Real NHDOC

The relationship between cabin price and your willingness to be flexible is inversely proportional. Those who must have a certain cabin on a certain cruise will absolutely pay much more than those who will take whatever cabin is left on a cruise that finds itself less than full a few days before sailing. That's the nature of the dynamic pricing system all of the cruise lines employ now. My experience is HAL's pricing is more stable before the 90 day window expires than most of the other big cruiselines are but once that 90 day window closes it can become "very dynamic".

My experiences are similar to others who have posted here. We’ve actually done three separate excursions with this company in Spain and Portugal and others in the south of France and Italy with their affiliate sites. Our latest tour was to Monserrat with a Cava tasting out of Barcelona but we have also done Seville out of Cadiz and a separate Barcelona city tour and all three were much better than the excursions offered by the cruise lines and offered excellent value. I can recommend them highly.

There is some resentment from people who pay for their cabins being told that despite “never having set foot in the casino” the people sitting next to you are sailing for port fees and taxes. So, I really think the antipathy is not towards true gamblers but those who brag about gaming the system without gambling (no pun intended). I am happy that they recognize they can make some revenue from what would have been otherwise unsold rooms from people dropping $$$ in the casino. It’s the freeloading non gambler who I have a problem with.

In a slap in the face to all of us who worked to earn priority boarding through the mariner program or who pay for a neptune suite it now seems like casino guests are given priority boarding in addition to their steeply discounted or free fares! This was at our embarkation today in Copenhagen and resulted in combining the typical priority boarding with Casino guests in one line for check in.

It wasn't a full basket left every day it was just what you requested. If you wanted a banana or a pear a day they would bring that. So not a waste issue.

Believe it or not the room stewards all know if you opt out of the gratuities. There is a list they have of those who opt to not participate in the program which is why you have to do it before the cruise starts. Personally, I think they should just build it into every fare and not offer it as an option. Here's my philosophy. Definitely stay in the gratuities program. If someone goes above and beyond recognize them with either an additional cash gift or, even better than that mention them by name in the survey you receive the day you leave the ship. Believe it or not those mentions mean more to them than a few dollars because they will result in merit raises and promotions. And if you don't think they know you did it try doing it on a back to back cruise and wait for them to come up and thank you on the next leg. We've also sent in praises through the app while onboard and know for sure the folks get the recognition. Those go to the guest services manager and will be distributed to the supervisor of the person you single out.

Pinkies out!

The same folks who shower in cologne or perfume so you can't sit within 50 feet of them in the dining room without having your dinner ruined (no offense).

Lots of room stewards don't want to be bothered with any extra work. Many of them will tell you that cabin cleaning service is now only once a day, which it is not, it's up to the guest to decide if they want the cabin cleaned once or twice a day. There used to be a form they left with any special requests and the fruit was on there. I suspect a good steward will get you anything you want if you ask nicely and offer a few dollars as incentive for them not to forget.

It's actually 5 a month per AARP account, but you can have a few accounts...

When you check out there is the option to pay using gift cards or credit cards. There’s a little pull down above the credit card section that says “apply gift cards”. Just click on the arrowhead. I have done it myself so know it’s there.

did you go to the "packages and gifts" section. That's where you buy onboard credit.

They typically come pretty fast. You should call AARP and tell them you never received it.

I believe it's the same three day before sailing when the website locks you out of "managing your cruise". You can do it yourself from that page, BTW and use the gift cards to pay when you check out if you are still outside of the three day window, which you are. It's under packages and gifts. You can buy various increments of shipboard credit and they apply it to your folio once aboard.

There really is no excuse for the way they treated you. Keep in mind you can contact your credit card company and dispute the amount in question telling them it was a charge you never authorized and have already told the cruise line you did not "steal" their binoculars. Let them fight with the credit card company.

If Tamarind is sold out you can make a reservation for Nami Sushi and they will serve you off the Tamarind Menu too - it's the same restaurant. It's also a nice way to get a reservation without having to pre-pay too.

Ah, now I understand. So, if I had them ship the medallion to me before I bought Princess Plus they would have charged me for the shipping but if I had Princess Plus they would waive that charge. But if I paid the shipping and then bought P-P onboard they would refund the shipping...makes perfect sense now, thanks!

We had the same experience onboard this spring. The same also was the case when we asked guest services to credit our onboard account with gift cards we brought with us onto the ship.

Yes, you can either apply it online before you leave or go to guest services on the ship and they will apply it to your onboard folio as a credit.

ExArkie is right. The water being released has already been filtered and treated to remove what can be removed but from what I have read low levels of Tritium are the only radioactive contaminant that RO and treatment cannot remove. The particular tritium isotope has a half life of 12 years. But the levels are so low they are literally like a drop in the ocean.

When I pre-bought casino "chips" with HAL gift cards I was handed cash at the casino cashier once aboard. Whether that practice will continue or will occur to anyone else is up to HAL but that's how it was handled for us this past spring.

I am a little confused about the medallion shipping issue as it relates to buying Princess Plus onboard. Are the medallions only sent out for Princess Plus purchases or would we expect to receive one with our "bare bones" booking? We'll be traveling before our cruises so don't really have a way to receive them by mail anyway but was curious about the comments made about the shipping charges...could you please elaborate??

Whether refundable or not they should have all been treated the same. I didn't expect to get the $2 per cruise back so was pleasantly surprised to see it promptly refunded on three of them...but then it made me wonder why the other wasn't refunded? It's because the only consistent thing HAL does is be inconsistent!

I have a funny "only HAL can do it this way" story. We booked a few when they had the $1 special in July. One booking was direct with HAL and three were through our TA. Subsequently canceled them all. The three we booked with the TA were refunded while the one we booked direct with HAL they never refunded. Go figure. I believe the deposits ALL should have been refunded but will I call and fight over $2? Probably not.

You, like me, probably haven't thought twice about drinking the treated ocean water after the uncontrolled release of highly contaminated water when the plant originally melted down and that stuff went everywhere and was much, much worse than what they're releasing now. The ocean is pretty big and the stuff they're releasing is already very diluted. Plus, when the ships take water in to be treated it is done only when they are far away from land so they won't be drawing water that hasn't already been well mixed with the open ocean water. I'd say there are probably more pressing issues to worry about than that.