POA1

We received my favorite change this week. On a late March 9 Day Southern, we were supposed to go to the ABC islands. We now have a "sea day" between Bonaire and Aruba. This new day at sea has the Rotterdam making the 51 mile journey in place of Curaçao. This messes up my Dutch fast food stop in Curaçao. (Blues and sadness.) I'll have to get some recommendations for Aruba. They did add in a short stop in Grand Turk. (Whee! 🤩)

The upgrades don't change the commission basis. Our old TA, who has since retired, told me that. It's not generally a big deal for us because we usually book what we want. We did play the upgrade game successfully in 2014 by booking directly with HAL. We moved from a verandah to a Signature Suite for a very reasonable price. This was back when the SS category wasn't as wildly popular as it is today. (I blame myself for talking about how the Signatures hit the value sweet spot. So, for the record, they only make sense if you are 4* or higher. 😉 While I am at it, avoid the Retreat Cabanas. It's windy up there and can be bumpy in rough seas. It's also a hike to the pools. 🌊)

Thanks for writing this, John! For those of us following along (or at least me,) what's the cruise tour code? I'm guessing it's R?L, but I don't know what the number would be. (Or, I could be way off the mark.)

Unless we were on the fence about our cruise I'd just look to see if I'd get a $100 return on holding onto our final payment for a couple of months.

Thanks. So, I'm only 26 days late in noticing. 😮

It's entirely possible that they always have and I just noticed it, I think it's a good idea, but I really don't remember it happening. (I'll probably find out that it's been doing it for years....)

That's an oom-pah-powerful reason to take a cruise.

Every time you get a hard mailer or email, there's a campaign code associated with it. Hard mail will start with HAL23 and email starts with HEP23. (23 is the year.) There is usually a fare connected to the campaign. Odds are that you have 4 or more fares available to you. Casino players probably have a lot more. When our TA explained that to me years ago, I gave up on trying to find the best fare online. I use the website for reference, but I have booked a whopping ONE cruise online and that was in 2014. We're 4* so you can pretty much guess that we had someone else book a very high percentage of our sailings.

That's awesome!

Linking lets the ship know you're traveling together with other people. Like Lisa said, it's most useful for fixed seating dining.

We have 2 on a 9 day. It's in the HAL system, but not on your booking confirmation. (It would be useful there. I guess it gives the ship flexibility in scheduling, but we always like to know.)

Glad we could help. Now, please hold for a short three question survey.... 😃

HAL's booking system can generate an air notification which is the airfare version of the booking confirmation. It has all the details of the flights and the booking numbers from FlightEase and the airlines. The FE booking number is a tie record. You need the airline confirmation numbers to see the reservations on the carrier's site. Your PCC or TA can send you the air notification if you don't have it. If you booked on your own, the HAL service people can send it to you.

We have a 9 day Southern coming up in late March / early April on the Rotterdam. On one of the nights, there are no Tamarind reservations to be had one of the nights. Every other restaurant is open for the rest of the voyage. My spider senses tell me that it's going to be an Iron Chef night.

What is the itinerary? I'd guess 3 as well, but the itinerary would be helpful.

You shouldn't have to worry about price increases. It's a negotiated rate. I've never seen a fuel surcharge, and I imagine we'd have seen some by now.

In our experience, an assistant beverage manager will often have a word with cabana renters who abuse the two person limit. If there is an open cabana, the people might be given the "opportunity" to pay for access. The extra people usually disappear after that. I would not expect the cabana stewards to deal with someone overloading a cabana. It's more of a management responsibility.

Designated Wife? She'll be PO'd if I call her that, FWIW. 😉

As long as your phone supports WiFi calling, either plan should work.

Have a great cruise!

You can get to most MS applications outside of a VPN. You'll probably need the MS authentication app, but you can access Outlook & Teams outside the VPN if your company allows it. (So, "Yay!" Your hellscape of a work life can follow you on high seas! Ain't technology great?)

It's called a TWID in the booking system. It stands for Travel With ID. Your TA, PCC or similar can take care of it

No harm. No foul. No worries. Everyone has an off day. 😇

That's a really good catch!

When that happens, it can be a sold out restaurant (unlikely), a group event (also not likely), or a pop up. In the past, you didn't know about pop up dates until you boarded. Darn you, internet for ruining surprises! FWIW, Le Cirque was one of the best pop ups. We dined at the original Le Cirque and Le Cirque 2000. The Pinnacle Grill version wasn't quite the same, but it cost less than the appetizers at the NYC locations.