crystalspin

You did fine! Lots of us like to feel the excitement vicariously!

Port is a good choice going to Hawaii -- especially from Vancouver! It puts you on the more-or-less sunny side where the weather is cooler, on the shady side on that trip back to Ensenada.

My approval came before a response from Zach, so I wrote a "disregard" message right off.

My approval came through this morning! From a poor JPG! Whatever they check... So I have submitted the Redeem Request to HAL for two cruises sailing before July 31 '24. It did ask for booking numbers and dates of sailaway.

As Rich said, please do not leave your door open. I have not stayed in either category of your choice, but noting that accessible cabins often get some of their extra room by losing furniture and/or storage, I would definitely go for the Lanai. Here are a few photos: https://halfacts.com/3335-volendam/ Here are pics of an OV-HC on the sister ship Zaandam: https://halfacts.com/r-class/3391-zaandam/

If you buy Premium WiFi pre-sailing, historically the cost has been only slightly more than Surf (standard) bought onboard. I don't know how StarLink has affect that "rule". Unlike my experience with RCCL, no flash sales -- just promos that run for some length of time. Closest to flash sales are Black Friday and Cyber Week short-term promos. OTOH, Have It All is $55pppd and includes all of your categories, with the specialty dining meals dependent on the length of your cruise. It is less than the beverage package by itself! because you pay 18% service charge on the BP price, but not the HIA. So if you want beverage package, the wifi, specialty dining, AND shore excursion are frosting on the cake.

@FrankieSue's experience was before StarLink... Look for more current experiences. I have read that some voice-apps are working with Surf Plan, but the website indicates that audio/video are only available with Premium: OTOH, someone posted they had to upgrade to Premium just to get reliable sending of texts...

@VLZT said they got some from front desk without date, and some delivered to cabin WITH, in post 28 above.

So a little frustrated -- once you have submitted your "proof" that button goes away and there doesn't seem to be any way to contact a person or even a chat-bot. Going on three days since I sent the JPG and others are reporting approval in one day... I have the PDF, but no way to send it!

More the year than the country! And in a stone castle... Hope no offense taken?

Yikes! I hadn't thought of that! Well, then, it might depend on the itinerary, @JaniceB -- if you do all the laundry, daily, on the 28-day leg of your B2B, but do have enough outfits to get through that first 2-weeks, you can probably plan it out to have clean clothes when they halt laundry service. Then go back to sending in for the trip back through the Caribbean. I just looked at the itinerary, and that might work... I know it seems wrong to pay for days you can't use the service (perhaps they recompensed something?), but if it helps to reduce packing, you might still think of it.

I see from your posting history, that you will indeed be "taking tours through a steamy, hot jungle" for some part of a total of 6 weeks. (!) As a long-time "wash by the bag" cruiser, I think I would try to pack enough to get me through the travel-time and the first 2-week leg of your B2B, then bite the bullet and do Unlimited for the 28-day Amazon. You can quickly do up the laundry from the first leg early on the second, then send out those sweaty clothes, even daily, from there on. ETA: I am remembering land-trips through Thailand & Cambodia, also southern India, where our routine of wearing tops twice and trousers up to four times, FELL APART. The stickiness made re-wearing clothing distasteful! We were reduced to turning in laundry as soon as we got to any lodging where we would spent two nights, and marking it EXPRESS. You don't have to book the laundry plan ahead, the slip has a box you check (on that first order on the later cruise) for Unlimited. You can get a second (or third!) laundry bag from your stewards. Remember that HAL is very good about following special care requests, even air-dry (allow an extra day for air-dry to be returned to you).

Looking at Nancy's diagrams, I will point out that the curved lines bracketing "LCS and BBKings" indicate a mezzanine level, and Deck 4 cabins over that area have reported hearing the bass notes into the night. Rumor has it that the contracts with both Lincoln Center and BBKings have not been renewed and the area is being used for art auctions, so that would be a non-issue until the music is reinstated. @smj Having sailed in one guarantee (under BBKings on the Nieuw Amsterdam) -- I honestly would not sail if I couldn't choose my cabin.

