violet stillwater

I have never been on a themed cruise before but wondered what this Malt Shop Cruise was like—how does it differ from a regular trip? We were disembarking the Nieuw Amsterdam last week when this cruise was beginning. Lots of maneuvering on the Lido deck setting up what looked to be a stage and dance floor. Anyone ever done one of these cruises before? Just wondering...

Thanks so much DaveOKC for the suggestion to check the flights. I discovered we had a MAX flight & called SWA. Customer service said it could be as late as October 1st (cruise is 10/19) before we find out if our flight is cancelled or if another plane was substituted, so I just switched flights, at no charge, even though the switch was to a higher-fared flight with 2 legs instead of the original one.

Thanks everyone. Even though this will be our 20-something cruise with HAL, I guess I never bothered about it before. 😊 No, we don’t book directly with HAL. just assumed they were like Princess who does let you see your OBC.

I’m having a brain drain and can’t remember where in the online booking my OBC is posted. Help!

Trying to correct address. I tried using the edit & save features, and it did not correct it.

Just curious what is a reasonable amount of time for the Mariner Society to contact me regarding incorrect information on my account? It has been a couple weeks now since I emailed them. We aren't leaving right this minute on our next cruise, but would like to get this corrected. ( And yes, I can call. ) Just wondering what response others have had using email to do this. Thanks.

I have been cruising for 40 years now, across 5 different lines and with 30+ (and counting) trips under my belt, just to give you my perspective. Itinerary determines a trip for us for the most part. We default to HAL and Princess as our chosen lines. I always check HAL first because I love the size of most of their ships (starting with the Vista class ships of 80,000+ tons). It is easy for me to walk the stairs for my exercise and get where I am going. The service on HAL is the best, bar none, in my experience. Hot room service breakfast—yay! The balcony cabins and balconies themselves are bigger on HAL than Princess. There are enough elevators to carry the load and Dive-In burger bar and the New York Pizza are great and there is still a variety of ice creams in the Lido, at no extra cost. the rest of the food is so-so, but the speciality restaurants are quite good. It’s true—not a lot that interests us in the way of entertainment. But we do enjoy the libraries moved to the Crow’s Nest/Explorations area and the comfy chairs there. What a great place to hang out! Have always thought the beds were very comfortable. It would be nice if HAL would do the Medallionet thing and get faster, cheaper internet. The shopping is awful on HAL and the same goes for Princess. Have sailed some of the older Princess ships and much prefer the newer royal class, though I am not a fan of the size now. More people, more decks to climb, more people stuffed like sausages into elevators. Princess never seems to get the right number of lifts on their ships. But their food venues are improving with the updated Horizon Courts and Alfredo’s. Hopefully they will put in a better burger bar with newer ships, Princess does have much better entertainment, and I love the Piazza. But that main theater is not big enough. You shouldn’t have to go 30-45 minutes ahead of time to get a seat. Holland does not have that problem even when there is desirable entertainment. For the life of me I don’t know why Princess designed those newer ships with aft elevators that stop on like deck 7 but go no further down. Odd. Our last cruise in January we were aft deck 15 so if we weren’t walking, that was the elevator nearest. Princess rewards its repeat customers a lot faster than HAL. I do wish their ships didn’t continue to get bigger. HAL’s are, too, but still smaller than Princess. Each line has its pluses and minuses as others have said. Either one is a good value, in my opinion. I may check HAL first, but itinerary wins the coin toss.

Thanks to all of you for your very helpful replies! Good to have options. 😊

Looking at a fall trip in Europe next year. The first 6 days are over land. Would we have to bring all our luggage with us for the land aspect, or is there some way to ship it? Does anyone have experience with this? Thank you.

I always carried the card and the medallion. The bar staff sometimes asked for the card (which are color-coded by loyalty level) for the 4 digits on the lower right of the card. This number allowed them to charge your OBC without the medallion. I encountered this a number of times. I was on the Regal January 27th through February 10th, 2019.

We are currently on the 2nd leg of a B2B on Regal. Last Sunday our barrel chair was removed and we saw a pile of those chairs on the dock at Port Everglades. We only used that chair to dump things on so we don't miss it; we simply moved those things to the other chair in the cabin (a balcony). And we are so happy with the fast internet and inexpensive cost of it that we have nothing tocomplain about! You can hear the PA announcements on the bridgecam channel on the TV.

Thanks all of you!

Can someone tell me which deck Regal uses for disembarkation in Port Everglades? Thank you!

Thanks all, especially MajorJan!

We are on a b2b. On turnaround day, when can I get into thre self serve laundry room? Thanks.