IndyDenise

Don Julio Reposado...Tastes great as a chilled shot as well, so good in fact no training wheels (lime & salt) are needed.

 

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I agree! Don Julio all of the way!

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They need a new travel agent. In fact, if this was a closed loop partial transit, they would not need passports at all. EM

Wrong! If the cruise stops at Costa Rica you need a passport.

The only issue is they had plenty of time left on their current passport so why the hassle?

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And so you don't take the chance of catching the cooties of the hundreds of people who used the pens provided. [emoji3]

And lied about being well! ( I met two that lied about their stomach "flu" ) arghhh!

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Sounds like HAL is doing what Carnival does.

On some promotions the deposit is non refundable ( though you can switch to another cruise minus a $50 admin fee for Early Saver rates)

If you switch your rate at any time you must abide by the rules of the rate you are switching to. I ended up on my last CCL cruise with $300 OBC but had to fully deposit since my original deposit rate was discounted.

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Just got off the Zuiderdam Saturday from our Panama Canal cruise.

The passport requirement is for Costa Rica. I had to show my passport upon check in at Fort Lauderdale.. then it was safely stowed in the cabin safe for 10 days.

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Please don't edit your post, it is perfect the way it is .. honest, amusing then heartbreaking.

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You need to have the pax 1 and 2 on the booking.. so if it isn't correct now call HAL and have them switch people around now, before final payment.

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i would caution anyone in booking this in advance, online. You may be lured in a false sense of security.

I pre-booked and then e-mailed for re-confirmation Feb 14th for my Feb 15th cruise on Zuiderdam. Never received any paperwork onboard. Visted the Neptune Lounge who checked and said they were never notified that I signed up. I showed them all my paperwork.

Hours later , the concierge said they DID receive an e-mail from LD and had my reservation but not my other two traveling partners. Some how LD or HAL made it happen. I don't know if it was Hal missing the e-mails or LD not sending them caused the issue ( though I suspect HAL missed the e-mails since they finally located my confirmation from LD )

Also if you fly Southwest they don't check you in at 24 hours so you may want to consider early bird check in if you don't have internet to do it yourself. You probably wont receive boarding passes/luggage tags until 8pm the night before disembarking.

Anyway, even with all the hassle it was wonderful not to have to deal with the bags! I would use it again in a second ( though book onboard )

Honestly, I don't think the "hate" you've felt has anything to do with your child... it doesn't matter if your child is 5, 10, or 15.

I would think it had to do with the fact that you thought perhaps you could dodge the rules... ANY rules.

Most of us ( myself included) respect and honor the cruise line rules, even if we don't agree with them. The way I look at it is that cruising is a privilege, not a right. Their cruise lines, their rules. If I don't like it then I either suck it up or do not go.

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When the Signature Beverage package is recieved as a booking perk the 3rd and 4th guests in the room, regardless of age, are exempt from the requirement to purchase one.

 

Hope that helps

True. Just make sure the drinkers are listed as pax 1 and 2 on the reservation.

You can have guest services then link everything so all three can share the OBC once onboard. And it's easy to share the internet credit ( one device at one time on the same account)

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I am so saddened to hear about your sister. I loved reading about your travel escapades and you always brought a huge smile to my face.

I have visions of your sis rocking a bright gold harp shaped handbag now.

Again, so sorry.

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My husband and I prefer early traditional dining. We eat early at home.

 

We want the same waitstaff each night because they do learn your preferences and will have your choice of beverages (coffee, bottled water, tea, etc) waiting for you when you arrive. My husband also has a food allergy and the waitstaff always knows before we arrive which food item he can not order or if it can be prepared without the allergen.

 

We also find that the service flows better when all tables in the section are on the same schedule for the different courses.

 

On our Rotterdam cruise in the beginning of January, we were assigned a table for two (we requested a larger table, but that is a different issue). The first night, service was efficient.

 

The second night, we noticed that the empty seats and tables were being filled with anytime diners a half hour after the traditional seating had started.

 

That meant traditional dining service came to a screeching halt as the newcomers had to be given menus, drink and food orders taken, etc.

 

It especially affected the larger tables where any time diners were shown to the table and the passengers already in progress with their dinner ended up waiting for the latecomers to catch up in the courses being served.

 

We found that our meal time was 45 minutes longer than the first night.

