OBX-Cruisers

Yes, I did this last October on an Westbound on Silhouette. They only gave $100, so turned it in for the $250 shareholder.

What is the procedure for "turning in" your OBC to Celebrity??

I have been researching possible HAL cruises for December/January for this year and see that HAL still lists their "coupon book" as a perk for cruises. With all of the real perks like "free" (yes I know nothing is free but it sounds good doesn't it?) amenities/OBCs/internet time/drink packages on other lines, the coupon books are becoming pretty laughable jokes for over 98% of the pages in these environmentally unfriendly booklets.

Although the descriptions say you can save hundreds and hundreds of dollars with these coupons, we have been on many HAL ships and find we only use 2 or 3 or the coupons on laundry/a few BOGO items and then throw the "valuable" coupons in the trash since the items would cost so much even with a coupon.

With all of HAL's attempts to make their cruises more environmentally friendly, perhaps its time to admit that these coupon books actually provide little value to most cruisers and are (actually) a way to increase income (but that is supposed to be a secret so maybe not) by enticing people to pay for items they might not otherwise procure.

So the question is:

Would cruisers prefer to junk the coupons and reduce printing/distribution/disposal costs for these booklets to enhance HAL Green........and instead get a reasonable OBC on their account that could be used for any and all of the same types of onboard items?

Sounds like it might be a money saver for HAL and a win/win for cruisers that would cover items not in the booklets (e.g., shore excursions, dining venues, drinks etc.). But the problem here might be that HAL also realizes the booklets are not used and an OBC would be.

Details, details, details.

This thread is very entertaining.

 

My husband and I are taking a neural plasticity class at our fitness club. There is a lot of emphasis on doing things both directions, using both sides of the brain, etc. This is supposed to help stave off dementia type illnesses.

 

Maybe we should ask HAL to reverse direction each day.

PERFECT, thank you for my daily chuckle.

I would add they could put the instruction on the mat in the elevators that also keep our brains in tune for WHEN we are during a cruise.

Never thought of this before but upon reflection of our last cruises...........YOU are right, great question for Trivia since it has no one correct answer like some of their questions where the "CD is ALWAYS Right"

I will accept all of the "expert" reasons already posted and remember that on our next cruise and explain it to the next person who asks me that question.............that won't take long I would anticipate.

Yes, that sounds right. It may sound skimpy, but you did get an excellent fare for that TransAtlantic that should more than make up for OBC. Oh, and I transfer my Future Cruise booking to my travel agent on that TransAtlantic who gives us an additional $200 - $300 OBC from her pocket.

We are on a TA from Barcelona in October and again got the $75 OBC which my travel agent said was coming from their company. If that is correct I will apply for a $250 shareholder credit. If she did not tell me the truth and that $75 is coming from Celebrity, then you CANNOT combine ANY OBC with the Shareholder credit...........and if that happens I will be VERY unhappy and find a new agent for all future bookings.

We prefer Select dining also called Anytime Dining on other lines and find that more convenient than a fixed seating time that is always a bit too early or late for us with the 2 options available.

As noted by ECCruise, your dining option included with the cruise is for the Main DR (or buffet) and you can make reservations daily for the MDR if you wish or just show up. After dining the first night, you can notify the Maitre D or whoever seats you that you plan to be there the same time every night and want the same waiter (if that is what you decide to do based on your first night experience).

Personally, we just show up the time we want to dine and wait in the line for people w/o reservations which for unknown reasons is often shorter than the line with reservations. If we have decided on a specific waiter, then we always show up at the same time and usually 7:30 and get a table in the same general area for that waiter. On one cruise we had the furthest back table every night in the alcove area on the left rear portion of the dining room........despite being "in the back of the bus", we found that much quieter than the main area that overlooks the downstairs fixed time diners and combines noise from both dining levels.

Hint: If you dine at 5:30 or after 8 PM you usually have little wait time; between 6-8 is prime time in the MDR so expect to wait 5-15 minutes with or without reservation.

Finally, RE your question: dining is the same all nights including the first night but DO expect that there always seems to be much more confusion and wait time on night one for some mysterious unexplained reason.

We live within 10 minute walk to the beach and get plenty of sun here at home so we are not competitors for deck chairs on a cruise. However we watch the incredible activity to save these chairs on the ships and have witnessed the creeps going out at 6-7 AM to put towels, magazines and whatever to "save" these chairs...........and then not show up again for hours if ever again.

