scopewest

Yes, we did bring cash for tips and stuff them into envelopes years ago. I still recall the waiter on one cruise chasing us down because he thought we were leaving the dining room without tipping him. Ah, the good ol' days. No, we were actually trying to find him since he wasn't around when we were ready to leave. And I also recall empty seats at the last dinner and feeling sorry for the crew.

As for carrying that extra cash for tips, I didn't like doing it back then and am relieved I don't have to do it now.

But why do people think service is going to be bad before they even step onboard? What a way to start a vacation!

Thanks for your review, I'd like to try Disney sometime.

What fascinates me is all the people who remove the DSC because they want to tip cash. I would never travel with that amount of cash to be used just for tipping nor do I want to take the time to find an ATM or bank or stand at the front desk to get that cash to hand out.

I've been cruising for the past 20 years, and not once have I come home and whined about what a waste of tip money. I have whined about why did I waste my money on that souvenir!

I am also interested in this info, so thanks for posting!

We had the PS on the Veendam a few years ago. We ended up not liking the Veendam in terms of size (we prefer Vista ships), but the PS itself was fine.

We went to the dining room for anytime dining and asked for a table for two. I got a look that clearly said "you and everybody else, good luck with that." He asked for our cabin and when I said PS, he jumped to attention, actually snapped his fingers at a waiter, and had the waiter take us upstairs to the fixed dining and gave us a table for two. We were then told that was our table if we wanted it for the rest of the cruise.

Naturally we used the table and showed up at the fixed dining time, which was the time we wanted anyway. PS does have its perks!

Great photos, yum!

We were in cat. I on the Westerdam, and the cabin was quite large. I chose it specifically for the size and location. We had twin beds split and there was room to walk around them on all sides.

Yes, thank you for the suite info!

Nice review, how did you like your cabin and its location?

Thank you for posting the videos of your suite!

I have enjoyed your reports, and thanks for reporting on your Disney cruise through the canal. From your reports we will be looking at taking a cruise on one of their ships in the future. Amazing how people can read the same review and decide yes, it's for me or no, I won't go. Looking forward to your next trip reviews.

Have a wonderful time and thanks for taking the time to post!

Have a wonderful time and thanks for the live posting!

I'm interested in the difference between Haven and Yacht Club, if you'd care to post after your cruise.

I have to ask, the sides of the sinks in the bathroom look rather high. Did you find them easy/difficult to use in terms of leaning over to wash your face, for instance?

I tried a suite aft deck six, that's the first cruise I didn't gain weight because of all the walking back and forth to get anywhere!!

We did the HAL Pan Pacific prepackage. We were met at the airport after we picked up our luggage by a HAL rep who walked us outside to the taxi line, put us in a taxi, gave the driver our voucher/hotel info, and wished us a great cruise. We got to the hotel, checked in, found the HAL desk and checked in with the rep. She told us we could either go down to the ship with her on embarkation morning or go by ourselves. We headed down an hour earlier than she said she was going down. Yeow, a line already! Glad we did that.

We also left our luggage in our room, and the next time we saw it was in our cabin. We went and grabbed a snack embarkation morning from the Starbucks right outside the hotel, very handy!

If this is what you have to do, so be it. Just have some backup scenarios ready in case there's a problem.

Same day flew Phoenix-Dallas-Miami-San Juan and boarded the ship, went to cabin and dropped off carryon, and got to dining room 15 minutes after they started serving. When talking to TA, my ONLY question back then was will we miss dinner service due to arrival time in SJ. Of course, this was 1997, no major security screenings like today, our flights took off on time, etc. I think about this and shudder when I think of what could have happened if one connection failed. (And back then there wasn't 24 food service so that's why I wanted to make dinner!)

2011, Same day flight Phoenix to San Diego. A one hour flight. Our flight was leaving around 9 a.m. We figured we'd have time to spare in SD. Got to the airport, the airport fogged in, ground stop, nothing coming in/going out. Luckily it burned off and they put us on a flight around 11 a.m. so we made the ship. Never will do this again, the anxiety was not worth it.

Felt really sorry for people on the 9 a.m. flight to Baltimore, when we finally took off I think they were still waiting at the gate. I hope none of them were flying in to catch a ship that same day!

Great videos, and I loved hearing the background noises of the captain speaking, etc. during the Cagney's video.

Have a great time and looking forward to your review.

Looking forward to your review!

We love love love the unlimited service. DH decided to let them clean his sports coat (admittedly an inexpensive one) so I shoved it in the bag and it came out great. It's so nice to put out your dirty laundry and have it reappear clean and folded and/or on hangers!

Enjoying your review, thanks for posting.

Have a great cruise, can't wait to read your comments.

Before our last cruise, DH told me he didn't like the food on that cruise line (not RCL). I said he was stuck because he wanted this particular itinerary and that was the line we were going on. On the last day of the cruise he told me he thought the food was great and he loved the meals! Bang head here (sigh).