Katie333

Count me in with the folks who love and use their balcony regularly. These tiny balconies are a huge disappointment for us. The Royal looks great as a ship, but I think I'd only consider sailing her in an aft Baja or Dolphin cabin.

CC is a great place to find out about the best cabins, can you imagine how quickly those afts will go? There are very few of them to start with, reminds me of the Emerald minis.

We may just have to arrive later to ensure we miss the lines. The main reason I like to board early is to have lunch around noon.

This is great, thank you so much!

My father is a bit of a diva, and he hates waiting in lines. So I want his experience to be as seamless as possible, especially the first impression of boarding the ship.

We are platinum on Princess and agree that the priority boarding is becoming less of a perk given the hordes that now qualify for this benefit. However, it's still nice to be in a special waiting area and to get on first.

Should we arrive around noon to get in the priority line ups?

Hi all,

I've read IRL Joanie's webpage and picked out some cabins (for an itinerary that's not even available yet, gulp) on the Noordam.

If I were to book one of the above category I understand it comes with a variety of perks. Amongst those perks, I read priority tender and priority disembarkation but nothing about priority embarkation.

Is this a perk that HAL offers, or does everyone just do general boarding?

If one buys a package, do you have to use your card in the dining room? For example, can you opt to have the wine delivered via room service or in one of the lounges?

In addition, does anyone know it would extend to the sparkling wines/champagnes on the wine list? (I presume it would since the wording says for any item on the wine list).

I've sailed the Ruby sister's ships and found them to be fabulous. The Ruby is the newest so if anything it would be a tad nicer. :) My uncle sailed Eurodam and loved it. Now, we are in our 30s and my uncle is in his 60s. Generally HAL caters to an older clientele, but I am still interested in trying it out someday myself.

I've heard the cabins are more spacious with nicer beds on HAL, but Princess has great overall appeal in terms of dining, entertainment, nightlife etc.

I think technically the benefit is only for platinum+ status passengers. That said, I understand these are not entirely full typically and suspect there may be some leeway.

I would guess if it appears people are taking advantage of it (i.e. bringing in 10 people with you to save on the cheaper drinks) they might crack down on it.

The nickel and diming is one of the few things I dislike about cruising. It seems like cruising is becoming less and less inclusive with each passing year.

So my vote is definitely none of the above! I'm always intrigued by the specialty restaurants onboard, but I just cannot patronize them because, like this question, if the cruiselines think they have an extra profit opportunity waiting they'll jump on it. So I'm reluctant to support those pay-extra things that are already offered.

Maybe this sounds like I'm being cheap, but honestly, it's getting to the point where I wish you could just add services like soda cards, coffee cards, santuary fees and such to the cruise price before you go and then skip the whole hard-sell while on board. So as you are purchasing your cruise, you pick and choose what you want, pay for it with your fare and then just have tips to pay onboard.

That's an interesting question because there are different ways you can look at the 'best' time to board. As others have said, I believe the doors open at 12 noon, so you can line up before then and then your wait time is as long as you are lined up + a little bit. Or you can go with the crowds between 1-2pm .. finally, if you don't want to wait at all you can board around 3pm and you'll probably be the only one there. Even with the wait times, the earlier you line up the earlier you will board, just depends if you are willing to wait in line.