glorialagos

I had a very old ID card from my school. Took a photo of it and submitted. It was accepted with no problem.

We stayed closer to aft on deck 8 on Rotterdam which is basically the same as NS. We loved the location. Had a very short walk to the stairs, up one flight and came out to the buffet area and aft pool and bar. It was never noisy. We will be boarding the Statendam a week from today and chose the same location. Have never sailed in the forward location but deck 8 is our favorite.

Thank you SO much!!!! These reviews are extremely helpful and just what I was looking for!

Mine is currently showing the teacher's, AARP, Carnival stock and a small TA onboard credit. I board in two weeks so we will see but it appears that at least those four are stackable. I sure won't complain!!! Our HIA did not include gratuities this time so a nice portion of my OBC will go to pay that.

Hello! My friend and I will be boarding Nieuw Statendam in two weeks and will be taking the HAL excursion "Dunns Falls and Dolphin Cove". The two reviews posted on the excursion are very good, but over 10 years old. I did not find what I was looking for on the port board. Has anyone done this excursion recently? Are there suggestions you could give us? I have seen the general pushy vendors and challenging falls info. I am more curious about the Dolphin Cove part. Also, the excursion is for 4 hours and a lot of what I have read says there are long lines. Do the HAL excursions skip the lines or is there not much time at either place? There is no mention of lunch provided. Can someone recommend a place for lunch? Any info on this excursion is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Is there an advantage to booking onboard vs booking on your own at home?

So is it possible to add the gift cards for OBC before sailing? I could call or have my TA do it. I had planned to print off my gift card info and take it to the guest service desk after boarding but would love to avoid that line. It will be my first experience using gift cards. Thanks.

Our only issue with this on our last cruise was that our luggage had not arrived by the time we needed to get to our Pinnacle reservations. We went as we were but would have loved to change clothes and not wear our travel clothes!!

I agree! It's been a few years since we did this one but it was a blast!! Not sure it still exists but I would definitely look it up and do it again. (not offered by the ship, private company that I believe we did not book in advance, just walked in)

My TA called yesterday to tell me this had happened. She wanted to rebook us on the Statendam for a day later. The entire point of the cruise was to go on the Rotterdam. Could you share the email you received? I was getting ready to board a plane and did not get full details and expected I would also have the email but I received nothing. (we were. booked for one week, leaving Jan 19) Thanks

Yes. I currently have AARP, shareholder's, Teacher Appreciation and the TA obc for my next booked cruise.

Super helpful info - thanks so much!! You really can teach an old dog new tricks!!! 🙂

I thought I knew most of the ins and outs of travel but am discovering I know so much less than I thought!! How does one know a fare is non-refundable? I also have a cruise booked for 2025 and have only paid the deposit. I purchased the platinum insurance. If I cancel, do I get the deposit back or is it non-refundable? I'm hoping that having the insurance "cancel for any reason" would mean that the deposit is refundable, but now I am wondering? (we would cancel in order to get some credit card perks that don't work on previously booked cruises - so would rebook) Help! And thank you to all you knowledgable people in advance!!!

Thank you. This exactly the answer I was looking for. We know now for the future.

My friend and I have always booked through HAL ourselves. We were assigned a PCC that we didn't care for and wasn't very quick with replies etc. So we decided to help out the local mom and pop travel agency in our little town to support local business. We are discovering that we are not in control of our booking at all and have to rely on our TA for everything. We would like to be more self sufficient. Basically, the TA is the customer, not us, and it is frustrating because we have gone on HAL cruises recently and know more than the TA knows (since they are dealing with all kinds of travel and every cruise line). So, my friend and I are frustrated with not being able to do things for ourselves and would like to switch to a PCC who has been highly recommended. We wouldn't do that if it would affect our TA negatively, take away commission, etc. We know for the future. We will go back to booking the way we always have in the past. Thanks for listening!!! We thought we were doing a good deed but we are not happy with the result.