What can the cruise line do since offending people (even chair creeps) is something they want to avoid?

Like it or not, complain or not, cruise lines need to RENT DECK CHAIRS by a specific I.D. number and by the hour. Whine all you want about how much you paid for the cruise, but until something drastic is done nothing will change with people who either have no manners or just plain leave them at home.

We have witnessed similar activities in the shows where people are "saving" numerous seats........often for people who never show up. Often wondered if these are the same people who get off by saving a deck chair for themselves all day because as we all know: THEY paid for this cruise and THEY want THEIR chair where THEY want it to be located......and maybe even two or three since the sun and ship does move during the day.

Until we find an irresistible cruise at the right price, I think we will find land trips to see our country rather than witness the greediness and self serving attitudes that are easy to see on a lot of cruise lines with few exceptions and that just take away that pleasant feeling that cruising can provide.

I don't pretend to know every line's complete inventory of sailings, but the OP is talking about a December cruise terminating in Fort Lauderdale followed by one embarking in Miami on a different line. To the best of my knowledge, none of the available cruises would run into the issue you describe.

 

Even in the situation you cite, I believe that there would be no problem as long as two different cruise lines were involved.

The scenario described is NOT a back to back.....these are TWO totally separate cruises.

As Foremco already said you could do this all year if you wanted to and had the money and could do so on the same ship, same line or different lines. All separate cruises and B2B when you stay on the same ship..............only problem you would have on multiple B2Bs on the same ship would be to book far far in advance so you could get the same cabin or else you would have to move on your subsequent trips

Appears from all the ongoing comments that the "deals" are out there and being patient and watching the pricing can really pay off.

Will follow your lead(s) and do the same surveillance of the travel agency sites for a cruise preferably on X in January.

It seems reasonable to me that someone who is spending so much for a suite deserves some extra consideration from the cruise line.

For a cruise over Christmas on the Reflection, a Signature suite would cost someone over $16000 for two people for 7 days.

At that price, THEY deserve to be treated special for subsidizing those of us in a steerage class Ocean View cabin or (GASP) Inside Cabin.

Thanks to all who commented. I think I will be patient and look for what we can get when the 90 day payment window closes for cruises in January.

We are now booked on a 13 day TA from Barcelona in AQ class in October without any perks and will have to be happy with that for now (not Elite yet but after this cruise:p).....and we ARE happy and anxious so that's the good thing.

Is it just my delusion or have the prices of cruises gone up significantly when paired with all of those "free perks"?

I have started getting emails from various online travel companies with their Fourth of July Sales events common at this time of year now that the usual Wave Season sales are pretty much behind us.

Although I started with X and found prices, well "very pricey" other cruise lines have started adding "free perks" to their cruises and prices in terms dollars/person/day are substantially up from my target pricing for Caribbean cruises and particularly for Veradah and higher cabins that we prefer.

Is this delusional on my part or are there good deals to be had that I am missing for the start of 2017 in particular?

The burgers at the Mast Grill are REALLY good. I limit myself to ONE burger per cruise to keep the calories under control.

TIP: Although you may have to wait a bit longer, going around lunch time is the best for freshly made burgers guaranteed to be hot and yummmmmmmmmy.

We were on the Equinox in January and ordered off the MDR menu a couple of times with no problems at all.

That was particulary necessary when we wanted prime rib that was on the MDR menu but not on Blu.

I've read descriptions that there are only a few shelves in the Konigsdam "library" and they are stuck in a corner.

It doesn't sound like the K will have a library that we Mariners have become accustomed to as a high point on HAL.:(

Perhaps someone from HAL management or the Mariner program could comment on this question about a library.

ARE YOU OUT THERE HAL???:confused:

One thing I thought really weird--I swear the shampoo provided in the showers is watered down to conserve product. I had to use what I normally would consider to be a ton of shampoo and I still wasn't able to completely lather my hair. Weird.

I believe that many cruise lines use low sudsing products to reduce problems in the sewage processing units on ships; sort of like if you are not careful and put too much detergent in your dishwasher/washer and have suds all over the place.

I have read elsewhere that it is not "suds/lather" that clean your hair it is the surfactants and detergents in the product and that lack of suds does not mean that it is not working properly as designed.

Wow............after reading a lot of these posts I now feel like AQ class is comparable to steerage.

