Tampa Girl

There is also another rather important consideration when booking independent tours: Check how much advance notice is required to cancel the tour. We are currently on the final leg of the Oosterdam's 26-day cruise from Athens to FLL. We have had five ports cancelled, four in the final segment from Barcelona to FLL. Two were for bad weather and two were for pilot strikes in Portugal. One of the passengers had spent a considerable amount of money with Viator for excursions in those ports. Unfortunately, Viator had a 24-hour cancellation requirement, and the ports were cancelled too late for advise Viator. Further, the ship's internet has been poor, and the women had no opportunity to use a port's wifi. Viator confirmed that no refund is forthcoming. A HAL excursion, of course, would have been automatically cancelled. So.... buyer beware.

We have been recently on the Zuiderdam and the Eurodam, both with the new libraries. Both were well used, admired, and much appreciated. We are presently on the Oosterdam which, per the staff, is presently "in the process" of installing a library. I am wondering whether I would have proceeded with this 26-day cruise had I known that the library had not been installed. We found that the new libraries had a very good selection of books and comfortable seating, albeit a lesser number of chairs as were available in past years. The OP's question was not whether libraries are desirable. OP asked whether was one was available. Why is it necessary to express personal opinions that as to the desirability or necessity of a ship's library? These opinions are irrelevant to OP's question and add nothing to the thread. 2

We were on the ship at the same time. I remember that both sides of that rack were non fiction. We found adequate non fiction for our purposes.

Where do you see the NL concierges pre-boarding? We have sailed in the Neptune Suites frequently and never noticed them. OTOH, we usually board mid-afternoon, out of choice.

We never have lunch in the dining room, so I can't comment on that. However, we did forego breakfast in the DR on our VOV cruise because the service was slow and the food arrived lukewarm and was totally unappetizing. However, to be fair, our evening tablemates did not experience the same conditions at breakst. But. . . dinner in the MDR was almost always wonderful. So much is dependent on the serving staff, and it seemed that our DR breakfast staff was still being indoctrinated, while the dinner staff knew what they were doing. Just IMHO, of course.

I am looking for a private trip to Sounion. May I ask what private tour you have found? I think a cab company is the way to go, but besides George's and PK's, I don't know of any others.

Thanks so to you and ninjacat123'ss advice. I feel better about being able to use these tickets.

We purchase Acropolis tickets (which are non-refundable, modifiable, etc.) in early September, from Key Tours Greece, through Booking.com. At that time there was no window for requested time slots, so our tickets do not have a time on them. I contacted Booking.com, who no longer have any relationship with Key Tours. I have contacted Key Tours three times by email, requesting a time slot be added to the reservation. No response. The date if for October 19, 2023, so time is becoming important. I have one question , first, is it absolutely critical for all tickets to have a time slot; and, if not, what then? I am having a difficult time thinking that all the people who pre-purchased before time slot rule was passed, are going to be out of luck unless they re-purchase the tickets. Suggestions, anyone?

Not intentionally, sorry. I wrote it but it did not appear to have been submitted so I apparently re-submitted it. Thanks for your quick reply to my question

I was able to find a statement on Navigator from our last cruise, which showed a credit balance. It did not show a cruise taken four months earlier. My questions: 1) Where on HAL's website (not the Navigator) where I can find the earlier statement; and 2) What happens to the credit balance from the latest cruise? Thank you for your help.

I was able to find a statement on Navigator from our last cruise, which showed a credit balance. It did not show a cruise taken four months earlier. My questions: 1) Where on HAL's website (not the Navigator) where I can find the earlier statement; and 2) What happens to the credit balance from the latest cruise? Thank you for your help.

Look on the HAL website for Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific cruises.

I vote for the "next-door" v. the "adjoining." We had an adjoining SS on the Zuiderdam for an 18-day cruise. Although we never heard noise from the adjoining cabin, the loss of the closet, considering that I used 18 days as an excuse for bringing more clothes, was somewhat a negative. The result was that our outer clothes and shoes were decorating the cabin instead of the closet. Otherwise, there was ample cabinet and drawer space for non-hanging garments. I, too, love the SS suites.

Agree. "Early 20-year olds" are not children. They are adult, in this case, daughters.

We stayed at the Park Plaza Victoria, right across from the Central Train Station. Despite that, we never heard heard a train! We stayed in the unrenovated section of the hotel and were quite satisfied with the room, although the bed was too low to the ground, a situation that probably does not exist in the renovated section. Breakfast was included and one the best that I have found in a hotel. The bar is very good and is open to only hotel guests. The service was excellent.

First, HAL does cruise the Mediterranean a lot. Secondly, I do not believe that Celebrity is part of the Carnival Corporation's family, unless it is a very new addition. I think Laffnvegas has answered the rest of your question. Enjoy your cruise!

I am curious: How does one find out if a ships is actually sold out? And if it is sold out, isn't HAL then proceeding to juggle and assign the various "guarantees", by whatever formula they do so? Having also booked guarantees lately, I agree with the posters who reject the notion that it is rude to remind us that the only promise made by HAL is that we will get the cabin level for which we paid. There is no promises as to when. Also, now that HAL is posting, side by side, the sometimes significantly lower Guarantee price compared with the higher HIA price, the number of guarantees may be significantly larger and requiring more time to assign.

I have tried four times to change my email address for Tampa Girl. Each time the response: "Address already exists." If it exists, I don't know where because the Account Management shows a different email address, which I no longer have. It simply won't recognize the new address. What do I do now? Virginia Moore Tampa Girl New Address: moore604@gmail.com Current Address: moore.v@mindspring.com

Did both the cruise price and the deposit amount increase?

What is the official website, please? I just ordered mine through Key Tours Greece and have received confirmation. I would prefer to cancel and rebook through the official site. Thanks.

Thank you for expanding on the date for final payment and purchase of the CFAR. I was not aware of how many cruises will now be considered "special voyages" and will have final payment dates of 120 days prior to sailing. Forewarned is forearmed.

I was responding to your statement that "you do not need to purchase before final payment. It appears that one is normally required to purchase before that date. Perhaps a better way to explain it is that "one must purchase by final payment date.

It appears that you must purchase before the penalties start accruing: "EASY TO BOOK. Cancellation Protection Plans can be booked until the date cancellation fees begin to accrue (varies by cruise). Opt in when making your booking or visit Manage my Bookings to add a plan to your existing reservation. "

It is my understanding, from having booked three "special rate, i.e. casino, etc.) cruises, that you cannot combine additional discounts such as Carnival, Veterans, Educator, etc. Considering that those discounts are usually only $100 each and the special rate is worth considerable more, the loss of the discounts is worth it.

But what was the reason for cancelling Grand Turk and might it also be cancelled for the January 6th cruise? Surely there must be independent excursions which would be of interest. Cancelling ports is an unavoidable occurrence in any cruise and on any cruise line. If Grand Turk is so important to OP, she might consider a land trip to the island, assuming it has an airport.