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On 5/2/2024 at 1:10 PM, RuthC said:

If your wife wants to go, she needs her own pass. No sharing of cabin keys to get a spa pass. 

RuthC, If you do not get a pass for the entire cruise can just one in the cabin purchase a day pass?  I understand if you do not know the answer.  Thank you, Cherie

16 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Before the cruise they are refunded back to the original form of payment.

Is this case if they do not cancel, just don't show.  I assume no notice given to HAL prior to the cruise.  I have no idea.  Cherie

The only time I noticed a long line for the MDR was on port days where everyone came back from a fun day, changed for dinner, and showed up for later dining.  Early fixed diners who had missed their dining time were now in this line.  If you are on a port intensive cruise I think that early dining may become a problem.  We never had a problem with anytime dining getting a nice table, but we did not go to the dining room before 7:15.  Doesn't anytime dining mean that you do not want to commit to a certain time for the entire cruise?  But some want to confirm dining reservations for whenever they choose for the entire cruise?  I never thought of choosing Anytime dining and asking the dining room to give me a table for my entire cruise for the time I want.  Awesome.  Cherie  

You are welcome!  You'll love the Oosterdam if you enjoy a smaller ship, we did.  You might check out amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com.  Jeff's photos and port reviews are amazing.  They are on the Oosterdam and have recently been in the Med,  Cherie

Oh, sorry.  Yes it would make a difference to me that it is not an aft cabin and I would consider it.  But I will say that we loved Deck 8.  Great views from our balcony, it's an easy walk up to the Lido to grab a quick bite to eat or bring back to the cabin, and also the aft pool bar was wonderful.  On your Med cruise you might be enjoying the pool which we did not use but I loved the location.  Cherie  

We were in an 8th deck aft wrap on the Oosterdam and I was worried about noise from the pool area but the only thing we heard occasionally was chairs.  Noise from other passengers is the same as cabin neighbors.   Friends of ours had one of the other deck 8 afts and chose the cruise because of it.  They had previously been on the Oosterdam and he had gone down to the same aft on deck 4 and asked the occupants if they liked it.  They said "never again" and showed him the view of the window washing machines that were always there.  I think I recently saw an aft photo of the Oosterdam on Jeff Farschman's blog and the window washing machines are there. 

I would not choose deck 4 and we have another deck 8 aft wrap booked for 2026.  I will however keep my eye open for a deck 6 or 7 if one becomes available.   Hope this helps, Cherie  

You are getting so many questions towards the end of your cruise.  Please do not respond to this until you are happily home.  Is it possible that HAL can give a best price guarantee because no other tour can guarantee that the ship will wait for you?  This would be an easy out for them.  I use your tour recommendations and thank you for such detailed posting.  Enjoy every nano second of the sunset of this cruise,  Cherie

Hooray!!!  Have a great cruise.  Cherie

We were in an aft wrap on the Oosterdam and it appeared larger than the others, not because of windows.  It was amazing.  We have an aft wrap on the Noordam booked for 2026.  The outside space is amazing, but I thought the inside space was also larger after having a standard Neptune suite on the Zuiderdam.  Not much experience, but always happy.  Cherie

3 minutes ago, itgeekgal said:

Here’s a few images of Noordam Neptune Suite 8140

I think this is an aft wrap balcony which is fabulous.  Not all Neptune suites on the Noordam will look like this.

I absolutely love your attitude.  Sounds like you'll enjoy yourselves either way but I hope you "watch sailaway from the ship."  Cherie

Our concierge on the Oosterdam in January did this for us and made sure there was a credit to our cc.  I assume other concierges will do it.  Cherie

Not sure if McDeb2119 has booked this pass on the Oosterdam.  I did not feel like it was a great place to shower (glass doors were a frosted see-thru), and get ready for dinner but we used and enjoyed the thermal suite early evening about 50% of our cruise.  Cherie

It does not get too crowded in the pool but  the "loungers" can become a problem.   Just our experience.    Cherie

We booked it for our 22 day SA/Antarctica cruise.  It was wonderful.  We eat late so would go early evening and then change for dinner.  On sea days it was more crowded.  We always went late to avoid a problem.

We are booked on an Islands of the South Pacific cruise for 28 days. I don't think we will book it for the entire cruise because we will be in ports where we will be enjoying beautiful warm weather and beaches in many of the ports. 

The SA cruise was on the Oosterdam and the thermal suite was in need of maintenance.  At least 5 of the days part of it was not in operation.  The website said "limited availability" when we booked but I think they were selling the thermal suite the entire cruise.

Our South Pacific cruise is on the Noordam, which looks to be a nicer area.

