cruz chic

Short-term selfish reason: Because there are more interesting places in the Caribbean than artificial cruise line-made ports that have nothing to commend them, and I would rather ships stopped at the more interesting places.

 

Long-term broader reason: Because these artificial cruise line-made ports will be damaging to the cruise industry in the longer term as their consequences come back to haunt both them and us.

I need to ask again, why support something you don't believe in? When I don't like something I don't use/buy it. That would send a message pretty quick, wouldn't it? Which ports to you suggest HAL go to? You do realize that there needs to be infrastructure in place.

And the prices are higher than when you get to shop in the towns and there is competition among the vendors.

I was recently in Ensenada. I went downtown and saw some jewelry I might have been interested in. I asked the guy how much and he told me $140. I said I wouldn't pay more than $35 for that. He said ok. I was so irritated at that point I walked out. He was ready to rip me off and if I hadn't known better he would have. I went back to the ship and they had several vendors at the pier inside the port building. The prices were very good and I bought several things.

Call me strange but with all the places in the world to visit why go places a person doesn't enjoy?

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Shop for what? In the cruise line created ports, I have yet to see anything beyond a small souvenir trinket or cap/t shirt to buy. :confused: We really don't need competive pricing for small trinkets or t shirts.

 

I hope I haven't missed out on buying some treasures there but I can't imagine what.

 

 

 

I've purchased some silver jewelry. I have a lot and I found the prices to be acceptable.

Is going to the Caribbean supposed to be a cultural experience? I go for the weather because I get so sick of the cold. If you don't enjoy it, there are plenty of alternatives. Why complain? I have zero interest in going to Europe but I would never go on a thread about it and complain about it.

Cool, thanks for the info.

Even if it was a "FREE" cruise I would not do it. :eek: IMHO it does not sound like it would be any kind of vacation for anyone.

 

On one cruise we had a baby across the hall from us, and that child SHRIEKED for nearly 24 hrs/day, for the entire 7 day cruise. YMMV, but I would not want to be any part of that party, y'know? :D

I've had the same experience. I just wish parents would consider staying closer to home with the youngsters. How much are these children getting from the experience?

May 19 Statendam. Northbound.

 

2 seniors, inside gty $525.85 per person., total $1051.70 for two people.

 

includes all taxes. excludes any OBC from TA (which would probably be $50-$75)

 

price was displayed as $349 and then taxes were added.

 

It was listed on 2 seperate on line sites. I just hit book and the price popped out.

 

I cannot do insides but for those who can it is a great deal. Princess also has some offerings. No doubt they will be gone within hours.

 

Don't use the HAL site, it is too slow and cumbersome. Use on on line TA site-there are lots of them.

Just think what the price would be with air. It would likely be well over 2K. That why the one way cruises are always so cheap.

You would need to go back to several threads that have been going on recently and the carbs vs. low carbs for diabetics conversation that's been going on. Not debate, not argument, actually a good conversation. The DASH diet calls for a lot of grains and fruits, as you can see. High glycemic and high insulin producing foods. Take from that what you will. I don't want to argue anyone's view point. The "Argh...." was referring to my own struggle to stay off of the above and lose weight.

I hear this a lot but eating tons of protein is not good either.

I think the chocolate purse is off the menu now? I looked for it on Westerdam but didn't see it unless it slipped by me. :o

 

 

I've never had it on any of my cruises. If it's good they are sure to get rid of it:).

Good to see it is working well for some. I had a difficult time getting mine applied.

I have a retreat cabana reserved on the Eurodam in November 2013 and after seeing this thread I just called ship services and was told that specific cabana assignments were made on the ship. I was told to go to the front desk once we were on the ship.

I think they will be assigned by that point so I'm not sure that would help. I just don't want you to be disappointed.

Because on warm weather cruises, like the one we did on N. Amsterdam and had a cabana, the airflow thru the cabana is frequently needed. The side facing cabanas have poor airflow. We were on a B2B. The first week was in a side facing, the second in a rear or pool facing.

I had one in the Caribbean. There were two windstorms that blew thru very quickly. The people with the cabanas over the pool had lots of stuff blown over including their table. Mine was fine. Depends on the perspective. I couldn't hear the little darlings screaming from the pool in my cabana.

We were able to specifically request a cabana, with second and third choices, for an upcoming Eurodam cruise. We got our second choice, in writing, even tho we booked it 10 months in advance.

