SeaFairy707

1 hour ago, cruisebrotha06 said:

For the 4-day May 27 Havana After Dark Cruise 

Solo Inside Cabin starts at $1,325 

Solo Ocean View cabin starts at $1,525 

And cheaper if sailing off season; September/October.

Have fun.  I want to do a Panama Canal cruise too but those port fees are a killer! 

Posting this for someone else: 28 yrs & considering solo cruising, but would like to join a cruise with other young (25-30 yrs) solo cruisers. My potential cruise months are Oct & Nov 2018 (3-5 days duration) out of a Florida port. would appreciate hearing back. thanks in advance

I heard that there is a cruise on NCL for halloween that has about 700 singles. Coincidently, 3 different singles groups booked the same cruise. Call an NCL consultant and see if they can give more info.

Hello to all. I will soon be saying hello to HAL for the first time.

On this site there is a lot of chat about where to have lunch on embarkation day. Many suggestions are given and all helpful.

The MDR is mentioned and it seems it is open from approx. 12 noon to 1.30. So far so good.

 

Now here's the subtlety. HAL send out suggested times for embarkation. Most are well into the afternoon and way beyond 12 noon.

 

This illogicality is remarkable. On the majority of cruise lines embarkation begins around 11.30 or just a little later. Even for non suite guests.

 

So are these times a ploy by HAL to save money on lunches (under the guise of being helpful and making all guests more comfortable) or are these times often ignored and guests who turn up at say 11.30, perhaps just off a flight, can board at a time other than HAL say.

 

At first sight I must say it seems very "dictatorial" to write as they do.

 

After the website and emails sticking.....first impressions are not fantastic!!

 

Perhaps others know the truth of these embarkation times??

 

Thanks

 

Deeko

My first time with HAL too. I spoke with ship services yesterday regarding our booking for to next year and specifically asked about assigned boarding times since I am used to choosing one with other lines. I was told they are not "assigned," and the published boarding time is 1:00 but passengers will begin arriving as early as 1130 and they will be processed as they arrive, assuming disembarking for the other guests had been completed.

2 gala nights on 7 night cruises.

 

"Most evenings smart casual attire is appropriate. Shorts, pool/beachwear, distressed jeans and men’s tank tops are best left to the daytime and are not permitted in fine dining restaurants."

 

"Gala Nights evoke the grand traditions of cruising as guests dress to impress for special events on board, including a five-course gourmet dinner in the Dining Room. For gentlemen, collared shirt and slacks are required in all fine dining restaurants . For ladies, dressy attire is appropriate, dresses skirts and slacks are all acceptable."

 

So, as long as they aren't beachwear, t-shirts are allowed most nights, but not on gala nights when a collared shirt is required.

 

Jeans are allowed on most nights, but not distressed jeans. And jeans aren't allowed on gala nights.

 

The problem is that the t-shirts that the youngsters in my family wear are suitable for the beach and therefore not the dining room, and the jeans that the youngsters in my family wear are generally distressed. So unless your children are different, t-shirts and jeans probably won't work.

 

There isn't a more lax policy for children. The same rules apply.

 

It is possible to get a set dining time once you get aboard but there are no guarantees.

 

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Are jackets required for Gala nights?

Booked a studio on The Bliss! Sailing September 30 2019, Vancouver to Los Angeles. First time cruising solo and super excited to be going on the Bliss.

I am surprised you haven’t got a call back yet. The bad part is with any cruise line and found same with few airlines. The folks that work the phones later afternoon and evening aren’t always the sharpest. And found best to deal with day sales folks. I work part time as a travel agent that my mother owned for 40 years after leaving the cruise ship refit business and we all have same problem when calling in too. Waiting could be 30 min on hold. And many times were the more experienced ones.

 

If you have a TA. Let them do the work for you at the same cost. And solve your problems. Often we can look up the info on there systems.

 

As said before, sounds like this is the leg of a longer cruise and most of not all cruise lines will do same thing and have sections that are guaranteed only. But they should tell you the min category you will be in, often they will upgrade if room as a marketing tool. HAL is. Very good line

 

 

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I just got a response from a travel agent and he booked me a spa veranda no where near where my 80 year old father and other members of the party will be. Plus he added $220 in charges...

Is there a particular reason you aren't talking with a travel agent? Granted, HAL should act like it wants your business, and it doesn't sound like they are, but this is kind of what a travel agent does, right?

I just got a response from a travel agent and he booked me a spa veranda no where near where my 80 year old father and other members of the party will be. Plus he added $220 in charges...:(

Is there a particular reason you aren't talking with a travel agent? Granted, HAL should act like it wants your business, and it doesn't sound like they are, but this is kind of what a travel agent does, right?

I have contacted one now and I'll see if he gets better results. The reason I haven't used one is that I usually enjoy doing all the arrangements and have never had issues like this before. So far the travel agent has been very nice but not provided me with anything more than I already knew so now I'm waiting for him or HAL to contact me. Meanwhile I've booked cabins through the site and I have no idea where they are on the ship. As an experienced cruiser I know location can make or break a cruise.

Just to comment on what SeaFairy's going through, I agree that for a four day cruise, HAL may only be offering guarantee cabins for people only sailing on that segment. However, with the switch to the new website, I'm having problems doing bookings (to check on prices, not to actually complete a booking) on the new site which I used to do very easily on the old site. The default is guarantee cabin, but when I go to select my own cabin, I can pick ocean view or whatever but it's not allowing me the option to switch decks like it used to. So it looks like everything else is unavailable. I've tried this for several cruises, both the two bookings we currently have and random others and have always run up against the same obstacle.

