Dec 23 is sailing date......I guess lots of time to get crew organized and food and drinks....lol.....looks like the next 4 sailing are sold out.....our trip on the ship is in April so any kinks should be ironed out.....

We are on the ship but not until April....so no sweat for us worrying.......I hope....

Saturday morning at noonish.....still there.....will try to get a friend to go over and see what is smoking....lol

47 minutes ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

We are just off the Westerdam and we also had a cabin with shower only, this was one of the reasons for choosing this cabin as we hate stepping into a bath.

The cabins/showers are not as luxury as on the Pinnacle ships but I imagine itinerary is more important than the ship.

You can check some more info on HAL facts website which is a fantastic source of information.

Happy planning 

https://halfacts.com/4172-noordam/

 

Wow...thanks for that link....never knew it existed....lots of cabin pics....

Looking at decks 4 5 6 and the last few cabins both side of the ship  show shower only.....are they nice ones.....I wonder what the deal is with no bathtub....just made the tub area into shower only????.....just off the Rotterdam and the shower was big and was lovely....did not miss the bathtub....lol.....thoughts anyways as doing a booking....Thanks

Off the coast of Washington now....about half way.....really rough seas.....over 4.3 meter waves....wow and only half power???.....not lots of fun onboard....yikes

Now people can look and see how the progress is going.....I bet there is some glitch.....murphy' law...lol

6 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

That means that repairs to the dock have been postponed, so that the Panorama can make two calls there, one to remove the stack, and one to replace.

Thanks.....I guess I was trying to read between the lines....lol.......makes more sense......my sister lives in Victoria so will get here to give me some updates.......

Well....do not like that part that says work in the port put off until January....sounds bad....

Wow.....am now rethinking doing this cruise.....the prices seemed to be too good.....reading all this I can see why....lol.......for us up in the middle of BC it is a hassle to get to IAH or HOU and flights are not cheap....then need a hotel the day before the cruise....maybe one after...fog???......a long shuttle ride....1 hr??? and the hassle at the port....not a relaxing week trip....and the ship seems to have problems.....and not much of a Black Friday sale perk.....plus have been to the ports before.....oh well....back to the drawing board

Black Friday seems to be a bust for me.....the 28 day collector cruise in Asia is about $600 more....and my private fare seems to have gone to mars....lol......seems to be a scam promo with free crew tips...haha...

I wonder if they do a good "fix" job will the ship have to go over to Asia and then back.....was looking at the cruise back from Asia but far tooooooo many seas days......??

8 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

HAL (and all of the other cruise lines) play lots of games when it comes to their "sales".  As others have mentioned they tend to not just add a special perk to the exact same offer but rather change other things (like take away OBC offers and then add free gratuities that offset the value - sometimes the sale price lands up costing more).  It's a full-time job to compare all of the offers from the various travel agencies and cruise lines and always seems maddening that right after you book they add something else to sweeten the deal.  You just have to accept the fact that under the dynamic pricing models they use you can't be guaranteed to get the best deal and be happy with what you got.  Often times you have to pay up to get the cruise you want or the cabin you want that had you waited you could have gotten for less but there's always a chance you get shut out or land up in a terrible cabin.  Is it worth saving $5-10 a day to be miserable in the grand scheme of things? 

 

On another note - has anyone else noticed that practically any time you book a cruise on HAL and look at the HIA price compared to the base fare it is almost always more than $50/Day/Person more to book it that way?  And it varies depending of the category of cabin you choose.  It's almost always a better deal to just book the base fare and add HIA if you want it but for people who don't do the math they will almost always overpay by booking them together at the same time.  Also, I have learned there are almost always lower loyalty or group rates available than those which are published but you have to ask specifically what special unpublished rates there are when you call to book.  Many group rates are exclusive to a particular TA but some are available to anyone from any TA who asks for it. 

great post.....I get lots of email....screaming special rates just for you....lol......but have never phoned and asked the Hal lady to check rates for me.....will try some time....I bet it depends on who you get also to go and spend the time to look....

4 hours ago, cbr663 said:

HAL will have Black Friday promos, but HAL has a history of raising prices for its promotions.  You end up paying more for the promotions.

