RuthC

I once saw a lovely emerald and diamond bracelet for sale in one of the shops on a HAL ship. It cost a mere $95,000. Trust me, there is no such thing as 'too much OBC', or that bracelet would be in my jewelry case right now.

I'll just skip lunch and head straight for the cakes. Yum!

You're welcome. I love my inside cabins, having spent a lot of time in them. Also spent just enough time in outside and a few veranda cabins to know the comparisons.

What port can make a difference. Some ports will let you in when you get there, while others are sticklers for keeping to the precise time assigned. If you are working the cruise as chaplain, you are considered staff, so should be able to clear early in order to be ready for your duties at 5:00 PM. Otherwise, you could check out of your hotel, then hang around in the lobby for a while before heading to the pier.

They are too far aft for my taste, but are otherwise fine cabins. They are larger than the outsides across the passageway (because of the promenade outside those outside cabins; they are smaller than other outsides). These cabins will be more rectangular, essentially the same layout as outside cabins. The biggest differences are the insides have a love seat, while the outsides have a couch (unless they are lanai cabins), and the bathroom vanity is much larger in the inside cabin, as it takes up the footprint of the tub were it an outside. Lot's of space to put things down. Do check to be sure if cabin 2619 is available for both cruises on your planned back to back, but also check to see if it is reserved for a collector's cruise. Sometimes cabins are assigned one way or the other if both of your itineraries are sold both ways.

They do. That is so long as the priest makes it to the sailing! Once in a rare while a priest can't get a necessary visa in time, but that happens so seldom as to be not worth worrying about.

Cabin 2619 is my favorite inside on the R-class ships. It is larger than the other 'large insides'. Absolutely mid-ship, with the mid-ship staircase abutting one wall of the cabin, and the elevator feet away. Enough room to get a mobility scooter inside, store it, without compromising walking space. If that doesn't suit you, or is taken, then the I-category cabins on Lower Promenade between the atrium and mid-ship elevators are my second choice. Just don't book anything on Lower Promenade between the mid-ship and aft staircases; the galley is right above, and there is noise during the night.

This is incorrect and misleading as phrased, as it leaves out the Advantage Fare, which does not have HIA, but is fully refundable.

Thank you at least for the information. I'm glad I don't have a cruise booked that's coming up soon, as my next one is well into next year. If they have their website adapted by the end of this year---and if it works better than HAL's does!---then I have time. Plan B would be to send my stock verification to my TA and have her send it with the request. $250 is a good chunk of change, and we shouldn't have to stress about how to get it!

No, they didn't. HAL has never let someone just move one reservation to another date. That's true even if it were the same itinerary and ship, let alone something different. You keep insisting that HAL has done that in the past, and only changed the rules after you booked. Not true. If all those other lines give you that, and that is what you want, then book with the other lines.

Not just you. I get an error message with those links.

'Largest' is a relative term, as even the largest inside on the Pinnacle ships are still very tiny. I am a confirmed inside cabin girl, with very few exceptions over the years. However, on a Pinnacle class ship I won't go below a veranda category cabin. The handicapped veranda cabin I had was quite spacious, but not much larger (and with a balcony, of course) than the insides I have had on the Vista and Signature ships (Main Deck, only).

Thank you! I'll look forward to seeing their reply/your post about it.

For several years now it appears that HAL has been making a deliberate attempt to get passengers to go to bed early, and get up early the net day. They have ended entertainment earlier over time, cutting back the last lounge closure time from 2:00 AM to around midnight; and have started the lounge entertainment earlier. Along with this, HAL has changed the fixed dining times from 6:00 and 8:15 to 5:00 and 7:30; this was also done in increments. I've noticed the daytime activities have also begun much earlier than they did in the past, when 10:00 AM was a standard time to start the action after breakfast.

So, how are people who don't otherwise have a need for a smart phone, and consequently do not have a smart phone, get their stockholder's on board credit?

