crystalspin

I would lean on your travel agent. They should have counselled you to wait for the BF sale which was announced before the 15th, I believe. Pizza-store may not honor the gratuities amount, but might give you OBC or a store-card.

Call again. Tell whoever you get that you have the T&C in front of you and that you will ask for their supervisor to verify if they deny.

I agree with you Blackduck, but I understand that some people can't relax without the background noise. People also say "leave the phone at home" (or in the safe) and probably the minority bring a computer with them. I don't even know what ChromeCast IS -- we do not have a TV in the house! But if it uses bandwidth, the OP should be happy to know that all of the fleet will have StarLink service by the end of this year.

Understand, I just worked it out starting when we got SBP as a promotional in 2016 (before HIA existed). So I am not an official "voice" on this. But I may be after February when I intend to visit the Mariner Society desk to ask about my missing 2 spend points!

My experience is that HIA (actually the SBP component) seems to make the $300/day by itself -- FOR TWO PEOPLE in one room anyway. 2x $11 (not the actual price) x 15 (no matter if you drink them all) = $330/day. It is possible that this changed to real prices? on maybe 1/1/2023? because we were awarded maximum spend-days on our 12/29/22 sailing but two days short of max on the second leg of that B2B that sailed in 2023. But certainly more than $50pppd.

Hello LadyB and welcome to Cruise Critic! This post will probably be moved to the UK Cruisers board, or you can simply copy it to one of the two sub-boards, included here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/543-uk-cruising/

The Pinnacle class Holland America ships (Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, Rotterdam) have long walk-in showers with glass doors in both Verandah (balcony) and Vista Suite bathrooms. You can see photos here: https://halfacts.com/pinnacle-class/ Some of the mini-galleries are labelled wrong, namely Koningsdam 4098-4119 are labelled "V" when they should be VS (or MS, for mini-suite). If the bed is near the balcony it is a Vista Suite; if the sofa and desk are near the balcony it is a Verandah. If you need a shower that is wider as well as longer, look at the HC/Handicapped verandahs, which will have a barrier-free shower (but it will have a curtain not glass). The Nieuw Statendam is sailing the Mediterranean in 2024 and 2025.

Re-do the booking. My "dummy" bookings were showing the old promo ($500 in flight credits, I think) until something after 2pm Pacific. When it switched to Included Gratuities. Showing below the "Included In Your Reservation" header on the left column.

You are right and you do not even have to call. I just processed the "Make A Payment" on my booking's page. I did call my PCC back to let her know I didn't need her help, and I got her first ring. She verified that Final Payment was taken care of!

@Duane S. should check again. It took until something after 2pm Pacific today for the "old" promo ($500 flight credit) to disappear from bookings, replaced by the included gratuities. I have seen bookings come up with very short-time Final Payment dates, only to call my PCC and confirm that those dates were simply wrong. Someone copied and pasted without correcting the month or year!

I just did it! Chase doesn't close cycle (accounts) until 8pm Pacific but I don't know what time of day (ON A SUNDAY!) HAL would ding me hard. To "re-buy" our cabin today it would be over $4400 more -- not worth any chance of that! So we don't really have an answer to my original question for anyone else looking at this thread in the future, so far.

Yes, and mine are not! PCC does not work on weekends (although she not infrequently calls me back after 5pm Pacific). And the website is flaky already, and it's not even the weekend -- suspect the launch of Black Friday week has pushed IT to their limit. Going to try to pay right now!

Final payment due 11/19. Booked with PCC but can make payment on line... I think! Would hate for it to fall through considering HAL's weekend website problems. Does the phone go through? I ran into no answer on Christmas weekend starting on FRIDAY, some years ago. Anyone ever push it to the last day on a weekend/Sunday? WE HAVE THE MONEY! But, the month closes on 19th for credit card billing, and my husband wants to put it off to next month. NOT KITING! just his habit... Have a call into my PCC for her opinion. As many can attest, I read A LOT of threads on this board, but I can't remember this one being asked.

