NavyCruiser

You're welcome...

On embarkation day, I always seek out the Captain & slip him a $2 bill tip, so to make sure he doesn't hit an iceberg...

Got email from my Aunt in MN saying that Viking cancelled their orig Delta flights to arrive Barcelona 2 days prior to debarkation, & auto rebooked them to arrive same debarkation day. Won't work since the rest of our party still arriving 2 days prior & has hotels & tours already booked. Checked our flights also, & found that our British Air flight from London back to TX changed from 4pm to 9am. Viking Air Plus agent stated that Delta cancelled / changed over 30% of their winter flights, so she's busy making updates/corrections. We were able to correct all details back to exact orig dates & almost orig times, & waived the $350 per person flight "deviation" fee. Might make sense to spend 5 minutes to double check if you have flights coming up soon...

Looking at our booking Pre & Post cruise hotel stays online on HAL's website, under Pre-Cruise Travel: City Stays & Pre-Post Overlands, cost to book thru HAL for Grand Hyatt Athens is $209 per person, double rate, so total for the 2 of us is $418 per night. But booking directly at Hyatt's website, the Hyatt member guest price (with breakfast included) is $160 USD + $4 tax. So by saving approx $254 per night by booking direct with hotel instead of thru HAL, what are we missing? Does booking thru HAL, we get free/included bus transfers to/from airport to hotel to cruise port? Do we miss out on included walking tours or any other perks (like Viking)...? Thanks,

Do you have the exact link? It keeps re-directing me back to this link: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/deals/military-appreciation-offer.html I've already been verified, but can't find any "form" or exact link to submit to...

Can u pls verify the exact "form" & where to "submit" it to...? Thanks,

I went thru HAL's link & it verified me. Then link wants me to book a new cruise. But what if we've already booked a HAL cruise thru TA already. How do you apply this to existing booking? Princess & Carnival makes it pretty easy to apply to...

I'm not a (cigarette) smoker. But do enjoy cigars when on vacations. Loved the Sea View bar & the outdoor (but covered) smoking area on the Rotterdam last month. So we just booked a cruise for Oosterdam for Greece next yr, this time with couple more cigar (only) smoking buddies. We don't venture into the casino, so don't wanna wade into the smoking/anti-smoking issue there. Enjoyed the cruises to Europe, since more Europeans are on those cruises, & many more of them smoke, making the entire relaxing cigar smoking experience truly enjoyable....

My wife & I has 6 AMEX cards, & none of them has this HAL offer. But saw some nice offers for Norwegian, Regent 7 Seas, Silversea, & Oceania

Yes, we're on Princess. That's what we're thinking, cab ride to Mr Sancho's is probably same for 10 or 12 people (4 person per cab?), & get to spend some time before & after dives on the beach. Mr Sancho's location is further south than the cruise pier, so probably closer to the better reefs. Blue Reef Divers replied to my email to Mr Sancho's, so I assume they're the on-site dive op. But good idea to triple check & confirm with them also. Thanks,

We're also doing our first Viking ocean cruise in a few months. But after 3 weeks onboard 2 Viking river cruises in Europe, we absolutely loved them. Yes, there were issues with weather, low water levels, missing port towns from covid restrictions. But those were beyond Viking's control, & Viking staff did a tremendous job in taking care of us cruisers through them all. Viking also gave us 30% of our 2 wk cruise fare's, to apply toward this upcoming ocean cruise, just because a few countries won't allow them to dock during pandemic. Extremely generous of Viking, since it was beyond their control. Like OP, we've done 30+ ocean cruises on main line cruises (Carnival, Royal Carib, NCL) when we were cruising with our kids, but now has taken the newest cruise ships on Celebrity & Holland Amer, 6 & 2 months ago, without adult kids, & found them to be wonderful. Took a 30 person family reunion cruise on Royal Carib, & found it underwhelming with noticeable staff shortage. So truly looking forward to our first upcoming Viking ocean cruise on the Venus in a months. If it's anything like their river cruises, it should wonderful...

