crystalspin

To add to @VMax1700 suggestion of getting cans of water, softdrink, or even beer on first day or port days -- all cabins on the K'dam have a mini-fridge. You can ask your room steward to empty it of the contents (which are charged, and not covered by the SBP) to use it for your stockpile! The canned water is very flat-tasting and there is nothing wrong with the ship's water, but with your packing you may not want to pack a sports-bottle... Although single-use plastic bottles are supposed to be "caught" and surrendered on boarding -- we inadvertantly brought two on board at a day port, and did use them to mix up our Crystallite powdered drinks! You can charge two drinks per swipe of card (and the bartenders like that, it's faster). We alternated which card we handed in and never reached @15, even on seadays. All single-shot drinks are priced and counted as the liquor in them, even "frou-frou" boat-drinks!

@Curlingwhizand @Turtles06-- I have never had HIA or for that matter SBP, and not been credited spending days equal to Days on board. UNTIL our last 7-day HIA leg of a B2B over New Years. We got 9 spending days for the 9-day leg (I did pay for our dinners at Rudi's NYE, and also one shore excursion additional to the HIA one, for two of us). However, for the 7-day leg we were granted only 5 spending days. Fortunately we wound up two days over 4-star and not two UNDER! I would have been screaming and hollering if that had been true! However, if you're only looking for 4-days on a longer trip, I think HIA is going to cover you.

This is to advise guests who've booked Ocean-view staterooms on board Zaandam that during the April 2018 dry dock, the bathrooms in the below staterooms will be updated to a shower-only configuration: Lower Promenade Deck: D3331 - D3370 Main Deck: C2564 - C2647 Please note, this change does not affect all Oceanview staterooms, only the specific staterooms noted above.

Yes, it happened on our Koningsdam B2B over New Years.

https://rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/hal-beverage-menus/ Currently (or recently) the SBP has been offered with drinks over $11 costing just the difference plus 18%. There is some disagreement whether the Elite counts non-alcoholic drinks towards the 15 limit. They do count for the SBP. My husband and I made no effort to keep within the 15 limit, and never went over it! And we only left the ship 3 days in 16...

Oddly, am not seeing any departures from SAN for March 2023, on the HAL website. May be sold out? The Cruise Critic "Find a Cruise" shows two HAL Mexican Riviera dates (mid and late March). As well as two Disney... https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseto/cruiseitineraries.cfm?startDate=2023-03&depcity=199

Welcome Peter! https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/51-royal-caribbean-international/ https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/456-caribbean/ https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/35-bahamas/

No casino for us. And we actually didn't see any of the Step1 dance shows, either. We are outliers in actually liking the BBC films with live classical accompaniment. Otherwise we would go to one of the quieter venues (Crows Nest, Dutch Cafe) for a nightcap. My DH is an early riser, so early to the cabin, where I might read on my Kindle for a while.

CM: I believe HAL has always planned for late diners to go to the early show and vice versa. I agree it seems wrong! But, we have become early diners since the shut-down...

There was a small library in the Crows Nest across from the Cafe last month on the K'dam...

I have four recent K'dam/Pinnacle tiles I will send for the postage to the first claimers...

In the Lido. Deck 9.

Platinum pays back 90%. Cancelling before penalties is 100% (but not the cancellation premium).

We had the Trekker one year (2020!!!) without being BCBS customers. They may have different plans if you are. We let it lapse since we weren't travelling in the pandemic; may sign up for 2024...

I'm not sure they have all the variations as the Exploration Cafe.

Yes.

365!

Ask here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/119-princess-cruises/

Water on HAL ships is free. You can fill your re-usable bottles in either the bathroom sink or in the Lido, where you need to use a water-glass to transfer to your re-usable bottle. Finding liter bottles in ports is basically the same as anyplace else. Whether you can bring them back on the ship may vary.

Yes, and I wasn't able to text (or make voice calls) last month with the middle-level Surf plan included with Have-It-All.

Agree with @OlsSalt-- Cannes and the sea day. A third might be the evening after Dubrovnik.

I have posted before, the Internet itself is the SAME for Social/Surf/Premium. Only fewer apps and programs blocked and (I believe) higher data caps for the more expensive plans.

Maybe "short cruise". Here is the itinerary in question: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/L3P04A/V319.html

I answered in "Ask a Cruise Question", where I said: If you book now with a refundable deposit, you can re-fare into a future promo, before final payment due-date, with Pres.day will be for June sailings. You would give up any current perks for the offered ones; you'd have to parse that out.

Fortunately, no one who doesn't find value in the HIA promo has to buy it. Just be careful about buying the Best Price booking, as it will have a non-refundable deposit. Call your PCC and ask for the Advantage fare for the bare-bones deal, but refundable deposit.