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Out of 10 HAL cruises, we have sailed in Neptune Suites 5 times, a Vista Suite once and Verandahs the other four. We would say the Neptunes are definitely worth the extra cost. The extra space is wonderful and I love the separate vanity area for makeup and doing my hair. We try to get close to the Neptune Lounge as we enjoy the peace and quiet and the great food offerings during the day. The concierges are so helpful and order our dinners for us every night we decide to eat in the suites. Only one time we were very unhappy with a Neptune - we had to take a Guarantee Neptune in order to get a cheap casino rate and were stuck in one of the aft Neptunes on the Oosterdam. Hated the location as it was so far from everything, especially the Neptune Lounge, and I have some mobility issues of which the cabin inventory dept. was well aware. The suite was much smaller than the regular Neptunes with the same amount of furniture so we were always bumping into something. Never again will we book a Guarantee anything!

DH and I would sign up for a trial cruise. We had our first vaccine shot last week and the second in 3 weeks. So we would be all set to go if vaccinations are required which we hope they are not only for trial cruises but when regular cruising starts again.

DH and I received our first vaccine shot the other day and the second shot in 28 days from the first one. We received an official CDC (Centers for Disease Control) Covid-19 Vaccination Record Card with our names and birthday, type of vaccine, date shot received, and who administered it (Dept. of Health for us), We have to bring the cards back for the second shot where the same shot info will be entered and then we get to keep the cards as proof of vaccination. We were told the cards were from the official US government agency and will serve as proof should we need it for any upcoming cruises, or other travel, that will require proof.

Change My Room is what I use to book a specific cabin. Easy to do. You will see it when you see the pricing page - it's on the left.

Our April 11th cruise has been cancelled, but not surprised. I've sort of lost track of how many Holland and Carnival cruises we've had cancelled since last March. We do have an 11 day Rotterdam cruise booked for Dec. 1, 2021 so are hopeful it will sail. Will use our cancelled April Future Cruise Credit to upgrade to a Suite on the Rotterdam. DH and I had our first Moderna vaccine shot this week with the second shot coming on Feb. 1st. Hope Holland and Carnival make vaccination proof a requirement to sail in Dec.

I hope that vaccination proof is required to cruise. People who dismiss vaccinations shouldn't be allowed to cruise and spread the virus to others also not vaccinated. I certainly wouldn't want to be on a ship with them and I also don't think a rapid test is an alternative unless the testing is done every day of the cruise of those not vaccinated. However, I really don't like the rapid testing idea at all. DH and I are over 65 and live in FL. We got our first vaccine shot yesterday and the second will be on Feb. 1st. Our next cruise is on Holland in April, but we seriously doubt it will sail. Too soon with the slow vaccination distribution right now. We have high hopes for our Dec. 2021 Holland cruise, and Jan. Carnival and Feb. Holland 2022 cruises.

DH and I have cruised on the Legend out of Tampa several times and loved it. Perfect size ship as we don't like larger ships and easy to navigate on. We are booked on the Pride out of Tampa for Jan. 2022 and looking forward to it. We live 30 minutes from the Port of Tampa, so we try to sail from there as much as possible. Tampa is an easy port to sail from and nothing like the congestion in Port Everglades.

DH and I had a Premium Balcony cabin on the Legend on Deck 6 right behind the aft elevators and it was huge with a very large balcony. No noise from elevators, dining rooms and Lido Buffet are aft so very convenient with elevators right there. We have an aft Premium Balcony cabin booked on the Pride for Jan. 2022 - same location with larger cabin and balcony. Haven't had regular Balcony Cabin, so can't comment on good location of one of those. If you can afford the Premium Balcony, go for it.

I also hope that vaccination proof will be a requirement for cruising. DH and I are getting our first round in the next few days and the second shot in 28 days after that. We are hoping we will be given something in writing that we an use as proof of vaccination that we can show the cruise lines. We have a Holland America cruise booked for April 2021, but are not confident at all it will sail. But, hopeful that our Dec. 2021 Holland, Jan. 2022 Carnival, and Feb. 2022 Holland cruises will all sail. Get vaccinated!

When our original FCC finally arrived in my account after many months it was only half of what I expected. I checked my husband's account and the other half was in his account

I'm so glad I read this thread as we have avoided Bermuda cruises thinking the casinos would be closed while in port. Good to know they are open, but we would first made sure before booking.

All of our Carnival cruises are casino promotions and there is a special phone number to call when cancelling or rebooking which we have had to do a number of times this year due to Covid. I never have to wait as the calls are answered right away and what I need done is handled within a few minutes. That doesn't help the OP now, but might help in the future if casino promotion cruises are booked. Calling first thing when Carnival opens in the morning might help the OP in getting through to an agent.

We never use a PVP or a travel agent on Carnival. We do use a PVP on Holland America, however, as our casino promotions come from her and Holland isn't as user friendly when trying to cancel and rebook during Covid. In this case, it is nice to have her handle the changes for us and she either answers her phone right away or calls back as soon as she can.

DH and I have had 4K cabins on the Legend and Miracle (same class as the Pride) and loved getting a cheap Interior price for a cabin with floor to ceiling windows and a couch (regular Interiors don't have couches which we require and for that reason we don't book regular Interiors). Ours still had the doors to the outside on those two ships, but I know some (all?) have been replaced with windows. We usually tried to get a 4K in between two lifeboats for a little view going out towards the ocean. But just having the couch and windows at a cheap price made the obstructed views worthwhile.

Have a great cruise!

