LAFFNVEGAS

Ohhh! Your kitten is adorable! My "kitten" is 5 years old lol.

 

 

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Thanks :) This is Missy, I got her one week ago today, she is 13 weeks old. I adopted her from a Rescue place. She is truly a little sweety.

And in Key West Nieuw Amsterdam departed with the camera on on her :(

 

http://keywestharborwebcam.com/

that is Nice :)

What happened? :eek: Not a single toot :(

I think I arrived just in time to see her :)

What is a push notification?

Carol, a push notification is a message that comes up on your phone stating something has occurred in a particular app. It can also be of weather conditions warnings, Amber alerts. Traffic alerts. I think every app that you place on your phone asks if you want these type of alerts called push notifications. I always state no except I do have it for weather alerts and emergency situations. It is kind of like a text message.

I think I am going to totally remove the Cruise Critic app.

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On a side note, can you post pictures on cruise critic using your iphone?

If yes how is this done?

 

Thanks in advance

Ok at least on Tapa Talk Cruise Critic on my iPhone I just click on my little camera icon and you can take a picture to post or click the little picture icon and it asks if I want to use an existing photo then it will even ask the quality you want to use for pixel size. Here is a photo of my new kitten.

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On a side note, can you post pictures on cruise critic using your iphone?

If yes how is this done?

 

Thanks in advance

This use to be extremely easy, but what ever update just happened they have changed everything in the Cruise Critic app, I cannot even find how to reply to a post :eek: Obviously there are some major problems going on with the Cruise Critic App right now. But I also have Tapa Talk with Cruise Critic. Let me go into my phone on Tapa Talk and give the instructions to post a picture.

Have an idea :

Remove the app and put it back on then reset you iPhone by pressing the top button and the bottom button together till phone turns off completely. Let go when you see the apple back. This will kinda " clear cookies" on your iPhone. See if it makes a diff and let's know.

Thanks, I will have to try that a bit later today since I have a bunch of errands to go run. Now what is odd it is doing it on my iPhone but When I just turned the wifi on my iPad for a while it did not seem to occur but then I do not keep the wifi on the iPad on very often. Bit did have it on for a while yesterday and this morning. But this is definitely a glitch with the Cruise Critic App.

I know there are several that have the Cruise Critic App on their smart phone, I am a little bit upset with the app right now. I never allow the Push notifications on any apps for my phone. I find them extremely annoying so I have had the actual Cruise Critic App since it came out on my iPhone. Suddenly yesterday I started to get the Push notifications. And not just posts I have posted on but for posts on board like Carnival and other boards I never post on. I have gone into my phone making sure they are turned off as well as in the CC App. I am obviously not getting every post there is on CC but yesterday I would guess I got about 40 of them, this does not do well for my battery life on the phone either. Is this happening with anyone else?

I really feel for the crew that are so far away from home and if they cannot get a hold of their families. Yet I am sure they are keeping a smile on their faces as they serve all the passengers. It is not just HAL ships but many of the other cruise lines have a large number of crew from the Philippines. It is just so sad that the area hit the hardest was the same area that just had a bad earthquake.

Prayers definitely going out to all those affected.

I do, too. I wonder why it is that the "no sugar added" desserts taste better than the others :confused: At least they do to me!

I agree, I really like the No Sugar added Black Forest Cake :)

As much as I have always loved HAL I will be the first to admit the desserts have never been good:( As others have said they are tasteless or they always look really good but taste nothing like they look. One of the reasons the Dessert Extravaganza to me is definitely no big deal. Now the cruise line that the desserts have always been really good has been Norwegian or at least for me. That first night Key Lime Pie is totally amazing :D

Congratulations!! :)

The creme brulee in the "Available Every Day" menu of the MDR - not the creme brulee in the Pinnacle Grill. And of course, the ice creams in the Lido are very good, too. Try to stay away from them.

:confused:When did HAL start to have Creme Brulee on the Everyday menu? I know that some other cruise lines have this, it seems like Celebrity did but do not recall HAL have a dessert at all on the Every Day menu. If I would have know that I would have been ordering it.

Now my favorite is actually the Le Cirque Creme Brulee or the lunch Pinnacle Lime Pana Cotta.

