Haljo1935

Glad to have you!

My pleasure!!

Do they sell them at street vendor carts like we buy hot dogs over here? DH will love them!!

Hey @garagesalegran when you go to Shore Exc Desk, would you ask them if they show Nieuw Statendam in Olympia Nov 3 or in Solit Croatia on Nov 4? Conflicting schedules are posted and we're looking to find an answer this week from the ship. Thanks!

Same - we are scheduled there late next month (not overnight) and I'm really hoping we get to go. I keep reading how gorgeous it is.

Thank you - it does seem like a great itinerary!

Thanks for joining us!

Here's what we've accomplished, where we're at and what we still need to do. Accomplished: Odds & ends ordered - charger for Italy, extra wine sleeves (for bringing home yummy wines & oils we're sure to find along our journey), trail mix, socks (who knew we needed socks?), extra tips for the walking sticks, travel pillow & eye masks, bottle sleeves (time to retire the baggies), fur baby food...well turns out we needed lots of things. Started LIVE review 😉. Created OOO template to go live Wed mid-morning. Now: Packing, confirming reservations, updating the spreadsheet (I've become that person - so many details I put it on a spreadsheet), laundry followed by more packing, refilling Rx followed by more packing, receiving all the stuff that's been ordered followed by yep more packing. Still to do: Car 🚗 inspections (they expire while we're gone), order the fur baby food we forgot to order along w/other forgotten items, replace porch light, pack the Travelon, swap out passport holders, locate DH earbuds...all fun stuff.🙄 find out where the other GO pre-paid card is - only 1 arrived, pre-pay ship internet package (if I miss that, I won't be able to work and this LIVE will be woefully short!!), visit Massage Envy. This section keeps growing... BONUS - Sneak Peak at What's Planned: In Rome, we have tickets for the Colosseum Underground and that full tour, HOHO and a flex day; hoping to go to Trastevere while bopping around on Vespas on the flex day. During the cruise we'll be doing a combination of ship & independent excursions - 2 ports still not finalized- Bari and possibly Split. If we end up in Olympia, we're set w/tickets, but if it turns out to be Split, we'll wing it so we'll all be surprised together🫣 We're driving 4x4s in Corfu, doing GOT tour in Dubrovnik and Godfather tour in Sicily, tasting wine in Albania and...lots of good stuff 👏 If we end up in Split, it will probably be another GOT day as DH is such a fan and there are many options for him there. Apparently some of the misc things have arrived, so I'm off to the door and suitcase - more later! And thanks for being here😊

Thanks so much for joining. Lots still to do before we leave, but even packing will be fun.🤭

Nice picture - now it's there and it is very nice. I would say it's "puzzle worthy" That's our term for really nice pictures that we'd like to make into puzzles then frame after putting them together. You must have been adding the picture as I was reading your post. 🤭

Thanks so much - I'm sure it will be a blast!

Thank you - first time to Rome and most of the ports, so we're very excited.

Thanks for the well wishes and for joining us😊 We're very excited.

Ooh, we are recognizing an extra day today 🤭 a neighbor helped us by mowing the weeds in front of our house by the cluster box - I don't know who it was so don't know who to thank. Will have to read through that quote again, maybe a few times - there's a lot in it. The chicken sounds good, don't know about the drink, read what @cat shepard posted about the wine but still don't know if I'd try it, not been to Sweden but my car came from there🤭🤔 2 great, impactful days worthy of recognition. 66° headed to 88°, glad to see the 90s have been removed from the forecast. Rain still expected as we leave on Wed. Suitcases are out begging to be packed - no choice but to get it done today since the next 2 days will be very heavy work days and we leave Wed. As the little odds and ends arrive, I've been tossing them into the suitcase so I won't forget any of them. Still no definitive answer on if if we'll be in Olympia as scheduled or Split instead - Navigator App and HAL website do not match. So we're keeping Olympia tickets and leaving Split open, we'll just wing it 🫣 DH got his intl DL so we're all set for our 4x4 excursion. He says it's just enough bigger than his passport that it won't fit into the passport holder - lovely. You'd think 2 international documents could be the same size.🙄 I will go to both PT and Chiro again before we leave - hope they get my shoulder moving a bit more, it seems to have lost some motion after the jabs and still hurts. Fur babies already know something is up - they're all being super clingy. That's the hardest part of traveling - leaving the fur babies behind. But life w/o them just would not be as good. 🐕 🐕 🐈 Prayers and positive thoughts for all.

