3rdGenCunarder

Did they say how far out they will need the note? The cruise is a year away, and they may be thinking that he will improve and not need that cabin. If you used a TA, I would get them to talk to HAL and get the answer in writing. I would also keep an eye on cabin availability as you near the date when they want the note. If you have to be moved, they should give you the same category or higher. That happened to me one time on Cunard when I had a connecting cabin. Somebody wanted two connecting cabins, and since the one next to me was still available, they moved me to a different cabin. I did get an upgrade from that move, possibly because my TA talked the cruise line into it.

CBP in Boston has been a cluster every time I've had to do it there. One time on Cunard they said the backup was because not enough officers were sent. And I think they were late that day, too.

Interesting. I was on Eurodam in a balcony cabin, and the only outlets by the bed were USB ports, 1 on each side. The desk had two European, two American, two USB. I don't have pictures, unfortunately.

They were announcing colors last month on Eurodam. Cunard tried disembarking without calling colors on my June and September cruises. They said to sit in your room and go down to the gangway at the time shown on your paperwork. They wanted to avoid crowding because of covid. That's a good intention, but it works only if the ship can keep to its schedule. In June, I did as instructed and when I got to the atrium, there was a long queue and lots of people waiting in the various lounges. They were running at least 30 minutes late, which meant 3 groups (one every 10 minutes) arriving with nowhere to go! I sat for a while, then remembered Cunard never checks the little tear-off tag, and joined the queue. In September, they were doing the same thing. I was about to head down when they made an announcement that there was a problem and disembarkation was temporarily halted, so please don't go to the gangway until further notice. The stop was about 20 minutes, so it was good that they made the announcement. Of course, I don't know how many people listened...

Start by checking itineraries to see which ships go where you want to. By "rent a car and do our own tour," do you mean a tour for the day, or ending the cruise and doing a post-cruise tour on your own?

I saw a truncated (15 sec?) version of the "Time of your life" commercial this morning on a news channel. I forget what the first image was, probably a ship. Then we see Julie's plate, then the couple on the stairs, then the couple standing at the railing. I can't see how that would make anyone want to cruise.

I'm not sure where they would put it, but it shows as being on Westerdam and Zuiderdam on the "ships at a glance" chart.

As someone who made a living sitting in front of a screen most of the time, I couldn't agree more!

Normally a night-owl, I shift to early bird when I travel. So if I'm getting up early, I do early fixed dining. If I have my act together in time, I'll go to a bar for a pre-dinner drink. I love the drinks at Tamarind, especially the cucumber mojito. After dinner, every time the schedule works, Lincoln Center. That's my main entertainment. I don't gamble, and I dislike the volume levels at most of the music entertainments. On a PInnacle ship, I watched a movie by the pool on several nights. It was nice to walk through the Lido, grab an extra dessert, and relax in a lounger. If not that, reading or watching a movie in my room. (Movies by the pool are the only thing I loved about K'dam) On a non-Pinnacle ship, go to the show if it interests me. Sadly, that has diminished. On my recent cruise on Eurodam, I did go to see two of the Step One shows. I went to the thermal suite in the evening a few times. I watched a movie in my cabin once or twice. After any of that, it's time to go to my cabin--probably 9:00-9:30. Yeah, I know, pathetic. I catch up on my journal, organize things for the next day if it will be a port day--charge the phone, check the camera battery, etc. And I usually end the evening on my balcony, listening to the sounds of the ocean, looking at the stars (and wishing I could identify more constellations than Orion).

I don't know about Westerdam, but the TV on Eurodam did not have any reachable ports. Posters on other ships have reported the same thing. Wherever the connections are, you can't get to them. I doubt a bartender would allow you to hook up a device to the bar's TV. You and the cable would be in the way.

Wow, you have had several very active days! Thanks for sharing your adventure. You'll sleep well tonight.

Thank you for finding this thread. Interesting details there.

Did either of the remaining small ships get to keep their libraries?

