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3 minutes ago, Crusin-Suzan said:

We are on that deck next month for 28 days!  Not in a lanai cabin!   Are there extra chairs our there that other people can use?  Thanks!

Yes. The Lanai chairs have a tag that says something like "Reserved for Lanai Cabin passengers" or something to that effect.

Just now, lindaler said:

I need to add clothes pins to my list of get ready stuff. Thanks for the heads up again.

 

I hope on the longer voyages people know to not sit there. I am pretty much an introvert and if I went outside to read and had to fight people to reclaim my lounger I would be very uncomfortable. I wouldn't want them to come back and pour liquid on my chair pads. Were they nice if you asked them to move?

 

To be completely honest, we actually had very few people using our chairs without permission. Those we asked to move certainly moved immediately. I suggest that you will get to know some other passengers fairly quickly. (Try your roll calls. I know you are on two with us for a sailing Dec-27 as well as the Grand South Am.) If you feel comradeship with someone, ask them to use your chairs if you are not there. A chair with a person in it is pretty much never used by someone else!

I happen to be cursed with insatiable curiosity, so I often stood inside our closed door and watched the deck crew launch the tenders. They had closed the promenade outside, but I had a superb view of the work.

35 minutes ago, lindaler said:

Do the outside lights stay on all night? I heard that they turn most of them off about midnight but we will see. I too am a solo and also on the GA 2024 in these cabins. I know that if I have a balcony I will isolate myself by sitting on the balcony reading and such and by getting a lanai I will get to visit people as they pass or just people watch. If the lights are on for the promenade and the lights are off in your room would you still have to close the blinds? 

In our experience, it is extremely hard to see through the doors, as long as it is light outside and dark inside. Basically, you need to stand directly beside the glass and shield your eyes in order to see anything inside. Like albingirl, I have repeatedly told people just don't worry about it, and close the curtains when the lights are on in your cabin. Personally, if some busybody outside wants to ogle my beautiful ripped 70 year old bod, bring it on!    🤣

Not much light through the curtains, and we too are quite light sensitive.

As another war story, I often stood just inside the door and watched other passengers (not with permission) sitting on our chairs. Great place to people watch in complete privacy!

We have sailed in a lanai on two very long cruises, including a Grand World. In our opinion, that class is the best combination of both the exterior access of a verandah and the low cost of an ocean view. Mind you, some consider a lanai to be the worst of both - everyone has an opinion.

We heard noises from tender launching (hard to miss that) and occasionally the cleaning activities, but definitely not intrusive.

We gave permission to a couple of friends on the cruises to use our reserved chairs. That tended to keep other passengers out. It was also a source of amusement when I burst out of our cabin shouting "What the h#$% are you doing in my chair!" It was all in fun, but the other passengers didn't know that. 😈

Note that lanai's are among the first cabin class to sell out - that should tell you something.

In our opinion, you are very fortunate to have a lanai for two such long cruises.  

3 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I think if you google it’s pretty easy to find said site.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/about-us/ . Since Cruise Critic themselves publish the information, it is hard to understand why they would censor it.

<Ducks, awaiting hand slap.>🤔

On a HAL cruise a couple of years ago, I participated in a ship beer tasting advertised as "Craft Beer". They had a couple of interesting beers, but the crowning glory was the Molson Canadian that they tried to pass off as a "Craft Beer" from Canada. If you have ever had the chance to sample Canadian beers, you will know that Molson Canadian is a major mainstream beer, not even close to craft. As a loyal Canuck and a beerologist, I blasted the organizers for ridiculously false advertising. They didn't seem to be fazed in the least.

Don't get your hopes up for good craft beer anytime on the ships. About the only way is to cultivate the beverage manager and get all your beer drinking buddies to barrage him with requests for something good. Not Molson Canadian.  🤣 In addition, make comments in the post-cruise survey about the abysmal beer selection. I do on every cruise. Beer drinkers, please join me, and maybe someday they will bring on some good beer.

An alternative is trying local craft or otherwise beers when ashore. I am certainly aware that local beers have been brought on board at some ports, though I would never advise anyone to smuggle beer!   😉😉😈

Yes, we received the credit after booking, and we had booked through a travel agent. The process was absolutely painless and quite fast. I suggest you just apply - the worst that can happen is that they say no!

Note that there is some question about "Out-of-USA" passengers, but that might not arise in your case. It looks like sometimes we "evil furriners" get it, and sometimes we do not.

We are looking around too...🤔

1 hour ago, luv2cruisenz said:

I also let the cabin stewards know they can leave cleaning our room until later on turn around day if it helps them, as it’s a busy day getting rooms ready for new guests. Have a great time ! 

Or skip the daily cleaning entirely on turnaround day. The best way is to contact the housekeeping manager (get the name from the front desk) so that s/he doesn't think the room stewards are slacking off. On a world cruise a while ago, almost the entire ship asked that cabin cleaning be skipped for a couple of days while the ship was in Indonesian ports (home for most of the stewards).

Otherwise, just sit back and watch the hustle and bustle (but stay out of the way). You might have to disembark and re-embark in certain ports, but that is usually fairly simple, other than pretty much ruining a day.

I always like to watch the re-stocking operation, but then I am cursed with insatiable curiosity.   🤓

And the Dec-27 New Year Cruise. No port change, though.

1 hour ago, KroozNut said:

Lay out every possible item you THINK you might need...

 

Then put half of that away.

 

Whatever remains is what you should pack 😉 

As a variation on this:

Pack everything you really think you need.