 

Used a Retreat Cabana on N. Amsterdam in 12/2011. I believe the map is slightly off- the Palma cabana is actually next to Cote d'Azur, and the stairs are next to that, and Sorrento.

 

However, it doesn't matter much, as long as you get one looking over the pool. They are more desirable.

Why would looking over the pool be more desirable? I had screaming kids at the pool on my cruise.

Can you actually book a specific cabana? Everything I've ever heard says it's the luck of the draw although I'm sure someone will come along quickly to dispute what I'm saying.

For those that don't understand I rarely mail letters or need stamps so it means a trip to the post office. There is no place that you don't have to stand in line in Calgary so it usually means about 15 minutes out of my day to get a simple task done. I'm out of the house for work for 11 hours a day. I really don't need any more special tasks.

You can still snail mail it in. What you can't do is email it.

I live in Canada so it's the hassle of getting US stamps. Then Princess can say the didn't receive it. My guess is that they are doing this so people won't request it. HAL makes it so much less painful.

Bought the stock last week. My cruise leaves on April 6. Faxed in the proof of stock ownership this am, called immediately afterward. They said they were working on requests from March 13th. Since my cruise was in less than 2 weeks, she located my fax (by time sent in) while I was on the phone and credited the obc to me immediately. Great customer service!

My TA sent mine in at the start of March. She followed up with Princess and they told her to call back on the 28th. Looks like first in, last applied:rolleyes:. Princess is doing a very poor job of this now that you can't email it in.

We were not kicked out early on our 14 day N. Amsterdam cruise. And I know they had a dinner up there one night, as we asked the attendants about it and discussed if we would want to do it in the future.

Interesting.

Thanks so very much for checking! :)

You're very welcome.

We are extremely upset that HAL would give us incorrect information. To say that we have use of the cabana 24/7 when that is obviously not the case is deceptive advertising at the very least. Since this is an annivesary cruise, we're disappointed.

That's interesting. I never got that impression. They should not be saying that. The cabanas have a tent like covering and they are tied up after hours. I think you "could" get in there but I'd feel uncomfortable. HAL should not be so shady on the info. That said, it could be poor training of employees.

Ok, that makes me LIVID for you. How rude! What day was it on?

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Surfergirle, when I'm on the ship I do a write up of the things I do daily or my experience on the ship and send it to my mom and sister. They enjoy it so I like to do it. I found my write up for Nov.29/12. That was the day of the Cabana dinner. It was a Thursday and we were in Grand Cayman. The price was $129 per person as has been previously posted.

Yes we are. We had it this last year on our family wedding cruise. It's hard to go back. We have the option to change to a standard, if we decide to do the Lido again too, so we might do that instead as it is the same price for both.

We will be on 14 days, and with our history, the retreat will be closed a lot due to weather, so the Lido will give us another space. Plan for the worst hope for the best. :)

I would for sure keep the family cabana if it works ok for you. So nice! I never thought I'd be a fan of that area but I do love it!

Ok, that makes me LIVID for you. How rude! What day was it on?

That is completely unacceptable.

That needs to be disclosed before booking.

Its like BTW....now that we have your money...

I will be LIVID if they pull this again. That better not be a sea day!

Was it in San Juan? That is just as bad if so.

 

I am a FIRM believer that you should get what you pay for. That your expectations should be based on what you pay. For our upcoming cruise our cabana was $800 for just one for 14 days. If they even try doing that I will tell them to go get the bar manager right away. I am usually too nice, but won't be if this happens.

I wish I could remember which night the dinner was on. I don't think it was the San Juan night. I was sorta cloudy and windy that night and I was hoping they wouldn't be able to do it. They did go ahead with it. It's just dirty on HAL's part not to disclose it. I guess you must be doing the family cabana for that price? The regular cabana's are nice but the family on is a step up from that.

So is this only for those who rent cabanas or is it open to the entire ship population?

 

 

Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Everyone.

Wait a minute. . .What about the people who've paid for those cabanas? It's my understanding that if someone purchases a cabana for the duration of the cruise, it belongs to them. The service, however, is only available on sea days from 8 to 5. Rest of the time the person(s) who rented it have use of it. At least that's what we were told when we rented.

 

Anyone here ever experience anything else?

It sure didn't look like you could go in there earlier/later. I was NOT impressed that we got booted out of there at 3:30pm on the day of the dinner. That should have been pointed out before payment and it wasn't.