the penguins

we usually do the TA every year and often twice a year. We like S class which used to be easy from Southampton but now we end up flying to/from Barcelona. We have sat on our balcony for a minimum of 3 to 4 hours a day on every crossing. We love the relaxed atmosphere of the sea days, the extra entertainment, matinee shows in the theatre, the Beyond the Podium presentations, and the interaction with many of the Officers at numerous events/quizes etc. We have Any Time Dining and share a table of 6 every night - we eat as a couple at home every day and have no intention of doing so on a cruise. Of course the highlight of each trip is visiting our grandson in McKinney either before or after each cruise.

HAL used to offer a great range of cruises with it's smaller ships and one of our favourites was the Rio Carnival followed by the Amazon on the Maasdam. The OP who started this thread was primarily interested in the Arctic Circle and with H offering 20 ports above the Circle compared to the 3 or 4 offered by HAL/Celebrity/Princess etc they have a great selection to choose from.

When looking at the Fjords none of the big ships offer what I consider to be Fjord Cruising. The easy way to see this is to look at the route map on any of the itineraries and you will see the ships go right out into the North Sea between ports. In addition the ships are generally docked most of the day so any scenic cruising is limited to early morning or late afternoon and the ships can only access the largest fjords. Look at the Hurtigruten route map and you will see you spend much of the time scenic cruising visiting ports that are inaccessible to the bigger ships. We have done the fjords both ways and for us H offers the true fjord experience. Choice is good.

it has just 3 ports above the Arctic Circle and no opportunity to do an excursion to North Cape.

we have never found any on S class ships. This is one thing for which there is much better provision on Royal.

we have been on Celebrity ships for 2 US Elections (Second Obama and Trump v Clinton) and the UK's Brexit Vote - all cases were a total "non event" on the ship and everything carried on as normal. There were no broadcasts on the public screens with the usual tv channels available in your cabin. This year we will be in Dallas.

look at the Classic 12 nights roundtrip from Bergen. Cruises start almost very other day. In our opinion it is not necessary to pay extra for the Expedition type cruises on this itinerary. The excursions look complicated but once you have chosen a date they make more sense. Some tours will be later and some earlier than on a traditional cruise. On some you will leave the ship at one port and reboard at another. Tours sell out fast.

Your summary neatly highlights the differences between Hurtigruten and Celebrity: Ports above the Arctic circle: Celebrity - 2 Hurtigruten - over 20. Time spent scenic cruising: Celebrity very little - you are docked early morning and sail late afternoon. Scenic cruising imited to very early or when you are getting ready for dinner. Hurtigruten: hours and hours most of it in Fjords that the big ships can't even access. We have done it both ways- Choice is good.

always happy to help a fellow texan 😆

it's a totally different experience all about the destination, local food and culture. Entertainment is kept to a minimum mainly talks on the areas you will experience. Great observation lounges and deck space from which to enjoy the scenery - The Classic Roundtrip is 34 ports in 12 days everywhere the ship stops at night doing north it stops at in the day time going south and v.v. Evenings are for relaxing in the lounge/bars. Cabins are much more basic. Go with an open mind and enjoy.

Never been on E class as the low backed chairs in the IV cabins would be physically impossible for my wife to use. She spends a minimum of 4 hours a day relaxing on the balcony and needs a high backed chair with space for a footstool - we generally only do cruises with lots of sea days. As I said the Hosts in Select Dining have always been very accommodating and have gone "above and beyond" to help us. We book for 6.30, go straight for the Desk immediately it opens after "life boat drill" and have had exactly the same table on every cruise since "normal service" was resumed after the Covid restrictions on sharing were lifted.

My comment on "complicated" was because, from the various posts on the subject, of X operating different systems on different E class ships. For for us it's not so much the time, as we have always arranged what we want, but the table location. My wife has severe mobility/pain issues and on S class the staff have been wonderful in allocating us a sharing table for 6 - we keep the same table and same seats and share with different people every night.

we don't leave a cash tip - well not per drink - just a "one off" at the end of the cruise to one person in the Al Bacio. perhaps adding the Al bacio confused the issue, At the Passport Bar the Bar tender is always very careful to serve people in order, The passengers seated at the bar who I assume might be tipping extra per drink, don't get any priority, if they were I would wait for ages to get my 2 fruit juices which has never happened. I also get Ginger Ale at the Casino Bar as it always has Canada Dry and again the Bar Tender serves people in order so your theory doesn't seem to work there either.

Hurtigruten spends longer above the Arctic Circle than practically any other cruise line - also they go all year round so you can choose from: almost 24 hour daylight, almost no day light just a wonderful half light, Northern Lights guarantee - no lights and you get a free cruise to try again, masses of snow and ice, amazing waterfalls. Cruises sail from Bergen almost every other day. H also does full circumnavigation of Svalbard in search of polar bears. Some of the cruises are expedition types with a full Expedition team. We did the Classic 12 night from Bergen over Christmas/new year - truly magical. Dog sledding on Christmas Day, Northern Lights, Midnight exclusive concert in the Arctic Cathedral in Tromso etc.

X sure likes to make things complicated. Another reason to avoid E Class

I have never witnessed anything at a bar that supports your theory. We collect fruit juice at the Passport Bar on the way to dinner and the bartender is always scrupulous in serving everyone in order. The same applies when we collect our 4 bottles of water from the Counter the Al Bacio.

No bar is dedicated to Elite HH drinks on any class of ship. On longer cruises there are a couple of nights where one bar is set aside for HH - which bar depends on the number of Elites and the ship. On those nights you can still get HH drinks in all the other bars that are normally included. HH Drinks are now also included on the first night.

It is my understanding that all dining in the MDRs on E class is now "Any time" so just turn up at the time that suits you. As with any restaurant if it;s full when you arrive you may have to wait to be seated.

More accurately "one pool" per bar I,e. Every member of say the Martini Bar works as a team. We don't drink alcohol so our go to place is Al Bacio. We try to use the same server each time and at the end of the cruise we give them an extra tip.

The latest split for autograts is shown below. No mystery the list is available from GR on every ship.

You are comparing 2 different systems. HH drinks are available at almost every bar. Staff have no idea what you will order until you ask so it's impossible for them to pick and choose which passengers to serve first. All drinks from a bar include 20% gratuity which is shared amongst all the staff at that specific bar - they work as a team. Tipping extra is your personal choice. The bar staff are not included in auto grats which covers "hotel staff" - waiters (all staff in every restaurant/buffet except speciality restaurants ), cabin stewards, cleaners, and laundry.

bar staff and Sommeliers are not included in the daily auto grats

If its refundable it will be credited back to the credit card X has on file for you at the end of the cruise. No action needed it will done automatically. If it's non refundable use it or lose it. If you really can't think of a way to use it get a form from Guest Relations and gift the money as extra tips.

every disembarkation is unique - it's impossible to say if you will or won't be delayed. How early you book depends on the stress level you are prepared to accept. As we can't "self disembark" we prefer to book a later flight and accept that this might mean we end up waiting at the airport longer.

No need for memories. Our local Fish n Chip restaurant is just as good as the ones we had when we were kids - 70+ years ago - and we should know as we come from Whitstable, a seaside town famous for it's sea food, where the boss's (Anita) father was a traditional fishmonger.