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My friend is a retired police and no, retired police are not eligible. I am a retired RN but because I worked in a school as a nurse and was under the teacher contract, I was eligible as an educator.

Yes, it did.

This is very subjective.... the HIA is never worth it for us....only one of us would use wifi, only one of us has a glass of wine with dinner. we dont generally use ship tours..but we have on occasion..We always bring our reusable water bottles...and honestly we drink on board like we drink at home...water, water and more water and I enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. he enjoys a beer once a month. So we run the the numbers..when your other half is an accountant...haha.. so, my solution is that we buy a sommelier suite wine package and pay minimal compared to the HIA package or even buying a glass of wine with dinner every night at $14.00 a pop. Bottom line is, you have to do the math.

Historically HAL wants you to deal directly with your TA for most matters that will effect your booking. That is what your TA is for...to work with the cruise line for you. . Definitely advise you to go that route. When I got my approval via email, I forwarded the email directly to my TA who was right on it. Good luck!

I do not believe it includes retired healthcare workers.

Or retired police! As far as healthcare workers, I agree...however if a retired RN worked in a school as a school nurse they are eligible as well.

I just got approved and my TA is following through with HAL to apply it to my recent booking .

We have purchased these several times and occasionally have to wait 24 hours. When that happened I called the customer service number and they tracked the order down and no problem. You can also purchased things pre-board with the cards as well. when you go to check out , it will ask you for the certificate number and the pin. Always save your certificates til after your cruise ends.

We will be on a Mediterranean and TA 26 day in October. We have , in the past, pre-purchased the premium internet plan and have had no problem with it. We have decided on the October cruise to purchase the 30 day international cell data plan from Verizon, our carrier for $100. With such a highly port intensive itinerary, this will virtually eliminate the need for the internet plan when docked. Once we are on the TA crossing then I may consider purchasing the plan for a day or 2 just to connect with family and check email.

I always write cold water , low heat if the load incudes nice tops. But that said, occasionally I forget and have never had an issue. I love that they iron everything ..I think they even press socks as I detect a crease.

We were on the Koningsdam for 18 days in a Verandah. I can see that it might be an issue for very tall or very big people but we are average size and had no problems.

Hello Ed and Joyce, We are sailing in October. We have booked the Hera Hotel and they offer the optional private airport/port transportation. They will pick us up at the airport and the next day they will take us to the port. The cost seems in line with the other local transportation costs. Joan

Hi, We are cruising in October and at the recommendation of several cruisers, we have booked the Hera Hotel. I was pleased to see that hey have optional services of airport and port transfer which we have booked. We sent them our flight info and they have confirmed our airport pick up already. We can include the cost in our room account. Just wanted to share this. After use I will report back . The prices seem in line with the George prices quoted above in post #68

Thank you for the recommendations. Hera Hotel was also recommended to me to add to the list. We decided to choice Hera because they had the added services of Airport and Port transfers.

Thank you all for your responses. We did call HAL and the original OBC associated with the deposit $$ was restored. The early deposit OBC was forfeited and I can understand this as our upcoming cruise booking was not early booking. I wasn't aware of Elliott Advocacy but will make note in hopes that we never need to use it! Lesson learned...we will not be tempted to book on board anymore but we will purchase the FCD's on board for sure. Thank you all again.

We. will be cruising our of Athens and staying one night prior to our cruise in October. We are fit older adults. We would like to stay as close to the Acropolis/Parthenon as possible because that is the one attraction that we probably have time to see in one day. Can you recommend a hotel within walking distance to the Acropolis? I was looking at Niche but not sure how close this would be. Any recommendations appreciated.

We booked a cruise while on board the Koningsdam a month ago and discovered that we would not be able to go at that time of that cruise. My TA transferred the booking to another cruise in the fall. We had no problem transferring the deposit to work for the new cruise but HAL refused to transfer the associated OBC.. my TA even went to the resolutions department and they refused.. now, we had to do this once a few years ago and everything, including the OBC transferred over without a snag. Has this happened to anyone else? I do understand there may be certain criteria involved with some of the OBC but the credits associated with the deposit alone should have transferred over (in my opinion and that of my TA.)

It is free on Princess..probably because it is for a medical device...at our grocery store it is 79 cents. $2.95 on the ship is steep. I agree about the bread pudding ..delish😋

When we order hubby's distilled water for his cpap, it is always the standard gallon size that we get in our local grocery store. it is always sealed from the original manufacturer..no doubt at all.. just like the ones we buy at home. We would not accept it if it was not sealed.

Both Koningsdam and Zaandam had them this Feb. on the Zaandam they were near guest services and in the explorations library.

We have had to pay for distilled water for hubby's cpap at least since 2015. It is free on Princess. It should be free . We do also drink the tap water and it tastes fine. I have a system for drinking and it involved the ice bucket filled twice a day and letting it melt..although I know the ice comes from the same tap water source it somehow makes me feel better about drinking it ,haha

Thanks so much!

Good morning, i am looking at a cruise on the Oosterdam in a Verandah guarantee. I am trying to find out if there are any uncovered verandahs on the Oosterdam . If there are, then I will choose the cabin as I must have a covered verandah. does anyone known the answer to this? thank you

On the Zaandam (February of this year) if you sent it out before 9AM they say it will be returned in 24 hours. We sent a bag out 4 times before 9AM and each time it was returned before bedtime that same night 🙂

Ohh, good to know, thanks!