Lady Chew

We spent the month of August on the Oosterdam … no library.  Some ridiculous fancy shelves up in the Crow's Nest, taking up space & blocking some views, with some knick knacks and a very few "coffee table" books placed here & there … 

I've been trying to cut & paste a long Roll Call list into our thread, but the spacing is all over the place.  Some of the names have three lines between them, some of them have two, only a few are properly listed with no lines between … very frustrating

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Me: a protein bar, maybe a hard boiled egg, maybe yogurt …

Mr Chew: his regular breakfast - cereal w/milk & fruit, banana, english muffin …

Then we'll get something at the airport before boarding our plane

My reading skills are fine. The "Perk" if it can be called a perk is a "Cocktail event" between 5 and 7 pm for those passengers who are Elite and above. Oh, it's a perk, either way they provide it, on the cards or in the lounge … they certainly don't have to provide any drinks …

 

The perk is not three additional drinks each day added to one's seapass card. The adding of drinks to one's seapass card is one of convenience for Celebrity when numbers are too great to be accommodated at the event. Actually, one can do both if one desires - go to three bars and get the three drinks from the card, AND go to the lounge and have unlimited drinks.

 

In the event that the function is held each night and one doesn't attend for whatever reason TOUGH, you miss out just as one misses out on any other activity on the ship if one doesn't attend. True enough!

 

If one wants the option of sitting on one's balcony enjoying a cocktail at sunset then there are a variety of drinks packages available just for that purpose.

Why on earth would you be disappointed? The function from 5 - 7 is for Elites and above and that is what you are offered. Reading between the lines you wanted the vouchers so you could stock up your cabin fridge without having to have a drinks package or pay for the drinks.

 

The loading up of sea passes or issuing of vouchers is a relatively new innovation brought about by large numbers of Elites and above on board. The reciprocal rights of RCCL passengers has increased the Elite numbers of X ships with the equivalent from RCCL coming across and trying X

Hmm … I think your reading skills need improvement!

When we have the 3 drinks loaded onto our cards, we can go to just about any bar to redeem them. We don't have to give up something that we LOVE doing on cruises, sitting out on deck reading & watching the sunset, to get up & get cleaned up & get dressed up to go up into the lounge for our drinks. We can sip our drinks out by the pool, or on one of the outer decks … we much prefer that to sitting in the lounge. Three drinks per night for each of us is way more than we need in a 2-hour timeframe, although we do occasionally use an extra one to get a bottle of water to have in the cabin overnight.

I like to buy inexpensive jewelry at street fairs or kiosks or tents by the road in the Caribbean. Or anywhere else around the world. I've met dozens of mother/daughter combos and groups of women who make & sell earrings, bracelets, pendants, etc, all over the islands. I'd much rather give them my cash than some large retail store!

We were on the Eclipse in February, and were very disappointed that the drinks were not loaded onto our seapass cards. We had to get dressed & go up to the lounge if we wanted the drinks. They had the entire lounge blocked off for Elites & above.

We take long cruises on HAL, and really appreciate the free laundry! For shorter cruises, 2 or 3 weeks on Royal C or Celebrity, the free bags and/or discounts usually get us through the entire cruise, with a little bit of washing things in the sink!

We also like the discounts for specialty dining from HAL.

We really like the 3-drinks-loaded-onto-our-seapass from Royal & Celebrity, and sometimes we go to the evening cocktail hours instead.

We have found the priority check-in, boarding, tendering, etc, to be kind of hit-or-miss on all of the lines and don't really mean a lot to us.

Are HAL perks reciprocal across the Carnival brands, as they are on Royal C? I'm pretty sure they're not, but since we're discussing perks, thought I'd ask!

Hi, OP here. Thanks for all your replies. Just wanted to say I ended up booking a Signature Suite on the Oosterdam for the Tropical Carribbean itinerary for Feb next year.

 

Looking forward to checking out HAL for myself!

We spent most of August in a Signature Suite on the Oosterdam, and it was by far the most well-appointed stateroom we have ever had, of any type of cabin, on any cruise ship on any line. And so much space! It was wonderful!

We thought the new décor was very nice … some very, very pretty areas, and we did not see a lot of wear & tear on any of the outside areas, although we don't go around inspecting the rails! We didn't use any of the pool lounges this cruise (very port intensive) but I'm pretty sure they were new.

The food in the Lido was excellent. We enjoyed the made-to-order sandwiches almost every day that we ate lunch on the ship. The PG was excellent, although service was a little slow each time we were there.

We have always seen more negative than positive reviews for almost every ship we've sailed, and a few of them were so bad that I started having second thoughts, but never cancelled based on reviews, and have never regretted it.

I always wipe out the drawers & shelves; it's amazing (and I don't mean that in a good way) how much gunk is left in the drawers. I'm not trying to sterilize anything, just pick up stray lint, hair, etc - and there's always stray lint, hair, etc …

If I think about it and have the time, I'll wipe down the phone, remote, door knobs, etc.

We prefer to take private excursions, but under certain circumstances we have booked with HAL.

However, we have learned that if there is something that we really, really, really want to see, something that is really important to us, you cannot count on the cruise line excursions. We had a turn-around day in Civitavecchia in August, and one of the EXC tours was to Ostea Antica. We've wanted to go there for ever and it had never worked out, so this time we booked it. The tour was cancelled at the last minute because not enough people had signed on, and we didn't have time to find anything else. Bummer. If we had booked a private tour, we could have gone. Next time … !!

