vicd1969

Yes, one hassle is you have to list the number of each type of clothing you put in the bag (ex: 3 pairs underwear, 5 t-shirts, 1 pair pants, etc) whenever you send it away. If you're going with the unlimited laundry option, it's useful to ask your cabin attendant for multiple sheets of the laundry form on your first day - so you won't have to hunt them down every time you run out of the form.

Given that vaccine and testing requirements haven't prevented a substantial number of passengers from getting COVID on board HAL, I don't think they will or can afford to be a holdout for long if the market follows NCL.

The G-cabins have some gaps between the tenders so you can have a somewhat narrow clear view. The H cabins have a more blocked view, you wouldn't really be able to take a pic of the shore. There is still enough light that comes through your cabin in either case. The halfacts website has some pics for your reference.

The laundry cost hasn't increased in at least 7 years. Given inflation, it's a really good deal!

On port days, I usually don't eat lunch since I'm usually walking around and doing tourist things. I may get a bowl of soup or some "light" fare if I return to the ship before 2ish. On sea days, I've been avoiding going for a huge buffet during my recent cruises. Embarkation - it's a rite for me to walk around to check out the extravagant 1st day lunch offerings on the lido but I try to be disciplined. HAL does have a better East Asian buffet than Celebrity or Princess in my view, so I target that station for the buffet. My weakness is the late night buffet. There used to be some good Asian dishes offered late night though HAL has cut back a bit and it's more carb-intensive now.

Yes, that's a good idea to do so. I haven't flown American international in a while, and Delta and United have been pretty good about notifying me of flight changes. I would also recommend downloading the airline's app to one's smart phone.

Can you delegate someone at work to perform the payroll approvals? That would remove all concerns about a reliable shipboard connection, especially if you only have a limited window from final payroll numbers to approval. Being able to do it shore-based is probably the best way, especially if you need to use VPN or a reliable connection, but not sure your itinerary would line up with your payroll timing.

Over the course of two months this summer, the MS Rotterdam's port changed from the Amsterdam cruise terminal to the Waterland dock, back to Amsterdam cruise terminal, then to Rotterdam's port. So anything out to May 2023 from the Netherlands is a toss-up in my view.

I used Flight Ease for international and the savings were pretty substantial. I don't think you'll see similar face value savings on domestic BUT you likely will get more flexibility - most flight ease fares and bookings are flex and have no cost to change. That said, what I do is book on Flight Ease, then use the airline booking code to register my trip with the airline. That way, if the airline cancels or modifies the flight, I will get notified by the airline instead of relying on Flight Ease to do so. If you book on Flight Ease, you can continually check for prices and new flights to see if cheaper options are available, then change for free (unless you booked the restricted airfare option) before final cruise payment. The negatives are that the HAL Flight Ease website is unreliable on the PC - I have like a 1 out of 4 chance of successfully getting on the site and have to retry many times. Also, if you do need to contact the Flight Ease department by phone, wait times can be loooong, though airline customer service probably isn't much better. My travel agent does handle the major issues if I have any with Flight Ease, however.

Are you confusing the threshold to get a Neptune suite vs just getting Club Orange? My financial stats are well under yours and I was able to afford Club Orange just fine. Like others said, the cabin upgrade from Club Orange more than paid for itself. Edit: NVM. I see you posted the exact message on other cruise threads today. Maybe it's just a troll account.

A few other Club Orange extra choices that I recall on my Norway cruise were Shrimp Jambalaya (served on one of the gala dinner nights), Lamb loin, Seared Tuna Salad (basically an entree sized dish even though it's marked as appetizer), and ham/ pork belly steak. I went to specialty restaurants 2 of the 7 nights however.

Same on Rotterdam in June

My June 19 boarding in Amsterdam took under 30 minutes. I had a 1 PM boarding time but came around 11:30 am and there was no issue. Also, the MDR lunch menu has been standardized so it's the same each lunchtime, whenever the MDR is open. If you miss it on embarkation day you can go to lunch in the MDR on a sea day and have the same experience. The menu is a bit underwhelming imho but to each their own.

A major factor in boarding time is which port you are boarding from. Some ports have better boarding processes than others. Most places turn a blind eye if you come earlier than your official boarding time but it's not always the case I believe.

I was with an 11-person group. One of us met up with the manager on embarkation afternoon to request all of us sitting together for dinner. They graciously accommodated our request, and we were able to sit together each night. Their only ask was to let them know 24 hours ahead if we were eating at another place like Pinnacle grill that night. Of course, breakfast was each person/cabin to themselves since we had different waking up times but we never had to wait for a table. I can't say enough good things about the service we got at Club Orange for our cruise, especially our dedicated waiter Raymond. Hope you will enjoy your dining experience there like we did!

I don't think it's free for passengers. I recall giving my card for a drink, but I did have the signature bev package. There was a table set by deck 3 above the Lincoln Center for getting the drinks

Still a pretty mellow experience compared to NCL and RCL. Your kids should do fine on most of the HAL ships, except the 2 oldest ones. Depending on the itinerary and time of year, the reputation of HAL as a ship for senior citizens is overblown. Like all cruise lines, cutbacks will mean it's not fair to compare HAL now with what you experienced on the Maasdam about 20 years ago. You still should get the same level of excellent service from the crew and mostly interesting itineraries outside of 7-day Caribbean sailings. Had recent sailing with 18, 15, and 13 year old boys in our group and they loved their time on the Rotterdam, even if they didn't really use the Club HAL teen club. They spent most of their evenings playing D&D (like the kids in the TV show Stranger Things), where the deck 10 above the pool is a great venue to do so.

Yes. Especially on the Rotterdam - lots of Dutch passengers so the Lincoln center was packed.

I was comparing with Princess ships and OP's referencing the Nieuw Statendam.

I sailed on the Norse Legends this past June. Here are a few pics I took that may sway you for Geiranger and Eidfjord, but 11 days on the Rotterdam is better than 7 days 😄 Caveat Emptor: HAL has been switching Bergen with smaller ports lately, like to Maloy on ours.

One advantage on the HAL Pinnacle ships is that the lido deck can be covered - so if it's too cold, windy or rainy you can still watch the movie. Helps for Alaska and Northern Europe sailings.

Yup, self test kits will be in my international trip packing list for a while. My county is still distributing them at the public libraries and I've been grateful for that.

One notable thing about late September. You have a chance (def not guaranteed) to see the Northern Lights. You have practically zero chance in June-August.

It's very unlikely your parents would get a free upgrade if you get Club Orange for your cabin. I agree that on the Westerdam, the other perks other than room upgrade aren't of good value for your family. Does your cruise have a significant amount of tender ports? That's one perk that may be worth it if there are a lot of tenders involved.

Unless you absolutely need to leave the ship early to catch a flight but can't carry off your luggage yourself - not worth it just for priority disembarkation. Also, no one usually enforces directly when you get off the ship, it's just that your luggage may not be there when you leave earlier than your official disembarkation time.