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Last night I watched a cruise vlog showing how the couple went from bar to bar on a X ship trying to find a cocktail that was included in the standard beverage package. After 2 hours they found one in the casino bar. It appears their standard beverage package is best for mocktails, a couple of wines and a limited number of beers.

I understand how sharing your cruising/travel history with others can be perceived as showing off or boasting. Leisure travel is yet another form of conspicuous consumption and sharing your travel history is akin to sharing the square footage of your home, the brand of vehicle that you drive or the size of your closet. The only person who really cares about your cruising history is you. I get it that a lot of cruisers like to wear their cruising days as a badge of honour. Compounding this is that many cruise lines have customer loyalty programs that reward sailing days. The more days sailed the higher the rewards. And of course this makes sense for a profit seeking business to reward its customers who spend more. It's important to remember always though that as cruisers we are still consumers and to share how much we consume and with what businesses is rather gauche. Personally I steer away from any discussions on cruise history or even whether this is someone's first cruise, as to do is, imo, a social faux pas.

For the first meal you know that you all have at least one thing in common - the cruise. Talking about the cruise, the itinerary and excursions should be more than enough to take you through the meal.

I also think that properly staffed dining rooms can also function poorly. During our Nov cruise in the CO dining room I counted 9 staff for 19 tables. They were not all waiters, yet it stands to reason that 9 staff for 19 tables and there shouldn't be a problem with service. Something is not functioning well.

Congrats. So $396.00 + $686.00 for the Stand By Cost for a 7 day cruise is $1082 plus taxes and port charges. I would consider that a great price. It's been a long time since I have seen 7 day Caribbean cruises for a verandah at this price. Safe sailing and wishing you a wonderful cruise.

Do you by chance purchase a Future Cruise Deposit when sailing? I'm wondering whether having a FCD would benefit for HAL's enticement, as in they want to come back so let's make it worth their while, OR, if it may work against you in that the algorithm considers the FCD as customers who are planning to return so they don't need enticement?

What you've described is how the Crow's Nest with its bar and the Explorations Cafe used to be prior to the introduction of the Pinnacle Class ships. This was a wonderful area where you could go and play board games, card games, puzzles, read books (if my memory serves me correctly the library and computer area was adjacent to it also) and just socialize. Whether you wanted an alcoholic beverage from the bar or a coffee and a snack at the Cafe, it was all within easy reach. The Explorations Cafe is but a shadow now of what it once was. I think the changes were made to the Explorations Cafe to focus instead on the Grand Dutch Cafe. Explorations didn't have hot foods, but it had the best coffee on the ship and plenty of sandwiches, pastries, tarts and other desserts. I used to get up early to race to the Explorations for the best cinnamon rolls on the ship. You could only find them there and when they were gone, they were gone. Having sailed in Neptune Suites I frequently saw many of the food items available in the Neptune Lounge also available in the Explorations Cafe.

A couple of systemic issues with CO: 1. It is simply too small for the demand. There are only 19 tables in the dining room. We don't know how many CO packages are sold on each cruise, but we do know that there are 46 Neptune and Pinnacle Class cabins that have access to the dining room. If every passenger sailing in a NS/PS one evening, even staggered, were to show up for dining then I would think that alone would put enough demand on the dining room, 2. It is very disorganized. During our Nov cruise I noticed that wait staff were all over the dining room. When seated at the rear of the dining room one night I witnessed our waiter also serving tables at the front of the dining room. This simply doesn't make sense. 3. No bar access means they have to send a beverage waiter to the Ocean Bar to fill all drink orders (they do this also for Rudi's). That person has to navigate through the crowded hallways with everyone waiting for tables in the dining room. It simply isn't very efficient. I think that CO is a great marketing option for HAL, its execution hasn't been the greatest.

Unfortunately many people are quite adept at rationalizing their selfish behaviour. Several times on my Nov cruise I saw people in the lido grabbing cookies with their hands. I personally find it gross the people who eat off their plates while in line instead of waiting to sit at a table. Sometimes I wonder how we made it through the pandemic. 😉

That's where we are now. Unfortunately, we aren't seeing any interesting itineraries anytime soon.

Yes, great advice. Pay attention to white space as that is generally crew working space.

I agree with others advice to bring some aid to help. Noise on a ship can come from all sort of places. You can hear the crew working in the hallways. Some passengers love to talk loudly in the hallways. Some people allow cabin doors to close freely on their own - aka, slam. Others have loud televisions and music. Some passengers like to have full enjoyment of their balconies and will out all day talking and with music playing (bluetooth speakers are really portable and easy to carry). Still others, like our neighbour on our Nov cruise, hung clothes out to dry every day and we had to endure the clanging of the wooden hanger on the lounge chair. Some don't mind letting their kids run up and down the halls. And, as some posters can attest, some allow their dogs to run and bark in the hallways.

