Moriah

Ah, that does make sense... I hope someone will answer because I'm curious how that works...

Air travel has become even MORE erratic and unreliable over the last 5 years, and I have NEVER trusted the airlines to get me to a cruise embarkation city on the day of embarkation! Now, I would do it even less. Thank goodness you had the one day buffer! Last month, I flew to Seattle to cruise to Alaska. When we landed, we were delayed getting to our gate because there was an aircraft parked in it. This was two days before my cruise was leaving, so I was perfectly relaxed. As we waited to get off the plane, people around me struck up conversation. The couple across the aisle from me said they were going on a cruise. I piped up, "Me too. What cruiseline?" They were on a different line, and I said, "When do you leave?" They said "IN TWO HOURS!!!" It was already well after noon, their cruise was leaving at 3 (doesn't that mean they have to board by 2?) and they were expecting to get off the plane, get their luggage that they had checked, and get to the port in time! I was aghast, and so were a lot of others around us. When we finally taxied to the gate, we all parted the seas of people to shoo those two off, but I don't think any of us expected them to make it in time. And this was with an on time landing, just a slight delay because of gate being occupied! What if something worse had happened. And it was their 10th anniversary cruise... sigh...I still wonder if they made it.

I would wait until your embarkation and go to the gym and see exactly what will be on offer for your sailing. Who knows if it will be worth $100 for you to get "unlimited" classes. The classes are not that numerous in any case, so a-la-carte might be the way to go. That way you can try them out before you make a commitment.

That's great news about the HAL Cats! I miss the ships having their own band at sail away parties, etc. Great memories. Also agree with that manager that Vista is the "perfect size" - I hope our four vista ships can keep going for a while. They are pushing 20!!! I sailed on all four of them, while not on their maiden voyages, pretty darn soon after, and they remain my favorites.

I know! I got a casino offer a while back with a list of cruises and I picked a warm weather itinerary for this winter -I looked at the Panama Canal cruises, but when I saw how high the charges were, I ended up with a Caribbean for 9 days with total port taxes under $200.

This isn't an answer, but I'm curious why you would do that? PCCs at HAL just are not what they used to be, for one thing, and you don't get anything extra from them that you would not get from a TA, in fact usually it's the opposite. I'm just curious why you would consider it, not really arguing one way or the other.

Ya, it's quite confusing. But having a package really is freeing. All you have to know is you can have up to 15 drinks, and "gratuities included" means you just don't have to pay the gratuity. Hopefully the bar staff is actually getting the 18% that they would if you were paying individually for the drinks...

I think what was meant here was the MINI BAR, not bringing something to your room from a bar.

Yes, you are not charged gratuities on your drinks when you have a drink package.

If you want to reserve a cabana in advance of your cruise you can call guest services - they will give you the current price for your ship and sailing, and keep in mind not all of the ships have cabanas. If you want to reserve for some days only and not for the entire cruise, you have to wait until you are on board. The prices on the sheet you linked to I believe are still in effect. They look similar to what I was quoted for my upcoming Rotterdam cruise.

There were a couple of Tai Chi classes on Westerdam in Alaska last month, and some artsy activities as well. I was on Rotterdam a year ago and don't remember, but I'm sure there are similar activities especially when there are several sea days in a row. They had oragami paper folding and I was always meaning to go but never made it. Maybe during my November cruise on Rotterdam!

Joanne, don't get confused between room "size" and "category". Some inside cabins are quite roomy, and bigger than any ocean view or balcony. Others are tiny. Ocean views are with very few exceptions all the same size, regardless of whether they are full or obstructed views. (And no, they are not bigger than 'large interiors') Inside cabins have a range, and the range is just that - some cabins in the same category are bigger than others. The deck plan of the ship you'll be on can be helpful in that when you look at the map of the rooms you can tell if you are dealing with a cabin that is especially big or small.

These are great tips!! Thank you so much!

Does anyone know a trick for narrowing a search for ONLY cruises that are repositioning or "one way"? I would love to be able to generate a list of all the transatlantic cruises for example over the next couple of years, without having to sift through all the "Europe" cruises, etc. And in general I'm interested in seeing a list of cruises that reposition all the ships. If anyone knows any search tips (talking about the HAL site, but if there is another way, I'm of course open to it) I'd be most appreciative.

You won't be out any money, but you won't be able to go. Port fees and taxes will be refunded if you cancel. Hope they feel better and you'll be able to sail. Bummer.

I cruised with my daughter on Rotterdam in the family ocean view on deck one and it was awesome!! You will love it. I love the lower decks. It was very quiet and that extra shower and sink was wonderful!

