danb35

It's been over 30 years since Carnival bought HAL.

There wasn't any promo code given out when we were on Oosterdam about a year ago--a discounted subscription to Cooks Illustrated was it.

I think it may depend on your cabin category--we had a fridge (a minibar, actually, but we had our steward empty it) in our SS on Oosterdam.

11 hours ago, RuthC said:

They have to be the same drink

I don't know if that's the rule, but if it is, I can say it isn't always enforced--on Oosterdam in January, my wife and I had different drinks with the Happy Hour pricing.  Maybe we just got lucky.

4 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Slight correction here: The pastries are in Explorations Café. Explorations Café is in the Crow's Nest on some, but not all ships. On the S- and R-class ships it is located near the upper level of the dining room, port side. 

Thanks for the correction.  On Oosterdam, though, it is in the Crow's Nest (unless they've moved it since January).

There will generally be two "gala nights" on a seven-day cruise.  There's a bar/cafe in the Crow's nest; the coffee there is paid, but many of the pastries are free.  You can bring unlimited non-alcoholic beverages on board for free.  You can bring one bottle of wine per adult per stateroom on board for free (so long as you drink them in your cabin), any more wine than that calls for the "corkage fee".  That fee has nothing to do with their opening the bottle as such, it's just a fee for the privilege of drinking it on board.

13 minutes ago, DrSea said:

Is there anyone who is 40 or below on HAL?

My wife and I (40 and 45) just sailed with them, and we weren't the youngest people on board--though I'd say we were in the bottom 10%.

I sailed on Oosterdam last week.  My wife and I ate one dinner at Cannaletto, one at Pinnacle, and the rest in the MDR.  I thought the food in the MDR was good, as was the service.  Both (especially the food) were better at the specialty restaurants, and I'm glad we went to them--but it certainly wasn't a matter of our thinking we needed better food.

Now, this was my only cruise so far--I can't compare to other lines, other HAL ships, or even other sailings on this ship.  But I'd have been happy to eat in the MDR for the whole cruise.

The "requirement" for men is a collared shirt and long pants that aren't jeans.  On Oosterdam last week, my impression is that more men were wearing jackets (either suits or sport coats) than not, but very few in formal wear.

Yes, I'm aware that the FCD amount varies with the cruise length.  The (admittedly unstated) assumption in my post was that the cruise booked would be of a length covered by the FCD (and the $100, IIRC, covers 7-20 days).

The future cruise consultant's availability last week on Oosterdam was very poor, so I requested deposits for myself and my wife using their form.  I got paper confirmations, but not the email confirmations I'd requested.  Nonetheless, I'm now left wondering how to use them.

I booked this cruise with an online TA, and would expect to do the same for the next one.  So how do I go about using this deposit toward a future booking?  Does it "replace" the normal deposit for the cruise (i.e., I'd use the $100 deposit I'd already paid in place of whatever the "normal" deposit would be in order to book the cruise), or is it simply an additional $100 toward the cost of the cruise (i.e., book the cruise with whatever the prevailing deposit is, then apply the FCD to reduce the amount due at final payment)?  What else should I know (or be thinking about) with these?

I was really hoping someone had further information about what had happened to the patient (which wouldn't violate patient confidentiality if identifying information were not disclosed--I'm quite familiar with those laws, as I work in that field), but thanks to all (especially to Copper) for the info about medevac assets and capabilities.

Just returned from the 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Oosterdam.  Had a great time, and looking forward to taking another one.  But wanted to consult the hive mind to see if anyone knows or can find out more about an incident onboard on 31 Jan.

That evening (a sea day, after leaving St. Thomas the previous afternoon) at about 8:00, the cruise director came on the PA and announced that there was a medical situation involving a passenger.  An urgent blood transfusion was needed, so she asked any passengers with type A+ blood who were registered as blood donors to come to the Hudson room immediately.  About a half-dozen passengers got up and left the mainstage immediately, the show started a few minutes late, and I half-expected to hear a medevac helicopter overnight.

The next day (yesterday) was at Half Moon Cay.  About 2:30 in the afternoon, as we were preparing to leave, the captain announced on the PA that an attempt had been made to medically evacuate the patient, but weather conditions in Ft Lauderdale prevented launching the chopper.  We would therefore make for Ft Lauderdale at best speed with an ETA of 5:00 this morning.  Watching the location display on the in-cabin TV was showing cruising at 21 kts, the fastest I'd seen on the trip.

This morning, after we docked (at about 7:00), the cruise director announced that the patient had been transferred to the hospital and was in stable condition.

Anyone know any more detail about this situation?  And just how advanced are the medical facilities onboard?

Thanks for the answers. Turns out my parents had already placed FCDs on their last cruise, so question #2 is moot anyway.

Having trouble getting in touch with the Future Cruise Consultant on the Oosterdam, so hopefully someone here will know. Two questions about future cruise deposits: (1) Can you apply more than one to a given cruise? That is, if I bought two, could I apply them to the same cruise, doubling the OBC? (2) Is it possible to buy them for people who aren’t sailing on this cruise? Pretty sure the answer to both is “no”, but thought it would be worth checking.

...and based on discussions there, it appears the options for laundry (other than self-service, which is available on that ship) are:

• $7/cabin/day for all the laundry you want
• $20/bag for all the laundry you can stuff into the laundry bag
• or pay by the piece--which is highly unlikely to be the best choice

12 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

When you book a guarantee, it is for the cabins in the lowest price range

Really?  Unless I'm misunderstanding you, this isn't how it worked for me.  When I booked my first cruise (which hasn't yet sailed), I could book a guarantee in any category I wanted (initially booked VH, have since upgraded to SS, still a guarantee).  I didn't book directly through HAL, though, I used an online agency.  Fare was the same whether I chose a cabin or picked guarantee.  It's a very small sample size, of course, but that doesn't sound like what you're saying.

8 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Also, Google Fi has some sort of maximum data usuage fee, but I do not recall the details on it

They don't charge for more than 6 GB of data in the US, but I don't believe that's the case internationally--if you use 10 GB abroad, you'll pay for it.

I'm concerned about the possibility of some funky (and high) roaming charges while onboard.  On land, not so much; the phone will tell me what international roaming will cost.  It's probably an unnecessary precaution though.

I'll say, though, that with a month in Korea, my bill only went up about $5 compared to normal.  Definitely the thing to have for international travel.

I have it, but haven't yet cruised with it (plan to do so next month).  I have travelled internationally with it, though, and the low data rates are very handy.  I'm planning on keeping the phone in airplane mode while onboard, though.

Just as clarification for bringing alcohol on board--each adult can bring one bottle of wine on board at no charge, to be consumed in the stateroom.  Does it matter if it's a fortified wine (like port or sherry)?

For those who have had a cruise go down in price, was it ever January in the Caribbean? Coming from Minnesota, I have never seen a price decrease.

I just did a couple of weeks ago. Sailing on 26 Jan with HAL on the Oosterdam, there was a substantial drop in price. Rather than take the discounted price, I upgraded from a balcony to a suite for $50 pp.

it came from ***************.

...and apparently it was verboten. Oops.

Can I ask who the price alert email originated from?

I'm not sure what the rules are with respect to links, so with apologies if it's verboten--it came from ***************. I'd signed up with their "ship mate" app on my phone, but I think you can do the same on their web site.

Do you get an opportunity to choose the upgrade room, or guarantee only?

I could choose a SY cabin for the same $50.