Jump to content

sambamama

Members
  • Posts

    1,574
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    West Springfield MA
  • Interests
    dancing, reading, music, snorkeling, scuba
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    HAL
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Caribbean

Recent Profile Visitors

2,235 profile views

sambamama's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  • Great Review Rare

Recent Badges

  1. When I dove in Thailand this summer, we found a cell phone at the ocean bottom in one of these waterproof pouches. It still worked, although the battery was dead! It had probably been there a week or more! The same dive I found a dive knife in a leather sheath. That had been there considerably longer!
  2. Airline MCT are down to 35 minutes in some airports. JetBlue changed my flight vivo bong me 59 minutes to connect in Fort Lauderdale from Hartford to a Cozumel flight. My flight has a 20% record of being 30 minutes late, and the connecting later flight was already 75% full. That was the only flight to Consume later that day. I insisted they change it as I booked with a 2 hour window. They changed it on their own because they wanted to sell my award flight ( booked through Orlando) for more.
  3. The website is very clunky, but at least somewhat useable. However, I spent 10 minutes trying to pull up an Alaska cruise for 2025, and finally gave up and went to a cruise travel agency. The Navigator App, if you have an Android, is complete junk and does not operate at all. And HAL has basically given everything over to the app. You can't find out your current bill unless you go to Guest Services unless you use the app, and Guest Services almost always has a line now. They used to have a handy machine that you could print a bill out on, but that is gone.
  4. This is an absolutely horrible idea. As I just about always book a guarantee, it would almost never affect me. But I know I am in a very small minority. HAL most be out of their mind to change the policy this way. Just about every cruise I go on is couples. Very, very rarely do I meet families cruising or people sharing 3 or 4 to a cabin. If HAL this was absolutely necessary, they should only do it for prime periods of Alaska or Caribbean cruising. No one wants to sign up for an expensive long cruise and lose their specially selected cabin. HAL will be losing a great deal of their cruisers. People should write and tell the management that they won't continue to sail with HAL with these conditions in place.
  5. HAL had cruises to the ABC islands, and I've done them many times. But the snorkeling isn't that great in Aruba or Curacao. Bonaire-amazing! I did 2 snorkel trips there. Really, if you love snorkeling, your money is better spent going to Bonaire or Cozumel and staying there for a week or 10 days and snorkeling every day. And if you love snorkeling, you may want to try a discover scuba package. I did that in Costume three years ago and now I've dove 144 times. Curacao and Aruba have amazing beaches, but the snorkeling was not that great.
  6. You may pay a bit more using a TA than booking with the cruiser line. That's to be expected. Will the cruise line track if the price drops? Does the cruise line help you pick the best line, itinerary, and cabin? Help with airfare? Give you personalized advice? Let you know what package may be best for you? Find out if there are special rates for you? Possibly rebate some of the price back? If the price drops, get your cabin upgraded? That's what mine has done. She lets me know about special deals, too. No cruise line does that. And if the TA booked you a bad cabin, you are A) working with a bad TA and B) not doing your due diligence.
  7. And unfortunately, HAL wants you to run your cruise off their non-functioning app. They no longer have the machine that prints out your statement. You are supposed to get this thru the app, which you can't do if the app doesn't work .
  8. It never worked for me before, during and after my cruise. It hates Android phones.
  9. HAL has also now closed the MDR every day the ship is in port. And for everything they cut, there are very few things they add instead. They added Lincoln Stage, but that's gone. They added milkshakes and those are actually great!
  10. Find a good TA and work with them. Their agency may have a deal that gets you a better deal. They know the lines, the routes, etc. They deal with any hassles with the cruise line. Mine checks for price drops, and sees if the cruise line will upgrade my cabin.
  11. Or if you need checked luggage, get a bag that rolls well!!
  12. Trip advisor has cheaper tours than Viator. Also just Google Lisbon day tours and Barcelona day tours. If you like walkIng, Google free walking tours for each city. See if your phone can get an esim. That may be the cheapest way to solve the phone issue as you may only need actual phone use for a week and you can get by with data the rest of the time.
  13. I've sailed solo for a long time. I always request main fixed table for 6 or 8. That way I have dining companions. If I end up at an empty table, I ask to be moved to a table with at least two other people. I like eating with the same people and getting to know them and having the same waiters. As far as the Pinnacle, you can join a roll call and see if someone will let you join their dinner. Or make your own solo reservation and hopefully meet people to dine with on the ship. Don't count on solo meetups, though. My recent 2 week Asia cruise had 1solo meet up and it was timed such I couldn't make dinner. And that has been the timing for the last 3 cruises.
  14. Bargains in travel are not in cruises usually any more. It is in land travel in cheaper countries. HAL has priced this solo cruiser pretty much out of booking cruises any more with them for the time being.
  15. I worried before my first solo cruise. But it turned out to be the best cruise ever! I met a wonderful couple I spent all my time with and even went on three trips with later. If you don't mind being alone, you will be fine. If you find it easy to meet people, you will be fine. Go and have a great time. You can make your own schedule. I've traveled alone now for over10 years and love it!
×
×
  • Create New...