richwmn

I copied and pasted the link in a new tab to check it's functionality, and it worked. I noticed my first name in it, but since it worked I published it. I faxed our Shareholder app, no cover needed, and it was posted to our account within 48 hours.

It worked because the link resolved to a file on the computer you were using. If you had gone to another computer, it would not have worked.

your link starts with: file:///C:, the designation file, rather than http means a local file

Have been looking and looking for shore excursions. Most are either too expensive or strenuous activity. My husband has bad knees and needs very level walking. Most of the easy ones are thousands of dollars for either a car or mini van. Are there places at the pier that offer cruisers options like we find in Mexico, Alaska and the Caribbean?

For the excursions I have looked at that involved cars or vans the price listed was for the vehicle without regard to how many people participated. Check to see how many people can participate, then ask on your roll call to fill it up.

Good Afternoon, All

 

I have read lots of threads regarding transferring the booking to a TA before final payment in order to receive some onboard credit or maybe a free dinner.I am ready to proceed but had a question. I booked with the Anniversary Sale promo.We are good with the perks it offers and are satisfied with the price. If I transfer my booking, is it really a new booking and I'll lose my stuff? I wish I had moved it before the sale ended...then no question.

Anyway, hope someone can help. You guys all know so much..You'all rock!

the booking transfers "as is" and the TA can add whatever they wish.

The estimated driving time is based on traffic and other conditions, such as construction, at the time that you search. Try the same search at rush hour and then again late in the evening to see the difference.

Depending on the version of Google Maps (mobile) you're using, the time calculation is estimated throughout your journey. So, if you are going to encounter rush hour somewhere along your route, that will be factored in. If you are leaving from say, Atlanta at rush and headed to Port Everglades, it will factor in the rush hour traffic along I-75 south of Atlanta, but not the rush hours for the other metro areas you'll pass through -- unless your estimated arrival time in those areas coincides with a new rush hour in a new location.

 

It's all calculated using Waze data & projections and updated pretty much continuously. This is a big change from 5 years ago, when the interstate travel times used to be off almost an hour for every 6 traveled.

 

Also, do NOT put in your stateroom number. If the ship is docked with the opposite side toward the pier, you might accidentally fall into the canal.

Using desktop google maps, not the mobile version. Comment about being an hour shorter was an observation based on checking maps various times over the past couple of years, and this morning which would be on a weekday including several places where rush hour might have to be considered.

Sweet, if I left right now I'd be there in 16 hours and 42 minutes!

For me it is showing the trip as being an hour shorter than it used to, using pretty much the same route!

I just found out something interesting in Google Maps.

In the search box you can type "Port Everglades Terminal 21, Fort Lauderdale, FL" or whichever terminal you wish and it will position you there. You can then use your home or other address and get directions all the way to the terminal.

I see you're booked on the same cruise we are. I see HAL has now also included the Explore Four deal for that cruise. Just so you know, you can "rebook" a cruise that you haven't fully paid for yet to take advantage of the new sale offerings. However, when you rebook the cruise, you will be charged the new fare for your current cabin's category, so you should do the math first to see if it's worthwhile to rebook.

 

For us the price of our room's category has more than doubled since we booked it early last year when they first came out, so rebooking to get the Signature Beverage Package, Free Gratuities and $200 worth of Internet minutes, although a great deal, wouldn't be worth it. But depending on what you originally booked your room for versus what the current price is, you may want to check it out to see if it's worth having HAL rebook it with the Explore Four perks that now come with your room's category.

 

Also, if you're looking to cruise on more Carnival-owned cruise lines in the future, you may want to think about buying 100 shares of Carnival stock. You get free OBC (up to $200) on each future cruise you book. Here's the link that explains the details - http://www.carnivalcorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-sharebenefit

I am also on the Konigsdam cruise in Feb. Please join SC_GAY_Cruiser and me on the roll call at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2317499

As a just for your info type thing......talked to HAL today.

 

If you do add money to a ship board account prior to your cruise, HAL suggested I change my account from a credit/debit card to a cash basis. In my example, if I were to add $600 of ship board credit which is well more than would be put on "hold" with my credit card, your credit card will still have a hold placed on the amount even though your ship board credit is adequate.

 

I can make the final decision whether to use cash or credit/debit card at time of boarding.

 

dave

If you change your account to cash in the pre boarding docs there is no place to put a credit card number. When you check in, they will mention that you don't have a card on file. If you have enough OBC you tell them you have enough cash they will let you go, no credit card number on file == no possibility of a hold.

What if you deposited the money through the year until your cruise but for some unforeseen reason, you had to cancel the cruise totally, what would happen to the money you've deposited??