 

Third night, the same thing happened, at which point we talked to the maitre d' about the disruption of service (we were not the only ones to do so).

 

He asked what was he suppose to do with the anytime dinners waiting for a table when there were tables and seats available in early seating. Our response was that the anytime diners needed to wait for an open table in the open dining section and that one of the advantages of traditional dining was the fact that table service flowed more efficiently because all the tables were on the same course schedule.

 

For the rest of the cruise, tables in sections where the passengers had voiced displeasure with the stopping of service because of back filling the seats with anytime diners remained empty.

 

Our waiter very quietly thanked us for speaking out. He said the late back filling the tables made it impossible for him to do his job efficiently and made the traditional diners upset with the slow down in table service.

This just happened to us on the Zuiderdam. We are anytime diners who ( usually ) eat early.

On Lobster gala night the Lido was packed starting at 5pm. We had our cocktail at the Seaview Bar and headed down to deck 3 for Anytime Dining. This was about 5:45pm. We requested our usual table for three,not to be seated with others. We were surprised that we could get right in but I ( rightly) theorized that people were going the easy Lido route for Lobster.

They took us up the stairs ( which was hard for my mom to tackle) and tried to seat the three of us at a 4top which not only had two available seats but also had meals in progress. Then we were left standing there as staff scrambled to find us a place.

It was shades of Noordam, the exact same thing happened to us a couple of years ago.

They finally found us an empty table and then the wait began.

We waited for menus, bread, water and some one to take our order. Food took forever to come . It was an ordeal. Serving us DID cause the waiters extra work and it made for a poor experience for us. Everyone lost.

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We are 3 but 4 would be comfortable at ES.

We had to play avoid the suitcases at RH since three of us had 6 cases .

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We had this hotel booked but after reading many bad reviews about how dirty and outdated this hotel is, we have cancelled. I've also heard that the elevators are always breaking down and if you are on a high floor, it takes forever to leave the morning of your cruise.

You HEARD but I'm HERE right now. I've been here two days now.

Nothing about the above is true.

It's clean, elevators are great, workers are fantastic.

I mean it's not the Ritz but if you are used to staying at the Ritz nothing but the Ritz will make you happy.

I think people expect that due to room rates they are getting a 5 star hotel. They don't look at the rates for the scurvy motel that costs 3/4 of the rate and expect a Radisson. So I don't know why people are expecting the Bellagio.

It is what it is.. a great safe and clean hotel in a super convenient area with nice perks. Fantastic pool. Super service. Wonderful clean and large rooms.

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Hi everyone. A couple of posters have asked me to compare the two since I just stayed in both.

Our room at Riverside for Sunday night was $185.00

Our room at Embassy Suites was $215.00 x 2 ( Monday and Tuesday) .

Value for room winner: Embassy Suites.

Free evening cocktails, free buffet breakfast, Room twice the size.

Our room at Riverside ( 5th floor, old section ) was super quiet and clean. Staff very friendly. Our room was ready at check in at 12:30pm.

But a coffee will set you back $3.00 at Riverside. There are no cheap eating spots close. Every meal set us back about $100.00. We ate at the hotel, Cheesecake Factory and Big City

Restaurant.

We loved the vibe there and the historical aspect of Riverside. Loved being on Las Olas Boulevard. Loved ease of using the water taxi.

It was nice doing something different but I hated the lack of cheaper options for food. Sometimes I just want a quick $8.00 chicken Caesar salad to go to eat poolside.

When we checked into ES the first thing we did was head over to Joes Diner at the Harbor Shops for lunch. This was a new place for us .. and WOW! My sis and mom were in heaven, they had awesome Greek dishes ., as well as breakfast and lunch options of all kinds.

Winner winner Joes Diner! Great service, huge portions, decent prices.

Then of course we did our obligatory visiting of TJMaxx, and Total Wine.

I really liked Riverside but I would choose ES first. We drank at least 50 free cocktails poolside and had great breakfasts. We could walk easily to get our last minute stuff.. the trolley is easy to get to also.

I love having three sink areas at ES, each of us gets our own makeup area ! No fighting over mirror space.

So value for money goes to ES. Cool vibe goes to Riverside.

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I take a picture of them with my cell phone. I take my phone with me with data off to use for emergencies and camera mode.

I also have a photo of it and all credit cards emailed to myself .. and in my saved emails. Plus all important information I may ever need.

