Sun&Sand52

Just wondering if OBC from HAL can be refunded to you at the end of the cruise if you do not use it? Otherwise I guess I’ll need to find ways to spend it all on board 😉

35 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

"No cooking, cleaning nor laundry!!"

I'll 2nd the above statement!  For me it is the ability to not have to make any decisions.  A menu is in my hand every night and I don't have to think about what restaurant to go to, as one would have to do in a new city on vacation. It is my DH and my time to relax and decompress.  Not have to worry about anything other than relaxing and enjoying our time together with no stresses. No decisions about what shows or plays to see, as they are here on the ship for your to do if you want to or not. As opposed to a land vacation where you have to decide where and what to do and see.  So for me it is all about R&R.  😁

12 minutes ago, Himself said:

I have belonged to Club Orange on the Nieuw Statendam.  The evening Dress Code is the same as in the Main Dining Room.

Just curious...... What were your impressions of Club Orange on your sailing on the NS? If you were not in a suite and had to pay the uncharge for this restaurant, do you think it is worth the money?

Thanks Gigi, that’s what I thought, that it was the same, just wanted to make sure.  On Celebrity, the specialty restaurants are more casual than the MDR, from what I remember.  So I was wondering if CO was like that. More casual than MDR.

From the photos I have seen, those chairs do look like back killers! Why in the world would they put those wooden barrel like chairs in CO is a mystery.  A nice upholstered chair would have been better for all the aching backs that are on the ship! JMHO 😊

Booking a sailing on the Nieuw Statendam and was **thinking** about trying Club Orange as it will be a more relaxed dining experience and less formal than the MDR.  I thought the specialty dining rooms (Tamarind & Canneletto, not sure about PG) were more casual dress than the MDR and am assuming that Club Orange follows that rule. But not sure.  Hope someone here might know the answer.

2 hours ago, dobiemom said:

 

I was on the Eurodam last month. I requested an eggcrate/topper and received one immediately. 

Wonder why on Eurodam but not on the NA.... Wish they had had that on the NA in October.  Would have made sleeping a lot more comfortable!

4 hours ago, Sominex said:

I asked if anyone requested one; I meant from the ship.  Have done this in the past but that was 8 years ago and they immediately brought me one at no charge.  I would never cart one along with me.

 

Yes, I requested one and was denied.  October 2019 sailing on the NA.  Was told that that they did not provide those anymore. Requested one from our cabin steward and also from his supervisor. All stated that none were available on the ship.  YMMV.

I was on the NA this past October and our bed was terribly hard.  We requested an egg crate or anything to make it softer, but alas we were told they do not have anything to put on the bed.  The previous year we were on the NA and had a great bed, no complaints.  Different cabin that time.  So.... not sure, but maybe it was our particular cabin that had a hard bed, as most people say the bedding is very comfortable.  We were in cabin 4168.  Very noisy cabin also. Would not recommend that cabin to anyone.

I posted this on another thread, but I will comment here and say that our bed on the NA was very firm.  So much so, that we complained to our cabin steward and he was not able to bring us a foam topper of any kind.  We were told that the ship did not have any.  Not sure why no toppers available, but that is what we were told.  
 

Cabin steward put an extra duvet underneath the bottom sheet to try to soften up the bed, but unfortunately it did not help and we had 7 nights of restless sleep.  Just off the ship, as this was on a recent sailing in October.  Hopefully your experience will be different.  Most people say the beds are great, and on a previous NA sailing in a different cabin we slept great.  No idea why this time it was a totally different experience.🤔

On 10/29/2019 at 11:28 AM, Sharon Almond said:

I had heard on past posts that you had to be a mariner to dine at the MDR for lunch on embarkation day. I am not a mariner, but would much prefer this to the buffet on the first day. Especially as the other half uses a wheelchair - any further advice re lunch time on embaraktion day?

