Banditswife

Dutch cafe has the best coffee on the ship IMO. I have tried the specialty coffee on lido & in Explorations- neither compare to the service & taste I get from the Gr Dutch Cafe. Their yogurt parfait is really good too. I wish they would roll out a Gr Dutch in the lido area on the other ships, it is so popular, it'd be a good money maker & crowd pleaser.

*the rolled hand cloths in public restrooms- beats the blow dryers on other lines *the crew *being served in the buffet area, wait staff will bring you coffee, tea, lemonade. And most food stations have a server rather than self serve. *cleanliness of the ships *Grand Dutch Cafe on Pinnacle ships *usually plenty of places to sit & watch the ocean go by *the maturity level of fellow passengers The list goes on. No cruise is perfect, have an open mind, go with the flow & have a great time.

We did a B2B with a cabin move last year, it was very easy. I just packed everything from the drawers & shelves & mini safe. The cabin steward did the hanging stuff. And he had our cabin ready well before the new guests started arriving.

Good to know, we have the passport book, so we are good to go. We have the Amazon Explorer booked for 2025, which visits Brazil, but requirements might change by then, so waiting until a few months before we go to find out for sure. Thank you for your quick reply.

My pet peeve is the Navigator App. We sail Carnival frequently & it's HUB app is a bit easier to use with a few more functions. My main gripe is dinner reservations- on HUB app you can request a table through the app & the app alerts you when your table is ready, giving you the freedom of wandering the ship or whatever instead of waiting in line. This of course is for "anytime" dining. Hal & CCL are owned by the same parent company, can't they take the good things from all brands & spread them to the others? While lido is usually crowded for breakfast, we rarely have had trouble finding a table.

Slightly off topic, but related: we have a holiday cruise that visits Trinidad & Tobago- 2 ports. I think I saw something about visa requirements when we booked, but no longer see that. Are there visa requirements for Trinidad & Tobago (Scarborough & Port of Spain?) We are US citizens & have valid US Passports.

Not everyone will wear something orange, it isn't like they turn you away without orange. I just bought a silk flower that I clipped to my hair. Hubby wouldn't wear anything orange, no one said a word.

What Carnival ship have you booked? Some of the newer ships have a self service laundry on every other deck. To be honest, I cannot remember if I ever sent anything "good" out. Tshirts, shorts, jeans & undies are fine, but I don't send dresses or dress blouses. Just remember, it may come back wadded up in a bag, clean, but not hung on hangers. In the self service launderette, there will be 2-3 washers/dryers & 1 ironing board/iron. Check to see whether your particular ship has a self serve laundry.

We are Platinum on Carnival- which gives us a limited number of free bags depending on length of cruise. I will say Carnival does not do laundry nearly as well as HAL- be forewarned.

Both are beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

Not sure if you are talking about one of the seriously discounted cruises, but those are usually due at time of booking. When we book a "free" cruise, we have always had to pay at time of booking. But we put it on our credit card, then, depending on billing cycle, we have about 30-60 days to pay off credit card.

Be aware that some of the itineraries listed in the offer will NOT be available. When I get a "free" offer, I pick 2-3 that I'd be interested in, then contact my TA. My TA then contacts her person at HAL, several of my chosen itineraries have been "sold out" or unavailable.

I agree with those who say the cruise director is easy to spot, always making announcements, introducing shows, hosting the morning talks... Sometimes I wish they were less visible. We had A CD on one cruise that was quite solemn. Maybe she was having a bad week, never seemed excited or happy about anything.

For evenings aboard the ship I usually pack a few sun dresses, comfortable & dressy enough for the regular included dining room. I also pack a nice sweater, as the dining rooms, theatres & walking along the outside decks can be a bit cool. For my hubby, I pack a couple of khaki or dress slacks with collared shirts for casual evenings, & throw in a sports coat for the dressy evenings. If on any particular day we don't feel like dressing up, we eat in Lido buffet where shorts & t shirts are perfectly acceptable. Enjoy your 1st cruise. Amazing that you chose a 28 day cruise for your 1st cruise, have a great time.