 

Now I'm not sure why she can't get a PCC to call her back, that's just uncool, but I'd think you'd be able to call the general reservation line and be able to speak with someone who should be able to tell you whether or not you can book a specific cabin or talk you through your options. Or as others have suggested speak with a travel agent.

Thanks, you're correct the site has a lot to glitches and if the only cabins available are guarantee it would be nice if it actually stated that so you're not clicking around to see if you missed something.

Regarding the reservation line, my phone number is now in the system so it recognizes it and auto transfers my call to the PCC where I get an error message. My son called last night and his call goes through to the reservation system just fine. I will have call with my number blocked tomorrow but the general reservation folks told me I need to speak to my PCC so you can see my frustration....

Did you ask HAL for a block of staterooms, or did you book piecemeal only

to discover HAL wasn't offering as many staterooms as you --ahem!--

assumed were available?

 

If you're not an expert and it's important, get an expert involved -- especially

when there's no cost to you for their services. And by "expert" I don't mean

a 800-number cubical-dweller.[/quote

 

The major problem is that I can't get HAL to provide me with someone to talk to despite numerous attempts, apparently I'm assigned someone who doesn't return calls. The hours they are available is problematic too, they must really cater to the retired set. Yes, you're correct, I'm an experienced cruiser so I know I need to be working with a consultant to coordinate dinner reservations and hopefully getting cabins relatively close.

The info shared earlier about this being the last leg of a longer cruise clears up some of the confusion but also adds to my feeling that the customer service has been very poor.

I generally don't expect any service provider to advertise prominently the less attractive aspects of their offerings. I don't think any mainstream cruise line would do so.

 

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Perhaps not prominently but a disclaimer or explanation at some point before expecting payment would be ethical and expected and neither was provided. Additionally, every other cruise line I have gone on has had prompt customer service and appeared to actually want my business. As you can see I have had to result to a forum to get even the explanation which doesn't provide any resolution yet. Gosh, I just want to talk to a consultant.

The short cruise is also being sold as part of a longer, most likely repositioning, cruise. The people who book the entire cruse have first choice of cabins. The ones that are left will be assigned to the people booking only the 4 day portion.

Edit --

Looks like you may be trying to book either Eurodam or Oosterdam. The Eurodam is being sold as either a 16 or 20 day circle Hawaii, the 4 day portion is to fill cabins that were booked only for the 16 day portion. The Oosterdam is being sold a 17, 21, or 22 day cruise, again with the 4 day portion filling the cabins of the people who booked the shorter segment.

Oh thank you for that explanation, yes we are trying to book the Eurodam. Wish I'd realized that going in; we would be doing something else. Basically it sounds like we are getting the leftovers. Thanks again, thinking this will be my only cruise with HAL, since they didn't mention this on the web site and I now know why we are being treated like poor relations.:rolleyes:

It may be that only guarantee cabins are left. Maybe contact a travel agent to help?

 

 

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Wow, it is almost a year away and they might only have guarantee cabins? That would indicate a majority of the rooms are guarantee only. On the all the lines I have sailed on , I have never ever been forced to buy a guarantee, in fact they are usually sold out first which is fine by me; I want to know what I am paying for. But thanks for that thought...if true I'm regretting the selection of HAL for the trip.

HELP!! I trying to coordinate a family cruise and we selected a short HAL cruise since we are on the West Coast and we have several newbies who don't want to long a cruise however I am really having difficulties ALREADY with HAL and most of us aren't even booked. Some family members have booked through AMEX and they had no problems.

My problems began when I was assigned a consultant who works the same hours that I do so we are not able to communicate. I requested a consultant who is available later than 430 PM and was supposedly assigned someone who never called me. I called and left a message, no return call. I have tried to call again and I'm transferred to some answering system that says the extension they transferred me to isn't set up so I can't complete the call!

I want to select my cabins to make sure the are in the same area but no matter what price point I choose in any cabin sizes, it tells me that I have a guaranteed cabin and will be assigned a cabin prior to sailing. Does HAL not allow anyone to choose their own cabin? My family member who booked through AMEX were able to.

Is this typical of HAL? Anyone have any pointers or suggestions I've missed?

It's usually based on their desire to fill the ship because they are not selling cabins at a fast enough rate. Those typically occur after final payment,so someone booked prior to final payment wouldn't be able to benefit from that price reduction.

The best bet, would be to just keep checking prices,maybe it will drop some prior to final payment or drop after final payment and you can upgrade your cabin.

Fingers crossed! I actually booked when final payments were due 90 out, now they are due 120 days out for folks that booked later so maybe I'll be able to grab a good price in that 30 day window.

I have a really good balcony that I'd like to keep.

Does anyone know the criteria for NCL deciding to offer the solo cruiser discount? I have a cruise booked that my travel companion can't go on so I might be going alone and hoping they offer a solo discount.

Thanks. Enjoy your trip. I booked my October cruise directly with NCL also. I have been testing the site looking for that great rate. It is ok if it doesn't happen, having enough trouble arranging Copenhagen for October.

Gwen

 

 

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My son and I took the Getaway to Copenhagen this past May, it was wonderful but there were a few snags with the excursion due to the ship being larger than the ports were used to handling. NCL made it right though with credits and refunds.

Barcelona Hotel recommendations for solo female. Would like nice, clean and safe area with reasonable rates for Nov. 2017 for my first NCL transatlantic.

 

By the way great rates for NCL Epic from Barcelona to Port Canerval on Nov. 5-18,2017 for solos. I booked inside for $399.00.:confused:

I'm booked for the same cruise Nov 2018. Let me know how it was and any suggestions.