Katie333

Also weighing in a bit late, but having been on the NA twice fairly recently, we had zero issue getting what we wanted in the dining room. For us, we prefer a table for two. When we arrived for open seating, we were generally asked if we preferred to dine the two of us or with a group. The odd time we were not asked, we specified and were seated according to our wish.

Caveat: we don't eat in the dining room every night and we usually eat at 'off-times' like early or late.

I may sound like I am quoting the brochure, but I think HAL is "traditionally elegant", and making attempts to modernize slowly. The ships are smaller, feel more intimate and it's not a Carnival party-type atmosphere. It's definitely a great line if you like a more traditional look and feel, and enjoy rest and relaxation along with warm service and good food and drink.

While there are some technology enhancements where HAL lags behind, I think it's great they introduced the 'dive-in' and the BB King Blues club - both which seem to well received by a variety of age groups and interests.

More and more, ships are becoming the destination. I think HAL does not strive for this, and continues to focus more on interesting and diverse itineraries.

Though our trip wasn't quite as long, we visited many of the same ports and the return bus ride was $14 pp charged to your onboard account. You could purchase the tickets in advance or (generally) right at the bus line up. I like the self serve tour/ticket dispensers as this made it easy. We used the shuttle in Marseille and Corfu.

I personally think this is a challenging age on any line as most have the same restrictions and programs. Too young to 'party' and too old for any organized events other than your standard stuff like Bingo :p

When I was 18 I would have been more than content with this type of itinerary and opportunity. I wouldn't have felt any need or desire to do much more than exploring the ports and reading and enjoying the scenery.

This is an interesting thread. I am one who doesn't even get off the ship at HMC, so I'm apparently saving between $230-300! I absolutely love the calm quiet of the ship this day. Now I'm not a beach person so of course, others may get a lot more satisfaction out of a cabana than I would.

My experience on Carnival and RCI is that they offer longer beach days than Princess and HAL. Seems to fit more with those brands - the party atmosphere on the island. The beach is also a money maker, none of your hard earned dollars going into a foreign port, all right back to the line.

I've actually cruised on HAL for less than the price I paid on my last Carnival trip (equivalent cabins), guess I am lucky!

This is interesting news and seems like a smart financial decision for NCL.

I've only cruised for 11 years so I truly can't compare HAL pre-Carnival. From reading these posts it sounds like HAL would have gone under if Carnival had not stepped in so frankly, that sounds like good Carnivalization.

I wonder if the changes and cost cutting measures that seem more prevalent these days are not so much Carnival but a sign of the times given how little cruise fares have changed. Cutting costs or increasing revenue are the only two options to literally and figuratively stay afloat. Seems like the NCL and RCCL lines tend to go the 'increase revenue' route more-so than the Carnival lines.

I understand that this was an unsettling and scary experience, and it sounds like it ruined the end of your cruise (possibly your entire impression of the cruise) and your next day in Rome. I think it's human nature to want some sort of 'justice' for times when things don't go according to plan.

But I have to agree with the majority of the other posters, that this situation does not warrant a complaint. It sounds like it was handled by the book (other passengers aside :eek:), and as we all sadly know (Costa Concordia), this isn't always the case during emergency situations.

I do think HAL should have acknowledged it the next day and this seems to be a bit of a miss on their part, but not truly complaint worthy since crisis was averted and that's what you really need in situations like this.

I admit we really enjoy the late night snacks. :) Seems like we are already eating constantly while cruising (or certainly more than irl!).

There is a large amount of staff eating at this time, and they frequently close down the a chunk of the lido seating. The menus changed every day just like the other lido lunch/dinner menus, and as soon as lunch was off the list, the dinner and late night snack menu would be up there. We loved checking it out, I can say it's much better than what Princess offers at this time of night.

If we don't get them elsewhere, I'll try to snap some pics on my next cruise.

This is always so subjective and very personal. We have truly enjoyed the luxury of larger cabins (though we are going to take our first Neptune Suite in January), such as mini suites or equivalent.

Having just done a port intensive Med cruise on HAL, I will say we didn't spend as much time in cabin as we often do. We had regular balconies and they were quite nice. With that said, it was truly budgetary for us, this was already a very expensive trip so the cabin upgrade wasn't viable.

