crystalspin

Carnival has PVP (personal vacation planner) and Princess has CVP (maybe Certified Vacation Planner?). These are all under the Carnival umbrella, but I can't tell you why they don't all use the same terminology. (Other than the HAL telephone recording that tells you in sultry tones that "Holland American is Home of the Personal Cruise Consultant", i.e. Branding.) ETA: my Carnival PVP let me book a non-refundable deposit for next year. My HAL PCC would NEVER let me do that (without telling me and giving me options), so all Cruise Line Helpers (CLH haha) are not the same. I sailed one time with Royal Caribbean. I booked on line and was able to take advantage of multiple "dynamic pricing" markdowns and specials online, on my own. I never saw or was contacted by anything like a PCC, but on the other hand, neither were you on HAL. Maybe someone will come along with the final word on that line!

I'm no financial wiz, but this is how I was perceiving the news. It's all such a house-of-cards!!!

Hi New-Blue! I believe the gratuity is already included in the price you see under gifts/indulgences/beverages. I base this not on some super-knowledge, but the fact that the price for Simi Sauvignon Blanc is the very not-round number of $50.74 -- which is exactly 118% of $43.00

Hi Fancy and @AFNavigator! These cabins (5022-46 port & 5025-49 starboard) have a firm-looking fold-out loveseat. I have no first-hand experience with these "third beds". As AF noted, if there are objectionable side-ways supports or just otherwise not comfortable, see what your cabin steward can do for you. Here is a video to give you more of an idea (does not show the sofa folded out). It is 5034 on the Rotterdam (sister ship to NS). I believe this is the mirror image (left to right) of your cabin. Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5tdv7B6ZSE&t=17s

Here is the last page of that Roll Call, with a few general observations: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2779076-september-24-2022-holy-land-explorer/page/7/ Here is the last page of the Roll Call of the cruise that sailed on 8 October: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2779081-october-8-2022-14-day-adriatic-ionian-explorer/page/10/ As Roy said, you could post to either of those threads.

Need to know the ship and preferably the cabin number. Some HAL ships have long sofas that flip lengthwise. They are quite comfortable both as a bed and as a sofa. Others have a loveseat that unfolds like the traditional household sofa-sleeper. While I have not experienced one on HAL, I suspect they are less comfortable as either!

Up 81-cents after 17-cents after 3-cents...

Both of these itineraries have the MAJOR advantages of leaving from Vancouver (Inside Passage) and including Glacier Bay. Noordam has the following pluses: Ketchikan-to-Juneau-to-Skagway is my preferred sequence of ports. You are getting more and more "Alaska" as you go. Also as I said I do like the Vista Class ships. Be that as it may, I would choose the K'dam: Twice through the Inside Passage. Never know when one direction may be rainy/visibility hampered. Two times is two times better. Also the logistics of round-trip flights from Vancouver should be easier and cheaper than open-end flights to Vancouver and home from Anchorage. I have never sailed College Fjord, but I *have* crossed the Bay of Alaska (twice) and multiple members of my cohort were quite seasick both times! Also, there is nothing in Whittier (as opposed to Seward where HAL used to end their northbound cruises) -- you simply get on a bus to transfer to Anchorage. So on the K'dam you get Tracy Arm Inlet in exchange for College Fjord, and a second CALM trip through the Inside Passage in place of a possibly rough featureless sailing across Bay of Alaska with a no-stop trip to Anchorage and costly extra flight time from there.

