PaulaS8071

A few years ago, on a HAL cruise, we did an excursion that involved swimming with the turtles. There was no beach stop, but there was an open bar, snacks.  Trying to find this excursion, as the people were so accommodating, and it was great fun. Any ideas?

Paula

Paking tonight for 11 night HAL cries. Husband is agonizing over whether tot bring sport coat with dress pants, to bring suit. Opions!

Well, we are PG fans. On our cruise last month on the NA, we ate in the PG 5 of 7 nights. The Sterling Silver beef was amazing. We enjoyed it so much that when we got home, I researched and found where to order it online. We finished our first box last night, I immediately ordered two more boxes this morning. So disappointed to hear that they are discontinuing this beef. But I will go with an open mind on our next cruise and see what they have to offer. I will also miss the table side Caesar salad. We had the most wonderful server, a black gentleman from Jamaica (on Hal, quite a surprise!). He was so efficient and entertaining at the same time. We ate breakfast there every morning, and he always had a funny story to tell us about what went on in the crew quarters the night before. I believe his name was Chris, he had just been hired by HAL from Disney. Anyone else know who I am referring to? I have to believe if you have met him, you would remember him.

Paula

On the same cruise with you! My TA called me about a month ago with an upgrade offer. HAL was offering to upgrade our SB to the PH for $1100 per person. No thanks! But I told my TA that we would be interested in upgrading for about half that, maybe $1000 total. She said it might be possible if no one took the upgrade the first time around. But I guess it didn't happen, as we never heard any more. Not complaining, I love my aft SB, and feel really fortunate to be cruising in such a nice cabin. But I did have a few fantasies about that PH!

See you Sunday!

Paula

Okay,

I followed suit and went to HAL's website and sent an e-mail expressing my displeasure at this new policy. Guess we really can't expect any results unless we all make our voices heard. I'm usually not one to make waves, but let's all of us let HAL know what we think about these new changes. What do we have to lose?

Paula

Oh, and our service in the MDR was not slow at all! And we also had a table for two, 8 pm seating. Maybe it depends on your server and how many tables they have to serve? I don't know, but our courses came out one after the other like clockwork.

Paula

I didn't feel the kids were at fault. The pool area is just way too congested. My husband and I both agreed that they should have left the rear pool. It really doesn't make much sense to have one pool in a ship that size. We couldn't get chairs around the pool the last sea day anyway, so we headed to our balcony and enjoyed the lounge chairs there.

Mark, you are going back to Carnival to avoid children??? Granted, I haven't been on Carnival in almost 12 years, but back then they were the noisiest, rowdiest cruises of all.

Paula

Hi,

On the same cruise as andyandsue. Great review and they pretty much nailed it, and I agree with almost everything as posted. But a little bit of a different perspective in a few areas, so I will explain and I am going to kind of follow andyandsue's format as it helps me to remember:

We were traveling as a couple, after many, many years of cruising as a family. Our boys are now both in college, but I can remember my years of Club HAL very well!

Embarkation: definitely easy, but we were in an "S" suite, so we are well taken care of. In fact, I think they made more of a fuss over the suite passengers than we usually experience. Even ushered us into a private waiting room for the few minutes before we were escorted onboard. We were in Suite 23, which is right across from the Neptune Lounge and a great location. The room wasn't overly cool, almost uncomfortable. We noticed the thermostat was set as cool as possible. Mentioned it to the concierge, she said it is usually like that on embarkation day when the ship is wide open and all the hot air gets in. And it was hot in NY last weekend. She was right, after that afternoon the cabin cooled off. Can't ever say it got cold, but it was certainly comfortable.

We went to the mariner's luncheon in the dining room for lunch. It was very nice. We asked for a table for two and we got it.

I loved sail-away! I have been to NY numerous times, but never from the perspective of a ship. What a beautiful sight. The buildings of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty! And to make it even better, there is a narration. Because of this, we watched, not from our balcony but from the Aft deck. The narration was great, it was nice knowing which areas you were passing through and having the landmarks pointed out.

Dinner that night in the Pinnacle Grill. What can I say? The Pinnacle Grill is just the epitome of wonderful dining. We live right outside New Orleans so we know what good food is all about. But the service and the ambience in the Pinnacle are what it is all about. Don't get me wrong, the steaks are wonderful, but for me it is not so much about the food as the atmosphere. And the PG has it all going on! We did go to the show the first night, as I like to see the CD and so forth. I was somewhat impressed with the talent of the performers, but we, like andyandsue, frequently go to Broadway shows, so we are really not interested in attending Broadway-type productions. So that was the only night we attended the show. Instead, we usually scope out the entertainment offerings in the show lounges. Well, this time we hit the jackpot. The Ocean Bar which always has the generically named band the Neptunes (if you are not familiar, every ship has either the Neptune Lounge or the Neptunes, etc., just like the HAL Cats) There we found Harvey Finstein! We thoroughly enjoyed his music, so there we went every night, both pre and post dinner (excluding the nights we made our donation to the casino) I agree with andyandsue that the piano bar player was very talented, but we like the piano bars where everyone gets rowdy and sings along, and this was not it. So Harvey every night it was for us.

Dining room food was as good as we've had lately on HAL. We did eat Pinnacle three nights of the seven, including the Le Cirque (which was wonderful), but the dining room I thought was better than this past December on the Westerdam.

Bermuda-Loved it! We are avid tennis planers, played 3 of the 4 mornings in Hamilton. Elbow Beach was beautiful! Horseshoe was beautiful, too, but way too crowded. If I go back, I will stick to Elbow. Be aware, the food and drinks on the island are very expensive. i.e.-$25 burgers at Elbow, and a glass of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay (my brand!) was $18. Yikes! Take me back to the ship!

The people in Bermuda are so, so friendly. And the island is very clean. We definitely want to return, but HAL is not doing it next year, so we may wait. I don't think I would go there for a land-based vacation, due to the prices, though we played tennis and had lunch one day at the Southampton Fairmont, and it is a beautiful resort.

I never, never smelled any sewerage smells on the ship, though the previous poster said they were on the lower decks and we never went down there. Our cabin was on 10, the lido on 11, the dining rooms on 8, so that was about as far as we went, other than our morning walk every day around the promenade on 6. I laughingly told my husband last night that I think this is the FIRST cruise we have ever taken where the toilet flushed the first time every time.

That's all I can think of for now. Any questions?

PS-andyandsue, were you part of the roll call? I chimed in a few times, but got very busy and never got back. Did you have a meet & greet? If you did, sorry I missed it!

Thanks so much for the info! So there is a steak available nightly in Blu like in the MDR? Being allergic to seafood, he is pretty much a meat and potatoes guy. As long as there is a piece of beef of some form available nightly, we should be okay.

Paula

Hi,

Forgive me if this is a repeat post, I did a recent search and didn't see this question. Does anyone who was recently on Solstice have a copy of each night's menu from Blu. We will soon be on the Solstice-I have a 20 yr. old son who is somewhat of a foodie. The dining aspect of a cruise is important to him, one of the reason I booked us in adjacent Aqua Class cabins. Someone posted the menus from Blu from a recent 10-day cruise. The menus look very limited! Unfortunately, even though he is a foodie, he also has food allergies! No seafood for the main issue. I would love to see the menus so I could book the specialty restaurant evenings around what is available for him for that particular evening. I would REALLY appreciate if anyone has this info and can share.

Thanks in advance,

Paula