NCTribeFan

I happen to always order my salmon medium rare and it's always been absolutely delicious. The halibut looks very good.

Anyone sailed solo that can answer my question? Can I bring two bottles? Is it 2 per cabin or 1 per person, assuming double occupancy? FAQ does make it sound like it's 2 per cabin but people at the ports don't always get the fine point of the cruise line's policies. I just don't want to haul 2 bottles through check in just to have one taken from me. My carry-on is already going to be heavy (packing for a month with only a 25" case and a carry-on!). Sailors are also welcome to bring two (2) 750mL bottles of wine per cabin in carry-on bags

Not sure I would call anyone's accent "bad" since they're just what they are. Strong, yes, but not bad. Just different. It usually takes your ear/brain a bit of time to get used to it. I'm sure there are plenty of people around the world who can't understand some regional US accents. When my DD was a baby, her paternal grandparents came over from England. We lived in north Georgia. The teenage checkout girl in the grocery store and the English grandpa couldn't understand each other. I had to translate. It was pretty funny if a bit absurd. We all, supposedly, were speaking the same language. 😁 Anyway, I board her in 2 weeks for the trip across the pond. My first time on VV, but have friends who, like me, are in their early 70s and they love it. I hope I do. I'm not much of a partier these days. Hope to be able to find some relatively quiet spaces to enjoy those sea days so I don't have to retreat to my little interior cabin. Think I'll be hitting the Noodle place for lunch a few times. I like the idea of the Galley. Again, we'll see how that goes with so many people on the ship every day during the crossing. I definitely am looking forward to a little different experience from the other mainline cruises. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

This was last Aprili on the Rotterdam 150th Anniversary TA. They loved the cabin and balcony but since it was a north Atlantic crossing, they didn't get as much use of it as they would've liked. We stayed on for following 2 5-night sailings. They moved next door, which also had a larger balcony, only not quite as large. Best part was the connecting cabin door, which made the move very quick and simple.

So, as a solo, I can bring 2 bottles at embarkation? I'm on a TA, then a Med sailing soon. I know that some European ports have duty free shops after security. We were able to purchase wine there and carry it on. Unfortunately, I can't remember which ports those were.

My offers have pretty much vanished. After 26 nights on Rotterdam last spring, I was hoping I'd get some good offers. Not that I'm much of a high roller. But nothing exciting. Basically just my "usual" 20-30% offer, which I'll take. So, I sailed again in January and I've received only ONE offer and it wasn't a freebie (hey, I only get interior cabins at the best of times). So I booked that for November. Booked bare-bones interior cabin. I get drinks while gambling and a whopping $100 in free play. Again, I'll take it. But I'm starting to feel like they've decided that since I seem to always have at least one future cruise booked at all times, they don't need to entice me with offers. This is how I felt about Carnival. I was at over 30 cruises (most with casino discounts) before they FINALLY offered me a free interior cabin. Maybe because I'd stopped booking with them! Anyway, nothing new for me. But if they can't give me some offers, I simply won't spend my money in the casino. And maybe I'll even stop having 2-3 cruises booked each time I sail!

I haven't sailed VV yet. I'm on Scarlet Lady TA on 4/21/24, then 3 days in Barcelona, fly to Athens and board Resilient Lady for 10 nights. But, I saw this and although I'm a CPA and the partners will NOT be happy with me, I booked it. My TA was on Valiant Lady so I sent her a message on Friday. She bought a placeholder and applied it to the booking. I'm in an interior on Scarlet, and an solo interior on Resilient from Athens. Since I'm solo, I typically book interior cabins (I love nice, dark cabins for sleeping), but the price was too good to pass up. Plus, I got next to no perks for my interior on Scarlet. I would've preferred the Scarlet Lady May sailing (because of work) but it was so much more expensive! And I do love San Juan, so looking forward to an evening there pre-cruise. My friends (who are in their early 70s) love VV, so I hope I will, too. I've become a fan on HAL the past few years. I'm not much of a partier these days so I figured having that balcony cabin to retreat to if it's too noisy around the ship would be a good thing to have. But I'll probably just join in the fun!