I would be able to access all that information on any internet enabled device from anywhere in the world. Just in case I got beaten up and mugged I could still get my information.

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We waited 10 minutes. Easy peasy BUT if it's a heavy ship day it may be longer.

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I'm going on this cruise, we leave this Wednesday.

When I booked in October I saw this on the cruise listing on HAL.

Then after booking I received two e-mails from HAL 1) passport requirements for Costa Rica 2) new smoking policy.

The first one intrigued me. So I did a little digging. Seems Costa Rica started this due to the amount of people that try to stay illegally in their country ( build a wall I say with sarcasm! )

I don't think HAL ever has to physically collect and turn in the passports but maybe just the names/numbers.

Seems to me too ( and please remember it was October when I "researched " ) people on another line were denied boarding the cruise for lack of passport. If you don't have one you won't get on in the first place.

PS. I save every email about my booking and just checked it. I have the passport required notation on every booking email.

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Imho opinion Tindr reminds me of Tinnnnndeerrrrr ( Said in my best Paul Bunyan voice)

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Thankyou. So, gathering the responses here, is Holland America really the cruise line that fun forgot? #MidWest etc.

Well, I'm from the Midwest ( that's why they all me Indy.. oh wait, I call myself Indy, there was no they involved)

I'm one whohooing, Wang Wang chugging, party loving, totally out there gal.

So you want fun? I got fun!

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So I went to find this Tindr app to really see what it is all about and mistyped.. and I found instead::

TENDR!!!'

Tendr is the most simple and elegant way to give cash and receive cash for all of life's milestones and occasions. If you are thinking about ...

Oh yeah, baby! Coins over Loins any day!!

Feel free to donate to me.

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May I suggest that if you need a ride while cruising that you use Lyft or Uber?

You could order a Uber XL and have a large ride.

Hey, don't worry people I'm putting myself in the naughty corner now.

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The topless and bottom less PEOPLE ( male and female ) were at HMC

The vomiting coed was poolside, I knew those buckets the beers come in are dual purpose!

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Thank you to the OP for a fair and balanced comparison! As others have stated, Carnival can get an undeserved bad rap. We've had wonderful trips with them but overall I prefer the more refined atmosphere on HAL. The little touches on HAL [fresh flowers throughout the ship, real china for room service, the Yum Yum man in the MDR] are mostly absent on CCL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I totally agree with the parts of your post that I highlights in red!

 

I was a bit surprised that you found the crew better on CCL though, especially since HAL is somewhat known in the industry for their fabulous crew. We have had wonderful stewards and waiters on Carnival for sure [including one steward who is possibly the best we've had on any line] but overall I find the crew on HAL to display a certain warmth that is uniquely HAL. They are pampering [sometimes to the point of doting] which is not everyone's cup of tea but I always feel special on HAL.

 

 

 

You comment about friendlier passengers also took me by surprise. I've always made the strongest connection with fellow passengers on Cunard but I would rate HAL as 2nd. I've certainly found most passengers on HAL to be fairly well-traveled and interesting. Carnival attracts many more young couples and families who don't always have the same level of experience with world travel. Of course there are exceptions on either end.

I found that that CCL pax are more chit chatting types. I don't think it has anything to do with being well travelled but more to do with the Carnival atmosphere.

It's a self proclaimed fun ship so I think people have the mindset that everyone has something in common... fun. People aren't strangers but new friends cruising towards a common goal.

There is most definitely a Carnival vibe and there is most definitely a HAL vibe. And most ( but not all, I'm proof of it! ) people seem to act according.

This is probably due to the age demographics but my mom is 75 and she will talk anyone's ear off.

I have to say., on Carnival cruise elegant nights they dress much fancier than HAL. It was weird. People seemed to embrace tuxs and gowns.

I've never ever encountered snide service on CCL. I have several times on HAL. On every cruise. At least once.

But HAL does so much right, thus I booked with them for my upcoming cruise to Panama.

Good suite perks, elegant ships, a nice calming experience .

If I'm cruising to cruise it's CCL. In August I spent maybe a total of 1 hr total in three ports. The ship was my destination. If I'm cruising to experience the ports it's HAL.

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Love this thread, so much better than the debate about the merits of bringing your own buffet tray onboard the ship!:D

I feel badly for the under valued Buffet Trays.

Buffet Trays Lives Matter.

What are we going to tell the children?

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