Shih-tzu

You are correct, the cruise leaves on the 5th but we are flying down on the 4th and spending the night in Miami:cool:

 

 

 

Sherri

Same here (but spending night in FLL).... I was panicking that if you were right my plane would arrive after the ship sailed....or you may would have an unexpected surprise if you showed up a day early. I'm in a verandah guarantee, so will be interesting to see what happens..... hope to see you on board... (I'll be the one at the aft pool doing Suduko puzzles and sipping mocktails hoping for some relaxation....).;p

We just booked our first guarantee room ever and first time cruising HAL. We leave November 4th on the Zuirderdam and these next few weeks will torture until we get our room assignment.:o. We booked a VF guarantee so I'm curious where we will end up. We have also never booked this close to sailing so I guess it's a season of firsts for us.

 

Sherri

Are you sure it's the 4th and not the 5th?

For upcoming cruise it was a $300 each difference between guarantee ( they pick) and selecting room at the lowest level in that category.... so I do understand what the TA means....the price that comes up on the HAL site when you first select a cruise is the guarantee price. Just went on site ... Verandah guarantee is $1332 (says we select your room). Price is $1584 And $1688 if you select your own...so technically you do pay extra to pick your room.....

(Much the same as airlines now)

Thank you. We had our Turkey dinner yesterday and I thunk that today I may start to gather up summer clothes and take them to my craft room where I do my packing.....I only have three weekends left to get ready!!!!

Looks like a lot of us are in the same boat......., I'm organizing special "turtle tours." These will be private with no more than six people with the same problems. The tour operator will understand our guidelines, and we should have a comfortable trip for about the cost of the cattle-call ship tours.

 

Good luck with your knees!

TURTLE tours!!!!! Love it!!!!!!:D

My knees are bad....by Labour Day weekend I was taking Tylenol with the Codine and Advil.......physio couldn't help me anymore....by the time I got I to the Wally store from the parking lot I had to drive one of the scooters.....,

I went to a different drug store and looked around for a brace (the metal bars down the side physio gave me dug in...) I discovered this type of tape called KT tape Pro....comes in pre-cut strips. Not sure the price down your way, but it's $25.00/roll here). I came home and watched the instructions on their web site, and since Sep 3rd, I have not had to take anything for pain for my knees and can get upstairs OK (down still huts a bit but nothing like it did).

I find the tape lasts about 6 days, so I paid about $5.00/week. You can swim, shower, hot tub....it doesn't feel hot or restrictive. I bought 2 rolls to bring on my 10 day cruise as I'll be swimming, hot tubbing, sand, etc and may need to replace more often, but it's been a wonderful solution for me that is drug free. Comes in beige, black, some other colours....I stuck with beige.

Also has videos on line for shoulders, arms, hips, back, ankles...

Thanks for the posts...and photos........can't wait!!!!

Looking for reviews too. Booked for November cruise

Welcome back!

When I booked, the guarantee was over $300 cheaper per person than if I selected a cabin even at the lowest level in its class (which I would have booked). So for saving $600, we will end up in at least what we would have booked...which I'll be happy with. Anything else is "gravy". My last HAL cruise I booked an MM inside and ended up with a "K" inside. I'm in a verandah gty this time.....I will find out in about 3 weeks where my cabin actually is.....but the worst verandah cabin aboard ship is better than a day in the chair at the office!!! Give me a blanket and pillows and I'll sleep in the life boat if it means I get to cruise!!!

I recently purchased the newer "Quench" drink package which includes non-alcoholic drinks including speciality coffee and cocktails. I believe it was about $17.50 a day but I think the convenience will pay for itself. If I remember correctly, it includes bottled and San Pellegrino (?) Bottled water as well. I tried to cut and paste but can't figure out how to make it work on here (better attend a computer class on board)

Partly size, partly because they don't seem as "loud" (guess that would be best description?) As the bigger ones. At my age, rock walls and zip lines and some of the things the mega ships have aren't something I need... when it's relaxation I want, HAL is 1st choice. I had a friend who was on a mega ship and she said it wasn't a great experience with the extra charges and having to preplan things down to small details before she left home due to reservations that had to be pre-made, etc. I have never had bad service on the few cruises I've been on, but HAL seemed better. Hope upcoming HAL cruise is up to same standard!!

I know this does not involve your cabin, but another spot you are going to probably want to avoid is the area near the shops as they sell duty free perfumes and there's a lot of people spraying and testing things. Scents normally don't bother me, but that area had enough that even I got stuffed up. Another place that bothered my friend was the elevators on Gala nights....a lot of guests were a little more than generous with their spray bottles that night.

After "Bigdogwon" made their initial post, I went to the Environment Canada web site which indicated the coast off of BC was under a gale warning (the marine areas were all red indicating high seas). Perhaps a cabana or two started to become damaged with pieces blowing around and in the interest of safety they are not using any of them until they determine a better way to anchor them down or something??? (Just guessing here but does make sense).

