Banditswife

Can't wait to try some of the things mentioned, boarding NS on Saturday. Hungry just thinking about it.

I was surprised to be in group B, since we are only 2 star mariners. Or maybe I am not understanding what group B means. We originally got an 11:20- which really surprised me, then it changed to 11:40 which isn't bad either.

While we understand it is in our cruise contract that the ship/cruise line can change/eliminate ports, it is frustrating. They don't give any explanation of why they made the change. If they did give us a reason for the change, we would be less frustrated. We have a B2B that originally stopped at Key West on both cruises. One KW stop was changed early on, & 2nd was changed much closer to sail date. In gathering info from this board, I learn that KW would rather not have large cruise ships port there. Whether KW is not allowing the ship in or there is some other reason, it would be nice to know that reason. We were really looking forward to KW, used our HIA credit for a more expensive tour there. Yes they refunded the tour cost to our HIA bank, but there are no other tours we are interested in.

We got ours about 12 days ahead, then they changed it at about 9-10 days ahead.

Does anyone know the current cost of cigarettes on board?

Warning: the 1st luggage tag holders I bought were the incorrect size, so watch for specific cruise line tag holders or measure the printed/folded version for size. The ones we bought work for Carnival & HAL.

I am having trouble getting Hal's web page to show a bar code like the one showing on my phone. Is it very small at bottom of pg?

I print everything including cruise contract, just in case there is a problem once on board. It is nice to have it all organized in a nice 3 ring binder.

this helps speed things up. We bought reusable luggage tag holders. These are plastic & attach easily to our bags w/ a circle of metal wire that screws together, making them secure & waterproof.

I think you just need the navigator app, but am always worried my phone will act up, so have both just in case.

I just got a weird call from our assigned PCC. "happy thanksgiving, wondering if you were thinking of a Holland America cruise." I was hoping she was calling to offer us an upgrade or upsell, but I don't think she even realized we were booked to be on board this week. So I told her, yes we were looking at a cruise, but wanted to wait until on board to book it. She then hesitates & says oooh, yes that is a good idea. I hear shuffling of papers, this is what makes me believe she has no idea that we are even her clients. She then tells me to mention her when we book. I don't think so. Time to use a different TA.

We were on the NA about a year ago. The sea view bar area with smokers was always crowded. A fun bunch of people who have remained friends all this time. If there wasn't a seat available, these friendly people would move over & make room for us. It is my understanding that the NS has a similar area for smokers. Looking forward to it.

Thank you for your extensive pictorial review. Sailing NS on 11/26-12/10.

I checked for the specific sailing I am wanting. Web page quoted me $496 for an inside or $949 with HIA to include crew appreciation. Difference being $453 for the HIA, doesn't seem like that great of a deal to me. We bought HIA w/o crew appreciation for $350 pp on our upcoming 7 day.

We have a specific cruise in mind and will be on NS next Saturday (26th.) Would it be best to book while on board or try to figure it out on our own before we go? Specific sailing is due to my son & wife will be on it.

Bon Voyage!- oh wait. We are boarding with you, Cya on board.

Just like others have said- Covid, the flu & other viruses are here to stay. Do we stop living for fear of getting sick? Not me. But each of us has to decide for ourselves.

We have cruised 31 days since the restart. We have not gotten sick yet, but that doesn't mean we won't. We try to keep to ourselves, & wash hands frequently, have been vaccinated as much as is allowed. But there is still a risk. We were on a 17 day CCL cruise that had a covid outbreak. No numbers were ever posted or announced, but there were red bags along hallways & rumors were flying. The sad thing for us was that everyone had to test at home & then again in terminal & all pax were required to be vaxed & boosted. You would have thought that cruise would be safer. But it wasn't. For us, we know there are risks in cruising. But there are also risks in going to your local grocery or anywhere. There are risks in driving down the street too. We just have to choose which risks we are willing to take. To Birdie 16- sorry you & your husband are in isolation, hope things get better for you soon.

We got our cabin assignment late last night. So 10 days ahead of sail date. I had asked our PCC & she told us anytime between 2 weeks & 2 days ahead. I wonder why they wait so long... We were doing "mock" bookings to see what cabins were still available in our category & the cabin we ended up with always showed as unavailable. So did they upsell the person who was in that cabin or was that where we were all along?

Is this true, I may have forgotten, but I thought breakfast was served in MDR every day. I get HAL & Carnival's policies mixed up sometimes.

We sail Nov 26 & got our boarding time at about 2 week prior to that. We do not have a cabin assignment yet, so are holding off printing our boarding passes.

HAL4NOW- yes, this one is a bit rude & very little assistance. We are cruising next week, so will stick with her for that 1, then move elsewhere for any new bookings.

We were assigned a PCC by HAL. She is not helpful at all, nor easy to talk to. How do we request a different one? I will just go back to my old TA or use 1 of the big box stores if I cannot easily get a new PCC.

I guess they are worried you are going to share. It does seem silly when you are only wanting a 2nd cup of coffee or bottle of water.

And isn't it only 5 minutes between orders? Just hang out for 5 minutes & reorder. That's what we are going to do. Very rarely will I have alcohol, but love my specialty coffee.