mshaines

We just booked the 11/4 Apex 6 night cruise. Anyone know which night will be the chic night? I'm guessing Day 3, but I'm sure others know for sure. Here's the itinerary: Day 1: Departs Fort Lauderdale at 3:30 PM Day 2: Docked at Perfect Day at CocoCay, Bahamas from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Day 3: At sea Day 4: Docked at Falmouth, Jamaica from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Day 5: Tendered at George Town, Grand Cayman from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Day 6: At sea Day 7: Arrives at Fort Lauderdale at 7:00 AM

Well, we did Apex retreat in March. Doing Apex in an OV in November and Beyond in an IV next June. We loved the retreat on Apex (Luminae in particular), but really didn't think it was necessary. To me, I really think it all depends on how much, especially with Move up where you don't get all the perks. We booked the Apex retreat when you still got a ton of OBC and gratuities included. The OBC let us try a lot of specialty dining, which led us to conclude we would be happy eating at Eden and Raw on 5 a couple nights and saving the $$. Hope I'm not wrong in about two months!

Again, thank you all who regularly post on this Board. Every cruise line is a bit different and I personally feel like knowing the "rules" before getting on the ship makes the trip SO much better. I asked several questions before we left and people were so helpful.

We had the basic alcoholic one that comes with the regular have it all package. The better version was not an option when we booked, much to my chagrin. Good points all that the Elite package is different. My apologies for any confusion. I was forgetting about that! That said, I didn't think the Elite package was necessary at all. I'm pretty picky about wine and cocktails, but most things were only a couple of bucks (at most) more than the signature package limit. And with it being a relatively port-intensive trip, 15 drinks (including coffees and water cans) was more than enough for us.

I *think* that refers to the juices and stuff in the lido or restaurants. Like a glass of water or milk didn't count, but they definitely counted the cans of water. We got a couple of extra bottles of water and sparkling water for the neptune suite which was nice. If we had been in a regular cabin, I probably would have looked at a water package (I seem to recall that was an option like it is on NCL). The ship isn't that big and the elevators generally weren't packed (and we were on 7) so getting up to the buffet wasn't too too bad. But definitely bring a couple of large insulated water bottles. (I packed SOOO much stuff for this cruise; it was SOOO different than doing a warm weather cruise!)

Hope you go! We found the cruise to be plenty kid-friendly. Obviously, this ship doesn't have the slides and stuff like NCL or RCCL, but the staff was very kind and accommodating to our son. The videogames in Club HAL didn't hurt either lol. There were lots of kids on the cruise. Very multi-generational as I had read.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=719420 Posting this here in case it's helpful to anyone. I greatly appreciated the information provided by others on this board in planning our trip. We were very well prepared. Thank you all.

Thanks again!!

Thank you so much!!

Well, this is good to know. I have been following the boards, but this is a new deviation from their website. I guess we'll see. Will report back. I mean, I'll pay if we need to but seems silly to pay extra for mdr/buffet pizza....

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/faq/onboard-cruise-experience/dining/what-dining-options-are-available-for-kids My son is pretty picky so it will be pizza or chicken which are included per the HAL website. I understand they will be holding a smaller table - hence my ask about how the best way to add him to the reservation. Also I meant 6 p.m., not 6 people. I'm figuring going from 2 to 3 people won't be a huge deal, though I imagine a table for 7 might be. So sorry for the confusion.

Hi all. I know some of these are repeat questions, but I'm seeing conflicting info and recommendations (and, yes, I've searched the boards). Hopefully some of you won't mind humoring me. To the extent it changes answers, we are booked in a neptune suite. And it's our first HAL cruise, so we have no experience here. (We have sailed other lines, though.) 1. Specialty Dining with kids - We've got a reservation for 6 on the first night at Tamarind applying the HIA credit. I didn't include my son (8) on the reservation because he will eat off the kids menu and I didn't want to chase a refund since that wasn't an option on the reservation. Best option for making sure there's a seat for him? Neptune lounge concierge? 2. Embarkation in Vancouver - I'm seeing things that say get there at 10/10:30 or 1:30. I had been planning to be early since we have priority status, but our boarding passes say first check in at noon. That doesn't comport with what I've read or with the schedule on the app... Any guidance here appreciated. My son is generally a very well-behaved child (my friends who don't like kids love him), but long lines are something I'd like to avoid with him. If we drop our bags at say 10:30 and then go for lunch in the area before going to check in, any suggestions? (We're flying in and staying at the JW the night before.) 3. Relatedly - anyone cruised Vancouver since they started the facial recognition use? Is that speeding things up? 4. My husband and I both have client-facing jobs where being on vacation doesn't mean all that much and will likely be asked if we can join a zoom/teams meeting or two. Any tips/tricks on the wifi are appreciated. Right how we have whatever comes with the HIA plan. I'm guessing we'll need to upgrade, but granted we're in Alaska and will have cell coverage, I'm kinda iffy on the extra expense, especially if the streaming isn't very good. Thanks in advance. Also happy to hear any recs/tips/tricks anyone has for us since this is a new adventure! Appreciate the feedback!

