Windsailer

The latter. And I thought about spelling it that way.

What doesn't make sense? What I said or what HAL did?

So HAL just notified my TA that our 2024 cruise is being shortened by one day, one port lost and another added. Instead of a 14 cruise it now will be 13 days. The letter said in relevant portion: "Please be advised that due to deployment changes we have made adjustments to your clients’ voyage. This cruise will now be one day shorter and will end in Singapore on Saturday, January 4, 2025. The cruise fare will be reduced by one day and you will receive a new booking confirmation shortly." Leaving aside the fact that since it's only 13 days now I will get less CCL OBC, you would think the way to determine what the new far should be would be to take the original fare, divide it by 14 and then that number would be the daily rate to be subtracted from the original fare to come up with the new fare. Easy - peasey. Right? Not so fast! Apparently the price of the cruise has gone up in the 20 days since we booked. The subtraction will be based on this NEW fare. So very little savings. Pretty shifty of HAL. MY TA - who is great - tried to argue my point but didn't get anywhere. What do you guys think?

I am so tired of getting the Bad Request and blank pages when I try to do pretty much anything on any of the three cruises I have booked. Guess I will email customer service once again, not that it seems to do any good.

Or you can call HAL and say you have to check out of your hotel and please could they move your check in time up. It's worked for me in the past.

Just keep in mind that many of the wines on the list are not actually available. On my recent NS cruise there were 4 wines that I wanted that were not in stock - two by the glass and 2 by the bottle. So don't get your hopes up about a specific wine!

My experience was different. I was on the tenders 4 times yesterday. On all but one about 50% were wearing masks. The 4th tender was 100% wearing masks - because I was the only one on it! Tour bus was about 50%, same for elevators. Too bad really. It just isn't that difficult wearing a mask.

Last evening the Captain announced that the number of COVID cases had increased so he was having face masks delivered to each passenger and strongly recommended wearing them. No change for me as I wear them on tenders, tour buses and while standing in line. Not sure what this means for the next cruise.

On the NS now. Steward has been coming 2x a day. Never suggested just coming once a day. He needs to come in the evening to leave towel animals and take my dirty clothes to the laundry!

On the NS now and they opened for lattes at 6:30.

Did Canaletto have the old or new menu?

The Explorations Cafe onthe Noordam has decaffeinated lattes. I had one every afternoon last February. They were very rasty and truly decaffeinated.

My bag wasn't in my cabin when I first arrived. I asked both my steward and the Front Desk (the separate CO line) for it. It showed up in my cabin later that day. I had fixed early dining. The staff were good about bring me the CO menu; when they didn't (just one of two times) I just asked to it and they delivered one seconds later.

Did you ask your room steward or the Front Desk for the Club Orange bag?

I had CO on the Noordam last February. I appreciated the priority boarding (think I was the third person on the ship!), CO line at Customer Service, the extra menu item and, of course, the Club Orange tote (which I had to ask for). I have CO booked for my next 3 cruises.

You might check back right after final payment is due. There might be cancellations and spots might open up.

I am really unhappy this has been taken off the menu. I always ordered it.

Not true. I recently went from a VH to a V on the Nieuw Statendam. And last February I went from a VH to a VA on the Noordam.

Thanks! Really apppreciate the response.

What deck is the shore excursion desk on? I have looked at a number of deck plans and it doesn't seem to be mentioned. TIA!

The separate CO line at Guest Services is great. It doesn't bother me to use it. But one time I went to Guest Services and there was no one waiting so I just went to the first available agent. When she saw my orange sea pass, she told me that I had to use the CO line! (Then she laughed!)

I look forward to hearing how the Club Orange dining room is, especially if you are wanting a table for two. Have a great trip!

Too funny!

I also confirmed with my TA that my HAL account reflects the OBC. I always confirm before the cruise since having the front desk on the cruise sort it out is a challenging experience.

I submitted my request last night to the new address and received a response several hours ago. I put the booking number in the subject line. Maybe that helps.