cabinluvn

We are currently on the Noordam doing Alaska. We are in 6162. We almost always sail in an aft cabin. This one is by far the smallest aft we have ever had. They have changed the bathroom door so you cannot open it flat to the wall where a magnet held it flat. That means the hallway for the closets is always dark, even with the hall light on. Two people cannot be in the hallway at the same time. If one is in the bathroom and one in the hall it is a traffic jam. Space between the end of the bed  and the wall is narrow as is the side of the bed by the wall.  Two people cannot move about in the cabin without bumping into each other. It is a configuration issue along with cutting cabin size for the deck space. For a long trip I wound opt for the larger cabin size.  They have removed the makeup mirror on the desk and  it seems they may have made the desk smaller, in my opinion. Not sure I would opt for an aft with that many sail days. Won’t do it again on this ship for sure. 

Not really. You will get a “Welcome back” email when you get home that will give you the same discount plus whatever promo is currently going on

Now if they can just have this for Canada. No testing required to enter the country, but HAL still requiring tests pre boarding

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

(USA citizens) I was watching Let’s go! Travel Tips YouTube and she describes how you can use your free government test to qualify for travel.  I have the ihealth test and can pay $24.99 to have it proctored. https://ihealthlabs.com/
 

this is a great option for your return home 

Can these be for testing before boarding the cruise ship?

The bed us usually parallel to the bathroom and the veranda door

Our South America cruise has been moved to 2023. It is something we really want to do, so we most likely will still sail. Makes a long stretch with no cruising. Think this is the 3rd or 4th cruise that has been cancelled since the whole COVID thing started. 

2 hours ago, QueenofEverything said:

Not true.  I was able to book mine this morning online for our Aug 21st cruise.

11 minutes ago, QueenofEverything said:

It may be too early for your cruise.  If you the "Have it all" promotion, the specialty dining and $100 off shore excursion will show up on your planner.  Ours just became active today.  If you don't have the promotion, the rules may be different.

Don’t have the promo. This is a free casino cruise, so the rules may be different

24 minutes ago, QueenofEverything said:

Not true.  I was able to book mine this morning online for our Aug 21st cruise.

All I can tell you is for my October Caribbean cruise, I am unable to book a specialty dining online. This is what I was told when I called to try and book it through HAL

I called because I could not book a specialty restaurant and was told that it has to be done once you are boarded

We were booked on the November 6 cruise and switched to the October 23 offering. It appears that two of the cruises were chartered, including the November 6. Can’t speak to the 13th and 27th. Seems HAL is moving stuff around. I will be surprised if we actually sail on October 23

28 minutes ago, MUD said:

Interested in knowing if there will be enough activity on board Koningsdam in 2022 on the 5 days at sea each way on the San Diego round trip to Hawaii.

We did that cruise. I was fine with the consecutive sea days, my husband was not. They had hula lessons and Hawaiian musicians during the day, but not much else. You have to love just doing nothing on sea days to fully enjoy this itinerary 

My free cruise casino offer did not include any of these things except casino cash and free drinks while playing. There must be a certain amount you had to gamble to get the additional perks. We always get the casino rate on our cruises that we book and pay for

14 hours ago, CafeBruno said:

I got the mailer for a free inside cabin, plus casino cash and free drinks in the casino. I am considering upgrading to a Neptune - the upgrade cost would be $1600 per person, of which $400 total is returned to us as OBC. I think I am going to do it, as this will likely be the cheapest Neptune I will come across.

Thanks for reminding me...yes...$200/pp of that fare will be returned as OBC. So the $900/pp for the total package, is really $700/pp. The base fare for the balcony was $600, minus the $200, makes the fare $400/pp for the 7 day cruise. Not free, but darn close

Hot weather, lightweight clothing, I would imagine. You can stuff a lot of clothes in the blue laundry bag. Unless you think you would fill that every day, I personally do not think paying for laundry would be cost efficient. 

We booked a “free” casino offer to sail last June...HA!  Got another one last month. My husband isn’t interested in going in November.s So my sister(who is a 3 star, I am a 4 star) is going with me. Quite the task for my PCC to get the offer in my name instead of my husband’s name. Otherwise, he was the one that had to sail. Anyway, the free was for an inside cabin. My sister said she would only go if we upgraded to a balcony, since it is a caribbean cruise. Apparently, there are only 4 balcony upgrades for the casino upgrade, so we may get the lowest category balcony, or an upgrade from that as a guarantee. The whole cruise, with the upgrade, HAL insurance and port taxes(which are not free on the “free” cruise) came to $900/pp for the 7 day cruise. Included is a free pinnacle dinner, casino cash and free drinks while gambling. We both used FF miles for the airfare from the midwest. We are both in our 70s and this is the first sister trip. 

