POA1

You can choose your cabin within the Meta category. SZ Signatures can go up to an SS or SQ. (SQ is Signature spa.) However, if you start with a Vista Suite the highest you can go up to is an As (aft Vista.) The biggest bang for the buck in terms of upgrades is in the verandah categories.

You almost never have to do a brute force reset and clear your cookies and cache. In most browsers you can clear the cookies for the site you are on by clicking on the little lock at the left side of the URL line. Then you will see something along the lines of Cookies and site data. You should be able to clear the data for just that one site. When you use this approach, you are not wiping out all your saved logins and things from all websites, just the one. I'm on my phone right now, but I will do some screen caps to walk you through the process later this afternoon. That said, the HAL site has issues that clearing cookies won't fix. I don't find it worse on the weekend. I think it pretty much blows consistently, like a hot desert wind.

That's what we wound up doing. I'm kicking myself for not doing the upgrade, but I am stoked for the tote bag.

Thanks for your bravery in throwing yourself in front of all the menus. Just like the astronauts or early explorers (but with cloth napkins.)

I noticed that new category. I just figured that if you Had It All, what could possibly be Extra? 😁

We usually purchase casino chips in advance for our cruises. It's part of our highly disciplined and frugal approach to losing money. A few weeks ago, I bought half of our massive stake. On Tuesday, the super friendly and awesome world class website would let me add chips to my cart, but then tell me that my cart was empty. On Wednesday, the chip purchase option was gone completely. (It used to live in the onboard credit section of the best-in-class website.) I know it's not because I hit some sort of limit because chips are missing from our March sailing and we haven't purchased any for that voyage.

They like the Europeans better than us Yankees. 😉

FCC to the referrer and OBC to the referee.

Yes. Otherwise you could get FCC on canceled bookings.

I was 31 and DW was 29 when we first sailed on Holland America's old Noordam. We were at a table for 6. It was quite frankly, the only table of under 40 passengers on the ship. That was 1994. It didn't bother us a bit. We've been diligently easing our way into the demographic ever since. Now I'm 60 and my child bride is 58. We still enjoy HAL as much as always, but we've noticed that the passengers seem younger.

It depends. If you get a restricted fare with a campaign code that has HOB in it, the fare will be close to casino rates. However, you won't get casino free play money or drinks while playing like a casino guest will get.

I pre purchased the premium plan for one device. My one device is a router with my PC's MAC address cloned onto it. We'll use two phones, two tablets a Kindle and a PC. The set up is a bit technical, but it works well.

I send our laundry out at breakfast It's almost always back before or after dinner. (8 pm fixed for us.) I want to clarify. I send out laundry every day. Sometimes more than one bag if we have mixed care instructions. That's why I tip. (I ride that 4* benefit. Hard. Or at least heavily starched.) The pressing is phenomenonal. I like finding the little plastic tags after I get home. It's like a little, well-pressed vacation memory.

I get extra bags from our room steward. I send them out with special instructions. (I'll send multiple bags occasionally if the garment care calls for it.) All the cold wash, tumble dry low go together. We've not had a problem. I must note that we'll put a tip envelope in for the laundry room with a thank you note on occasion. They do a great job and I don't think people show them enough appreciation. In related news, I lay the laundry on the bed and snap a picture with my phone. When it comes back, I'll delete the photo. It's easier than keeping a detailed inventory.

I always back up to physical media. I'll use cloud storage for sharing, but primary storage is to HDD or preferably SSD. (It's mini Prime Day, so it's a great time to stock up.) You can get 2 TB for less than a hundred bucks now.

I don't know if this is a sure thing, but on our spring Rotterdam cruise, there's one night when you cannot book Tamarind. I'm guessing that it'll be a Morimoto pop up night. You may want to check for "holes" in the schedule. (Except Canaletto on the first day. That looks like it's typically closed.)

I was surprised to see that I can see the menus already. We're sailing in December. (Caribbean, Nieuw Statendam.) I can tell that the menu is current because it's the Thanksgiving menu and it's Canadian Thanksgiving today. The menu has Wiener Schnitzel on it. I'm thankful for that.

As always, thanks for taking us along!

I don't recall ever seeing a priority line at guest services for 4* & 5* Mariners.

Check in ahead of time and let them know you are running late. They'll let you know what to do. Early dining is the most sought after. If you don't think you'll make it regularly, you can switch to open and cede your early time to someone who wants it.

I was shocked to learn this. You think this would be the kind of thing I would be on top of... Nevertheless, it's Cruise Ship Cocktails for us tomorrow! Woo-hoo 📣

I would think not because the TA gets commission. If you do the reverse, the PCC loses credit for the sailing.

Look at the menu price. If it's $15 or less, it's covered and the gratuity is covered. If you want something more expensive, you pay the difference plus 18% gratuity on the difference only.

We booked ours in October (for next March / April) and it was the same price as one we booked in April (for this December.)

Most of HAL's PCCs are in the US. They are not all in Seattle though. You'll see the 206 area code when one calls you because of the way the phone system works. (This should not be a surprise to anyone today. When we travel, anyone looking at my cell phone number sees a Fort Lauderdale number. It doesn't matter if I'm visiting our friends from when we lived in Maine or traveling outside the US.) If we're not happy with anyone we're dealing with, and this goes for anyone from TA to PCC to car salesperson to doctors even, we ask for someone else. I'd simply ask for a supervisor (or tell them my name Karen and I need to speak to the manager.) I just say that I don't "click" with the person assigned to me, or that I simply want someone different or more seasoned or whatever. (I would not personally mention location or accent. Folks today might just assume racism. Not "clicking" is hard to classify.) Our original TA went to high school with my dad. I'm 60. Our TA decided to retire. We didn't click with the next two assigned to us. But the agency didn't want to lose a 25 year customer, so they reassigned us - happily. Sadly we were not a good fit with any of the new TAs. (Not being a "Good fit" is another excellent reason.) Now we book direct. Maybe I should just start asking for "old farts" or geezers. 👴👵