FredZiffle

Has anybody ever brough a large beach umbrella with them to Half Moon Cay. One of our friends is planning on bring a Shibumi beach shade, but I've never seen (or at least noticed) anything like that on the beach there. I'd hate for him to lug it along, only to be denied using it.

And, if you fall off a cliff, you've got more important things to worry about than missing the ship.

We've been cruising for 36 years, and the only time we take a ship excursion is if we have OBC to burn. We've taken trains all across Italy; hopped on a train in Germany and just rode west for several hours, getting off when we saw something interesting; rented a car in Argentina and drove 3 hours each way to see penguins; rented a car in Iceland and drove the Golden Circle; and many times booked excursions/tours directly with locals. Often, I'll research public transportation options at a port, and we'll spend the day on buses, trams, or trains getting to all the sites.

I have to wonder if anyone would notice or care if an ordinary Joe with no status dropped their carryon in their cabin.

I thought Creek Street was overhyped for what's there. Took us maybe 15 minutes to walk around. Of more interest to us was walking up the trail (Married Man's Trail?) and watching the salmon spawning.

Well, they won't be unloading our bags because we carry them with us.

Two different animals. The excursion credit is only good for excursions, and you use it or lose it. In your example, the $50 excursion credit would be applied first, and the remainder would be covered by your non-refundable OBC from the stockholder's benefit.

We haven't tried Regent yet, but have cruises booked at the end of the year on the Explorer and the Splendor. I still want to give HAL a try, but maybe a bit shorter test drive than the 28 days we were considering.

If you're flying into Haneda rather than Narita, I'd suggest the Hyatt Regency Yokohama or the Intercontinental Yokohama Grand. Both are convenient to the train to Tokyo (maybe 30-45 minutes) from Yokohama; they're also close to the airport and just a few minutes away from the port.

That's my point. We've always been able to walk off when we were ready and not be tied to a set time slot. It might be 8:00; it might be 8:30. Can we still do this under the new system?

But, what if you simply want to carry off your own luggage and are not necessarily interested in getting off early? Do you now have to get off at the earliest point, or can you just walk off when you want to?

B2B 14 day cruises. The 2nd part is a TA.

Actually, we've been looking at the higher end cruise lines for just the reasons you mention. We have cruises booked on Regent and Oceania in 2025, but we like the itinerary on this HAL sailing coming up in November. It's good to know that you have sailed on Viking and still enjoy HAL.

We're long-time NCL cruisers (with an occasional Princess or Celebrity thrown in), but we're considering a 28 day B2B on the Nieuw Statendam. My wife is especially concerned about trying a new line for the first time on such a long voyage. We're in our late 60's and have just gotten tired of NCL with the lack of entertainment (seems like it's 90% game shows now), the bad food, and the lack of daytime activities that interest us. Is HAL any different? My wife is looking for more, for lack of a better word, educational presentations on ports and culture during the day instead of all trivia and sales presentations like on NCL. Decent food is also a priority. It obviously doesn't have to be Michelin quality, but we'd like it to be edible (unlike NCL). How does Holland America compare?

We've been cruising with NCL for many years. Their itineraries are still some of the best, but, frankly, virtually every other aspect of the experience has gone way down. Entertainment now consists mostly of game shows. The few production numbers are mediocre at best. There is limited music around the ship except in the small venues where you have to line up early to get a seat. We used to enjoy having a drink in the atrium before dinner and listening to live music. Now it is a game show or a trivia contest or one of the endless presentations about NCL ships and itineraries which are pure marketing posing as entertainment. I know food is subjective, but I still find it amazing that anyone could find the offerings to even be at the quality of a Chili's or Appleby's. It's not a supply chain issue as many claim. That excuse ended a couple of years ago, and besides, NCL apparently has no issue sourcing quality ingredients for the Haven restaurants. We found the food there to be quite good on the Bliss in December. Even the specialty restaurants have become hit-or-miss. Mt wife had the toughest, most tasteless, filet in Cagneys a few months ago. I'm convinced it wasn't a tenderloin at all. I had a fried seafood platter in Ocean Blue last month that contained a breaded and fried salmon filet as the fried fish component. Nobody uses anything but a white fish to fry. It was horrible. I've also started ordering double appetizers and entrees in the MDR to combat the small portions and hoping to find at least something halfway decent. We still have a couple of CruiseNext certificates to use up, but we've decided to move on after that.

After reading all these posts about Buc-ee's, we decided to stop on our way from Atlanta to NO. Impressive place, and I agree that the bathrooms are second to none. But, gas at their 50 or so pumps was higher than neighboring stations, so I wondered why they were doing so much business. No breaks on food prices either, although the options did look interesting. I just wasn't willing to spend $8 on a BBQ sandwich that had been sitting under a warmer for God knows how long. Given that there had to be at least a hundred of those sandwiches out at 10 in the morning, I guess someone is buying them.

Yes, I foolishly ordered the strip in desperation on this sailing even though I had gotten it once on a past sailing. I will say that this one did have a few (very few) grill marks, unlike the previous one which looked like it had come straight out of the sous vide bath. Didn't taste any better though. I also noticed that there was never any beef at the carving station in the buffet. Plenty of pork and some poultry.

Did I miss something here? We cruised on the Bliss in December, and while the food was still pretty poor in the MDRs, they at least had a beef dish on the regular menu every night. We just got off the Breakaway today, and there were no beef dishes on the MDR menu any of the five days I checked. The only options were to pay the extra charge for a Cagney's steak or eat that sad, disgusting, tough, gray morass on the everyday menu that they call a strip steak. Is this something new, and I've just missed any discussion of it, or did we catch an aberration?

I'd disagree with the OP as far as the Waterfront being a good place if you want solitude. Unless you want to sit in one of the specialty restaurant's outdoor seating areas (which few people use because the seating isn't very comfortable), you'll find no place where you can be alone since seating is in groups of 4 or 5 chairs. Yes, you might find a spare seat, but you're intruding on another group which them may feel obligated to include you in their conversation.

They don't even mention the main reason we often opt for a club balcony - the larger shower. We usually book much closer to sailing than 125 days, so dining is usually already filled for any reasonable time. We have seen every show that you make reservations for, and most were so forgettable that I'd never want to see them again (can anybody say "Burn The Floor"?) I have no use for the complimentary laundry since we already get two bags free as Latitudes perks. Since most people have FAS, that bottle of wine is worthless (and undrinkable anyway). The treats are sometimes okay, but often don't get eaten. So, that leaves the exclusive purple card, which I know I'll cherish for years to come.

Can anyone who has sailed on the Sunshine recently confirm that these laundry rooms are still present? They are not showing up on any deck plans.

Does Carnival enforce arrival times for embarkation? I'm used to NCL where they don't even look at your boarding pass when you arrive.

The point is that whatever check-in time you have does not matter. You can arrive and check in whenever you want, regardless of what your check-in time actually is. The earlier you check in, the lower your group number, and the earlier you will board. Your call whether it's worth it to get to the port at 9:30 or so and then sit around for 2 hours just so you can get on the ship at 11:30 instead of 12:00.

Rain chances on Friday keep increasing. Up to 50% chance now with a high near 70. We may just stake out a window seat in the buffet rather than the Waterfront.

I knew that somewhere out there was someone who actually enjoyed activities on a NCL ship. Wish I could say the same, but our last few cruises, we have found absolutely nothing on the schedule that interests us. Glad you had a good time.