POA1

I reread that whole thread. It appears the person who posted it had gotten info from some confused employees. Also, "posting from the Crow's Nest" would be more helpful with a ship name included. A couple of points: First, the HAL Guest Relations email deals with post cruise issues for the most part. I've had to email them in the past. As soon as I sent them an email, I got a case number auto reply. This happened on a couple of occasions. Second point: The Beverage Package logic is programmed into the ship's POS system. It would be super easy, barely an inconvenience, to check. If you have the Elite Beverage Package, buy an alcoholic drink. (Maker's Mark on the rocks works best for this kind of research.) Then, ask how many alcoholic drinks you have left. Next order a can of water or other non-alcohol drink. Now, repeat the question about how many alcohol drinks you have left. The answer should be the same if the boozeless drinks don't count. I spoke to a friend on the Nieuw Amsterdam who had the EBP as part of HIA+ Friday afternoon. I asked him to run the experiment for me. He agreed, but refused to order the reference drink of science.

Who are these onboard reports people? I'd give the reports some credence if it happened to be someone from this board whose reputation I knew. But, when I hear it's some rando from FB, my BS detector starts making the whoop-whoop sound. (You know the one... with the flashing yellow light.)

There was a guy who dined near us on our cruise in December. He ordered everything at once and asked for everything to be delivered at once. This included appetizer, entrée & dessert. He was always out in 30 minutes or less. This was in open seating in Club Orange.

The $99 top-up deposit is not charged automatically. It's due 240 days before sailing on cruises that were farther out. You still have to go in and pay it. You could have theoretically booked either refundable, non-refundable, or HIA, which is refundable.

Disclaimer: I only read the original post. However, I just did this Tuesday. You have to pay the $1 deposit and the $99 "top up" deposit that would be due 240 days out. You also have to pay the Club Orange cost. At that point, you can upgrade to any available room in the meta category. So... For a week long cruise for 2 people, you'd pay $200 deposit and $350 CO (7 * $25 * 2) and be able to upgrade.

Aak your PCC to send you the Beverage Package PDF. Keep the email, the PDF attachment, and print the PDF. You'll be armed for bear. However, I doubt you'll need it. There's so much bad information on the internet, and folks love to get their panties in a bunch. I like my underbritches smooth and comfy. Attached is the July 13th PDF from HAL. I plan to get the latest version in March before we sail, but here is July's. Beverage-Packages.pdf

Your TA has to call, but it you are outside final payment, the pricing specialist would be the one to handle it. I kinda think that they "lift" the Club Orange off the booking, refare the original, and put CO back so you are in the same upgraded room. (At least that's how it works in my imagination.)

Elite still has a 15 alcoholic @ $15 limit and unlimited non-alcoholic beverages. Someone reported the exact same thing before both of our last two cruises. The reports were wrong.

Thank you for the review.

They did not have them for the 14 day sailings yesterday (Saturday, July 13, 2024.) They were there for each of the 7 day sailings that make up the two week cruise though.

I know that all the cruise lines have Those are both Collectors Cruises which are made up of 2 seven day sailings. The sailings are used to take people to and from the Alaska land tours. The northbound ones take people to the cruise first tours. The southbound sailings service the land first tours. You can find verandah rooms on each of the 7 day legs, but not on the 14. day. Try it. I was able to get pricing for the two component legs.

If you have them in an email, it ought to be on your local machine or device - or, worst case, on the mail server. How is logging into your HAL website account to find a booking confirmation faster?

@Italy52 What is the ship you are looking at? Also, the sailing date ideally. There are Alaska cruises going out of Seattle and Vancouver. Narrowing the search might allow us to be more helpful.

If you want to do it in advance, call and get the email for the events coordinator for your ship. I know there's a cost for AV equipment rental, but I'm not sure about the room itself. If you have specific days & times you want to meet, I'd try to book in advance.

Look up Holland America's Guest Access department. They handle all the special needs things. Ship Services does dining and whatnot.

