*Miss G*

1. Where are you boarding?
   
2. What are your ports of call?
   
3. Where are you disembarking?
   

Miss G. Seems you did not notice Sllidergirl wrote her post after Krooz Nut and I wrote our posts asking what yourpost meant. It was not clear to us.. :)

I didn't? You've got me confused. I only came back to the thread after she'd posted. I'm a busy gal you know! I read your posts and then saw slidergal had left a succinct summary of what I was thinking so there was no need to repeat it.

Same experience as retaf. No signature; just a receipt showing your balance.

Try clearing your cookies.

As opposed to posting a daily comparison I believe it would be better time spent to ask those of you that are interested in the comparison to post your questions, please. I do not wish to offend anyone or engage in anything that seems boastful. My only objective here is to be helpful to those that are truly interested in the objective comparison. Thus, feel free to ask away but in the interest of enjoying my vacation without offending anyone or getting flamed I will now only post to answer questions.

 

Thus far, it has been a wonderful experience!

What!?? Noooooo. :loudcry: I was enjoying your reviews and posts and didn't find it the least bit boastful! I have no questions. I just want to know what it's like. :(

What great itineraries! Have a wonderful time!

Oprah has a business, a lifestyle business. HAL has paired with her "corporation" to offer optional activities onboard select sailings. Book Club, exercise, guest speakers. This has nothing to do with politics. HAL is not supporting Oprah's personal politics and no one is supporting Oprah and any supposed political thoughts by being on a cruise with the O offerings.

S7S, slidergirl has clarified it well for me. Thank you slidergirl.

Congratulations! I always love a good upsell story. Have a wonderful time manteonc!

I’m currently having a bizarre experience with one of my own casino offers. I received a casino-rate email with great offers including a $249 (interior) for a 17-day Circle Hawaii on Eurodam on September 30, embarking in Seattle and disembarking in Vancouver, BC. Since I live north of Seattle (one of the ONLY coastal cities without mass transit) I actually prefer to cruise out of Vancouver. Believe it or not it’s actually cheaper and easier for me to get to Vancouver than it is for me to get to the Smith Cove terminal in Seattle. But I digress.

 

The truth is that after departing Seattle, Eurodam stops in Vancouver to BEGIN the 16-day Circle Hawaii cruise. The Seattle-to-Vancouver portion at the start of the cruise that I was offered is just a little 1-day segment, presumably a booze-cruise junket for corporate folks.

 

Well, in addition to the fact that I prefer to cruise out of Vancouver, I really ** HATE ** segmented cruises for many of the reasons mentioned by folks on other threads here.

 

So I called my terrific HAL PCC and told him that I’d like to do that cruise but wanted to embark in Vancouver. I’d actually be voluntarily shortening my cruise by one day, essentially donating an extra cabin for a corporate soul who might want to do the junket.

 

But my PCC told me that if I wanted to embark in Vancouver I’d have to pay the full price that is published on the site (which already has my “normal” casino discount plugged in). But the special casino offers that arrive via email are to be used EXACTLY as they are printed and my PCC says that he is powerless to change them.

 

Doesn’t make any sense, does it? The 16-day cruise would cost me about $1400 MORE than the 17-day cruise (I'm solo and have to pay the supplement). Whatever, my PCC says he’ll try to do some calling around at corporate and see if there’s any way it can be modified but he doesn’t hold out much hope.

I totally get why you'd prefer to embark in Vancouver. Let us know if they let you modify it!

I would suspect that since your ID# is connected to the casino rate program, that any purchase of a gift relating to the casino would not work. But DaveOKC says it is worth a try and hope you would report back.:confused:

Hmm. Good point. Maybe I'll just buy OBC and see if that works. I'll let you know!

Not sure if that would work, but you can always try it and report back afterwards to all of us on this board.

Will do!

This might be the ship for you: http://holyship.com

According to the HAL website:

 

 

Are any onboard charges excluded from the onboard purchases bonus?

 

All casino charges, cash advances, Future Cruise deposits, and associated fees are excluded. All other onboard purchases, for example, Hotel Service Charge, Beverage Service Charge, taxes, shore excursions and all gift items purchased online or through Ship Services count towards bonus Cruise Day credits.

Got it. So I shall purchase my casino $$ with a gift item. Thank you!

Hey Ed! How are you and your lovely wife? As you know, I tend to play bingo but I don't play in the casino. I don't think that bingo is charged to the casino. In our experience, bingo does count towards cruise day credits. When we were close to 4 Star status, I carefully calculated our costs so that we would get enough credits to get the required 200 days. Bingo on sea days factored into that calculation, and it worked.

I wonder if slot play does too?

It was fun to see everyone outside with their glasses and cameras. It was like a celebration. It reminded me of when we first moved to Florida and everyone would gather outside with their lawn chairs and beverages to watch the space shuttle launches. I watched the birds to see if their habits changed, but everything remained status quo!

Thanks for posting Copper! Coincidentally, I had just bought the first two of his books and have kept them to read on an upcoming cruise. I didn't realize there was a third!

Wow! Thanks for posting everyone! It was fascinating to get everyone's perspective from across North America. Thank you! Here outside of DC, it just got a little dusky. At 82% I thought it would get a little darker. Looking forward to looking at pics now. :)

I must be missing something b ut I do not understand the connection of Oprah with HAL. What is that about? Yes, everything is about money but doesn't sound to me like many of us here are rushing to sail on an Oprah cruise. . I won't be. :D Also, Oprah is making noises she may run for political office. If so, why is HAL immersing themselves in politics? Not the place for it, IMO. With all the American poliitics many of us are g etting tired of, who needs it on a ship? I was thrilled to sail and get away from it this summer. :) Those from other countries likely don't want any part of it.

You're definitely missing something.

I am in the 82% obscuration zone starting at 1:16 pm EST. Where are you?

I hate to think we are paying all the wages for the crew

Technically, we are. ;) But tip posts belong in another thread.

I would be surprised if an Oprah cruise was anymore "intrusive" than America's Test Kitchen, or the art gallery auctions, or even Friends of Bill W. It just appears to be additional options of things to do.

Yes, I was quite surprised to see what some were wearing to the dining room on both regular and "formal" nights. Had not expected that at all. I guess it goes hand-in-hand with the reduced service and food quality. If you're going to dress like you're going to a cafeteria then your expectations will be met.

We had a long break from HAL and went back in December. Our biggest disappointment was in the main dining room service, with the quality of the food (in the MDR) running a close second. (It didn't help that we had previously sailed with Cunard, where the service was stellar.) If the goal was to chase us out to the paid dining, they have succeeded. They also stopped the unlimited wine you were allowed to bring on board, but that's not surprising.

I like the changes in the Lido buffet where the servers do the honors, and it was nice to see that the cabin stewards are still amazing at what they do.

Google "hal facts" for pictures and menus. Also check out the cruise critic picture board. You will find lots. POA1 has posted lots of drink menus and pricing. Gratuities are $15.00 per day per person for a suite.

OMG, none of our phones are on this list!!! (Two cells and a land line.) Now if they start showing up I will know who to blame. ;p

Thank you posting this. I added it to our 2 skymiles cards. A few days later I received a casino offer I couldn't refuse for a 17 day Hawaiian Cruise in an ocean view stateroom. Combining the Amex offer, FCD, air miles for flights, and a casino cash offer, brought our total cost down to about the cost of one round trip airline ticket to Hawaii.

Nice! Enjoy!!