We were there in November 2001. My husband wanted to Kiss the Blarney Stone. If you weren't in line for the stone, your couldn't get near enough to snap a photo (and those in line couldn't have any belongings with them). There were two men to hold the participant as he or she laid back under the "stone" to kiss it. Their photographer had the only positition to get a pic. Somehow able to beam the photos down to gift shop that you'd pass on the way out of the narrow circular stairway out of the castle. Do not remember the price (we passed). PS, kissing the Blarney stone for the gift of gab did work! or maybe it was the course of self-hypnosis in small-talk...

@Chinook Wind The Canaletto staff are occupied helping in the Lido first night now that they are offering steak dinner to entice any-time diners to eat there rather than queue up outside the MDR. Only the Canaletto is 'dark' on first night; Pinnacle Grill and Tamarind (on Signature and Pinnacle ships) are open and book-able.

Whatever you do, avoid visiting Blarney Castle in Ireland! The rest of your illusions will be shattered.

Bill -- It seems you have attained status with the wrong cruiseline. HAL values all passengers more or less equally. When we were 1-2-and-3* we appreciated that we weren't looked down on. Now that we are 4*, we would never reverse that logic. When we tried RCI (as 3* HAL sailors), we actually found it amusing to watch the elite passengers parade past the rest of us to their exclusive cocktail parties every afternoon. However, it's not too late for you to start building journeys with that line.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I'm glad you found us; I don't have an answer, but people will be around with suggestions. When is your cruise? and where does it sail? P.S. I read your dilemma to my husband -- he thinks a lawyer will be necessary. Something like a "general lawyer", or call around. Obviously not a criminal lawyer.

Thanks for the explanation! Here is the Celebrity board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/16-celebrity-cruises/ Also the "cruising with kids" forum: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/ Probably a lot of pertinent info to browse there! And while I'm at it, Australian (and NZ) cruising: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/564-australia-new-zealand-cruisers/ I hope everything works just fine and you ALL have a great time!

According to the website right now, they still do. Now, it's not unheard of that the website be wrong, but I think we'd have read it on CC immediately! Perhaps the representative was thinking of a suite bought on an upsell (from a non-suite category).

The more-economical by-the-bag option is always available. The bag is medium-size and cloth, and you can get a LOT in it. The cost recently reported range from $20-30, I believe. Some of the reports are in this thread? See my longer description in post #30 above.

On my freshly-installed Stockperks app (Samsung 9+ phone), the spot was there for broker-type, but there was no dropdown menu of choices. I typed ALINEA into the box; it accepted it. However I didn't see that you had sent them a redacted PDF. I uploaded a JPG taken from printout. This was just this afternoon, so we'll see how that goes. I have now saved the document as a PDF, so I'm ready if they say they couldn't read my JPG!

I have it from the mouths of my Chase financial advisor and the branch higher-up most versed in the Sapphire Reserve benefits, that the amount covered is only that paid to the travel provider and not to AARP -- even if you pay for the cards WITH the CSR. I'd like to see the "fine print" that @CNSJ has found. We stopped buying the cards for that reason, but with two 35-day cruises booked this year (plus a B2B2B totalling 35d), I may take a lesson from @Mary229 and buy a $500 card for each long cruise and some $100 ones for the B2B2B, and put them on our accounts for OBC.

I tremble to contradict Alan, but the balconies on Pinnacle ships' Vista Suite vs Verandah ("standard balcony") cabins are the same size per the diagrams and notes attached. There may be special cabins in either category that have slightly different proportions. We booked the K'dam Vista Suite at rack rate (not an upgrade) for a 16-day B2B last year in order to get the double points to make 4* before our uncoming 35-day cruises. We liked it so much, we were able to switch to the same cabin (4100, midship and one deck up from the Grand Dutch Cafe) for the long cruise! Without the double-points, it would depend on the price, I guess. The drawings are pretty representative. ETA: except neither shows that there are in fact three large clothing drawers in the closet nearest the room; looks like a closet door but it is a cabinet for the fridge and safe and a couple shelves, over the drawers. ETA: the two diagrams are not to the same scale (my bad). Compare the 'size' of the bed.

Yes, it is "flat" or still water. HAL has ALMOST eliminated plastic bottles as a campaign. I believe you still pay! But have not stayed in Pinnacle or Neptune suite to speak from experience!