peaches from georgia

On one of our cruises the picture came on as obviously someone who was not me. They said it was a common malfunction of the machine which puts the pictures on the cards. They let me on anyway.

We only had that happen one time and because it was a comparitively large amount (close to $100 IIRC) I called HAL. We never remove the stuff from the frig, who knows when we might want a snack, but this amount was too large for that. Turns out it was a phone call made from our cabin at 3pm; obviously we were long gone from the ship. It was taken off our final bill immediately with apologies. It's always better to get the facts first before making accusations.

The problem I always had with the tub was getting over the very high side, even with a grab bar. We always book a suite with a shower now.

I m unclear what we are to take from this. :D We should all love reading on Kindle? ?

I don't think nana51 is saying anything more than she loves her kindle because it gives her the availability of thousands of books at her fingertips. She never said everyone therefore should love a kindle.

I'm confused about your confusion.

I can understand readers preferring a real turning-pages book to an electronic reader, though I love my Kindle. But, sometimes making an adjustment when traveling to what you prefer at home is well worth it, especially for frequent cruisers. I can't imagine hauling a bunch of books in my luggage when a little Kindle slips right in my purse and weighs next to nothing. :eek:

Edit: Kindle or IPad, though a Kindle is better in the sun.

We have just come off the Nieuw Amsterdam and there were custom made sandwiches in the Lido at lunch. One day we had hot roast beef, another ham cheese and salad. You did have to hunt for the station but it was there.

 

The custom made sandwiches we tried were unappetising and also wrongly labelled!

I assume she meant to say "The PREMADE sandwiches we tried.............".

We love train travel and have been on the Empire Builder, Chicago-Seattle. A nice trip, but we wished the timing of the schedule had been better. We left mid-afternoon and awoke in eastern WA so it was dark for a great deal of the most scenic areas.

I'm hoping the financial turmoil here in the U.S. will quickly stabilize. This is a real issue for me as I'm retired and counting on my investments to see me through my remaining days. Significant drops will affect my ability to travel/cruise. If things don't rebound quickly, I may have to go out into the forest and live off the grid!

My thoughts exactly. I think what is happening in the markets today will impact cruising and perhaps HAL more than some other lines. Retirees especially depend on investment income and this is going to shake up a lot of people to be more conservative with their disposal income and hold on to it until financial stability returns. Making up losses will take even longer. With November only 4 months away more financial trouble on the way.

I had chicken pox twice as a kid, the 2nd time mixed in with a measles rash! Then in my 20s I had Bell's Palsy, also from the same virus as ckn pox. I have been told by all my docs to get the shingles shot as I am highly susceptible to getting shingles. I'm doing that on Monday.

We had port side on the Sunfarer cruise and always faced the port activity which we prefer.

Most non smokers do not want to have to negotiate terms of usage of their balcony..............

Non-smokers should consider themselves lucky to get to negotiate balcony smokin time and not complain about doing it. Smokers are under absolutely no obligation to negotiate anything. balconies are a HAL smoking area

Peaches, there may be a bit of confusion here about which system we are talking about. I was referring to HAL's website, as this was the OP's topic. The system logs me off after perhaps 30 minutes of inactivity. It could be a bit longer, but I usually log off myself and haven't timed the auto logoff.

 

Reading some of the other comments here, I suspect that some people were commenting on the Cruise Critic website. That's a different kettle of fish, and I suspect that changes are being made. I used to be able to sign on almost indefinitely, but recently I need to sign in several times a day. It's a very recent change, so I haven't worked out what the timing is or if there's another cause, e.g. my computer going to sleep.

Yep, I was talking about signing into CC. :eek:

Not in my experience. The system logs me out after a certain period of inactivity.

Just wondering what length of inactivity time passes when the system logs you out. Hours? Days? It doesn't happen to me or others who had posted in the past that they never log out.

You can just stay signed in by never logging out

The looking out into the alleyway give an impression of the 'outside'.

 

As Peaches says... no alcohol. Not a big point. Perhaps it might if the lounge was open until later.

But sending my DH across the hallway to the Neptune to bring me back a Bloody Mary with my coffee and Danish on my verandah sure would be nice! :D

Don't the lounge windows on other ships just look out into the hallways? :confused:

 

Regardless, HAL's Neptune Lounge certainly does not appear to be on the same level as other lines' suite lounges. Do they even serve free alcohol in the evenings? :confused:

No free alcohol at any time. :(

With all the great fish restaurants at the Alaska ports that cruisers post about, I know that would be our lunch plan if we were on an Alaska cruise. Beats a premade ham sandwich any day. ::D

After the sale when you are home Returns/Refunds for defective merchandise are not handled by HAL and the cruiseline is of no help if you have a problem. Any warranty is with a third party, not HAL. I don't know how much you are saving by buying on the ship, but buying local at home is a much safer choice if something goes wrong, IMHO. I speak from experience. :eek:

Barry from Boston. :D

I'm in the camp that likes port days, we cruise to see different countries and islands. A sea day here and there is nice and I enjoy them IF and only if the seas are calm and the sun is out and warm. My biggest problem is I hate it when the seas are rockin' and rollin' and that can happen anywhere, including in the Caribbean. Inclement weather and rough seas on a sea day is pure misery for me. So I only chance one sea day at a time if possible.

..............

We rarely eat in the main dining room. The MDR has gone down hill over the last decade. So, it seems a bit silly to get dressed up, at all, for that kind of food. Even when they serve filet and lobster on gala night, it's more outback quality now than fine dining.

I was interested that you mentioned you thought that the MDR had gone downhill over the last 10 years. Usually people post that the cutbacks have been noticeable for a much shorter time than a decade, but we agree with you. As each Vista ship joined the fleet beginning in 2002 the cutbacks became evident. Definitely the MDR suffered in food quality and labor costs were cut as crew was moved to the new ships and service especially in the MDR suffered quickly. We traveled with friends in those years on HAL cruises and by 2010 they all had moved away from HAL to other cruiselines or land vacations.

Apparently you have a different definition than I do. When I (or any of us) am on a cruise, I have paid good money to have access to public areas of the ship, and it is inappropriate for the cruise line to allow access to those areas for some passengers and not others.

Of course. But few regular pax will say a word unfortunately. The Crows Nest for ah hour or 2 is one thing. The entire pool area on a sea day is another situation is quite another. It's outrageous.

We haven't cruised with HAL since our Alaska cruise several years ago. And we won't book with them until balcony smoking is banned. We had chain smokers next to us, making it difficult to enjoy our balcony. But what bothered me the most was they thought it was apparently fine to pollute the pristine air in Alaska. Just because it was within their right still doesn't make it "right."...........

Do they sell cigarettes to consumers all over the state of Alaska? I have never heard that they don't or that smoking is banned. If Alaska has an air pollution problem I don't think a few cruisers there for a comparatively short time in the summer are the cause.

..........

Fact 3: All conflicts between smokers and non-smokers can be resolved, if the smokers would just smoke in a smoking designated area.

Verandahs ARE designated smoking areas and there still seems to be a lot of conflict. :rolleyes:

Sorry. My post went on the wrong thread and now won't edit even though I caught it in less than a minute. Why it went to this thread i have no idea.