Moriah

Of course you can "find out" - all the info on what's in the cabins is readily available and right on the website. The Volendam is an older ship, from an "age" when a refrigerator was not standard in every cabin. On the good side, your ocean view cabin was significantly bigger than those on Pinnacle class ships where you have a fridge, but much less storage, and much less room to move around. I love Volendam - and I'll be so sorry when (I'm assuming it's inevitable) it leaves the fleet and Vista class ships are considered "small." I still miss Veendam and Maasdam!

That's never been a thing on HAL. Spa is completely independent of what category of stateroom you book. I really think the thermal suites, especially on Vista and above, are a great value - especially on a longer voyage with a lot of sea days. Just sayin'. 🙂

Oh, I'm so happy about the library! Rotterdam is the only Pinnacle ship I've sailed on and I have back to back cruises on N.S. coming up next month, and had assumed there would be a library... found out that N.S. didn't have one, and now this thread saying N.S. has just come out of drydock with a library! Doing the happy dance! I assume it is in the same location as on Rotterdam? 😀

Nothing to do with "category." I just got off a 9 day Rotterdam cruise where I had an inside cabin. On the first day our head steward introduced himself and his assistant and asked if we prefer once or twice a day - I said once, but would he please check each evening just to see if I've prepared a bag of laundry for him to take. He did just that, and all was great. I've been in every category of HAL cabin except Pinnacle suite (but have sailed with friends who were in one) and I've never noticed any difference in cabin service. Even in Neptune suites before Covid, I would tell them once a day cleaning up was enough but please check for laundry.

Thanks for your report - I love reading this kind of trip report. And.. I was on the same ship - at the other end of the spectrum, in an inside cabin on Deck 7... I have a question. What are you referring to as "Ocean View Cafe"? Do you mean the Lido buffet?

This is just a rant - there is no need to tell me to call, or get the appointment when I board - I know all that. I'm just venting my frustration here because perhaps someone who can fix it is reading these posts 🙂 I have had several problems with Navigator in relation to my cruise coming up this Friday, and this last one really is annoying. I wanted to book a manicure for embarkation day - usually that's just click click and you're done, but this was really curious. When I chose my service and clicked to book, it asked me which passenger on my booking I wanted the appointment for. So far so good... But... the choices were myself, and a friend I cruised with two cruises ago, in May... who is NOT on my current booking!! Everything else was correct. The booking number, the date and location of the cruise, everything. But the person listed on the booking with me, as said, was wrong - and it didn't even list the people on my most recent booking, which was in August! It showed a friend I sailed with on the cruise before THAT! When I clicked on my own name (I'm the one making the appointment anyway..) I got an "error" message. I tried again on my laptop (the above described problem was on the Navigator app on my iPhone) and this time saw the actual people on the current booking, BUT there was no possibility to pay for a spa service in advance. Also, last week, Navigator said everyone on the current booking is good to go, finished check-in and docs ready to print. NOW, however, it's asking for all kinds of "missing" info for check-in, things I filled in weeks ago... sigh... The IDEA of doing things online is excellent. Who wants to sit on hold all the time for things we can manage on our own? But in practice, it's a hot mess. HAL should be able to get some decent programmers and get it together with their online presence, both on the website and the Navigator app. Please.

There are not really as many "shows" as there used to be. Most of the evening entertainment now takes place on Music Walk, and there is always something going on there, staggered start times for their sets. You didn't say what cruiseline you have been on before, but you won't find the "Broadway" type productions on HAL. There will probably be some dance performances, a comedian (not always in the main auditorium), but as I said... mostly it's amazing and wonderful music along Music Walk. You will have a great time!

I just purchased a pass to Rotterdam's thermal suite for my upcoming 9 day cruise. I have two questions: Doesn't use of the thermal suite start on embarkation day? On the receipt it says my pass begins on Saturday, Nov. 25, and is a "Nine day pass". But.. the cruise leaves on Nov. 24. If I can't access the spa until the next day, it only adds up to 8 days since we disembark on Sunday, Dec. 3 and obviously I would not be using it that day... is there something I'm not getting right? I seem to remember that on the Vista ships, when I purchased the pass for the entire cruise, I was able to sue it on the first day... Second question: Does money spent before the cruise, for example for the aforementioned pre-purchased spa pass, count for mariner "days"? Thanks in advance for any info!

Thank you Roy! Enjoy the rest of your cruise. I'm going to do exactly what you suggest.

Thanks everyone, and it looks like I will just do some tests on the first day and see what's what. Interesting that they do that with no information on what is happening. It would frustrate me if I accidentally plugged my devices into a "dead" outlet and expected them to charge. Knowing it's complicated, I'll figure it out Friday and try to come back to this thread to update in case anyone is interested.

