Larry613

We had two fully-paid balcony cabins on the Royal which was scheduled to cruise on April 18. We left everything in place with no inquiries until Princess cancelled in either the first or second round of blanket cancellations. One cabin was for myself and DW, the other for our daughter and her husband. Due to our age and the fact that we both have chronic health issues, we decided to ask for the cash refund along with the modest FCC offered for our cabin. We encouraged our daughter to opt for the generous FCC and no cash. We hadn't even bothered to check the credit card account until yesterday because it appeared that very few, if any, cash refunds were being made. Much to our surprise, the full amount, including port fees etc, had been credited a few days earlier. No sign of the FCC's yet, and I expected we would also receive cash back for the prepaid gratuities we had made on the second cabin, but that amount was not included. Still, we are very happy to have received the principal amount back, and we have some renewed faith that eventually be made "whole." Hopefully, others will be reporting similar surpises soon. We made no attempts to contact either Princess or our credit card company during the wait.

Since the airlines (particularly the legacy airlines) and the TSA combined to make flying such a disagreeable experience out of what had once been the most elegant way to travel, I've taken only two flights in the last 15 years. These were a short flight on Qantas from Auckland to Sydney, followed by a Hawaiian airlines flight from Sydney to San Diego with a stop in Honolulu. We could have eliminated the Qantas flight, but that would have required a stop at either LAX or SFO which I would absolutely avoid.

We live in Tucson, AZ, and find that we have plenty of options within driving distance. In addition to San Diego and Los Angeles, we've also managed Houston (during it's brief time as a cruise port), staying overnight in El Paso, and again in San Antonio (which was very enjoyable) while en route.

DW has also taken a Med cruise with our daughter because I wouldn't fly to the east coast to embark. Greeting them when they got back to Tucson in Zombie-like condition solidified  my decision to drive or stay home!

Thanks to all those who replied to this query! I thought you had to wait until you were actually onboard to arrange a date and time but Belle says this can be done online...I couldn't find a place to do this on the Princess website; the only dining reservations that I could find just referenced the Crown Grill or Portofinos. We are taking the 15-day round trip from LA on the Star embarking March 19,2018

Is Ultimate Balcony Dining available on all Princess Ships? DW and I are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary with a cruise to Hawaii onboard Star Princess next March.

Ok, this is NOT a complaint, but I'm confused as to what my HSC will be on the cruise I'm scheduling on the Maasdam in October. On the one hand I have a veranda stateroom so the new rate should be $13.50/day/person; on the other hand, it's called a Vista Suite (Category A), so the new rate would be $15/person/day. Which is correct?

Glad you corrected your post as the Noordam and Maasdam are two different classes of ship.

 

You may well experience some noise from above in that location.

 

Shrimpboat123 provided comments and pics on 206 which you may find helpful. Just google 206 - Maasdam (HAL Cruiser Information). It is right next door to your cabin.

 

You may experience some noise and vibration entering and leaving port as well. From the comments I saw I would say that the savings was worth it for them ;)

My thanks to Kazu for pointing me to Shrimpboat123's post and to the latter for the information and pics. People on the HAL board are very helpful, and that is very much appreciated.:)

I would like to make a correction to my post #1673; the trip we are contemplating from San Diego to Sydney would be aboard the Maasdam, not the Noordam.

We took our first HAL cruise to Mexican Riviera onboard Westerdam on Dec 3-Dec. 10, and we enjoyed it very much. We are considering taking the San Diego to Sydney cruise this coming September, but are having problems deciding on a cabin location aboard the Noordam. We would really prefer to save about $1200 by taking an aft cabin rather than a mid-ship cabin, but are concerned about how noisy these aft cabins are. Would appreciate any comments, particularly if anyone has experienced cabin 204 on Deck 9 (veranda).

At least the rabbit is wearing pants!

It's the safe that uses the 4 digit code on the Westerdam.

Thanks to Kazu for providing this information. I usually bring a couple of old casino slot club cards for those safes which require a magnetic strip; won't have to bother with that for our Westerdam cruise.

DW and I have booked our first HAL cruise on the Westerdam after several cruises on both Princes and Royal Caribbean (and a few on Carnival). Most of our cabins have had safes which operated digitally with a four-digit code for opening and closing; a few have had safes which required a card with a magnetic strip to open and close the safe. Can anyone advise which type of safe is used on the Westerdam? I've really found this thread very helpful in learning some of the policies on HAL. Thanks to all those experienced HAL cruisers who contribute!

