REOVA

You should be able to find a good meal. HAL wants to please so if you order something you don't like, you can order something different. You may have hit or miss service depending on what time you dine. But again, communicate any problems and the next night they will focus on doing better. (You will be flagged in their system...kidding...kinda 😉)

You also can go down the aft stairs from the aft pool to reach 7 and 6 deck aft.

Most likely the bow deck will be open for viewing but deck 3 is covered and you can walk all around and view (except the bow section is enclosed for crew area). Also above the Lido pool (Deck 9) you can get a view on each side.

As mentioned the HAL ships do have multiple copies but probably not enough depending on number of participants. Usually on the first day passengers are checking out copies so you won't know how many are available at any point. You may want to suggest in roll call that anyone interested in book club bring their digital book reader app to download books. Also many public libraries have ebooks that you can download (if you have library membership). Obviously wifi would be needed but it may reduce the number of books needed from the ship library.

It's one of the reasons we don't do fixed dining anymore. We used to do fixed at table of 4 to 6 but found that we missed dinner a few times but leaving the other passengers to empty seats was also a concern. Now we do "anytime" and no concern for notifying crew or table mates. Plus meet more people each night we dine in MDR. You may be able to mention it in the Navigator app if you can't get to the matre d". But if it's too late in the meal (and you have a shared table), they won't seat anyone else mid meal. If it's table for 2 or less, they won't be concerned.

Yes. We just tell the concierge we only drink red wine (which is true - 😉 snob) and to reuse the sparkling for someone that would like it. No problem switching to something to level 1 in the package.

They used to print trivia and puzzles as well. When I asked they said they didn't any longer but printed me a few pages of trivia from old files. I think depending on who you ask, you may get it printed. When one person says no, we usually ask another. Supposedly it's for environmental reasons and to conserve paper/recycling. But if you ask for extra EFFY ads, they will print many. 🤣

Yes but it may not be by the bagels. Sometimes they will point you to another end for condiments and sometimes they will provide a small ramekin.

It will seem crowded at lunch, dinner (depending on time) and some venues (depending on ship). Get to World stage and music venues early for shows and seating that you want. Early or late meals are less crowded as most people eat at same time in between (for anytime, if you have set time, you already have a table otherwise may have a wait). Staff and kitchen can get hectic when busy, especially on Pinnacle ships (recommend Club Orange on those). Otherwise around the ship it shouldn't feel crowded. Pool areas may be busy on sea days (and HAL does have chair hogs as well 😉). Overall a more relaxed experience.

I found that getting credit on errors (which is happening more frequently) is to put it in the Navigator app where it's documented. Standing in line at Guest Services or having someone say they will do it is futile, especially if it has to go to a specific department Manager for approval (like beverage) who drag their feet. When all else fails, my credit card company reverses the charge (if within time period).

So Carnival wins with you booking a higher price cruise 😉

You have to add everyone (and they all have to have Navigator App) to your list to "chat" with. Also on Android you have to have notifications on.

Nyron always makes it a good night. 👍

You will see a time on your final boarding pass closer to cruise. The final pass will have a QR scan code on it. Between now and then you may have a few different times show up if you check. The ship usually starts boarding around 11:30 (give or take 1/2 hour) depending on how quickly the previous Voyage cleared. However in order to stagger passengers and not have everyone bottleneck (show up at same time), HAL gives you a time. You can show up and go through security before your time but you will be sitting either upstairs (priority waiting - Neptune, 4/5 Star/ Club Orange) or downstairs depending on boarding time. FLL is and easy port and most times they let you check in and board earlier than assigned time.

It's rare that the FCD gets credited to credit card so maybe something is switched on behind the scenes due to your GWC deposit request but also maybe your TA told HAL to do it based on previous request . Ours got returned to our account to be used within the 4 year period which is nice that we still can book with the low deposit (even though they consistently run low deposit promos).

We stopped booking tours on HMC. If you have your own snorkel gear (mask and tube) you can walk all the way down to the end (right) of the beach and walk in about 20 feet with lots of fish. It won't win awards like some other islands but it doesn't cancel (unless you can’t tender to island 😉). DSCN7682_1.mp4

They don't have the full license for the commercials, which weren't any good anyway, but better than the obnoxious redundant network promos.

It's a shell game. HIA will change (and pricing) from when a cruise is first released to before final payment depending on what HAL needs to fill cabins. I booked a cruise a year ago and both HIA and pricing have changed twice since. The latest, the price went down thousands and HIA benefits reduced/changed a little. I was able to reprice at a lower rate and remove HIA and the savings on the price was much greater and still came out ahead even using the savings to cover the HIA items originally booked. You have to check the rates of the cruise fare AND the difference in HIA to see if its worth it. Sometimes the cruise fare is higher when the HIA looks better. And a good TA can price out items that you cannot find online.

Pinnacle ships show at the Lido pool screen, other ships are at World Stage screen. They don't have rights to the commercials (which really aren't what they used to be).

Texting will depend on your phone (model and age). IPhone uses MMS to send messages via internet so you can send and receive from other iphones (blue and green text used to differentiate non iPhone/iPhone). Android is different and usually uses SMS and needs cell tower so in airplane won't work. (You have to be able to modify settings for internet use for Android).

Ours had pop top metal cans (screw cap cost more) and we would get multiple cans and store in fridge (after we had cabin stewards clear out fridge). We used the water for night drinks and refill our water bottles for port excursions.

FLL is a quick and easy port. Usually the ship begins to board about 11:30 (give or take 30 mins) to allow clearance and turnover of prior cruise. You can check in when you get there at 10:30 just like you describe.

Those ports are not prized for long itineraries. It's the quick trips in Caribbean wilth larger ships that are more profitable (and with cookie cutter itineraries). The longer itineraries are based out of the 4 corners (SD/LA, SEA/VAN, BOS/NY and FL). Most of the other embarkation ports are short trips or just a port stop on other cruises that you cannot embark on (locally). As Bruce stated, not enough ships to be gone too long (nor demand yet).

You can also ask for more hangers from cabin steward.

You didn't mention which HAL and Celebrity ships but it could have something to do with what services the ship needs in port and the cost divided by how many passengers are on each ship.