Colorado Klutch

Not sure of your point here. I know HAL ships don't do this, but many dance clubs do. And I think it's the future on cruise ships. I've heard some cruise ships already have silent dance clubs. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3356

Thanks for the suggestions. I will likely require hearing aids in the future, but my ears are still in surprisingly good shape. I have liked loud music since I was very young. It never really bothered me. Although I've attended some loud concerts, it's not like I was doing it constantly. Artists like Dave Grohl and Robert Plant have hearing loss because they were standing directly in front of amplifiers night after night. Tool really wasn't that loud. My first concert was Kansas with Alvin Lee and Ten Years After. Alvin Lee was really loud! Kansas not so much.

- Stock price is a HUGE part of a corporate balance sheet. High stock prices allow a cruise company to build ships, renovate ships and innovate. Low stock prices force cutbacks and downsizing - There just no telling what the stock market will do. Anyone who says they can predict it is delusional. There are always people who always predict economic doom and gloom. Eventually, something bad happens and they say, "See, I warned you!". Yeah, nice try, but no. You predicted nothing. - People who go on cruises tend to be financially stable. I mean no disrespect to people who live paycheck to paycheck, but those are the people most affected by inflation and those people don't book cruises - Carnival is a giant corporation with a revenue just shy of $2 billion last year. No, they're not worried about refunding a few bookings. 🙂

It will be interesting to see how HAL might attempt to attract younger people. Music tastes among young people today are extremely fragmented. It's not like the old days when most people liked Rock, R&B or Country. This is why many modern dance clubs are "silent". People dance while wearing headphones. They can tune in to multiple channels playing many different kinds of music. One couple might be boogying to Michael Jackson while another is jamming to Megan Thee Stallion. That's the future. Volume is also extremely subjective. Last year I attended a Tool show with a friend who is much younger than me. He suggested I bring ear plugs. He wasn't aware I attended many a Rock concert back in the late 70s and 80s. Tool put on a great show and I really liked it; without earplugs.

I'm in my mid-50s and I like anything outside of Gangsta rap. (I don't hate it. It's just not something I enjoy.) As long as the performers are talented and work to put on a good show, I'm going to enjoy it. Although I really am looking forward to seeing the string quartet on my upcoming Alaska cruise. Now it looks like they may not be there.

The article says the BB King Blues Club will remain on the Pinnacle class ships.

I didn't think the drink packages included gratuity. Thank you, I will crunch some more numbers.

Rasberry jam!

I used to follow a Disney blogger in Florida. He booked a Disney cruise and had no idea Formal Night was a thing. He posted a picture of him wearing shorts and a T-shirt at dinner while everyone else was dressed up. I'm surprised they let him in, but he just didn't know.

I'm a United MileAge Plus member. Is it possible to use frequent flier points when booking through FlightEase?

I recently spent two weeks in South Korea. I was far south of Sokcho in Osan and Seoul, but everywhere I went I found the people to be very pleasant and polite which means a lot to me. I also really liked the Korean BBQ restaurants. There was always a lot of variety. You could cook the food yourself tableside, but the staff typically saw how clueless I was and did it for me. 😃 Korean fried chicken is very popular and it's pretty good. Noodle restaurants are EVERYWHERE. I gave that a try, but it wasn't my thing. I saw a lot of good deals on luggage, blankets, suits and coats. People tell me the deals aren't nearly as good as they were before the Olympics, but prices were still pretty good. Unfortunately, you won't have to time to have a custom suit or coat made. Just a few points.

I have read multiple reviews of Christmas cruises which had the same complaints; too many passengers caused long lines, poor service and food shortages. Apparently, it's not just HAL that overbooks their ships for Christmas.

Consider a Happy Hour is intended to generate drink sales at times which are typically slow or to encourage people to buy drinks when they otherwise would not. Thus, if your roadside bar wants to bring in people on their way home from work, cut the price of drinks from 5-7 PM. If the bars on HAL ships are packed in the early evenings, why should they cut the price of drinks? Sounds like business really dies off later at night so it makes perfect sense to cut drink prices for "Happy Hour" 8-10 PM.

That's really interesting. Thank for sharing that article. I just booked my first ever pleasure cruise for Alaska. I'm really looking forward to it, but I think longer cruises to more unusual ports would be great. One of the reasons I never booked a cruise before is they all seemed to be going to the same places in the Caribbean. I spent a LOT of time in the Caribbean when I was in the Navy. Sorry, but I'm really not a fan. Almost every island I visited was expensive with crime and poverty everywhere. And the people were not at all nice which I really don't like. I recently watched a video about multiple ports where most cruise passengers don't even bother getting off the ship. Wow, that speaks volumes. One island I did like was Curacao and this article suggests HAL will be going there. Cool! Once I retire, I would be very interested in the longer cruises. Way to go, Holland America. Let all the megaships fight each other and cut costs for short Caribbean cruises while your ships venture out!

^^ Thank you for the information about FlightEase. I will take a look at it.

HAL recently sent me an email recommending I book my flights through them. Is there any actual advantage to doing this?

Thank you. I feel like such a biscuit and I really appreciate the people on this board helping me out.

I saw on the roll call for the 20 May Alaska cruise that someone had booked the Tracy Arm excursion last fall. Maybe my cruise is too early in the season for that excursion.

So how does the ship inform guests of a dressy night?

I called HAL and the rep said that excursion had not yet been scheduled. Not sure if he's correct.

Thank you. I see you were a CT. What branch? I was "IS".

HAL does Alaska cruises from Seattle which stop in Victoria before returning to Seattle. Why is a "Distant" foreign port not required for those cruises?

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. So HAL has transportation from Seattle to Vancouver? Sweet! I will look into that. I appreciate that information.

HAL has shuttles? I will need to research this. In retrospect, embarking out of Seattle would be less expensive, but I really preferred the Inside Passage itinerary. This cruise is for my 40th wedding anniversary and I don't mind spending the extra money. Anyway, I'm committed now.

I find anywhere on the HAL web site to book the glacier trip from Tracy Arm Inlet. Does that mean it's sold out?