sandiego1

I’m not Kathi, but yes, it’s Toto

$2300/month for a Blue Cross plan with $7k deductible pp! Just turned 61 and DH about to turn 60. It’s our largest monthly expense in retirement

Yeah, I’d LOVE that deductible. As it is, we are paying $2300+ month for health insurance. Too young for Medicare

That’s a good one. HDHP are usually higher. Mine is $7K/pp 🙁

With our 50% off, the middle package is $25/bottle including the new 18% gratuity. The bottle we bring on the ship will be more than $5, so more expensive for us to pay corkage than to just buy another package

You can buy a non discounted single bottle of wine to try. I believe there are about 7 different whites and 7 different reds in each package. Typically 1 bottle of different types of wine in each package (i.e. 1 Chardonnay, 1 Cabernet…). DH will drink other reds if he has to, but prefers Pinot Noir. He’ll occasionally get a Chanti or other bottle depending on his meal. I don’t drink so don’t know much about wine 😀

We are going to bring wine on the World Cruise and buy at least 1 package. DH like Pinot Noir and there is only 1 choice in the package. It’s not cost effective to bring wine onto the ship as we are 4*. The package is cheaper than buying wine and paying corkage for us. But he doesn’t want to drink the same wine for 128 night. So we’ll schlep a bunch of bottles to augment the package.

Oh no! So sorry to hear this happened to you. I’m glad you are ok and they didn’t get your important papers. Be safe!

Not really relevant. All 5 boroughs are part on NYC. The same sales tax is charged in all 5 boroughs. Docking in any of those locations would qualify as being IN NYC. I grew up in NYC and visit friends and family regularly in several boroughs 😀 Bayonne definitely doesn’t qualify as NYC. It’s in a completely different state! It’s a bit of a schlep to get into Manhattan from there.

New York City is comprised of 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, and Queens.

HAL requires wine bottles to be in hand carried luggage, not checked bags. If they find it in your checked luggage, They will keep the luggage and you will be called to the “naughty room” to open the suitcase. They will charge you $20 per bottle.

There are usually snacks available to purchase in the gift shop

I highly recommend Steve at tripinsurancestore.com. He has been great to work with!!

Uber used to be cheaper than taking a taxi. Now we only take taxis in San Diego.

Glad you have a team to for trivia and you won’t miss out on something you enjoy!

Check out Storylines. We have friends that purchased a unit on that ship. It’s a lot cheaper than ResidenSea. I would try a World Cruise for 4-5 months before committing to a life on the sea to ensure you like it.

Command hooks didn’t work on HAL’s Zuiderdam. There was some sort of texture on the wallpaper and they didn’t stick.

I’ve had the same issue. On one excursion, HAL had a person to escort you from the ship to the train(in Alaska). It was a very short walk. In Flam, they stop for a single pancake while on the Flam railroad.They justified charging substantially more for both excursions. We bought them independently. For Flam, it was over $100pp more. That’s one helluva pancake!

For a 1 week cruise, the Premium package was $140. So you’ll have no extra OBC leftover if you purchase it. The other package levels have insufficient bandwidth IMO.

I just remembered that there are a few shore excursions that have unique cancellations policies, including a cancellation fee and time limits. Most of the time these are overnight tours but I did see a few that were just a day tour. I guess it depends on the vendor or other tickets. For example, I saw a tour to Alhambra that couldn’t be cancelled without a penalty. This is probably because they have to buy specifically times entrance tickets in advance. The cancellation restrictions are clearly listed on the HAL site

They are typically not allowed in hot tubs

Depending on the length of the cruise, it could be cheaper to do the $20 “stuff a bag” laundry instead of the daily package

There have been occasions where the price has changed on a shore excursion. Also, they do sell out. So if you have your heart set on one, you should book it in advance

Yeah, no hotel on either end of you go SAN to FTL. Why don’t you price both out since the dates are different and see how much extra it would be? The crew can get pretty tired as they have the same amount of work to do, but only have a 23 hour day when there is a West to East time change. They have to lose an hour of sleep to keep up. I don’t like the West to East cruises for the the same reason and I’m not working while on the ship. For the Zuiderdam, you’ll want to get a category J cabin on deck 1 as those are the biggest insides on the ship. You’ll want cabins with a number lower than 1040 to avoid being directly under the very loud Rolling Stones Lounge. Many of the other insides are so small they don’t even have a couch, just a bed and desk. I haven’t been on the Zandam so can’t comment on those inside cabins.

Driver’s license is sufficient