I've always been told about the various fares on our bookings when I call in. There is always Advantage, Non-refundable & Have-It-All. There are often flash sale fares, Mariner fares, and in my case, Florida fares. I don't expect a phone rep to lead with 7 fare options. Most people would find that confusing. However, I do my research here and other places and have always been able to get a fare with which I am happy.

Yes. It's the refundable deposit fare.

Main = Late. Technically it's Main Upper, but I am pretty sure that I'll call it Late Fixed forever. This all harkens back to when all seating was fixed. There was Early Lower, Early Upper, Main Lower and Main Upper. This ended in the early 2000s. At that time, cruise lines started rolling out anytime, as-you-wish, or open seating. Open seating proved to be popular. It occupies the larger, lower dining room.

I hate to break it to you, but Pier B in Key West is under government control. There are other government entities besides Key West. True private ports are really rare. You can usually tell by immigration, tax and gambling policies. https://keysweekly.com/42/ceasefire-settles-latest-cruise-ship-clash/

The suites have mini fridges. Ocean view and interior do not. You can rent a fridge for about two dollars a day or store your insulin in the infirmary. The latter may not work with your schedule though.

The elevator does not block the view, but people can look down onto your balcony when the elevator stops on the floor above you.

It's because California's law changed. It forced the change on all cruise lines' North American bookings. On our upcoming 2025 cruise, the taxes, fees and port expenses are $233/pp. If I went to book it today, the cruise costs the same, but the government taxes and fees are only $88. I assume that the rest were port fees and expenses. Ironically, those are probably paid to some government agency - "cause there aren't a ton of private ports. If I have to cancel, I'd get my full $233/pp back. If you book today and cancel, you'd only get $88 back. (I'm still bitter about paying for" California Emissions equipment" on every car I bought in my life. Never drove a single one of those vehicles in California. Still had to pay.) https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance-legal-regulatory/california-honest-pricing-law-means-advertised-cruise-fares-must-include I know that a lot of this stemmed from the hotel resort fee situation, but port fees are a real thing that got automatically refunded if you missed the port. Now they're part of the fare? Thanks California!

Club Orange is added by putting a fare code onto your booking. The fare code is capacity controlled. That's why it can sell out. If the code is added to your booking and you can't pay via the automated phone system, you should be able to pay on your computer. You'd have to make the payment for the correct amount - the amount equal to the Club Orange cost. I had to use the system back in April, so it's been around for a while. It reads the touch tone sounds from your phone keypad. Touch tone response systems have been around for decades, but here are some things that can throw them off: The systems don't play well with speakerphones, so try not to have the call on speaker. Bluetooth sometimes interferes with tone transmission. So earbuds, Bluetooth hearing aids, car connections, etc. can pose a problem. If they added the Club Orange promo code to your booking, you have it. You can't do the upgrade until you pay for it though. Upgrades can only be done by the inventory department. I think they work 8-5 Pacific Time, M-F.

The number of Neptune Suite guests is fairly fixed. The 7 day Caribbean itineraries are not super popular with 4*and 5* Mariners. They tend to prefer longer cruises. (We're 4* and have a weeklong cruise booked because of limited vacation. I don't expect to be sailing with a gaggle of high star Mariners.) With Club Orange, I'd guess that you'll be among the first 5-7% off the ship. That's not shabby. You can also parlay your CO interior to a higher category I or J room on decks 5, 6, or 7. That way you'll have passenger decks above and below you for a quieter experience. I did not even touch on the wonders of the Club Orange tote bag....

The problem is that the basic meal is a surcharge in and of itself. You pay $x for your specialty dining meal, which is a surcharge to your cruise fare. All the up-charge items on the PG menu are labeled with the word Supplement, not surcharge. If the menus said surcharge and not supplement you might have a leg to stand on. (I'd also order a lot more caviar, but alas it too is a supplement and not discounted.) While supplement and surcharge are synonyms, they're not the same.