For as long as I have been booking cruises on HAL I have always been under a policy that if I want to change to a different cruise, then I must cancel the first (with whatever refunds/losses that entails), and book the new cruise as a separate cruise. This is nothing new to me.

I know that the days of an Alaska cruise/tour do count toward Mariner Days. I have them from my Alaska cruise/tour back in '93. I also know that absolutely none of my pre-cruise hotel days have ever been counted, no matter where they were spent.

Congratulations. 'Bout time, eh?

Besides the Main Deck on Vista (and Signature) class ships, there are also some large I-category cabins on one of the upper decks. I have not been in these cabins, so can't direct you more than that. I can say that they are also square cabins, and a few inches larger than the J- and K- cabins on Main Deck. Check out the deck plans, and if the inside I-cabins look square, they may be the ones that are huge.

Why, thank you! You have made my day! I will say that I don't post info unless I am sure. I could be corrected sometimes, but I won't know I am wrong until corrected.

If you don't see what you are looking for when you go into the shop, ask! The shops never put everything out that they have to select from; they change out the stock periodically. If you ask, and describe what you are looking for, they may have it, and bring it out for you. Or, at least they may tell you when they will be putting out for sale, and you will know when to come back.

Sometimes you get a glass of cheap plonk at dinner. Other times you get lucky, and don't get the glass of cheap plonk.

There are three different plans to get your laundry done on HAL, and they are available at the same rate every day. First, you can pay by the piece. This is very expensive, and I have never heard or read of anyone doing it this way. Second, you can send out a full bag at a set price, whenever you want. The price has increased from the $20 it used to be, to either $25 or $30 (I don't remember the new price). The bags are cloth, so they won't tear when you roll and stuff a lot into them. You really can get a BIG load of laundry into those bags. The third plan is unlimited. You can send out as many bags, on as many days, as you wish. Since it is unlimited, those bags don't need to be filled. This is something to consider when you are sailing in a hot climate, like Hawaii. You can come in from the day, get out of your sweaty clothes, toss them in the bag, and leave it on the bed to be taken when your room is tidied. Just shower and dress for dinner, and don't give your clothes a second thought. That plan used to be $7 times the number of days in your cruise, but also went up. I believe it is now $9/day. The days you are aboard do count in the price, but you can't send laundry the last couple of days; they need time to get it washed, and back to you so you can pack. Clothes come back either on hangers (nice during the cruise), or folded (very nice right before you pack), within two days. (A little secret: the less you send in a bag, the sooner it tends to come back.) Clothes that are normally pressed, come back pressed; others are folded and returned in a basket.

Yes, they are solar powered, but the batteries can run out eventually. I had to have one replaced in one of my eco-drive watches. Got them both on different HAL cruises. They are great watches, though. Just store them in a sunny window, instead of a drawer, watch case, or jewelry case. I like to think the burglars won't find them behind the curtains. Another thing to do with excess OBC is apply it as additional gratuities to the pool.

I think HAL has a certain amount of 'begrudging' going on in that they are forced to run two separate Mariner Programs, with two different sets of recognition dates and rewards, simultaneously. Toss in that the covid shutdown caused a lot of institutional knowledge to walk out the door, and I can understand the confusion about who is supposed to do what, when. Remember, the Medallion program was replaced. It was gone when the new program was instituted, and was only brought back when Mariners screamed loud and clear. Under the Medallion Mariner program, the medallion was awarded on the cruise where the level was reached. Since it was based on 'heads in beds' days only, that was easy to calculate in advance of ending the current cruise. The ceremony was scheduled, anyone reaching an award level on that cruise was planned for, and invitations and phone calls went out. Under the new program you achieve a new level on the following cruise, or on the next segment of a Grand cruise. This is because spending credits can't be calculated until the cruise ends. (yes, there are a few exceptions made if you achieve a new level on days only, but that was not the original rule.) With so many employees not knowing the history, and not fully conversant on the two sets of rules, and adding that staffing levels are still short, it is no wonder that the Mariners themselves need to be a little proactive if they want recognition.