Lindancer

I booked a Norwegian cruise in 2021 through a 3rd party cruise consolidator and the consultant was breaking rules by emailing back and forth with me. They wanted you to just call in with your questions and just talk with whomever every time, and eventually that's what it came down to. We had issues and I was not happy having to reinvent the wheel every time I called. So my point is I have been very happy with my PCC at HAL. She is great at returning emails or calling and basically "holding my hand" when I start acting like a grandma, ha ha. She remembers our preferences and calls when something is too complicated to be explained in an email. So when she calls or emails me tomorrow, I hope she has some good news about my casino offers.

I was trying to respond to Michele66 (see above) but this river cruise stuff keeps showing up in the feed. Sorry.

Yeah, now she hasn't heard from the pricing department (who are in contact with the Casino people, she says) and is out of the office until next Wednesday. I am not happy.

No help from the Facebook forum. PCC said she'd get back to me by Friday, after "asking around". Hopefully, she has found a way to contact the casino people. She has been my PCC for over 10 years and otherwise has been very competent, although there has never been a question as to whom she is working for. I am curious to see what she has to say. Just got another offer stating rates starting at $99 (yeah, that's not great but...) $250 free play and free drinks while playing.

Thanks. I just got an HAL email about 45 minutes ago. I have to say that none of the cruises listed were "over the Holidays" and that's what prompted that post. Still, like I said, at least one of my cruises annually is a Holiday cruise and they were all heavily discounted.

Yes, membership pending

My cruise requests were all for holiday sailings. That might make a difference, although it shouldn't, since many of my previous discounted cruises were also holiday sailings. I am also a 4 star Mariner and lost over 3K on 2 HAL cruises last year. I am anxiously awaiting to hear back from the PCC...

So have I, as I said. But have you tried to take advantage of them?

I'd contact the casino people myself if I knew how.

Yes, I agree, and my PCC even had the nerve to say I haven't cruised lately since my last cruise was over 6 months ago! BUT I have an inbox full of email offers, ranging from 30% off with $150 free play to unknown discounts but $250 free play, etc. and a new one just came in today. If this is the case, then they should quit sending me these emails! I am hoping there is a glitch in their system. My PCC is going to try to find out by "asking around".

I get emails from Holland America offering discounted cruises, free play, etc. and have taken advantage many times. All of a sudden, my PCC with Holland America tells me she is seeing no discounts on the cruises I am looking at. (And of course, she has no way of contacting the Casino people). Does anyone know what's going on with them? I have seen this topic discussed on this board before, so I am hoping someone has some current information. Thanks in advance. Linda

Maybe, but the awe factor is gone when you've already seen all the castles in the Loire Valley that were on the next day's agenda! And since this was a Loire Valley extension, there was no debating among choices.

I have been on 4 Grand Circle river cruises, 1 with Gate 1 and 1 with AMAwaterways. Grand Circle was by far the best. And it is all because of the GUIDES. Your personal guide (and there is usually one guide for every 25-30 passengers) will call you at home before you leave to ask if you have questions and then of course your number will be in his/her phone. I once got lost in Antwerp and when I dialed our guide, she picked up saying "what's up Linda?" The guides are also from the area in which you are traveling and extremely knowledgeable. My AMAwaterways cruise was in the Bordeaux region of France and our guide was from IRELAND, currently living in Hungary. He knew nothing about the French or their customs and embarrassed us by sending us into a full cafe in the middle of their extremely short lunch hour window, among other shortcomings. He also had 160 passengers to deal with, although AMA sends you off with a local for whatever tour you picked. His idea of a port talk the night before a stop was to show you photos of what you were going to see the next day - hello, can you say spoiler alert? GCT doesn't make you pick your one shore excursion - they simply take you everywhere of interest you need to go. Occasionally when there is an optional excursion offered, for which you do have to pay additional. I also thought the food was quite good. I haven't sailed with GCT since 2018, but I doubt that they changed their modus operandi. L. Conrath

I'm sure you can get your own ice and, unlike ocean cruises, AMA doesn't care what you "sneak" onboard. As I recall, they have a daily happy hour where drinks are free for an hour so that might be all you need. Yes, someone will certainly come in daily to clean and make your bed.

Anyone know of a river cruise (or other cruise) that also takes people to Munich for Oktoberfest? The only one I can find is with Tauck and the price is WAY out of my range. Thanks in advance. L. Conrath

When we booked, the ship was supposed to stop at Amber Cove, but switched to Samana instead. Anyone have any info on this port? I get the idea that there will be nothing there if we just walk off the ship? Probably need to book an excursion? Any info would be appreciated!

We'll be in Bonaire on December 22 and our ship's sunset cruise is sold out. That being said, not sure I want to pay $109.95 pp (and there are 3 of us) for a 2.5 hour sail anyway. Just wondering if there's another sunset sail I could book through a local. Thanks for any info.

I thought I saw a swimming pool last time in Grand Turk,but didn't know if it was for the use of cruise ship passengers. Does anyone have any info? Sometimes we're in an ocean mood and other times we just want to lounge by a pool with a drink. Our stop at Amber Cove was changed to Samana, DR so won't be doing that there! Thanks in advance.

My husband and I were in Bonaire in 2010. I remember we really enjoyed a particular beach where a lot of people were windsurfing. The water was very, very shallow and you could walk quite a long way out with the water barely higher than your knees. There was a bar and restaurant. Does anyone know the name of this beach? We will be stopping in Bonaire this December and want to go there again. Thanks!

Well, don't use booking.com like I did. I paid for an upgrade at my hotel so the price would be over $250, which would give me a free taxi ride to my hotel. Well, the taxi never showed up so we hung around the airport for way too long, tried to contact booking.com (headquartered in the U.K.), and ended up getting our own cab. After much ado after we got home, submission of receipts and at least a monthlong wait, I did get reimbursed for my taxi fare. But that did not make up for such an inauspicious start to our trip, the time wasted, the aggravation and I will never use booking.com again. We stayed at Athens Gate and the location was perfect. Breakfast with the Acropolis in the background wasn't bad either!

Ha. Not after paying $537 for this excursion, for 3 of us!

Yes, in Santorini we sat on a hot bus (after being on a sweltering tender) for 2 hours before we got going anywhere. It was awful.

I hope you can. I'd love to hear about a good one. I did have a great excursion in Sorrento/Pompei with a great guide named Roberto, but that was back in 2006.

I rarely see any reviews. Personally, I don't think they publish the negative ones. Most of their shore excursions are overpriced crap and I do not hesitate to tell them that in detail when I return. (I usually book shore excursions with locals, on my own, but I do seem to end up on an HAL excursion every now and then for one reason or another).