birthday/anniversary on HAL

[factoryfourteen]

We will be celebrating a birthday & an anniversary on our cruise. . . I've read from other posters that you can contact your TA to have arrangements made for a cake to be brought out in the dining room. . . My question is, when I call my TA, can I make any special requests about the type of cake? I don't need something extravagent, but would like to have a little say in whether its chocolate or vanilla, etc. (Not that there won't be an abundance of desserts we do like, but would just like it to be special:) . . . . )ANd if so, does anyone have any idea how much getting a cake would cost?

[localady]

Up until our last cruise we were able to arrange for small celebration cakes in the Dining Room by speaking with the Maitre'D. I don't believe at that that time there was a charge. Hope this helps!

Have a great cruise!:cool:

[Randyk47]

We cruise for our anniversary and my birthday. Actually, it's the same day, 21 March. On the Oosterdam last March we celebrated our anniversary one night and my birthday the next. HAL took care of the anniversary because I put in a special request before we cruised. My wife arranged my birthday cake with the dining room staff. We didn't make any special request and they brought the same kind of cake both nights but it was still quite nice and each cake was personalized. They made sure there was enough for our whole table of eight. Since this happened on the first two nights of the cruise it actually was a good ice breaker for the table and we had a great time at dinner the rest of the cruise.

[Skilla6]

I had a birthday on the Zuiderdam last July. I did not let HAL know ahead of time because this cruise wasn't about my birthday. Anyway, on the day of my birthday, I got a card from the captain and it was a very pleasant surprise. We spent that day swimming with the stingrays on Grand Cayman and it was a blast. I will never forget it. The unexpected card was a classy thing from HAL and it made me smile:) .

[Aussie Gal]

I celebrated my birthday when we were doing the Baltic Cruise in 1999. On the day of my birthday I received a printed card from the Captain and staff wishing me a happy birthday and that night I had a chocolate Cake and the waiters sang Happy Birthday.

To this day my husband swears he had did not have anything to do with it and our TA certainly did not know about it.

Jennie

[ualtim]

It is the same chocolate cake, and it is free. The dining room staff will also deliver an appropriate song (birthday, anniversary etc.) when they deliver it. I do not think that you can request a different cake unless there is one offered in one of the Ships Services packages.

[Ziggy7]

Out TA asked us if we were celebrating any occasions and we told her yes, our aniversay, then she told HAL and they gave us a cake and sang to us, it was a nice suprise :) Also loved the card from the captain! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries on cruise ships. Sometimes the cake is chocolate and sometimes they were vanilla. Our TA took care of all the details. Several of the waitstaff will come and sing at the table.

This past May DH decided that he wanted to celebrate his birthday at the Pinnacle. So he missed out on the free cake. But our area captain and waiter came by and wished him a happy birthday.

[lipoppop]

.

To this day my husband swears he had did not have anything to do with it and our TA certainly did not know about it.

Jennie


Was he smiling when he swore? Did you check if his fingers or toes were crossed?

[FoxyTerrier]

I hate to be a wet blanket on the celebration cakes, but on our first HAL cruise our group celebrated 2 birthdays (my father's 78th and my son's 13th) and 2 anniversays (my parents 52th and my 17th). These happened on 4 separate days during a 10 med. cruise. We got 4 cakes all the same vanilla w/ white icing and regretfully I think the daily HAL desserts were much better than the celebration cakes. On all cruise since we keep it a secret about anything special.

The one really special thing that did happen for my son was a large bouqet of balloon taped to our door the morning of his 13th birthday with a card. Now that was a really special touch that we ALL loved.

[sail7seas]

I celebrated my birthday when we were doing the Baltic Cruise in 1999. On the day of my birthday I received a printed card from the Captain and staff wishing me a happy birthday and that night I had a chocolate Cake and the waiters sang Happy Birthday.

To this day my husband swears he had did not have anything to do with it and our TA certainly did not know about it.

Jennie

Your passport gives your birthday, of course. Maybe someone in the office when going through the passports noted the date? Did the ship hold onto your passports?

Perhaps on a previous cruise you celebrated your birthday and it was in your HAL records and someone sharp in Seattle picked up on it and advised the ship?

[Aussie Gal]

Sail,

You are so right. The ship's office did hold our passports for awhile until we got to Russia when we had to have them with us. They must have noted the date. Anyhow, it was a lovely night as it was our last formal dinner and we had the lobster etc. I have kept the menu from that night. That was in the days when we were given all the menus for the trip at the end of the cruise.

Jennie

[sail7seas]

;) Jennie.....


They may be keeping the menus these days, but they can't take back our memories!!! :)

[ekerr19]

Curious-

We always get a set of menus - in fact, the set I just got from the Noordam was signed by the F/B Mgr, Hotel Mgr., Chef and Captain...

Is HAL discontinuing this?