35 Day Cruise out of San Diego?

[Hlitner]

20 minutes ago, tuolumne couple said:

Again, I am Sorry, please excuse me, I did not mean to offend you or for this to come across that way. I should have been more upbeat and said simply that we are never bored on HAL and are always interested & enjoy all the activities on HAL. That is my opinion.

Your post makes me smile :).  Many years ago on the  62 day Grand Med cruise on the Prinsendam and had a fantastic table of 6 in the MDR.  One of the men at are table was a true Type A and needed constant activities to maintain his sanity.  Our cruise director (Thom Faulkner) was challenged to come up with activities for such a long cruise on a ship that lacked many of the amenities found on newer vessels.  One popular activity (with our tablemate) was "Animal Toss" where the passengers tossed stuffed animals at a target.  When the group tired of that Thom had them do it blindfolded, over their shoulders, etc.   Our table mate was very good at Animal Toss and managed to win many small flashlights which he gave to all of us at the table.  I still have mine :).  It wasn't long after that cruise that Thom Faulkner changed jobs from a CD to an onboard Future Cruise Consultant (along with his lovely wife).  I always wondered if it was "Animal Toss" that led Thom to a career change.

 

Suffice it to say that DW and I are "party poopers" who were happy to entertain ourselves with reading and socialization.

[RobTheGob]

We’ve been on three long-ish cruises: 31 days on NCL Pearl (2016), 30 days on RCCL Spectrum of the Seas (2019) and 34 days on HAL Amsterdam (2019). My fav was the Amsterdam (SO many amazing public spaces!) - I was looking forward to sailing on her again, but that’s unlikely with its recent sale...

 

Originally - we didn’t really want any cruises with too many back to back sea days. But over time, we’ve started to really enjoy them. Back to back to back port days can get very tiring!

 

We don’t have much brand loyalty - we tend to shop itineraries. Each cruise line had a different personality - pros and cons all around. 

 

HAL had the best combination for us. Our next cruise (Apr 2022) is *only* 19 days on HAL Koningsdam. 

 

Yes - we still work! But have pretty flexible schedules... 

[Roz]

I just booked a 31-day South American cruise for March 2022.  My longest cruise to date has been 13 days.  Most sea days in a row has been 5 going across the Pacific from San Diego to Hawaii.  

 

The SA cruise has a good mix of port and sea days interspersed with each other.  The most sea days in a row are 3, and a lot of those are scenic cruising.  

[kangforpres]

This cruise is on our "bucket list" since we have always wanted to visit the South Pacific, and live on the West Coast. Don't worry about how you are going to fill your many sea days, just remember you are sailing on a luxurious ship sailing to paradise. The people who did it back in the 1800's would be shocked and amazed to sea how we transit the high seas these days.

 

Enjoy, 

 

Paul

[CaliforniaAC]

We did the 26 day Crown Princess. We have cruised L.A. to Hawaii numerous times, but that was our first time to the South Pacific. I wish now we were able to go to some of the ports HAL does, but, it was a great cruise. One thing no one else mentioned was the sea days stress relief. By the time you get to Hawaii you will be regenerated. And you gain hours as you sail west, so it's easy to stay up late and get up early😁! There will be time on the ship to do things that you might normally skip, like Royal Dutch High Tea.The South Pacific is much different than anywhere else. If you're stopping in Samoa you will meet the nicest people in the world, seriously. In American Samoa we took the "Aggie Bus" to two dollar beach... The bus was quite unlike anything we had ever seen. Two Dollar Beach was quiet, and the locals there sold a home style Samoan lunch (And I do mean home style). And they let us know if we wanted to go over and see the graves it was okay with them. It's private property that has been the families' for generations. Then a dance troupe came in the afternoon and did a show. Mailed my postcards home from the post office in Pago Pago. 

 

Make sure to take part in the Roll Call. It makes a huge difference for your long cruises. We also bring dominos, skippo and uno cards besides the books. The Roll Call may have activities on sea days too. 

 

The sea days home were perfect. One of the things we didn't know was how much you will de-stress on those leisure days. Literally, we felt physically and mentally better than we had in many years.

 

Your cruise will be what you make it. You will have a wonderful relaxing experience. Hope you have a great trip!

Ac

[Roz]

On cruises 30 days or longer, does HAL bill your credit card as you go along or at the midpoint, or is it only at the end of the cruise?

[dchip]

5 minutes ago, Roz said:

On cruises 30 days or longer, does HAL bill your credit card as you go along or at the midpoint, or is it only at the end of the cruise?

We have only been billed at the end of the cruise.  Our longest HAL cruise was 51 days in 2019. 
Cheers, Denise

[Roz]

@dchip, thank you for the response.