The money would be refunded, or could be used toward another cruise.

Had no idea about this. Could you expand please? Thanks :)

Norwegian Getaway Will Head to Brazil for the 2016 Summer Olympics

one reference of many

http://cruiseweb.com/blog/2015/01/norwegian-getaway-will-head-to-brazil-for-the-2016-summer-olympics

I remember that three (I believe) Carnival Ships were sent to New Orleans to provide support for hurricane Katrina

Federal officials are chartering three of Carnival Cruise Lines' ships for six months, part of a plan to provide shelter for as many as 7,000 people displaced by devastating Hurricane Katrina.

 

The three ships — the Ecstasy, Sensation and Holiday — will be pulled from regular use starting Monday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9188316/ns/us_news-katrina_the_long_road_back/t/cruise-ships-chartered-hurricane-refugees/#.V7DtO7OYqRs

Five ships were used at Jacksonville for the Super Bowl

The first ship, the 490-passenger Seven Seas Navigator from Radisson Seven Seas Cruise Line, is to dock about 7:30 a.m. today in front of the Adam's Mark hotel downtown. Later this morning, the Carnival Miracle, big enough to hold 2,108 passengers, will berth at the JaxPort Cruise Terminal on the Northside.

On Thursday, three vessels from Holland America Line will join the cargo ships at the Talleyrand Marine Terminal, 2 miles northeast of Alltel Stadium.

2014 Super Bowl in New York

The 4,028-passenger Norwegian Getaway ship will serve as lodging and an entertainment venue for Super Bowl XLVIII. The boat will dock in New York for the Feb. 2 game and will offer lodging starting the Thursday before the game through the Monday morning after the event.

again - one of several references

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/05/bud-light-hotel-superbowl-2014_n_4218929.html

Given some time, I think there were more. I seem to remember west coast of Canada for something and maybe more.

Found another:

Hotel rooms are so scarce for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next February that four cruise ships have been chartered to add temporary rooms during the Games. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

 

 

The Canadian government has chartered three cruise ships to house all the extra security personnel it’s bringing in for the Olympics.

 

Seattle-based Holland America Line is supplying two of those three ships from its West Coast fleet.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/cruise-ships-chartered-vancouver-olympics-lodging/

Good points, plus I might add that their "hotels" can be floated away from out of favor places to more favorable ones.

they can also be moved into areas for a week or two for use as regular hotels for special events such as the Olympics (currently NCL), Super Bowl (several times), Hurricane Relief (Katrina) etc.

My experience having done this over a dozen times.

1. Yes it is like depositing money into a savings account. Most savings accounts pay little or no interest, so that part is a wash.

2. When you do your on line check in select cash. When you check in the representative will mention that you do not have a credit card registered. You replay that you have enough OBC and that will end it.

3. Starting around 8pm the last night of the cruise you can close out your account. Be aware that when you do that, no more can be purchased on the ship unless you have a Signature Beverage Card for drinks. My excess OBC has always been refunded in cash, but I have seen others state that it can be applied to a credit card.

4. As mentioned, all your OBC shows as a credit. It has always appeared to me that as long as you spend more than your non-refundable credit there is no problem.

5. I use this method on all my cruises, so you can tell I have no regrets. When you leave the ship, all bills are paid - you owe nothing more. They don't have a credit card to charge additional amounts to.

edit to add:

If you buy OBC credit in advance it will still count towards any credit card points or miles you may participate in - to the full amount you purchase not what you spend. If you get a refund, the points or miles will still be there.

Skimming thru the answers again, I must emphasise that as long as you are close to the $60/day/person you will NOT have to register a credit card.

Again, I have done exactly this over the last six or seven years and many cruises without a problem.

See you on the Konigsdam in 6 months!

Rich

Goodmorning Richwmn!

 

You beat me to it 😀 I was going to say the same thing!

Have a great day!

 

Denise:)

Good afternoon to you - Hope the rest of your week is great!

Rich

thanks for all the responses!

 

I should have asked this in my original question.

 

I want to pay for someone else's 'required' gratuities that is a member of our cabin, but then allow the person to register their own credit card on their cruise charge card for any additional purchases they make. Right now the person's account has my credit card assigned to their account, but I would like to switch this once we get onboard. So can I just go pay cash at the front desk for the gratuities for their account, and then have our cabin mate change the account to have their credit card, and not mine? I understood that the amount I would pay would just get credited to their account, and not necessarily applied to the "Gratuities" amount, but if the person made no other charges on the cruise, then they would be even steven.

