blizzardboy

I think all the Specialty Dining venues are worth the price. Make sure to check out Tamarind as well as the Pinnacle Grill. We also have enjoyed Caneletto when in the mood for Italian.

Did the coupon come from your Travel Agent? If no "Terms and Conditions" in the coupon book, go to the source.

Try that "Search Thread" window up and to the right when in the HAL section. A key word or two and presto!

It should say "Search Forum".

bb

Excellent - You all here never cease to amaze with ability to find answers. I looked and looked and did not see this anywhere.

 

Thanks

Try that "Search Thread" window up and to the right when in the HAL section. A key word or two and presto!

Does anyone know where the ship is form 10/21 to 10/28? I was guessing the 10/21 to 10/28 period was dry dock with the new plans effective 10/29.

Blues Cruise charter

While looking at the deck plan for the NA, I noticed that there were two deck plans listed--one for before 10/29/17 and one for after 10/29. Since we'll be at sea on 10/28 until 11/4 just wondering how this is possible.

 

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I noticed this as we are on board as of Nov 11. My presumption is that the NA's upcoming dry dock visit was originally supposed to be in October instead of December. Comparing the two plans for Deck 2 , you'll notice the later one has Billboard Onboard versus the Piano Bar.

We don't go home with much laundry or dry cleaning to do either!

Can we rely on getting our clothing back in time for the first formal night on the second night if we get them to our steward the first night?

We're among the first to board. We unpack and fill out the form you'll find in a basket with a couple of laundry bags in a closet. We leave it inside the cabin by the door on the clothes hooks on the wall. You'll usually find your steward relatively close to your suite, and let him know it's there. I've never had "press-only" fail to come back beyond the next morning, and often that same evening. We've been doing it this way for several cruises without incident.

We are 3 couples booked in Signature Suites SZ and have been offered upgrade to a Neptune Suite (SA to SC category) on our 10-day European cruise for $349pp. Is this a good deal?

It's almost worth it just for the free laundry and dry cleaning! As soon as we board, we pull the first two days worth of clothes and send them out for pressing. The Neptune lounge is a nice perk as well. Fair warning, Neptunes are addictive.

I'd try the $6 Sea-bands first.

Mr. Obvious says to start on the HAL website. Look at the top banner and click ONBOARD. There's a wealth of info to get you started.

While that is the policy, it's not always the case from a practical perspective. Some cruisers we know - who are definitely not us :) - got spend credit for the cost of their Explore 4 SBP. These people, who I cannot stress strongly enough were definitely not us, got 7 cruise days, 7 suite credit days, and 7 spend day credits - despite having an onboard spend no where near $2,100.

 

These (other) people were already four star, so it probably won't impact them - but they definitely got a few extra days.

I won a turtle at the county fair, in 1964. In my case, that must have covered a lifetime of freebies!

I was trying to figure how we got 10 cruise day credits on our cruise last month until I realized that each beverage was charged and then credited under Explore4. So I would say from this experience even the promo beverage package gets credit. Yes, I know we were actually paying for Explore4 in the fare so we should have gotten credit.

 

We already knew that pre-purchased excursions got cruise day credit.

 

Dennis

:

We went through this on this forum, and back and forth with HAL, about a year and a half ago, before HAL telling us their policy is that Explore 4 perks do not earn the Mariner cruise-day spending bonus. They said, anything included in your fare from HAL, be it OBC , Internet, or the SBP is not to counted towards the Mariner spending bonus.

If you or your TA purchases the SBP or other perk, that's different.

AS much as I love to cruise, I still have to take lots of precautions to avoid sea sickness.

My wife and daughters all swear by Sea-Bands, which were recommended by our pharmacist before the kids first cruise in 2004. They are elastic wrist bands with a small disk that presses on a nerve junction or reflexology point in the wrist that affects motion sickness/nausea. None of them have ever been sea sick. They're available from multiple retailers.

$400 total or pp?

I agree with Lady Arwen on using a Multi-city booking. I'm a big fan of google flights to do my research. It's easy to use and you can pick flights to price track. I'd use it to get a feel for prices, then call HAL. HAL often contracts for a number of seats at good prices, but without a little research first, you won't know what a good price is.

We often use a multi-city when cruising from Ft Lauderdale. We are flying into Miami but out of Ft Lauderdale due to better flight scheduling on our next one.

The Elite Bev Pkg includes drinks up to $15. From what I've read on this forum, upgrading the SBP is possible at $10/day. Several stated they were offered the upgrade by a bartender.

Criminals on small islands have a short shelf life, but intoxication with Caribbean life can interfere with your vigilance for those still there. I don't live a paranoid life, but I pay attention to my surroundings at home, let alone in unfamiliar territory. There has always been crime in the islands (like everywhere else), we just hear about every occurrence immediately and repeatedly.

The mailing was from HAL, including Mariner ID # and not transferable. There were a variety of eligible cruises, varying from 6-17 days. The casino is managed by https://www.oceanplayersclub.com/

All the best,

Richard

Thanks for the reply. We receive substantial discounts on our suites, and have received offers by mail, but I guess I haven't gotten beyond the available cruises to read the fine print. My bride is still working (yes, I'm a kept man) in a career she enjoys, so we have pretty specific time frames (all in high season it seems) in which to travel due to her schedule. We often have our next cruise booked before we leave on the current journey, which makes me wonder how aggressively they market to us.

I've never been on a Nov Caribbean sailing with HAL. They're exempting them from EXP 4 from what I'm seeing. The warm fuzzy anticipation just went in the toilet!!

I also play blackjack. It has never occurred to me to give them my room card when I start playing. I am sure the amount of time I spent in the casino on my last TA would have earned me some reward - lol

It adds up. We get a great price on our suite, a couple hundred in casino cash, and I seldom pay for a drink while playing after the first night. I do play for enough to get their attention, which helps lube the perk machine, but I also play well enough to stay ahead of them over time. I knew all that math from my engineering education would get put to some nefarious use at some point!

How do you get casino deals?

I'm told slot play is tracked automatically, though I've never played. I only play Blackjack. On any table game, you want to hand them your room card before you play. They'll "log you in" and the pit boss will watch a sampling of hands during your play. Length of time played, frequency of sessions, and average bet are the prime components of your "rating". They also keep track of your chip purchases and cash outs. Any HAL casino deals/offers will show up under your Mariner number.

We had a mailing offering deeply discounted casino rates for 7 day Eastern Carib cruise this November. (We're not the biggest gamblers, by far!)

 

Our experience is the following: not combinable with Amex Platinum benefits; not combinable with Shareholder OBC.

 

Granted, it really is deeply discounted - but this is the first time we've had these exclusions.

It still works out for us, but review your options before accepting.

 

Good news - Neptune Suite + retreat cabana :)

 

Richard

Just curious if it was an actual HAL mailing, or a casino marketer/junket operator? We have never had an issue using the shareholder benefit with casino rates.

If your sailing on the NA, I may see you at the BJ table. Safe travels.

My mistake. I was under the impression that the Snap Fares had non-refundable deposits.

It should be noted that the Snap Fares were "bare bones" and had non-refundable deposits. Now we're back to "normal" refundable fares so you would expect an increase. Explore 4 should kick off in a day or two, so you will really have something to analyze.