Unlike many folks, we do spend a lot of time in our cabin and particularly, on the balcony. We like to eat, read, drink and relax outside and frankly, when we need a break, pop in a movie and order room service and it's quite enjoyable for us. Many folks would never dream of spending this much time in their private space regardless of the itinerary.

I think it also depends if you are planning full day tours in each of the ports? If so, you won't get to partake of the cabin amenities. If you are not, then still lots of time in the day to enjoy. :)

We've found St Maarten to have great deals on booze. Recently, I saw the lady ahead of me ask for and get a little bit extra off the price. I did the same thing and got an extra $5 off my bottle of scotch that would have cost me over $100 at home (paid $40). Alcohol is very expensive where I live and pretty much any of the options listed has less expensive prices than here.

If you like rum get some Ron Barilito (sp?) while in San Juan, haven't ever found that locally and it's quite yummy.

Definitely do this! We had mimosas almost every day with our e4 package. It was such a big treat. I also enjoy a Bloody Mary (I get the Caesar version) and had those a couple of days as well. They do tend to mass produce these on the Lido deck and I bet you could get one in the MDR if you asked. I'm hoping they will get these for us in the Pinnacle grill breakfast with our NS next cruise.

katie333 & fun cruiserz are heading out together with the DH's to celebrate the 50th birthday of fc's DH (and some other belated anniversaries!)

Jan 24th Westerdam Eastern Caribbean, sadly just 7 days

I knew someone would know the answer! :)

Juan Carlos is indeed listed as a shorex on HAL. Interesting that Princess brought him aboard free of charge for a dedicated performance in one of the ship's lounges but HAL doesn't. Princess also brought a lot of entertainers onboard while we were in Asia. HAL had minimal performers during our recent Med cruise now that I think about it. It surprises me a bit that Princess does these things and HAL doesn't.

Thanks INSIDER for the response. :p

These coupon books almost feel like a scam.

There are significant purchases required in order to get anything additional and they are also very specific. If they even offered something along the lines of "10% off any onboard purchase in the shops" it would be more useful than offering it only on particular items like the robes. :confused:

I guess technically they are offering these on a variety of services and items, but feels very bizarre. Who is making a shipboard call??? Maybe it's just us that doesn't partake of very many of these types of items.

Princess offers these coupons as well, and they used to have a good one whereby if you bought a coffee card you got another one free, then later, buy a card, you got a free souvenir mug. Princess coffee is notoriously bad so many people go for the card and getting anything extra felt like a bit of a deal.

This is a very specific question, but CC'ers tend to know everything so ....

A couple of years ago we took a cruise on Princess which originated in San Juan PR. The ship set sail at 11pm and a local entertainer billed as the Juan Carlos Latin show came onboard. Juan Carlos has been doing his show for many many years and in addition to some really terrific guitar playing he has some beautiful dancers that showcase a variety of different latin dances. We truly enjoyed this performance and still talk about it today. (I tend to always prefer the 'local' entertainment when it's brought onboard, we saw some really cool things when we were in Asia, but I digress).

We are sailing with HAL in January and have a stop in San Juan until 11pm at night (I think 2-11). Would anyone happen to know if Juan Carlos might also come aboard HAL? My hope is that since they are both in the Carnival family and the timing is right, we might be lucky.

Anyone know?

We've done laundry on long cruises before, don't want to have to lug a third suitcase around just to have enough clean clothes (not to mention the extra airline fees!). In the future, I will partake of the ships' laundry service. Item by item it gets quite pricey, but any type of package would negate this. Not sure on HAL, but on Princess laundry packages aren't always offered so it was either $50 to get the stuff we needed washed or a full load in the laundromat at a cost of around $5.

This is interesting. We were on the Diamond in Asia and had one stop in Japan (Nagasaki). We did our own thing via public transportation and found the city very easy to navigate.

I think I must look approachable (and I am!) and so in every foreign port we have ever been to, random people come and talk to me. I met a lovely older man in the gardens near the Atomic Bomb museum, who spoke to me in halting English and was clearly happy to practice it. I speak no Japanese so I was impressed!

Long story short, go for the excursion and I'm sure it will work out!

To our surprise, when we boarded the Eurodam in May for the Baltic cruise, we had a card in our cabin informing us we had a Pinnacle dinner as part of our Explore 4 package and that we should let the concierge in the Neptune lounge know our preferred day and time for our reservation. We had fully expected to be assigned to a reservation date and time.

