crystalspin

I don't believe it does. The Signature Beverage Package normally is what is part of HIA, and the SBP covers all the drinks of the Quench package, not the Coke package.

That's now an upcharge item! Lucky you to have tried it last new years!

We did not make it! being old fogeys...

We barely use our balcony, but in the post-pandemic world, we always choose one. @bdawg76 -- this video will be the same arrangement as your cabin (as it is two doors away). Of course the bed will be split into two twins if that is your desire! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eShSbWNb_g

IF it is working, the OP will have to buy the Coke Beverage Package to get a special glass that activates the machine.

We boarded Koningsdam last 29 December. Decorations (Xmas tree, etc) were still up from Christmas. Maybe some modifications for NYE. I think it was a Gala ("dressy") night in the MDR. We ate New Years Eve at Rudi's -- it is our anniversary. We were given silly hats. Since the NYE/NY leg of our B2B was nine days, I think most or all schools would have been back in session before the turnaround day. Possibly the cruise before might have had more children. Shortly after New years the flower arrangements et al were updated.

Roger, did it seem like the three "chops" nights were always going to be Veal-Lamb-Veal, or something more random/chefs-choice?

It should be noted that the ship will wait for ship's tours IF THEY CAN. A ship left their own and at least one private tour in Costa Rica recently. The captain had to make the Panama Canal schedule! The left-behind people missed the PC. The difference was, the cruiseline paid for the ship's tour people to meet the ship on the Atlantic side of the Canal; the private tour had to arrange their own. There surely are pluses to working with the ship.

That sounds like weekend problems! Try again (and again) today.

A precious few insides get an upgrade to K or J Main Deck insides, or OV (probably obscured or in a non-optimum location). If a ship really is not selling well anything can happen, but the news is all about how cruising is booming... The BIG range of any class of cabins is usually due to the handicapped rooms within the class. Assume yours will be near the low end! I think you should run not walk to the phone with the deckplans on your screen, and upgrade. If it were me.

I'm with @Horizon chaser 1957 -- put them on the artificial Xmas tree. Now I'm wondering if we were supposed to pick up our bronze medalions at that luncheon, and just didn't know it.

In the past, there was a water table to buy on way off ship (shorEx or not). Beverage Package not accepted. I don't remember if that was there last January (we only got off the ship three times in 16 days, not counting the turnaround day of our B2B). You can take your refillable bottle (filled from your tab or the night before in the Lido) OFF the ship. You will have to empty it bringing it back on, lest you fill it with tequila, or rum!

We had two 29" Samsonite "clam-shells". One trip (not cruise) we got off the plane in Dublin, and our luggage did not. On the taxi to our hotel (we missed the shuttle, filling out forms), I realized we would be OK with the contents of our standard 20-22" rollaboards, and the lightbulb went off! (The airline did deliver our suitcases by tea-time, but the Gestalt moment had occurred!)

Number of specialty dinners and $s in excursions depends on the length of the cruise. Without looking it up I think it's 1/$100 up to 10 days, 2/$200 from 11-20 days, and 3/$300 over 21 days. We have the max for our 35-day Polynesian booking. $100/day for two people sounds like a lot (especially for those long cruises!), but at $50pppd it is LESS than the Signature Beverage Plan, so everything else is gravy!

Looking over recent posting, I thought of one additional factor -- larger ships in general are more stable (less seasick-prone) on the open seas. Which I think you'll be seeing some of between the south Pacific and Europe!

You should be able to log in with the other cabin's last name (of primary traveller) and booking number. It's in the right column where the left column is YOUR login. I once managed FIVE (four additional) cabins this way. However to have the dining LINKED, I did have to call in.

It may be different for our Canadian neighbors. What say you @kazu?

We also hailed a taxi at the port to take us to the bottom of the sky-tram in Dubronik, only to have the driver offer us to give a little tour, take us to the top of the sky-tram, wait for us to take photos from the overlook, and take us back to the Old Town -- for less than the tramway was going to cost! His dialog was also much more informative that doing the town on our own.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I have not cruised the Caribbean, but have used ‘Toursbylocals.com’ and another similar amalgam in Europe. Viator takes a big hunk of any profit for anything you book through them. I have read on here that Trip Advisor is not so bad!

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Your health-care (or any other) OBC applies only to your stateroom, no matter how many cabins you pay for. If the occupant of the other cabin is also a healthcare worker, they will have to apply for their own OBC. Does this answer your questions?

We reached exactly 100 ship days on a different 2019 TransAtlantic (Zuiderdam). I think we were invited to a luncheon, which I thought was "just" a Mariners Luncheon... No medal and have never gotten a pin (I bought the 3-star one on eBay!). The servers all wore fancy Indonesian tunics (like bright patterned guayaberas); that was nice. @JanDom I got us JUST to 4* on a back-to-back over last New Year. The 16 days plus HIA plus staying in a Vista Suite put us 2 points over the threshhold! And used the pandemic Future Cruise Credits that were due to expire as well. Although I had done my own calculations, I did wait with bated breath until I saw 4* on the website! To echo many above, the reason for the calculated B2B -- besides the FCC and to prove we could cruise and not come home with COVID -- was to get to Free Laundry Land before our THREE 35-day bookings in 2024! Have never gotten a letter or e-mail recognizing a step-up in Mariner Society.

As @holakat said, it depends. I've seen people have to surrender larger "carry ons" on the gangway which would be claimed at Baggage; I have had to give my own large knapsack to a flight attendant when it wouldn't fit under the seat (thinking she would put it somewhere in the cabin, only to have to claim it on the carousel with the latch of my laptop broken); and here in the hinterlands of the US, we check and claim plane-side quite regularly, even carryon-sized bags. ETA: oh yeah, I forgot to mention where the check-in people circulate in the waiting area and select people with larger carryons to "check" their bags to their final destination before making it to the gangway. I guess it's a game not to have to pay the check-bag fee. Of course, these will be claimed at Baggage.

To which I say, Does anybody actually pay full price for a new car? Saturn tried that; there are no Saturn dealers any more. (Yes I realize that wasn't the only factor in GM dissolving Saturn.) But I think there are many similarities in the marketing models between automobile manufacturers and cruiselines.

I introduced my family members (one as young as 38) to cruising on Holland America's smaller ships, with Alaska as a destination. Small ship = less feeling lost, and Alaska = interesting scenery and shore excursions, not a lot of consecutive seadays. These are currently the Volendam and the Zaandam. My mom's first Alaskan cruise was on the even-smaller Statendam, no longer in the fleet.