Colorado Klutch

I was suggesting bathrooms rugs might be the most contaminated surface. 🙂

Bathroom rugs? Just a guess. I recall reading many times the cold, hard surfaces in bathrooms aren't a happy home for germs which makes them surprisingly sanitary.

Sounds like HAL should have more than one venue playing at one time.

When life gives you, "Doh!", make Dohnuts.

15 Minutes seems very reasonable. My brother said on the Nieuw Amsterdam he had to get to the venue to watch the magician or whoever was playing before the band or it was a no go. Way more than 15 minutes!

If you have an Instagram account, you can see this picture of the GIGANTIC starboard stabilizer freshly painted. https://www.instagram.com/p/CqmdfMnjX0T/

My brother just did a Caribbean cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam. His port call at Half Moon Cay was cancelled due to a medivac, but he said the past few cruises also had Half Moon cancelled due to very high winds. Whatcha gonna do?

Good news about the entertainers coming to Koningsdam. I'm on Koningsdam for an Alaska cruise next month. I really like good live entertainment, but when the performers aren't so good, I'm just embarrassed for them. My brother recently did a Caribbean cruise aboard Nieuw Amsterdam. He said the piano bar featured just one woman who was pretty lackluster and mostly ignored by everyone. He also said the BB King Lounge was absolutely packed every evening and, if he didn't get there very early for whatever act preceded the band, it was standing room only. Is this also true aboard the Pinnacle ships?

I'm having the same problem! - Chrome: cannot enter credit card number - Edge: cannot enter credit card number - Holland America Chat: Page won't load with Chrome - Holland America Chat: Page won't load with Edge - Holland America Phone: Put on perpetual hold So, now what? UPDATE: I reloaded the page and I got a prompt stating I had 15 minutes to enter card information due to security reasons. After this, I was able to enter a card number. However, I had to add the credit card and address information and save it three times before it actually worked. Yay.

Have you done a Christmas cruise before? I ask because based on everything I've read and seen, any Christmas cruise will be: 1. Expensive 2. Absolutely packed with long lines everywhere 3. A lot those passengers will be kids Now I've never been on a Christmas cruise, but I liken it to visiting Walt Disney World. I'm very familiar with that place, but I've never been there around Christmas and I would never go there around Christmas for the same reason; absolutely PACKED with long lines EVERYWHERE! If you are aware of this and you are fine with this, cool. Just make sure you know what you are getting into.

It's about bandwidth: - StarLink has only so much bandwidth between the transceiver and the satellite - Likely that bandwidth is allocated between ship operations use and passenger use. So if the operations bandwidth isn't being used, it's not like passengers get more bandwidth. The network switch onboard won't allow it - The passenger bandwidth is divided among all passengers using the network - The more passengers there are on the network, the more subdivided the bandwidth. - Thus, when a lot of passengers are on the network, the smaller the percentage of your bandwidth As a passenger, if you want the best bandwidth, try accessing the network when most of the other passengers are asleep. Likely if most of the passengers on your ship are elderly, they are not using the Internet very much; especially after hours. If you happen to be on a ship where there a lot of young people, especially kids, you can count on them being online pretty much all the time; even late into the night. So, you're bandwidth will always suck.

I did some looking online about such tours. I gather HAL suspended them during COVID and they have not yet returned. Also, I'm recalling a 12 years old and up policy.

I never received a confirmation email, but I did get the OBC.

Sorry about the changes. I used to work in Portland pretty regularly many years ago. I really like that town. I especially liked getting the Two Lobster Dinner at DiMillo's which is a floating restaurant. It's still there, but a single lobster dinner is now $58.00. Yikes.

This is really awful. I like king crab and I want the crab industry to flourish, but sheesh, it's looking pretty bleak. Wonder how it long it might take for the populations to come back. But if warm water is a big part of the problem, that might not change.

Flashbacks from "Caddyshack"...

I'm not sure what your point is here. Yeah, my point is if HAL focuses only on their current, seniors demographic, as that demographic dies off, they will not have enough customers to keep them afloat; just like Oldsmobile. Your DH was a very rare exception. Even Oldsmobile was aware of the problem. Their last gasp ad campaign was "Not your father's Oldsmobile". It didn't work.

