3rdGenCunarder

But no more slippers.

It was (is?) part of Sir Samuel's, but I'm not sure it's still there. Last fall, the turndown chocolates were not Godiva, and the display case of chocolates to buy had only one variety in it. Could have been supply issues, but I got the impression the connection with Godiva was on the way out. I looked online, and I can't find mention of Sir Samuels or the Godiva part of it anywhere.

Whew! I made the cut!!!

Can I add the HAL rubber ducky to my PG meal without having to eat chicken clucks?

We saw the HAL building from the water when your river cruise went through Rotterdam. Saw the ship, too!

And they sail free on some promos, eat free, use towels and linens, use extra steward time to make up and close the fold-out bed, while solos pay for a person who does none of that. Yes, I know, the phantom person in my room isn't buying drinks, etc. so the ship loses revenue. Kids may drink sodas, but they don't drink alcohol or gamble or shop in the jewelry stores. Except for the fact that the kids for free gets the parents to book, I'm not sure this is such a good deal for HAL.

The fact that it's also sold as two separate cruises is the source of the glitch. It makes no sense that this should be a problem, but hey, it's HAL...

It's nice to know that some families still converse at dinner! I was in NYC recently, and while I was having lunch, I noticed a family of four (kids were 10-12), all on their phones instead of talking to each other.

What a mess!!!!

Your cruise is only 2 months away. They should have this nailed down by now!!!! Have you tried chat on the page that lists excursions? At least someone will try to respond. I've found phone to be no help.

I agree. We didn't have children but were blessed with friends who raised delightful kids. Of course, they had their moments, all kids do. But when they were out with the grown-ups, they saw it as a special occasion, and knew it was time to bring out their best manners. I remember one time when they were at our house for dinner (no kids table, they ate with us), one of the kids said "Mommy, are we being good?" So I knew they had "the talk" in the car on the way to our house.

I tried looking at port info for Chicago and Milwaukee. It's easy to do this research for ocean cruises (whatsinport, cruisemapper, etc), not so easy for rivers and lakes. I found a "contact us" for Milwaukee and asked about AQV calls there. At this point, Milwaukee has only three AQV calls. Navigator 6/17 and 7/1, Voyager 7/2. All the rest are supposed to be Chicago. The July dates make sense, as Independence Day weekend will be busy with lots of activities in the Navy Pier area. So that should give us hope that our cruises will dock in Chicago. But I would like to hear that from AQV.

Are you doing a B2B? There have been reports of trouble booking excursions on more than the first leg of a B2B. It's a HAL IT thing (no surprise there!). I was able to buy a 10-day pass for my Caribbean cruise ($196) in advance, but that was not a B2B.

Your list of policies is simple enough and should go without saying. But considering that there has been a "chair hog" policy about chairs at the pool for years and it is never enforced, the odds of anyone on staff saying anything to the parents of misbehaving children with or without an official policy are lower than the odds of me winning the powerball lottery. Inside voice? Does anyone teach that concept any more? And I don't mean little kids. I mean adults who have no idea how loud they are (and no, not old folks shouting because they're going deaf).

Well, she is, in a way.

That definitely does not look like a buffet choc chip cookie! The buffet cookies all look and taste like they're made from frozen dough, which they probably are.

Probably not at all. They work for the consortium the agencies work with, not the cruise line.

Yes, sometimes I see "hosted voyage" on my TA's website, but I don't look at their site often. I usually do my research at the cruise line sites and call her when I'm ready to book. I tend to book early, and sometimes the "hosted voyage" is a surprise that pops up later. I don't think I would choose a cruise for the "hosted" perks.

I have never seen 3 ships schedule to be there, either. It's crowded enough with two of HAL's larger ships there. I have seen Carnival and HAL ships scheduled for the same day several times, but at some point, as you said, it gets changed.

You probably did immigration in St Thomas because it was your first American port after being in other countries. I've had to do immigration in San Juan for that reason.

When my BF's husband died, she complained to me that people would say "He had a good, long life." She knew they meant well, but she always wanted to say "Yes, but I want more!"

In my experience, a cocktail party and an excursion. The last time, the hosts were very accessible, providing their cabin number so we could contact them with questions. Other times, they were hardly noticeable.

Not my cup of tea, either, mostly because of the ear-splitting music walk, which was where all the entertainment was (other than the main showroom). I know I'm in the minority, as it was crowded to point of looking like Times Square on New Years Eve. So lots of people like it, just not me. It was so mobbed when I tried getting through there that I could barely wriggle through the mob. Horrible. Sorry to say, QA is based on the PInnacle design that HAL used for the K and two other ships. I agree that the K felt crowded and the theater was ridiculously small. If I wanted to see something, I had to get there at least a half hour early to get ANY seat, not necessarily a good seat. I have booked a cruise on QA because I trust Cunard to fix most of what I disliked on HAL, which was the entertainment. I doubt QA will have the hell that is Music Walk. I think it's possible to design a theater with more seating. The one thing that won't be fixed is the promenade deck, but I will have a balcony, so I will have somewhere to sit in the fresh air.

Better loafers without socks than sandals with them.

Thanks, Alex, especially for the heads-up on the transfer to the ship. It's earlier than I expected, so now I know to plan around it. I have done the boat tour in Chicago. If you ever get back to Chicago, check to see if they still do the tour that's mostly done riding on the "El." The tracks get VERY close to some of the buildings. I will check to see if there are other tours they offer. Viator sells a gangster tour. That could be fun. LOL at the reference to fudge stores. It's definitely a "thing" on Mackinac Island. Locals call the day trippers on the ferry from lower Michigan "fudgies" because they arrive in the morning, see the sights, buy fudge, and go home. A friend who grew up on the Upper Peninsula made us promise to stay overnight and not be "fudgies." We did not stay at the Grand, but the hotel we chose had a nice view of the harbor at a better price. We did go to afternoon tea at the Grand. I'm thinking about the ice cream parlor this time. I'm excited to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In Detroit, there's a Motown museum that I wanted to go to, but it's closed on Tuesdays, which is the day we'll be there. Very disappointing, as Motown was the music of my college years.