All balconies on deck 11 are the same size in the deckplan. Here is a short video of a farther back port-side cabin. 11009 would be the mirror image (left to right). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvfnAowKFPE If you want a deep balcony, look at forward or aft Deck 4, they are enormous!

The cabins on the Lower Promenade would look like the halfacts inside I posted above. This is not a tiny cabin! But here is 1877 (on sister ship Zaandam): https://halfacts.com/r-class/1877-zaandam/ You can see the extra space, but it is "just space". Useful if you have mobility (or other) equipment, but just space otherwise. I would choose a lower-number lower promenade cabin, myself!

Wow, I didn't notice that on the dummy bookings I did! (I tend to click through too quickly I guess.) I'm not actually looking to book anything new or really even re-fare (have EBB/HIA on all but one of my bookings, and that is awful hard to top), but I saw no savings on my idle dummies, either logged in or not.

Rotterdam is leaving FLL on 11/24. I do not know how sticklerish they are. Have a good cruise Father!

Those are not actually bad at all, except for the longer walk to the Crows Nest! I would choose 3407/3408 or higher. You will be under the carpeted Main Dining Room and not the galley! I understand about not wanting to move between a B2B (although it is said to not be that bad). Ruth makes a good point and you should have a TA or your PCC check "inventory" that the Deck 2 cabin is really NOT available for both legs. Then go for the 3407-3423. The whole ship is really not that long!

Joining in welcoming you to Cruise Critic. I would only take the move IF you plan to use the spa. Otherwise the convenience of mid-ship/mid-height trumps a little less traffic in the aisles. I have not sailed Carnival but looked at your locations on cruisedeckplans.com and both locations are under public areas. I would only move to be between two decks of cabins!

My brother and SIL were in 3356 on the Lower Promenade. They found it dark and quiet. You are steps from the promenade walkway! https://halfacts.com/r-class/3356-volendam-i/

Hi Julma! Would like to pick your brain. Looking at redeeming points for mid-July 2024; just two nights planned. Do you have a preference for Hyatt Place (looks like right next door to Legal Sea Food restaurant), over Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites (which have the same address...). It looks like the latter at 670 Summer Street would be walkable to the ship, with very light luggage. Possibly also the Hyatt? I'm guessing this puts us farther from South Station, but we would probably use taxi/Uber to get to maybe the Arboretum on our full day (if planes fly as planned).

Yes, pax 1&2 get credit for total purchasing for the cabin. A third person would get only Sail Days.

I'm one of the "explainers". My experience since 2015 is that having the Signature Beverage Package (lately HIA), has been enough to give all the Spend Days possible. I figure the accounting is 15 drinks at $11 pppd. NOT the actual price of what was imbibed!. For two in a cabin, this amounts to $330/day or 10% over all you can earn. (Note, the $300/day is totalled for the length of cruise, and does NOT have to be earned daily.) Strangely all of my post 2015 history shows this math EXCEPT the second leg of our B2B last winter -- seven days earned five spend days. Fortunately we still came out two points OVER 4* (not two under!). I still may stop by the Mariner desk on next cruise...

Welcome to Cruise Critic! If I thing sounds too good to be true... I have bought shoes TWICE (fool me twice SHAME ON ME) off FB ads. Once for my DSM who has bunions -- they were useless for her. Just recently an ad showed "Clarks from England" logo et al, but the shoes I got were cheap and NOT Clarks. I think you did well not to put your credit card or bank info into the scammy site.

It might be that Joebucks' tongue was firmly in "his" cheek. Or they may have been making a little fun of people like me and my husband, as follows: After having HAL's Beverage Package on a Promo (in 2016), my husband REALLY REALLY liked not having to mentally tally every latte or glass of wine. Did we or have we ever actually tallied the cost vs the value? No, but we have always gotten a drink package ever since. It is part of what we want out of a cruise. Currently the cost of HAL's Have-It-All program is $50pppd, while the Signature Beverage Package is $55pppd. HIA includes specialty dinners, shore excursions, wifi subscriptions for guests 1&2, in addition to Beverage Package. So yes we count all of those perks as FREE.