AvalonLady

So sorry for the passengers and crew ! Having just spent a week on this ship, it is sad to hear that she is "injured". Any word on what caused the Azipod to fail ?

49 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

If the ship struck a whale, no one would have heard or felt anything.  Whales weigh nothing compared to a ship.

 

 

I am so glad to know this ! I hated the idea of a whale being hurt by the ship.

During the "Ask the Captain" session on board last week, someone asked him if he had ever had any significant problems while being in charge of a ship. He said he had not, in the 7 years he'd been a captain. Talk about timing !

So sorry to hear about this big delay in departure. The "incident" that caused the damage was on Friday afternoon, upon departure from Half Moon Cay. Two tugboats had to guide the ship to the dock in FLL. I guess we were lucky that the ship could navigate that far, or we might still be sitting at sea ! 
I wonder what the cruise director will do to entertain them today. Frankly there's only two comedians and six dancers on board for the main stage shows; for a seven day cruise, HAL does not give you much "bang for the buck" when it comes to shows. This was our first HAL cruise, and from now on we are sticking with Princess and RCI. The service was great, however.

We just got off the ship this morning; it was only a few minutes late coming in, but rumor is that the ship hit a whale yesterday ! There was definitely a loud noise on board. I hope it was some other technical issue and not a whale.  I also hope this next sailing has better luck with the Grand Turk stop than we did - the captain had to skip the port because of high winds, so we had an extra day at sea instead.

Thanks so much for the advice ! I do think it's a bit deceptive for the brochure to say that the taxes and fees could be "UP TO $143.18" which makes it sound like that is the most they could be, then turn around and charge $170 MORE than that. My agent said that the 143 didn't include the port charges, but in the brochure it clearly says "port expenses" as part of the supposed maximum fee of $143.18.

We booked a cruise for next year on Holland America through our travel agent. In the brochure, the info on pricing says "Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses of up to $143 are additional and subject to change." Imagine my surprise when, after booking, the "taxes and surcharges" fee showed up as $313.18, more than double what is mentioned in the brochure, and nearly half the cost of the cruise itself ! My agent says that the brochure "doesn't include the port charges" but this doesn't sound right to me. Of course I can't ask Holland America directly because they refuse to talk pricing with a passenger if it is booked through a travel agent. The $313.18 is per person, by the way, for me and my husband, so instead of the total fees per cabin of $286.36, as the brochure claims, we will be paying a total of $626.36 !

Has anyone else encountered this HUGE difference in what the brochure says and what you are actually charged for these taxes and fees ?

Our last cruise (Jan 2015) was on the Celebrity Equinox, our first (and probably last) cruise on X. While it is supposed to be "upscale", I was surprised that we had to get our own drinks at the buffet, as if we were in a fast food restaurant.

My main complaint about the Equinox is its ugly artwork - I know this seems minor, but the main "art" in our cabin was an awful photo of what seemed to be a closeup of electrical wiring. Opposite the elevator on our deck was a drawing of a man climbing out of a sewer. Why did anyone think this was appropriate for cruise ship decor ?!? Almost all the decor on the ship was "modern" and, for the most part, ugly.

Plus, the main deck for shopping and dining had the casino stuck right in the middle of it - NOT "upscale" at all, in my mind.

We are cruising on Princess for the first time soon, so I am hoping it is an improvement over Celebrity in these categories !

We are cruising on RCI's Independence of the Seas on January 18th. Using the website themecruisefinder.com I found out that there will be a singles group on board. The website does not give sizes of the groups, but you can search by ship and sailing or by various themes.

Has anyone sailed with a singles group ? I'm hoping they are not too rowdy !

I agree with the majority here, if a group will impact public areas being available to everyone and/or seating options, then the cruise line should let potential passengers know this.