RuthC

If you book aft of the mid-ship elevators, you shouldn't be under any areas that are noisy at night. the last few cabins forward of mid-ship are quiet, too.

How many passengers, on how many ships, over how many cruises happened in December? If all of those people have to have their accounts updated manually, it's going to take a while. Every time they have to stop to answer the question "How long is it going to take" just makes it take longer.

Have you tried storing the lens in a plastic bag, tightly closed? Bring it outside still in the bag, and leave it that way for a little while. The condensation should land on the bag that way, and not the lens. After the temperature of the bag/lens should have changed to the outside temperature, then you can remove the lens from the bag.

Why not book the cruise with a refundable fare? Then you can cancel for a full refund up to the day before cancelation penalties kick in.

What a shame! It should absolutely be a real fish, with all the smell and slime. After all, you only cross the Equator for the first time once. I'll always remember the ceremony the first time I crossed the Equator, and kissed the fish. Such a neat 'souvenir' of that cruise, and one I don't have to find a place at home for, or dust or polish. It was great fun, that brings a smile to my face just thinking about it.

Sure would like that! I plan to be in Seattle in June. At least right now that's the plan. Maybe we can meet up.

I haven't used $2 bills on the ship. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen one in years---possibly decades. What I would do is consider that the recipients of the gift might prefer to have something usual, mundane, and ordinary. Might be much easier for them to transact what they want to do with them.

Does she like filet mignon? The tenderloin steak/filet in the Tamarind can be ordered without the soy or wasabi sauce. It's fine that way. I truly understand that if she doesn't like the menu, or Asian food in general, then she would have a tough time, and a second time at Pinnacle (or trying to get it switched to Canaletto) would work better. The Canaletto option may even work.

All of the insides on Main Deck have the curved sofa. This is true on all of the Vista and Signature class ships.

Personally, I would be checking at the Front Desk first, to see if they can convert your Canadian currency to USD, then use those.

This thread will very soon be getting a cake with 7 candles in it, and we will all be singing Happy Birthday---it was resurrected out of the depths. PLEASE, just let it drop again.

I've been on a lot of HAL cruises, and have sailed without a priest exactly twice in all those years. Each time it was because the assigned priest was ill, and couldn't make the cruise. Also, each time there happened to be a priest aboard who was on vacation, and he came forward and filled the role.

Did you save your email confirmations of your purchases?

For example? Notice in most of the videos of people running for the ship, they are carrying shopping bags.

Not sure I ever thought of myself as a 'matriarch', but I thank you for the kind words. You have made my day! 😀

Good thought! I always wondered why they were making it so tough to watch a little TV when getting dressed. Or relaxing a bit. With the couch under the TV all I could think was I would have to hold a mirror to watch. Might be the a contender for dumbest idea HAL has had in a long time.

Frankly, I don't see where it's any of my concern how much of the crew appreciation fee any given employee gets. That's between the employee and HAL. Do you ask your Uber driver how much he is paid? You pay his tip, after all. I know they all have agreed to a group contract that guarantees them a certain amount, with such things as seniority and job title are taken into consideration, so that even two different cabin stewards could get a different amount. I also know that if the crew appreciation fee doesn't generate enough to cover what the crew is guaranteed, then HAL has to make up at least a portion of the difference. If HAL wasn't living up to its obligation to pay the crew the crew appreciation fees as they have agreed to, word would spread, and we wouldn't be meeting up with the same crew members on subsequent cruises.

Whether or not you need an extension cord on a HAL ship depends on what class of ship you are sailing on, and what category of ship within that class. Until I had an accessible cabin on a Pinnacle class ship, I never stayed in a HAL cabin where I did not need an extension cord. That includes many (mostly inside) different cabins, over 60 cruises, on 18 different ships. Better to have a cord and not need it, than to need one and not have it.

HAL doesn't forbid extension cords on their ships. Cords with a plug on one end, and an outlet on the other are perfectly all right. I keep one in my CPAP case for use in pre-/post-cruise hotels, and on the ship itself. The 'forbidden' ones are the ones with a power surge protector built in. The plain, old fashioned kind are perfectly fine, and are allowed.

I have some severe mobility problems, which have gotten worse over the years---slowing me down even more. And I take mainly HAL excursions. I have been back to the bus late exactly once---and that was only by a few minutes. Being slow, I can't get to the rest room as quickly as the others, so I am typically at the end of the line. One time I got lost trying to find my way back out of the building, with a zig here, and a zag there. I was a bit late. But as I said, that was exactly once. If I can get back to the bus in time, anyone can.

I wouldn't know. I haven't gotten offers from HAL in years! I always have had cruises booked (once, it was five in the pipeline! 😁), so I guess they figured I wasn't going to book??? (silly people; I would have.) Now that my cruising days are winding down I may start getting offers, but as of now, I don't get offers for private sales.

You can if the starting and ending points for the passenger are the same port, AND there is a stop at a foreign port. A round trip Boston to Quebec or Montreal, return to Boston has been done many times by many people.

Yes, I have done it a few times, as in when I was on a land tour first. Or, when time got away from me and I didn't have time to do all the laundry before packing. It was usually returned faster, since most people aren't sending laundry the first day. I send it that night, and get it back the next day.

Rome in Limo. Come off the ship, pick up luggage. Find your driver waiting, with your name on a card. Hand him the luggage, get in car, and relax until you are at your destination.

If your son will be traveling solo, in the sense that he will be alone in his cabin, then he will have a single supplement. If you book your husband in the veranda, and yourself plus son in the inside, then your husband will have a single supplement. Before you start thinking about who will be booked in which cabins, to try to get the lowest rates, you need to check both of the combinations of you and DH in the veranda, with son alone (with hopefully two lower fares), vs. DH in veranda (with single supplement) and you and son in inside (with lower fare). Huskerchick may not have considered the single supplement in her thinking. Good luck, and have fun, whatever way you book!