Shalandara

I *have* to wear socks, cannot stand bare feet in almost all types of footwear. (So you will rarely see me in sandals or those abomination of shoes known as "crocs".) Two of my children seem incapable of ever putting socks on. It still sometimes drives me a bit batty when I see them in sneakers without socks.

When I was looking to book a Feb 2025 cruise for the early booking promo I priced out doing lowest obstructed balcony, and adding club orange to get the exact cabin I wanted (not exactly highest balcony according to HAL but it was to me due to location). I gave my TA the price differences of booking that way vs booking the cabin I wanted directly. She was able to get me the cabin I wanted without the CO but at the CO price strategy. Since I could care less about the perks of CO I did it via her way since the rare CO spot is wasted on me. No, I do not know how she did it -- but that is what working with a TA can get you sometimes. If more did it my way the people who actually want CO benefits wouldn't be shut out so early I think. I guess you can hope someone who did the early CO booking (possibly also with the $1 deposit) changes their minds about going and cancels,

Confiscated by airlines/TSA or confiscated by HAL? I do not *think* it goes against either one on surface reading of the rules. But do not use me as your final authority as I have no actual authority.

I have friends who go every year. Since my DH seems to only like HAL and since (currently) JoCo is only doing HAL, and also only sailing from the East Coast (which is way more convenient for us) we finally decided to take the plunge. Really not sure I could do it every every year (because while I love games and costuming) I am not up to that much intensity every year. And it does count towards Mariner days for sailing. Although it wont show up in my HAL bookings until sometime in February. (That's when cabins are assigned).

I can lay pretty good odds that one of those weeks in March 2025 will be the JoCo charter. (I'm sailing on the 2024 JoCo charter). I know that they have a contract with HAL through 2025 but they typically do not announce the next sailing dates until they are onboard the current one (because current attendees have first chance at booking/rooms). This year was slightly different in that they announced their 2024 sail dates *before* the 2023 sailing -- I think to drum up interest and get people back onboard. I'm semi waiting to see if they release 2025 sail dates in Jan 2024 or wait until March 2024.

About how long is the entire route for the HOHO? A suggestion I had from another forum/thread was to do the HOHO the day we landed in Barcelona (after dropping off bags at the Hotel) and just ride the entire circuit to get a feel for the city (and recover from the airplane flights). Then the next day do the more in-depth tourist stuff for the specific things we want to see/do. Now it is looking like flights are getting in mid-afternoon instead of around noon -- so not certain if we will have enough time to do a full circuit ride or not.

Credit card friendly or should we be prepared with Euros? (As in trying to figure out how if/how much we might need in euros before arriving in Barcelona. Thanks!

Given how long it takes for a brand new ship to be built this is either a tantalizing hint for several years in the future OR the likelihood of picking up a ship from one of the other lines is a real possibility (as has been discussed on another thread). If I were a gambling person my money is on getting a ship in transfer (from Costa or similar).

@jules815 there has been much discussion on that in the HAL forums. It looks like they tried to make that the drinks were not part of the HIA package and have now gone back to them being included. However there is much confusion as website gives conflicting information it seems.

If you look at the link posted you can see that pre-booking can be done but is only for the entire voyage. If you want one for only a day that is only done once on board *and* if any are available. (So you are taking a chance that not all of them are fully pre-booked).

I'm not certain how much we can use pre-2020 statistics for anything currently.

@sea mom If you head back up to look at comment #127 you will see my input on the Marriott properties.

OK, I see now whats happening. I was referring to the "sample cruise" you could choose and you are talking about the picture -- which I wasn't looking at. (Visuals on many webpages are often lost on me as I mentally tag them as advert pictures and not relevant! -- unless I am on a specific site where the visuals are relevant such as clothing shopping, map itineraries for HAL cruises, etc)

They must have changed their examples -- mine was clearly the Queen Mary 2.

Inquiring minds want to know where to find this schedule. 🙂 Are they ship specific?

@cgolf1 As @kazu pointed out it is under a screen name and not your real name. I will also point out that while these forums are visible to people not signed in as CC users, the same is not true for the roll calls. You have to be logged in to see those. (As I often forget when getting notifications in my email and clicking on it -- I do not log in to CC on my phone, only on home computer). I lurked a bit before ever posting here (that even meant not making an account at all). And even then did not join roll call on my first "return to cruising" cruise. Some of that was for a sense of security.

@iujen94 I have no first hand experience, but did a fair bit of research on the Marriott options (since I also have status/points with them). My stay will not be until this fall (pre cruise for a HAL TA in November) so not certain if you can wait for my full review then. Your top 4 listed were all high on my list. Others in my roll call had good remarks for all of them. I ended up with the Renaissance due to the location. Very close to the HOHO stops, close to museums I am interested in, good reviews. I think either Meridien or Edition was the top from others in the roll call but they gave good marks to the Renaissance as well. I was severely tempted for the Cotton House because of the decor/former building. I love interesting architecture and buildings that have been converted. (Let me tell you about a Marriott hotel in downtown Providence RI that used to be the Masonic temple!) DH was less interested in that one and it seemed the most expensive (dollars or points wise).

Hope all is good and you have an enjoyable trip! I will be watching this one as it seems to be the itinerary I would like for a repeat Alaska trip (did 7 day inside passage last year on Konigsdam). I hope they keep this one for several years (as earliest I think we could go is late 2025 or 2026.

Thoughtful review. I guess it goes that research into the presenters/group offering the cruise is needed to see how the experiences are. That is why these forums can be helpful. Knowing the group, what the extra fees are going towards, the schedule of activities -- these are all added on top of researching to see if the cruise line/ship and itinerary are also a good fit. I have done a genealogy cruise. It was ok -- but mostly because it was a way for me to be able to convince husband to go on a trip (he got to relax and do nothing while I went to social activities which suited him just fine). Now that I have gotten him interested in the occasional cruise I can leave the theme cruises for if it fits exactly right. Of course my major craft projects do not travel well so they are usually out. Although its amazing how many quilting cruises there are! Elizabeth

ETA -- Oops -- I forgot about the restriction on not posting links. Sigh. I am editing to take out the hyper links and make them text only. I hope that passes muster. There is this website craftcruises dot com I do not know if that is the group the OP is talking about but they do have cruises. It seems that only knitting themed cruises currently -- while there are other craft types listed none seem to have upcoming ones scheduled. I did find this group of craft cruises (seems to be mostly scrapbooking but not all): cruiseandcrop dot com Also these: knittingtraditions dot com melissaleapman dot com slash nautical-knitting-cruise toursbyvogueknitting dot com While some of these seem to be full, or very recently sailed or about to sail, getting in contact with the organizers might put you on email notification for upcoming options.

I actually have a had a friend experience this as well with a onion/sourcream commercial dip -- so they will only do homemade dips now since they do not want to risk it ever again.

Disappointing if true. We have the elite through an early promotion on one of our upcoming cruises -- and husband is dearly fond of smoothies but not a big alcohol drinker. We never would have willingly chosen elite -- it was just part of the package.

The description for the elite says that it includes all that is on Quench and Signature plus the additional items. See https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Beverage-Packages-2021.pdf as well as https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Beverage-Packages-2023.pdf

Wow, POA1! That's an amazing array of answers. I think you covered all the bases and then some! (And I love your visuals!) It just makes me even more looking forward to my cruise.

@POA1 -- love the cruisin' bear!