This is interesting. I have e4 on my next cruise in a Neptune Suite and I was already planning to leverage the NL concierge to help us fix the inevitably less than perfect time.

OP - we had e4 on our last cruise that wasn't in a suite and we went to the PG in person right after we had lunch on boarding day and changed it with no issue. There was a growing line of people doing the same thing, so I bet those who came late may have left unhappy. We still ended up with a technically less ideal time (5:00) but it worked for us and we were happy to change our originally scheduled 9:30 time.

I think HAL gets a reputation for being a line where only folks in their 80s and 90s sail (and kudos to any 80 or 90 year olds who are still able to cruise!).

Depending on the itinerary we have found no noticeable difference on the overall demographic. For this trip, my gut says you'll find a younger than average group but still mostly folks who are retirement age.

Sounds like you are reviewing the explore4 promotion that offers the signature drink package (or maybe some other package). We really enjoyed this amenity, and make great use of it, especially because you could get specialty coffee/water/tea in addition to the alcoholic selection.

Good point on the BB King band. This is something that really appeals to me. But, I thought I read somewhere that this will be coming to Westerdam in the near future. Or, did I dream it?

Nope, they are definitely coming, November seems to ring a bell, but someone more in the know here can probably correct me.

Welcome to the Suite Life. After booking our first suite, (some years ago now), Mrs Banjo & I never went back to a regular cabin. The one time since, when we booked a regular cabin, HAL gave us a very tempting upsell offer into the penthouse suite that we just could not resist. Now we always are looking for deals to get back into the P/S...... but not booking a Neptune suite? Not happening anymore. Enjoy it, it is great!

Our first cruise was OCV and then we tried a balcony and we've had balconies or mini-suites ever since. So umm, there is definite risk of being overspoiled by this experience. :) I do get that many people happily cruise insides or bounce around between categories. I will say that we do spend a lot of time in our stateroom or on our balcony so we're of the group that will likely take full advantage of the space, amenities and perks. :)

Just be aware that with a suite guarantee there is a chance of getting one of the HC suites. If they aren't booked by a person who requires one, the HC suites go back into the general inventory.

 

On Westerdam, those are SCs and are wake cabins (or whatever we're calling them these days.) They are on deck six, so a bit of a hike to the Neptune Lounge.

 

Not trying to rain on your parade, just wanted you to be aware of the possibility.

Some people don't like the HC suites, as they don't have the big bathroom with double sinks.

 

We've stayed in a HC suite on Westerdam three times -- DH requires one -- and we love them.

Yep, saw these cabins and we've never had aft views so will consider this an opportunity to try them should we end up in one of these cabins. The 'lack' of double sinks would be a bit sad, but I'm sure we will survive. My DH is convinced the Neptune Lounge is a completely useless 'benefit' so not so concerned about potentially having to make a hike down there. At any rate, worth the gamble on a room given the overall perks we are getting and the price we paid. :)

Thanks so much everyone! :)

We are a tad worried about being spoiled, we were already spoiled by the 'freedom' of explore4 on our last cruise and now we're doing that and a suite! Eek, won't be able to keep up this standard, that's for sure.

We even decided on this cruise vs. using up a Princess FCC. The deals with Princess did not even compare to the pricing and amenities.

Re: Marketing, I think maybe because we have 2 recent cruises YoY, and have cruised semi-regularly and are somewhat young, maybe we are fitting into some sort of demographic? The Marketing definitely worked on us, and we are steaming our way ahead on HAL's loyalty program.

We will have to wait until next year :( but got what I think is a very fair deal for a NS guarantee with explore4 and $350 OBC for next January. HAL has been marketing the heck out of us (flyers in our mail multiple times a week!) and we finally found an offer we couldn't refuse.

Can't wait to experience all these perks on a single cruise, which will be our belated anniversary present to each other.

Second time doing a guarantee in 10 years of cruising, I am fine with all the NS locations so we'll be happy with whatever we end up with. Not sure what others have experienced, but the discount for a guarantee was in the neighborhood of $500 PP vs. selecting a cabin.

We had explore4 on our cruise earlier this year, worked like the majority described, never hit the 15 drinks but certainly our costs would have went well over $50 pp/day on some days ($6.95 a drink adds up fast!).

We have explore4 again next year and everything I have received in writing from TA and HAL supports $50 'value' not $50 'limit'. I will be complaining if I am limited to $50 worth of charges.