I think you can purchase and cancel at anytime prior to the cruise.

Have a great cruise,  Cherie 

1 hour ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

There was a sale on Have it all?  What was the price per day?  Roughly (with $55 being the prevailing price). 

I will go back to my records and let you know.  I just happened to be looking at the HAL site for something about our cruise and it popped up.  My TA thought it was a good deal.  Cherie 

We were on a 21 day cruise in January, did not purchase HIA when booking, and there was a sale prior to the cruise.  It was substantial enough that we decided that the HIA would be worth it.  Cherie

Sometimes Viator is a good start to looking for tours but if you can contact the tour company directly you may have more options and a better price.  Cherie

2 hours ago, cbr663 said:

 

There are different categories of Neptune Suites though and I would hate for someone to think that they could book the lowest category NS and then request the complimentary upgrade when that CO benefit doesn't apply.

 

 

 

There are different categories of Neptune Suites?  I did not know that.  We booked a Neptune Suite, did not see different prices, and did not do anything to have access to the CO entree on the dinner menu in the MDR.  This was on the Oosterdam which does not have a separate CO venue.  And, like CruiseBruce did, we did not get a CO tote bag, just the HAL 150th tote.  Didn't even know there was a CO tote.  Our reason for booking a Neptune suite was for an aft wrap balcony and we were happy with whatever came with it.  We have booked another for 2026.   Cherie  

4 minutes ago, TRLD said:

The same as with other large groups that can negotiate what special arrangements thst they need for their group from private events in some venues, to taking over one of the dining rooms to any number of other things.

 

In the case of Park West there is an existing contract which may oy may not include these special cruise arrangements. Unlike other groups the cruise line  gets a cut of their onboard sales.

 

Saw one of these on Princess. They basically took over sky walkers for their meeting space  for a 7 day cruise.

I was not referring to any large group taking over areas but the over charge of certain  merchandise on the ships, and the possibility that the merchandise is not what they "advertise".   They represent that it's a good deal but you need to know what you're buying.   I was just responding and agreeing with post #51 by leerathje.  It's just my opinion about the shopping on board.  Cherie

2 hours ago, leerathje said:

 

Not know they are giclee prints?  How could you not?  I'm not an artist, but of all the "original" art that I own, there's always paint texture on the canvas (or wood, or whatever the artist uses) that is not on a giclee print.  Look, I may have fallen off the turnip truck, but it wasn't yesterday!

 

L.

 

Isn't this somewhat the same with everything that is sold onboard?  The jewelry? The watches? The purses, etc.  But for some reason they do well enough onboard ships to still exist.  I'm actually shocked that Park West is successful enough to be able to close the Crows Nest.  What is HAL thinking?  And this is JMO,  Cherie

Thank you both for the replies.  Checking both out.  Cherie

52 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

I think if the Cruise line is charging me full fare for a cruise, I have an expectation that I will be able to use the amenities that come with the booking. If the cruise line decides that some group who may or may not have paid full fare should have exclusive use of amenities they just rented to me (in my full fare) I'm going to be looking for compensation. I really don't care that the contract says "we (the cruise line) can do whatever we want; all contracts are based on a "meeting of the minds" as it were and if at the time of my booking you said that amenities such as the Crows Nest or anytime dining are included in my fare. Then Bob's Book club shows up with 600 passengers (most likely with discounted fares) and I (full fare booked well in advance) is now excluded from these things, well they have broken that contract.

So what do you do?  You feel they have broken the contract. The fine print of the HAL contract allows them to do just about anything.  I just don't know what you do.  If passengers are advised of these types of situations prior to final payment, there is an option.  After final payment...I don't know.  The fine print of the contract is sooooooo important. Complaints on the app sound like they are heard, but the disruption to your cruise has already happened.  I don't know what the answer is, but those affected have a right to be upset.   Cherie   

There are so many reputable private guide/drivers that will take you from Santiago to San Antonio.  Also, when making your hotel reservations, if you choose a hotel in the Vitacura neighborhood of Santiago you can easily walk at night to restaurants etc.  We hired a private guide who met us at the airport and took us to our hotel.  We arranged 4 days with him which included Santiago, the Andes, a vineyard, and delivery to the port, but he also offers just airport to hotel and hotel to port if that is all you want.  I know that you are interested in a package but sometimes it can be easier when there is no need for shuttles and 3rd parties.  This is just my preferred way to travel.  You'll have a great time.  Cherie

Another way to find out about hotels, transfers, and non HAL excursions is to look at the roll calls for the Oosterdam for January and February cruises 2024.  They were very active roll calls and some great info included.  I was on the January 7 cruise and got a lot of my info from previous roll calls.  Cherie