Haljo1935

Aligned Bar Harbor is very walkable with excellent food choices. All the times we've been there, including last year 1 week after Hurricane Fiona, the weather more than cooperated - we were blessed with blue skies and gentle breeze so walking was nice. You can easily walk down to the bridge trail and cross over to Bar Island if it's low tide. We have been there at low tide and walked about mid way out, but I'm a chicken, so we haven't walked all the way over. It's very pretty either way. And free. https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/hike-bar-island-trail.htm

Hey @1stItaly what day are you needing 2 more people? We're ported in Sydney Wed Sept 20 also interested in the tour.

Do you have a link to their site? We're also looking to book. 😊

https://www.cascobaylines.com/maine-boat-tours/specialty-cruises/mailboat/ Direct link to the tour company - of the 4 tour options, 2 time with our port stop; schedule allows for only 1/day so have to choose between Mail Run and Diamond Pass. We're canceling our Kennebunkport excursion hoping to do one of these. Thanks for sharing!!

Hey @ellenw what ship and sail date are you there in Sept? Portland is on our itinerary Sept 16-29. We also want to do this. Looks like we only go to Portland once - Mon Sept 25.

Was just gonna say Rowena got busy changing your cabin around while you were gone. How much Duck Tape does it take to tape a bed to the ceiling??

@momof3cruisers mentioned an important piece of booking through the ship - tenders. Most cruiselines allow pax booked on "their" excursions onto tenders before the other pax, so be sure to consider if you're looking to purchase "outside" the ship if it's a tender port. Then see what time that excursion is scheduled - if the start time is very close to ship arrival time, on a full ship at a tender port you run a risk of missing your excursion w/no refund. "Outside" excursion companies will wait for stragglers but eventually they have to leave to get the tour started. This wasn't so much an issue at the restart, but recently we've seen longer waits for tenders. Something to consider.

Why people choose to spend money on alcohol (or anything) while on a cruise aside (whatever the choice - drink, don't drink; eat steak, don't eat steak; gamble, don't gamble, spa/no spa...we all agree is a choice), I think the real question is why do the cruise lines charge so much for the drinks? 🤔 Multiple Live reviews for VV cruises people reported paying $20+ for a drink, some shots were over $30 - yikes! Of course, they charge those rates cuz they can, but geez. They're often making more on a single drink/shot than they pay for the entire bottle - that's a hefty markup.🥺

Value is very subjective - not worth it for me as my palette is more simple. I appreciate the imagination and creativity that goes into it, but I don't eat seafood or many of the other things frequently used. So, it's a pass for me.

Let's be honest - Boys got spanked. It hurt a bit...

To myself, yes. To anyone on the ship or elsewhere, no.

Congrats! Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

Hey @newgirlhelpme this is a good overview of dining for your class ship

Bon Voyage!! Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

Hey @carol louisewhen were you able to sign up? Did you just go to Shore Exc as soon as you got on or did you have to wait until a certain time? We've been wanting to do this for so long and thought post-Covid it wouldn't happen. We're on Venezia in Sept out of NY and I would love to be able to participate. Thanks so much!!

Exactly - I missed my bottle of water cuz I didn't know I had to go get it - I thought it would be in my cabin. Then spent considerable time b*****ng about how cheap Carnival was that I couldn't even get a lousy overpriced $3.50 bottle of water. Apologies, Carnival, my bad.

The Dive In is a burger/hot dog place 😋. The Lido is the buffet. Both are on deck 9. Both are places you could go on Dressy Night in shorts & t-shirt. Have fun exploring your ship. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise! hal-oo-deck-plan-050822_230418_000436.pdf

They've always done it while I'm there and I see the credit in my statement right then. 🙂

What ship are you on? The deck plan is a great place to start getting familiar with the ship before you board. Just review it deck by deck to get an idea of where things are located. Then when you get on, you can go find some of the places you located on the deckplan. Halfacts.com is also a good resource for getting familiar with your ship - there are pictures and comments about many of the cabins, too.

You are a brave soul cruising with a 2 yo, lol. There are some inside cabins that have windows, so you get some natural light. You might look into one of them. Not every ship has them and it's going to be only 2 or 4 per ship, so they go quickly. IQ10044 and IQ10043 have the windows - see the openings facing the pool. They're conveniently located to the covered pool and Club HAL. Something to consider 🤔

Welcome to HAL!! The dress code is very relaxed, but how "dressy" you should expect to be for depends on your itinerary, so where you're going will impact what you want to wear for dinner. Longer cruises and European cruises, for example, tend to be dressier. With that said, we're really talking about what you wear in the dining rooms - not around the ship. It is all dining rooms, not just the "pay extra" or "fancier" dining rooms, though, so on Dressy Night if you wanted to wear shorts and a t-shirt you would want to consider eating in the Lido or maybe pizza place, not the Main Dining Room, but no need to squirrel away in your cabin w/room service. Dressy doesn't mean formal or fancy, just no beachwear, shorts, etc. So you could even wear a sundress with a short jacket and not be out of place. What ship and where are you going?

Good to know - thanks for the update. If it's handled the way other pre-purchased excursions to OBC are done, you'll want to go to Shore Excursions Desk once you're onboard, don't go to Passenger Services.

Nope, but I'd say worth trying since there seems to be some inconsistencies in enforcing. I wasn't mad, since the policy does say you can purchase when you're on board and he wasn't; it was more of a disappointment knowing others have done it. I'm rooting for you so the "kids" can get a nice gift.

Correct unlimited is unlimited with pick up available day 1. Special requests are honored, just include a note in the bag. No discount for ordering in advance unless there's a price increase (pre purchase stays at the lower price) but prices were very recently increased, so I wouldn't think it likely to go up again soon. You can see the cost for your booking in the packages section. The bags will hold a LOT if you roll then stack clothes - I have put so much in 1 bag it took 3 baskets to return it all. Although there are discussions of price per day, laundry is ordered and charged either per bag or per booking. Yes you can use OBC to pay for laundry. It includes pressing, so no need to order pressing service separately unless you have clean items that need to be pressed. Remember the laundry team at the end of your cruise when you're distributing additional gratuities - they rock!!

Being on the K'dam you will be able to get pea soup anytime at Grand Dutch Cafe, along with other yummy treats - all no charge. Pea soup will also be served various locations throughout the ship while you're in Glacier Bay - they'll be listed in the Daily Program. Incredible viewing of Glacier Bay from the Crow's Nest also comes with pea soup. I am not a fan of pea anything, but HALs pea soup is a real treat. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!