The possible choices (I did not look at itineraries) for 2023 are Eurodam, Koningsdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, Volendam, Westerdam. Itinerary aside, @njsmom, your vibe seems to agree with the smaller ships: Volendam, or the slightly larger Vista class ships, Noordam & Westerdam. We have sailed on Alaska on the Volendam and her sister ship Zaandam and had a simply stunning time! Also on the former significantly smaller Statendam -- from the Lido, you could count the whiskers on the sea otters! So there are advantages to the smaller ships. A Vista class ship, the Zuiderdam, is currently my favorite ship. OTOH, the Signature class ships, Eurodam & Nieuw Amsterdam, and the Koningsdam -- have different musical venues and one additional restaurant, the Tamarind (Asian fusion) that I am looking forward to on our upcoming Koningsdam sailings. (As an unrequested comment: all of the "Dam" ships will have classical music almost every evening.) As far as itinerary, if you are picking from amongst the 7-day cruises, one that ports in Sitka will get you the most "real" Alaska feel. We did the 3-part Otters, Eagles, and Bears ship's excursion and got a bit of everything! Unfortunately, I think to 'hit' Sitka, you miss Skagway, and that is another favorite stop, esp. if you like train-rides or gold-rush settings. Having done both R/T and one-way White Pass RR, I would go back to Sitka. But Skagway is a close second! If you can swing it, one of the 14-day itineraries (I think only running early or late in the season next year) would trump ship choice!

Someone with much diverse cruise experience should answer your question... Thinking @Hlitner? I am pretty brand-loyal (HAL), just because every time I try to sail with a different line it falls apart! But I read alot on Cruise Critic and other places and you do appear to be correct - on at least most 'mainstream' ships you get MDR, buffet (you do get to sit down after you get your food) (also there is usually a crew member to carry your food to table and fetch to drinks if necessary), often a burger joint or taco station...

Here is our @Crew Newsphoto reviews of RS menus. (This is the Roger Jett of whom oakridger spoke!) https://rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/room-service-and-breakfast/ ETA: The room service delivery person is a volunteer with other job duties! I once opened the door to see my MDR waiter delivering breakfast. They take on the room service job in hopes of the tips. Have the tip ready as they do not daly by the door with hand out!

8am Eastern is 5am in Seattle, I think they'd be getting a recording... ETA: Also I'd be much happier in an obstructed or "cove" balcony than any "window cabin" (OV), especially in the age of COVID.

I'm with GC and EM. You should surely book for the larger number that might sail. There is no assurance you can add in the future. Depending on the line, there are different mechanisms to keeping their same cabin. I am familiar with HAL and a bit with RCI & Carnival. On HAL, cabins that hold three are not held back for three. You can and should definitely should book for all three, cancelling the third just before final payment if necessary. RCI and Carnival only let three people book a three-person room. I have reserved one room for three and an adjoining two-person cabin for other family members, for both RCI and CCL. My intention in each case was to pay for and sail in the three-person cabin even if the third person "couldn't make it". I do not believe they would move you do a different cabin on check in! As it happened those bookings never happened for us, so I can't CONFIRM what will happen in that case. Back to HAL and others that have the same booking practices: You can go ahead and make final payment for three if the step-daughter is still not sure at that date. If she is a no-show you will get her share of the port-tax-and-fees back to method of payment (but not her fare, which is going to be small compared to the first two pax in the cabin).

Understand that I have never sailed on a Pinnacle Class ship (have three booked), but I used the cruisedeckplans.com Cabin Checker on your cabin, and it appears to fall directly under the boundary between the bar area and the SMOKING AREA. Here's the deal or at least it was on the (much smaller) Zaandam: The ship does not have a lot of smoking areas. Smokers will gather in this area -- many of them into the night, at least until after "last call" (getting a double at last call!) -- and many of them on the younger range of HAL ages. (I don't KNOW that this makes them louder! I never joined them!) After they do go to bed, the crew will drag the loungers around to clean and re-position. I have not heard that the pool equipment is a problem, and the connecting door is probably not a problem (unless you get a loud TV neighbour), but the noise above may likely be. You don't necessarily need much of an upgrade, a VE in the same aft area of Decks 5-6-or-7 would be enough to insulate you from the noise above.

