boulders

I cruise mainly for the itinerary, not for the cabin. I've cruised in inside cabins twice, once in a main deck J cabin for 24 nights with 3 kids. It was fine. The other time was on Princess. The cabin was tiny, but it was also fine. I've been looking at the deck 10 (Observation deck) cabins on Zuiderdam. I like how they are close to the Crow's Nest and Cafe. Has anyone done both a main deck J cabin and a observation deck K? If so, which do you prefer? This would be for a long cruise. 

12 hours ago, 0106 said:

How did you get to Isla Magdalena?  What type of boat was used for the trip?  Can you recommend a private tour company?

We used the HAL shore excursion. The boat was a small, slightly decrepit, ferry. 

We went to both Isla Magdalena and Volunteer Point. Volunteer Point was much much more impressive with many, many more penguins. The drive to Volunteer Point was interesting too. Everyone went in a Land Rover, so you had your own personal guide. 

I agree that Volunteer Point on the Falklands is a must see. We used Estancia Excursions.    http://estancia-excursions.com/  Book far in advance. The cost of a private excursion was much less than booking on HAL's site. Even so, the HAL excursion sold out within a day of being released.  There were many people on the dock who were trying to book on the pier, without much luck. 

I cruise for exotic itineraries. HAL offers the best itineraries out of the 3 you mentioned. So for me, HAL offers the best bang for the buck. Celebrity sometimes offer similar itineraries, but they're not as good. 

All of the pills I take are vitamins/supplements. I use plastic baggies, put the required # of days worth in and label the bags with the name of the medication. I frequently put two or more types in each bag as the can have very different colors or sizes. I put them in my carryon. It saves a lot of space over the Costco size bottles.

If you wait until the fall, you risk not being able to book her into your cabin because the lifeboat capacity has been reached. There's also no guarantee that the fare will remain the same. You could book her now and if she will know by final payment date, you could take her off the booking if she can't make it. If she won't know by final payment date, you could buy the platinum policy that will cover cancel for any reason. 

Thanks for your report! I'll be doing the reverse cruise (San Diego to Auckland) in the fall.

What are the fixed dining times in the evening? 

My 11 night Disney cruise off season had probably about the same number of kids as my 12 night summer Holland America cruise. Both the time of year and the cruise line will make a difference. 

If you are not looking to be overrun with kids, look for sailings in May, September, October, early November or January. IME, family friendly cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean will have older kids and Disney will have younger kids. 

Do you mean unique? What might be unusual on the mainland isn't necessarily unusual in Hawaii. I lived in Hawaii for several years up until recently. What did you have in mind? 

Alaska and Antarctica. 

I'm going to New Zealand on my next cruise and am excited to see it on some people's lists. 

I was on Celebrity a couple of months ago. I could have sat at a table with others, but usually chose to sit by myself. A couple of months before the cruise, I had made reservations for the same time for each night of the cruise, so I got the same waitstaff and same location every night. Every night I ended up at a 2-top in a row with other 2-tops. I had great conversations with the couples I was seated next to.

There shouldn't be a problem. Cruise lines are mainly concerned with small appliances that generate heat as they can overload the circuits or cause a fire. 

Another vote for the 26 glacier tour. 

40 minutes ago, lissie said:

Why not just pre-purchase the gratuities - what's the benefit of prepurchasing OBC? 

The AARP gift cards are discounted by 10%, so it costs $450 to purchase the $500 gift card. 

I disagree that you should find a travel agent. There's more than enough info on these boards to educate yourself.

Ships do an excellent job of entertaining kids with their kids and teen clubs. All ships will have a pool. All ships that are not adults only will have organized activities for the kids. 

If you want a beach-like vacation, I'd go with Royal Caribbean. They have plenty to do for all ages. If you are more interested in a particular destination, I'd widen the search to other cruise lines. 

My booking is back up. 

Hawaii already has lots of tourist taxes. Anyone who rents a room or condo short term is paying about 18% in tax. The pandemic showed Hawaii residents (I was one at the time), how the land and sea recovered when there weren't thousands upon thousands of tourists all the time. There's a great impetus to charge visitors to mitigate the effects that their visits have. The governor and the legislature have a lot of support to do this. 

My booked cruise and my cruise history are all missing. 

7 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

 

Were you contacted before being "bumped"?   If there was a financial incentive offered which you accepted that is one thing , but being arbitrarily downgraded is definitely something else.

Yes, I was contacted before being bumped. I had the option to accept the downgrade or not. 

I was bumped from an oceanview down to an inside once. They gave me half off the fare. I've heard of people who were completely bumped getting a free cruise, but that was a few years ago. 

I'm still on the Constellation. I bought the $9.99 premium wifi upgrade in December, then purchased basic wifi before the cruise in January with the Captain's Club. I got the elite discount on the basic wifi package. I've had premium wifi for the entire voyage. Total cost for 11 nights was approximately $142 ($9.99 for premium upgrade plus $12 x11 for basic). I was able to login once on board. My account showed premium wifi for the entire voyage. 

This is the first time I've sailed since 2016. I've been quite happy with the speed of the wifi. I've been able to send pics and videos to the kids, most of the time. The video uploads only seem to work if they're 20 seconds or less. 

I haven't cruise NCL and my first Celebrity cruise is next week, but I've cruised quite a few other lines. My Princess cruises did seem to have 90% couples. RCL had mainly families. So far, my favorite is HAL. They are more oriented to the 'traveler' than the 'vacationer'. 

7 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Link to upload of HAL 2017 Cabana promotional info and pricing - adults only, limited occupancy: YMMV in 2023.

 

http://halfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/HAL_2017_Cabanas.pdf

 

That flyer doesn't say adult only. It just says "for two adults" for the regular cabana or "for four adults" for the family cabana. 

I booked a cabana soon after they first came out, for a 24 day cruise. It was pricey, but I thought the reserved outdoor space would be worth it since I had an inside cabin. It was hot and stuffy. Anytime we ordered something through the waiters, it took forever to get there. It was pretty much a waste of money. We ended up using it maybe 3 times the whole cruise. 

Oh, and I had 3 kids with me. I asked for a family cabana, since we were 4 people, but they were all sold out. The person who booked me into a regular cabana definitely knew that we were a group of 4, but since it was 1 adult and 3 kids, it was ok to be in a 2 person cabana, they said. The three times we went, I only had 2 kids with me at a time. 

I can't find anything that says that the cabanas are supposed to be adult only. I suppose that being on a deck with 6 kids running around is quieter than being on a deck with 200 kids running around. 

@OlsSalt, I'm sorry your expensive cabana experience was a bust.