RuthC

This info was posted in 2021, so he may or may not still be there.

So great running into you last night. I was just too tired to chat very much. Hoping to run into Judy soon. I was on the shuttle on the 9:00AM run, along with a couple of mutual friends as our TA had an early boarding (10:30) for their clients, and a party scheduled for 12:30. That cut down somewhat on the number needing to check in and board starting at noon.

I have been on 'final cruise before MAJOR drydock' at least a couple of times. These were instances where the Sea View pool was being removed, and/or outside cabins were being converted to Lanai. In neither case were passengers displaced from their customary activities until after dinner on the last night, when such things as shops were being packed up, and the elevators were padded to prevent damage. Unless you noticed the men with steel-toed shoes, or stacking their own dishes and bringing them to a service station in the Lido, you would never have known they were aboard. I would much rather take a final cruise before drydock than a first cruise after, as there is a much better chance there is undone work when the ships takes passengers again. They will definitely be interfered with.

All the categories on the Pinnacle class ships are smaller than comparable categories on the prior categories of ships. Your idea of whether or not the cabins are 'small' will depend to a great extent on how used to the larger cabins on the smaller ships you are.

One can always go to the ship's public computers on the last night---last thing before going to bed, and print out your own 'final bill'. This is, of course, checking my bill every day or two throughout the cruise to get any errors corrected before it becomes too difficult to do.

I've done it once, but it was a long time ago, so I won't give any advice about something not current. My advice will still be current all these years later: do the land portion first. It is exhausting (worth it) with early mornings and long days. The cruise will be perfect for resting up.

Left for Boston Friday to catch a flight to Seattle Saturday at an ungodly hour. Comfortable in my Seattle hotel now (although I can't get into my email). Will see you Sunday---or So!

That is precisely what HAL does. The information about what happened on a Royal Caribbean cruise is not pertinent to how HAL handles a similar situation. With that said, there is a remote possibility that there would be no cabin available, and that is if the passenger is booked on an Interline rate. Those bookings can be ripped out from under the person who booked that way. Those are rare, however.

Thank you, Pete & Judy, for all the informative, interesting posts during the World Cruise. I enjoy reading them, and learning of all your adventures. You really seem to see and do a lot.

Quite a read.

I AM an inside type, but on the Pinnacle class ships I won't book one. They are all too small, even for this solo cruiser. On a Pinnacle I am willing to pay for a veranda cabin just for a little space.

Well, it does cost more to recruit a new passenger than it does to retain an existing one. That has to be figured in the cost of the program, too. That particular couple sails a lot of days per year, so will cost a lot to be replaced.

Some definitely will at minimum cut back on HAL and look at other lines. Others will be willing to miss a week or two, but cut out the longer cruises that HAL is now focusing on. Friends who just disembarked the entire World Cruise (not their first), and are embarking another long cruise shortly, just canceled a 70-day cruise for the sole reason that HAL has cut priests from the entertainment staff (that always cracked me up that the priests are entertainment) except for longer cruises. I expect 70 days would be considered a 'long' cruise so would have a priest, but this sure looks like a protest.

Personally, I think that is cutting it too close. My experience with tender port excursions is that those leaving in the morning gather on the ship, and take the same tender to the port. However, those leaving in the afternoon tend to meet ashore, and it is the passenger's responsibility to get there in time. That would get you a little extra wiggle room on the buffer time. But I have found that excursions tend to come back a little later than the schedule usually says. At each stop there is usually one (or more) passengers who don't return to the bus on time, putting the excursion a little further behind with each and every stop. That will cut into your buffer time. Depending on port, sometimes one tour drops you off in one place (like the shopping area), but the next tour picks you up closer to the ship. If I were you, I would book both excursions, BUT I would also check with the Shore Excursion Office on embarkation day to determine if the meeting place is ashore, how long the tender ride is, if the earlier excursion typically returns on time/late, and if they feel secure you can do both. If not, one or the other can be canceled that day without penalty.

The excursion boat has a snack bar with some foods available for purchase. IIRC, all the Allen Marine tours I have taken offer free donut holes, coffee, and once or twice some samples of salmon (I didn't try those, so don't remember exactly). I did not check out the menu at the snack bar, so don't remember what they fix.

I have happily booked inside cabins on every ship in the fleet---many times---except for the Pinnacle class. Those cabins are just too small for my taste. When I sailed on the Nieuw Statendam I booked an accessible veranda cabin to get enough room for me, and the mobility scooter I had rented. On the other classes I am always able to find an inside that will hold a scooter; not so on the Pinnacle ships. Although the Pinnacle ships are large, the cabins are small in every category, compared to previous classes of ships.

I've canceled more than one cruise with a simple phone call. No muss, no fuss. No signatures on a piece of paper.

Not to forget there are many ports that are getting sick of the huge ships, and the thousands of passengers that are unloaded into small places that can't handle them. There is pushback from them, too.

Not so much 'spoiled' as having a more complete basis of comparison. When you have enjoyed the atmosphere on ships that hold 800, 1200, 1400 passengers, then we know what each increase in passenger capacity means to the experience. If you haven't ever had the opportunity to sail on smaller (HAL) ships, then you are comparing to larger ships on other lines in a vacuum.

Really? The timing is such that it sure seems suspicious to me. Add in that my booking was marked 'do not upgrade' (yes, I know this was no upgrade), HAL should have left my booking alone.

HAL moved me, and didn't even have the courtesy to let me know! I was booked in a quad cabin of my choosing, on a long cruise which is unlikely to have many families. The cabins were going fast after the cruise was announced, and I lost some cabins while I was waiting to reach my TA! I booked a cabin that had no cabin on either side, so there is no connecting cabin involved for a large family. The upshot was I was moved to another quad cabin! Just not one I would have chosen for myself; I would only take it as a guarantee! The cabin is the same size (extra large inside that will hold a scooter easily), and may be in a decent location after all, but I can't fathom a reason why I was even moved!!!

It was clear to me!

For example? I have been sailing solo for years, and have received all the OBC that goes with the cabins I selected. I have received credits for booking Future Cruises, early bookings, shareholders credits, gotten half what a couple would get when HAL was trying to make up for something. Bad enough that I have to pay (usually) double for the cabin, but I have never been cheated on the OBC portion of the transaction.

So, if 2025 Alaska cruises were published in July of 2023, I surmise that KruisinKath is predicting that 2026 Alaska cruises will likely come out about July 2024. Educated guess, as no one will know until they do get published.

I couldn't agree more.