 

We all have different needs when booking and I echo @Mary229 comment also - I always book fully refundable fares unless I am sailing very close to final payment.  Fully refundable fares allow me the opportunity to take advantage of any new promotions, as even promotions limited to new bookings only I can simply cancel the booked cruise and rebook a new cruise to take advantage of the promotion.

You are more like me....book and then if lower phone....

Well we were on the Rotterdam....21 days in the Baltics......Just took all the stuff in the fridge and put in a drawer....told the steward where they were....they had no problem with that......then we.....

had the "all in package"....so each time we went by a bar took two cans to go and put in the fridge for our use....after a few days the fridge was filled with pop, water and beers.....easy to sit on balcony and have a cold drink.....

also....at each port we always find a grocery store as like to look at what the "local culture" is eating and buying.... usually bought a couple of tins of local beers to bring back to the ship....or pop etc and never had any trouble bring back on ship....so another way to get pop and water.....never tried for a local bottle of wine but with the all in package did not need any wine.....also took glasses of wine to go to the room....no problem with that also....

Hal does not like plastic bottles to take on at embarkation...so take something to put water in when get off at ports.....with the all in package we took cans of water with us that were from the all in package.....and water from the tap...

also why not take a suitcase with a six pack of water or pop with you when you get on.....???

others probably have more tips than us.....we liked the drink package but really never used it to the max.....we were lucky to use maybe 6 or 7 and that was not all alcohol drinks....pop, coffee, water etc....

Wanting to book a cruise and wonder if it is worth waiting until the end of the month???....do they have any special perks added as if I book into Fall 2024 there are already lots of perks if do the 60% off "all in packs"....just wondering...

On 10/31/2023 at 6:54 PM, mackfam said:

My son and his girlfriend were on the Bellísima in September on a 9 day cruise around Japan with one stop in S Korea.

 

They were in the YC and had previously been on the Meraviglia so could compare to that experience. They had a great time, found the non YC areas of the ship much less crowded than on the Mera for this particular cruise. Food and service in the YC were great. They said there were some different menu items that catered to the Asian market but regular items were also available.

 

English speakers were in the minority among the passengers (at least in the YC). 

Thanks....mostly what I had thought....I guess when on an Asia cruise be prepared for lots of Asians....lol....saw a review of an RCL cruise ship over there and all done up for the Asian culture...even had three casinos....lol

Wow....I guess not many people been on this ship in Asia.....would have thought someone would have been....oh well.....I wonderd if it has been all re designed for the Asia market

Looking at an Asia cruise next fall and happened to see this one for 11 nights.....have been on MSC a few time so know the drill for us North Americans...lol......anyways what about the ship over in Asia?? and the different cultures there.....would I be impressed with the service etc and still the European flavor or would the ship be transformed into an Asian culture experience???...fairly easy for us to fly over from Seattle or Vancouver to Tokyo....so air not a problem

Thoughts.......hopefully by someone who has done the ship and not just made up stuff...haha

Well it boils down to two ideas.......SNA at 1:30 or 5PM at LAX......leaning towards the sna one as with 7 of us and two kids arriving home at almost midnight is not a great idea if do the lax one.....lol......the other one gets us home 7 ish.....way better.....suck up a few extra bucks for better stress levels....haha....and a bonus.....going have to stay overnight before the cruise...cheaper hotels around the sna airport....so a win there.....

20 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

That is about a 25 mile drive or about a 40 minute drive approximately. 1:30 pm flight gives you good breathing room also. 

Not much longer than going to LAX with more traffic and bigger airport and hassles....lol

12 hours ago, BOB999 said:

 

I'd also check John Wayne Airport (SNA).  I know at least Air Canada flies there to Vancouver (assuming you're connecting to Kelowna given your username).

Hey thanks for that tip.....they have planes to Van or Calgary that leave in the 1:30 pm range..should be abe to get to that time frame..better time and home earlier than the 5 pm out of Lax......now will see how long to get to that airport from the cruise port......

my thinking is the 5pm one....lots of time to play with....thanks......then no rush to get off ship either.....I wonder if Carnival has transport to Lax or better to do your own....there will be 7 of us.....???

Have a choice of flights back to Canada.....11:35 or 12:25 or way later at 5 pm....what is the best one.......assuming that you could be delayed getting off and then trying to get Uber to Lax....what are your experiences.......looking at booking flights soon to get home........doing the 7 day Mexico cruise in April.....Thanks....