A caution on this. If your card is registered and then you wait until you board and go to the front desk, it is possible that both cards will have the $60/person/day hold applied.

I would do like John mentioned and go ahead and put their card on the account and then once on board go to the front desk and apply the cash. Or even easier, call ships services and buy them obc as a gift - very easy to do.

Yes

 

But remember that HAL will still require you to pay $60 per person per day inadvance.

You can also pre-purchase OBC before you leave which would then be used for any on board expenses including the HSC. It is under "Gifts and Indulgences" where you can purchase just about any amount you would like as multiples of each 'card' are available. This is refundable OBC if you do not use it all.

And if you do purchase OBC in advance or at the Front Desk, you do not have to register a card so there is no "Hold". If you register a card, the full $60/person/day hold is placed on the card no matter how much OBC you have.

So I presume you developed these friendships while cruising with the folks you met first on roll calls? Did you then plan subsequent cruises with such folks? My husband and I would like to make some "cruising buddies," but perhaps we would have to cruise more frequently than we do now in order to make that happen.

 

 

Yes! Cruises and meeting up on land as well :)

 

Unfortunately most of my cruise buddies live on the opposite coast. That just makes us more eager to plan future cruises together and seeing each other when we happen to be near each others' homes.

 

Right now four cruise friends will be on my January cruise, and possibly 7 on my October 2017 cruise. :)

Not cruising along, but we are in the same boat.

 

The people we have met are not in our area and far away, but we have had the pleasure to repeat cruises with them. We have stayed connected and contact each other and if itineraries suit and timing we are lucky enough to cruise with life long friends.

 

Making it happen is not hard, we participated in the roll call,met some people, "connected".

 

I consider myself blessed by the people I have met on roll calls. anytime I can cruise with the people we enjoy it makes it easy to convince DH to book ;):D

What constitutes an Active Roll Call? I met Cruising-Along on a Roll Call in April of 2012, then actually met her and her DH waiting for the shuttle from the hotel to the ship. That Roll Call had a total of 915 entries. We stayed in touch and in Sept of 14 when I flew to Seattle prior to a Vancouver departure to Alaska we spent the day together. Shortly after that she mentioned doing the same cruise again, which was this last April. That Roll Call had 625 entries, but a core of about 10, most of which are signed up for the reverse cruise in October of next year. That Roll Call has barely started.

So by some standards, neither of the Roll Calls was very active, but the people got along both on-line and in person.

I have also stayed in touch with another couple who were not active on the Roll Call but I met on the ship and they have started replying to the Roll Calls. I changed my plans for December because they let me know they had booked a similarly timed cruise on a different HAL ship and asked me to join them.

I had another couple pick me up at a port near their home and spent the day with them before returning to the ship.

These friendships are very special to me and I hope to cruise with each of them again.

There are also many people I have talked to on Cruise Critics that I would like to share a cruise with to have a chance to meet them. Maybe it will happen one day.

Question for Crew News (per your public profile) or anyone else: I see that a NORTHERN (San Diego to Vancouver) Pacific Coastal cruise can be linked to a 7-day (or longer, I assume) Alaska cruise.

 

In the past, I had inquired with HAL if I could do an Alaskan cruise linked to a SOUTHERN (Vancouver to San Diego) Pacific Coastal and was told "no" because of the Passenger Services Act (which I though I understood). Is this because the Southern one is traveling TO the US, rather than FROM the US?

 

Thanks for any information.:confused:

 

Penny

The key is where YOU start your cruise. If YOU start in a US port you can not end in another US port without going to a FAR (non N American/Caribbean) port. If you start in a Foreign port, it doesn't matter where YOU end up.

If the Northern Route is starting in San Diego and ending in Vancouver there is no violation. If it ends in Seattle there would be.

If the Southern Route started in Vancouver there would also be no problem but starting in Seattle would not allow you to stay on to San Diego.

Have you every felt that there was a black cloud hanging over your head. That is my experience on this Maasdam cruise. If some thing could go wrong, it has or probably will.

..snip..

Checked my bill and the CCL shareholders OBC was missing. The company insists that it is included in my Travel Agents Invoice. Since she has no way of knowing what my stock holdings are and I had contacted CCL directly this is obviously wrong. We're not talking chump change here.

..snip..

This is the only thing I wish to comment on. Your stockholder credit is part of the record provided to a Travel Agent. I have had more than one TA mention the credit after I transferred the cruise to them.

UPDATE Jun 28th - Heard back from World Reservations this morning at 944am EST via email, and they accepted my proof of stock ownership that i had E-MAILED last night (per what my PCC told me).

