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They were thankfully! This one was by far the most out there and of course the towels immediately went on the floor to be washed.

I had a new one every single day and it was always a surprise.

On a HAL cruise they gave me a great towel swan on the toilet one night. Perhaps ask your room steward to make this to cover up some of the cosmetic issues? Honestly this is all quite disappointing - the pictures are really inexcusable. I would absolutely make a stink (nicely, of course) at guest services or with the concierge for your class of service and insist they make it right. I would probably forgive the stateroom table, but the cleanliness issues are inexcusable.

Agree with others. You should definitely reserve with CC to ensure you get the space you want and then have them cancel and rebook onboard. With cruises as full as they are you are likely to see excursions sell out. I really wish they would do this, I wish they would update both this and also apply mariner discounts on specialty dining at time of purchase. Maybe one day...

I have always been able to use the OBC for gratuities.

I agree with this 100%. The Signature class ships are great. BB Kings is fantastic, as is Tamarind.

I am shocked by this thread, after 18 HAL cruises I don't think I have ever seen the older folks you speak of on HAL, I was always so sad the demographic was so young! 🤣😂

Absolutely! On every cruise I have ever taken tips are always graciously and gratefully accepted.

Interesting, from this nothing would suggest gratuities other than the All Inc.

Sounds like maybe NCL was indeed the issue! Glad they finally honored it.

So funny how different they look. At least on yours it specifies the the service charge is included. I do know the All Inc with BOGO 75% NRD was their promo from a while back where you got the always included and 75% off the 2nd guest which tracks with the discount on guest 2. I guess the difference may be due to having an Australian confirmation? I think there are some different legal requirements.

The TA really should be able to explain the other benefits of the rate that were booked, or make it right. It is totally possible they saved or got more perks than $100 on a group booking. Or perhaps there is a way to re-fare to a rate that would allow the shareholder benefit. Very poor showing by the TA to just say "you should just be happy." Totally agree, that there are some wonderful TAs out there - and it would be great to be abel to share their information. But I also totally get why they don't want the community to to be taken over by TAs scouting for business.

Can you share the charges section of your invoice?

Celebrity/Royal Caribbean's booking invoice is about the least helpful of all the ones I have seen in terms of figuring out what is or is not included. A lot of the perks don't appear on your booking until later either. Can you share the charges section of your invoice? Curious what it is showing. Props to Holland America - they actually use plain English to tell you what you have included. Wish X/Royal/NCL would do something similar.

You may want to specifically differentiate Neptune Suites. There are non-Neptune suites on some ships that I am not sure would get priority (thinking of vista/signature suites)

Thank you for clarifying this! We will definitely make sure to plan our gratuities accordingly.

Love sailing out of San Diego! So much easier to get in/out of than Long Beach! One option to consider for next time - book the HAL hotel. They will take care of getting your luggage from the hotel to the ship. If you want to explore, just let the HAL rep at the hotel know you will make your way over on your own. I did this in Vancouver on a day where I knew embarkation would be delayed (thanks to Cruise Critic!). Got a late checkout from the hotel and made my own way around 2 0r 3 and was able to virtually walk onto the ship with no lines. From what I read everyone who got there at 10:30 or 11 waited hours

Not that I am aware of. When traveling with a relative who needs a wheelchair, they have always had folks available (though sometimes you need to wait). Boarding is the same thing. They only have so many pushers available so we generally wait in the wheelchair area. People arrive throughout the hours long process and are taken on throughout.

IMO the problem is not that the call center is overseas - as many have noted the onboard crew are international and do a fantastic job. The issue is you are taking a bunch of reps and PCCs with tons of experience (many of whom have sailed on HAL ships), and replacing them with people who have a script and maybe saw a video or powerpoint. Hopefully with time it will get better, but as a customer it is very frustrating when what used to take 5 minutes with a knowledgable rep who could answer all of your question now takes 30-45 minutes. At the end of the day this will save a lot of money for HAL and most people will not choose another cruise line because the call center is in the US - it is just not really a factor 99% of people would ever consider when booking their cruise (and many of the other comparable cruise lines have overseas call centers, or are in the process of outsourcing now). If anything, this could hurt them if a significant number of folks switch to a TA to avoid this (I don't think that will happen either).

It should show up in your charges as both a positive and negative number in the mess of promos that are as clear as mud to read.

You definitely need a better TA! A good TA is wonderful, but there are a lot out there that are happy to take your booking and then basically do nothing for you after that. I wonder if they booked into a group - it is quite possible there are other perks or discounts you got which could be worth more than the shareholder credit, but if that is the case they should be able to explain the value of these rather than saying "oh well, too bad." Totally agree! I would not book again through such a TA.

Your TA should actually be able to add it for you! I’ve had mixed success with reservations on this.

Unless you lock in a lower rate, it is personal preference and whatever works best for you. Some people like to walk onboard knowing their trip is fully paid for and there will be no costs to pay. Others like to wait to spread their payments out or defer expenses as long as possible.

Totally agree. The roll out will probably be messy and both crew and guests will not be happy about it. The reports I have seen elsewhere are that the room attendant is now basically the butler, there is a head butler to oversee everything, and they absolutely cannot bring you water or restock your mini fridge but feel free to do it yourself (the mini fridge was never a Sky Suite perk, but I know a lot of butlers would stock it anyway). I have seen a few different numbers - one room steward/butler to 12 sky suites to do everything for, and 2 butlers for all the sky suites serving as the "team." I don't know how reliable either of these reports are. What I have seen reported fairly consistently is 3 butlers for the upper suites on a Solstice class vessel and 4 on Edge class. I think that gives a ratio for upper suites of about 1 butler for 7 or 8 suites. Not sure how this compared to before.

I quite enjoy HAL, and usually the fares are lower. Not a big fan of their MDR menus (probably because I have had them too many times) but I usually do specialty dining every night.