Toofarfromthesea

How much, or on how many cruises do you need to gamble to qualify for these?

To paraphrase the Rolling Stones: You can't always blieve what you're told

I can certainly understand not reading the 'for dummies' thread in it's entirety, but I found it well worth my time to read the most recent 15 pages or so. I learned a lot of things.

Assuming the website works, which it hasn't for a lot of us.

In a way it is like the difference between flying and taking a train. If we had flown from Minneapolis to New Orleans we wouldn't have seen much, while our river cruise down the Mississippi let us see a lot.

I've never been, but maybe Greek Islands?

Interesting, I've never encountered that in a hydro pool. I hope that's not the case on Koningsdam.

That's the first thing I've heard that makes any sense. Thanks.

But she's not in those countries so once they confiscated them there would be no law breaking.

I just saw a YouTube video on the La Lido Loca channel with a news item when a woman had CBD gummy bears detected. The strange, some might say over the top, result was that unlike other prohibited items that simply get confiscated, they ended up denying her from boarding. I don't generally come to the Carnival board, but I came today to see if anyone here had any details about this. The address of the video is: Link to video

You might take a look at some of Rick Steves' travel videos on YouTube. He has videos on just about every part of Europe, and even some on cruises. They might help you familiarize yourself with what's out there and you could see what appeals to you to begin whittling things down. You can find them by going on YouTube and just searching on Rick Steves.

In some of the crew's home countries I've heard that tip income is taxed at a lower level than wage income. IAC, there really are only 2 things to be aware of, are tips included in the base or promotional price or not. If they are, done. If they are not, they are an easily knowable number and you can just add them to your base price to get an adjusted base fare.

The hot tub should be hot, well above body temp. But not too hot. The hydro pool should be warm.

Two rules to live by in cruising: 1) always know exactly what a booking would include from authoritative sources (which do not include Cruise Critic or verbal statements from cruise line or TA employees), and 2) ALWAYS do the math.

You misunderstood my point, which perhaps I didn't make clearly. I'm not talking about the cost of booking a cruise. I'm talking about the cost of the tips. And the fact that the only solution that is acceptable to you is to be reimbursed for that cost. Seasoned cruisers know certain things. Among them are the only thing that matters is what the invoice says, and even then there can be issues. Cruise representatives frequently get things wrong and verbal assurances from them aren't worth the paper they're written on. And they cannot commit the cruise line verbally. And pricing mistakes, particularly verbal ones, are not binding. I don't say you are not owed an apology and maybe some kind of compensation. They aren't obligated to give you anything, but maybe $100 OBC as purely a goodwill gesture on their part might be in order. But the full amount of the tips because someone made a mistake does not seem reasonable to me.

If you get the Have-it-All package you get specialty dining, 2 on a 15 day cruise I think. Other than that you book them separately.

It's been a long time since I was in a hydro pool and I thought that was the case, but I am glad to hear you confirm that.

So, in the end it IS about the cost.

I've never understood that desire. It is easy to find out the amount of the gratuities and then effectively include them in the price by simply prepaying them.

FWIW, the thermal spa pass for my upcoming 17 day cruise was $299.

When did you book and when is the cruise? I ask because generally the crew appreciation is NOT included in the HIA package unless it was some special promotion OR you booked far enough in advance to get the Advance Booking HIA, which generally means more than a year in advance. For example, I just booked a Jan 2024 cruise and my HIA does not include crew appreciation. I'm also looking at an October 2024 cruise, and if I book it before Sept 30th my HIA will not only include crew appreciation but also upgrade the drink package to elite and upgrade the wifi to Stream. This is all published, and therefore knowable by you, even if you didn't actually know it. But HAL agents can't change published packages. And while you say it's not about the cost, it seems like the only solution that would satisfy you would be for HAL to assume the cost. Or am I misreading it? What do you want them to do besides apologize?

Oh, that 2 drink comment is interesting. Does that mean I can order a double and it will just count as 2 drinks towards my 15 drink limit?

FWIW, I booked my Jan 13, 2024 Koningsdam Hawaii cruise on August 18 and bought CO on August 19 since there was Club Orange availability, and then got a very nice cabin upgrade (OO to D) on August 21.

When I bought and paid for CO on my upcoming Jan 2024 cruise I did it through my TA. It was on a Saturday evening and she told me that the HAL ship inventory dept was closed so she couldn't do the upgrade then. Made sense. Then she said that I could contact them myself on Monday and that she would send me the contact info. I never got the contact info but it was pretty easy to find the number*. I called directly and the young lady said that normally it was done through the TA but that she could help me. And she did and I got a great upgrade. So I guess the "rule" is not hard and fast. * and it was the HAL ship inventory dept. number, not a CO number - I don't even know if there is a CO number - 206-626-7381.

OK, now, be nice, but I've been thinking of jazzing it up a bit on dressy night rather than wearing one of my boring striped polo shirts. So I am thinking about the below, but I don't know if that white strip around the head hole would qualify as a collar. Thoughts?