tooleman56

On our recently completed Med cruise on the Noordam, the only entertainment really worth mentioning were the flamenco dancers the ship brought on the night before our Barcelona port stop for a show in the Vista Lounge, and the high-quality band in B.B. King's Blues Club. Unfortunately, there were never more than 20 or 30 people in the Queens Lounge while the band was playing. The blues club is a great concept, and I'm sorry more people didn't take the opportunity to listen to the band. I guess the concept doesn't appeal to HAL's demographic.

The Filipino crew show was decent, the solo guitarist awful. Fortunately, we did this cruise for the wonderful itinerary; a once-in-a-lifetime vacation for us. I wouldn't sail HAL if you're looking for a memorable entertainment experience. To be honest, we weren't expecting the entertainment to be anything special, and it certainly wasn't.

I should have said 10-18 and 10-19 in my OP.

Our upcoming cruise ends with an overnight in Barcelona. Since the ship will already be in port and presumably cleared the morning of 9-18, how will the disembarkation process work the morning of 9-19. I ask because we have a 10:30 a.m. flight with a HAL transfer that day. Any concern about making that flight, which was booked through HAL air?

Probably hold out for a better offer and if it doesn't come, be happy where we are. I asked the HAL rep for the available stateroom numbers in each of the upgrade categories, which I also did for last week's offer. Interestingly enough, today's list of cabins available for upgrade was completely different than the list I wrote down last week. What gives there?

Another upsell offer, our third for this sailing, came today. Latest offer is $449pp for SS-SZ, down $100pp from the previous two offers. Neptune Suite offered at $949pp, down $300pp from the previous two offers. The previous two offers came while were booked VE guarantee. We received a confirmed VB cabin # on Tuesday.

Received another e-mail upsell offer late Wednesday afternoon, now three weeks out from our Oct. 8 Med cruise. The offer was identical to the offer made 10 days ago and mentioned in my OP. I'm scratching my head a bit over this. Why send the same offer again?

Try posting this in the cruise conversations-cruise casinos forum. I'm willing to bet you'll get a better response over there.

Forget about the upsell; what are you doing in the picture you posted:eek:

That's what happens when you eat too much hot sauce. :eek:

Received an upsell offer tonight, exactly one month out, for our Med cruise on Oct. 8. The offer was to upgrade our VE guarantee to a Signature suite (SZ to SS) for $549pp or to a Neptune suite (SC-SA) for $1,249pp. We have plans to be off the ship for at least five full days on private excursions so I can't justify the additional cost at these prices. I would accept an upsell should the right offer come. Having received this offer a month in advance, should that tell me anything about how the cruise is selling and is it likely another upsell offer will come at some point?

Seems you're right. Just did a random Expedia search for non-stop, business class fares on our upcoming travel dates. Difference was $1,700 flying Toronto-Rome versus New York-Rome.

By the way, 6'5'', 280. You ever play football?

This no longer true with the FlightEase program. We have twice picked exactly the flights we wanted. "Air deviations" are a thing of the past. But, we only use cruise air for one-way or open-jaw flights where it usually results in big savings.

 

Exactly. The FlightEase program allowed us to book the flights we wanted. There were direct flights available, however, the price was significantly higher for direct flights than for those including a connection.

The air add-on for two of us for our October Med cruise was $1,127 total booked through HAL. Had I booked the same itinerary independently, the lowest price I have found, and I continue to check prices once or twice a week, was $1,650 initially and is currently more than $2,400. We can certainly endure a four-hour connection inbound (Newark-Lisbon-Rome) and a shorter connection outbound (Barcelona-Lisbon-Newark) to achieve savings of that magnitude. The air add-on can often be higher, or lower, I've found, depending on the stateroom category.

Are the Marathon Expeditions cruises for runners only? My daughter and son-in-law are marathoners and have never been on a cruise and this would be a great way to combine their love of running with our going with them on a cruise.

Here's a shipboard photographer ad for NCL. http://www.ncl.com/about/careers/corporate-employment/job-opportunities/27649

My wife is a professional photographer going on 30 years and has worked in the news media and corporate photo worlds. Her take on these jobs after observing and talking with the ship photographers on several cruises is that they work long hours and are pressured to reach sales goals. The work is somewhat limiting, she thinks, with portraits, candids and other still photography making up the bulk of the work. Think Olan Mills.

For someone with a fine arts degree in photography, I suggest your daughter might be over-qualified. Does she have an extensive portfolio? Has she had internships?

Although seeing the world would be nice, and doing that while she's still young would be exciting, these shipboard photographer jobs are somewhat limiting creatively.

Not only will we continue to sail HAL should the current smoking policy remain in place, but if you're near our balcony and are smoking a really good cigar, a Cuban perhaps, not one of those cheap ones, please blow the smoke my way. I love the smell of a good cigar. Who knows, I might even join you. I'll bring the scotch.

sorry, I am a little confused...

 

you seem to want only responders who will agree with your statement so you can then report that X number of HAL cruisers are not affected by smoking on balconies???sort of a status quo head count????

 

Are you then planning or asking for a head count of HAL cruisers who would be on the opposite side of this fence????

 

Not clear what your reason/motive for this type of survey???? IMHO this seems to be very biased at best,

The OP's original intent is clear. The intent is to gauge whether you or anyone else who chooses to respond will continue to sail HAL should the current smoking allowed on balconies policy remain in place. As a former journalist who was paid for many years to "get to the bottom" of something as quickly as possible, the question seems straightforward.

I think you answered no, you wouldn't continue to sail HAL if the policy remains in place. As for us, we booked our upcoming Med cruise for the wonderful itinerary, available at a time of year when we could carve out two weeks from our schedule to take a vacation of a lifetime. We also had a wonderful time on our HAL cruise 12 years ago, when the smoking policy was much less restrictive, if I remember.

So yes, we will cruise HAL again regardless of the line's smoking policy when we book.

Tbay, would you mind sharing what the upsell offers were?

I'll be curious to see where the prices go this time next week, after this weekend's final payment deadline.

Dave, it's the 11-day Mediterranean Explorer, from Rome to Barcelona. The VH price isn't a typo and you are correct, VH price listing has been the highest balcony price all along.

Wondering how I should tip during our upcoming Mediterranean itinerary. I know that the shipboard currency is U.S dollars, however, the crew wouldn't be able to use U.S. dollars in a Med port, they would have to have euros. I will have some of both on our cruise. I'm currently working in a service-oriented industry after a long career in another field, so I really appreciate those that work primarily for tips. I'm not an over-the-top tipper, but I am generous. Are tips delivered in an envelope on board, or should I just leave a cash tip on the table for the waiter in say a specialty restaurant. I realize I'm under no obligation to tip beyond the daily charge on my shipboard account, but I'm sure I will.

Did a cursory check this morning on the HAL website to see current prices for our Oct. 8 Mediterranean cruise on the Noordam. Balcony price (VH) is listed at $4,199, SY is $3,499 and SC is $4,499. What do these prices suggest in terms of the ship filling up, etc? Are there few balcony cabins remaining? We booked a VE guarantee, should we expect an upsell offer at some point. I know it's too early for that since it's still about a week or so from final payment deadline.

Sharon, DW is a professional photographer and was wondering what make of camera you used to take the excellent photographs in your blog. She was impressed with the depth and detail of many of the photos.

Here in Pennsylvania, state gaming laws require slot machine payouts to be at least 85 percent. For each dollar in, at least 85 cents must be returned to the players in payouts. Some casinos set their machines a bit higher, it's a good marketing tool. I would be curious to know if HAL casinos are held to any sort of similar standards and who the regulating body might be.