There were a few other EXC tours on the same cruise that disappointed us as well. Itineraries were changed, we didn't spend enough time where we wanted, etc etc. But, we also had a few that were completely excellent.

Overall, though, private is the way to go! Just gotta do the research!

I don't understand what is so "off putting" about someone using one of the terry bathrobes as a swimsuit coverup when going through the Lido …

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", but if it's a dead tree edition, it's heavy.

 

Is the value of a "book" the content or the heft of bound paper that you cannot read in dim light, that

you must not set down spine-up to save your place, and whose words near the binding hide around

the curve of the paper? I literally hold my books in the palm of my hand (smartphone app), and adjust

the font size if my eyes are having a bad day.

 

I bought my first ebook in 1999 (Yup! Read it on a PDA), cart several thousand around in my shirt

pocket, and routinely download them at sea.

This post cracked me up …

I will be shipping about 75 "hefts of bound paper" to read during the 114 day world cruise next year. Most of them will be offered to fellow passengers as I finish them. I hope they will become dog-eared, the covers will become worn, maybe some pages will get little rips or tears, the bindings will become stretched … signs of well-loved books!

The last time we went through Heathrow (2015) it took us almost 3 hours to get through passport control. The place was mobbed.

We had arrangements with English Rose for a car to take us to Southampton, and at some point we made a call to them, they were already aware of the delays and said not to worry, the driver would be there. He was holding a sign with our name, and two nice big cold bottles of water!

We've flown there before, and it's never taken less than 90 minutes.

Any company - cruise line, airline, car dealer, widget manufacturer - that sends me a survey asking me to rank things on a scale of 1 to 10, is unlikely to receive all tens. It's possible, but not probable. If they only want tens, don't give me the option for anything else!

In spite of that bold statement, I do give tens to my direct service personnel on cruise lines.

Mr Chew came in as I was beginning this post, and I told him someone had asked about the library on the Oosterdam, and he just laughed and then he said, tell them they destroyed it.

We were on the Oosterdam the month of August. No library. They have a few empty bookcases on the left side just when you go in to the Crow's Nest, labeled for the book exchange, but no books, and hardly any to be exchanged.

On the other side, near the windows at the front of the CN, taking up space & blocking the view, they've got a big wooden structure with some shelves, and a few coffee table books placed here & there on them …

Very disappointing, and a complete waste of space …

The top three cruisers and Pinnacles usually always have reserved seating up front with their names on placs on the tables. Also the officers will inform and ask those cruisers in advance to attend.

Oh, I'm not talking about them! I love to see those people! Actually, I hope to BE one of those people some day … I have been one of them on a few HAL cruises, but we are still working our way up to Diamond Plus on Royal. I think one more cruise will do it!

It's not really that big a deal, although as grapau27 pointed out, it's always interesting to see who are the cruisers with the most days. At most of the ones we have attended there have always been a few people who plant themselves by the most senior officers/staff they can find and never let anyone else get a chance to speak.

Love the rum punch when it's available, the wine served is usually not very good.

We no longer go out of our way to attend.

When I see a single sandal or shoe,I assume that someone has lost it, and I pick it up and try to find its match. Then it goes by the towel stand so the owner can find it!

I have to say, as a newly-minted 5Star, that priority boarding has never made that much difference! A few times it has been much slower than the regular lines, and there is nothing "special" in the process itself. I think it's just one of those little perks HAL can offer at no cost and it doesn't require any real effort on their part.

We have met people who basically cruise all year, whether or not they have a house on land.

They have mostly been on HAL ships that do longer itineraries, so there is variety in the ports, they're not doing the same 7-day cruise over and over and over again. They book them as multiple back-to-back cruises and keep the same cabin.

For example, on the Amsterdam several years ago … we took the 75 day Grand Asia & Australia, and boarded in Seattle in mid-September. There were passengers on board who had taken at least one of the Alaskan sailings in August and simply stayed on. At the end of the 75 days (ending in San Diego) they stayed on for another two weeks to go through the Panama Canal, to Fort Lauderdale. Then the Amsterdam did one or two 10-day-ish cruises, a holiday cruise (I think it was another 2 weeks) … they stayed on for that … and then they did the full Grand World Cruise, another 4 months, before disembarking back in Fort Lauderdale. For just a few months on land, then starting over in July/August for a similar program!! Every year …

I have mentioned this before on similar threads … we simply prepay most of our bills. There's never been a problem doing this. We are able to estimate amounts very accurately for those bills that vary from month to month.

We have a few new accounts for which we have set up automatic payments, the first time we have done this. We'll see how it goes and perhaps set up a few more in the next few months. But - we'll probably continue our practice of prepayment for utilities & such.

A few people have mentioned that there are countries that do not allow you to carry certain drugs with you. I assume that if you leave them on the ship while you are ashore, there is no problem?

For many years, I have used over-sized mens shirts as bathing suit cover-ups. I buy them new, but at end-of-season sales and using coupons. I have them in various colors and fabrics so that I can match my swimsuits.

I also have a few that I use as bathrobes.

Since I buy them so inexpensively, I don't have to worry if anything happens to them.

I started doing this after Mr Chew received an Aloha Shirt that was way too big for him (and he's 6'4" and around 230) … and we couldn't return it. I don't usually get them that much too big for me anymore, but it is nice to have some extra room, especially over a bathing suit!