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antique sailor

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Posts posted by antique sailor

    Who here has been thru the Panama Canal....

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    [AHOY SHIPMATES

     

    JUST FINISHED MY 14th TRIP THRU THE CANAL IN JAN ON THE VEENDAM. FIRST TIME EVER THAT IT WAS COOL ALL DAY LONG SO VERY ENJOYABLE AS ALWAYS. WATCHING THE MULES AT WORK ALWAYS REMINDS ME OF THE OLD DAYS WHEN I WAS BUILDING MODEL TRAIN LAYOUTS. IT'S A SHAME THAT IT IS GETTING SO EXPENSIVE TO GO THRU. IT IS OVER $200. A PASSENGER PLUS THE REGULAR SHIP COSTS . PANAMA MAY OWN THE CANAL BUT CHINA OWNS EVERY THING ON BOTH ENDS (businesses) and CONTROLS THE TRAFFIC. ( I realize this will create a rebuttal).

    DW HAS BEEN THRU 15 TIMES, SHE DID IT ONCE ON A NAVY SHIP. I WAS ALWAYS ON AIRCRAFT CARRIERS SO WE WENT AROUND THE HORN INSTEAD, WHICH WAS ALSO EXCITING.

    AM ANXIOUS TO TRY THE NEW CANAL IF THEY FINISH IT DURING MY LIFETIME.

     

    SEA YA SIZE=4][/size]

    Don't miss these meals???

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    AHOY SHIPMATES

     

    BEST MEAL on any Carnival ship is the MONGOLIAN WOK on LIDO at noon.

     

    AT SEA DAY FOR BREAKFAST IT IS THE HUEVOS RANCHEROS IN THE DINING ROOM(extra over easy egg on top)

     

    Little known fact: best desert is the BLACK FOREST GATEAU only served on the first night of the cruise. MOST people do not know this because they dont know what it is. TRY IT . It is better than the Chocolate melting cake which is served every night and pretty good IF ala mode

     

    ( JUST THE OPINION OF A RETIRED CHEF)

     

     

    SEA YA

    Be Aware HAL is Now Offering Non Refundable Deposits on Some Pricing

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    How can I recognize a cruise that requires a non-refundable deposit? Will they be advertised as such? I would certainly not want to book one by accident.

    Booking a non-refundable deposit might be OK if it is a real bargain. But, regardless of the pricing, I would not want to book one too far in advance.

    AHOY SHIPMATES

     

    CARNIVAL already has an "early saver" booking that is a NON REFUNDABLE CRUISE......When a deposit is non refundabe it is usually spelled out in caps where it tells you the amt. MOST OF US ARE SO EXCITED ABOUT BOOKING A CRUISE THAT WE SKIP OVER THINGS LIKE THAT UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE

     

    sea ya

    Courtesy Hold

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    You may want to call Carnival and ask. There can be different policies with "after final payment" bookings and no holds available. I know when I late book, right after, making the request and accepting, payment is being asked for.

    AHOY SHIPMATES,

     

    I HAVE FOUND that the courtesy hold is not always available for no reason that the booking people can tell you when you phone to ask. Also when you do it on HAL and then don't book it the booking number will continue to show up on your profile for months , which can be very scarey. As long as you have'n't paid a down payment , don't worry ,it will eventually go away.

    I have also learned that the web site " ***************" is not up to date and inaccurate....can't be relied on.

    SEA YA

    Your Lido Buffet "Creations"

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    When I've done that they don't stir up the eggs before cooking, they put them in the pan and swish them around so you end up with white and yellow scrambled mess. What is a reefer?

     

    AHOY SHIPMATE ''REEFER'' is short for refrigerator. IF you request SCRABBLED EGGS USING FRESH EGGS THEY WILL DO IT. or look for a new job..

    20 Years Ago Today

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    AHOY SHIPMATES,

     

    REMEMBER IT WELL, DW had recently retired from USN and was strongly hinting that she wanted to take a vacation to visit Australia. I was secretly looking for a cheap way to do it. there isn't any ! We discovered that the final Grand World Cruise on the SS ROTTERDAM wasn't that much more expensive and a lot more FUN ETC. WE DID IT, Now 20 yrs later, we have done it 5 times , are 5 star Mariners with 1200+ days on HAL and 200 on other cruise lines. We also have 131 days booked for next year so far. YES WE ARE ADDICTED AND LOVING EVERY DAY OF IT.

    Question about On Board Credit...

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    I may be mistaken but I think there is a small fee if you charge it to your ship account but there is no fee if you load the money onto a slot machine and then cash out later. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

     

    AHOY SHIPMATE, ...........There is a method to use the slots to get SOME SBC

    after you establish an account in the casino BUT you MUST PLAY the slots in order to do it.

    Anticipation Of Waiting to Cruise. What do you do??