We did the Solstice in the fall three years ago and I always swear that I will not discuss or compare a cruise that was that long ago but why we have not returned is that while we had Aqua Class and was able to dine in Blu which we totally loved the other aspects of Celebrity were not us. She was just too modern for decor. Tom called her too industrialized. The regular balconies and the Aqua Class cabins definitely felt smaller especially in the bathroom, no bathtubs. I felt the crew were not nearly as friendly as HAL's crew. There were definitely things we liked on the Solstice such as their buffet area but did not like that we had to pay for real orange juice. I thought that drink prices in general were a lot higher and the drink package was not worth it to us because we could never drink that much to come close to break even. Entertainment was OK one show was a WOW but the rest were ho hum.

I have honestly looked at several possible cruises with Celebrity since and since we liked Aqua Class would only do that or higher but the prices for something comparable with HAL have always been far more money and I seldom see Celebrity dropping their prices closer to the sailing like HAL does to get a good deal with an upgrade. I can still get a HAL regular balcony with a slightly bigger cabin/bathroom, Elemis bath products and better bed and linens for less money.

BTW for those that mention the no smoking on Celebrity, yes this is very true BUT... I have heard of a few occasions that someone has had a cabin that near by someone does try to sneak out in the balcony and have a cigarette so while it is NOT allowed there is no guarantee that no one will not try to do it next to you :rolleyes: Granted likelihood far less than HAL but but in the last few years I only had one time this happened to us and it did not ruin our cruise because it was not all the time and oddly that is not a complaint I hear much of from HAL passengers I speak with. I have heard the complaint far more from those that cruise on Royal Caribbean and Carnival.

I do not own a Kindle. Is there any other way to download it? Like to an Android App or such? Thank you.

If you have any kind of tablet you can go to your Apps Store and there should be a Kindle App and it is free. You do need to have an Amazon account to download the free books. I have an iPad and have both nook and Kindle and iBooks on my iPad.

Thanks I just did :)

Well, it may be normal, but I'd hardly call it legit to state that "These special fares are not available to the general public" when they in fact are available to the public, according to the OP. Smacks of false advertising in my books. We are all used to marketing hyperbole, but this appears to be an outright falsehood.

 

Well it is legit if there are some sailings that are offered that are less. After I came home in May for the months of June and July I saw so many various sailings that were in fact much lower. Granted not every sailing I looked at but definitely quite a few. The fares I was finding under my Mariner number were NOT available for the public. I am sure in the OP's case if they search they were find several that they can find for lower rates than what HAL is advertising. While I did not take the cruise I was actually booked on the Noordam TA for several hundred less that HAL was offering even with FLASH Sale so YES it can be. This past summer I saw several occasions of people that were given offers right after they came home from a cruise with some amazing deals. The offers stopped coming in after we booked the Noordam TA and then canceled. Have not gotten any of the offers since but I have had the occasion to talk to some that have in fact received these emails, they would ask the current rate and the price they were seeing when they logged into HAL was in fact much lower. I will not be surprised that when we return from our New Years cruise it will start over again with some great offers.

Especially if you are a 4 Star Mariner or higher!

One or two star Mariners get the good offers, our higher fares are justified to pay for our perks! :rolleyes:

You stated what I was thinking (lol)

Actually I was quite shocked this last summer when I was getting the special Mariner offers because I am 4 Star but the offers were amazingly lower than what HAL was offering to the general public and they were with our Mariner number. SO they do offer these special prices to 4 star Mariner.

I just returned from a cruise on the Eurodam and a day later received an email offer from Holland with the following statement: "These special fares are not available to the general public and may differ from those on "Cruise Details and Availability" pages. To receive these special fares, please visit My Account, and enter your ID number or provide this information when you call." One of the cruises shown under this offer was very tempting so I checked its pricing, etc... on the general Holland Website first and then called an Holland sales representative to find out what would be MY special Mariner pricing and what amenities I would receive under this offer.

Guess what? The pricing I was quoted and the amenities offered were exactly the same as those offered on the general website. I asked the agent to double check again "my" special mariner price, gave her the promo code again and she confirmed that the price she had quoted me was correct and she did not have any explanation for this price being the same as the one quoted on the general website.

I think that this kind of promotion is very misleading and that Holland America should be denounced for making these misleading and quite honestly somewhat frodulent offers.

Anyone else had this experience?

 

 

 

This very is legit and totally normal for their current Welcome Home campaign email. For about 90 days after we returned from our Zuiderdam cruise in May we were getting emails about three times a week and I would log into the HAL site and find some amazing low prices, especially for Europe and Trans Atlantics. There big push right now is to get you booked within 90 days of returning home. I did book, then canceled because I booked my Crystal which sadly did not happen. But now I am booked again with HAL for end of December so I expect I will have some emails with some great offers once we return. Do sign in to HAL and take a look. The best prices will be for Europe and most likely Spring Caribbean. The prices we were getting were amazingly lower usually any where from $200.00 to as much as $800 per person less. Remember NOT ALL sailings qualify for the special offers so what you already booked may not have been one that it applied to!!!