I also wondered if using taxis instead of a shuttle was the norm or not. I was told that they have gone to using taxis on a permanent basis.

We stayed with a "Park and Cruise" at the Best Western Golden Sails on June 3, and I thought I'd share my pluses and minuses with anyone interested.

The motel itself is about average, not as nice as the Maya which we'd stayed at previously, but it was clean and comfortable. It is considerably further from the Cruise Terminal at Long Beach...about 8-9 miles which amounts to about a 30 minute cab ride. However, there are several pluses which make Golden Sails an attractive alternative for anyone driving to LA and needing a place to park free for a cruise of up to seven nights. The area itself is quite nice with many restaurants and bars within a 2-3 mile radius of the motel, and there is a restaurant and bar on the property for those who don't want to venture out after a long day of driving. We got rooms for $147 (plus tax which brought the total to the area of $163) which is less expensive than the Maya even if they are accepting the Carnival discount code. However, the biggest plus to Golden Sails, in my opinion, is that instead of using a hotel shuttle to get you to and from the Cruise Terminal, they use Long Beach Yellow Cabs for this service. They arrange to have several cabs (including mini-vans which we needed for our party of four) on the morning of embarkation. The HUGE advantage, in my opinion, is getting back to your car after the cruise. Instead of calling for a shuttle (which is generally a waste of time anyway) and then standing in along a curb and hoping the shuttle stops somewhere near where you are standing so others who came after you don't get to load their luggage first since shuttle drivers have no idea which people have actually called for pickup, you just take your luggage to the cab line and load up. You give the cab driver a voucher provided by Golden Sails and he goes to the desk for payment for the return trip. I thought this was considerably less frustrating than the usual shuttle procedure...debarkation day is usually stressful enough without going through the shuttle hassle. Personally, I will use Golden Sails for any future cruises out of Long Beach.

Thanks for the info, Ine!

Can anyone advise if Las Caletas has a dock or does one have to wade ashore?

I have read the FAQ on Carnival's website regarding bringing wine onboard at embarkation. I understand that adults 21 and older can bring one 750ml bottle onboard at embarkation without paying a corkage fee if the wine is not consumed in the dining room. However, it's not clear to me if there is any limit on the number of 750ml bottles that can be brought onboard at embarkation if I'm willing to pay the $15/bottle corkage fee in order to have the wines I prefer at dinner, e.g., could I bring 12 750ml bottles onboard and pay $150 in corkage fees (assuming two bottle would be "free" for my wife and myself)?

This was the most comprehensive ship review I've ever read, and it was very much appreciated. We will be travelling on the Miracle in June with our daughter and her boyfriend; the latter has never taken a cruise before, and pointing out the "warts" as well as the highlights will certainly help to avoid disappointments.

We have usually sailed out of San Pedro, but will be leaving from Long Beach on Carnival on June 4, 2016.

If anyone has used the Park and Cruise package from the Best Western Golden Sails could you comment on any of the following?

I understand from other posts that there are a lot of "sketch" areas in Long Beach...is the Golden Sails located in a "good" area?

It looks like it's about 7-8 miles from the Carnival Cruise port...how reliable has their shuttle service been?

Are the rooms OK? We don't need anything elaborate for the one night, just looking for clean and comfortable.

We will be occupying two rooms and leaving two cars for 8 nights - June 3 and returning June 11.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I suspect the reason they no longer offer tournament play is because they can't make enough money off that format. They now offer only ring games with "automatic" dealing. On the Crown Princess 28-day cruise which ended on Nov. 15, the only game offered was a $1-$3 no-limit with a 15% rake up to a total of $55/hand. No rake was taken on hands with less than three players. Although I enjoy Texas Hold 'Em, this rake struck me as excessive, so I didn't play.

We had no problem with the food...thought it was better than usual! It was a shock to get disembarkation instructions that assigned us to a walk-off group...we had wondered why there was no query the day before as was customary for travel plans after disembarkation. Like many others we failed to read the entire list of instructions which told passengers needing assistance to go to an area next to passenger services to secure luggage tags...this made for long lines at passenger services only to be told to go to the other line.

The wait for elevators on disembarkation did seem much longer than usual. This was probably due to the large number of passengers who were walking off with larger luggage pieces.

Could be the same cruise...28 days RT Los Angeles visiting Hawaii, Samoa, FPolynesia in Oct-Nov 2013 with Billy Hygate as CD. No dancing, no bar service at all late nite in Skywalkers.