But there are many fewer dining problems and issues we steerage class customers don't have to worry about it appears and we can just enjoy the cruise, our fellow diners in Blu and challenges of team trivia with the Huuuuuge prizes.

Here's hoping she is transferred to Celebrity someday as the officers on X are much MUCH more personable there than on most other brands we have sailed.

I would enjoy sailing with her on the Summit if it didn't leave out of Bayonne.....the worst US port we have been to, twice and never again

The link to the site below may be useful to this discussion since not all cards from a given supplier (e.g., Chase) may qualify for the 'no foreign transaction fee" exclusion. This site lists all card suppliers, the cards that have no trans fees and it is very useful as I just found out my Capital One card has to be linked to a Cap. One High Interest rate checking account to have no trans fees.

Also, very interested in discussion on Euro exchange rates as I need to get some for our trip to Spain this October.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-foreign-transaction-fees-disappearing-1280.php

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I don't know how you got by with only 3 bags on a 16 day cruise. With underwear and nice clothes for dinner, there's no way we could possibly fit that much in the (Shoebag sized) laundry bags. We average almost a bag a day. Of course, We separate light and dark colors.

 

Scott & Karen

Welllll............one this particular cruise which was our 24th, we (giving my wife equal credit) made ONE little error in packing.

When we got to Rome after our flight, I wanted to change my pants................THEN we discovered that the only other pants that had been packed for me was my suit pants...........you can imagine the effort to look through all of our bags again.......but no, none, nada.

What I had on was what I had for the trip!!! Not quite as bad as losing a passport but still not a great finding at the start of your trip. In Naples several days later, I asked the owner of the restaurant we were eating at where I could buy some pants and he took me next door where I got a great "family" discount. Italian wool pants for 20E vs. 40 on tag..........but no tailoring to shorten the pant legs which were about 12 inches too long!!!!.

Wife is a good seamstress and fortunately we had those little mending kits for travel that had just enough..... and she stressed that last word several times.....dark thread for both legs.

There's a few more bits to the continuing pants story but I save those additional details for dinner stories on slow sea days....and the experience never fails to get many chuckles.

So you see I did a lot to reduce laundry load as I only had 1 pair of pants to cycle into the bags which on further recollection may have totaled 4 bags rather than 3 I stated.......

PS: rolling your clothes helps get EVEN MORE stuff into that bag than you would imagine. I also wonder if HAL laundry separates clothes by color as you do...............some posts I have read indicate that they got back interesting pink(ish) underwear that started out white.

:confused: There aren't any inappropriate caps in the quote you're referencing.

Here is the schedule I was referring to:http://www.alaskatravel.com/alaska-railroad/seward-anchorage-dome.html

Ruth What do you call those HUGE letters.....maybe not caps but YUUUUUGE.

You are everywhere on these boards and I am sorry I didn't get to meet you on our last HAL cruise

OP is using HAL's train to go from Seward to Anchorage. Sometimes there will also be an RCI ship using the same train.

And it does leave very early in the morning.

Been there and done that.

No need to shout with all those CAPS..........If you say so then it must be so and the AK railroad schedule is confusing

Even if this is the most devoted square dancing group in the country, I would be extremely surprised if they were dancing when the ship was cruising in Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm.

Not many glaciers to see on sea days in the inside passage so that would not be the problem the OP was concerned about.

Wow, what an offer......wish I had that opportunity.........For the most scenic parts of an Alaska cruise (e.g., Tracy Arm Fjord, Glacier Bay, etc.) you are up on deck because the Verandah view is insufficient for a panorama of the scene.

This offer would have been an automatic reject if they offered an inside cabin but an obstructed view is often only partially obstructed for other viewing.

It's encouraging to hear that HAL actually corrected the problems with AC on this old ship when requested. We have been on the Maasdam 3 times and love the old girl despite the standing joke that the thermostats were only decorative. Main Deck always seemed like the best choice to avoid this issue.

We were on a Nieuw Amsterdam transatlantic in October and cabins on Deck 6 mid ship were ALL hot for the last 3-4 days of the cruise. Repeated requests to our cabin steward and the front desk went unanswered.

FINALLY, on the night before debarkation, it was so uncomfortable I went to the front desk.........again........and demanded a fan so we wouldn't pass out while packing.

A new ship and nonexistent service for AC problems. We did get a fan that we ran all night.

Shameful HAL service with no recognition or apology.