sambamama

My cruise on the Noordam had half the pool loungers they used to have-half!! There are now a total of twenty by the main pool. So if you aren't there by 8, there is no chance of one. This matters if there is bad weather a which my Asia cruise had. With good weather, its not a problem. They've cut lounger and chair space to add all the cabanas in. Everything apparently varies ship by ship and cruise by cruise. I'm not going to count on anything on my Alaska cruise. Then I won't be disappointed.

An early bird purchase can be good, but the best bargains,seem to be 3 months out and less,,if you are that flexible. BUT you may spend a bundle in airfare at the last moment. If you are looking at Greece, you should look at Celestyal. They offer a 50 % solo supplement, and free wine and beer with lunch and dinner. They have smaller ships and the tips are included. Cabins are big, the ship tours are reasonable and have a 20% if bought ahead. They even give an 80 Euro discount. The tours are excellent (at least the archeology ones are ) and are given by archeologists. I just did one. It was great!!!

This benefit has,been approved every year since I bought my stock in 2007. I've used it multiple times a year. The stock has,dropped to far below what I bought it for, but I've made that price up in onboard credit over the years since then as,many years I took 2 14 day cruises a year.

IMHO, you will get more bang for your buck arranging your own land tour after a cruise. You can get a longer land tour with fewer people than what the cruise line charges for a cruise tour. I guess it depends on how long a cruise and how,long a,land tour you were planning. If you were thinking of doing this, you need to book a,one way cruise from Vancouver to Whittier. Thats,what I am doing.

The South Pacific. However, HAL itself is,not the most dive friendly line. The port times don't line up well with diving. When I did my South Pacific cruise, I did snorkeling, but I booked my own tours. Probably your best bet is,to come early or stay late to dive.

The fruit soups are gone, although with a friendly maitre'd, you might get them. I may miss some, but I remember apple, strawberry, blueberry, mixed berry, cranberry, peach, and maybe melon. They were a cold app choice, and yes, they were sweet. That's why I loved them, especially the cranberry. Princess still makes these. I'm surprised HAL doesn't since their soups are always a,strong point. Dessert at the beginning of dinner! I was a picky eater when I started sailing on HAL. But I would order things I had not tried before, and if I didn't like it, it was no big loss. I learned to like escargot, steak tartar, anchovies, and all kinds of fish. I fell in love with nasi goreng- sp?.too. But that's gone as well. There were free steaks in the dining room on my Asia cruise. And I will say that the Pinnacle quality is,still there and they will still make desserts,off the menu with a,day' s notice. I love Grand Marnier sauce with a vanilla,souffle and saboyan sauce with berries and I've been able to get that. And ordering a Tomahawk steak and sharing it with 2- 3 other people is a good way to get a great steak!!

My last 3 cruises were a 7 night cruise around the Greek islands on Celystal, a 14 night (3 time postponed ) Singapore to Hong Kong cruise on the Noordam, and a 14 night night Panama Canal cruise on Princess. Yes, HAL is falling far behind. They still have great itineraries and fabulous crews, and big cabins. The food is still good, but falling fast in quality. But the entertainment is awful, especially with the loss of Lincoln Center. There was no classical musicon my long postponed cruise, which would have had it, and when I fly that that far, I was upset. Some of the foods I love were hone by the postponement. There was a library, but not like before. But the value isn't there for me with a 100% single supplement. Princess had tons of entertainment, including classical, and it was all day long. The food was even better than HAL's. My room was fine, although smaller than HAL. I'd sail on Princess again over HAL. I was very surprised with Celestyal. They offer a 50% single supplement. You get free wine and beer with lunch and dinner. The ship was the old Ryndam. The food was good to very good. You get a 20% discount by booking tours ahead, and you get a discount just by booking a cruise. AND the tours are reasonably priced and excellent!! The archeological tours I booked were given by archeologists!!!! And you stay in some of the ports a long time. I was very pleasantly surprised, and I would sail again gladly. IMHO, this is a missed opportunity for HAL or other cruise lines. If they offered good tours AND fairly priced tours, I would book with them. But they don''t and so I don't. I am a 4 star and I've sailed with HAL since 1987. I've sailed 7 nights to 20 nights. I sail with HAL because I love the smaller ships and the quality service and what I was used to. But the new HAL isn't interested in me. They want to sell to a family of 4. They want me to buy a cabin at 100%single supplement, even though I usually spend $1000 on ship. It's not worth that to me. Not for what I get. I want to listen to classical music and get books from a library and order chilled fruit soup and get candied ginger from the yum yum man and see the crew show. But those days are over.

Lincoln Center being gone is old news. Apparently on a few ships and a few cruises, there is classical musical music. On my 3 time canceled 14 night Singapore to Hong Kong cruise (which would have had Lincoln Center), there was absolutely no classical music. There were no solo meetups. There was no tuna at the salad bar. There were no rolls at lunch. The bread selectionin theMDR and the Pinnacle had dropped to almost nothing. And yes, the Lido was closed the same hours you mentioned.At the 100% single supplement I must pay for acruise, it absolutely is not worth it any more. I doubt I will be booking any more cruises on HAL until their pricing policies change.