Too funny right after I posted the above I received an email that was address from Stein Kruse. I received this because of my occupation.

This is a portion of the letter. Please note the last paragraph!!

Today a series of announcements were made by Carnival Corporation & plc, reflecting several new strategies to accelerate the strengthening of our brands and create further positive momentum in the marketplace.

As announced, I will become CEO of Princess Cruises and Holland America–Princess Alaska land operations, in addition to my current role as CEO, Holland America Line and Chairman, Seabourn. These changes will become effective December 1, 2013.

Also announced today was the appointment of Jan Swartz to President, Princess Cruises. I am looking forward to furthering our collective support of our valued travel partners, in collaboration with Jan and her colleague Richard Meadows, President, Seabourn and EVP Marketing, Sales & Guest Programs, Holland America Line.

As we all share a common desire to exceed our guests’ expectations, I want to reassure you that all of our brands have a unique and special place in the market, and they will remain as independent brands. There is absolutely no intention of combining brands. All have a great reputation and history, loyal guests and the potential for further growth and success and we are excited for the future.

Just because Mr Kruse is now over seeing a few more areas under the Carnival umbrella does not mean that things are going to change for the consumer/passengers. In all honesty I see absolutely nothing changing. Princess will be Princess same has HAL will remain the same as it is now. Mr Kruse was CEO of Seabourn as well as HAL and there were no over lapping of policies and or combining of cruise credits. The only similarity was their booking engine and Up Sell offers (which btw were not nearly as good a HAL's) Princess shares the same booking engine and internal computer system that HAL and Seabourn use. It was actually Princess's to begin with. Many things that we see Princess doing was done first by them and HAL followed. I do not expect to be a single change other than Mr Kruse will have more people under him to handle the day to day management activities. And he will probably be flying to California a lot more often. Don't expect there to be in sharing between the cruise lines.

Bon Voyage to all of you, I know you are going to have a fantastic time!!! :)

Oh I think it sounds amazing :D I could have that for lunch every single day. I would have a hard time choosing and would like a sampler plate of each Roll and Sashimi offered...oh actually pass on the salad give me an order of Tuna Sashimi and Rainbow Roll, I will take some Sake too ;)

Thanks Lisa, after doing all of our cruises in HAL in a Neptune suite, we just realized it was not doing it for us versus the price we were paying. We love the idea of the 4166 and really think it is good enough for us, BUT I always was curious about the Superior Suites. Sounds like picking up a phone would be much easier and the dining table is a plus.

 

Do you think that $490 PP for 14 days is a good price? I am not even considering waiting for an up-sell because that will never happen. I have horrible luck. When we decide it will be final.

 

That is $35 dollars a day, per person. Hummmmmm.

 

As for upgrading to a Neptune (if we had a SZ Gnt) it would have to be a real deal for us to consider doing it again. But if it happens and its a deal we will jump on it. Otherwise we will be perfectly happy in the VD or SZ Gnt.

 

Lisa:

On a side note, it did feel really final! This weekend I have 2 weddings and bridal show, so its going to be nuts. I will be getting home as it starts.

I have a feeling poor Warlo will go to tons of effort decorating a wedding space for him and Sookie (poor thing really loves her I think anyway) and I think grandpa Niall will come back and kill him not knowing whats been going on! Its going to be devastating! If grandpa Niall does not do it, someone will. They have a potential to be too happy for anyone to let them be. Eeeekk! Is right! Terry's funeral so sad!

I have to say out of 30+ HAL cruises and the majority were in Neptune Suites over all our favorite category to book really is the Signature Suites. We seldom use the Neptune but we like the extra space for cabin, bathroom and balcony that the Signature Suites provide. I am one that actually dislikes the dressing area on the Neptune Suite. It tends ti get hot and humid in that area from the bathroom shower, the orange tint of the mirror drives me nuts. I much prefer the dressing table out in the cabin with the natural day light. So you can count me in on the fact that yes I think the extra is worth the money :D

Off topic to Surfergirlie, I too will be busy this Sunday and not sure I will be home in time so may have to watch it "On Demand' on Monday night and I said to my husband a couple of weeks ago that Niall would be back at the end ;) I think you could be spot on for your guessing.