There are 2 divers in our group of 12 cruisers. Us 2 divers are diving with cruise ship in Honduras, while others doing other excursions. But while in Cozumel (8am - 4pm), entire group of 12 would like to relax at beach at Mr Sancho's. Blue Reef Divers, 218 out of 232 reviews on TripAdvisor has them as "Excellent", is at Mr Sancho's & has the following: * 1 tank boat dive for certified diver is $77.00 usd per diver *2 tanks boat dive for certified divers is $110.00 usd per diver (2 divers mínimum) So 10 am 2 tank boat dive sounds like a good idea for us 2 divers, while rest of group chill out at Mr Sancho's beach (no admission charge)? Or be safe & dive with ship dive excursion ($130)? Thanks,

Amazing. I bought 100 shares on 9/30, went online 10/3 to download my quarter end statement, emailed all 3 cruise lines with statement attached. Received emailed from Princess within hours, with new invoice with $100 OBC included. Thanks again, OP.

Thanks for all your comments. Just booked with Addison Lee...

So I bought 100 gallon of gas, for $100 OBC for every cruise hereafter...

Thanks for the suggs above. So walk to bus, to Tilbury train station, train to London Fenchurch station, change to another train to Embankment station, walk to hotel. All with luggage. Would be OK, but we're traveling with 2 other elderly + luggage, so maybe using Addison Lee car service for the 4 of us + luggage would be better idea. Thanks,

Thanks for the post, OP. Just bought 100 shares. So we'll get half of it back with our upcoming Princess, Holland, & Carnival cruises...

Just finished chat with Viking rep, who confirmed that since we're staying in London for few days after our cruise debarkation in Tilbury, even though we're using Viking Air Plus, we can't use Viking's transfers back to airport or to London town. Not too familiar with Tilbury cruise port, so what's the best mode of transport (& cost) back to London for the 4 of us with One luggage each? Uber XL? Pre-arranged car service? Black cab taxi? Ubers & taxis readily avail at cruise port? Train? London hotel is only One block (2 minutes walk) from Underground station, so is it easy/convenient to walk with luggage from cruise port to Tilbury train station to London Embankment station? Thanks,

Be aware that there's a lot of smokers right above you on 9th deck aft sea view bar...

Our group of 12 will be on Ruby Princess soon. What's the largest round table available in MDR, that may accommodate us 12...? Thanks

Currently on our 7th day onboard Rotterdam, & deck 6 midship balcony is perfect. Thanks to everyone on here for saving us some $, as not sure if upgrading to Vista Suite in another location will be worth it.

Currently on the Rotterdam, sailing the Norwegian fjords, with majority Europeans/Dutch. Sea View Bar smoking section are always packed with nice friendly vapes, cigarette & cigar Smokers...

Currently halfway through our cruise onboard rotterdam. Seems like Over 60% are Europeans, mostly Dutch, & we feel most are nice & friendly, and refreshingly delightful...

Notes bar on the rotterdam has a great selection of scotch & bourbon. However, the bartender/expert there says that there's 6 or so drinks that's under $11 & are covered by the HIA drink package. But if you want a higher priced drink, for example at $15, then it's not covered, you will be charged the entire $15, & not just the $4 difference. That doesn't make any sense. Can someone pls confirm, otherwise, I'll just order from the other bars...

Just got onboard & sailing away now. Now sorta understand OPs frustration with fellow passengers. After 35+ cruises on various cruise lines, and this is only our 2nd on HAL, with our 1st 25 years ago, it is very markedly a much older crowd, with many European travelers. Many talk very loud, maybe from the language barrier, or from being hard of hearing. Also , seems like a lot are used to be treated special because of their elderly status at home, but here while boarding long lines in the terminal port & in the Buffet, everyone are elderly & they're not the only special ones while onboard.