As per @FlaMariner 's link, amounts are as follows: Onboard credit per stateroom on sailings of 14 days or longer US$250 sailings of 7 to 13 days US$100 sailings of 6 days or less US$50 When you get your statement ready to fax or email, black-out only the account number and NOT your address. (An Oxford comma would have made that clear!) Make sure the page you send them has the number (100) of CCL shares on it -- I somehow assumed the top page would be enough and never noticed that the actual itemized holdings were not until page 5 of 16! Also make sure your statement has your current mailing address; ours didn't! Fortunately I have about ten weeks to get my ducks in a row!

For Carnival cards you can get them all at once, I learned above.

Here is the forum/board EM mentioned: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/564-australia-new-zealand-cruisers/ I think the 2 hour minimum check in at airport for international flights is pretty universal. That would mean you have to GET to the airport just about 9am. Even if you carry off all of your luggage at first available time -- that could be 8 or after! Then getting transport? Really, don't do this. You could end up paying Delta for rescheduling and searching for a room at the last minute and paying high for that. Check with the OZ/ZED board above about reasonable place to stay over, with shuttle to airport, or one at the airport (yuck) that you can get to from port. There is a tall building downtown with a rotating restaurant/bar on a high floor -- great fun! Also a large park walking distance to or from there. Oh, and welcome to Cruise Critic! You did well to find your Roll Call right off!

Oh he definitely was a very good doctor! I wondered why no one was talking about this tremendous gain he thought he saw! Maybe it was a different stock and his eyes didn't follow across the screen?!!

Huh, when my husband (retired family physician) checked our portfolio at 5 Eastern, he said Carnival is up $3. Don't know what he was looking at! I didn't check his math...

Hi K, What EM said: There are 16 photos of 6216 on cruisedeckplans.com and it is exactly like the cabin in the video (rather the mirror-image left for right) of 6141. No sofa. Good luck finding the perfect room!

Have you looked in the dark blue title/banner at the top of any marketing you've gotten since you created your account? That is where the PCC you have been assigned will show, with their email and phone extension. Failing that, call 1-800-355-3017 and stay on through the menu to where you can "talk to a live person". Have your Mariner number and/or your booking number at hand. Ask if you already have a PCC (and for their contact info); if they say you haven't got one, ask to be assigned! I will tell you a story. Some years ago, my final payment on a two-cabin "self" booking fell a few days before Christmas, which was either Sunday or Monday. I waited until Friday to cancel the cruises (because I really wanted to go, but the other couple didn't)... only to find that the office was closed and NO ONE was manning the phones. In desperation, I remembered that banner on some emails, and date stamped both email and phone message to my PCC (whom I had never had ANY contact with before that time!!!). It worked; she went up the chain of command and got my sizable deposits refunded!

Hi again! I watched the rest of the video and thought THAT IS REALLY COOL! No sofa, but if you close the black-out blinds and turn the "verandah" chairs around, you have a semi-separate sitting area as well as the club chair on the desk side. Hey you know, I could stay in this room with my husband! if they would let us but they wouldn't of course. We CAN pack very lightly, as staying in a 19" travel trailer will teach you.

Hi "K"! With EM's help I found this video of one of the Infinity Balcony cabins. It does not have a sofa (it has a club chair inside and looks like two chairs "outside". Here you go:

Looking at Deck 4: The balconies of the Aft Verandahs are ~twice as deep as the other balconies on the ship, INCLUDING the Aft Vista Suites! (Not true of the other decks, 5-8, that have both kinds of cabins.) The Vistas are a little larger inside with the sofa nearer the hall, whereas the Verandahs the sofa or maybe loveseat is near the balcony. Vista: https://halfacts.com/pinnacle-class/4219-rotterdam/ ^^^This page has a mini-review of the cabin.^^^ Verandah: https://halfacts.com/pinnacle-class/4174-rotterdam/ Deck Plans: https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/deckbydeck.php?ship=Rotterdam&deck=4

Dr'spin says CCL is up $3 today! Don't spend it all in one place!