Moriah

I did a back to back last month - and the port was FLL, so it may be different in other places, especially a European port, but here's my recent experience. Almost half of the passengers were "transit", meaning they were staying on board for the next cruise, and our process was as follows. We received a written notice in our cabins telling us that at a particular time (I believe it was 9:30 AM) we were to gather in the theater. I got there about 20 minutes early and there were already about 300 people seated in the theater. Once we were ALL there (don't be late if you don't want to annoy a lot of people LOL) we were led out, row by row, in a long procession into the terminal. Once out there, we turned around, lined up, and waited about 10 minutes to be marched back on board. I'm not sure why you asked about customs - you do NOT have to "go through customs" and you do not have to bring anything off the ship with you except your room key and your passport. So customs is not a thing at that point. Yes, it was seamless, the waiting all took place in the theater, and a few minutes waiting to re-board. Now, if you want to go ashore and treat your turnaround day as a port day and do something on land, you will have to re-board the same way the other passengers do, including security. Then once they are ready to board, they will board "transit" passengers first, before priority boarding and group one. Enjoy your cruise!

Yes, they only sell a certain number of passes so it is never crowded. If you mean you are worried they will have no more room once you board, I highly doubt it - I don't think I've ever heard of that happening but maybe others will chime in. Anarctic cruise!!! I agree you will love having the thermal spa!

I have used it on all of the ships except Koningsdam. What are your questions about them? What ship will you be on? There are three distinct types of spas now - the two smaller ships do not have the hydropool, just a small hot tub in the same room with the thermal couches. The Vistas and Signature ships have beautiful square hydropools, and the Pinnacle ships have basically the same one but round, and with more comfortable set-ups for sitting down in the water. (also you can douse yourself with ice cubes and a few other additions :)) If it will be your first time, you might want to wait until embarkation day to decide. Take the tour (the spa has an open house on the first day) and see the facilities, hear the pricing, and decide if it looks like something you will use and enjoy. I love the hydropool and the thermal couches - but my cruising style is sort of couch-potatoe-y (at least when on board) so it's perfect for me. That said, I don't do it on every cruise. Depends who I'm with, how many sea days, etc. If you ask specific questions I'm sure I and many others can answer.

I will be in 1060 soon! Do you by any chance have any photos of the room you can share?

Sigh... I still miss "Love in any Language...." the night before disembarking.

Also, you have several replies on the previous thread you started with the same question. Perhaps a moderator can merge them?

Discounts on purchases are automatically applied. You will see them on your bill the note "Loyalty discount applied." You don't need a "Mariner card" (what is that?)

When you purchase anything on board, your "loyalty discount" is automatically applied. All the info is in your card, so no, you don't have to request. When you go to a specialty restaurant along with others who may be at different loyalty status levels, inform them when you are seated and tell them whose account you wish to charge. If you don't, they will charge whoever made the reservation for all the meals at the table.

Hm... altered? Yes, he explained where it came from - he had done his job and found me the best current deal for the cruise I wanted, and it included some OBC. Why it was not "attached" before I'm sure is because when I booked myself online I neglected to get myself the best deal 🙂 No, it doesn't seem "strange"... I thought it was great! BTW I'm in the US.

I had this exact same experience!! I also am 4 star, and I just book on the website or with whoever happens to answer the phone at HAL... until I was told "Here's your PCC" - that just happened a couple of weeks ago. So... I called him, and he had already rebooked my upcoming cruise with more OBC and I've talked to him several times - he's very responsive and seems much more knowledgeable than the people at the regular HAL call center, so I'm happy to have him. Years ago people used to rave about their PCCs... I never had one back then, but I feel the one I have now is like those "old timers..."

No! I never received any response from them, even though I filled out the form on their website with my query, and it said I'd get a response in 48 hours (it's been a few days now)

WOW! This is why I LOVE CruiseCritic's community. Laminator saved the day! Thank you SO MUCH! I sent that code to my PCC, and he was able to verify that I was indeed given that offer and applied it to my booking. Yay! It's not a huge deal, but hey, $100 Free Play plus free drinks is still a pretty cool add-on to my cruise. Thank you again SO MUCH!!!

Thank you so much! I will let my PCC know and come back here and tell you if it was successful!

I greatly appreciate that, but I actually don't remember! With the ones that come by email I know exactly what to do - the offer code is always on the email - but this was something that came to my stateroom on the last day of a cruise, and I stupidly tossed it! I did spend quite a bit of time in the casino on that cruise, and I remember thinking, oh well, by the time I book another cruise this offer will have expired... never dreaming I'd be signed up for another one just a month later. I remember it included some casino Free Play, and maybe something in addition, but as said, I can't remember... (that won't happen again, sigh...)