I've been meaning to circle back on this post as I think we're exactly the cruisers OP was asking about. I'm 43. DH is 40 and our son is 8. We sailed Apex in the Retreat (SS) the week before Easter (i.e. the kid's spring break). The ship was sold out, but never felt particularly crowded. We LOVED it. For reference, we had done one NCL balcony, two NCL Haven, and one MSC YC cruise previously. We enjoyed the high level of service (not just in the retreat but everywhere), the quality of the food, and the beautiful ship. Having the retreat sundeck was nice, but I think we could certainly enjoy an X cruise without the retreat. We ate at the Grand Bistro (good), Eden (LOVED), Blu (good), and LPC (HATED for both the duration of the meal and the really not great food). We ate most of our meals in the Retreat Restaurant (excellent) but ate buffet pizza nearly everyday. Our son very much enjoyed the kids club. We will definitely be back on X, probably next year. For us, our son doesn't really care about the "stuff" on NCL or RCCL. We didn't miss the go karts, slides, etc. So for us, NCL Haven't really isn't as good of a value proposition as Celebrity is. We would certainly cruise NCL again, but only in the Haven and only for a compelling reason (with friends, great deal, bucket list itinerary, etc.) I actually would do the MSC YC again (ONLY YC), but my husband hated it even if it was half the price. I'm curious about the suite classes on RCCL, but the prices are higher than celebrity (which I understand) and generally have less perks than the Haven (despite also being more expensive than that as well), so it just doesn't make sense for us. The only other thing I was a wee bit disappointed by on X (by way of comparison) were the drinks. The Retreat really didn't have a fancy bar (which I knew), but we sorta missed the smoked old fashions and proper mixology from the Haven. I was also not impressed by the wine selection, considering X marketing. Thankfully this forum had adjusted my expectations. (Not that I couldn't always find a good drink or that my pickiness diminished the cruise in any way.)

I guess we're in the minority (and maybe this was being on an edge class ship?), but we HATED le petit chef on Apex in March. Took 45 minutes to get a drink. I skipped the drink pairings because it was clear there was no way they could keep up. Everyone was served at the same time and they just couldn't handld it. Food ranged from pretty good to really not good. Show was very cute, but all in 2.5+ hours (we abandoned ship at 2+ hours but before the last course). Loved everything else we did on Apex, including the grand bistro for lunch. But hard pass on LPC.

Hi all. We're sailing Apex in the Retreat on the 23rd. Three questions I was hoping to get feedback on. First, is a romper acceptable evening dining room attire for a woman (if anyone knows)? I have a couple dressyish ones I wear with heels, but I see an argument that they are shorts and therefore not approved. I don't want to put the host in an awkward position. Obviously, can wear pants or dresses instead, but I find these outfits to be fun and comfortable so I thought I'd ask if anyone had experience/knowledge. Second, I know there's discussion on this elsewhere, but I was wondering if anyone has recent feedback on edge class Luminae having the MDR classics available. My husband loves Caesar salad and steak and I am a big fan of french onion soup. I know you can't order off the MDR menu in the Edge class Luminaes, but I've seen conflicting reports here about thinks like caesar salad and steaks just being generally available. Finally, maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen confirmation of whether butlers are back on Apex for the SS. (Sorry, not trying to further the traffic on butler gate! Just curious!) This will be our first X cruise and I'm very excited!

@CruisingTheWaves. Would appreciate if you would report back! We sail on the 23rd of March. Expect it to be a very full ship, so would be nice to have the more specialized attention.

Glad to hear this. Hoping they will be back on Apex for our cruise next month!

Charla - Fellow lawyer and early 40s cruiser here (though I consider myself elder millennial/oregon trail generation lol). Thank you so much for doing this live posting. It has been delightful to read. We're doing our first X cruise in March on the Apex and your thread here has made me even more excited about it! Hope you have a fabulous final evening and a safe trip home!

We were onboard in December. We only took our son in the evening and they were broken up by age group. He loved it.

Thanks!

Seriously considering rebooking an NCL Alaska cruise on the Koningsdam. We're booked in the Have on the Encore just having trouble justifying the price since we don't care about a lot of the large ship amenities. Would definitely want CO, but not necessarily attached to having a Neptune Suite and availability this summer is seeming limited. Forgive the dumb question (and hijacking the thread), but what is the best way to figure out whether CO is still available? Just call HAL? (I typically book online using one of the TAs that does good OBC or refund after the cruise; service when you call them can be somewhat mixed.) TIA!

As promised, I posted a review of our 3 night Seashore experience (Dec. 7 to 10): https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=709638. Happy to answer any questions.

Same and same! Crossing my fingers!

I hadn't seen this before. Thanks!

Trying MSC on the Seashore for the first time next week. Will be in the YC. Any tips for making life a bit better? My husband and I have both read and seen some pretty terrible reviews, so we're a bit worried about our choice.