Ah, coffee... a subject near and dear to my heart! Over the many years I've been sailing on HAL ships, the coffee story has written itself in many chapters. First, there was literally NO decent coffee to be found on board. I had to content myself with pretending that room service and Lido and diningroom offerings were actually "coffee" at all... and find decent stuff when on shore. Then, slowly things changed. The dining room and specialty restaurant coffee became borderline "acceptable", as did room service coffee, and following that at some point, Lido coffee became borderline (important word) acceptable as well. THEN, we got "Explorations Cafe"... and espresso was now served on board. MUCH better, although certainly not to the level of excellence of some good coffee houses on land. Still, big improvement. My drink there is Americano with one or two extra shots. The situation NOW is, IMHO, that when you are on a ship that has no Dutch cafe, the dedicated Explorations cafe will have good coffee, because the crew baristas working there will have a lot of practice, presumably. When you are on a ship that DOES have Dutch cafe, this will mean that Explorations doesn't actually exist - it's just a coffee maker stuck into the Crows Nest bar, and while the potential is there, the bar-tenders are not baristas... There are exceptions to this. My last cruise on Rotterdam I was the first one in the crows nest every morning and Dexter made me a great coffee... but in general, the good coffee on those ships with the Dutch cafe is AT the Dutch cafe. Very good coffee. So now, if you are on a ship that has it all, coffee quality IMHO is as follows, from least good to best: 1. Lido 2. Dining room 3. Room service 4. Specialty restaurants 5. "Explorations cafe" 6. Grand Dutch Cafe

No, please don't confuse Turtles06. He was asking specifically about taking one's own luggage off, in which case what you have said is not correct. They will be assigned the earliest time regardless of when their flight is, because of the self-removal of luggage. Being "patient" has nothing to do with it in this case. The reason I mentioned that the alternative is to wait until the END is that people getting off as you described will be LINED UP, sometimes the lines are long, and it would NOT be appropriate to be dragging your luggage off at that time, in addition to the fact that your assigned time will be first thing in the morning. So if you are taking your own luggage off, even if you have a "later flight" you will be assigned disembarkation at 7:30 or so, but as I have said several times, there is no harm if you simply WAIT until embarkation is almost over and then take your luggage off.

I agree with Ruth, however, that said, if you have an early flight I would get to the gangway as early as possible, just be respectful of the issues she mentioned. And as I said, if you don't, just wait until the line is over and get off later (my preferred scenario always :))

Yes, you can take your own luggage off, I do that all the time. Best to get off VERY EARLY or VERY LATE. You will be given a particular time based on your giving them the form filled in stating you will be taking off your own luggage, but my advice would be to ignore that and just wait until a little after 9 AM when the announcement comes GET OFF OR ELSE (just kidding, but you know what I mean). But I hate waiting in lines and there WILL be lines to disembark. So if you have an early flight, line up as soon as you can figure out where the gangway will be. If not, go have breakfast in the Lido (don't stay in your room - the stewards have to do the turnaround, and it's just rude to hang onto the room so they can't do that - relax, eat, and then get off at the very tail end of disembarkation.

When I sailed in November on Rotterdam there was the usual mariner lunch in the MDR, and the Lido, as well as (my choice) the Dive In at the Lido pool. We ordered on the app as soon as we got on board and were eating hamburgers by the pool before noon.

This was exactly my point. What you have said is simply NOT TRUE! Lots of people who are NOT high star mariners, do NOT play in the casino, and do NOT buy jewelry also get these offers. So I repeat, there have been theories like you have listed abounding for years, and none of them pan out.

I went on three free stateroom cruises on HAL between November 2022 and May 2023. All three offers gave me a long list of cruises to choose from and apparently I could have taken more than one from each list. It was great while it lasted, but since March (the offer I took them up on for a cruise in May) I haven't received any more of those offers. I am a 4 star mariner, play in the casino very frugally, and sometimes play bingo. Not a big spender in any other way. All the offers were from the casino, which I thought was strange, but was happy to take them up on it! What I wanted to say here is, for as long as I've been cruising (many, many years) and reading posts on CC, there has been speculation about why/how/when these offers arrive. NOBODY as far as I can tell, has been able to crack this question. There are many, many theories as to who gets the offers, when, and why. None of them end up holding water as there is always someone saying, "No, it's not just for mariners with high status, no, it's not just for high rollers, no it's not just for big spenders," and on and on and on. I've long since stopped trying to figure it out. If an offer comes and I want to take it, I do. There just seems to be NO way to predict or figure out who gets them. On the last free cruise I brought a friend along and she made sure to play in the casino to "get her name on the list." I just smiled and said "whatever." Because, not to beat a dead horse, there just is NO way to figure this out. 🙂

No, Koningsdam will not go into the "arm". There are excursions you can book that take you in there. And the excursion will return you to the Kdam which will already be docked in Juneau. Well worth it if you can book it.