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Caribbean Chris

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  1. We sailed in a Lanai once, and my recollection is there would NOT be space for big ol’ outside lounge cushions to be kept inside the cabin unless you slept on top of them. Lanais are cool, but much tighter on space than other outsides on the lower prom deck. We had Coleman folding chairs in our RV van days, and they DO fold down fairly slim to be stowed. OP’s idea has possibilities. But I’d end up bringing an inflatable cube to prop my feet on, a cooler for beverages maybe? and then things would start getting out of hand…
  2. Good tips! We (Big Black Dog People) are also in Club Orange (not that it helps for lunch on embarkation day) so we’ll catch up sooner or later … must join in the Painkiller research.
  3. I agree, the problem results when something is taken away. And then another something…and then something else, even small things. Those hot hors d’oeuvres with drinks were nice. Reading these posts I’ve been remembering when I worked in the cruise industry (late 1970s & 1980s) as a sales/marketing rep. Most cruise lines did not have thousands of people to board within a few hours - the ships were smaller. So for crowd control purposes, no one needed to get on early enough to have main dining room lunch on embarkation days (except back-to-back passengers in transit). And there was no such thing as Lido-type restaurants on many ships either. Buffets were set up on a daily basis on sea days, often outside by the pool and the MDR served three meals daily. The line would selectively invite a handful of people for MDR lunch on embarkation day. Always local port officials and their families, always public health inspectors in Florida. Often the sales staff hosted small groups of travel agents invited for ship tours. The rest of the passengers boarded in early afternoon. They could snack on hors d’oeuvres ordered for their in-cabin bon voyage parties for their own local guest visitors. So MDR lunch was historically kind of special and it was quite nice to have it as a Mariner perk in recent decades. We once met people who became shipboard pals and ended up planning another HAL cruise with them.
  4. I think it’s 7 am on port days, 7:30 am on sea days for Neptune Lounge.
  5. MaryBethV, I want to thank you for the Aruba countryside tour review. Now I know I need to bring some sturdy walking shoes since we have also booked that tour. Your trip review gets an A+ for so much great, up-to-date Rotterdam info, and for such wonderful photos. I’m hungry every time I put down my ipad. Really looking forward to boarding on March 29!
  6. The concierge lounge isn’t open at 5 a.m. Earliest, IIRC, is 7 a.m. on port days. Except for the issue of not wanting to awaken the spouse, a Neptune Suite cruiser can make coffee with their own private Nespresso machine.
  7. A plan is afoot! Look for the people with large black dog.
  8. Great idea - I’ll be interested in the research results. We lived on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands for years and just about any bar there and, obviously, any bar in the BVIs, serves up an excellent Painkiller. Friends always brought along a jug of Painkillers for a day on the sailboat using the Pusser’s recipe - except in our neck of the woods, dark Cruzan Rum was always substituted for the Pusser’s.
  9. On Zaandam in September (10 days New England & Canada), we also received a card stating they were out of tiles and suggesting we present the card on our next cruise to receive them. No Mariner lunch event on that cruise, either, other than a glass of champagne with a few senior officers the first day.
  10. Some of the HAL historic photos show a lot of young men dressed in that traditional costume, which (possibly? - just idle speculation) originated with “bellboy” garb in Asia’s luxury hotels such as the Hong Kong Peninsula in about the 1930s.
  11. Thanks for posting about the Crow’s Nest being available to all. A forward lounge view has always been a happy place for me. I did not realize it was not open to all on the NCL & Princess ships you experienced.
  12. The HAL check-in staff at FLL Port Everglades usually seems very efficient and experienced. I guess lots of practice makes perfect.
  13. Just think of it as a marketing tool that varies, as does the price of the cruise. You just have to do the math. Almost always, if I’ve booked early, I still end up with a lower net price even if I’m paying for the Crew Appreciation.
  14. I think it’s a good approach to do what you did - to state specifically what you would like to see happen for the issue to be resolved to your satisfaction.
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