Lady Chew

We are also on the Feb 14 cruise.  We originally booked the 12-day February 2 cruise, which we changed to January 31, which was then cancelled altogether.  We booked a January 31 cruise on Serenade of the Seas so that we wouldn't need to change our hotel & flight reservations around Super Bowl weekend.  Yikes!  When Celebrity added the Feb 11 3-day cruise we booked that because we'd rather spend the extra days on board instead of in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale.  

We'll be watching very carefully to see what happens now with the February 11 cruise.  I wonder if a travel agent/social media cruise would be any different from cruising with a large group of realtors or political groupies or whomever … 

I think a party in the Boardwalk from 9:30 to 11 pm is a wonderful reward for the hard-working crew.  

Perhaps Guest Services could have offered them a free nightcap or chocolate somethings on board, but to expect compensation for something this minor after the fact?  IMO that's just plain greedy.  

5 minutes ago, keesar said:

 

Yes, there is a charge for gelato.  Elite and above get a free scoop.

 

Many of the  cakes and pastries are often the same as found at the buffet.  That has been our experience on S-class ships.

Interesting, we've almost never found them to be the same … we've been on Silhouette & Eclipse several times each.  I have no idea what class ship they are …

Regardless we always get the free scoop of gelato.  Or rather, I get two, since Mr Chew cannot handle the sugar content!  So I have to step up and take one for the team.  

Isn't there a charge for gelato?  Or is that not considered part of Bacio??

The cakes & other pastries there are usually better than any of the desserts & snacks in the MDR or buffet.  

We walked down last August.  Loved it!  Took a while, it was very tiring, but the line for the cable cars was way too long and we had no desire to ride the mules.  Very few people on the mules looked as though they were enjoying themselves.

On 6/15/2019 at 2:53 PM, sammiedawg said:

 

I previously mentioned Olive Garden.  You can get one of their classic dishes plus accompaniments, early duo before 5pm,  for $8.99.   We are not  Olive  Garden fans but from time to time we duck in for a quick bite.   Holland America is charging $19 for budget food that should be free.   

Im a big Italian food fan and I’ve tried scores of them, on land and at sea.   All the way from Olive Garden to Babbo.  

Also Whole Foods sells a delicious, ready to cook,  very large meatball,  buy a couple, buy some of their fresh pasta and a jar of Rao and you come in less than $19.  It is delicious.  

Olive Garden is MUCH better than Canaletto!

Our MDR table of 6 tried the new menu on the Amsterdam during the World Cruise, and we all thought it was pretty bad.  Tomato sauces were more like tomato soup than anything else.  (Not that there's anything wrong with tomato soup, but that's not what you want on your pasta!)  Fish … bad.  Chicken … bad.  Lasagna … bad.  I'm the one who ordered lasagna, I love lasagna, and I'd eaten all types in many places, and this was the worst I've ever had.  Menu descriptions did not match what we were served.  And WAY too much salt.  None of us finished our appetizers or entrees.  Desserts were okay, nothing super special or good.

We did complain to our waiter, and the chef came out at some point … we let him have it with both barrels.

Service was glacially slow, as it usually is in any of the HAL specialty restaurants.  

We are not big fans of her singing style, but think she's wonderful in every other way!  She is hysterically funny and she goes EVERYWHERE on the ship, including by the gangway in ports.  You can see her a dozen times in a day.  She'll have a real conversation with you, even just if it's in passing.

And she does everything in those high, high heels!

We recently returned from HALs 2019 World Cruise.

I've always gotten our prescriptions for 90 days.  I always refill them after 70 or so days.  I've been doing this for years and paid extra attention to the dates in the months leading up to the WC.  By the time we left for Florida I had just over 4 months of medications ready.   After we got home, we had them refilled as soon as we could and will start building up our supply for our next trip.

When you get the refills "early" - you never run the risk of running out.  

But - if you think your prescriptions may change this would not work for you.  Then you would need to get the vacation option from your insurer.  There were plenty of folks on the WC who had done this.

On 5/17/2019 at 2:21 PM, DirtyDawg said:

Costco is a good place to get travel sized bottles for your cruise.

 

😊

On 5/17/2019 at 6:48 PM, sparks1093 said:

Sure, if you are taking an around the world cruise.

Having just returned from a World Cruise, I can tell you that it takes a LOT of toiletries!  Some products we brought all we needed from home (thank goodness for included unlimited luggage shipment!) and the rest we bought in Fort Lauderdale prior to embarking.

Experience has shown that we cannot always find what we want out of the country, so we always try to have what we need before boarding.

I always bring a packet of Clorox/Lysol/whatever wipes and use them to clean out the drawers.  There is ALWAYS crud in them.  Every ship, every cruise line.  

For most of us, changing 15 separate dinners into one Big Captains Dinner in the MDR wouldn't make any difference!  For most of us, the dinner was merely a special menu at a dinner held in the PG at which the Captain happened to be present.  It was very nice, and our table was "hosted" by a very nice senior officer, but we don't consider it to have been dinner with the Captain!  Maybe after another 5 or 6 world cruises ... one can only hope!

