KAKcruiser

Maybe HAL will find out that many people booked with them because of the Catholic Priest being available. Now they might not have a reason to stick with them and can book with those other cruise lines.

The point was that they had a confirmed reservation and it was taken away from them. Nobody liked the way it was handled.

I called the reservations accounting and billing department at the phone number provided. I had to call a couple of times to make them understand the problem but I eventually received a check for the erroneous amount.

Are you sure this is true? I thought you had to actually book the lowest price cabin to get that price.

You could book the lowest category SZ and then get upgraded to the best available SS.

I hope you are successful but if nothing works, try to make the best of it and have a great cruise. But when you get back, I would send a letter and demand to be compensated for at least the upcharge on the cabin.

Maybe like someone suggested, ask to speak to the Hotel Manager once you get onboard. Maybe he can still get you into CO.

How can you trust them with anything when they do things like this? If CO was oversold, maybe they should still have accommodated them. How much difficulty would it be to have a few extra people? And, if they were charged for the upgraded cabin, that would be just unbelievable. I agree that this should be straightened out with corporate before the cruise.

The Apostolate of the Seas which supplies the Priests says that they were very surprised by this announcement and that they had enough Priests to supply the HAL ships. So, that is not the reason the policy was changed.

Has anyone heard about HAL changing the policy on Catholic Priests onboard? Apparently they will discontinue having Priests on shorter cruises including the Caribbean, Alaska, Canada and Europe. Only longer cruises will have Priests. Why do you think they changed such a long established policy? It can't be a cost factor since they only supply a cabin. The Priest pays his own transportation and expenses.

Having a Catholic Priest onboard is the main reason we started sailing with HAL over 25 years ago. Attending Sunday Mass is a requirement for practicing Catholics.

I can't believe they would change their policy. How much could it cost to provide a cabin for the Priest?

TU stood for Tuxedo. And, yes, I remember 2 party lines. You would pick up your phone and if you heard talking, you hung up and tried again later.

I remember two letters and one digit and then four more digits like tu4-8123.

I had the contents of the minibar removed upon arrival and still had a charge added to my account after the final statement. It took me three phone calls to get it removed.

I think you may have to cancel with your PCC. Or, if you made the reservations less than 60 days ago, you can transfer them to the travel agent.

1983 on the NCL Norway. I agree with the posters who said this was a fantastic ship. It had so many traditions like fixed seating three times a day and had the Great Outdoor Restaurant. The entertainment was great. They actually had broadway type productions. My first HAL cruise was 1999 on the Veendam.

Maybe it is a choice between the Pinnacle "dining room" or delivery to your cabin. Once you make the reservation and then go back to edit, the only other option is "delivery to the cabin" and that it what you are seeing. I would assume that you have the reservation in the Pinnacle Grill but agree that you should visit the reservations podium when you get onboard to confirm.

This doesn't make any sense and it sounds as if the person you were talking to is confused. You should call ships services tomorrow and talk to someone else.

Did they offer her an upgrade?

Did you take the upgrade?

57 redbird - Have you tried applying for the health and medical personnel offer? I'm not sure if it's good for retired personnel but you could try.

Ottahand7 - Restasis is now available in generic form and is much less expensive than the brand.

The Standby rate of $79 for a verandah cabin is now showing on the HAL website.

I wonder if this was a planned change of itinerary and the passengers were not made aware until the last minute. It reminds me of all the changes in the Caribbean. Key West is listed as a port on many sailings and then at the last minute, it is changed to a different port. This is also true of Bonaire. I realize that these islands are limiting cruise ships and that's the reason for the cancellations. But, I'm sure the cruise lines know this well in advance. They just don't want to lose any business over the changes.