On Princess, there is no fixed dining. But you can set up a fixed time with the same table and waiters, which is what I did. And they still have laundries, or at on the ship I went on. Some of the things I miss aren't a matter of cost. Having rolls available at lunch in the buffet isn't as they bake those themselves. Having a wider variety of breadwinner the MDR and the Pinnacle isn't a matter of cost, either. Getting rid of my favorite hot dog wasn't a matter of cost since sauerkraut is dirt cheap, and the bacon bits are minimal and used on other things. Getting rid of adequate lounges at the indoor pool wasn't a cost cutting measure and neither was banning water and soda when they still allow wine. And if HAL wants to continue, then yes, I will speak with my wallet. I can get far more on a land based vacation, especially since HAL decided to set single supplements at 80 to 100 %, and usually at 100%. What I get is certainly not worth 200%, even without HIA.

I once stayed in Miami and booked airport transfers from there to Fort Lauderdale. I went to the location I was told to and no one showed up. After an hour with no one showing up, I made several frantic calls to HAL. I never got good answers, and ended up having to book a taxi to avoid risking missing the cruise. HaL didn't seem to have a good system for meeting people who did not have an flight into the airport. Perhaps it's better now. However, you would have a much longer distance and have to cross a border. Me, I would never do that again in a situation like that. I have no faith in HAL after that.

I am cruising August 31 for 7 nights and will post a review after.

HAL used to stop sometimes in Topolongo and you could do a tour on the Copper Canyon by train. I booked this twice and each cruise got canceled. I'd love to do that cruise, but they don't offer it any more.

That would be a shame as the South Pacific, IMHO, would be much more fun. My20 night RT South Pacific cruise was the best cruise I've ever taken by far!!! ,

I had 2 times a day on my outside cabin on my Asia cruise this January, and I never even asked. I didn't even know about this.

Flying JAL biz class is going to be much better than anything AA has to offer. I haven't flown thru Chicago in a very long time, but I like the DFW airport. The Amex lounge there is great!

I sailed out of Tampa twice. It was great. I've sailed out of Miami, NYC, Bayonne, Fort Lauderdale, Vancouver, San Diego, Boston, Singapore, Auckland and Barcelona. I had to fly to all but Boston, NYC and Bayonne. The easiest to board was Boston. Obviously it's easier not to fly, but I like warm weather. So I'd rather fly than cruise in the cold.

I've got 4 nights in Athens and periodic nights in the port while I go on my ferry trips between the four different islands. I am sure it won't be fun wearing a mask, but its better than inhaling smoke particles. I will play it by ear. I had to wear masks at work all through Covid for 8-9 hours at a time, so I'm sure I will survive.

I emailed my Greek travel agent ( I arrive August 27) and she said I have nothing to worry about. However, after reading the news, I am bringing N95 masks in case there is wildfire smoke in the area. There are reports of lots of smoke thru Athens.

Well, I had a $50 Amex credit for the Jetblue flight, so that would beat any 8% gift card credit. And the flight prices were pretty fair, especially given they were nonstop and one way (at least at this point.) So I wasn't going to gamble and hope they drop in price. I make a point to never, ever book tight connections. I leave at least 90 minutes for domestic and 2 hours for international, and perhaps more depending on airports and the situation of having to go thru security, change terminals, clear customs, reclaim luggage, etc.

I checked FlightEase frequently for my upcoming Alaska cruise as I was flying into Vancouver and out of Anchorage. It DID NOT show up at 330 days prior for either date, and prices for both flights were substantially higher than direct with the airlines. ( I wanted JetBlue out and United back.) Further, it didn't even have the United nonstop flight. I was very disappointed as I expected their one way prices to be better. Maybe that is only true for international, and domestic and US to Canada don't qualify.

Mine was the NCL Norway, I think back in 1983. For sure it was still when cruising was very big. You went to the MDR for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the midnight buffets were really something. Captain st still had cruisers sit at their tables for dinner. The Norway was a beautiful ship, and I became hooked!

There is way more value in land vacations than cruises now, especially if you are solo and traveling in budget countries. Even without A HIA package, solo supplements are almost always 100% , and I've never seen them less than 80% on HAL. Its true that the name hotels are higher than before, but there are non name equivalents just as nice and cheaper. I haven't missed my cruises.

I would encourage her to look at Intrepid or Travel Talk. G Adventures talks a good game, but did awful things to their clients and staff during COVID. I had a tour to Morocco booked and they cancelled it two weeks before I was scheduled to go, and before the travel ban hit. They offered me a one year voucher which was not in the contract. So they tried to retroactively modify the contract, and I had to fight hard to prevent that. They abandoned clients all over the world and had their clients fly in and not let them know their tours were cancelled. They aren't A nice company!!!

I go on long vacations and I'm not retired. A number of people vacation and work remotely. They work off the ship by email, Zoom, etc. And you are assuming she will find all older folks boring, and that she is unhappy being alone. I've traveled alone for long periods and find I meet tons of people traveling, and I'm never bored. Its all in how you look at things. Encourage her to do activities on the ship and sign up for fixed dining. She will make friends and have a great time!

I would also have Mobile Passport or Global Entry to save even more time through customs. Me, I would order a limo and not rely on Uber or Lyft. But then I'm cautious. I fly to Bradley myself and know the limited flight choices. If you don't make that early flight, you will be waiting for a flight leaving at 7 or 8.