Boston proper

Many thanks for your response. I'm considering booking by the day (or as @POA1 would call it, the "summer people" of the cabana life) due to the port-intensive itinerary and variable weather but also looking for a quiet place to have breakfast and work for a few hours each day. As an aside, welcome back from your World Cruise! Your blogs are a wealth of information and one of the reasons that we are trying our first HAL cruise.

Thank you for your detailed responses and your in-depth reporting! I've gained a ton of information from your extensive research.

Thank you!

I'd prefer to not have them run around! I'd rather bring a drink and plate up than have anyone wasting time because there's some silly rule that the attendant has to get it.

Hi All, Thanks to the outstanding reporting from @POA1 and @Huskerchick we are considering booking the Retreat for B2B cruises on the Zuiderdam. Several questions: What hours is the Retreat open? Is the Retreat open on embarkation day? Are there outlets in the cabanas? Can we bring food/drinks from other venues up to the Retreat or can we order from other venues/bars? Specific to Zuiderdam, outside of the personal cabana areas, are there tables that have shade and/or would be protected from rain? Our B2B is BOS-QC-BOS so likely to have some rain/fog. Any comments and thoughts regarding the Retreat, particularly in North Atlantic sailings would be appreciated! I know it will be windy. 🙂 Many Thanks!

Thank you!

Thanks to The Institute for again providing such in-depth responsible corporate reporting. Cheers! The wine pours look a little light or have you already sampled? We will likely also upgrade to the Elite package on our upcoming corporate retreat but it may become a requirement to ensure we have unlimited water if we need to order "double Cabernets". Enjoy and thanks again for letting us into your bubble.

Merci! We will definitely check out Chez Ashton. We'll walk there...that makes the poutine calorie-free!

Well, on to revision 7 of the booking. Only one cruise is showing up in DH's account. I reviewed the confirmation and the PCC booked it to a different Mariner ID #. Someone's got a deposit on a nice cruise. I'll have better luck with customer service than a dedicated PCC. I'm confident the cruise will be great...if we can get past the booking process!

Thanks everyone for the replies and suggestions. We'll be on the Zuiderdam which seems to be just right for us - not too big, not too small. I'm sure we will find ways to use our OBC! Looking forward to lots of PEI mussels, trying poutine, and bucket list visit to Hotel Frontenac. 😀

@shippmates @*Miss G* Thank you both! We have the same cabin for both legs which is great. Looking forward to our first HAL experience!

Hi All! Thanks to all who post so much great information. I've stalked the boards for a long time and feel like I know what to expect on my first HAL cruise. I have several random questions that I'm hoping you can answer. DH and I have booked B2B cruises. I was unable to get information on both cruises without the website crashing so I utilized a PCC to book the trips. This was very challenging. It took six revisions to get the bookings accurate. Some came through with no OBC, some had us booked under an unknown (to us) group reservation, no HIA perks, and some left off my DH. It wasn't smooth. Now that the booking is accurate, will I need a PCC for anything else? I'm very tech savvy but the website (as you have all pointed out) is not the most user-friendly site. We have OBC for each cruise. Do the B2B cruises link in any way or will we have to utilize the OBC and shore excursion credits within each cruise? Will we receive any acknowledgement that we are on B2B's? Will we receive in-transit cards or do we request them? Do the room attendants know that we're not leaving at the end of the first cruise? I'd hate to have them lock us out... Another random question...I know that there is no self-serve laundry (thanks for that answer in a different post!). I have severe fragrance allergies but will have to utilize the laundry service (which from all accounts is great). For those who use the service, do your clothes come back with heavy detergent fragrance? Looking forward to a relaxing two weeks in NE/Canada. Thank you for reading and any expert advice!