BermudaBound2014

Ha! Golf league starts tomorrow in Michigan. High 48. There’s a reason I miss the first 3 weeks of the season (although my neighbor just sent me a pic of my magnolia tree in bloom which is lovely). Meanwhile my current situation includes watching this whale from my Lanai. Apparently some of the whales are refusing to head back before May also :). GMTA Excited to share those beers! Give Pam my best 🙂 FullSizeRender.MOV

You are my people 🙂

Well, Rolling Stones band needs to be ‘good’ too. On my last cruise, I thought they were just ‘ok’. Not enough to keep me hanging on all night (and I love that genre). I could sing the words to nearly every single song, but some I even didn’t recognize until the chorus. They also had a terrible habit of playing a couple of dance numbers (get the floor jamming), and then jump into Hendrix. Now, I like cowbell just as much as the next girl, but not for dancing. In their defense, the band in Rolling Stones isn’t really a ‘band’. It’s a group of musicians that are put together by an outside company. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s a work in progress. Like you, I’m not too into production shows, but if they are high quality they are entertaining for me. NCL used to pay big money for their entertainment and even though I am not one to go see Rock Of Ages on Broadway, I loved it at sea. NCL offers some top rate caliber production shows (but it costs $$$). We saw Choir of Men in January and that show was terrific!! It was the exact same cast as is played around the world, not substitutes. My point being, the only venue I would personally consider “high quality’ on my last HAL cruise was BBKings. That band was excellent. The classical artists were also good. Neither are my first choice in music, but I ended up spending most of my time in BBKIngs for the energy. Entertainment has to be high quality and quality costs. Of course, quality is also subjective so there’s that :).

Those videos look blank on my phone- can someone please let me know if you can view them? Also let me know if you just want me to stop. I feel like this is now a groundhogs day review. 🤣

I know I promised to answer all questions and post more videos. To be honest, I’ve been super busy on Maui but everyone has now went back home and I’m done entertaining (as you can imagine I’m everyone favorite aunt when I’m on island lol). I have the next three weeks to actually take time to reflect on this whirlwind of a winter before I head “home”. (I really haven’t been to Michigan since January). It’s a bit of a blur and I want to take some time in meditation to cement the experiences into memory. I am still overwhelmed with gratitude. I’m afraid that everything i have to say now is totally outdated and irrelevant but I will do my best to answer any remaining questions, post the videos I couldn’t post onboard and give one final summation. Here are the Fakarava videos I took. Let me know if you can see them. Blue and green lagoon. The snorkeling wasn’t as great here but the water colors (which don’t show up well) were exceptional. I had zero expectations for this stop and it turned out to blow me away. I’m booked on the same tour next year but may do something different. I had friends that just walked down to a hotel beach and the photos were out of this world! Welcoming committee (we had this in several stops)…. IMG_3700.MOV FullSizeRender.MOV IMG_3709.MOV

Jim,I finally got some time to watch every single video (Maui is still keeping me busy, whale season ended last week but several whales didn’t get the memo). These videos are exceptional and a wonderful reminder of the trip. Thank you so much. I was fun to spot me in so many. I shared a few with DH so he could see what he missed. We really did do a lot of excursions together! Goes without saying that I will hold you and Toni’s friendship near and dear for life :).

Smooches, but I have no idea how that pic showed up and it’s too late to edit. I must have had extra coffee that day and got to clicking 🙂

Production shows returning is good news ONLY if the shows are high caliber. You get what you pay for.

Groups are starting to come back post covid. There is a huge group at the Kapalua ritz Carlton right now. Last night they took over the entire beach bar area. I’d be ticked paying 2k a night and having the hotel amenities reduced. Unfortunately hAl isn’t the only line doing this. NCL reserved their observation lounge (same concept as crows nest) for the entire voyage of an Alaskan scenic cruise, and I believe the room was reserved 24 hours a day. Not saying it’s right, just saying that this is happening across the industry (land and sea). I always check for big groups before booking and avoid if possible. Sorry the OP had this experience. Just because it’s fairly common doesn’t make it pleasant.

