Bailey & Sophie

Legend was our first Royal ship. We had been on 5 Celebrity cruises where we were met with waiters offering champagne. It was so elegant.

When we first boarded Legend they were....vacuuming.

9 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I use a paperback and put my glasses on the table. Never had a issue so far, knock on wood. 

We do this too. I think most people respect a book or something personal left on a table as a "hold." We've never had a problem. 

6 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

You can only book Pinnacle Grill lunch once onboard. It is available on sea days.

That's good to know. I may try to switch it out when we board. 

I did it! Thanks for the help. It was actually pretty easy.

It didn't look as if lunch was an option which we would have preferred. But got our preferred seating times so we're happy.

Thanks again.

56 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Adding on to @oakridger great screenshots, if you need to make adjustments to dining such as changing a date on the reservation, after you cancel, you'll see the credit immediately restored so you can use it again to rebook the new dinner.

Nice to know.

I'm planning on booking our choices tomorrow. 

4 minutes ago, oakridger said:

Your confirmation email will show which restaurants you have included in your HIA amenities.  You can only book each one once under the HIA plan.  Price isn't the factor to redeem HIA.  Go into the HAL website and then to "Manage my Cruise" then click "Itinerary" in the upper left corner.  It will show how many credits for dining and shore ex you have.  Click on "Complementary Dining" and if the dining is available already for your cruise (usually about 4 or 5 months out)  there you can book your date and times.  It will put the booking in your cart as $0.00 cost.  Be sure to complete in your cart!  You will get an email confirmation right away.

 

Thank you. This is very helpful.

We each have 3 HIA dining credits but I'm not sure how this works. We'll be on the Koningsdam next month. Several resraurant choices, but there is quite a price difference between them. Is the HIA credit amount based on a certain $$ amount per credit? Or can one just choose the most expensive restaurant 3 times?

Thanks!

7 hours ago, HicksRA said:

I feel your pain re: the wash and fold. Three weeks ago on a 16 day cruise, I crammed all my white briefs and socks in the plastic bag along with my wife’s panties. One pair of hers just happened to be dark blue cotton. 
 

After boiling the entire batch for probably an hour (as they do), everything came back baby blue. 
 

I once ended up with 14 pink work shirts (that were supposed to be white) because I threw in a red t-shirt.

7 hours ago, Jetdriver787 said:

They had reached that point of blackness where in Britain we have a minor marital argument about throwing them out, only for one partner to claim they will use them to make something called “Banana bread?” 

We recently were on Raduance. There was Banana bread in the Windjammer breakfast buffet each morning. It was very good. It was quite dark so there must have been molasses in it.

Yum.

On 9/23/2023 at 8:49 PM, laurieal said:

 

 

A banana?! Bananas are the worst fruit. Bananas need to go to their room without dessert. Really, as a brand new Diamond Plus member I was expecting better treatment than this. 

And just a few days later on Radiance we received THIS. Pieces. 

Don't worry about unpacking. You won't have the  distaste of packing up when the cruise is over.

17 hours ago, laurieal said:

Cruise Day 1 - continued

 

After that, it was sailaway time. It’s always pretty fun when we have to go under a bridge. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

We had some down time before we had to meet for dinner, so I went back to my stateroom hoping I would be able to unpack. My suitcase hadn’t arrived, but this insult had:

 

 

A banana?! Bananas are the worst fruit. Bananas need to go to their room without dessert. Really, as a brand new Diamond Plus member I was expecting better treatment than this. 

I feel the same way. I can get my own fruit from the buffet, where this stuff comes from.

17 hours ago, laurieal said:

 

 

Another one to add to my list next week.

Is it improper to just stick your whole face in it? Asking for a friend.

Love your review.

YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION!

3 hours ago, Crew News said:

It appears that at embarkation, it is a question of protecting water sales but once at sea, it is a matter of security with bottled water not posing a threat to passengers.

I agree that it's a matter of protecting the sales of water (soda, wine, etc) at embarking.

A few years ago we boarded Oosterdam in Seattle for a 14 night Akaska cruise. One woman had 2 hotel carts - 1 filled with water, 1 filled with Coke products. (When I say filled, I mean FILLED!)

I'm not surprised they changed their policy.

2 hours ago, Crew News said:

On Embarkation Day, only filled non-disposable water bottles are not permitted.  Empty disposable water bottles are permitted.  In other words, any empty plastic bottle that you are going to use on excursions may be brought onboard on Embarkation Day.  Best to put them in your checked luggage to avoid any hassle with the terminal Security screeners.

