Roz

For future reference, go to your booking, click on Cruise Activities, then Book Packages & Gifts, and finally Shipboard Credit. Pay with gift card.

@Vict0riann, the OBC is under "Gifts" where you can pre-purchase booze, flowers, etc. for yourself or others.

I have 2 ocean cruises and 1 river cruise booked over the next 6 months, all involving international flights. I've gotten in the habit of checking my flights weekly on the airline websites. Last night I was checking the flights for my Tauck river cruise and discovered my flight home from Brussels at the end of the cruise had been changed from 10:30 am to 6:40 am. Yikes! 😲 I hate those early morning flights where you need to get up at 2 am and have your bags out at 2:30 am so you can leave on the transfer van by 3 am. After a nice, enjoyable vacation you arrive home feeling like a pile of doo doo. I called Tauck's air dept. this morning and talked with a very nice lady who confirmed that the change occurred yesterday. They weren't able to notify me because they were busy dealing with the Lufthansa strike. I told her there was no need to apologize, I just wanted to confirm the correct flight information. She checked to see if something was available later, but it would mean I would only have 1 hr. and 10 min. at Heathrow to change planes and that wasn't going to work. While she was in my acct. she made the flight changes and sent them to my TA who forwarded them to me, so now I have something in writing from the cruise line.

@LadyBerard, you're welcome. I ended up using the $53 for $50 of onboard credit and I'll just deal with the remaining $3 when I get on board.

Don't give HAL any ideas. 🤣

Found this in the very fine print: "Travel Planning items are purchased in the currency of your original booking. Gift cards cannot be applied towards Travel Planning items." Underlining is mine. That explains it.

I looked at purchasing onboard credit, but then thought it would be a wash, other than not having to stand in line to have it applied and it taking so long for them to process the transaction. I wonder why it wouldn't let me do that? I tried 3 times.

I may be in the minority, but I like Dutch Night. Bami Goreng - so delicious!

I've successfully bought and used HAL gift cards in the past. The HAL website says "Gift card funds are in US Dollars and can be applied to bookings in US Dollars and any pre-cruise or onboard purchase." Pay attention to the word "any" in the quoted sentence. After a frustrating hour, I found out this is not true. I calculated I needed a gift card for $152.95 to pay for a shorex and 2 transfers. I put all 3 items in my cart and entered the gift card number and PIN. It subtracted $99.95 for the shorex, but left a balance due of $53 for the transfers. When I re-entered the card # and PIN, it said I already used the card. Checked the balance and it said there was $53 remaining, the amt. I needed to pay for the transfers. I thought maybe it didn't like me paying for 2 different things - a shorex and transfers - in one transaction, so I removed the transfers and it allowed me to complete the shorex purchase. I put the 2 transfers back in the cart and discovered something. It didn't give me the option of paying with a gift card, only a debit or credit card. I wonder if this has something to do with the vendors that supply the transfer services? I'll take the gift card with the $53 balance on it with me on the cruise and have it applied to my onboard account. Have you ever done this? I did on my last cruise and it took an act of both Houses of Congress as well as the Canadian Parliament to get it applied.

Don't know anything about a juice pkg. so can't say yes or no.

They can order a non-alcoholic drink pkg.

The entertainment is definitely not geared to kids.

I thought that was standard practice. I see posts on other forums about it.

@franski, I'm hooked! It was love at first sight after my first one from Budapest to Passau on Uniworld.

Uniworld is doing the Belgian markets in 2023. I'm doing the Dutch and Belgian markets on Tauck this coming December.

Amen to that!

@bennybear, I hate to hear that.

Sometimes there are also afternoon tours, so you won't be able to take advantage of those if you don't return to the ship.

@Daisi, I also find my river cruises to be tiring, but well worth it. I want to see and do it all.

Off to Google Tarta Pascualina......

Ham? Leg of lamb? Goose?

I'm taking a 31-day South American cruise next year from March 10 - April 10. In the course of looking for return flights from Ft. Lauderdale, I realized we're going to be onboard for Easter. 🐰 Will there be an Easter egg hunt? How will the Easter bunny find me? Am I allowed to embark with an Easter basket in my carryon? In all seriousness, does HAL acknowledge Easter? Maybe a special menu at dinner? I don't expect there to be any children on this cruise so I doubt there will be any kind of activities for kids.

I was going to suggest the same thing.

The 2023 Holiday cruises are indeed on the HAL website, but haven't been loaded onto the major TA website yet. I just did a mock booking for a 14-day Christmas cruise. I want an inside cabin, and was surprised to see all the forward inside cabins labeled as Sold Out. I don't want to be forward, but it makes me wonder why they're all sold out.

There's a CO DR on the Rotterdam.