 

 

Shih-tzu, my dear, it is nice to see you on here! Hope all is well! I see you are on the Zuiderdam soon. Make sure to be on the look-out for Jacob in the Seaview Bar when you are out there.having a cig. He was the sweetest barman I've met on any ship!

Hey Bostonjetset...how are you! I was thinking about you and your mom the other night and hoping maybe you might be on the cruise I'm on (this trip is with my son who has never cruised before). I'll look for Jacob. You should look into the 5-15 Nov sailing..,there has been quite a price drop since I booked. And I agree that the time in Bermuda is not too long....and the Veendam was wonderful. Hoping I like Zuiderdam as much. Say hi to Barb for me!!!!!

Maybe the red area explains it....gale warnings on west coast.... I just checked Environment Canada site for Marine weather. Won't let me post screen shot for some reason, but I suspect OP is in rough seas.

Loved my trip to Bermuda on the Veendam. Excellent crew and ship is small enough to get right into downtown Hamilton close to the bus station and ferry terminal. (Didn't do the New England/Canada portion as I would have ended up "home"). I'd go again on her no problem.

And we're still checking in on you. Only 9 days to go, single digit time! m--

My experience shows that the longer you wait for your cabin assignment, it sometimes means theres more than a few available at a higher level and theyre tring to upsell first; and in my case, I ended up with a nice surprise upgrade. As they say sometimes "Good things come to those that wait". I hope that the suspense comes with great news.

I'm booked a guarantee for my upcoming cruise, I don't expect to see my assignment until about 7 days out.

An HH cabin is an an oceanview not a balcony. Did hal tell you this? Take a look at deck plan. It someone told you that it was a balcony they were very wrong. I understand location is important to you and it's a great idea to book a room you are happy with. If you have a laundry list of wants I don't think a gty is the best choice. Others are not so particular. I book a specific room on occasion but I don't think I have a right to tell others what they should do just because they are wondering when they will land.

People could easily mistake an HH as a balcony from looking at pictures as it has the floor to ceiling windows that look like patio doors. (As opposed to port holes or the standard rectangular windows). Balcony STYLE windows would be the best description.

The cabin stewards would probably have run errands for someone not in a Neptune Suite. I didn't rely on the concierges as much as I might have because we don't usually get concierge accommodations in hotels, or on other cruise lines. I'm very DIY and don't think of asking for help.

 

Funny thing is I know someone who always gets a suite on a cruise in case she gets sick--she doesn't want to be stuck in a small room all day. She doesn't have health issues, she has this "just in case" thing about wanting to have a nice space to be confined in.

See my post (#20 on this thread). I was in an inside cabin and also got the wonderful treatment. Maybe the fruit plate was because of a concierge but I believe it's just the HAL crew's way of doing things..... maybe because they are smaller ships, maybe their training???

Thanks everyone. I hope to have time to check out the Beal's outlet...... goo g to tat another look at Old Navy....the website didn't cooperate last time I was on. Appreciate the responses.

I ended up with an extremely painful ankle on my Veendam cruise to Bermuda in 2015. (No injury or event that could be recalled). The staff was phenomenal!!!!! The steward (Putu) kept putting baggies of ice in our room to help ease the pain, the Doctor was very caring (Dr Gabana was her name I believe), staff would help me get my meal to the table at the Lido, the Pool Bar staff would check on me about every 1/2 hour when I was there to see if I needed a top up of ice and even arranged a pillow I had under my foot....... it's not fun to have something happen on a cruise, but a HAL ship is the ship to be on if something does.... They always asked me how I was doing, and if I wasn't there they asked my travel companion how I was. Even a maintenance worker asked if I was feeling any better than I was the day before.......Their crew is truly amazing.

Maybe we could barter or offer a trade off? "YOU CAN KEEP 2 OF YOUR SPA ADS, 2 OF YOUR SHOPPING ADS AND 2 OTHERS OF YOUR CHOICE FOR THE PAGES OF PAPER AND INK MY CUISE LOG WILL TAKE" . Nawwww....I didn't think it would work either. So how are they able to print all those ads if they're unable to print the log?

Have you considered having alterations done to your current clothes?

Also look in the on-line sales sections of stores like Old Navy Canada. This is in the regular section http://oldnavy.gapcanada.ca/browse/product.do?cid=1064190&vid=8&pid=112064043

Going to look there tonight - for some reason I couldn't do it when I was on my phone....but hopefully when I'm on the actual laptop it will....... Thanks.

I was in the same place last year. I found A LOT online @ JC Penny's. And they have great online sales on their clearance items. I got 6 pairs of shorts, a pencil skirt & a couple other items for less than $75. I also went in & went through their clearance racks a couple times a month. I found a lot of tank tops for $1 or $2.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Wish we had a JC Penny's ... I've found a few on-line sites but the cost of shipping and the duties are unreal... I'm not prepared to pay $75.00 for a blouse (on sale)....but I'm going to keep looking. I wonder if they would ship to the hotel I'm staying at the night before (as you have to pay for it before hand anyway??? if I made arrangements with the hotel that packages may be coming??). Once I'm there, I'm permitted to bring back $700 or $800 worth of items....