OBC has been already added to my reservations.

So in summary - HAL has joined the 21st century and will accept emails for this! lol... No need to fax anymore! :p

HAL was in "the 21st century" for a long time. Then about a year or more ago it was decreed, I believe by Carnival Corp, that email would no longer be acceptable. Most likely at the time it was due to the number of exploits available in the pdf format that most people used as an attachment. It has been reported here from time to time that HAL took an email from a specific person, but the policy most likely remains.

edit - found an earlier post that stated:

Current as of March 27, 2013:

"Please note that in order to protect our guest’s privacy, we no longer encourage sending financial information via email. Your next CCL shareholder benefit request can be sent by fax or mail to the following:

Mailing Address: Holland America Line, Attention WCR, 300 Elliott Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119

Fax: 206-281-0627"

posted 9/11/2013 by scriptohio

thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1806751

post #24

Your OBC originated in Seattle, and shipboard accounting interfaces with Home Office accounting. Believe me, they know when you've used their portion of OBC versus TA or Guest prepaid OBC. You may not see the drinks paid for by a Beverage Pkg on your final statement, but in Seattle they can see every drink you've ordered. What level of clearance is required to "see" this back office stuff, I don't know. I was working with a manager from Seattle when it was explained to me.

My experience on this --

On the Maasdam last April I didn't know I had the explore 4 package. Over the first couple of days my drinks were inconsistently placed on my cabin bill. When I checked on it the Beverage Manager told me that they were just getting the accounting set up for it and that the drinks were supposed to go in a different folio. Once that got set up, no more drinks appeared.

The second thing that happened was on the Oosterdam. when I went to check out the first person looked at the screen, then call a supervisor who approved the amount. I can only guess that they were checking my spending against the Non Refundable Credit.

Will HAL automatically put it on my credit card or can I get it in cash before disembark? If cash, can I get it at anytime to use in a port?

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

I know you can receive it in cash on the last evening. Others on this board have indicated that they received a credit on a card. I know that on one cruise after I had cashed out, I got a call on the final morning that I needed to go to the front desk because a credit had been added to my account and I needed to pick up a small extra amount.

If you try to get cash, other than using the slot card trick, prior to closing your account they will charge a fee for getting it. I don't remember how much.

From richwmn:

 

 

Rotterdam Dec 19, 14 day Christmas and New Years

Konigsdam Feb 12, 7 day Eastern Caribbean

Veendam Oct 7, 13 day Canada New England to Fort Lauderdale.

changed the Rotterdam to Prinsendam!

the replacement leaves a day earlier on Dec 18 and is 2 days longer!

pricing was right!

I remain unclear as to why anyone would want to prepay anything. If you have any self discipline at all, if you are able to pay something in advance, you will surely be able to pay it as much as a month later, when your credit card bill comes.

navybankerteacher - you make the same comment each time someone mentions pre-paying. Well, different strokes for different folks.

Some of us just feel better that an obligation is paid off and we can go on to other expenses. Some people see the money in an account and forget about things coming up and spend it. Out of sight, out of mind helps a bunch of people.

The amount of interest someone might get by holding on to the money is minimum, so that shouldn't really be a consideration.

I applaud you that you have the self discipline to put back the money and have the full amount available at final payment. But you really don't need to put down those who choose to pay a different way, for whatever reason they have.

Question: I booked a cruise while we were on Westerdam last March. I've already transferred it to my TA. My question is this: How long can you hold the cruise at Holland before it's too late to transfer to the TA? Is final payment the deadline? I think I've read that there is a time limit on other cruise lines.

You can hold the cruise with HAL right up to final payment (we transfer a few days-week before). I know Celebrity has a time limit, it was a shock when we found that out! :eek:

One other thing, you must still owe something on the cruise in order to be able to transfer it. On the cruises I have transferred, I pay down to a couple hundred dollars, transfer and pay off. That way I know that Holland has the money.

Didn't HAL originally sign a 10 year contract for Crown Bay? Shouldn't it be over by now? Did they renew?

Prior to the HAL ships leaving the Caribbean at the end of April this year, all dam ships used Crown Bay as opposed to WICO/Havensight. The only exceptions were on 03 FEB 16 and 08 MAR 16 when WEDM and PRDM used one of the inner harbor anchorages and tendered due to six and five other cruise ships in port on those days. Sounds like the Crown Bay lease got renewed

I found a web site for what looks to be an excursion provider for St. Thomas. It states that the 10 year lease took effect Oct. 1, 2006. That would mean that the current lease ends with the new Caribbean season. Does anyone know for sure if the lease was renewed?