3rdGenCunarder

HAL is a mess, as usual. I tried to go into a booking and got an error message. I have two bookings, and both brought up this:

I don't remember the number, but it was a corner aft neptune suite on deck 7.

I have not been on all of HAL's ships, but I have sailed on at least one of each class, and I have to say that the Pinnacle class (Rotterdam, Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam) is my least favorite. I have been on Koningsdam twice, and when I had an aft cabin, I was miserable when we had winds and waves coming at the stern. The ship did not ride well, pitching and slamming down on the waves at the back. I am rarely seasick, but there was a night or two when I could not go to the MDR because the ride was so bad back there. When I was in midships cabin, I was more comfortable. The Pinnacle class ships are more crowded than other HAL ships. Loungers are harder to get, as are tables if you want to eat by the pool. HAL's smaller ships don't feel as crowded. The buffet as a thoroughfare is a common ship design, and most of HAL's ships are like that. I agree that it's annoying during busy times if all you want to do is to get from end to the other. I don't like HAL's entertainment options, especially since they dropped the Lincoln Center classical group. I sail HAL for the itineraries and the smaller ships--which is why I don't want to sail on the Pinnacle ships. So if you see an interesting itinerary on HAL, and it's on a smaller ship, don't rule it out immediately.

There is no easy answer to this. You need to figure out what works for your own comfort level, and that can vary from one port to another. Cruising is traveling in a cocoon. When you get to a port, how far out of that cocoon you want to go is up to you. Ship tours offer a sense of comfort. Someone is in charge and you just go along. For me, it depends on how well I know the port and the language. My big worry is can I get back to the ship if the tour runs late. For example, when we were in Cartegena, I saw a ship's tour to the National Aviary. I looked on Googlemaps to see if it was somewhere I could get to on my own because I might want more time than the tour included. It was about 45 minutes away with no nearby town, so a taxi was unlikely for getting back to port. Plus, I don't speak Spanish. And the ship was leaving at 2 PM. So I booked the ship's tour, and it worked out to be just the right amount of time and no worries. We were back at the ship 45 minutes before sailing. If public transport looks reliable, I'll go out on my own, especially if the ship is leaving late. In Quebec City, I took a local bus several miles out of town to see a university botanic garden. There was a mall nearby, and on the bus ride back, I sat with some of the ship's crew who had been shopping and we had a pleasant chat. You never know what you'll find when you go out on your own, and I mean that in a good way. If you want to be more independent, you need to do your homework. I can't stress this enough. If you weren't the travel planner in your family, you need to become the planner. This was easy for me, as I already was the one who did the travel plans, reservations, etc. DH and I would talk about things we wanted to do and see, and then I put it all together. Google can be your travel advisor. I begin with googlemaps. What's in the port itself that might interest you? I search for museums, gardens, bakeries, yarn shops. Google "[location] tourism" and you probably will get links to official government tourism offices. I look at ship tours to see what options there are beyond the port. Tripadvisor and other companies that sell tours can give you ideas. Ask questions on the port of call boards on CC. Join your roll call and see if anyone is organizing a tour you might like to join.

Back when BB King was new on HAL, they did one night in the main showroom. Totally different music--real blues, not the covers they play in the BBK lounge on board. I would love to see that again. So if BBK and LC will appear as guest performers in the main showroom, as HAL seems to be saying, that's a lot of organizing and traveling to get them from ship to ship. Or will they do a 3 or 4 or 5 week "residency" on a ship and then move on?

Has anyone else who was booked on the cancelled cruise been able to move their deposit? Was there a special phone number to call? Did they honor the per diem and/or the OBC offer? Did you keep your reservation number, or does it have a new number (I'll have to cancel my travel insurance if it's a new booking) All my TA gets are roadblocks from HAL. I quoted this post because it has the HAL letter in it. Does anyone see "must make this rebooking by March 21" in this letter? My TA went round and round with HAL yesterday for more than an hour. One person told her that I couldn't get the deposit transferred because I was supposed to do that by March 21. Well, if she or I had been notified, maybe I would have done that. (Also note that, although people were notified around March 7, the letter is fake-dated Feb 3!!!!) Meanwhile, my account still shows my booking as "live" and I can still purchase a beverage package. My TA can see my booking and it's marked "cancelled" in the system she sees, but there is nothing to show future credits from the deposit or a return of the deposit to my credit card. HAL's system has done something screwy to my booking and it will be stuck there forever. As will my $600. I tried chat on Wednesday (3/22), and the agent was useless. First, I was given a link to the "legendary cruises" search page with the array of little maps. As usual, Zaandam Feb 24 did not appear. So I was told that the Legendary Amazon was in 2025, not 2024. Then I got a link to something else that was useless. Clearly, this agent had access to the same web pages I do and nothing more. The final messages were that Zaandam has nothing from Feb 3 to March 17, and if I wanted Caribbean, Eurodam was the only ship doing the Caribbean. (Not true, there's at least one Pinnacle ship in the Caribbean next winter) On Thursday, I did a cruise search and lo and behold! The hole in Zaandam's schedule is filled. 2 weeks in the Carribean followed by the 4-week legendary Amazon. The 2-week itinerary is good, and I want to transfer my deposit to that. I have never been jerked around like this by a cruise company. I have to keep reminding myself that it will be a good ship, with excellent service, and a nice change from HAL's same old, same old winter itineraries. IF I can ever book it...

