peaches from georgia

I'm sure some kids enjoy HAL ships, but we would never consider it. We have grandchildren, ages 6-23, just normal very well-behaved kids who like things to do and we would never take them on a HAL cruise.

It's my father actually and my brother. My brother has never worn a jacket in his life and I doubt he will again. We will risk it and if you are wearing a nice shirt and pants and can't get in I figure we will just never tour with them again. lol

He probably would have a better chance of getting in the MDR with no jacket if he put a tie on with the nice shirt. A tie takes up no room at all in a suitcase. The Dining Room Manager may have a loaner jacket he could wear, too.

There are demonstrations and there are actual classes where pax prep and cook a meal. Demonstrations are free and many pax go to these. You just watch and listen to the chef.

Classes are sign up with a max of around 12 people. Check when you get onboard at front desk or Neptune concierge if you are in a Neptune suite. There was a charge, but I can't remember the $amount. You prep and cook under the supervision of the chef, eat your culinary creations for lunch, get your recipes to keep, and gifts such as an apron/ chef hat or similar. We did it and loved it! I still make my recipe for French Provencal chicken stew very often, a salad and dessert. Delicious. :) This was a few years ago, so if they have changed the procedure some one else will pop in to update.

EDIT: Alberta Quilter was posting while I was typing so I didn't see she had answered your questions.

That is not hals description of formal so that's really a red herring. It's so easy to dress formal according to hals suggested code.

Yes, it is. What always surprises me are the posts (always written by a woman) that her husband or significant other does not own a suit or even a sports jacket and refuses to buy one he never would wear at home. I can't imagine a man not owning even one jacket to wear with or without a tie- what do they wear to funerals or a church wedding? Don't they ever go out to a nice restaurant on a special occasion? I do think the demographics of those cruising HAL has changed since we took our first HAL cruise years ago.

What the heck is a "dress polo shirt", anyway?

I think he means a 'collared' polo or golf shirt such as Ralph Lauren and others make. Brand doesn't matter, just that there is a collar. A non-dress polo shirt to me is of the t-shirt type, no collar.

I have to wonder if the "six young ladies" were singers and dancers from the cast.

It's unusual to find "six young" ladies who are passengers on a HAL cruise.

Good guess, Ruth. IMO that makes the whole thing even worse! Inconveniencing pax to accommodate crew. :(

The VERY limited staff in Lido could better use their time by being helpful to those who are in wheelchairs, use walkers, or those who have difficulty juggling several plates of food and a drink to a table now that there are no trays. Or cleaning tables and providing silverware. I'm sure these young things were perfectly capable of walking around until they found a table that suited them like everyone else does. Asking others already at that table to change tables is the icing on the cake in this little story. They do not give anyone a reservation in the Lido for what they consider to be "their" table. This staff member needs to be retrained on what is job is.

You can buy almost any tile you want on Ebay if you don't get one, some less that a dollar or 2.

On one HAL cruise a few years ago the woman ahead of me fell between the tender and the dock getting on the tender. Her leg was caught with considerable pain, but I don't know the extent of her injury. No matter how good the crew is in helping pax and how smooth the ocean may seem, there are still swells and the tender is bouncing up and down. It's one reason we book cruises with a minimum of tender ports and I really have to badly want to visit a port to even think about tendering. I hate it :mad:

Is it a Remoulade sauce? If so it is mayo based with Cajun spices, onion, garlic, and paprika, no mustard or ketchup (at least in the Boars Head brand we use). We love Remoulade and use it a lot as a nice change from ketchup. ;)

Last year, in Glacier Bay, we had a Neptune Suite & our neighbors constantly smoked. It was horrendous. I do wanted to tell them to stop ... But, HAL allows it. It's just wrong that we spent so much for a balcony & then had to be subjected to that.!

Then why did you book and pay for an expensive cabin in a designated smoking area? :eek:

'Better', like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. We always get a mid-ship Neptune suite across from the Neptune Lounge, which we enjoy and use a lot.

I don't know about the number, sorry, but how late do you think they will be? Later than 4:30 or 5, the sail away time?

How could the charters that you are not on possibly impact your cruise?

 

DON

That was my first thought, too. Would love to know the answer. :confused:

Despegue, if US Federal employees were so allowed to not work, that might make approving a budget a higher priority for our Houses of Congress! But no more politics, the crisis has been avoided for 3 weeks. Let's talk about going on a trouble free cruise!:D

The "crisis" was avoided for only one week. The 3 week bill did not pass.

It's real estate- location, location, location. :)

And the last time I checked, it is no longer socially acceptable! I should not have to tolerate second hand smoke on my cruise ship balcony.

You don't have to.

Sorry for your disappointment but, of course, staying safe is primary.

Perhaps the concert may be canceled and rescheduled?

Hope you keep your power. It's miserable when it does down.

Thanks. Staying safe is definitely Priority #1! I wish the concert would be rescheduled, but that won't happen. It is a national tour and the star will get there on his tour bus for sure. It is what it is, but here we never know until the last minute if a storm will come as expected, be worse than expected, or not come at all. Atlanta is right on the edge southern edge of these storm paths. Just south of us will get a little rain and just north of us will have snow, while we never know what we will get until and if it arrives. We could leave home early (it's only 20-30 minutes away), but the problem will be getting home.

Atlanta is looking for our usual "wintry mix" tomorrow and tomorrow night which means ice/sleet. We rarely get much snow, always ice. I assure you we will lose power and probably for several days.

Unfortunately we have concert tickets for tomorrow night and have been looking forward to it for months. Last year people were stuck on the interstates overnight and we can't chance that at our age. This is our first storm of the season and it would just happen to be on a night that is so important to me! :(

Usually they are movies that just came out on dvd, so you can check that out online or on your tv as to what movies are just out. They also will have some that are slightly older, but were popular in theaters, possibly some Academy Award nominated movies that are already on dvd.. Any selections you are told were shown on recent cruises could have changed anyway.

The term 'polo shirt' has become generic and doesn't mean you must wear a Ralph Lauren Polo brand logo shirt.. Any golf/tennis/casual shirt with a collar of any brand is the dress code, much like Kleenex doesn't mean it has to be the Kleenex brand tissue. Surely everybody knows that or can figure it out without getting into a dispute with another poster just for the fun of it. T-shirts, no collar, are a no-no. Collared shirts of any brand or sports shirts are fine. Just no t-shirts.

There's more

 

Table for balcony

 

Christmas lights

 

Power Strips

 

Duct Tape

 

Bubba Mug

 

Decorations For Cabin Door

 

 

Prior to change in wine policy

 

Case of wine

 

Cooler on wheels

 

Feel Free to add any I forgot. I've already broken out in hives just thinking about toting all this junk

A blender :eek:

...........

pssst...... Red Sox equipment trucks leave Fenway for Spring Training THIS week. Of course, that depends if they can get down the snow filled streets to head south. :D There is so much snow on the streets they are so narrow.

 

Our grandson is in the minor leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Our trip to FL in March for Spring Training is our best vacation of the year! I haven't seen the schedule yet, but he may very well be playing the Sox while we are there.

Removing the HSC shouldn't show any noticeable decline in service for anyone who has removed the auto-tip. If they had removed it their service should have already been so terrible it couldn't get any worse. If it wasn't that bad they were just cheapskates. :eek:

Is Spotify the same or different from Pandora? :confused: