johnmik1

I bought my first 100 shares at $19 and have gotten over $5000 back in OBC and dividends.I have bought 400 more shares over the last 2 months as the price has been attractive.I may buy some more this week.

We have stayed in C750 and D737 which we preferred.D736 is also very desirable.

48 minutes ago, Tennessee Titan said:

That was 2 1/2 years ago. Why are you coming back NOW to complain???

Unfortunately this does happen; more as a one-off than the norm....

Too late to look at that  Roll Call and see if there were a lot of other complaints...

I am not coming back now to complain,I am responding to a post of Why do you hate HAL so much and I did post our experience immediately after returning from that cruise!Why do you think that if something did not happen to you,it  didn ‘t happen or doesn’t matter?We were obviously satisfied with the HAL product prior to this cruise but would never attempt to defend any company with limited knowledge of the situation which it appears you are doing!

4 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Wow! Which ship was this?

 

It was on Noordam in the spring of 2017 from Sydney to Vancouver.Many guests disembarked early in Honolulu rather than endure another week on the ship.I failed to mention that on the last day I had to use the HAL computer to print our boarding passes and I definitely logged off properly ,as I checked it on my IPad.I had bought a 1000 minute package and had about 100 minutes left.Later that day,the system said that I had no minutes left so I went to passengers services were they said the their system kept me logged in and they could see that I had not been online using the remaining minutes.I politely asked the young lady to replenish the minutes and she refused.When I said that that would be my last HAL cruise after all the other issues she said “We don’t care” and walked away.This was also mentioned in my letter to HAL.Our next HAL cruise would have made us 4 stars mariners.I have been on six cruises since then with two more coming up in the next two months and those will be our 59th and 60th cruises.I can only guess at how much profit HAL will not be getting from us.Time for some serious management changes at what was one a great cruise line!

On 9/20/2019 at 7:51 AM, iancal said:

Voting with your feet and with your wallet is, IMHO,the most effective way to send a message to management.   If folks moan and complain constantly about HAL’s change in direction and cuts but continue to sail on their ships what do you think management will do?  How has it worked so far?  

 

I thought so.

That what we did!On our last HAL cruise,they did so many things wrong that I kept looking for the Candid Camera.Our suite balcony was filthy dirty and had paint stains everywhere.We were told to wait half an hour for lunch, as there was a shortage of wait staff.We had to move dirty dishes in the buffet so we had somewhere to eat.On three occasions,we saw friends open up the silverware from the napkins to find dirty forks and knives that was caked with eggs.Numerous buckets collecting water from leaking pipes.One evening show was cancelled because the staff could not figure out the electrical system.We talked to passengers that disembarked a week early rather than complete the cruise.I wrote to HAL who acknowledged their short comings and they offered us onboard credit,four dinners in the Pinnacle Grill and the wine package,if we would return to HAL.That offer went in the garbage.We were vary happy passengers on Hal till Ashford was hired.Never again on HAL under the current leadership.JMHO!

We have had somewhere around 40 minibars and never remember receiving anything diet.

Thanks!

How many days out from a cruise does Royal Caribbean issues the luggage tags?Thanks for any info.

Thanks for your prompt response.I will check out the menus and decide.

We are visiting Boston before our next cruise from NY and looking for a nice family Italian restaurant in the north end.Any suggestions?

I notice when they are wearing robes from the cabin,especially in the buffet.

On 3/20/2019 at 7:44 AM, ashhill said:

We are thinking of booking a cruise on Regal Princess out of New York in October this year ending in Fort lauderdale. 

We have always sailed on grand class ships in a mini suite balcony. Have read somewhere that the balconies on Regal are much smaller than the grand class ships  and that the balconies are larger on the extended area. Does anyone have any pictures of these balconies and the stateroom numbers to match?

Thanks for any replies 

We are also on this cruise and yesterday we gave up M104 to move up to L104.These are the largest balconies on Regal.M104 is still showing as available so I suggest you get right on it if you want the cabin.

We took a back to back on Regal spending a week in a mini and 15 nights is a premium deluxe balcony and enjoyed the aft facing premium much better.The mini had a tiny balcony and the extra space in the mini was no big deal with only 2 people.

Is the MDR open for lunch on embarkation day?

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Our daughter and her 4 year old son will be cruising with us on the Island next year. However, she didn't want a balcony because our grandson needs considerable watching and she didn't want the additional worry. But since oceanview cabins only have one desk chair now and are relatively small, that didn't sound too good either. As an alternative our TA suggested she could book an oceanview mini-suite for a little more than a balcony and resolve all of her concerns. If I might ask those that have previously booked one of these forward cabins, how were they?

They are very spacious.The area where the balcony would be, is incorporated into the cabin space and it has a large window.

9 hours ago, Roz said:

I recently did back-to-back cruises on the Nieuw Amsterdam from April 28, 2019 through May 11, 2019.  Although my cruise days were posted correctly, I didn’t get any credit for onboard spending of $619.97.  I had to scan my Final Statement and convert email confirmations of pre-purchased tours into PDFs.  I don't see how they could have overlooked this.  I just emailed the documentation so we'll see what happens.

Roz

In our 5 HAL cruises,they made mistakes 3 times.Twice we were in suites and they totally missed the double credits and screwed up the onboard spending twice.They also added a charge post cruise for the internet package that we had clearly paid for while on the cruise.It's remarkable that HAL always made the mistakes in their favor.Just one of the many reasons that we no longer sail on HAL.

On 1/27/2019 at 2:54 PM, 2 cruises a year said:

Also, on all ships, all passenger elevators (except the glass Atrium elevators) face forward.  So if your stateroom is even, port side, you always turn left getting out of the elevator.  If your stateroom is odd, starboard side,  always turn right.

If I remember correctly,the aft elevators on Sapphire and Diamond face inward.

We disembarked in Copenhagen last month and there were abundant cabs available to the airport.

2 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

So on the Regal it costs $120 per person, is that correct?

We were there last month on Regal and it was $120, and we did get a cook book.

We had our first balcony cabin on Rhapsody in 1997 and I was so enthralled with it that I sat out there most of the night.Our next RCI cruise was in 1999,aboard Splendour and it was far from good,and was our last RCI cruise.We really wanted to try one of the larger ships and are sailing on Allure in November.I am sure it will be much better than our other experience.

1 minute ago, GUT2407 said:

If I’m on that cruise, pretty high.

 

Then there would be a threesome!

23 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

How do you know they’re not a psycho hit man on family vacation.

 

Nor push comes to shove I used to be able to take care of myself hand to hand, but who knows it’ll stay hand to hand.

What are the odds that two of us psycho hit men would be on the same cruise!

I can't imagine four women with one bathroom.

7 minutes ago, Bootman4U said:

Exactly which TA is giving you anything?  Everything is coming FROM the cruise line, not the TA, including OBC. It could be a matter of a reduction in the TA commission or a perk to the TA from the cruise line for steering a great deal of business to the line but NO TA that I know of is giving you OBC.

My TA,who has booked over 50 cruises for me ,immediately books group space whenever anyone books a cruise on Princess.That frees up onboard credit  and other amenities and she also discounts her commission and that comes back in the form of OBC.I have 3 cruises booked for later this year and her pricing is 10-15% below the Princess Web Site and a I have extra OBC on all 3 cruises.

IMHO,Booking directly with a cruise line is like paying sticker price for a new car.