Wehwalt

Well, I really meant days because DW and I are both five star ... I doubt if we will ever be President's Club but the days are what we count now. Points are now meaningless.

Whatever floats your boat. We booked on board two cruises totaling 36 days.

I'm still not clear on the exact sequence of events. On April 23, I went through the Navigator and found that it stated the Crow's Nest would be closed on four nights, the last of which was the 26th. Another individual stated that it had already closed two additional nights, which makes six. When the paper daily program for the 26th came out, there was no mention of a closure (which was supposed to be 4 to 8:30). So I'm guessing five took place. But at least from what I could tell, there were never any more scheduled except for the shortened one on the 26th.

You'll do it in Key West. They'll set up for it in a lounge and you'll be paraded through by deck, at the end of which you'll get a sticker for your card or a hole punched which will allow you to get off the ship. It's a very minimal procedure. They know who the passengers are already.

Here are the relevant instructions we received from the travel agent last July. I should note this was a HAL cruise tour off the Noordam and we received six nights credit for the land tour on our HAL accounts.:

Fortunately, we were not driven out. It may not be good to be near the end of the end of the hall on an older ship that seems to have trouble maintaining the vacuum for the toilets, but sooner or later we heard that woosh.

We got a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. But we had considerable plumbing problems, which affected us specifically. That may be different than the situation complained of regarding the Crow's Nest

Catching up a bit. As we discussed earlier, the Crow's Nest was to be closed six of the eleven nights. So what did it wind up being? I'm gathering five? Sorry, but we generally only went up there for coffee in the morning. We'd happily take any compensation that's going around to defray our bill of fifty-eight cents, but, like Mary229, don't see why it would be necessary.

Princess knows as well as we do that at certain ports, especially in Europe, there is duty free after security in the cruise terminal. Last fall in Lisbon on the Regal westbound transatlantic, there was a line twenty people long to check out. My conclusion is that Princess is content to regulate what is consumed in the MDR and prefers not to go overboard trying to regulate what you may consume in your cabin.

We were on the McKinley Explorer last year on a HAL cruisetour through the travel agent who offers so many of HAL's northbound cruisetours`the last couple of years. On the train, all seats were assigned.

They had that on the Oosterdam a couple of weeks ago on a day when we had enjoyed real churros in Spain. We nibbled one each and sighed.

We received both duffels and plates before leaving in Honolulu. They are smaller than in recent years. If they're the same as the ones you are getting. Round, about six inches in diameter.

We, first segment guests, got those bags before we disembarked in HNL. Came in handy at the airport when we had a bag over fifty pounds and had to use it. We also got the plate, don't know if you've seen those yet. Smaller than in recent years and without the route map. Just as well, considering.

Our regrets that you seem so focused on this one thing. It's a great cruise. Everyone we speak to is having a wonderful time, and the main regret seems to be that everyone has to get off in Athens because of the charter. We'd stay longer if we could. 25 days is not enough.

I would think HAL would go where the greater amount of revenue is, given the amount of debt they owe.