Banditswife

IMO: to me this means that all of us who are planning to cruise again should be prepared for a mask requirement &/or the guidelines to change w/o notice. As for myself, we will pack our favorite type of masks. We've sailed a total of 52 days since the restart on 2 different cruise lines. Both lines supplied their version of masks at the beginning of each voyage. Whether masks were required on any of those cruises varied. I have & will continue to pack accordingly. We like the lighter weight hospital grade masks, so I pack enough for both of us to have a clean mask each day. In my experience, HAL provides heavier cloth masks, which translates to hot & sweaty in the Caribbean, but would be a plus in colder climates like Alaska.

We sail Carnival more than HAL. We get offers from Carnival, but not nearly as good as the offers from HAL It seems like all lines are operating in the red right now, just trying to gain interest again. It will take all cruise lines years to recoup what they lost in 2020. I just hope they can get back to operating in the black again. Our stock value has dropped dramatically.

I believe HAL & other lines are allowing us to make our own decisions about vax & testing when they can. Vaxed & unvaxed can walk into local Walmart w/o being tested & mask free. It is up to us to protect ourselves in whatever way we see fit. In US we can enter most businesses w/o masks & w/o showing vax record. Only place I've been required to wear a mask lately is a Dr office.

Hope to see you on board. From all I have read on here, I think I will love the ship. We check daily too, sometimes more than once. We're ready. Our only other HAL cruises have been on N Amsterdam.

It seems that the N Statendam has a lot of B2Bers for the month of Nov & into Dec. Several on our roll call are doing 3-4 legs. It was a huge promotion- too good to pass up, IMO. So we will impatiently wait. When booking, we did request to be in same cabin. We booked & paid for both cruises at the same time.

Those tags! We always laugh when years later we find one of those tags in our clothing.

so we have awhile to wait. C category is what I am hoping for. Hubby is hoping for the extra bathroom in an FA or FB. We will not mind being on deck 1, as long as we don't have a lot of noise from galley or other mechanical noises.

Thank you all, guess we will keep waiting patiently & hoping for the best. I don't think we are willing to pay $25 per day for club orange. Crystalspin: I think I know the web pg you got that deck plan from, which ship is that. Checkd that pg for those little red arrows which indicate videos available. I will check it again for deck 4, didn't realize those were considered OV.

Another great suggestion. I am guessing with the signed note- crew member's name, I could also take a tip to guest services & have them deliver it to the laundry staff.

I had forgotten about that $60 hold per person. in our case we were on a 19 day cruise for 2 people= $2280 credit hold. We rarely charge that much, so our credit card company may have questioned it. It was easy enough to sign an authorization.

That is a really cool story. I've seen a few service animals on cruises, they always seem welcomed by crew & guests alike.

We booked an OV guarantee (F) for Nov 26 & Dec 3 on the N Statendam-- B2B. We were told they start doing this about 30 days ahead. So how soon will we know what cabin we are assigned & how likely are we to be assigned the same cabin for both legs? I understand timing will vary, just asking what is a typical time frame. In looking at pics & videos on other web sites, it looks like most of the F category cabins have 2 bathrooms & are on deck 1 or Main & are the most forward or aft cabins. How likely are we to get a category C which are mid ship on deck 1? There are very few OVs on any other decks from what I can see on deck plans. Are there any other cabins that are considered OV that I might not be unaware of? Once on a Carnival cruise we booked an OV guarantee & ended up with a life boat right outside our window- I called it an "ocean peek" because you truly could not see anything, that life boat was more like a permanent curtain. Are there any cabins like that on N Statendam?

Thank you, I had never thought of putting it in the bag with the laundry list. Great idea. We've never taken off or even reduced the amount for "crew appreciation." If a waiter or cabin steward goes above & beyond, we tip extra at the end as you suggested.

I answered on the other thread. It may have been in order to protect you, the card holder.

This happened to us pre pandemic: they called us to guest service because we had reached some sort of limit. Guest services explained that all we needed to do was sign a form. Whether the limit was imposed by our credit card company or the cruise line, I am not sure. Credit card companies may deny a bigger charge in order to protect you the card holder. There is so much fraud out there, it is in the best interest of you & the cruise line to play it safe. Usually, a signature from you is all that is required.

we did the unlimited laundry on our 1st HAL cruise. It was great, but found I could get by with doing it by the bag. I think on our 21 day we sent it out 3-4 times. 3 bags X $20= $60 vs $7 X 21 days = $147. Not sure we stuffed as much in the bag as above. We did roll ea piece allowing more to be stuffed in the bag. I love the way they send it back to you w/ tissue paper & a gold seal. I wondered how to tip on this service. Would cabin steward deserve a tip due to picking it up & bringing it back &/or should the person actually doing it get the tip? How do you go about tipping for this great service? And what would be the customary tip for this service? Or is it covered under "crew appreciation?"

I believe the last HAL cruise we were on offered laundry service @ $20 per bag. You can stuff that bag pretty full. I have seen posts where laundry was $30 per bag, so price might have gone up, but still a good deal & they do a decent job. Had an issue 1x with a bra- 1 hook was bent out of shape making it unusable. So I just don't send bras any more. Maybe hooking it before sending it would eliminate any issues.

I wonder about that... wonder how long it will take before they run out of the older stock. Even soda & other beverages have an expiration. Not a wine drinker, but wonder if the storage during shut down was up to normal standards. Same goes for things in the cabin's mini bar. How long has that stuff been in there? Carnival's ships have emptied the mini bars & specific items can be stocked upon request.

On one of the 1st longer cruises after the restart-21 days, we found MDR a bit too slow for our liking. Not sure if the longer trial cruise was a factor. So we ended up on Lido for dinner on evenings when we had other things we wanted to do. If time was not an issue, we ate in the MDR. I love that HAL's lido buffet workers serve you instead of everyone dishing it out themselves. I found the salad bar on lido an excellent choice. But there was always something that looked appealing.

We like to get every thing paid for as soon as possible, even when not required. Insurance is the key. I will say that in 2020 we had several cruises canceled due to you know what. We just kept moving them forward until we were finally allowed to cruise again. I will say that the Carnival corp, even though in trouble financially, were very good about refunding whatever they could not provide- cruise fare, pre booked tours, etc. The entire cruise industry has taken a hit financially & are just trying to stay afloat. If that means more $ up front, I will happily comply. I just am happy to be back on a ship again.

We've done 3 full transits. 1st-mid ship veranda, 2nd -inside cabin, & 3rd- the absolute most forward balcony on Carnival. Each time we were all over the ship checking out different views. We have never tried an aft cabin, but I am sure it 'd be awesome. The whole Panama experience is awesome no matter where your cabin is.

The way I look at is this: you will have to pay it sooner or later, might as well get it out of the way now. We make sure we have the travel insurance- for those unforseen situations, you just never know what is going to happen between now & April. Have fun enjoy your cruise.

we were required to pay the full amount for a deeply discounted fare. The agent stated timing as the reason. We were several months ahead of the cruise, but it was such a good deal, we pd it.

The HAL website does make it easy to determine if you need to be tested prior to your specific cruise. You just enter your boarding #. I am sure there are still countries that require testing &/or vaccines prior to entering. So kudos to HAL for making it easy to figure out.

Whether the crew consider it a pain or not, I am looking forward to this video behind the scenes to be rolled out fleetwide, every cruise. Previously, those with mobility issues were not allowed on the tour & due to limited capacity only a few could attend. So this video will make it easier for more people to see what actually goes on behind the scenes. Personally, I found the tour fascinating & enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the q&a with the captain.