terrydtx

We are at this point in our lives where we will cruise only on 3 lines, HAL, Celebrity and Oceania. Our criteria's are first an itinerary that we want to do and then who has the better deal at the class of cabin and ship we want. We love having a bigger cabin on Celebrity so we book only in Sky Suites specially on their new E Class ships so that we get a traditional open air balcony. All the amenities of booking Celebrity suites and their Retreat product can not be matched by HAL. IMO HAL's suites do not offer anything much more than a bigger cabin. If booking standard veranda cabins HAL is our choice over Celebrity in cost and value over booking Celebrity in a non-suite. Even a HAL Vista or Signature suite is a better value than Celebrity's non suites. This why we have two upcoming cruises on HAL they won out over Celebrity and Oceania.

The same thing happened to us last year for our Venice Oosterdam cruise. I immediately called FE and they rebooked us on alternative flights with no extra cost. We were booked in Business class. You need to Call FE ASAP. All airlines are making so many changes on flights that you need to keep up with them yourselves and not depend on HAL or your TA to inform you. Our flights to FLL in June on American have changed and we booked directly but after two weeks we have not been notified by AA about the changes, I only found them by checking my online bookings with AA. Fortunately, the changes made by AA are acceptable and the seats they assigned on the changed flights were better than the original one.

We also got the premium drinks and Wi-Fi early booking HIA promo for our 2024 Volendam cruise, as well as the prepaid gratuities. It turned out to be a really good overall good deal for us, only $55pp more per day than without the HIA promo.

I would just show up earlier and board. Last year in Trieste (Venice) we had a 2:00pm boarding time on the Oosterdam and we were at the terminal at 11:00am and on the ship by 11:30 with no questions or problems. BTW when I called HAL about the late boarding time, I was informed that I could show up earlier without a problem.

I would just show up earlier and board. Last year in Trieste (Venice) we had a 2:00pm boarding time on the Oosterdam and we were at the terminal at 11:00am and on the ship by 11:30 with no questions or problems. BTW when I called HAL about the late boarding time, I was informed that I could show up earlier without a problem.

Exactly, it is an ocean view cabin with a window that opens and closes.

I am still happy with Celebrity suites, but the current pricing for future cruises have driven us to look elsewhere when a premium line like Oceania is now more than competitive with a Sky Suite on Celebrity. The 4 Celebrity cruises we still have booked were a very good bargain compared to what they want currently for the same cruises, so we will go on them and most likely be done.

We did a private tour of Montenegro that took us up the snake road that had 27 switch backs up into the mountains. I will try to find the tour but it was so hot in Montenegro and at the top of the mountains it was 20 degrees cooler.

@spryder,We are also Celebrity refugees and we booked our first O cruise on the Marina for the same itinerary as yours, but in March 2025 we will not go to Antartica and it is only 18 nights. We booked an A2 cabin for less than a Celebrity Sky Suite on the Equinox in 2025 for only 14 nights. We are looking forward to the "best cuisine at sea" as we have seen Celebrity's food quality even in Luminae go downhill over the last year. Thank you for your review.

We are joining the list of Celebrity refugees in this forum too. We are Elite with X and for the last few years only booked Sky Suites as we fell in love with the Retreat product. However X is now pricing their suites as if they were on Regent or Silver Seas. Our current 4 upcoming Sky Suite cruises are currently 20-30% higher than when we booked over a year ago. The final straw was when we looked at a Sky Suite on the Equinox for a 14 night cruise from Santiago to Buenos Aires in 2025. The Sky Suite would cost about the same as an A2 Concierge class cabin on the Marina for 18 nights. It was a no brainer, we are now booked on our first O cruise and looking forward to a more premium experience. My sister and brother in law are also joining us on this cruise and another couple we met in our roll call for our September Apex cruise decided to join us as well.

We did a Reflection cruise last year that did Italy, Montenegro and Corfu. The cruise down the bay of Kotor was covered in smoke as most of the surrounding hills were on fire from lightening storms that week.

We did that cruise last year on the Reflection and loved the itinerary. Jeremy will love the ship and cruise. October is a much better time to go, we did it in August when Rome was over 100 degrees as was most of Greece and Croatia. Safe travels home to you both.

The retreat lounge seems to find ways to get the liquors passengers ask for, so I hope they can find a bottle of Macallan for us in Sept. Last Year the Michaels club lounge on the Reflection found a bottle of Antica Vermouth for us to make the best Manhattans.

The Signature and Pinnacle class ships have more specialty dining options which shouldn't be that hard to duplicate on the Vistas. I wasn't complaining about boredom in the MDR just the other options. Overall, I think the HAL MDR's have better selections and quality than Celebrity or NCL. We book suites on Celebrity mostly for access to their suites only restaurant, Luminae after some terrible experiences in their MDR's.

We were on the Oosterdam last year and while she had a recent refurbishment of the cabins, she is badly in need of a total overhaul of all interior spaces. The hallways to our cabin had dented and scratched walls and doors, the door to our cabin looked like it had been kicked many times as it was covered in dents.

I would like to see changes with the existing Vista and R class ships with the specialty restaurants since it looks like they will be around for many more years. Getting very bored with just the Pinnacle grill and Canaletto as the only options.

