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This isn't about dogs or anti-dogs. This is yet another example of obnoxious passengers behaving poorly on a ship and HAL doing very little about it. And that list of obnoxious behaviour appears to be getting longer. My HAL cruising experience is that I have sailed on more cruises with dogs than without. I've only sometimes encountered the dogs, yet as someone who walks the Promenade deck I have encountered the turf pad. I've also encountered dogs in my other forms of travel. As a dog lover, encountering a service dog on a ship doesn't bother me. I understand that it may bother others and I am quite sure that people who travel with service dogs have ample experience of how to deal with others who simply don't want to be around a dog period. This though is not what this thread is about. This is about people refusing to accept the HAL rule that pets are not permitted and mis-representing their pet as a service animal. Aka - obnoxious passengers behaving poorly. I've written on an earlier cruise my surprise with seeing a passenger enter the Grand Dutch Cafe with a large shoulder bag, sit at a table and then remove the little dog from the bag and place it in her lap while at the table. I wondered what service the dog could provide while being transported in a pet travel bag and I thought it very surprising that the dog would be allowed to essentially be at the dining table. I also accepted that if no one working for HAL was going to address it, neither was I. And that's the core issue here - HAL's refusal to address poor passenger behaviour. It seems that HAL would rather simply count the days until the cruise is over and the problem walks off the ship than to take concrete steps from preventing it from walking on the ship.

I would think that this is the most obvious irritant, unless you like to be in your cabin when most people aren't. OP, keep in mind that the lido isn't open 24/7 on HAL. It actually closes relatively early compared to other cruise lines. We have went to the late night offerings and it was really quiet then. Crew prepping for breakfast can certainly make noise. If you are a light sleeper or a late morning sleeper you may want to consider a different location.

Lots of changes. Some we don't notice, some we do. The top two we noticed that impacted us the most are service and entertainment related. We also noticed the upselling and increased prices. It does seem though that it hasn't deterred passengers one bit. Most sailings are full and Carnival Corp is reporting that future bookings are way up. Seems there are enough people willing to pay for the current experience.

This is the best course of action. None of us here can possibly predict how someone at the Port will respond to your request. Keep it discreet in case you happen to be around a self-appointed HAL Compliance Cruiser who is always on the lookout for social injustices when cruising. 🤣

Wow. So much talent. Those travel items look absolutely great. Wishing you a safe, smooth and uneventful flight tomorrow.

I've noticed the same for some time now. I also watch a couple of cruise vloggers and some have recently posted changes that you expect for 2024. One of the changes was to check pricing as a lot of assumptions that people may have on cruise line pricing may be incorrect. One noted sailings in the Caribbean and found HAL and Princess to have the best prices.

Thanks for reminding me that we can use the water from the plane. We were also thinking of bringing coffee travel mugs and quickly realized it really starts to add to your luggage, especially when our goal is to keep or luggage as light as possible.

Our cabin steward not only removed it from the slot, but also took it. If they didn't want it there they should have simply laid it on the bed or the desk, not take it. I wasn't impressed.

I expect the salmon served on HAL's ships is farmed Atlantic Salmon whereas it will be Wild Sockeye Salmon served during the excursion. I remember learning that while Alaska has hatcheries for salmon it does not allow salmon farms like those for farmed Atlantic salmon.

Tried searching this thread and couldn't find the answer so my apologies if this has been answered previously. Does Avalon provide guests with refillable water bottles? If so, are they complimentary or is there a charge?

Thanks for posting a live thread and will be following along. Will be interested in your cruise and your Scenic experience. We recently attended an information session provided by Scenic as a possible cruise option and it will be great to read your thoughts on it. We will be travelling on our first river cruise in June with Avalon. We are really looking forward to it. We have decided to pause our ocean cruising in general and with HAL and we are hoping that river cruising will provide us with that cruising magic that we feel is missing with HAL. Bon Voyage.

