League3056

Update: We didn't have to take those back-up flights and WE MADE THE CRUISE, but things did go kind of badly and it was really touch-and-go there for a bit. Our original flight last Sat left DSM on time, but then we picked up just enough of a delay during de-icing and taxiing to the runway that we missed our flight from CLT to MIA by mere minutes. We couldn't get to Miami that night, and they initially tried to rebook us on a flight that would arrive the following evening (a non-starter) so finally got rebooked onto a direct flight the next morning that landed in Miami around 11:30. That was a little tight but do-able - We made it onboard the ship around 1:30, about an hour before the final cutoff time, proving that had we landed closer to 1:00, I'm not at all confident that we would have made it. This was stressful enough as it was! We briefly considered just driving the 11 hours from Charlotte all through the night, but we were desperately/nauseously sleep-deprived and the weather looked good in both CLT and MIA for the next morning, so we decided to take that risk. It was a great cruise and we were pinching ourselves the whole week that it'd worked out in the end!

Yes.. nothing better 😞

First port is Amber Cove, but we'd miss the first 2 full days if we tried to meet the boat, and at that point, I don't think it'd be worth it for us just on the basis of missing so much of the cruise, let alone the headache of flying into DR. OH, and I just remembered that my parents are traveling using their birth certificates and don't have passports, so that's not even an option.

Hi all, We're supposed to fly out of Des Moines, Iowa, tomorrow around 2pm for a Carnival Celebration cruise that departs the following day (Sunday). It's not looking good for our flight, and I'm guessing it will be canceled. I have back-up tickets (fully refundable) for another set of flights that leave DSM at 5am on Sunday, with a short-but-doable layover at DCA, then onward to land in Miami at 12:52pm on the day of the cruise. Our assigned check-in time is 11:30-12, so obviously we would miss that if we end up having to take these back-up flights, but our docs say that final boarding is at 2:30. I know traffic in Miami can be bad. We *would* be checking a bag (can't do carry-on only), so if everything went perfectly and we did indeed land at 12:52, do you think we'd have enough time to grab our bags, get in a taxi/uber, and check in at Port Miami before 2:30? Or is this just a crazy plan, and if we don't make it out of here on our original flights tomorrow, I should just consider it a lost cause and stay home? I don't have enough experience with cruises OR Miami to know how crazy this sounds. This is a one-off very special cruise with family members we never get to travel with, it is so very disappointing that it's looking more and more like it won't work out. I couldn't find anything that lands earlier in Miami on my own, but there's a chance that if our first set of tickets for tomorrow get canceled, maybe AA will be able to at least get us closer to MIA for an overnight stop somewhere and a flight into MIA really early on the cruise morning.

Congrats! How many points did you end up with at the end of your last Carnival cruise, if you don't mind sharing? I'm going on my first Carnival in Jan and wondering how many points it might take to get some offers.

Which cabin were you in? My family will be in FA1156 next month 😕

What is the benefit to linking reservations? We'll be doing a multigen trip with 10 total family members in Nov... wondering if we should link our reservations.

Hi all! For those of you who get casino offers (whether for free staterooms or for heavily-discounted sailings), does there seem to be any pattern as to when new lists of offers are released? I am new to HAL and just last month sailed our first cruise with them. I ended up with enough casino points to get a handful of cruises (none of which I can take... booey) where I could get a free interior room, but then a *much* bigger list that had heavily-discounted sailing on it. Is there any rhyme or reason to when I might be able to expect a new set of offers (like, is it once a month, every couple weeks, or just absolutely no pattern to it at all?) Thanks!

Thank goodness! If you didn't get any offers from having 3-5k points, I didn't stand a chance! Glad you finally got one. I'd take that deal in a heartbeat! I'd be overjoyed with a comp interior and nothing else.

Thanks Dobby36! I looked at your link earlier and saw some attractive cruises, but the prices weren't in your pic so I didn't know what kind of pricing those cruises would have, or if they were free. Sounds like you're saying they all varied, and cost between $100-800/ea (per person, double occupancy, I'm assuming). That's not bad at all! I will happily take heavy discounts like that! Thank you!

Hi all! Just finished my first cruise with Holland America and spent some time in their casino, hoping to do enough to get some casino offers in the future. Obviously, I'd love free cabin offers (even just interiors), but I also hear that they commonly give a 30% discount off the going rate, so even though that's not as nice as the free cabins, I'm hoping I at least did enough for that! I ended the cruise with 1658 points. Small potatoes for many of you, I know, but I've heard of people that literally only put $20 in the machines each day and they're getting all kinds of good offers. Midway through, the casino host sent chocolate-covered strawberries to our cabin, and then at the end of the cruise, I had a bounceback offer of $150 in free play if I come back and play more. Complicating things is that I already have one more HAL cruise booked for this Nov, so there was no reason for them to give me a better bounceback offer, like for a free interior, since they already know I'm coming back again anyway. I know no one can predict exactly how or who the casinos gods choose to favor, but I'm hoping that since I got the strawberries and a small bounceback, that maybe I'm on their radar now? Can anyone who's had a similar play history with HAL let me know what you think my odds are like of getting attractive offers from them moving forward? How long does it take after a cruise before I'd start seeing emails/flyers coming in, if they were going to?

We just did it this past week, with our two kids, and it was wonderful. We did an excursion that brought us to pan for gold first, and then to the salmon bake. You can stay as long as you like (well, until they close or your ship leaves!) at the salmon bake, as they are constantly running buses back to downtown. Our guide said most people stay for an hour or an hour and a half, but we stayed probably 3+ hours. The food was solid - not to die for, but solid, and plenty of it. We appreciated that they had hot apple cider, tea, and coffee available, as well as lemonade and water (plus beer for purchase). After we ate, we walked down the waterfall and enjoyed watching the salmon run and looking at the old mining equipment. Then we tried our hand at panning for gold there - on the gold panning earlier in our excursion, the pans were "salted" with gold so that everyone was guaranteed to find something, but here, they just have equipment available and no salted paydirt, so while we didn't find any gold here, it was still fun. Next we roasted marshmallows on one of their campfires and enjoyed listening to the live music. We finished off with picking wild blueberries that my daughter loved eating. Even though it drizzled basically all day, it was a great time in a beautiful area and much of the salmon bake's area is under cover.

crystalspin, thanks SO much for your help! I'll be sure to take pics and add to the general knowledge for future cruisers who may be wondering the same thing. We'll be on the Thanksgiving coastal CA cruise with our extended family. Not having to cook or do dishes for Thanksgiving, whilst still being with loved ones - I'll be thrilled no matter where the pullman is (though I obviously prefer it over the sofa bed!)

We'll be in 1156, so I guess we'll find out when the time comes!

We'll be sailing on the Koningsdam in a family cabin - are you familiar with how the beds are placed in those? I thought it was still going to have the pullman right over the main bed?