That’s my girl!! You are tops in my book! 🙂 🙂

The key to San Diego isn’t your priority status but if there is another ship in port that day. If so, expect a clustered immigration and possibly delayed departure. If you are the only ship in port it seems to be much smoother.

What is this nonsense you speak of? ;). Sending you much positive aloha energy in the hopes that your trip will be exceptional:)

I hesitated to bring up the subject of trip insurance on this thread because it’s a rabbit hole. Obviously, the largest discount on aarp gift cards comes when you pay off a big ticket cruise fare, but that does involve understanding their T&C, particularly how gift cards relate to insurance coverage. I use the insurance provided by chase sapphire preferred, and if I recall correctly the policy itself was nearly 100 pages of technical language. It was no fun to read but I learned a lot. The actual policy directly contradicted information I received from a chase sapphire insurance specialist, so never trust the phone rep. AARP Gift cards can offer substantial savings, but they come with zero consumer protection. Buyer be informed.

Or highly motivated to increase future bookings 😉

That would work if you are just using the AARP gift cards to buy OBC, but I use them to pay my entire cruise. I need to expose myself to the risk at final payment. 10% of a 10,000 trip is $1,000 savings which is worth the risk to me, especially that close to sailing. I’m sure most people are aware that you can also purchase AARP gift cards while you are physically onboard and walk the virtual cards to guest services where they will be applied immediately :).

Edited to add: My point is that no matter how small the risk is, gift cards ALWAYS come with some risk. I’m not necessarily risk intolerant, but in the case of Hal gift cards mediating the risk is fairly simple, so why not?

Not quite. I wasn’t solely referring to stock price. But that’s ok, neither one of us will likely know the entire rational of why HAL is offering these low deposits. Last year they offered the $1 deposit 3 (maybe 4) times so it’s obviously working to achieve whatever the goal HAL has set.

I realize this post is not going to be popular, but I want to offer a gentle reminder that there are zero consumer protections with gift cards. Should something happen to the company, the gift cards become worthless. As in, zero value. Likely not covered under any CC or insurance policy either as solvency is exempt That isn’t to say that I don’t purchase and use HAL gift cards, but I do so at the very last minute. I have cruises booked in 2025 and 2026 and I wouldn’t dream of purchasing gift cards this far in advance. There are work arounds to the 5 gift card limit per month so that you can purchase all the gift cards needed to pay off a cruise during the month of final payment. As always, feel free to ignore anything I type. Just putting that reminder out there for folks who may not be aware.

Yet Revenue projections are based on future bookings. I would agree that if the total effect of the $1 deposits was to lower future revenue, then HAL would likely stop these promotions entirely. However; I do not discount the power of said revenue projections and suggest that increasing future bookings adds substantial value for the company. We will likely never know how many who book under the$1 deposit actually cancel, but I suspect it’s a number acceptable to the bean counters. Somewhere between everyone and nobody.

It’s likely all the bean counters at HAL have done their homework and offering these low deposits ‘work’. What we don’t know is their definition of ‘work’. I have always suspected these low deposits are a way to inflate future booking numbers so that when CCL reports their quarterlies to the SEC the future looks bright. The last SEC report looked all nice a rosy on the surface but if you dig deeper it’s obvious that debt continues to be a very serious problem. Their revenue maybe showing higher but their expenses are tied to inflation and energy pricing. Not to mention, with long term debt at nearly 30 Billion, the interest only payments are brutal. CCL can’t afford to report lower future bookings to the SEC at the next quarterly. Perhaps the dollar deposits do bring in future passengers (who actually sail), but it doesn’t hurt the company to report that their 2026 bookings are at ‘record levels’.

