SDARCH

Thank you for bringing this up. Post COVID, keycards are not provided in the terminal. The bar code is needed to board at security ON the ship.

We boarded a couple of years ago when three ships were in port. It was total chaos.

Don't forget that you only have to pay the difference between the $ limit and the full price of a more expensive drink. You can get significantly better wine by just paying a dollar or two more.

You can buy distilled water on board. You can even preorder and have it delivered to your room before you board.

Yep. Very unfortunate. Had it again last month on the NS and paid the surcharge.

Fogey here...but I was determined. I think a late-ish dinner helped. I needed to digest the 20# Dover Sole they served me.

We had the exact same NYE dinner (and silly hats) as you on this cruise. The ship seemed full. Many multi-generational families. The New Year's Countdown party at the Lido Pool was a blast with plenty of sparkling wine being passed around. I think it is the first time I had made it to midnight in 20 years. We had a blast!

We attended our bronze reception in May 2023 on a TA (Zuiderdam). Nearly 100 bronze recipients. Only bronze were awarded at this particular ceremony. Assuming a separate reception for the higher levels.

My guess would be the 1 Oct departure of the N.S. out of Piraeus. The departure time was pushed from 7pm to 11pm a couple of weeks ago. I am still showing Check in Group A at 11am on my Navigator BP, but many on the Roll Call are getting notice of very late boarding times...ie 7pm. & 8:20pm

Good move on the bartender!

Once you hit 15, the drinks just get charged to your account.

I always as for double clams, hold the shrimp

We had our NYE dinner Rudi's on the K-dam last last year. It was the best meal I have ever had on a cruise.

Same. This happens all the time.

I agree completely.

I'm unfamiliar with Fixed Dining? Is that the same table and same time every night? Or just the same time - early or late? I haven't really figured the nuances of the MDR yet. It would be great to reserve a table on the Navigator app.

I do not recall seeing a dedicated CO podium at the MDR on the K-dam. There should be one for Reservations, along with the one for walk-up. I'll check it out in a few weeks when we board the NS. The issue we had on the Zuiderdam was that the person at the CO podium was taking folks from the other two lines, even through there was a long line for CO guests. I had heard that there was a huge staff change for our cruise....we boarded the day the World Cruise ended. The entire MDR was chaos like I have never seen. I believe the NS CO dining room was purpose built as America's Test Kitchen - like the K-dam....hence the diner look.

I feel the same way. The thought of being on a Pinnacle class ship w/o CO is a nightmare scenario for me. I do think HA could GREATLY improve the CO dining situation on the smaller ships by carving out a dedicated section in the Upper Dining Room. We were on the Zuiderdam w/CO in May and the chaos at the Concierge podium was wild. The MDR experience on that cruise was so bad we ended up eating in the Lido - which we had never done before.

Thank you for sharing your voyage. Always enjoy your reviews.

You can also pre-order a pre lit Christmas Tree from the HA website. Comes in a couple of sizes...and will be in your cabin when you arrive.

Is that information missing from the PDF you are printing?

For an upcoming cruise departing 1 Oct - Emailed CCLShareholderHAL@hollandamerica.com on August 24th. Received the "high volume" automatic reply shortly thereafter. Day later, August 25th, received an email that the OBC has been applied to our shipboard credit.

Must be. But it may be due to a suite?

Looks like I jumped the gun. Must have showed up on the tags I printed today due to 4*. It will show up on the Navigator app however. At least it did on our last cruise. We had CO and were 3*. I suppose Priority Boarding and Priority Luggage are different. With CO, you can board anytime. My apologies.

Yes...and your luggage tags will also be marked with PRIORITY in a yellow box.