The dictionary meaning of hog is to take or use more than your share of something; to monopolize something so as to prevent others from using or enjoying it. This is why I feel that someone who claims a chair for themselves for long periods of time, whether they are actually using it or not, are still hogging the chair. Well established etiquette in public spaces is to be considerate of others and to not allow your behaviour to impact others. Using a public space for long periods of time so that others cannot use it is not being considerate of others and is allowing your own behaviour to negatively affect others.

Not surprising. I have noticed that it takes a long of patience to deal with HAL"s shore side staff, and has been since the restart. Shore side service is part of the cruising experience. I have described it as HAL is sometimes making it very difficult to book a cruise.

I concur with others who have experienced the inconsistency on HAL. It's a huge problem as it means little more than you roll your dice and take your chances. Last year we sailed on the Koningsdam to Alaska and had a wonderful experience in the CO dining room. So much so that we booked the same ship 6 months later and we were disappointed with the CO dining room experience. Same ship, different crew. My previous work experience and my own personal experience has taught me that this is a management problem. Visit this board often and you will often see that one thing HAL is consistent is that it is inconsistent. This applies to the short side service (with frequent comments call back until you get the answer you know is correct) and ship board service. Were you expecting too much for a dining experience? Certainly not. Were you expecting too much on a HAL ship? Sadly, most likely so.

I had originally written the same thing in my post but decided to delete it as people were posting that a chair hog is someone who claims a chair and then leaves it empty much of the time. I feel a chair hog is also someone who claims a public space for themselves and uses it all day at the expense of everyone else. I noticed on our last cruise that someone was squatting in the library. They had lots of dirty mugs and plates around them and were using the library as a place to use their computer. We dropped in the library throughout the day and this person was always there. Sad to say, but yes, chair hogs are also in the library, and there are so few chairs there.

As your cruise isn't until June 29th, it is really too far away for the Navigator App to be of much use to you. The Navigator App is primarily best used when you are onboard. The app generally has more functionality about 2 weeks prior to sailing. Until then you are best using the website.

Most definitely a chair hog.

Sumatra coffee is our daily regular coffee at home. I will defintely keep this in mind when we book another HAL cruise. Thanks.

Keep in mind when doing this that your entire meal will be delivered to your cabin. You may want to think twice about any items that don't have a long sitting time like ice cream for dessert or skip the appetizer if you like your entree hot and not sitting until you finish your appetizer.

Our first Alaska sailing was on the Volendam in 2014 in late April. It was the first sailing of the season. The ship wasn't full and as it was sailing midweek we were the only ship in the ports. It was a wonderful cruise. Our 2nd best, topped only by our Norway cruise. Our second sailing to Alaska was on the Koningsdam in May of last year and the ship sailed full. It was crowded. We left Vancouver on the weekend and in every port we were joined with 3 or 4 other mainstream cruise lines. The ports were very crowded with cruise passengers. It was the worst of cruise travel on display. My understanding is that cruise demand is still high and if I were sailing to Alaska in May of this year I would go prepared for a full ship and crowded ports.

It is very frustrating trying to work with poorly trained agents and many who have a challenge with providing great customer service. My most frustrating experience was speaking with an HAL agent and explaining that I will not book the cruise if CO is not available and to please check Ship Inventory and if it is available I will book the cruise. She put me on hold for a long time to tell me that yes, CO was available. We then proceeded to go through with the booking and when we got to the point of CO she informed me that she would have to put me on hold to secure the CO. Imagine my disappointment and frustration when she returned to the call to tell me that the last CO sold out while we were trying to book. When she made her original call to Ship Inventory she didn't ask them to put a hold on the CO as she had a passenger on the line who was in the process of booking and will be buying it.

Question regarding afternoon tea. We try and avoid sweets (carbs) as much as possible and I'm wondering if anyone has requested a cheese plate or some cheese/deli meets from breakfast at afternoon tea?

There isn't one standard Have It All bundle. HIA is simply a bundling of amenities that you pre-pay for. HAL changes the different amenities often. Most common items changes are the drink packages (Signature and Elite), crew appreciation added or taken away, OBC credit amount varies and sometimes an air credit will be added. Adding to the confusion is that all of this can change depending on the length of the cruise. It simply depends on what HAL thinks is needed to sell the bundle.

Still correct. Depending on your assigned time and the port, priority is actually priority to wait in a large group to board. If you get to board early, say around 11-11:30, priority is being directed to the Lido for lunch with your carry-on in tow as your cabin will not be available.