Our PCC that we had used previous to the pandemic was also “cut”. We were so sorry to see him go. He had been with HAL for a long time. Next time I called, I was transferred to a new PCC and he has been absolutely wonderful. I think they all work from home now. I have noticed that, since things are loosening up and cruising is going to resume, there is a longer response time. I found if I call and leave a voicemail and the follow up with an email stating my needs, I get a response...sometimes within the hour. Sometimes I just get an email showing my request fulfilled, depending on what I needed. Sometimes it is a few days if it is not urgent. Overall, I am happy with the new PCC. I have never booked with the big box companies. I feel more confident staying with HAL

Last I heard, hurricane Irma took all the shade trees off the island. Enough so that there were no shade trees for the cruise ship passengers. Does that still hold true?  Plan on stopping there on a November cruise. Would rather not rent something as I won’t be spending all day there due to recent extensive cancer surgery and reconstruction on my nose. But I would like to sit and watch the ocean for a bit. Anyone there before the pandemic hit?

15 hours ago, oakridger said:

I was booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco in April 2021 and HMC was not on the itinerary.  The first port was Cartagena, Columbia.

 

~Nancy

We are booked on that cruise. Did they cancel you?  Pretty sure it won’t sail, but waiting for them to cancel

On 11/11/2020 at 1:13 PM, Minoushka said:

I gotit too but when I called they saidI hadto pay upfront the whole shebang ..no refunds ....duh no thank you ....whoislured by non refundable not knowing about vaccine availability ?

i will not cruise until I get it hopefully afterJanuary 

by asking for full payment are they not cuttingtheir nose off .??? i was readyto sacrifice a 400$ deposit but not 2400$ 

they better rething their salespitch 

We got the platinum insurance from HAL that is a cancel for any reason. I of the cruise line cancels, I would think it is all refundable

5 hours ago, kazu said:

 

You are correct.  These are not the same.  Not everyone receives these offers that receives the casino discount (reduced rate).  To the best of my knowledge the offers only apply to those that receive them.

We received the casino offer. The free cruises were all to the Caribbean in march and April. Knew those most likely would not sail. The other offered were very reduced fares, or so I thought. We booked a 15 day Panama Canal for mid April and a great rate for a veranda. Two days ago I checked the sailing and found an offer for EXACTLY the same price, including the OBC. Called my PCC and he said it was because that was an offer for a 4 star mariner, which we are. So, you apparently don’t have to get a casino offer to get the same deal. I sort of feel duped. It was a pay in full at the time of booking, so it is a done deal. Just FYI, if you are 4 star, you may have the same private rate offer

On 10/29/2020 at 4:06 PM, Norseh2o said:

How do you receive or be offered a casino promo or a casino rate?  

You gamble in the casino a lot. The more you spent/lose, the better the casino rate. Or better yet, you receive an offer for a free cruise. Had that a couple of times. Got an offer last month. The Caribbean cruises for March and April were free. Cruises after that were at a very reduced rate. We figured the Caribbean ones would be cancelled as islands are not allowing cruise ships to dock in the foreseeable future. We got a 15 day Panama Camal cruise for $999 veranda category sailing in April. May or may not happen. 

1 hour ago, PigsCanFly said:

We booked a cruise for  Feb. 2021 back in April with casino rates.  The casino payment was applied 1 day after we paid our portion of the balance.

Are you talking casino rate or the casino promo?  I have never received a casino payment on a casino rate. It has been strictly a reduced rate. We did recently get a casino promo where the casino pays more than half of the rate. It comes with free drinks while gambling

We booked at 21 day cruise for October 2021 while on a cruise last January. The cruise consultant said it was too early to see if the casino rate was applied. We have not sailed without a casino rate for the last 10 years, sailing at least once a year. When I got home and called our cruise consultant, he said it did not show. Fast forward to today and we did not get the casino rate on this cruise. I don’t know if it is because we have the “have it all” booking that includes air, gratuities, drink package and $1000 OBC. We could get the casino rate if we rebooked without those perks, which would, in the end, not be a good deal

We wanted to book a cruise and travel with my sister and brother in law. They did not have an FCD. We were able to buy them one prior to booking on board. Just needed their CC number and mariner numbers