SusieKIslandGirl

Thanks @JazzyV, for the link to Kathi’s blog. But you can you tell me how to get a comment posted? I always get an error notice. Thanks!

I'd like to add a caution on booking Club Orange. I think you were lucky being able to book it last minute. I found out it is capacity controlled and not always available. I called 4 months ago to add it to a cruise in September but nothing available. A friend also was denied booking it on a different cruise.

For those of you needing ice packs, my friend gave me the "recipe" for a great one after my recent hip replacement. Use a resealable freezer bag and add 1 cup of alcohol (the rubbing kind, not the good drinking kind) and 3 to 4 cups of water. Be sure to remove as much air as possible. Then seal inside another freezer bag. It stays slushy so molds to wherever you need it and stays cold longer than a regular water filled ice pack.

I had a friend who swore the moon was the cause of her sleeplessness for 3 nights-before the full moon, night of the full moon, and the night after. Who knows?

Thanks @tuolumne couple. I know we never get the calls from Big Box and usually don't want upgrades but sometimes an upsell might be interesting. I guess I'll try and call and find out what they say. 

First thing I thought of when reading about showering with a friend is we do it all the time near Seattle. We seem to always be caught in a rain shower whenever we have shopping to do.

And does the Hokey Pokey ice cream taste of toffee or does it have a honey flavor? I don't care for honey but would love to check it out in a couple of weeks when we get to Auckland.

Thanks for all the information. My question is, "Can you call HAL directly about an upsell even if you booked with a TA/Big Box agency?" If so, does anyone have the number that you should use?  Thanks again.

Thanks for the heads up on the move of NZ Fabrics and Yarn. It is one of my planned pre-cruise stops in a couple of weeks. Hopefully Auckland will have dried out by then.

cruisingwithbillandmaryann.blogspot.com   is what I have on my favorites list. I hope this works.

@erewhonTell me more about the ice cream shop please. We'll be there in about 3 weeks. Can't wait!!

Thanks.

@dfishAbsolutely beautiful quilt! I've always been intrigued by the pattern, the illusion of curves with only straight seams.

@marshhawkWe also visited Santorini in October. We did a tour that included a snorkel trip across the water and then walked on an island where you could feel the hot earth just fractions of an inch below the surface. Both were amazing.

Wow! For once, one of the days applies. I’m making a huge pot of clam (geoduck) chowder for a meeting tomorrow. Some will be kept as plain potato soup. If you don’t know what a geoduck (gooey duck) is, be sure to Google it. We dug them last summer.

Be well-or get well everyone. Can’t believe January is over already!

We've had this phone number for nearly 45 years and don't really want to give it up. Besides, we were 1st. Let FedEx change theirs. 😁

My funny answering machine story: I worked for the postal service for over 30 years. Well, if you didn't use the 800-area code for FedEx and instead used the local area code, you reached my house. So, for quite a while my message said that you'd reached Loren and Susie's house where the Postal Service is our preferred shipper. And even then, people would leave their tracking number and ask where their package was! And when rotary dial phones were still in use, we had many 2 am calls for the local tow truck. Our number was one off from theirs. 

Another option, if you decide to stay downtown and don't have a lot of luggage, is to take the light rail from the airport (through the parking garage) to downtown.

If you're not planning on seeing downtown Seattle, there are many airport hotels with shuttles. It's easy to go back to the airport to catch the HAL transfer the morning of the cruise departure. We usually find a decent price at one of the several Hampton Inns near the airport.

I can't remember exactly which ships (guess I should keep a list) but we've found European outlets behind the head of the bed. The nightlight is usually plugged into this outlet. We either have a multiplug adapter or do without the nightlight.

@kochleffelWe have a bit of a wait but our Nov.2, 2024 sails from Athens and one of the 1st ports is Kotor. After seeing all the photos I'm really excited about visiting!

And besides the vanilla sauce, the addition of a rum caramel sauce tops it off very well!

The military OBC on Princess is an automatic addition so hopefully HAL figured that out too. I did comment to the TA that I wish OBC was specified on our statement as to where it came from.

I think it is. I called our big box TA to verify if the credit was still on our February cruise since we had made a couple of changes after applying. She checked with HAL and found it was also on the Nov. 24 cruise. I made that reservation less than a month ago.

Hi Jacqui, thank you for keeping this listing up. We have the following scheduled:

Feb. 25, 2023   

Noordam

14 Day Australia & New Zealand

May 14, 2023   

N. Statendam

14 Day Voyage of the Midnight Sun

Sept. 17, 2023 

Noordam

14 Day Great Alaskan Explorer

Nov. 2, 2024   

N. Statendam

28 Day Adriatic Dream & Passage to America

Thanks again! Susie

There is another price category which isn't shown when you look at the HAL website. It's an Advantage fare which has a refundable deposit. The price is usually a bit more than the non-refundable fare but less than the HIA. You need to ask for it from your TA or HAL. 

I've recently transferred 3 cruises. The rules stated that you need to transfer within 60 days of booking, deposit has been paid and the full amount is not paid.