3rdGenCunarder

Thanks for the info. It's easy enough to pack some Twinings. Exploration cafe had Tazo last year. The only flavor was earl grey, which I don't like, especially the Tazo version, which has too much bergamot for my taste.

Oh yeah, the huge Vistas! Ha! Now they're dwarfed by the megas. The S and R class lack a thalassotherapy pool. That's their only minus for me. That's why I like the Vistas. Not too large and a great spa. @albingirl, I agree about the noisy dining room on the Pinnacle ships. We found downstairs to be especially noisy. My second time on the K'dam, I was a table way back in the corner on the upper level. I was astonished at how quiet it was. It's all about the shape of the room, I guess. It will be interesting to see how noisy the MDR is on Cunard's Queen Anne, which is built on the Pinnacle platform.

I don't know why they discontinued it. I liked it so much DH said I should ask if I could buy some of the tea bags. The next cruise, I was all set to ask when it was gone. I think I'll bring some Twinings Darjeeling just in case. The container of PG Tips is funny. I've seen people look at it like they didn't know what it is, probably because there are no tags.

I'm fine with it, too. I'm sitting at my desk with a cup of Chock Full o' Nuts from my Mr Coffee, so obviously not a coffee snob. But when I have HIA, I indulge in a specialty coffee now and then.

On the subject of nonalcoholic beverages, what black teas is HAL serving these days? Please not Bigelow. Their herbals maybe good but their black tea is... well, I can't think of a coffee brand bad enough to do one of those old SAT analogies. Bigelow is to tea as swill is to coffee.

On one cruise, the Pinnacle was so available for lunch that they had dining room waiters reminding people at dinner that the Pinnacle was doing lunch the next day. Oh yeah. I can trip when I AM paying attention, never mind when I'm looking at my phone.

She had been a beauty in her day. By the time I sailed on her, NCL was sailing her on the cheap. No more teak promenade. it was some kind of spongy stuff for a jogging surface. Crumbly and full of patches. Cheap astroturf on the sunbathing deck. There were very few remnants of her days as the France. Because the kitchen was small and couldn't be expanded, they couldn't do freestyle dining. She didn't fit with where NCL was heading and I think they were happy to scrap her. Very sad end for a beautiful lady. That was our last NCL cruise.

Good suggestion. How soon after you board do functions like that start to work?

Since FLL got the kiosks, it's great. They don't bother with the passport app anymore. Last year I asked where the line for the passport app was and when they said they didn't use it, I thought I'd be in line forever. Then I got to the kiosks and I saw why they don't need to use the app.

You report it to the mods and they fix it. I just did that. Thanks for the comparison. I haven't sailed NCL in a long time, and I doubt I will again. Just the sight of their huge ships makes me say "no." And I've heard that there's a noisy vibe--I'm sure to some people it's "lively" and fun, and that's fine, just not for me. I'm glad you found a quiet niche to relax in. I would be desperately looking for something like that on such a huge noisy ship.

Thanks. HAL seems to manage immigration inspection well in small ports. I remember breezing through in Bar Harbor. Of course, it was Veendam, so not too many people. This will be on Zaandam, so again, not too many people. I don't have an early tour, but I'd like to get off early to walk around before things get too crowded. And I guess we'll have to do immigration in San Juan after HMC and Amber Cove. I remember VERY grumpy inspectors in San Juan. They stood around grousing, not checking passengers, until their coffee arrived.

What about San Juan and Key West? My itinerary is Miami, HMC, Amber Cove, San Juan, St Thomas, Curacao, Bonaire, Aruba, Grand Cayman, Key West, Miami. We move out of the US and in again several times. I've had to do immigration in San Juan, but it was a long time ago. So how many times will we need to do immigration? I'd love to do it in Key West because that would speed up arrival/processing in Miami.

Sometimes it depends on who's working on a given day, especially if it's a port that doesn't get a lot of visits. I remember checking in at Boston back before their port was busy. A woman where the priority/nonpriority lines split asked me how many Marriott stars I had!

Even priority? Southampton holds people to their arrival times, at least for Cunard cruises. But they let priority go right in. When I boarded Queen Victoria in October, I got to the terminal around 11:30. I don't remember what my assigned time was. I saw the queue of people along the side of the building and I showed my boarding pass to one of the staff. He said "Oh, you're diamond, please go through." I said "I guess all those cruises have paid off." He laughed and said, "And all the money you've spent on them." I was on the ship around noon. I will be boarding in Miami next month. I'm hoping they ignore assigned times as FLL does.

I think I have figured out who the vendor is on the island. I booked through the tour agency my TA uses, so I think I'll start with them. If they can't change the tour, I'll try the local emergency contact number they gave me for the vendor.

I'm going to call Monday morning (booking company doesn't have weekend hours). I hope to change to a later tour departure. I prefer to go early when it's relatively cooler, but I don't want the hassle of trying to get up before dawn to get a tender ticket! And now that I think about it, shouldn't HAL have sent out a notification that the times had been changed?

Same here. I think they figure they've "got" us, so they don't need to give us anything. That's gratitude for ya! Nobody knows how they assign upgrades. We don't call it the "upgrade fairy" for nothing.

If it's an ordinary florist glass vase, I wouldn't bother, either. But since I have a lot of OBC for my next cruise, I'm going to buy myself an arrangement in one of the pretty Delft vases.

I know that each line is different. I haven't had to tender on a HAL cruise in probably 8 or 9 years, but I think they used to tell priority passengers to just go down to the tenders. With more people having priority, that could be messy. I have another tender question. Our arrival times for Grand Cayman and HMC were originally listed as 8:00. Now both say 9:00. They're tender ports, so is HAL saying we anchor at 8 and the first tenders should arrive around 9? Or does this mean they anticipate anchoring at 9? HMC doesn't matter, but I have a tour booked for 9 on Cayman. HAL's earliest tours are at 9:30, I assume that's 9:30 ashore, not gathering to get tender tickets. So is that a hint that I can't make the 9:00 tour?

How does HAL handle priority tendering when many passengers have priority? Suites (neptune, pinnacle), 5*, 4*, CO could mean a lot of people all wanting to be in the first tender!

Good to hear the check was okay. You shouldn't have to wait so long and you shouldn't have to worry that the check will bounce. I feel the same way you do. My cruise experience with AQV was excellent, and it's sad that I don't want to take the risk on a future cruise. I don't think the late payment is so much policy as simple math. I fear they don't have the money, and they're paying what's owed as money comes in for new bookings. Plus they have money tied up in two ships that they aren't sailing. They didn't own Navigator and Voyager for very long, not long enough to make back the cost of the ships. And with all the troubles those ships had, I doubt anyone but a scrapper will buy them.

The coat is a geography thing. The hat...take a look at your picture!!

I "tapped for more information," and I see that my disembarkation time has been assigned already. Talk about "thank you for traveling with us, now GO HOME!" Kidding aside, it's useful to know that for planning purposes. But do they give you an option to change it onboard? I think suites get to choose, but what about HIA or CO? So many variations on "priority" have me confused.

Broke my heart last winter on Eurodam to see a grand piano shoved into a corner, gathering dust.

How did that work? Did late seating go to the show before dinner and early sitting go at 8? Or were they counting on most people doing open dining and working it out for themselves?