wombatKY

We were on the K-dam for 2 weeks last fall in Europe. We had absolutely no problem with either Gala Night but we rocked up to the podium around 7:15pm each night. The only night we had any problem was the first night when we arrived at 7pm. We had to wait about 10-15 minutes for a small communal table.

Our strategy is to buy bottles for the cabin. We start with 2 and add to that, if we need to, depending on the itinerary. Then we attend the happy hours, usually a couple of times a day where you get a drink and the 2nd is $2. Maybe one day we buy a bottle of wine with dinner. We bring on our mixers at embarkation and order limes from room service or go to a bar and ask for them. We also buy Coffees and the amount is included in the figure below. With that said, our expenditure is around $70/day for the 2 of us, on average. We think the happy hours are key to the success, though, and it may or may not fit into your schedule.

Up until this month and depending on which ship you sailed, it has always been whatever you wanted to eat.

Has anyone suggested that they look at their credit card insurance, if they used one to pay for the cruise? I think they have more generous terms on cancellation.

It was awful! I confess to being a little "emotional" for a few days. We did finally get to do the unique itinerary. It was my first and last experience with booking a cruise right out of dry dock! I had always heard that those cruises were risky and had been prepared to contend with some ongoing work, but I'd never heard of one being cancelled. They had evidently planned extensive interior finishes on the ship as she sailed back to their US port but hit days of very rough weather and were unable to complete the work. They just waited too long, IMO, before informing their passengers.

Maybe this will make you feel a little better @CTOM, one year my cruise was cancelled with only 3 days notice! We were within minutes of leaving our home for a 2 day drive to the port. I was only able to find out about the cancellation by checking the boards just one more time as I waited for my husband to get home from work. Probably the only time I've ever been happy he was late as I would have been more upset to find this out sitting in a hotel room that evening. I did eventually receive official notification and I was offered compensation. The compensation was fairly particular and it didn't quite make up for the unique cruise we missed out on, nor did it cover the cost of the vacation we had to cobble together last minute which didn't come close to replacing that lost cruise. It was very upsetting but thankfully, that's the last time it's happened to me.

Good to know. I don't have a wine cellar, though. Still, I think for your average wine drinker it's too much hassle and expense of schlepping on enough wine for an extended cruise, especially for HAL's mature customers of which I am one.

Ahhhhhhh, that's more like a real vacation, isn't it?

Easier said than done. Fine if its a 7 night Caribbean cruise and maybe you drove to the port. What about the couple doing 14 plus nights sailing from a foreign port or like the OP -28 days in Hawaii, Tahiti & Marquesas? You can't bring on enough of your own stuff.

I agree that the industry is headed that way, but they can head that way without me. I don't HAVE to go on a cruise. Do I enjoy it? I did for about 40 years but, I'm beginning not to because every time I book one, they tack on another fee or take something away from my experience. Surely, most people have a line in the sand? If you don't, then you have an extra cabin available to invite one of your friends.

Sadly, we probably will, especially if it becomes fleet wide. Obviously that's not the only reason, but it's the cumulative effect and I'm sure there are more passenger unfriendly changes coming. That particular fee makes me pay for something that is supposedly in place to limit waste, but we don't waste food. It penalizes my husband and I because he orders 2 mains but doesn't eat a soup, a salad or a dessert. I mainly eat just the entree and occasionally a dessert. So, we are being asked to financially supplement the couple next to us that ate 2 four course meals or the person that orders heaps of food and doesn't eat it. How is that equitable? If the fee isn't to limit waste, then it should be just an additional fee to eat, period. Just charge people like they do when you eat in the alternative dining venues. Which, by the way, will be here before you know it, especially if you don't push back when they try to implement things you don't agree with. Please leave off the business discussion when you reply. There are plenty of those closing their doors because they refused to make their decisions palatable to their customers. The customer used to be King, but sadly most have forgotten that. We had just returned to HAL in 2018 after deciding to try them again since they no longer allowed smoking on the balconies. We did 2 14 night cruises last year and purchased 4 FCD but I'm finding it hard to find cruises and ships I want to sail for various reasons. Cruising is changing but it's not for the better, in my opinion.

Removing the $10 from HSC only penalizes the staff who have no control over the situation and have been put in the crosshairs. I would never advocate that. An email and/or comments on Twitter and Instagram will be effective.

It really isn't and I would never do that, but isn't it a shame that the powers that be don't take that into consideration?

Not a problem for me, but I can see I touched your HAL nerve.

Well, I'll complain about them....I don't eat there either, EVER! Well, let me tell you our scenario. My husband doesn't waste his time on an appetizer or a salad, he's a meat man. So he's going to order 2 of them. He doesn't do dessert, either. So, now are you calling that excessive and poor manners? Please tell me now, because I can't tell if your last name is Post. If so, let Emily speak. There are lots of things I can't stand in restaurants and the people that eat in them, but I'm not going to be telling anyone what they can or can't order. I've seen a huge amount of waste, but most of it is in the Lido and if you really want to see waste, see what parents and their kids waste on Disney Cruise Line. My pet peeve is people who don't chew with their mouth closed. Hey, HAL, how about a fee for that? The charge for an additional entree is asinine. If people are ordering food that they don't eat, then have the head waiter come to their table and inform them that if they do that again, that there will be an additional charge. So, my husband and I don't waste food and if HAL wants to charge us as though we do, we will look into other cruise lines or we will do our vacations on land on our own terms.