Harry1954

We have taken HAL and the taxi service ... if you are pre-cruising with HAL, then use HAL .. otherwise, the taxi is friendly, easy, and less expensive.

harry

I’ve seen on the AT&T website that they have plans for various cruise lines, HAL being one. Is Cellular-at-Sea what they are referring to? Also, how did it bite you money wise? Because of calls, or just in general?

Thx

Prior to my understanding how the billing worked, i had a hefty bill on return from a prior WC. ATT was kind enough to negotiate a reasonable amount I was to pay ... after that, we setup with ATT prior to cruise just what we want for plan on sea days - and that has worked out well.

harry

On WC2011 we tried MagicJack - it was a complete flop. Calls kept dropping off so we finally threw it away after complaining to the company and receiving little if any constructive help.

Subsequently, we have used ATT international plan and discuss with them before we leave port just what we need for the specific itinerary. We have completed two more WCs and one Grand Med. The only caution is that if you don't turn on airplane mode at sea, Cellular-at-Sea will bite you ... we also determined prior to last long voyage that there is a plan to handle that if you need to receive emails and phone calls at sea as I do since I still work.

harry

Global Entry is for reentry to the US from any country not just Canada and Mexico. There are specific Trusted Traveler Programs that are country specific like NEXUS for US-Canada and SENTRI for US-Mexico border crossings.

I was specifically referring to using the Cards .. not to the program which is wonderful.

harry

Does this apply only to international flights?

We have used our GOES cards for returning from WC 2016 in Ft Lauderdale and it sped up everything - was surprised as it was only suppose to be for Canada and Mexico - very confused at the time because we didnt think it was applicable - but it sure saved time.

Now, maybe they were confused those days and have changed since then.

harry

PS: trust you are doing well!

This has been the practice for many years. Unlike six star lines, HAL does not provide this service. I suppose one might suggest you get what you pay for.

harry

yes, we have always had a priest. on sea days mass is in am 8am .. on port days it is afternoon - time varies

harry

I am afraid you will be disappointed going into town. We generally go to the spit on the shuttle and then eat at one of the few restaurants - the food is always fresh, a bit overpriced since cruise ship in ... but excellent.

harry

We did the few tours that were appealing on prior trips. This year we went downtown, caught the free bus to the zoo and spent the morning there. It was quite interesting as the animals were indigenous to the type of climate in AK. No monkeys or giraffes for instance. Then we had lunch in town at one of the many fine restaurants, ensuring that we got halibut ...

harry

we had one of them on AK cruise and several on Grand Med this year.

harry

You can not use that service if you want to stay late. You must leave at 7:30am ... we chose not to use it, even though it was free as we didn't want to leave until after 9.

harry

She has been a great ship, but we sure didn't care for the changes they made to butcher her.

She will be missed though. Requiescat In Pace

harry

The 8am (sea day) and 5pm (port day) have been steady on the last several HAL cruises. Our most recent was AK 5 June - also, if arrival in a port is later in the day, it is treated as a sea day.

harry

Just got off AK cruise and the above threads are exactly correct ... my DW takes granola bars in case she needs food on long excursions. Prewrapped processed food is ok.

harry

The itinerary confirms the proposed one that was chosen.

harry

thanks for all the helpful replies.....just some clarification

2. did I understand that you can get to global entry at the cruise port quicker by using porters or was it at airport by using porters....and how much is customary tip for this service

This is absolutely true - porters know what is going on this particular day, how to get thru quickly and they get you to your next mode of transportation. As to tip, it depends on a) how long you have them detained b) how many bags.c) what your budget can stand.

harry

The last three times thru Ft Lauderdale we experienced three difference cases: 1st time - we had to show our GOES cards to go in that line; if I couldnt find them, we would go to end of regular line - fortunately, I fished them out and presented and we were out of there quickly; 2d time - they didnt have the GOES line operating - had to use our passports; 3d time which was coming back from Grand Med last month we went in GOES line as we had the cards out, but the agent wanted our passports ...

nothing to it, but at least they are trying ...

harry

Thanks for the informative report. We are on that ship next week, so your comments help.

harry

Thanks - for the Prinsendam, I would think you would have the DVD players.

see my earlier post:

we have used the DVD in the suite on a few occasions .. however, the sound is quite terrible coming thru the TV. They added Bose speaker last year and you can hook it up to the TV to improve the sound remarkably. Here is hoping the upgrades to newer systems will replace DVD with high quality TV and on-demand movies as someone mentioned - haven't seen it on Amsterdam or Prinsendam yet.

Which ship are you on? And we can help.

 

As POA1 said it depends upon the ship. Interactie TV and "on demand" has replaced a number.

 

We had DVD players on our Rotterdam cruise last month.

Grand Med (Prinsendam) this year

Veendam - Canada Oct last year

WC2016 (Amsterdam) last year

As usual, RuthC is correct ... when you have been on a wine excursion - and DW and I go on any/all that we can - your name is on a list that is at the station where the security will direct you if you have brought back wine. The person there asked your room number and they veryify you were on a wine excursion - then - and this is most important - they put a sticker on the wine which will indicate to one/all that you have either paid the gratuity or it was a freebie from a wine excursion.

harry

we have used the DVD in the suite on a few occasions .. however, the sound is quite terrible coming thru the TV. They added Bose speaker last year and you can hook it up to the TV to improve the sound remarkably. Here is hoping the upgrades to newer systems will replace DVD with high quality TV and on-demand movies as someone mentioned - haven't seen it on Amsterdam or Prinsendam yet.

harry

It is indeed a personal choice as well as a budgetary issue regarding leaving a cash tip. We leave one on each visit if we are on a short (14 day) cruise and on longer ones, we tip by envelope before departing the ship.

Again, that is our choice and not something the staff should expect.

harry

I didn't say the Amsterdam doesn't have balcony cabins; I said it doesn't have lanai cabins. There's a big difference between the two types of cabins.

Reread what I typed, which is what you quoted.

Lanai cabins are on Lower Promenade, converted from former outside cabins. They have sliding doors to the public promenade, with two reserved loungers for each lanai.

Yes, Ruth, that is just what DW and I thought as well! Very exciting to us and we have already been on three WCs none of which turned right and headed that way ... so this will be interesting.

For those concerned about Atlantic crossing .. we just got off the Grand Med FFL-FFL and we had 40mph winds all the way over and a storm following us all the way back ... so conseqently, no one got out much either way - I believe it just depends on a bit of luck what the weather will allow.

harry

Here is the proposed 2019 Itinerary for WC harry

Proposed Itinerary.pdf