terrydtx

On our Kongingsdam cruise last November from San Diego there was only one check in line for NS, PS, 4 & 5 star and CO passengers. After we checked in, we all were directed to a special priority waiting area for boarding. As I recall handicap passengers in wheelchairs and scooters boarded first, then PS and NS, then 5 star, then 4 star and CO was last. Each group was called separately, and their express boarding passes were checked before they left the waiting area for their grouping. Priority boarding did not begin until a few minutes after 12 noon for that cruise. Our assigned check in time with CO was 11:00 which is about the time we got to the terminal. After all in the priority groups had boarded then they began the general boarding by assigned letter codes, with A being first. The letter codes were assigned by the check in times assigned the week before the cruise by HAL. As to be expected many non-priority passengers disregarded those assigned times and showed up well before noon and then grumbled when they were assigned letter codes that would not let them board until their times was called.

Not sure where you get $15 pp per day? Our upcoming 11 day Volendam cruise in August CO was $25pp per day.

Not the way it works,4 and 5 star along with Neptune and Pinnacle Suites and CO guests are all checked in together and sat in the same priority waiting area to board.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. I do not think anyone was being vitriolic in their responses but given you the answers you asked about. Unless the 4 of you are in the same cabin priority boarding is generally not offered to non priority guests in different cabins.

I was hoping that we would some fresh local fish served on our August Volendam Boston to Montreal cruise. Even local cold water lobster and fresh scallops would be nice too.

Agreed 100%

We were boarding the Koningsdam last November in San Diego with CO so we had priority boarding privileges. There were 2 couples in front of us checking in traveling together, one couple had priority boarding and one didn't. The one couple without priority was directed to the waiting area for general boarding and the other joined us in the priority boarding sitting area.

This morning Fox News had a short mention of the incident, but they made it sound like it was NCL's fault. The fault lies purely with the people on the private excursion. It is no different than when an airliner closes the cabin door and gets ready to pulls away from the gate, they will not return to get a late passenger.

Even the cruise line sponsored shore excursions are not guaranteed to always get you back to the ship. On our first HAL cruise on the Volendam a HAL tour of Costa Rico's capital city was delayed by mud slides and a full tour bus could not get back to the ship for 6 hours. The Captain said we could not wait for them to return as it would delay us getting to our next port 2 days later. We had friends on that tour, and it was a nightmare for them, getting to the next port to catch up with the ship. We rarely book any ship sponsored excursions anymore and book with several reputable tour companies that all have similar guarantees to get you back to the ship on time or pay to get you to the next port. Out of maybe 40 private tours done, we have not once been close to missing the ship sailing aways.

Most BT hearing aids only stream one way to the HA so you have to use the mic in the phone to speak. However there are some newer generation HAs coming to the market that will work both ways much like BT ear buds. They utilize the built-in mics in the behind the ear hearing aids. This would then be no different that seeing people without hearing aids who use ear buds, like I Pods, for 2 way conversations.

I am not conscious at all of how it looks to others, but at least I do not walk around with the much more obvious ear buds showing. I do not have to be loud when speaking like with ear buds, I just speak into the mic on my phone.

Correct just make sure your passport expiration date is not less than 6 months from your return date.

Fortunately I wear hearing aids that stream to my ears from my phone by Bluetooth, so I never need to use the speaker when making calls. When I have a call in a nosy place the nearing aids block out the background noise when the phone is streaming to them.

A victim of AI spellchecking,

I have no idea, but I saw her streaming in the Buffets and going over every dish she was trying. I never watch or listen to any of these so call influencers. IMO just a bunch of Millennials or younger, to lazy to get a real job.

Last year on the Celebrity Apex one night in the Fine Cuts Steak house, the table next to us, one of those so called "Influencers" had set up the table with all of her streaming equipment so she could have dinner with her "followers". I complained first to her about the noise and distraction, to which she told me it was her "right" to do this. I then asked the manager to be moved to another table, but none were available, and the manager told me the woman had pre-cleared her direct streaming. We got up and left demanding we not be charged for our dinner we did not eat, we did get the credit back. I saw this same woman doing her streaming all over the ship but Celebrity would do nothing to stop her. Thankfully this woman was not in the Retreat so we did not have to put up with her in Luminae and the Retreat Lounge. I would hope HAL would not allow this same very annoying and distracting activities by these "Influencers"

After we board and go to our cabin to drop off our carry on items, I turn on the TV and the video, then leave for lunch and let the video run. Have heard the safety message so many times that I do not need to watch again.

The HAL app is a waste of time and almost useless until you board. It would be nice if we could see the menus for all nights of our cruise before we board, this can be done with Celebrity's app.

22 days on the Edge in January and we only went to 2 shows, the magician and comedian, the rest has zero appeal to us. Last November on the HAL Koningsdam we spent every evening in the Billboard Onboard venue.

That was my take as well, but no time lines its all about the cash needed. My best guess this will be the end of the M class ships as they are just getting too old and will be sold off in the next few years.

On the Edge in January I was told the dry-cleaning benefit was no longer available.

Last June we were on the Equinox with our 13 year old granddaughter in a Sky Suite. She got all of the HIA Retreat amenities, except the drinks package for her was the non alcohol one so she could have all the mock drinks, sodas and bottled water she wanted. Her gratuities were also included as the cruise was before they took that away from retreat bookings.

It is not limited to 30 items, it is one full bag. We used this 4 times on our 2 Edge B2B cruises in January. No limits just stuff the provided bag with as much as you can and write Elite on the laundry list. We had no problems and every item came back folded and clean, no shrinking either as we wrote cold water wash on the laundry list.

We did the double Denali with HAL in 2019. At that time the dining plan was ridiculous in price. We found that by crossing the street at Mckinnley Lodge we could dine at several excellent Non-HAL restaurants, including one very good Pizza and Italian food restaurant. The Loge had a very nice coffee venue where we got sweet rolls and coffee for a reasonable price for breakfast. The Denali tour had an option for a box lunch that was about $15pp as I recall. I was very happy we did not waste our money on the dining plan.