Thank you! Glad you're coming along.😊

Bon Voyage @seagarsmoker. Enjoy that great itinerary; safe travels.

Thank you @crystalspin - so kind of you to mention my upcoming trip. We are very excited and cannot believe it's finally happening. We leave Wed!!

I think HALs Signature Suite more closely aligns to Princess Mini Suite. I prefer the aft locations of Vista Suites, but a Signature Suite is more similar to a Mini Suite. And the balcony is great!

@DANCING GRANDMOMMY the sea day brunch in the steakhouse was fabulous!! 2 weeks and we didn't once have continental breakfast in the bar area, but I'm sure it was nice. That is such a lovely area, pool or not.

🤭Here we go again - this time round trip from Rome (Civitavecchia) and you're invited! Pack a bag 🧳(or actually not) and let's see the classics plus whatever looks exciting and interesting. 🥴 Let me give a little backstory - I had been on a Mediterranean cruise (not HAL) a few years ago w/my sister to celebrate a milestone birthday of hers. We got a really really good deal, booked our first ever B2B, bought plane tickets and headed off to Europe. First week was great but exhausting, so I guess we were doing it right.🫣 We were among the first off ship and last back on every day - port times were longer then and we were in port 7 or 8 am until 8 pm (approx); we were determined to squeeze every possible moment out of every day. Oh, did I mention this was in June? So, those long days were 🔥 hot days w/summer crowds, ugh😞 Between week 1 and week 2, we received word of a family emergency that completely shifted our focus. We finished out the itinerary as planned as we were not able to secure flights that would get us home any sooner. I know we went on excursions the 2nd week and were still off ship all day, but I don’t really remember what we did. This itinerary was round trip Athens followed by Athens to Barcelona. I remember doing a HOHO in Athens on Turnaround Day and remember going to Familia Sagrada in Barcelona before heading to the airport; other than that, week 2 is a blur. So, DH and I booked a Med cruise - we were so thrilled to go make some good memories. Covid had other plans. We pushed it out and Covid again had other plans. So now we find ourselves with an 11 day cruise preceded by 3 days in Rome during the fall. Except for 1 port, we have excursions planned for the cruise ports and 2 of the Rome days. This has become an anniversary trip - we are going to have an awesome time!!

Welcome to HAL! I have too many dessert favorites to name one 🫣 each one already named, I said, "yes, that one!!" Every time, lolbut the tiramisu in Canaletto is pretty amazing.

Short answer is we know we will absolutely get a "welcome back" discount offer for each of those that we can stack w/early booking bonuses, shareholder OBC & military OBC plus book Club Orange all resulting in a very attractive package. Plus we will get an opportunity to book future cruises w/reduced deposits & increased OBC while onboard as well as purchasing FCD, which is not offered on Carnival. Long answer is we prefer smaller ships, less children (or at least the chance for less children) and a less rowdy crowd. We also prefer the check-in and boarding process on HAL vs Carnival. And appreciate that HAL still offers free room service. Also know w/HAL we will not have the end of cruise airport transfer/shuttle disaster that we just experienced w/Carnival (it was really bad & not the final memory a passenger should leave with). With that said, we really enjoy the crew on Carnival - they are attentive and fun; their service is great. Our very first cruise (30+ yrs ago) was on Carnival and we're heading toward 20 cruises completed (solid gold), so we do still book w/them when the itinerary, price and cabin selection all align. After the beat down of the airport transfer fiasco immediately followed by no return offer, I thought I'd try HAL again rather than reward Carnival. Hope that wasn't TMI.

Congrats!

How long did it take to get from your Rome City BnB to the port? Trying to decide what time we need to leave; we're staying near Termini. Thanks!

The "fine print" details in the terms at the end of the offer will let you know if you can pay a deposit with balance due at a final due date or if it has to be paid in full. If it qualifies for a deposit, you can use a FCD. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!