Wow, that's very eye-opening. I had no idea the HAL kids club could suffer from such significant capacity problems. Thanks for sharing this.

The people aging into this demographic are not like the previous demographic. This is what killed Oldsmobile. Their customers died off and people in the next generation weren't interested in buying an Oldsmobile.

So maybe HAL can start charging extra for a "No Children Allowed" dinner in the signature restaurants. 😀 My son is always complaining about having to fly with screaming children and insists there should be child-free flying. I told him there is. It called First Class.

I hear what you are saying, but cruise lines are going to have to step up and and be accountable for their own policies if they want to maintain a loyal customer base. Going back to Carnival again, it was only after multiple fist fights at sea that they got serious about security. I saw one video where a guy who was at least 6' 5" was in a fight and a very tiny security guard showed up. What's he going to do? I have heard more recently that onboard security is now working to diffuse situations before they get out of hand; you know, like they should have been doing all along. I've heard the complaint about chair hogs from many people for many cruise lines. Time to step up and enforce policies or end up with fewer and fewer passengers who decide to go to Universal Studios instead.

I didn't suggest children should be barred from specialty restaurants. Rather I stated if HAL offers discounts for children in specialty restaurants, this will bring more children and thus more problems to specialty restaurants. And I certainly agree inconsiderate adults are also an issue. Maybe it's now necessary all cruise lines send letters to all passengers with clear behavior guidelines. This should not be necessary, but here in the 21st century, it seems it is necessary. Both parenting and common courtesy are becoming lost arts.

It makes sense HAL will tweak things to maintain a strong customer base. Otherwise, they will go the way of Oldsmobile If HAL wants to appeal to families with children, cool. They must advise parents of policies before they get underway and ENFORCE those policies once underway. They don't have to be Draconian policies; simple things like; - Please ensure your children comply with dress codes. - Please remove your children from public areas if they are upset and crying. - Do not allow your children to run about the ship unsupervised - Do not bring your children to the adults only areas of the ship - Take advantage of the HAL Kid's Club if you would like to enjoy the adult's only areas of the ship Carnival has been sending letters to passengers about treating the crew and other passengers with respect. HAL can easily send letters to passengers about ensuring their children are respectful. To be clear, I don't expect kids to be silent and staring at the floor or a table. I have no problem with kids laughing, giggling and talking with others. They should simply be aware of the "inside voice" concept and follow a few basic guidelines. That's all.

To be clear, I am a parent and I genuinely like kids. I used to volunteer as a middle school leader at church. Certainly, many children are well behaved and I'm happy to share any public space with them. Fifteen well behaved children in a specialty restaurant? Cool. But all it takes is one kid who is a character from "The Exorcist III" to ruin everything for everyone. Unfortunately, parenting is becoming a lost art. I don't blame the kids. As I stated previously, the problem is kids with no boundaries who go completely stark raving bonkers while their parents stare obliviously at a phone. It's not just a few bad eggs. All too often I go out in public and deal with kids screaming insults at their parents and hurling themselves on the floor in a Jell-O fit. I get that children are currently permitted in signature HAL restaurants. But the extra charge likely discourages many families from taking kids there. If they get a big discount, that will definitely increase the number of kids and, by default, the number of kids who levitate, spin their heads around 360 degrees and projectile-vomit split pea soup. Pardon the hyperbole, but criminy, it's gotten way out of hand. Example: I took my wife to an upscale restaurant a while back. We were waiting for our table near the entrance. A woman and her daughter of around 7 were also there. Dad came in from behind, and just being silly, grabbed the girl and shouted, "Boo!". Good golly, that girl had a complete meltdown. She cried, hollered and whined for about ten minutes in the waiting area. We were seated and, sure enough, that family was seated directly across from us. So I paid over $200 to listen to a little girl cry and complain the ENTIRE TIME. "I didn't know you were going to do that! I don't know why to you did that! BOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!". It was beyond ridiculous, but unfortunately, situations like this aren't all that rare. Ask any adult couple about it and likely they can share stories about kids out of hand at restaurants, bars, movie theaters and other public areas.

No need to reserve judgement. I've judging what I've seen with my own eyes many times ashore. Why would it be any different on a ship?