crystalspin

Why would you do this? No sharing remember...

Haha, but -- we have the package! Will be happy to meet you though!

Someone quite recently said they were successful in getting the upgrade to Elite for $11.80 per day per person, by going to a bartender (not server) before using the HIA/SBP at all. That means not accepting a sailaway beverage from the roaming waiters. In their case the bartender had to call a manager... (that's $10 + 18%)

The timing for ordering another drink is much shorter than that, and if you 'adopt' a particular bar/service area (convenient to your cabin?), you can probably by one opened, get one unopened for your cabin... especially during Happy Hour. These are just thoughts! But we have gotten unopened waters that way.

It appears there are no rollcalls for Star Clipper, but there is a Star Clipper board, so I would suggest you ask there: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/39-star-clippers/

What ship in the Star Clipper line? Would like to help you find your Roll Call, but am unfamiliar with Star Clipper!

Turns out that on Holland America, they actually read and apply requests for warm or cool wash/dry EVEN for Air Dry (which takes an extra day, but yahoo this is me packing even lighter).

The HAL promo cards are in any whole-number dollar amount. Round up to the next dollar and throw the cents away. (The cents left over actually stay on the card, but it's not worth your time at the Front Desk to cash them out.) ETA: Also, Mary said "in a single transaction" so you can pay your gift cards in ONE transaction and then pay the remainder in a SECOND transaction. That's my understanding having applied my two gift card payments in separate transactions.

Smitty, Look at any marketing email you have received from HAL (and possibly postal mail) and in the banner at the top there should be a reference to a Personal Cruise Consultant who has been assigned to you, with that person's email addy and phone extension. It would have been good to have been working with them all along, but I myself never contacted mine until I had a problem that was not of her creation -- and she saved me thousands in deposit/payments. If you cannot find that reference, call the PCC hotline (1-800-355-3017), with your Mariner number handy, -- stay on the line through the menu until it says "to talk to a real person". Then ask that person for the information. Once you have a connection with your PCC, you will have ONE person to talk to. They will go up the ladder for you. With the complications you relate, you might want to start by laying them out (with the moneys at risk stated and of course booking numbers) in an email and have them call you when they have processed what they can do. When you get a phone number you don't recognize, pick it up! Mine does call from Seattle, but they may have remote PCCs as well.

You are correct! I was repeating what I read on the Carnival Board and had not gone to AARP Rewards site because I no longer needed them! Both values of cards are available for all the cruiselines they had before.

Yes I saw on the Carnival Board that the AARP Rewards were working, but only for $100 (limit of five). Meanwhile I have paid off my January cruise with the HAL anniversary (of HMC) cards, getting bonus cards worth $149 whereas with the limit at $500/month, I was only going to save $50 from AARP. (Final Payment is next week.)

They will come to you as separate emails with linked cards. To redeem them, you have to take the spaces out in the 16-digit codes! But you can cut and paste...

Yes I applied two cards. You have to go through the steps above (TYPE EVERYTHING, do not allow auto-complete to fill in your data). They come very fast. If your CC company or bank holds up one or more cards then you're stuck calling them. ETA: I used the two cards to pay off my cruise (with a few cents over that I will not bother redeeming). I did that in order to get two bonus 10% cards in the lower values, which I will apply to my account on board, one per leg of a B2B. If you wanted to do the math, you could figure out what value to purchase (any whole number up to $2000!) so that 110% would pay your balance.

OIC! We actually went into LA infrequently from OC, so I will let others to the suggesting.

I had not heard about the train "emergency repair" until I googled it! Bummer for people who use it as their daily commute... I get that you're coming all the way across the country and feel you want to see LA as part of it, but you could honestly spend 10 days in San Diego area (within Uber or taxi distances) and not be bored.

The backpackers soap leafs are JUST SOAP, they dissolve away. They are also hydroscopic and will dissolve on a wet fingertip and will stick to the leafs below them in the container! But they are the smallest stuff available. The Wash EZE are blue "fabric" that the soap washes out of (turning them white) leaving a small piece to be thrown away. They have fabric softener in the mix, and are meant for a machine-load, hence cutting them into quarters for hand wash. They are less delicate as far as handling them.

Formerly classes were named by the first initial of the first ship in that class. The only ships left in the fleet under that convention are the Volendam and the Zaandam (in the R Class). The Vista Class ships are Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, and Noordam. The Signature Class ships are Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam. The Pinnacle Class Ships are Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, and Rotterdam. Here is the Holland America site that describes each ship (in alphabetical order, NOT according to their class). https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/cruise-ships.html You can save it off as a PDF. The thread in CC's HAL Board entitled a Guide to the Ships and Classes, is really too old to be useful, and evolved into where to ask about choice of cabin!

Yikes, and I thought my credit card bank over-reacted for $1500! You go girl!

An aspect of this that occurs to me is to downsize your packing. How were you planning to visit LA if not in a rental car? Honestly asking. California is all about the freeways, not so much by public transport. It can be done... (ps Utah now, forty years in Orange County.)

I look forward to trying this! The manual typing was quite a chore (I needed to fortify with a glass of wine!!!) as I have become accustomed to the auto-fill.

I would take this cruise just to meet Roger Jett! No joking: we took seven other members of our family on a 14-day HAL Alaskan cruise and it will forever stand as the crux of experience for all on board. You see SO MUCH more than the 3-port 7-day cruises. May in Alaska -- you may miss some bays due to too much floating ice. But all cruises are subject to missing ports or scenic days. Better to risk it all than not experience any of it.

@lakegirl16I have used Wash EZE from Amazon. Cut one sheet in fourths for a sink full.

The new promo I got in my email today (but actually there yesterday) is: "Private Fares + $200 Onboard Credit Anniversary Deal" When I ran a dummy booking yesterday the fare for Dec.29 sailing had gone up a few dollars, no longer had Crew Appreciation, and had $200 OBC instead of $100. @fsufancc @zacsc @newcruzer2 If you booked through the big-box travel Agency, THEY will have to be the ones to intervene. Have them check on the missing things (not all items show up in the same place in on line documents); get the full confirmation from the place that sells pizza... (Whose name should not be mentioned and may cause your post to disappear.) My pre-paid Crew Appreciation shows up two places: Open your booking number. On the top banner, click Itinerary THEN click the pop-up with a picture of a couple. Under the box that shows your Dining and Shore Excursion credits, it should say Pre-Paid Crew Appreciation: followed by your names or the names of the first two people in the room. The other way to see it -- BEFORE you open the itinerary, also below the box for Dining and SX credits, and below the "## Days Until Departure" is a column of things you might want to do... One is PrePay Crew Appreciation. If you have been credited with paying them, it will say [your name] "has booked crew appreciation"; mine is on a blue background. You will not be able to check the box, because it is paid. The only place the OBC, SBP, and Wifi show is apparently on the confirmation email I got. And the place you buy cases of toilet paper should have sent you that.

I think 'features' not bugs. @Mary229is right, they don't accept automatic pasting of info, probably because it's the newest scam. When I typed ALL of my info, the sales went straight through. Also their chat-help was fast and accurate to identify the errors I received.

At least the payment on HAL site went smoothly! We are paid off!