Aloha SilverSweatheart :). We just spent a day upcountry admiring your gorgeous jacaranda trees in bloom. Such a lovely part of the island you call home. Just a FYI, it looks like Home Made Bakery decided to close after all. There was talk of closing, then not closing, but this article published yesterday states they changed their minds again and will close at the end of this month. https://mauinow.com/2024/04/18/home-maid-bakery-to-close-its-lower-main-street-location-on-april-29-potential-partnership-is-in-the-works/ ,

Thanks Mary~ Did you have issues with uniformity of excellence? I was very pleased with the standard of service onboard. There was a bit of service inconsistencies (most complaints appeared to be in the MDR which I didn’t attend). There were a few misses with room service and I did get a glass of ice dumped on my head while I was sleeping in my playpen, but other than that, I thought service was outstanding :-). About the ice incident. It was a total accident and my guy was literally in shock! That could have happened regardless of training. I took it like a champ, assuring him that I needed to wake up anyway (and have witnesses that I was more concerned about the young mans ego than I was about my abrupt waking @Rhonda and Keith haha). I’m just thankful he didn’t dump a glass of ice on some of the CrankyMcCrankisters I saw around the ship who would have most certainly went after his job, or asked for OBC ;-) But here’s the thing. This young man (who will remain nameless just in case someone wants to be a jerk about the dumping) was going above and beyond in service when he had the little ooopsy. Since I had the same playpen daily he learned that I liked Arnold Palmers. In this instance, he was bringing ice to my Arnold Palmer so that when I woke up the drink would be fresh and cold! How Sweet Is That???? He and I are social media friends now and we will forever laugh about the time he woke me up from a leisure nap by dousing me in an ice bath :). When I compare the service on HAL to the service we received on Carnival and NCL just a month prior, HAL’s service was significantly better. More servers walk around offering drinks (that was non-existent on carnival). Sure there were instances in busy venues that it was difficult to get a drink, but I am more concerned about the amount of watering down that HAL is doing to the drinks than I am about waiting an extra 20 minutes. I’m not a huge drinker. One evening I polished off three gin/tonics pretty quickly. On land I would have been seriously impaired. Onboard, I felt the tiny tiniest of a buzz. It happened several times. I actually stopped consuming alcoholic drinks because I could keep drinking (and drinking) with the only measurable result being the calories were making fat. By the end of the trip it was wine or beer for this girl. Back to service: My cabin stewards serviced the cabin twice daily (no longer the case on carnival or ncl). They were exceptional. I told them they did not have to do towel animals for me nightly and they insisted! I got chocolates on my pillows (was that a function of it being a legendary cruise or are all HAL cruises getting chocolate?) Also, the service in the lido was exceptional for me. I sat on the opposite side of the line that was open and, again, got to know the same person daily. He always had my drink ready and that guy would have gotten me anything from the buffet had I asked. I guess my super long winded point is that with or without the service excellence program, I would rank service on HAL a solid 9/10, especially when compared to NCL and Carnival. I did not see anything service related that I thought needed serious revision. I do believe that they need to bring back the uniformity of excellence training when it comes to programing onboard entertainment. Lack of physically active and fun things to do (especially with those long stretches of sea days) was really the only area I thought in need of significant revision. If HAL wants to grab the attention of the soon to be retired Gen Xers, they need to rid themselves of their reputation as a cruise line for the elderly. And note that, imo, elderly isn’t a number~ it’s a mindset.

Take a look at how these last minute prices compare with the $49 offer HAL recently launched. For those able to travel last minute, it appears that often it’s better to just book direct and pick your cabin and KNOW you are traveling, sometimes weeks in advance.

I thought Grant came from Royal? I swore we talked about rhapsody of the seas. Although come to think of it he did mention Disney wasn’t a good fit for him due to all the kids. I suppose he could come from both Disney and Royal. I have never sailed Disney but the Royal playmakers do an excellent job!! Entertainment is one area where HAL falls way short when compared to other main stream lines. It’s evident entertainment isn’t a priority given the size of grants team (3) is tiny compared to others with activity staffs over 10. Where Hal excels is itinerary at an excellent price point. I know that’s why I sail with them.

Hi Annie!! Thanks for the info. Two questions, who the heck is Emma and how does she still have a job? I vote for everyone getting out of Grants way and letting him run the entertainment!!