Yes, I mentioned that, but my question is, would I have to do that when I leave the room to make sure something plugged in will keep charging?

I have only sailed on a Pinnacle class ship once - last year on Rotterdam - and on that one I was "off the grid" in that I did not bring my laptop or anything that needed charging on a regular basis... I must have charged my phone but I don't remember it being a problem.. However next week I'm going on a "working" cruise, and will need to purchase wifi and bring some devices that will need charging, obviously. So my question is, since on Pinnacle Class ships you have to leave a card in the slot at the entrance to your cabin in order to keep the electricity on, does this mean that if you have things plugged in to charge they will NOT charge when you are outside the cabin? I assume that overnight you can leave your card in the slot but still turn the lights off, meaning the electricity is still working to charge things? Is this a correct assumption? And again, what about if you leave something charging in the room while you are not there? I know there is the hack of putting some kind of card other than your room key into the slot to keep the electricity on all the time. I really don't want to waste the Rotterdam's electric power, but I do want to make sure I can charge my laptop, phone, or iPad during the day when I'm not in the room.

Wow! I'll be on Rotterdam on the 26th when they roll out the cakes! Another reason to be so excited for this cruise! Can't wait for that creme brulee cake... yum.

I will be on your cruise and can't wait! I plan to get to the pier at 10:30 and since I am 4 star (I believe you are as well?) I have priority boarding and ignore the time they've sent me for boarding. I'll take an Uber over from my hotel around 10. For some reason I find it easier to wait around at the terminal than to sit around at the hotel, but that's just me LOL.

On our Alaska cruise in August my daughter came upon a duck with a cute note behind a book in the library on Westerdam, and she became obsessed with the duckies after that! She ended up finding 10 of them altogether on that cruise, and re-hid several for others to find with a note she composed. I couldn't help but get dragged into the obsession and we could be seen peeking around all the decor and probably looking like idiots all over the ship... And did I mention my daughter is 32 years old? Sigh. My next cruise is next week on Rotterdam (sans adult kids), and I ordered some rubber duckies from Amazon - I will hide a few and yes, probably look for some too, so I can text my daughter the photos. Such a silly thing, but harmless fun!

I phoned HAL and they said they are having major website and app problems. I hope it's sorted before my cruise next week.

I just got the exact same thing. Sigh...

Could someone be so kind as to post the process for getting the AARP credit? I don't think I received any kind of communication from AARP about this. I have one already booked cruise coming up. Would it be a good idea to call HAL and see if I'm eligible? Or is there an online way to do this? Thanks for any info.

LOL I was chuckling at you explaining that you and your husband would split the beds, not that many don’t do it, but it’s none of my business LOL. Anyway to answer your question of course you and your friend will enter your own credit card info and your respective room key cards will be loaded accordingly. It’s normal procedure. You will LOVE Alaska!!

When you order one of these things, you don’t take it from your cabin. You are given a brand new one that you are charged for as a purchase.

It's not HAL giving the "free" cruises, it's the casino company. They pay HAL for your cabin. As someone already mentioned, nobody can figure out the rhyme or reason, or algorithm, or whatever, for who gets these offers. I went on three cruises in 2022 on casino free stateroom offers, and I am NOT a high roller by any means. Then the offers stopped, also no real reason. In fact, on those free cruises I probably played in the casino much more than I ever did before... sigh. Anyway, my point is, it's not the cruiseline that "gives away" the free cabins, it's the casino that is putting you on the ship essentially as their guest, and they pick up the tab.

It can be anytime... and it can even change before sailing, so if you get an assignment "early" (anytime before day of sailing) don't consider it permanent! But the usual timing is about a week to 10 days before sailing, I think.

In the morning, juices are available, poured, at one of the lido market areas. I don't think "punch" is one of the choices, but I'm not a juice drinker, so I'm not sure, but there is no "machine". Iced tea and lemonade are in pitchers, available usually starting at lunch time. There are no "dispensers" as such, but the pitchers are at various stations and crew come by to serve water, iced tea and lemonade at your table. I don't think I've ever seen "fruit punch" served, sorry.

If the people or person in the other staterooms on your booking are also entitled to the OBC, it should show up, but they won't get it because YOU are entitled to it.

On those ships there will be nothing you can't do together except breakfast in the Pinnacle. So unless your friends have other reasons for wanting to join Club Orange, I don't think they need to in order to eat with you - you can all eat dinner together in any restaurant you want. Your friends won't be able to use the Neptune Lounge, of course. As for embarkation, it depends on the port and how loosey goosey they are. In some ports, you can have them priority board as part of your "party", in others you can't. But this certainly isn't worth the price of Club Orange. They will embark soon after you and well before sail-away in any case! 🙂