POA1

I thought it was supposed to be a notice that was sent out, not from the website. The website looks just like it has since they instituted the "pay the difference" thing in late 2022.

You're correct. The wording on the website is pretty open ended. As written, it looks like it refers to any surcharges. (And ironically, not the meal cost.)

April on the Rotterdam - discount on the meal base price only. It's been that way as long as I can remember.

I just bought HIA in April for us. And our friends got it in June. None of us received a notice like the one described. (And I pay attention to this drink stuff.)

The T&C and FAQ for the beverage packages is unchanged. They don't address the overages now and they did not before. I have the FAQ and T&C from our cruises in December and March. They are the same as the cruise we booked in April - for sailing in March 2025.

The app will not show you the real dress code until much closer to sailing. Figure on 2 dressy nights per 7 day segment. Your specialty dining will likely show up to book around 5 months out.

Thanks for the update!

I hope so, too. Fortunately for me, you'll be doing advance reconnaissance for me before we sail on the Rotterdam in March.

For anyone currently in Club Orange on a Pinnacle Class ship: Are they still offering the Beechers Mac and Cheese, Seared Tuna Shaved Asparagus Salad and the extra salmon dish in the CO dining room? It's no longer on the Nieuw Statendam CO menu in the Navigator app.

It's also targeted at people who live close to the embarkation ports. We're a 15 minute ride, less than 5 miles from Port Everglades. We're just missing the retired with plenty of free time on our hands piece. 😔 I could not see us doing standby though. We're such Type A, planning personalities that we couldn't stand the stress.

I love that term! It might work better if you hyphenate it or remove the space. "We really need to start looking at that October 2025 cruise now. You know how cabin-picky we are."

Just booked and flew American for a trip last week, with a return yesterday. No miles on 3rd party sites. We wound up booking through AA.com, which will allow you to book a 40 minute connection in Charlotte. (I would allow an hour for a connection unless you are seated in row 12 or lower.) All four legs of our flights were oversold.

I don't think anyone would know until almost a year from now. Since the swap is Caribbean for Mexico and Hawaii, I don't suppose we'll know until the 2027 schedule comes out.

I think he's referring to the fact that the Kdam is going back to the Caribbean for the 2026 season and that the Nieuw Amsterdam is going west and doing the Hawaii & Mexico itineraries that the Kdam has been doing for a few years. I think "swap" would have been a better word instead of "replace." Am I correct in that's what you mean @mcrcruiser?

This happened to me. I thought I was making a reservation for two and it wound up being just for me. I made an additional reservation for as close as possible to my time. Once on the ship, I stopped by the dining podium and they fixed it. There are no tables for one, so there is guaranteed to be space at your table. By moving the second person to your table and time, they're freeing up a table for two.

Have travel with IDs added to the bookings. The acronym is TWID. Dining tables larger than 8 are hard to come by and you really can't talk at a huge table. So, have your PCC or TA coordinate with Ship Services and onboard events tu get several tables together. You're trying to pull off something a little complicated, so you will need someone competent. If you call in for a PCC, explain your whole situation to the supervisor. You're going to want a good rep from the start. I think you need 5 or more cabins to get group perks as a family group.

Club Orange adds to the fare basis. It shows as Club Orange Pass on the special services of portion of the booking confirmation PDF. Did you upgrade to the V from VH after adding Club Orange? Or did you upgrade, then add Club Orange? The sequence matters.

Also remember that within a family of cards, whether it's Chase, Amex, or Citi, there is a wide variance in coverages. The best coverage usually comes from the cards with the highest annual fees, so read all the contracts before relying on the coverage.

We got the little notes. Laundry was on hangars if appropriate, or else folded in a basket for things like socks and underwear. The laundry service on the Rotterdam over Easter was phenomenal. We had a few pieces dry cleaned - at better prices and turnaround times than our local cleaners.

Right before you finalize your booking, it asks you if you want to opt in to the complimentary upgrade. (I think it's a button, but I could be wrong.) If you book a guarantee, that option is not there - because you haven't picked a room. To the OP, welcome to CruiseCritic.

HIA increases the fare, so use cruise fare + Have It All is your fare basis. Taxes, fees and port expenses are refunded if you cancel. You're only covering the cruise fare piece.

Texting over Wi-Fi calling works fine at home. It does not work on the ship. Texting / SMS uses TCP ports 9003 and 10042. Those ports are open on Premium and Stream. They're not on Surf.

You could test it, but you'd need to block the specific ports and servers in order to mimic the HAL internet.

It's not linear, but near as I can figure, standard is about 8% of the fare and platinum is roughly 10%.

It didn't occur to me at first. We had Premium Wi-Fi in the past, so I never thought about it. Then, three days into our cruise over Easter 2024, I realized that we hadn't received a call nor a text message while we were on the ship. I panicked. What if our car warranties were expiring? Could we be missing out on GREAT DEALS ON REPLACEMENT WINDOWS?? You can imagine my trepidation. We upgraded to premium for the last few days - just in a nick of time! It's an election year and OUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT! And now the calls and texts were coming through. I wonder if I can downgrade my cell service to "Surf?" It was so peaceful. 😁