It just seems that obnoxious behaviour is becoming more common. On our last cruise in November on the Koningsdam we went to the MDR for dinner and we were seated at a lovely table for 2 in front of a window. Right next to us though was a very raucous table of six who luckily for us were on their dessert when we were seated. They were very loud. I wear a hearing aid and can tell you that it was quite the experience for me to stay at our table. They were so loud in fact that when they got up to leave one of the diners leaned over and said to us, laughingly, "you can enjoy your dinner in quiet now that we are leaving, " and then just smiled and went on their way. I took their response as they knew they were loud and they just didn't care. So no, I am not surprised by these experiences.

I will echo the same comments as others - the experience varies from ship to ship and even from sailing to sailing. We sailed twice on the Koningsdam last year. On the first cruise we went to the PG for dinner and we didn't have any complaint regarding portion size (however, a couple more asparagus spears wouldn't sink the ship 🤣), but the waiter did forget my dessert order. One the second cruise we decided we would venture back for lunch. A very different crew. We had originally booked 2 lunches in the PG and the first experience was so poor that we cancelled the second reservation. Portions were small, food items were poorly prepared and the service wasn't great at all. Our experience has been you roll the dice with speciality dining on HAL. I will state though that in the past we have always had exceptional service in the Tamarind Restaurant. We do find the current Tamarind is a shadow of what it was and overall not very appealing anymore. If you can find a meal that you think you would enjoy I feel pretty confident that you will have a wonderful experience at Tamarind.

On the Zuiderdam passengers sailing in a Neptune or Pinnacle Suite can have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. It's the same menu as served in the main dining room. Roger Jett has copies of the recent breakfast room service menus on his website. You can visit them here and see the differences: https://rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/room-service-and-breakfast/ The Zudie doesn't have a separate Club Orange dining room. The separate CO dining room is only available on the Pinnacle Class ships. You will dine in the main dining room and should be given a CO menu or your waiter may provide you with a regular menu and simply tell you what the CO entrée is. If you don't receive a CO menu or your waiter doesn't offer it then you should inquire about the CO entrée for that evening.

It wasn't that long ago on CC that the advice was to turn off your phone and put it in your cabin safe to avoid costly roaming charges. A common message was one of the joys of cruising was the chance to disconnect. That has changed in 2023 and HAL, like every other cruise line, changed it on purpose. High speed internet is another revenue stream for the cruise lines and all cruise lines are heavily promoting this as a must have amenity. I don't believe that it is by chance that HAL introduced a mobile app for on ship use. I also don't believe that it is by chance that HAL bundled internet access with its HIA promo. It wanted to create a demand for internet access. It was a way to convince passengers to start using their devices on their cruises, and all of this was just before they rolled out high speed internet access across their lines. This happened with the past couple of years. Many passengers who have decades of sailing without a cell phone and high speed internet access now suddenly must have it to cruise. This is the classic, build it and they will come.

There aren't really a lot of good choices. For me, prior to even stepping on the ship I accept that some people may be obnoxious and rude. I try not to let it surprise me when I encounter it as when I do encounter it I have to work to not let it affect me. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am not. There does though come a point in which if other passengers are having a negative impact on my cruise and HAL won't do anything about it that I have to ask myself if HAL is the cruise line for me. After all, we all cruise to have fun and a great time and not to pay to endure the bad behaviour of other people.

Not at all surprising. If someone hasn't done it yet, it is only a matter of time before passengers are live streaming throughout the ship. That is what high speed internet allows them to do and they will do it.

I also experience this behaviour and other examples of people not being situational aware on an almost daily basis. My DW and I are walkers and we walk in our neighbourhood every day and every day that we meet someone else on the sidewalk it is without fail me who falls back behind my wife to pass as the other people will not move out of the way. I have simply come to expect it now and adapt my behaviour. (And I have to do this when walking the promenade deck on a ship also). I have also come to accept that for many people their phones are simply an extension of their hands. They always have their devices. HAL has brought in high speed internet for one reason only - as a revenue generator. Passengers are paying a lot for high speed internet onboard and they plan to use it. They will use it the same as they use it on land. I fully expect the same land based experiences that we see - people walking and seemingly talking to themselves but are actually on the phone, people using their external speakers on their phone, people FaceTime their every experience (I am still astounded how many people have to video call their Costco trips) and people sitting themselves up in a cafe for hours upon end to avail of the internet and work in public will all transfer to cruise ships.

Speak discreetly with the Restaurant Manager that the passenger's behaviour is disruptive and ask them to speak with the passenger. You want to be very careful speaking with a passenger yourself. HAL, like every cruise line, has a guest code of conduct and obnoxious behaviour toward another guest is a no-no. I realize that many will find the passenger having the FaceTime call as obnoxious, and it is. I think though that the best course of action is to let HAL handle it, as it is quite possible that the passenger having the FaceTime call may find your approaching them as obnoxious. With high speed internet now available on every ship the onboard experience is and has changed. I think that we can all expect much more of this type of behaviour and while I do believe that this is something that HAL must address, based on recent experiences shared on this platform, I am not confident that it will.

It will be really hard to get a definitive answer on any tipping thread. On our last cruise on the Koningsdam we dined in the CO dining room. During one dinner I was seated at a table where I had a clear view of the kitchen and the drop zone where the waiters bring out the trays and remove the plate covers prior to serving the meals. This drop zone has a drawer in it with various cubbies. Several times I saw a waiter return to the drop zone with a closed bill folder in their hands. I watched as they opened the drawer, opened the folder and placed a sign receipt in one cubby and cash in another, quickly close the drawer, place the bill folder in its designated spot and then moved on to other duties. Based on the fact that cash tips were not personally pocketed by the waiter and placed in an open and shared drawer I guess that tips are shared.

From Carnival Cruise Corp's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Presentation: https://www.carnivalcorp.com/financial-information/webcasts-presentations

Carnival Corp stated in 2023 Q3 reporting that 51% of its passengers on all its brands are new to the brand or new to cruising. So this isn't surprising at all. What may be surprising to some of us is that there may be a chance that the cruise line isn't as interested in meeting the needs of it loyal passengers as it is in meeting the needs of all these new passengers? Welcome to the era of big data, where companies know which customers add the most to the bottom line and which customers don't.

I realize that most people booking a cruise don't read the cruise lines investor relations information prior to booking a cruise. You really should though as in 2023 things changed in the cruise industry and will continue to change for '24, '25 and possibly beyond. From today's Carnival Cruise Corp Q1 report: "The company experienced an early start to a robust wave season with record booking volumes for all future sailings that exceeded expectations.... "We are enjoying a phenomenal wave season with strength across all major deployments and brands. Even with less inventory available for the remainder of the year, booking volumes hit an all-time high, driven by demand for 2025 sailings and beyond. Our brands have demonstrated continued success creating demand that outstrips available capacity translating into higher prices (in constant currency) and a further elongation in the booking curve.." What does this mean for the company? "Record first quarter revenues of $5.4 billion, with record net yields (in constant currency) and record net per diems (in constant currency) both significantly exceeding 2023 levels. Gross margin yields nearly doubled compared to 2023 and net yields (in constant currency) significantly exceeded 2023 levels by over 17 percent." https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-plc-reports-record-first-quarter-revenues What does this mean for cruise passengers? It means that you can expect to pay much more for your cruise fare and can expect that there will be more and more people sailing. Occupancy is over 100% and yes, this does mean more people on board - people being children and adults. HAL has never marketed itself as an adults only cruise line. It actively markets itself to families with children and while many people may mistakingly believe that HAL can't compete with the RCs range of ships, fact is that there are many people travelling on HAL's ships with children.

Welcome to the new cruise experience of high speed internet being widely available and widely promoted by the cruise lines. You have to expect that this will happen. You have to expect that cruise passengers will now be doing live feeds on their devices on a cruise ship.

You really want to keep an eye on HAL's numerous sales. For instance, I am Canadian and HAL has the 7 day Zaandam Wine and Country sailing on the Stand by list. At $49US standby it isn't a bargain when it is currently advertised for $349 CDN for an inside cabin. Better to pay $49 CDN pp/pd right now than roll the dice on paying $49 US pp/pd on standby.