bonvoyagebites

Day 3, Pt. 4 is posted on our blog. Any suggestions for wrap-up posts? Any questions I can answer with my limited experience, as a HAL newbie?

This is referring to a text chat, where you type back and forth with the support agent.

Thanks for your review. We also were new to HAL on our recent trip that we reviewed. We had our teenagers with us, but they are well behaved... but we observed the same thing about the demographic of the ship. It was much more.... ummmm.... refined... than let's say... maybe.. Carnival. Now, this isn't to say that I don't also like Carnival, as I enjoy being on the sea regardless and can adapt to whatever environment I am in. But it was much quieter and laid back. Lots of fun was had by all. We also will be back when we find a cruise that matches time and itinerary for what we seek.

I also had a good experience when I booked my 3 day San Diego to Vancouver. While ultimately I booked via phone, the person on chat was very helpful in giving me great info.

 

I honestly HATE using the telephone, so chat is my favorite support option, whenever available.

Thanks. A few more Posts and this will be wrapped up... Maybe one or two. After that, any suggestions for wrap up posts? Like a single.food post or menus or dailies?

Day 3, pt 3 has just been posted as well. Enjoy, and as always... feel free to provide feedback.

Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear that some of your meals were less than par... but, it happens. :(

 

If you're up to it, I am sure we'd all like to hear more. Do you have any photos? My next cruise isn't until October, and I feel the need to live vicariously. <wink>

On our blog page, listed below... there is a HAL MS Amsterdam review (still in progress) and a "Food Porn" video, showing some of the selections we had on our 3-day from San Diego to Vancouver...

 

People above had mentioned that the Lido Buffet had the same food as the Main Dining. I saw this same thing on our cruise. We did not have Lido for dinner, but while checking it out, we noticed the exact same dishes plated there.... worth a try if you want to keep it quick and easy. :)

 

Enjoy !!!

I'm with most of you here... It's a way to do a lot of things, and see a lot of places with little hassle. Everything you need is all in one place.

One poster mentioned the ability to sample many places and decide if you'd like to come back. That's one thing that I enjoy the most as well... if you go someplace for the day and don't like it as much, you weren't stuck there for a week... on the other hand if you loved it, you can always come back for more.

That'd certainly be awesome. Seriously doubt that I would be likely to ever qualify.. but...

 

Congrats to all that got them... enjoy if you are able!

Good morning, all. Day 3 part 2 is posted.

The honey-do list was strong, but Day 3 is underway using 1 engine.

 

I have just posted Day 3, Part 1... and am immediately starting on Part 2...

 

Hopefully pt. 2 will be early tomorrow or late tonight. Organising and rotating the photos has become more fluid...

 

Thanks for playing along... see you all soon!

Great tips, jimnbigd. THANKS! Based on what you wrote about passing greetings on to a bartender, are you one of the piano-lounge performers? That generally is one of our favorite cruise hangouts. Is there (I have not yet looked into it, so due diligence is lacking on my part) a good piano bar on the Navigator? We like to do the sing-along, have a drink, and maybe sing off-color songs after dark-thing...

Aww Shucks, thanks. I will try to get more done soon. Only one (and a partial) day left of review, and the last day was pretty lazy... but there will be photos.

 

Perhaps more importantly, DW made even more navigation changes last evening (which is funny since I work in IT, you would think it would have been me... but NOOOOoOOO).

Lol. Me too with the grand intentions... I once wanted to sell a cookbook in college bookstores on "101 ways to cook Ramen"... Yeah, that never happened. The only reason I keep going with this review blog post thing, is the positive responses it has been getting. We have plans to be better organized after what we've learned from this experience, and to take notes , etc...

 

Our next journey is October for our 10th Anniversary. It'll be a Royal Caribbean 7-day cruise... So, we'll break in with a new crowd on the RCI forums... hopefully they are as receptive as our new HAL family has been. A longer cruise on HAL with more ports would be nice also.... Hmmm... maybe we should find one..

rkacruiser ... I think that's awesome... I really looked on the internet to see if I could find one. I don't think DW would be nearly as impressed with a Powder Blue Tux and Ruffled shirt.... but it would be a hoot. A fancy, fancy hoot.

FINALLY! I just wrapped up Day 2, Part 6... Take a peek. Sorry so very very slow.

 

DW added navigation under "Cruises" at the top, so there is a "Table of Contents" sort of page to go to. Please take a look and let us know what you think.

 

I have still been working on that darned video... look for it hopefully sooner than later...

Thanks, Jimnbigd.

 

That is a very nice, concise list. I am one of the people that normally just enjoys the "free" food, but thought it would be worth it to find out the other options as well. The other lines I have been on are arranged in a similar fashion, with the free vs non-free drinks.

 

I look forward (always) to checking out a new ship, and a new line... I like seeing the differences and similarities between them.

Thank you for your review. We are on Navigator in October, for our first RCI cruise. We are on a different itinerary, but I enjoyed reading about the ship itself and some of the things to be aware of.

 

Cheers!

Thanks, George C... We will have a great time, for sure.

Victory was our first cruise, back in 2012. It remains as perhaps my favorite so far.... The ship was decent, and the itinerary at the time was great. On my blog, there is a video from St Maarten from when we were there, and soon there will be one from snorkeling in St Kitts and St Thomas.

 

Glad you had good times. We sure did.

Such great responses. Thanks, everyone for the feedback. If I hadn't just returned from eating too much lunch, I would probably be drooling. :)

Thanks, Lurch and BillOh. I appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback.

Thanks for the feedback. I will look into those tours you mentioned. Sabor looks interesting to me, since I currently live in Arizona, and am a huge fan of Mexican-style food.

 

Anyone else have any food input?

Greetings,

 

We will be taking our first RCI cruise in October, and wanted to get a general overview of recent opinions on which venues are not to be missed on our trip. We will be doing 7 days, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel...

 

The Mexican place (Sabor IIRC) sounds good... what does everyone think? I LOVE food (see video below), sadly for my waistline... but it is a cruise highlight for me....