TiogaCruiser

I too would recommend asking your TA or HAL for the best way to do this. Perhaps move one of the guys first ( trade) then cancel you ladies. Whose name are the reservations under? HAL platinum doesn’t cover the increase in fare for a single. So it will be interesting to see what the best way is/ what they are willing to offer

They have AEDs

While I can’t say for sure, there was one very prominent member here with many, many cruises under his/her belt that made several comments (some 10+ years ago) that made it sound like they had “earned” it yet were not invited. This was before the PC was as widely known and before the star system.

June 15th? Is it with Inspiration Cruises on Kingkongdam? The website says the group is sold out. https://www.inspirationtravel.com/event/pathway-to-victory-alaska-2024 You might want to be proactive and get assigned dining if that will matter to you.

I think the reason for few recent threads is Pause shut down so much, and summer is coming now, so group cruises are picking up. The last time I remember regular threads about big groups was before Covid. The cruise I referenced that my friends went on was (I believe) July 2018. It was the previous season that someone posted about a very large group booking over half the ship and getting dining together, so they could have a speaker, and the showroom reserved for their productions. Non-attendees got to dine elsewhere and one show. Way back in 2013 I was on Veendam to Antarctica and a large (~300) LDS travel group had booked with their own speakers. They did have the Showroom booked privately a couple times a day, but I saw no impact with that. We still had the full complement of Antarctica programs. (The only impact on me was their speaker was given leadership of the “interdenominational service” on Sunday, so I attended mass with my catholic Christian brothers and sisters.)

Turning Point has a radio ministry (Dr. David Jeremiah) also. I mentioned this to my husband last night and he said he heard the ads that said they were close to their 900 reservations being booked. Inspiration Cruises is the travel agency that books for many of the large Christian groups. Several years ago my friends booked an Alaska cruise tour (4 days on ship) on NA at the same time IC was doing Insight for Living onboard. I warned my friends (because there was a thread at the time about the disruptions caused by large groups.) On returning they said they had never been impacted or were aware that the group was there…..🤔 (which I found hard to believe- I suspect they stayed in their balcony most of the time- because they reported the ship only went to 1 glacier at GB (?!?) and one of them who likes to explore and draw couldn’t find her way back to the promenade deck 🫤.) snip “They will talk only to each other and stare straight ahead if they pass anyone who is not part of their group. ” I would hope not.

Snip “? Or maybe the group is so large and they all want to eat at 8PM, that it totally fills the upper dining room so they are going to use part of the lower dining room for the group as fixed time seating?” Thats the way I read it

Isn’t this Volendam leaving the locks?

It looks like your current cruise DID get sold as 3rd and 4th sail free.

It looks like your Volendam cruise is not on that special. Is this it?

Just recently HAL began offering many cruises with this “special”. Kingkongdam had many- also lots of Alaskas. So it’s likely/possible yours was one of them. Having purchased so long ago there wouldn’t be a reason to see the recent ads.

Is your cruise on of the many that were sold as “free 3rd and 4th guests sail free”?

👍

Personally I’m a dog person to the core, but I would fully support a Federals law requiring Service Dogs to be officially certified. That should make it harder for cheaters. Unlike many on this thread, and for the person several pages back who voiced concerns that HAL is known for lots of dogs, I’ve never seen any dogs on the sailings I’ve been on. So I really wonder just how common they are. I do occasionally take my pooch to public places that allow pets, for socialization. We have several businesses, such as Home Depot and some restaurants where pets are welcome. I would never try to pass him off as a service dog. (However, HE does demand service, and acts like we’re his butler and/or valet.)

Do you need to sign out first before making a new account?

Interesting, as we have our own accounts and both use a common email. I don’t allow the browser to save log in information.

There’s also the option of visiting the Lido for another dessert- the selection there is larger than the MDR.

Thanks! 😊 (No need for me to look into them then. I won’t even consider the Kingkongdam for the same reason.)

I’ve bought internet on my account and registered us for the cruise under my husband’s. I had to keep logging in and out of both accounts to use internet and to check our spending.

So tell me about their promenade deck. Is there one? Does it have loungers? I’m looking for something that has classical music in the evenings AND a proper promenade deck. No more than 2000 passengers.

Snip. “reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications,” Anyone able to shed light on that one?

What a nice room. I’d love to curl up with a book there. And maybe a glass of wine.

“. Also forums/places where they can slightly control the feed as well as see exactly who is interacting in order for them to get a better sense of demographics. (Its all about metadata at times).” Like the HAL Private Forum that they started a year or 2 ago. They sort of mimic CC (and have several members in common), but without the guidelines (so smoking is embedded in many discussions), and disappointingly almost NO interaction from HAL. I no longer participate. And yes, HAL has supreme control as they send the invitations.

@RuthC Well said.

Wow. Apparently she really didn’t think it through, having had foreknowledge about it. “We slept in when the ship docked in Juneau. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast with a totally new view of our hometown, 12 stories above the water. Our friends on Douglas Island texted us a photo of our ship and said they were waving to us from their balcony. And then we walked off the ship to head home. “Why do you want to end your trip early?” the guest services manager asked me when I told her we were disembarking. “Because I live here!” I said proudly. “My kid’s first day of first grade is tomorrow and my husband is parked outside waiting to pick us up. " She asked me this before she told me that the minute we got off the ship, I would be fined $941 per person (there is no child price) for violating the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, or PVSA. The PVSA says simply that a foreign-flagged ship cannot transport people between two U.S. ports. That privilege is reserved for “U.S.- built, owned, and documented vessels.” Its original purpose was to protect the American ship-building and shipping industries. It’s why we have Alaska-built ferries that take people between Alaska ports, abiding by U.S. labor and safety laws. Even though many of the cruise lines are based in the U.S., the ships sail under “flags of convenience” – they’re registered in other countries so they can operate under the laxest labor laws and most advantageous tax schemes they can find. The way they get around the PVSA is by stopping in Canada. I was stunned. Because I know about the PVSA. I helped report on the ins and outs of the law during the pandemic when Alaska’s delegation spurred Congress to waive the requirement that cruise ships stop in Canada when Canada’s ports were closed to keep the virus out. I just didn’t know it applied to me. And technically, it doesn’t apply to me. The cruise line actually violated the PVSA by transporting me and my son from Seward to Juneau on a foreign-flagged ship. But it decided to pass the fine onto me by instantly charging the credit card I had on file. We were escorted off the ship by a port agent, who shook his head at the sight of us. ”The self-inflicted wounds hurt the most, don’t they?” he said. “Tell your husband he can pick you up at the Customs and Border Control office in about 30 minutes.” I felt like a criminal. We jumped ship and were now in a category with stowaways. ”