Hank, Here is HAL's cancelation policy from their website and most cruises the fare including deposits are 100% refundable up to 90 days out. I have never seen or been offered any bookings that had a NRD option with the booking. Cancellation Policy Our generous cancellation policy and optional Cancellation Protection Plan provides reassurance that you can book your next cruise vacation with confidence. Your entire booking including cruise fare, air add-ons, ground transfers, pre-cruise and post-cruise hotel and tour packages, excluding Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses, is subject to the same cancellation policy. If you booked any travel arrangements through other operators, you will be responsible for any cancellation fees imposed by the airlines, other transportation carriers, other tour and ground operators, and other hotel properties. Refunds (except for amounts paid for Cancellation Protection Plan) will be made directly to the method of payment you used to book with Holland America Line. Refund schedule for guests with bookings made in US$, CA$, or AU$: GRAND WORLD, GRAND VOYAGES, ANY SEGMENT OF A GRAND WORLD OR GRAND VOYAGE; 28+ DAY ULTIMATE ALASKA; 28+ DAY AUSTRALIA CIRCUMNAVIGATION AND ANY SEGMENT OF AN AUSTRALIA CIRCUMNAVIGATION; 28+ DAY HAWAII, TAHITI & MARQUESAS; TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC; AMAZON EXPLORER; INCAN EMPIRES (INCLUDING SEGMENTS); 30+ DAY TRANSATLANTIC VOYAGES AND ANY SEGMENT OF A 30+ DAY TRANSATLANTIC: SAILING DEPARTURES THROUGH MAY 2024: Cancellations through 121 days commencing travel: 100% refund; 120-91 days before commencing travel: 100% refund, less required deposit amount; 90-76 days before commencing travel: 40% refund of gross fare; 75 days or less before commencing travel: No refund available. SAILINGS DEPARTURES JUNE 2024 OR LATER: Cancellations through 120 days commencing travel: 100% refund; 119-91 days before commencing travel: 100% refund, less required deposit amount; 90-76 days before commencing travel: 40% refund of gross fare; 75 days or less before commencing travel: No refund available ALL OTHER VOYAGES 6 NIGHTS OR LONGER: Cancellations through 90 days before commencing travel: 100% refund; 89-76 days before commencing travel: 100% refund, less required deposit amount; 75-61 days before commencing travel: 50% refund of gross fare; 60-31 days before commencing travel: 25% refund of gross fare; 30 days or less before commencing travel: No refund available. VOYAGES UP TO 5 NIGHTS: Cancellations through 75 days before commencing travel: 100% refund; 74-57 days before commencing travel: 100% refund, less required deposit amount; 56-29 days before commencing travel: 50% refund of gross fare; 28-16 days before commencing travel: 25% refund of gross fare; 15 days or less before commencing travel: No refund available. CANCELLATION POLICY EXCEPTION: If you have purchased a specially priced promotion that is 100% non-refundable from the point of payment, you are not entitled to any refund, payment, compensation or credit whatsoever of your gross fare if you cancel your booking. If you have purchased a specially priced promotion that requires a non-refundable deposit, that deposit amount shall not be refunded if you cancel your booking. Name changes require prior approval and may not always be possible. Name changes and departure date changes are considered reservation cancellations and are subject to cancellation fees. Submit your written cancellation request through post or email, as follows:

Thank you my BIL who will be on the Apex cruise with us, and I like a Macallum in the Retreat lounge before dinner. He will be very happy if we can still get one.

I appreciate your comments on your experience with Oceania. Food is an important priority and one of the main reasons we book suites for Luminae. Our last non suites Celebrity cruise in 2019 on the Infinity the MDR food quality was not good at all and with all that has been cutback this year it has to be even worse. We had another Celebrity cruise booked for 2021 in Aqua ( only for Blu access) that got Covid canceled 3 weeks after final payment and the 125% FCC we got was enough o book a Sky Suite on the Equinox. That retreat experience kept us on Celebrity for 2021 and 2022 and for 4 more this year and next. The 9-day Sky Suite on the Equinox in 2021 was only $700 more than an aqua class cabin. We love the retreat experience but when you reach the point where future pricing of Sky Suites by Celebrity exceeds an A 1 concierge class cabin on Oceania, we have no choice but to look elsewhere. When Celebrity specialty restaurant pricing is increased 20% for restaurants that are hit or miss, we have no choice but to look elsewhere. We have 4 future retreat cruises booked that we booked in 2021 and early last year that are now 20-30% higher in cost than what we booked. If we were looking at those cruises to book now, we would have no choice but to look elsewhere. Our Sky Suite on Edge New Zealand cruise next January is today $2000pp more than what we booked in January last year. I would not book any cruise with Oceania that is not in one of their 3 newer ships with larger cabins and more food options.

We canceled one last year on the Marina that was 100% refundable and we have one booked for March 2025 on the Marina. We have not been on any Oceania cruise yet but we have many friends who have and swear by them.

Yes up to 6 months out, then there is a $250 fee to cancel. This is still better than Celebrity's new policy. BTW HAL is 100 % refundable as well.

Charla, I should have added the Mccallan was available in Michaels club and my BIL and I finished it off the day before the cruise ended.

We canceled the week of the invasion, not knowing what Oceania would do itinerary wise and before the 180-day free cancelation window closed. A couple of months later Oceania dropped the St Petersburg port and added a sea day, so we were glad we canceled when we did.

Charla, loving your live from blog. We will be on the Apex in September and in a Sky suite. Last year on the Reflection I was able to get Macallan 12-year-old scotch and it was in the Premium drinks package. From the list of premium spirts this year I do not see this, can you ask if possible, to see if it is available on the Apex? Thank you in advance.

From what I have been told the Volendam was refurbished in 2022. The biggest thing dictating keeping older ships may be the resale market for them. CCL during the pandemic got rid of many of their aging fleet built prior to 2000. A couple of their older ships even went to the scrap yards during Covid. HAL still has some interesting itineraries that the smaller R class ships are ideal for that without them might not happen, like our Volendam cruise next year.