Just off the NA recently (Oct 26 sailing) and we did enjoy a nice embarkation lunch in the MDR.  (Thanks to the knowledge people on this board!!)  However, upon entering the MDR the host did ask me if I was a Mariner.  I guess it must vary by ship?  

WOW, I must have had the one bed on a HAL ship that was HORRIBLE!!!  

Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam on this past Saturday and we had the worst queen size bed of any cruise we have ever taken.  After the first night of sleep on that thing, we contacted our stateroom attendant and asked for a foam topper or even an egg crate foam piece.  He said they did not have any!!!  We were absolutely shocked.  He said he could only put an extra duvet underneath the bottom sheet to try and "soften" up the bed.  Which he did do, but it did absolutely nothing to make it any better.  I think his supervisor (he had a black vest on) came into our cabin and told us that he would get us a mattress topper.  But later that day we asked our cabin steward again about it and he said no.  There was NOTHING they could put on the mattress.....

So, 7 nights of back pain.  Not a happy camper.  You may want to bring something with you just in case your situation is what happened to us.  It made for a lot of restless nights.  Not happy.

Thanks!  That is great news!!  I will check my email again, as maybe I missed something from HAL.

Just off the NA on Saturday.  Enjoyed our cruise so we purchased a FCC so we would have some OBC for the next cruise.  I remember hearing somewhere that if you book your next cruise within 60 days of your last one you get double onboard credit.  Is this true?  I have not received any information from HAL about this. Thanks in advance for any advice!

11 hours ago, saturn93 said:

I was on the NA the last two weeks, leaving last Saturday.  The one that you could not think of the name is Derrick Cameron, who was really good (he was also on during my first week on board, so I saw him there).  He also spent a lot of time with the passengers in the Gallery Bar watching whatever game was on (NFL/World Series), and having conversations with them.  As for Frances, she was OK, maybe pushing the envelope a bit.  Didn't bother seeing the split show the second week, since I saw Cameron's split show with Joseph Reohm (magician illusionist), and I had to finish my soda card and get to bed as soon as possible.

 

I have seen most of the other comedians mentioned, and were very funny as well.

Thanks! Yes, that's it!  Derrick Cameron! I could not remember his last name.  We did think he was very funny and could relate to most of his jokes as we are of the same generation he was joking about.  So funny! Love the joke about who remembers 24 or 36 exposures on a camera and having to pick and choose your shots.  Yeah, I do!  It was expensive to buy and process film! 

Responding back to my own question last month about the Hummer shore excursion on Grand Turk - just in case anyone is thinking of taking this excursion.  
 

I did take this excursion through HAL and it was actually good.  The “Hummer” cars were adorable and were well maintained.  No issues at all with the cars and they were quite fast.  The guide we had was excellent and made the experience really nice.   There were about 10 or 11 hummer cars that all drove in a convoy with a guide in the front and one at the back.  We drove on the LEFT side of the road.  Very interesting facts about the island and lots of history was told to our group.  There is not that much to really see in Grand Turk as it is a very small island, only 7 miles long by 1 mile wide.  And a very poor island that relies on only tourism for its economy.  But DH and I were glad we took the tour as it showed us the island.  Highlights were a “downtown” area which really was not much to see but some old buildings and many were empty.  It had an area with some local vendors who were selling items.  And a nice beach lookout.  Some other areas seen were Salt Ponds, local magistrate offices and John Glenn replica space capsules.  My only complaint is the price that HAL charges for this excursion which was $100 each person.  It was not worth the price per person.  Should be half that cost, but that is what the cruise line charges and we knew this ahead of time and did the tour anyway.  If you don’t mind spending the $$ then it is worth the cost as it was a fun way to see the island.  

Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam Saturday morning.  I did see her very first show and thought it was somewhat funny at times.  It was mostly flat and I agree she did a lot of poking fun at the main demographic of HAL.  Had never heard of her prior to our seeing her on NAM, but apparently (according to her) she is big on You Tube - for whatever that may be worth.  The only funny thing she did was her bit at the very end about the “boobs”.  It was a sight gag that she did at the very end of her show, which was funny.  And as stated above, humor is very subjective.  We did not find her entertaining enough to see her at the last show of the week when she appeared with the other comedian who I think is named Derrick (cannot remember his last name).  I did find him very funny and saw his first show earlirier in the week and did enjoy his comedy.  DH and I did a lot of laughing as we related to much that he said - being of a certain age as we are!  😆.  But Francis’ style of humor was not very good and was more mean spirited- which that part we do not enjoy.  
 

With all this being said, entertainment is all so subjective.  For example, we did not like the dancer show AT ALL and walked out of the show.  We found it terrible.  Many people do like that show.  And I am probably one of the few people on board who do not like the Billboard OnBoard piano players.  I think they are terrible.  It is just not my cup of tea.  But it is many others, because they always play to a large audience.  So all this is very subjective as to each their own.

I do really wish they would bring back the large production shows as some of those were great.  Some not so much.  I guess it is much cheaper for the cruise lines to book these comedians than do the production shows.  So it always just comes down to money.

BTW, there was an O (Oprah) reading thing one day.  Did not go, but I believe it is tied to the Oprah Book Club. And there was an early morning 7:00am Oprah Meditation session one day of the cruise. There were Maj Jong meet ups twice I believe too.  I did not keep the daily schedules, threw them away after that day.  Sooooo much paper comes into the cabin every day, it is hard to keep things straight!  
 

Tell your parents to down load The Navigator App as you can use your smartphone to see what is going on board without having to carry the paper copy with you all the time.  Very convenient that way!

Just off the NAM this morning for a great week.  On my cruise there was a very funny comedian named Darrick ( last name cannot remember). He did an early and late show one night.  Then a fairly funny woman comedian another night where she also had an early and late show.  Then the last night of sailing they had both of the comedians do one show at 9:00pm.  Missed that one, so don’t have any comment on it.  There were no big theater production shows, and we miss those.  There were 2 dancer shows, which were not my cup of tea.  I found them a bit disappointing / amateurish so I did not go to their second show that week.  The BB King band is very good and enjoyable.  Billboard is very popular and a lot of people enjoy that with the 2 piano players singing popular songs.  There was a show called “Into the deep” I believe that was shown in the Main theatre, but I missed that show.  I believe it is a film.  They did show 2 movies on two nights in the main theater which were not that great.  I think one was a Recent Spider-Man movie, but we found it boring and left after 20 minutes.  Plus the video quality on the screen was not the best, not sure why... The captain did a great one time question and answer session in the main theater.  Called “Ask the Captain”, which was very interesting. If I can remember anything else, I will post it.  If you have any questions let me know.  I’m sure they will enjoy their cruise!

Thanks for all the great suggestions!  What would we do without the CC forums! 👍

Didn’t know the Dive-In was open on embarkation day.  Great to know there is another option than Lido and MDR.

BTW, which level of the MDR is open on embarkation day? Will be on the Neiuw Amsterdam and I think there are 2 levels of the dining room. Hoping it will be open so we can have a leisurely lunch as the lido buffet is always so busy.

Thanks, didn’t know that about the cars.  Wow, would hate to book and then find out at the last minute it’s canceled due to lack of interest.   By any chance have you taken this excursion? Maybe it’s just an island that you don’t need an excursion.... 

Good tip! Thanks!

Thinking of doing a little shore excursion of Turks &Caicos via a Hummer tour.  Cannot find any information on the boards about this excursion and was just wondering if anyone has done this in the 2 person hummer that travels in a caravan.  Not sure there is really anything worth seeing in T&C, but it would be an easy way to see the island.  Thanks in advance for any comments if you took this (or similar) tour! 😀

Thanks!  I wasn’t sure if they considered it a “weapon” or not! Great idea for that bottle stopper! 

Maybe a silly question - not sure - but can I bring a corkscrew onboard?  I know a screw top bottle of wine would be better, but sometimes the one I want to bring is a bottle with a cork!