fkfad

They've had an Orange Party on every one of our HAL cruises!  Have a great cruise!!

We receive all kinds of casino offers almost daily!  We just booked a "free" 28-day Amazon cruise.  We both play in the casino on a daily basis...  The offers range from a free cabin with free play and drinks to a 30% off cabin with no additional perks.  Our last "come back and play" offer was nothing to write home about, however, about one week following the conclusion of that cruise new offers started hitting our inboxes.  The casino usually opens an hour or so after sail-away.  I've never seen the casino close at 11PM, but I have seen the casino close as late as 1AM.  

We talked to the onboard Cruise Consultant during our February, 2023, cruise, and he told us they should be published over the next couple of months.

On our February 11 Nieuw Statendam cruise, the blackjack lowest minimum was $6 (both normal Blackjack and Fun21), and the craps table was $5.  They also had $10 and $25 Blackjack.

We received our cabin assignment three days before our February 11 Nieuw Statendam cruise...  I checked every day until it finally showed up...

We are just off of the Nieuw Statendam with a casino offer, including drinks while playing.  They were strict about only offering us a drink while playing.  They placed a little sticker on the back of our key cards to show our eligibility.  The drink server took our cards when we placed an order for a drink.  Sometimes the service was very slow as the casino was very busy.  The people playing at tables received drink service more frequently than the slot players.  We tipped with every drink, regardless of whether or not it was necessary.  One time we actually went up to the bar to order drinks as there were no servers working on the floor at that time.

We finally received our cabin assignment this morning for our Saturday cruise...  LOL  We were given an Oceanview Category C -- mid-ship, main deck.  We'd rather have a cabin on one of the higher decks, but this is OK as well.  Thanks for all of the well wishes and shared experiences! 

10 hours ago, Laminator said:

Are you checking the Navigator app or the website? We got an email from our PCC showing our assigned cabin. The Navigator app still showed no cabin assigned until my wife logged out and logged back in. 

I have been checking both...  

Yes, we are sailing on Saturday, 2/11, and we are still waiting for our cabin assignment.  We never had to wait this long!  It will be a surprise at the port (probably) LOL  I will print our luggage tags with no cabin number (first time ever)...

We set sail in 7 days and still no cabin assignment...  LOL  This is the longest we have ever waited to get our cabin assignment when purchasing a guarantee!  

We watched a video on youtube that showed everything you could do at Atlantis for free...  You may find that of interest.

Thanks for the quick reply!

For those Pickleballers who are/were on the Nieuw Statendam -- is there a dedicated Pickleball court or is it shared with basketball, etc.?

1 hour ago, Laminator said:

We got our 2nd cabin assignment this morning. I don't know how my PCC does it but we wound up with an aft wrap. So we have 2 aft wraps on this cruise. Our favorite cabin. 

That is awesome!  Twelve days til setting sail and still waiting...  lol

10 hours ago, TGCRUISEOMAHA said:

For my 2/15 Eurodam got my cabin a couple days ago. Booked a SC but got the SB. Nice upgrade 

Nice!  Still waiting on our cabin assignment -- 13 days til we set sail and I can't wait!!  🙂

We just received the same boarding time -- 1:40 PM...  All aboard is 2:00...  We will show up at 11ish mainly because of our parking situation in the area...  

7 hours ago, Frogoz said:

We board on 3 February and received our assigned cabin 2 days ago. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was your cabin considered an upgrade from what you had originally purchased?  Still holding out hope...  LOL

We did exactly what you are asking.  We booked an excursion that we really wanted in advance with a credit card.  This guaranteed our spots in the excursion.  Once we got on board, we went to the Explorations desk and ask them to confirm that if we canceled and rebooked immediately using our on board account, would our spots still be available.  After she confirmed this for us, we went ahead and canceled and rebooked using our on board account to pay for the excursion.  It worked.  We were able to use up some of our OBC for the shore excursion, received the refund to our credit card, and didn't lose our spots for the excursion.

I agree with daisy-mae!  They have paddles which are better than nothing, however, your own paddles would be a better option.  Many guests are willing to share their paddles if you don't have your own.  Also, take some of your own balls (for outdoor play).  We were on a 14-day cruise out of Amsterdam and all of the ship's balls were broken.  Because our ports were smaller in nature, they couldn't get new balls for days.  We created our own version of Pickleball using tennis balls as a short-term solution...it was fun, challenging, and we were still on a Pickleball court...  lol  So, Pickleball balls are now on my standard cruise packing list.

7 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

Good luck!  Please let us know what happens with upsell or assignment  Have a great cruise!!

Thank you!!  Needless to say, I CAN'T WAIT!!!  LOL

We set sail in 18 days (February 11) on Nieuw Statendam with a Guarantee Oceanview cabin.  We have no yet received our cabin assignment nor our embarkation time.  On the HAL website, it shows Oceanview cabins are sold out.  It also shows 80+ verandahs are still available.  This is a "free" cruise for us from the casino (as always, we had to pay port expenses, taxes, etc.).  I'm holding out hope that an upgrade to a verandah may be a possibility.  I'm just curious if anyone out there in HAL land who was given a "free" guarantee oceanview cabin was ever upgraded to a verandah?  Fingers crossed!  LOL

We have never seen a reservation system for the Pickleball/Basketball courts...  It has always been first come, first served.  Having said that, we have not sailed on any of the ships that have dedicated Pickleball courts...

We have visited Iceland twice -- once in the winter and once in the summer.  Both visits were awesome -- it is such a beautiful island!  During our first visit, we did a "Golden Circle" tour, which took us to the most popular tourist sites, including a stop at the "Secret Lagoon," which is a natural hot spring and actually had a geyser erupt every so many minutes right on the shore of the lagoon.  During our second visit, we booked a "Silver Circle" tour through an online international tour re-seller.  This tour took us to numerous waterfalls and a stop at a natural hot spring that sits in the middle of a volcanic crater (it is a dead volcano LOL).  It was magical!  Our tour of only eight people had the entire area to ourselves!  We also did a Northern Lights tour in the the winter -- going out on a boat.  After freezing out on this boat for about an hour, the sky lit up with green and purple lights!  There is an app you can use to track northern lights activity to see if they are forecasted to be active when you are there.  It is a great place to visit!  So much to see and do!

We were booked on the Rotterdam for a 14 day cruise.  The only thermal pass available on-line was for a 7 day cruise.  The fine print on line stated that the pass could be used for the duration of the cruise (which would have been 14 days).  I printed the fine print in case there was an issue.  We bought two of them, one for me and one for my DH.  We went to the spa on the first day to get our stickers, and they would only allow us to use the thermal suite for 7 days...  I showed her the printout stating that it was supposed to be good for the duration of the cruise.  She just shrugged her shoulders.  She told us that it was not their problem to fix, that we had to go to Customer Service.  We went to Customer Service who told us we had to work with the Manager of the Spa (the same woman who sent us to Customer Service).  It was a mess!  In the end, we could only use the thermal suite for the first 7 days of our cruise, and the spa people remembered who we were because of the controversy, so we couldn't even sneak in on the 8th day.  Since that fiasco (July, 2022), we have decided that the thermal suite is just not worth the price they charge -- especially given how well the hot tubs all work out on deck!  All I can say is good luck!

We've been to HMC several times, always in January or February, and found it to be warm and the ocean was comfortable.  There is good snorkeling along the wall for to the left (when standing on the beach looking out to the ocean).  This wall is on the beach side of the tender area.  We have always seen lots of colorful fish among the rocks at that wall.  During our last visit, however, the ocean was too choppy for me to feel comfortable snorkeling, however, it didn't stop my husband from enjoying it!