As far as I'm concerned, this "new and improved" site isn't either.  I hope they get things cleaned up soon, there's so much good info to be found on CC, but when you can't easily get to it, you might start to look elsewhere … 

We spent the month of August in a SS on the Oosterdam.  We never have breakfast in our room so don't care about the room service menu ...

BUT the extra space is totally worth it!!  Two sinks, tons of counter space between them, separate tub & shower … heaven!  And extra drawer space & shelves in the cabin itself … we loved it!

Since we were sailing out of Venice, we also got the "Signature Experience" perk … an evening out for cocktails & snacks, featuring some local musicians in an interesting location.  The Signature Experience is only available in certain embarkation ports, so even if you are in a SS you may not get this extra perk.

Things have changed, you do need a visa if you are getting off the ship.  We are in the process of applying for ours right now!  We have a port day in March.

And you have to PAY  EXTRA up front  ($270 in our case for this booking) in order to get your deposit refunded if you cancel.  If you don't cancel, great, but you've paid another $270/whatever for your cruise.

We looked at booking Symphony, but saw that we'd lose our deposit if we had to cancel before final payment.  No sale.

We have simply taken traveling companions in with us.  They may not have a name tag or a raffle ticket, but that's never been an issue. Heck, half the time we have never received an invitation ourselves and have had to go the desk to find out when & where, and just show up at the door.

We were in the same situation a few years ago, but I think we had one or two more days between cruises. We went to see the CC rep first thing after we boarded, with our key cards from the Royal C cruise and our invoice from that cruise.  SHe was able to access our records right away.  She got us our new key cards and gave us new coupon sheets for Elite.  We had to turn in the ones that had been in our stateroom for the lower level.  Of course there are no coupons anymore!

Revolution?  What is that? We're booked on Feb 2 & Feb 14.

2 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

 

I am not sure if you completely read this but I did check numerous times to make sure my door was locked.  The standard (I have always assumed) for checking a door is locked, is to turn the handle and try to open the door.  It wasn't until I turned the handle 3 times and pushed a bit harder that the door opened.  Not sure that is considered travel 101....

 

Sorry I have traveled extensively for business & pleasure for the last 25 years and have a great deal of experience with both hotel rooms and ship cabins and I have never experienced something like this.  

Umm …  my comment was not directed at you, obviously you knew to check your door … it was my reaction to several posters who said they had never before thought to check their doors … 

We have always checked to be sure the door is locked when we leave our cabin, or hotel room.  I'm kind of surprised that people don't know to do this!   Travel 101 … 

We had this issue when we sailed on Oasis of the Seas, when she was a new ship.  It took several trips to the front desk, flagging down a crew member working on luggage who finally got our steward (this was during embarkation), and intervention by the head housekeeper to get the entire lock changed … it was a battery problem.  I also had this happen in a hotel, but it was something broken within the lock mechanism.

9 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Tamarind is not on the Maasdam

8 minutes ago, RuthC said:

The Maasdam doesn't have a Tamarind, so you can picture your memory on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

Well then, I guess it was on the Nieuw Amsterdam!  And it was delicious!!

We've had many lunches & dinners in the PG on at least 6 different HAL ships … the food has been mostly good and prepared as requested, some waiters have been better than others, but the service on each of those ships has always been glacially slow … the last few times we've felt the wait was long enough, we've simply left … 

By far the best meal we've ever had on any ship of any cruise line was at Tamarind, but I don't remember if it was on the Nieuw Amsterdam or the Maasdam … 

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 10:10 PM, GottaKnowWhen said:

1. Loyalty perks can get you free bags of laundry. We get by nicely on one bag per week split between the two of us.

2. Most (all?) cabins have a sink. Sinks are ideal for doing a hand wash every few days.

3. Loyalty perks can get you zero checked luggage fees.

4. Taken together, the above points mean that a carry-on size suitcase per person plus a shoulder bag for extras is plenty for a four-week or longer cruise. We check the carry-ons so that we don’t need to schlep through the airports...

 

Stan

The amount of luggage you carry with you is great … for YOU.  As pointed out, for longer cruises that does NOT work for everyone, depends on what you're doing and what you need to do it!!  Many people (myself included) do not want to do a lot of hand washing in the sink.  We have free laundry on more than one cruise line, but prefer to keep the hand washing to a minimum.  

I just realized you said that you "check the carry-ons" … so … they're not carry ons??  Or do you check them at the gate?  

43 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

Again, if there is no envelope on the outside of your cabin door, go to Guest Services.  Any previous cards would be disabled by them when they make your new card.  And if there are charges, again go to Guest Services and report them.

 

They should not even occur, because when a SeaPass card is swiped by a bar tender, the photo of the actual card holder comes up.  

How would they have your picture if the cards are put into the cabins before you have boarded?  They would have to REQUIRE everyone to do online check-in and submit a photo at that time … can't see that happening …