OlsSalt

At some point you finally figure out what you paid to get "free laundry", you could have purchased an entire new wardrobe to toss it out at the end of the cruise. But you also get to the point when you (almost) feel you owe HAL even more than what you actually paid, for the priceless memories and wonderful itineraries HAL so consistently provides. We almost thought we finally had our "last cruise" (due primarily to our age) until we found there was a huge gap in our lives when we not planning and anticipating another one. So off we go again ....next year.

It is really just level of perks system. The more you sail, the more you spend, they reward the loyalty with increasing levels of perks. Until you are soooo loyal and have spent soooo much money, they know they have you hooked so the increasing level perks come to an end. 🤑

Are there not exceptions if you buy a bottle on a HAL winery shore excursion?

I believe if you have cruised on another CCL brand, you get one star status on your first HAL cruise.

Love the comments to "avoid Deck 8", because this might explain why the entire deck 8 cabin choice is cheaper, when "choosing your own cabin". We always choose Deck 8 when we can, because we love being only one stairway away from the upper Lido deck. No waiting for elevators to enjoy most of what we like about the ship. Just when we want to get back to our cabin from the lower MDR/ShowRoom decks. Some occasional daytime noise, (chair scraping) but never a deal killer. Pay attention to what is directly above you, and you can do very well on Deck 8. We were even directly under the Dive In on our last cruise and there was zero noise in our cabin with only some muffled scarping when on the verandah. Great location. Think about the hours of any Lido deck activities above you, most of them have shut down at night so they would not disrupt sleep. Being under the carpeted Lido seating sections would have been even better. We have never heard noise drifting over from the above the outdoor pool area, since glass walls encircle it so any noise goes more up, rather than around and down to the Deck 8 verandahs. I'd better quit, or else these Deck 8 secrets may be ruined for us forever.

Do you have one booking number or two booking numbers for your B2B cruise? Did you put these two segments together on your own and book them at two separate times, or was it a combined package offered by HAL. If you have two different booking numbers, it is my understanding your One-Star benefits will kick in on your second segment .But if there is only one booking number, they may not apply until you take another separate HAL cruise. Waiting for others to comment from their own experiences with this good question. We tacked on an extra and separately booked segment on our last cruise - same ship, same cabin just a longer itinerary and we were allowed to collect two separate CCL share onboard credits for what was now a defacto single 21 day cruise. But with two separate booking numbers.

Interesting, We were midship on Deck 8 -under the Lido- on the Noordam, and I noticed this same posted message - for the first time. Cabin was some distance away from the bridge midship. "Navigation requirements -- no deck lights on and curtains must closed at night".

Are not rental scooters available that do meet the ship size requirements? During cruise travel, one might need to accept they cannot bring their own oversized equipment.

Photos look just like where we also docked - on several different ships in Phuket. Nothing around this immediate area. Will need to arrange some sort of shore excursion. Very impacted tourism wise.

What did you order?

What is the "foreign port" for a California cruise, if not Ensenada, Mexico? Just saying there is party fever in California too over spring break. So it can be a risk. But assume Carnival picks up most of the Spring Break party hearty crowd.

Monday HAL website - very jumpy at first, and then it settled down. Had to power past the initial erratic scene openings.

Does this mean they now intend to make more money on $49 a day fares, than they do from "free" casino rates?

Don't underestimate Spring Break at Rosarito Beach - Baja. https://www.papasandbeer.com/rosarito/spring-break/

Safe assumption.

Roz, your points are very valid but since this was also a combined and longer late season cruise, I think attracted a very different passenger base. Very much an older and less mobile crowd. Two weeks Alaska late September plus one week Coastal Calif was a 21 day cruise - that does not attract those who still work, or families, or even those looking for more of a warm weather outdoor cruise. Much of Alaska had already closed down. I also think passenger base had a lot more who had done Alaska many, many times. Along with those who chose not to cancel the California segment, after losing two of the more desirable ports at the last minute - Monterey and Santa Barbara, and getting San Pedro and Catalina instead. All of this did combine to make it a very low key cruise and many just stayed on the ship and enjoyed the less active joys of cruising - leaving the cooking and cleaning to someone else and not even bothering with many of the repeat ports. Plus a very early to bed crowd too. It was more a "repositioning" cruise which do tend to offer fewer bells and whistles too. Yes, this is a HAL cheerleader talking here, but one who is also moving more into just cruising to be on the ship rather than our former go-go-go destinations cruiser so it worked for us. Loved Valdez as a new Alaska port, but that was as low key as possible.

We believe in corporate welfare. Once we make our booking after checking out various options upfront, we are done with spending any more time on it. Part of our own "vacation planning". The only later reconsiderations are up-sell offers that may come in closer to departure time. But we already have a set per diem value up front, so we can easily accept or reject any latter in-house upsell offers. Since we are among the much-maligned HAL cheerleaders, we always leave our cruises feeling over all we got more than our monies worth no matter what our final costs.

We always pay more to pick our cabin and always do pick the deck under the Lido. No deal breakers so far for us. Plus there is usually no surcharge for this deck ,while other "choose your cabin" decks not under the Lido are often surcharged on top the the extra original "choose your own cabin" surcharge. We do watch what is above us, but last time we were under the Dive In - zero noise inside our cabin in this busy location, with only some scarping noise when on the verandah. Love the easy access to the Lido deck offerings. One flight of stairs up is my own wussy limit. We like to avoid the elevators, so this deck just works for us best. Easy to go down stairs to other decks, and then use the elevator only when heading back up.

Eggs - by the numbers:

Egg white frittata offered in both MDR and room service is very tasty, with small additions of vegetables and feta cheese.

Took a cake decorating course a long tome ago we made our decorative frostings with Crisco! You could build beautiful designs, as long as you never wanted to eat them. The Pinnacle restaurant special occasion complimentary cake has always been very good too - rich fudge frosting.Even better when leftovers got chilled in the cabin refrigerator.

From consistent past experience, the free HAL room service chocolate cake is one of the best we have every had. HAL knows how to deliver tasty cakes. Moist, nice crumb and the "good" chocolate flavor. Holland is a specialty chocolate country after all. They have a tradition to maintain. We came only a the end of the gorgeous cake display on our last Noordam cruise, and found what we were still able to sample was very tasty and not dry or bland. I hear you though about ship board desserts that only look good, but are not worth the calories taste wise. Your husband can order room service chocolate cake as often as he wants, and I guarantee he will be a happy man if all else fails.

There is a very ready market for shorter cruises, and agree there are times when taking longer cruises is simply not an option. Just not sure HAL should have also tried to crash that market with these new and larger ships to fill.

Loyalty to repeat 7 day cruises, going to pretty much the same ports due to their size is a very different HAL brand loyalty, than those quite addicted to the longer, and more far ranging unique HAL offerings. Only time will tell, so both of us are just speculating at this point. Agree, perhaps HAL spread itself too thin and everyone is now getting short-changed. But CCL still has a long way to go paying off their "covid" $10 billion dollar loan.

HAL's goal is to reduce plastic waste which is why all of this has become so difficult now. So in that spirit, be sure to pack them back out with you when you leave.