I had booked a 17-night Hawaii cruise. I was going to book the 7-night cruise prior but then discovered that it was sold as a 24-night "collector" sailing. I cancelled the original and booked the 24 nights. The only spa package showing up for purchase is for 7 nights. I want one (maybe) for the Hawaii portion (because of all the sea days). But, so far, I'm not given that option. It's not until next January, so I'll keep checking. If nothing else shows up in a couple of months, I may just call. Just saw this in the Details... Pass valid for the entire duration of 7-day cruise. Pass for additional segments will need to be purchased on board. Problem with that is it means that those who are booked on just the Hawaii segment can pre-purchase the pass, but I can't. I'll probably just wait and buy a day pass of couple of times.

Carnival doesn't change time in the Caribbean. Of course, they have to on TAs. Both Carnival and NCL (the only 2 lines I've done TAs on other than HAL) changed the time at night, which is why I was a little surprised when HAL changed it midday. I'll find out how Virgin handles it in April. I learned early on to NOT allow my phone to automatically update. That was on a Caribbean sailing on Carnival many years ago. I had an early independent excursion and got my teenage daughter up so we'd have time for breakfast (we were in an interior cabin). She was not happy when we were ready to disembark and realized we hadn't even docked yet. Oops.

Let's see if I understand this. I have some NR OBC. Since I have HIA, I'm not sure how/when I'd use it all (except for some spa time; I don't shop on board). Am I correct that y'all are saying I can book excursions, paying via credit card, and once I board, go to Shore Ex desk, ask to have the payment changed from my CC to my NR OBC. The CC payment will then appear in my folio as a refundable OBC. I then can use that refundable OBC in the casino?. And if I don't use it all (Ha!), it gets refunded to the credit card backing my account. Cruise I'm concerned about isn't until next January. so I'm not sure I want to charge multiple expensive Hawaii excursions this early. But I don't want to wait too long and miss out. I'll use my HIA to book the 3 I really want to do and maybe purchase a couple of extras (although I much prefer independent excursions). If anyone can confirm that this works with spa services/passes, that would be really helpful! Sure would be great if HAL would just let us book things pre-cruise using OBC. Carnival does and it's so easy to do.

On our 26 nights on Rotterdam last spring, I don't know that we ever waited more than a few minutes, and we ate in one section every night except one, because we loved our waiter over there. We always had before-dinner drinks at the Pinnacle bar and walked down the hallway usually some time between 7 and 7:30.

Isn't the Gallery Bar next to the Casino (I'm thinking Eurodam, which I sailed in January). If so, that room is now full of slot machines. Our group plays dominoes. We typically play around 2 or 3 pm. We like the Lido because we can get drinks and (sometimes, depending on the cruise line) food. Some of Carnival's ships have large, oval tables. Deli is open all afternoon, as is pizza, and it's a short walk to Guy's burgers. On Eurodam, there are no large tables in Lido (that I found). We do NOT play during peak meal times. As noted, peak dining times should be for diners only. I'll be on Virgin for 14 nights on a TA in April, then 10 nights RT from Athens a couple of days later. We have at least 6 that play dominoes. It will be nice to have somewhere to play that won't take space away from diners but still has some amenities.

Please add Nieuw Amsterdam - Nov 17, 2024 - 7 day Western Caribbean, birthday cruise! And change January 2025 from the 17 night Koningsdam to Jan 4, 2025 - 24 day Baja Peninsula & Circle Hawaii Collector Thanks!

I'm also on that sailing. Was just on the Hawaii portion but cancelled and rebooked the 24 nights since I've never been to the Mexican ports. I need to have a look at excursions. I have 4 sailings between now and next January and haven't planned anything for any of them. I'm now in the middle of tax season with very little free time and even less brain power. I'll just pick something to lock in using my HIA. I was disappointed to see the short hours at Cabo, since I've never seen it. What I found interesting was on the Rotterdam 150th Anniversary TA last April, we "lost" our hours at noon on our eastbound crossing. It would be 11:59 am and suddenly it was 1:00 pm. I've never experienced changing time in the middle of the day.

Are there dominoes in the game room or do we need to bring a set? Are people saying that stroopwaffles are normally available in the MDR? How did I never know that? If they are, is there a charge, because there is in the Dutch Cafe.