I received this week and booked an invitation to a $50,000 Slot Tournament on an 11-day cruise on the Rotterdam for Dec. 1, 2021. The promo offered a free ocean view cabin but we upgraded to a verandah cabin for just a few hundred dollars. There was a $100 fee that I will get back in casino cash once I have played in the slot tournament. Great promo for an 11-day cruise!

I had received a similar offer for a 7-day Koningsdam cruise and took it in Jan., 2020. I got knocked out in the first round but it was a fun cruise.

Funny thing is that in our 55 cruises I have only participated in a slot tournament once. Not my thing but these two offers were too good to pass up.

Yep, there went our Feb. Liberty cruise. Had worked our way up to a Grand Suite with all the future cruise credit from past cancelled cruises due to Covid. Just booked a 7-day Pride out of Tampa for Jan. 2022 with a Premium Balcony cabin that will be almost free by the time our Feb. future cruise credit is added to the cost. Only $300 OBC as the Liberty cruise was just 4 days, but booked the new one with a casino promo which will add another $200 OBC.

What's left is an April 2021 Holland America cruise which we now expect to be cancelled. Have an 11 day Holland cruise booked for Dec. 2021 with a balcony cabin. It was a casino promo with a free ocean view which we upgraded to a balcony cabin for only a few hundred dollars. Great deal for 11 days. We are hopeful for Dec. '21 and Jan. '22 sailings!!

We got stuck with one of the aft Neptune Suites on the Oosterdam in 2019 and disliked it very much after always have had positive Neptune experiences on other ships near the Neptune Lounge. We took the Neptune Guarantee in order to get a deeply discounted casino rate. I had let the inventory dept. and special needs dept. know way ahead of time to please not place us in one of the aft Neptunes because I have some mobility issues. Was assigned one anyway. The cabin was much smaller with the same amount of furniture so we were always bumping into something. It was so far from everything. The bigger balcony didn't make up for the location in our minds. Wouldn't do another Neptune Guarantee. I guess if you don't mind having to walk far distances, don't have mobility issues, and don't mind a smaller cabin, it would work for you.

This thread was very helpful. We have the free Signature Drink Packages, Free Gratuities, etc. for a HAL cruise. We assumed we would have to pay the gratuity as we ordered each drink. Didn't think that the Free Gratuities part of the cruise included drink gratuities. We will still tip the drink waiters a buck or two.

We stopped cruising on NCL a long time ago, but had looked at some of their cruises and were always annoyed that you had to pay the "free" drink gratuities at booking whether you ended up ordering all the drinks or not. I expressed my annoyance at this one time in a NCL CC thread and was I ever flamed about it. My point was that I should pay the drink gratuity as I ordered drinks, not all up front as I would never drink so many drinks every day that the package allowed. I was told I totally misunderstood the idea behind paying the gratuities up front. Ah, I don't think so.

DH and I were sailing on a Holland America ship one Christmas week and there were many ships leaving Port Everglades that day. We were sitting on our balcony when a Disney ship pulled out and its horn was playing When You Wish Upon a Star. Then a Princess ship pulled out and its horn was playing the theme from Love Boat. It was so cool to hear them and people on the other various ships were cheering. Ah, the good old days of cruising - hope we get to do it in 2021!

We're booked on the Liberty in Feb. Not holding out for much hope at this point.

The CDC report that came out this week said cruises can't be more than 7 days long. I suppose that might not affect BTB cruises since they are different cruises, but you never know. I would contact Carnival first before I booked a BTB if you were going to book them online and not go through a PVP.

DH and I have been doing the Anytime Dining since it first started and we love it. We usually get there just as the dining room is opening and there isn't a wait. When we leave after dinner, however, there is usually a long line - about 7pm or so. We don't wait in lines so we go early. Not really much different than doing the set early dinner time, but we like the flexibility if we do decide to eat later. We always get a table for two and that's another reason for going when the dining room opens. It works for us as we've been on 55 cruises and we rarely get off the ships anymore or, if we do, we are back in the afternoon. My advice for ATD is either go early or go later. 

The CDC report said starting out cruises can't be more than 7 days long. Your 14 day cruise  may be compromised by this policy anyway.

One thing to remember is that the upgraded booking email may go to everyone in the booking unless you are the only one on the Carnival email. Our bookings go to both me and my husband. You could ask the agent to just send you the upgrade booking email and not the others in the reservation. Nice of you to do this for your friends. Happy sailing!

Carnival said a few weeks ago they were limited starting cruising again from just Miami and Port Canaveral. Fortunately, our booked Feb. cruise is out of Port Canaveral. However, I do see cruises available out of many other Carnival home ports, so not sure about what they said a few weeks ago.

Yes, you will receive the $600 OBC from the longer cancelled cruise. Unfortunately Carnival does not stack the OBC offers. We have had 4 cancelled Carnival cruises and just the other day dealt with our latest one. We already had a Feb. 2021 cruise booked with $600 OBC from one of the previous cancellations. The newest cancellation $600 OBC could not be added to the existing $600 OBC. I was asked if I wanted to book another cruise to be able to use the $600 OBC, but said no. I used the money paid on the Nov. cruise to upgrade the Feb. 2021 cruise to a Grand Suite. Started with a Balcony, then upgraded to an Ocean Suite from another cancellation, and now a Grand Suite. Only one Carnival booking right now and if that gets cancelled.......

We have also dealt with 3 cancelled Holland America cruises and have one booked for April. Used the cancellations future cruise credits to upgrade from a Verandah to a Vista Suite to a Signature Suite. No OBC offered on the Holland cancellations.