[KirkNC]

2 hours ago, Roz said:

On cruises 30 days or longer, does HAL bill your credit card as you go along or at the midpoint, or is it only at the end of the cruise?

Even on world cruises we have only been billed at the end.  It maybe possible if you ran up a huge bill that they might want to give you an interim bill.  Of course on the world cruise they put a large hold on your credit card, $8,000-10,000 if I recall correctly.

[St. Louis Sal]

Add me to the list of long cruise lovers and especially the Hawaii/Tahiti itinerary. We started in Fort Lauderdale with our daughters for a Holiday cruise thru the Panama Canal. They left us in San Diego and we continued on.
 

I was never bored on sea days, there seemed to be a lot going on with lectures, meeting up with my roll call group. The pastor onboard even did a Bible study for those who were interested.

 

We were on the Rotterdam, and while not my favorite ship, we did enjoy her. We had Tai Chi at the pool every morning plus sunrise walks and sunset walks (thanks to life stylist Megan).

 

I know some things have changed with HAL (I hear there isn’t a pastor onboard for the longer cruises and life stylists are no more), but even so, I can’t imagine being bored. We don’t play trivia and usually only hang out in the evening for the piano player.
 

I will say that in January, when we went, the seas were rough some days and my DH swore he wouldn’t take a shower until we were in a port where he wouldn’t be rocking and rolling. The islands were beautiful

and I had to pinch myself while floating in the lagoon at Bora Bora.

 

I would echo others, join the Roll Call, I made some friends there and got to do some excursions I might have missed on my own.

 

st Louis Sal

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, Roz said:

On cruises 30 days or longer, does HAL bill your credit card as you go along or at the midpoint, or is it only at the end of the cruise?

You do not get billed until the end of the cruise.  However, they will put a credit hold on your credit card account per their policy.  I am not sure what the policy will be going forward but I believe it used to be about $60 per person/day.  While a credit hold does not obligate you to pay, it does essentially reserve that part of your credit limit.  This can be a problem for those without adequate credit limits.  If you do have limitations you should talk to the cruise line to learn their current policy and then telephone your credit card company and request a credit limit increase.

 

Hank

[Roz]

@KirkNCand @Hlitner, thanks for the info.  No problem here with a $1,860 hold on my credit card.  My cruise is still 2 yrs. away, but I've started of list of things to do and find out beforehand so I'm not in a panic at the last minute.  For instance, I'm writing down all the OTC meds I use so I make sure I take a supply with me.  I still have vivid memories of being in a French pharmacy and dealing with a pompous pharmacist while I tried to figure out the French word for diarrhea. 😉

[Roz]

Two other questions about longer cruises.  How many gala nights will there be on a 31-day cruise?  How often do the menus repeat?

[canadianbear]

Boy, I’m glad I read this thread.  I’ve never thought about a large hold on our credit card on a longer cruise.  Good information. 

[KirkNC]

58 minutes ago, Roz said:

Two other questions about longer cruises.  How many gala nights will there be on a 31-day cruise?  How often do the menus repeat?

Not sure on the gala, probably eight?

 

They do a good job with the menu.  There will certainly be repeats but not too many .  I should add that you won’t see a whole menu repeat, just components.

Edited February 20, 2021 by KirkNC

[KirkNC]

8 hours ago, Roz said:

@KirkNCand @Hlitner, thanks for the info.  No problem here with a $1,860 hold on my credit card.  My cruise is still 2 yrs. away, but I've started of list of things to do and find out beforehand so I'm not in a panic at the last minute.  For instance, I'm writing down all the OTC meds I use so I make sure I take a supply with me.  I still have vivid memories of being in a French pharmacy and dealing with a pompous pharmacist while I tried to figure out the French word for diarrhea. 😉

Note that the $60 is per person, if a cruise is > 25 days the hold amount is $25/pp.

[Mary229]

32 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Note that the $60 is per person, if a cruise is > 25 days the hold amount is $25/pp.

I am glad they changed that.  It used to be more.  

[zelker]

2 hours ago, Roz said:

Two other questions about longer cruises.  How many gala nights will there be on a 31-day cruise?

On our 40 night Vancouver to Auckland cruise in October 2019, it says 7 on the eDocs (I just checked).  At the Captain's discretion on any cruise, there can always be more or less.

[DeeDee Groff]

8 hours ago, Roz said:

Two other questions about longer cruises.  How many gala nights will there be on a 31-day cruise?  How often do the menus repeat?

 

When planning for gala nights on cruises of 21 days or more, I'd suggest every fifth night as a rule of thumb, but that's not set in stone.

 

Enjoy!