I think it has gone up to $30 per bag, might be $35. But still worth it. For us, sending out a bag or 2 per 7 day cruise is enough

My favorite cruise is the one I am on or planning to be on next. I am at home now, wishing I had a cruise booked sooner than Oct, but I also enjoy the planning of each cruise. I haven't found a ship I totally disliked nor a true favorite. Our next Holland cruise is the Koningsdam for a 10 day MX. I have not sailed this ship yet, but have sailed the N Statendam, which we enjoyed. In my opinion, if someone else is doing the cooking & cleaning, it is all good. The bonus is that we get to visit a few foreign cities & meet new friends,

We've never uploaded a picture to Navigator app, but have sailed several times since the restart. So I am pretty sure the facial recognition works as SusieKislandGirl said. It uses a photo already in the system, if your looks have changed a lot, then they take a new photo, using the system.

skrufy: we must be similar in our cruise history. We, too are Platinum on Carnival, but have discovered we like Holland a bit better now that we are older. Since the restart, we have sailed HAL quite a bit, with a couple of Carnival cruises thrown in there. It seems HAL cabin stewards have the cabins ready earlier than CCL for cruisers with less status according to mariner stars. We have been able to grab our key cards & drop off carry ons as soon as we are boarded. The muster drill is very similar to CCL's, room keys are in basically the same place as CCL's. I think you will find everything just as easy as CCL. Positives we like about HAL over CCL: Lido buffet- in most areas of the buffet, the crew serve you, rather than having multiple hands helping themselves-more sanitary. And while CCL's evening buffet leaves a bit to be desired, HAL's evening buffet has more choices & better service than CCL. Public restrooms- there are actual dry wash cloths to dry your hands after washing & a receptacle to toss them into. This IMO is better than the blow dryers you find on CCL. There are a few things that we feel CCL does better than HAL, but for the most part HAL meets or goes above our expectations. I hope you enjoy your HAL cruise as much as we do.

I always worry about those guarantees, but so far they have been ok. Haven't ever had a really bad cabin.

To the original poster: we are frequent Carnival cruisers, & muster drills are similar to Hal's. We go to our assigned muster station where the crew member will scan our card (proof that we attended) & then give a brief demo of putting on the life jacket- 5 minutes. Then go back to our cabin & watch the safety talk on our TV in our cabin. Easy peasy.

On the N Statendam, I found a menu for virgin drinks. This was near the sea view pool area. I loved the lightly spiked mojitos, but I imagine they could make those as virgin as well. N Statendam has the Grand Dutch cafe on deck 3, midship where I am sure you could get a nice hot chocolate or wonderful specialty coffee. These can be served hot or iced. I might be wrong, but I always thought a "Shirley Temple" was just Sprite or 7 up with a bit of cherry juice or grenadine added. I am sure they could make something like that.

We use the type posted by Oakridger. They are very inexpensive & reusable. But if you order them, make note of the size you need & order accordingly. The ones I ordered originally were the wrong size & had to send them back.

Wondering if they track your points from cruise to cruise. Like if we spent a bunch on 1 cruise does that carry over to the next cruise? Or is it tracked for just the cruise you are on? I know on our last cruise, I got an offer much better than my husband did. I just happened to win a bit on the 1st day & used that to gamble on. So hubby spent more of his own $ than I did.

While "city on the seas" is not the same as a live tour, I agree it does make a look behind the scenes available to more people.

We did the behind the scenes tour on a Carnival ship post 9/11, pre covid- & were allowed on the bridge. Very interesting & the view from the bridge was awesome. On a recent Holland cruise, we watched the "city on the sea" & we found it interesting. This made it possible for mobility challenged folks to see what goes on behind the scenes. Previously anyone who couldn't do the steps or had other issues were denied the opportunity. Kudos to HAL for making the movie version.