I look at some of those monsters, and I wonder how they keep from going Poseidon in a strong wind.

HAL's version is called Luggage Direct. I used it this winter flying home from FLL. In the past, I believe they offered it in Seattle, too. It's $25 per person, plus whatever airline fees there are for checked luggage.

I don't see how anyone but a trained dancer could do the Step One routines. Perhaps they can find someone who has just come off a contract who can step in.

Well, forget production shows. HAL doesn't do that anymore, unless you count the "Step One" dancers, who dance interacting with recorded music and video backdrops. They're good, but not what I would call a production show. Other evening shows are BBC Earth nature videos. I agree with @Mosaic that the most lively entertainment would be on one of the Pinnacle class ships (Rotterdam, Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam). I don't remember which ones do Caribbean, but at least one of them will. Other than the Music Walk (BB King,etc), HAL is not "lively." On the Pinnacle ships, all the music (which is deafeningly loud) is in that one area, Music Walk. Nothing in any of the bars. No more classical group. Eurodam usually does Caribbean itineraries, and that ship is not a Pinnacle class, so there's even less variety in entertainment. You didn't mention the length of cruise you prefer. HAL does a lot of 7-day cruises, and also sells them as back-to-back 14-day cruises. Going back to Fort Lauderdale for a day in the middle of a cruise does not appeal to me. Go to the website and search for Caribbean options to see what ports HAL is visiting. A quick look at the maps that come up will show you which cruises are really two put together to make something longer.

Deep breath, you can do this. If anything specific worries you, come back and ask questions. Or if it's just general "can I do this?" come back and talk about that. Several of the posters on this thread I knew were widowed from some of the things they've said about cruising, but none of us have said so much about solo travel on this board before. So a big thank you to @vswan for starting this.

West Street Cafe is great!!! I don't remember what my best lobster roll was on that trip, but I know the "worst" was McLobster, which I tried out of curiosity (in Halifax). It wasn't bad, but it lost points for too much lettuce "filler." I'll skip the poutine and enjoy a beaver tail instead.

I don't book a cruise "just to eat ashore," but I love to try local food. It's part of experiencing the destination. On one of our Canada/New England cruises, I had lobster roll in almost every port, just because I could. (Spent too much time in the Bell museum in Baddeck, so we had to settle for a quick ice cream stop.) 🦞

I've been to Bar Harbor at least 4 times, both HAL and Cunard, and the only tenders in use were from the ship.

Juneau needs to limit the number of ships. I think Queen Elizabeth was one of SIX ships, and most were larger than QE (a Vista). There are so many passengers arriving on a single day that vendors aren't able to keep up with the demand for tours, both independent and ship tours.

I had the change reversed, sorry for the confusion. That's way before final payment. So only the port changes are after final payment?

Just to be clear, you're talking about this year, Zaandam? I just did a search and the website shows the Zaandam repositioning cruise as April 18-29, with 7 day Boston/Montreal itineraries after that. So if they pushed your repositioning back to May, what is the ship doing after arrival at FLL on April 18? And if your repositioning cruise is now May 2, what happens to the people booked on the 7-day itineraries out of Boston and Montreal????? Bar Harbor and Newport still show up on the map for the repositioning cruise. What are they up to with Zaandam??? They cancelled my winter Caribbean 2 weeks ago and still haven't filled that hole in the schedule--or sent me any notification; I found out on CC! I have learned that if I call HAL with questions, the agents have access to the same web pages I can see. So they have no additional information.

I taught physical science and had students who couldn't divide by 10 without a calculator. I have no idea how many times I explained the conversion from decimal to percent!

But that is part of the cruise fare, not an extra charge.

I would hope so. @vacation 2011, did they say why the departure was changed? Do you know what they planned in place of your cruise in your original time slot?

Or kids at lunch but not dinner? I know it isn't the same menu, but it's also a faster meal, easier for a little kid to sit through.

I'm a little surprised at the Bar Harbor change. They are trying to limit the number of cruisers who visit. The town does get seriously overrun on a busy day. But Zaandam is a smaller ship, so I would have expected that one to be allowed in instead of a larger ship. Portland is fun. I did a walking/tasting tour with "Maine Foodie Tours," and it was one of the best I've done. The company has expanded beyond food tours and has changed its name, but if you search for Maine Foodie Tours, you should be able to find it. Great lobstah in Portland!

And when HAL cancelled a tour, not me, the shorex credit came back to my account right away. Hey, something HAL's system gets right!!!!!

YES! I feel the same way. Also the fact that the ships are smaller. My only complaint about HAL is the terrible entertainment in the evening. Looking back at my cruise on Eurodam in January, I was one of the "old people" going back to my cabin at 9 PM--NOT because it was too late for me to stay up, but because there was nothing I wanted to do. If I hadn't gone to the Lincoln Center performances, I'd have been in my room at 8 PM, hoping to find an interesting movie on the TV.

it's actually .003, which is .3%. Still VERY good.