who researches, and then researches some more before I book my cabin, I would know what my dining assignment is. If friends in a suite mentioned that we could join them in Luminae at $30 each one evening, we would be delighted to work out arrangements to try  (and pay for)  Luminae that one night. If the friends invited and paid for our dinner, we would find some other way to thank them for their hospitality. 

I would not expect to eat every single meal with my friends who happen to be on the same cruise.  We like our alone time. We might even beg off a few nights if we were ALL in steerage 🤣 or in the same assigned dining room. 

On 5/5/2022 at 11:15 AM, cruzin4us said:

I'm one that LOVES the Medallion!

I have a hate/love relationship with the medallion 🤣 I hated trying to enter all my info into the app months before my cruise. I really  hated it when I finally was able to enter info and it was wiped out with a software upgrade. The night before the cruise, I was able to access the Medallion App and complete my dinner reservations. The morning of boarding, the Medallion went haywire again. 

Once on the ship, the Medallion was absolutely marvelous. Or, I should say, the crew never let on when anything wasn't functioning. Crew members who had never seen us, greeted us by name. By the time we ordered our third drinks, crew members knew our drink orders before we even sat down. If the Medallion was glitchy, they took our cabin numbers and it all worked out. One afternoon, I ordered a drink at the pool, went to our cabin to see what was keeping my husband,  and the drink followed me. 

I'm not a Princess cheerleader. It's not my first choice of cruise lines, but I want to assure those who are struggling, pre-cruise, with the Medallion App that once on board, the Medallion App will make their cruise more enjoyable.