 

When returning from a shore excursion, ship Security could care less about water bottles you are bringing back onboard.  So, bringing your filled disposable, or non-disposable, water bottles onboard is fine.

Thank you. Your explanation was perfect.

I didn't think they could get rid of all plastic...shampoo, hand lotion, etc all come in plastic.

I was over-thinking.

Seems odd that you can't bring on filled bottles for embarking but they are allowed  in ports.

Thanks. I had trouble interpreting the guidelines in FAQ. I didn't think it applied to the reusable ones. 

We haven't been on HAL for many years and there have been changes, therefore I have questions.

Regarding NO plastic water bottles: does this include hard plastic reusable bottles, the kind you buy at Joe's Sporting Goods.

Thanks for helping!

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

DH is dearly missing the grandsons...

 

So he's "unraveling" old videos of them. This one is 2 years old, or how eat grandma's chocolate cake cut on small pieces 😁.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very impressive. He didn't drop a crumb.

The cake looks delish!

2 hours ago, jagsfan said:

We’re having a sad week and weekend. 
our daughter’s cat, Cooper, had developed diabetes, and Lisa spent 4 weeks giving him a special diet twice a day and keeping him away from Jasmine’s (their black cat) food. She gave him insulin injections every day, but his sugar never went down, and he was losing weight. 
last Sunday Lisa took Cooper to the emergency vet because he was obviously in distress. They gave him an iv, and ran blood tests. 
Cooper was diagnosed with acromegaly, which causes insulin resistance and other problems. 
She picked him up Thursday to let him have one more day and night at home. 
He spent the entire time in her lap. 
Friday morning she took him back and sat with him till it was over. 
Lisa is devastated and we’re all horribly sad. 
Cooper was one of a kind, mellow but frisky at the same time. Cats are intelligent, but most of them, if they understand what you’re saying, they don’t let on. Cooper was more like a dog, responding to words like go for a ride (which always meant to the vet or kennel), came running when you called him, just a super cat. 
We’ll all miss him so much!

My granddaughter Hannah posted the first two photos on Facebook. I had never seen either of them. 
The third one Lisa took on Cooper’s last day at home. 
 

Oh my heart is breaking.

5 minutes ago, Coralc said:

Google/Amtrak says you don't need it: https://www.amtrak.com/crossing-the-us-canadian-border

Thanks. 

20 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

It's only 160 miles, from Seattle airport to the Cruise terminal@ Canada Place.

 

Why not just get a rental car and drive it. It's a beautiful  easy drive. Just one highway Interstate 5 straight North.

Don't wanna.

I need some help....

We're taking Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver for our West Coast cruise. 

Do we need the ArriveCan form?

On the roll call, some say yes, some say no, some say they've filled it out but it wasn't looked at.

Do we need it if arriving by train? So confused...

11 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

I am so excited. Ended up offsetting the increased cost of the charter boat today with a sale with our Southwest Airlines tickets. The reduced fare saved us $500. Woot woot!

 

The knee is rebelling today after the injection. So sore and painful I can barely walk. Research shows this is common for the first 48 hours. Took a hydrocodone last night and it did nothing for the pain.

Saving money sure takes the sting out of the trouble you went through on that cancelled excursion.

Hope the knee feels better tomorrow. 

13 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Yesterday was our Unbirthday celebration for our grandson from California.  He will turn 11, a week from Friday, but he will be back in California by then.  

 

Our party size grew at the last minute, when my sister said her kids were going to be in town with their kids, so we added five more to our list and went to buy more steak and chicken.  That was one of my tasks, to grill all the meat.  

 

This was a first to grill for that many people.  Filled the grill twice to get it all cooked, but everything turned out perfect. 

 

 

 

I think I mentioned that this year’s theme would be Harry Potter.    I understand they do have Harry Potter bounce houses, but none are available for rent in our area, so we had a regular one. 

 

 

The kids all had a blast on it. 

 

 

We had a talking, sorting hat.  Our granddaughter had fun with it, finding everyone’s house. 

 

 

 

 

What would the party be without butter beer

 

 

And fishy green ale

 

 

We had our favorite bakery make some Potter cookies for the party

 

 

 

And our cake lady made a nice Potter theme cake. 

 

 

And finally, we had an Owlery, and all the kids at the party got to adopt an owl to take home.  

 

 

I will say, even I still enjoy bouncing and sliding, and hope I never get too old for it. 

 

 

Susan did a fantastic job with all the other food prep for the party.  I think I will keep her around.  Sorry Tracy. 🤣

 

 

 

 

What a wonderful party. You provide the best summer fun for your grandkids. It's a nice mix between maximum fun and learning experiences. Nice job!