HAL Cruise Advice

[John Reid]

Thanks in advance for what I think this board is invaluable for - insights.

 

Two things to help me plan my next HAL cruise already booked - Nieuw Amsterdam, January 15, 2012.

 

1. HMC cabanas. Which are your favorites and why?

 

2. On the Roll Call board, I read about people having booked specialty dining in advance of the cruise, yet I have read posts that have said that when prebooking dining and arriving for dinner, staff is not always aware of the reservation.

 

Insights greatly appreciated.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Have never booked a HMC cabana so can't help there.

 

RE: specialty dining, have booked this one time and the PG had the reservation. However, I checked with the PG on the day of embarkation to make sure they had the reservation. I would recommend doing that to make sure.

[OVgirl]

We have also prebooked dinner in Tamarind. When we boarded there was a card in our cabin confirming our reservation. If you don't see some sort of confirmation, I would go to the restaurant and confirm your reservation.

[CruiserBruce]

If you come over to the Private islands board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=406

 

You will see several threads on the cabanas, with people's ideas on good and bad, and why.

[Randyk47]

Thanks in advance for what I think this board is invaluable for - insights.

 

Two things to help me plan my next HAL cruise already booked - Nieuw Amsterdam, January 15, 2012.

 

1. HMC cabanas. Which are your favorites and why?

 

2. On the Roll Call board, I read about people having booked specialty dining in advance of the cruise, yet I have read posts that have said that when prebooking dining and arriving for dinner, staff is not always aware of the reservation.

 

Insights greatly appreciated.

 

 

1. Half Moon Cay. We usually book one of the centrally located cabanas. Last stay we reserved the Purple cabana and were happy with it's location. Some like the ones further down the beach, kind of away from the crowds, some prefer those closer to the facilities and easier to get to from the tender pier. My impression is that there really aren't any bad cabanas and it really depends on your wants and needs for privacy or ease of access or whatever.

 

2. Specialty dining. We don't book specialty restaurants before a cruise so have never had the issue of missing or dropped reservations. Truth is that we don't typically go to the Pinnacle Grill or the others and when we have gone we've not had a problem getting reservations once on the ship. Realize others use the alternate dining venues frequently so I'll defer to them.

[gregdude]

Always confirm your prearranged dinner reservations once on board.

[AZNative2000]

Any advance reservations that you make will show up in your online (at HAL dot com) personal itinerary. You can print that before you go to have proof of all your pre-bookings. Additionally, they normally deliver a confirmation to your room ... BUT nothing beats bringing your own from home.:)

[fann1sh]

When picking a cabana, things to know:

 

*List of cabanas by colour. Note - #1 is in fact "taupe", not "grey":

 

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/108/296583013_6fa96f5e51_o.jpg

 

*The "new for 2011" Captain Morgan pirate bar is located between #5 - light blue - and #6 - purple. There will be music played, and you may find it loud.

 

*The beach is most crowded by #1, because Taupe cabana is closest to the tenders, least distance to walk. The further you go, the less crowded it gets. However, the further down the beach you go, the further you have to walk to BBQ area/bathrooms.

 

*There is a second set of bathrooms halfway down the beach, behind/near the eggshell cabana.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks in advance for what I think this board is invaluable for - insights.

 

Two things to help me plan my next HAL cruise already booked - Nieuw Amsterdam, January 15, 2012.

 

1. HMC cabanas. Which are your favorites and why?

 

2. On the Roll Call board, I read about people having booked specialty dining in advance of the cruise, yet I have read posts that have said that when prebooking dining and arriving for dinner, staff is not always aware of the reservation.

Insights greatly appreciated.

 

As soon as we get on the ship -- we go to the specialty restaurants and make certain that they know about our prebooked reservations.

I also take along the e-mail confirming those reservations.

[John Reid]

Thanks to all for your invaluable insights. Everything I needed to know and more. More excited than ever for this cruise.