Carry all the suitcases around the block. Do it yourself - no pretending the neighbor kid is a porter and bribing him. 🤑

Take out the stuff you just discovered you don't want to carry.

Maybe even more valuable to the laundry team is the following process:

• Ask the front desk or the hotel manager for the name of the laundry manager.
• Send a written note in a sealed envelope addressed to the laundry manager, by name, thanking him and his team, and ask him for the names of his team.
• When you get the names, take the time to write a note of praise to each and every one of them, then take the notes to the front desk, or submit via the Navigator app.

The recognition notes will greatly assist those hard workers to get recognition and promotion. A few bucks tip is nowhere near as valuable as a promotion.

Another group that you would think would need recognition is the team that sorts through all the garbage and recycling. It would seem to be a horrid, thankless task, but apparently the ships all have many people clamouring to do the job. It seems that they get to keep any items they find that cannot be traced back to a person or cabin. Apparently they have found some unbelievable stuff in the garbage, like diamonds that have fallen out of rings, and suchlike. 😲 Amazing what you learn during behind-the-scenes tours!

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Its a 15 minute drive, not counting in port traffic. If you carry off your bags...which should allow you off the ship before 8am, and grab a cab, you should make it pretty comfortably.

Assuming traffic is favourable, and you do get off right quick, and the train is not early (LOL!). I think it will be tight, but you might be willing to take the risk.

37 minutes ago, Crusin-Suzan said:

Who do you contact to rent one?

Front desk, as I recall.

6 hours ago, Tigrou said:

 

When I applied (Royal Air Force veteran) I received the following response:  

 

"We sincerely apologize for any disappointment, however the military/healthcare offer is not available for international guests.

We appreciate our active and retired military personnel and are thankful for your service."

 

No clarification as to what constitutes an 'international' guest.  I thought presumably anyone not from the United States but now it seems Canada is classed as 'domestic' too.  Bit of a kick in the teeth to be told that my service is appreciated but not worthy of the OBC.

 

I replied expressing my disappointment, especially given that other Carnival Corp cruise lines do include UK Forces in their military appreciation offers.  I also mentioned the line is called Holland America and that the UK military have had long-standing ties with both the Netherlands and the United States.  HAL have chosen not to reply.

 

 

 

Strange. We definitely got it, but that might be since we booked through our special TA who is US based. Sorry they are so restrictive.

We have qualified as BOTH retired military and also first responders. They gave us just one OBC of $100, which is good, considering we are Canadian. Nothing in the conditions appears to limit this to Americans.

10 hours ago, Cruisetrekker said:

But no testing from the ship or Amsterdam airport ?

Somewhat different situation for us. Ship testing was offered and administered by Avalon River Cruises, but not to Canadians or South Africans or a couple of others (no requirement). All Americans and a couple of other nationalities were tested for free on the Avalon ship. We flew from Budapest to Frankfurt to Calgary with no tests anywhere, except for the random selection in Calgary.

This was not a HAL or even an Avalon test - it is a Canadian government requirement to replace blanket testing for everyone. The test was free but compulsory, if you were selected. I think the random selection requirement might not apply to those staying in the airport and connecting to somewhere else, but I could be wrong.

I was subjected to a random test on landing in Calgary from Frankfurt after a river cruise. Pretty painless, but a bit of a delay. Negative, fortunately.

1 hour ago, irishjim said:

so  sorry I got  the  wrong cruise  we  left  Amber  Cove on  our  way  to

our  next  port in  the  Caribian.  

Still the same answer.

8 minutes ago, irishjim said:

I took  them  on  the

prom deck  on  MS Koningsdam  some  where on  the  way  to Hawai.

Unfortunately, that doesn't narrow down the choices. Still could be either Masked or Red-footed. The legs don't seem to be red, so I would go with Masked.

Where were these taken?

There might be two different birds, both boobies.

One is a Brown Booby (with the totally black head) and the other is probably a Masked Booby or Red-footed Booby (with the white head). Knowing the location will help.

Can't help you with the "chicks" in the middle pictures.    😉

We used ArriveCan several times on a computer, most recently just last week at the end of a river cruise.

The process was quite painless, and you can upload doc's in several formats. Not once has Canada Border Services asked to see our receipt or anything, but the airlines will. Just follow the directions.

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Seufz! (sigh!), I miss English pubs. The good old Thames, where there is actually an official river cruise available, albeit on a rather small ship.

 

I must have a look to see if there are any beer themed cruises out there, have the vague memory of seeing one a couple of years ago.

 

notamermaid

 

Beer-themed cruises! Oh yeah, sign me up.

Quite a few years ago, we were on a cruise where the HAL president addressed exactly this question. He said that it is the desire of all the lines within Carnival Corp to align their loyalty programs. Unfortunately, every time they attempt to make an alignment, the points conversions become impossible, and the plan returns to the back burner. (How many Costa points equal one Seabourn point, etc, etc?) He strongly implied (but didn't actually say) that such an alignment was probably never going to happen.

All this is from memory, and from several years ago. Today's situation might be different, but I would not hold my breath...

10 minutes ago, tupper10 said:

A question how to you get enough medicine if you are taking prescription drugs?  I have wondered about this if we took a very long cruise, for more than

the 3 month supply that we can get now.  Thanks for any advice about this.  

We are in Canada, and our provincial health insurance plans will allow for extra medications with a prior request. Generally, it isn't a big problem, but is definitely a logistics hassle to add to the zillion other things before a long cruise. You probably are aware that the ship will hold in the Medical Center drugs that require refrigerated storage.