3rdGenCunarder

I booked club, and there weren't a lot of cabins available. It's a long (for me) cruise with a lot of sea days, so I'm splurging on better food and service. Grills are a splurge too far on this one, alas.

I miss the "house brand" Darjeeling tea and proper teapots in the dining room after a meal. I do not miss the interminable Master Chef dinners with the waiters juggling fruits or rolls. I agree with @*Miss G* that I prefer the view at the front of the Crows Nest without the four large screens. I like the information on them, but they do not need to be in that location. Put them on an inside wall!

I'd rather have an electric kettle and instant coffee. Then I could also make tea. I haven't been in a NS since before Covid, and I pretty much ignored the coffeemaker. So it's possible I thought there was regular coffee because I think it should be provided, not because it was. I couldn't stand the sludgy espresso. I ran plain water through the machine to dilute the espresso to something vaguely like what I prefer to drink.

I think the Lido coffee is fine for breakfast. On my last cruise, I went to the Pinnacle Lounge for a latte mid-morning, when I wanted something a bit "better." It was nice not having to hike all the way forward from my aft cabin.

They're "recycled" NY Times crosswords, not the puzzle of the day. I do the Times puzzle every day, and Thursday puzzles often have a gimmick or trick to them. I recognized the gimmick in a puzzle from about 2 months prior.

There were printed crosswords and sudokus on Eurodam. I think I found them in a rack by guest services.

I had an excellent cruise in Costa Rica in January. It was a boat ride in a canal and a "hike" (really a walk on a path) in the rainforest. Other reviews have complained that the canal ride isn't very long, and the boat just went up and down the canal and didn't really go anywhere. But the point was to see wildlife, not to go somewhere--a good guide and a good driver spot wildlife and stop so everyone can look. I wanted to be able to say that so people reading the reviews could understand why the canal ride was not a long distance. And the driver always turned the boat so both sides could have a chance to see the sloths and monkeys and birds. And a crocodile! An excellent guide with correct and easy-to-understand ecology lessons made it fantastic. Most of the times I've left negative reviews have been because the time on the bus was grossly underestimated. The previous time in Costa Rica, the "45 minute" bus ride was an hour and a half, much of it on a bumpy unpaved road. The place we went to was okay, but not good enough to justify three hours on a bus.

The pods said Mocoffee. I think there were three types. Espresso, regular, decaf. I didn't like the coffee.

I haven't received any, and my cruise was in January. I went on one that was particularly good, and I'd really like to say nice things about it.

I prefer room service for a morning when I can dawdle in my bathrobe. On my last cruise (Eurodam), I found the Lido easier to navigate than I recalled from pre-covid cruises. But then, my last pre-covid was on the K'dam where everything is crowded. Having breakfast early and having plenty of time getting off the ship promptly for a tour is my way of avoiding stress. On my excursions in January, the stragglers were the ones arriving at the "tour meets at" time!

I was going to post that I love how bright the Pinnacle Grill is. But you're right, on the R class ships, it's dreary. I have always loved the Pinnacle breakfast when I've been in a Neptune Suite. But early excursions have made me go to the Lido, when it seems everyone else is getting an early breakfast. The restaurants do open a half hour earlier on port days than on sea days, but sometimes that isn't early enough to eat and get myself ready to go ashore.

I felt the same way. I should have used "Other" more.

I wasn't asked about specific ports. But I found it interesting that the "itinerary" maps showed more ports than the questions asked about. A map for a potential "12 day, 7 port" cruise would show 9 or 10 different possible ports. This made the itinerary look very good, if not accurate.

The other nice thing about the CO upgrade for a solo is that I only had to pay for CO once. If I had chosen to "upsell" my booking, I'd have paid the single supplement for the better cabin.

I think that's why they call them vista suites. You pay more than the typical veranda price, so this is supposed to make up for it a little.

Sad, but true. I was the first customer my TA had ask about the CO upgrade. She didn't believe HAL would really let me go from the cheapest veranda to the most expensive because info HAL had sent to agents said one grade/level, not best available. I got it and I still can't believe HAL is giving away such good upgrades for such a low price.

About 5 years ago, I did Alaska on QE right after she had been in Asia and early dinner was 5:30. Late seating is too late for me, but 5:30 is too early.

I did the CO upgrade recently, about a month after I booked a cruise. I chose thelease expensive Vista suite (veranda, really) initially and didn't think much about CO (it isn't Pinnacle ship) because I thought I could upgrade only one step within the metacategory. When I learned here (thank you CC!) that I could move to the top of the metacategory, I did the CO thing. I had to pay for CO ($360) when I asked, and I got to choose my new cabin. I got an upgrade worth nearly $3000!

Yes, that's how I read it, too. A stepping stone on the way to the Grills. It reminds me of Caronia on QE2. The main difference was the dining room. You had your own table and did not have an assigned dining time, but the cabins weren't as large as the Grills cabins and there was no special lounge.

A good roll call really makes a difference. My recent HAL cruise had no activity beyond people wanting someone to book a private tour and not posting again. No chat, no sharing information. By contrast, the roll call for my September Cunard cruise was very active. We really got to know each other, and the get-together was fun. Despite the size of QM2, we often ran into each other around the ship.

My TA's usual rep got moved to groups, so she doesn't have a reliable contact. HAL staff (if they are on staff?) don't know anything. Despite choosing the travel agent option, my TA often gets the same clueless outsourced people passengers get. And vice versa. On one call, when I had chosen the not a travel agent option, I was asked what agency I work for. It's all scrambled. It was bad enough when you (or an agent) called and got HAL employees working from home, and too out of touch with the details. Now they're employed by God knows whom, and they seem to know nothing about HAL. I could tell from his questions that the one I spoke to was going through the same booking steps a passenger uses. And he was MUCH slower at the search process than I am. He had no access to any info I couldn't get from the HAL site. I'm tired of HAL's "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" approach to customer service.

Did everyone get the question about dressing up? It's odd that it was the only "shipboard life" question, and after that it was all about itineraries.

Thank you for responding to this thread. When AQV updated the itinerary on the website, the map was changed. Now I see Muskegon on the map. Is that an error or another itinerary change?

Is there anyone else booked on this cruise who didn't get the cancellation info? It's Monday, almost a week since others received notice that this cruise is cancelled. I still have not had a word from HAL, nor has my TA. The booking still appears in my account. If I click on the booking reference, I am told that my cruise is 327 days away! I was able to select a beverage package and it appeared in my cart. Meanwhile, the 2024 Legendary Amazon cruise does not appear when I click on "legendary cruises." Only 2025 is there, and no other cruise comes up if I click "other dates." If I use "find a cruise" to search for Zaandam, there's a gap from Feb 3 to March 16. What's going on, HAL?????

Or crispy, the way Tamarind makes it!