If their arrival in Panama was early in the day, it's possible that they got to Colon before the ship did. I haven't done a full transit in many years, but I've done three partials in recent years, and one of the annoying things about shorex is that you can end up in the port before the ship with not much to do (unless you want to go to the casino). I've done a tour to the new locks and the "historic former US base," which was a very slow and boring tour of what had been base housing, to give us something to do/look at between the locks visit and getting to the port.

Sleeping for a few hours? What happened that they couldn't get a full night's sleep? And was it the same hotel each night?

Yes. They have done this for many years. Lately, they've been having supply chain issues, so some ships don't have tiles in stock.

I love his paintings! I always look for them when I'm on a HAL ship. I think I have one or two tiles based on his paintings of HAL ships.

That tile is seriously "blah." But for HAL it has the advantage of being usable on every ship. No need for individual designs for each class. I think I was lucky that, although Eurodam said they had no tiles, my steward was able to find one, the "mermaid" version, not this new design. I followed the link you posted and recognized the poster with King Neptune on it. I have a tile based on that poster, from back when the tiles were recreating vintage advertising designs for the tile.

The tendering problems could also be due to decisions made by the port. When we had a stop at Bali, (Cunard, not HAL) there was a nice long pier for the tenders to use, but for some reason, they allowed only one tender at a time. The ship had plenty of tenders in the water, but there was nothing they could do about the pier restriction.

Where did your husband stay in Costa Rica? Did HAL pay for any of his accommodations? Did he have out-of-pocket expenses to claim on insurance?

I'm glad the falls are wonderful, but what a complicated situation you were in! I sure hope HAL doesn't add that bill to your account. That bird pic is great!

I guess it's official. Escanaba, MI is a new stop for AQV. I don't know how many cruises are involved, but my June Chicago-Toronto is supposed to stop in Escanaba. Cruise line adds new port in Escanaba (uppermichiganssource.com)

(bold is mine) That's what kept me going back to QE2. That feeling of being home. I haven't seen the crumb thing in ages!!!

I guess I'm middle of the road. I like the Vistas. I have from my first cruise on Zuiderdam. I've been on Westerdam and Oosterdam, too. There's something about the size and layout that appeals to me. I'm not sure what it is. Part of it is the thermal suite. That's my main indulgence on a cruise. I love Cunard's Vista, Queen Elizabeth, too. I think of the Signature ships as stretched Vistas. The layouts are similar. I've been on Eurodam once and I liked it. Tamarind was a big plus, but the ship is a bit big for me. I had an aft cabin and it was a hike to the spa or the shorex desk. Public spaces seemed to be more crowded than on the Vistas. Perhaps enlarging the Vista design added more cabins than public space. Or maybe it was that there were a lot of sea days, so the pools and bars were busy. The two smallest ships are nice, and I like the more traditional cruise entertainment. But they don't have a hydropool, and I miss that when I'm on them. I sail on them if the itinerary is worth it. I don't like the Pinnacle class ships. There's a vibe about them that's different from other HAL ships. Maybe the crew is stretched thin, maybe there are too many strangers--on smaller ships I run into people I've met earlier on the cruise, but not so much on my two K'dam cruises. There isn't that happy/friendly feel of the smaller ships. The ship can ride VERY badly at the back, slamming down on the water, depending on the direction of wind and waves. I would never get an aft on a Pinnacle again. I've never had problems like that in all my Vista and Signature afts, even in rough weather. The spa design is stupid. You enter the thermal suite through the heated lounger room. That should be a quiet space, but instead it's a thoroughfare, with people talking as they walk through. And don't get me started on the deafening music walk and the way they've downgraded Lincoln Center to odd times. The World Stage is much too small for the number of passengers. I had to get a seat 30-45 minutes before show time if I wanted to be sure of seeing the show. I found the LED screens so bright that I got a headache watching the Step One shows. The one thing on the Pinnacle class that I liked and wished the other ships could do is the double-decker midship pool and the movies at night. I won't say never again, but a Pinnacle ship would not be my first choice.

At one time it was just for Mariners, and the Maitre d' would decide if you had enough stars to be admitted--friends who were 2-star at the time were told they had to be 3-star or higher, even though they had been allowed in on a previous cruise. I think it's been open to everyone for about 10 years, but they don't advertise it.