Thanks, but i don't think this one got linked to my account - it's been over a month since the cruise, and my PCC can't find any mention of it. I wonder if these offers that you get while on board behave differently than the ones you get in emails? This is the first time I've attempted to use one of these, since I rarely book that soon after a cruise, sigh, I never should have thrown it away! 😞 I'm still waiting to see if the Players' Club will respond to my inquiry which I made via the form on their website. Anyone else had any experience using one of these? Thanks again.

On the last day of my recent cruise, I received an offer (paper card/letter) in my cabin stating that if I book another cruise within 30 days of disembarking that one, I would get some free play in the casino, and I believe free drinks in the casino - to be honest I didn't pay much attention because at the time I was "sure" I would not be booking another cruise in the coming month, but... actually I did - and of course, I didn't save that card with the offer. Does anyone know how I can find out the info to give to my PCC? He says I need some kind of offer number for the offer for him to add it to my booking. I have tried emailing the Players Club and so far no response (it's only been 24 hours), but thought I'd come here to see if anyone's had a similar predicament or has an idea how I can redeem that offer having thrown away the paper trail (it wasn't an email, as said, it was something I received in my cabin on the last day of sailing, presumably because I'd spent a bit of time in the casino on that cruise!). Thanks in advance if anyone has any idea.

i have always had to go to the Casino, tell them what offer I had, and have them look me up on a list. Then they add the Casino Free Play to my card. I've never had a problem with that. I just go as soon as the casino opens once we are at sea. I've never had it show up on my card "automatically."

No, that is a fold-out in a regular balcony cabin.

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Also, and sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but a few years ago I sailed with three friends (so we were four single women) in a Neptune suite. So in addition to the three beds the OP will be using, our steward brought a rollaway cot into our room each evening. All three of the beds were very comfortable, but that fold-up bed was horrible. We rotated beds during the cruise to make it "fair" LOL. I was sorry we hadn't booked two regular cabins rather than the Neptune, because even being such a large cabin, having three roommates in ANY cabin is a challenge. There is still only one bathroom, obviously, and double sinks and two showers don't really matter much when you are not a couple! We decided that if we did it again, we'd forgo the Neptune Lounge, and the extra floor space and go for the second bathroom. 🙂

The bed situation will be the same in the Neptune as in the Signature, except that the bed is King sized, so when you split it the two beds are larger. The sofa bed is very similar, and IMO very comfortable. The only downside to being the one whose bed is the sofa one is that you don't have a bed during the day, if you want to take a nap, or that is your designated space to clutter up 🙂 since your steward will put the bed back into sofa condition when he cleans your room in the morning, and make up the bed again while you are at dinner. Also, remember that if you don't have fixed dining or tend to be out of the room at the same time each evening, you might want to talk to your room steward about a fixed time for the bed to be made up, if you don't want to come back exhausted in the evening and find it's not done yet, or have it turned down at 6 PM when you planned to have guests in the room in the evening and need the couch. Also, just my opinion, but if you can swing the Neptune, just having that extra floor space (which is the main difference between the two) might be nice with three adults sharing a cabin.

I wish I could be like you, but sadly, even though, as you say, it's "easy" to take it out of the slot and go... I would just .... go. 🙂 Meaning I'm out of there, the door is locked, and my card is still in the slot. And I'm not going to blame my age because it was the same for me in my 20's and 30's. 🙂 So... I keep my room card on my lanyard, around my neck. So far I have not forgotten to take my neck when I leave the cabin, so that works for me.

Last month on N.S. I noticed people trying to feed the slot machines paper bills were having a heck of a time. Casino staff were always having to help them "feed" the machines. My advice is if you plan to use cash be sure you have really crisp bills. Even with those brand new machines, the cash feeds are very finicky. Maybe just give Guest Services your cash to put in your account and then transfer the amount to the machine using your room card... (I don't have experience with table games, but I assume it's human hands taking your money and not those little bots inside the machines :))

I used to think I had to say "cold water" and other instructions, but for the last several years (starting a few years before the pandemic shut down cruising), I have just stuffed everything in the bag and sent it with no special requests at all, and my laundry ALWAYS comes back as good or far BETTER than it does when I wash it myself at home. They are professionals - and they are really really good at what they do. They know more about how to wash/dry all kinds of fabrics than we do... wish I'd figured it out a long time ago and saved myself all the extra hassle when sending laundry on the ship.

Hm, never even thought about it. I just stick my bras into the bag with all the other laundry, and they always come back perfect. Which is interesting, since at home, I always wash them on delicate cycle and hang dry them. Maybe that's not really necessary! 🙂