SeaCapt

The last embarkation 4-5-star cocktail reception we recall was in Sept. 2022 on the Zaandam, in the afternoon in the crow's nest. We haven't seen it since. This was separate from the later Mariner luncheon and recognition events. I think some of these changes occurred post-COVID, when the boarding process changed- we used to get keys and invites in the terminal before boarding, and now keys are in the door mailslot, and invites in the cabin.

First cruise ship cruise was NCL Skyward in 1980. Our family of 8 people won the onboard Olympics, and I still have the medal to prove it! It included athletic events like everyone standing really close together, with them measuring the circumference of the whole family pile- thinnest group wins. Also had to do a cocktail-on-a-waiters tray sprint without spilling. These were the days of midnight buffets with ice sculptures, flaming baked Alaska on parade, and wait staff and guests doing an endless conga line dancing to "hot, hot, hot" in the main dining room. First HAL cruise was the Noordam in 1987, according to my HAL profile...

We have also cruised with our kids sharing our cabin- but the "kids" are in their 30's, and spend more on alcohol than we do! They live far away, so we are all happy to share a veranda cabin, and spend the saved money of an extra cabin on other things instead. Yeah, its a lot of people for one bathroom, but not an insurmountable challenge. And in reference to the lifeboats/ship capacity question that keeps coming up, the ship is required to have 25% MORE lifeboat space than the number of people aboard, including guests and crew. As the ships don't add and subtract lifeboats each week depending on bookings, they always carry have enough lifeboats to accommodate 25% more people than if every single bed on the ship was occupied, including all triples and quads, and every crew bunk bed. The excess capacity is due to the assumption that some lifeboats may not launch or inflate properly, due to the ship listing or other issues such as fire.

I emailed a query to HAL 2 days ago, and got this reply today: Unfortunately, we experienced issues with the automated systems that process voyages for all December 2023 sailings. We are working to resolve this and expect all Cruise Histories to be updated by the end of the week. There is no further action required on this matter.

Sometimes the daily activity schedule fills out early, and even though every night says Smart Casual, you may note that there is something like "have your dressy photo taken" just before dinner. Those will be the dressy nights.

Maybe they're using up old stock? or typical HAL consistency, perhaps. We were on the Eurodam in December, and they had expiration dates.

May be worth noting that the Mariner drink coupons now have expiration dates on them, corresponding to the end of the cruise you are on. Not sure if anyone would actually check, but saving them may no longer work.

Just got off on Dec 20, and up till then it was 2 guys. But there also seems to be a big change of crew on Jan 6, so not sure who you'll get...

As REOVA posted, there are some indications of it being an older ship. But it was refreshed less than a year ago, and the furniture and finishings in the Lido and other lounges was beautiful and in great shape. During this cruise, the Captain mentioned receiving 100 crates of new curtains and linens for staterooms, which would be installed as they cruise over the coming weeks..

I was on this cruise with you, and agree with pretty much everything, including declining Pinnacle Grill, great Tamarind, and addictive raisin buns (which I add cream cheese and lox to). All the breads and pastries were fantastic as always, and the fish dishes, including in the MDR, were perfectly undercooked every time. As for the wine tasting, I am ready for them to move on from the Northwest, as it seems we've been tasting the same wines for a few years, now. And yeah, we miss the classical music, too.

I was on the Eurodam 11-day that ended today. Yesterday at Half Moon Cay we enjoyed seeing her twin sister Nieuw Amsterdam visiting with us. They were holding station close enough to each other all day that we could get wifi from either ship!

Yup, going nowhere for me. Just the splash page, but clicking on anything brings nothing but endless waiting. Sigh...

We always enjoy a dinner at Rudi's on the pinnacle ships, and book one night there each cruise. We tried one of the pop-ups on a different ship, and it really wasn't the same, so wont do that again.

I had never considered looking at that, but am glad its worked. I've also been on dozens of cruises on maybe 10 different lines, and as you might guess from my screen name, have a bit of professional experience as well. For my holidays, I try to book dates and destinations when they are not at their most popular, as my personal measure of crowded is how full of passengers the ship is. Even a ship with the worst space ratio, when only half full, will feel pretty spacious. And the best ship at capacity will feel crowded...

This is a terribly misleading statistic. According to the site, they simply use the ships tonnage and passenger capacity. Ships tonnage includes pretty much everything that is not machinery space, including crew cabins, crew bar and dining, kitchens, etc. All of that non-public space varies dramatically by ship, but as a passenger you would never know that. Tonnage only counts ENCLOSED spaces. So the promenade deck is not included. The aft lido pool area, which is open space, is not included. The sports deck open areas are not included. The exhaust funnel, being enclosed, IS included. The balcony of every cabin, as they are not enclosed, are not included. Further confusing the issue is the type of engines and propulsion systems of the ship, as these also vary substantially (i.e. 4 engines connected to 2 drive shafts, or one big generator powering electric azipods), and require much different space configurations. Unfortunately, I am not aware of anyone publishing the volume of passenger space on each ship. And that would be tough anyway, as you could have larger cabins with smaller "public" space, or tiny cabins with huge lounges, etc.