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Ok my Wife thinks I'm a little crazy cause since I booked Our cruise for March 2016 I've become Obsessed with Everythng about the cruise

     

    First started with finding and making the airline and hotel reservations

    Then of course I start my Reading and Reading and Reading everything and anything I can about the ship were sailing on, ports, casino etc

     

    Were on a Premier Casino special so of course I read every post going back I could find lol 😳

     

    Then it was on to members past reviews first about the same Itinerary were doing and then once those were done on to other ports as long as it was still the Conquest

     

    I'm literally running out of reviews to read so now started reading random posts and reviews 🙈😜😆. This is when my wife said today. Jeezz Hun you've been on that cruise critic site for 5 hours now 😜😳 that was a hour ago and I'm still on lol

     

    Oh and I forgot researching the ports over n over

     

    So is it just me or are there others out there as well who Can't Wait for the cruise date to get here and research n read stuff over n over

     

    Oh and of course my Roll Call only has a few people on it and I can hear crickets and see tumble weeds when I log on at least 5 times a day to see if there's any new chat 🙈

     

    It's ok were all friends here feel free to share your cruise obsessions as well

    😆😆😆😃😃👍🍹🍹

     

    AHOY SHIPMATES,

    After booking a cruise I usually stay busy booking more to follow. Suggest you all try it. SPEND LIBERALLY, I own Carnival stock LOL.

    My 1st review Valor Nov 7th. a great cruise

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    My first review. So please go easy on me.

    This cruise was our 6th all with carnival. Valor Nov. 7th

    Right off first thing. It was great. I have never done a review before because I get depressed when the cruise is over. I feel I owe CC and Carnival and the Valor crew this one.

    After seeing so many bad reviews I wanted to post our experience. I won’t include pictures at this time I don’t remember how, and we were busy enjoying the moment a lot of the time. We kind of booked last minute because my wife has been going through breast cancer treatment for the second time. She was feeling better and I can’t take vacation after thanksgiving each year. So I booked this one on the Valor. We wanted another balcony (as we were spoiled) only a few left we picked cabin 1061. This ended up being beyond great.

    Any way we flew to Orlando the day before, Friday. We rented a car from Budget. (It went a lot smoother than Dollar that we used a month before for a land trip. We stayed at the Radisson at the port. Very very nice. I reserved there shuttle when we arrived. The earliest they have is 11 am and its $6 per person. The dollar shuttle is free but was unsure about the times. We ate at Rusty’s seafood and fishlips Friday night. Sat morning I got up early and returned rental car to budget at 8:00 am. Almost next door to motel. We went down stairs at 10:30 and there was lots of people waiting for shuttle. They took a wedding party at 11 first. Was some confusion and tempers from some but we got on shuttle at about 11:45. I will add that I had got added to faster to fun a few days before. We arrived at port just a few minutes later. Regular line was long. About 20 people in line at FTTF area outside building. That line went pretty quick. After we got inside it went very quick straight to walking on board. Walked inside straight to elevator and went to room on deck 10. It was ready. We dropped off carry on and went to eat. Got burgers and dogs and ate by aft pool. We went to the cheers sign up area by front pool and no one was in line so that went fast. We had some drink of the day and did sail away walking around LIDO. This is one gripe I have seen before. Just seems a mistake to me. Everyone likes different music I get that. What I don’t get is they DJ plays cruise music for sail away, people happy dancing and BUYING drinks. Before we even get out into bay it switches to request music. The entire crowd dies down instantly. Different people perk up when there is a song they like. I just think cruise music would be better for carnival as far as mood and people spending money.

    Next we went to cabin and suit cases were there. I went and found cabin Stewart Jay Jay and introduced ourselves. And gave him $20. We got perfect service the entire cruise. Morning all day and each night.

    I went to dining room and requested early time as I picked late by mistake. I also ask that we be seated at a large table so it wasn’t just me and wife.

    I didn’t keep good notes but I think we went to the show. Sorry the fun got in the way. At diner we were seated at a table with 2 other couples. (One great the other a night mare but I will explain later) our 2 main servers were wonderful. I tipped the main one $20 and told him I like to try lots of different foods each night. I will add their names later don’t have them with me. But they ended up being fantastic. Each night I had at least 2 appetizers and the did ya and 2 main courses. I will have to go for tonight and continue tomorrow. I will just say this entire cruise was great, real great. Sorry but I have to go for now

     

    AHOY SHIPMATES,

    I also was on that cruise. It was great. Staff was very friendly and Casino was generous. Manager was very visible and HOSTS were great.

    Dont like the new party for past cruisers (Plat & Dia) but drinks are still plentiful. Coffee is much better than on Fascination but has newer plumbing. Was on B2B and enjoyed 2nd week also. Mongolian WOK was very good.

    HAL's new partnerships, upgrades, branding initiative

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Hmmm, partnerships and branding sounds like a hot high-visbility chef to me.

     

    Or a popular chain restaurant? Dominos would be better than the current pizza offerings.

     

    Maybe they'll bring back Dutch Night in the MDR?

     

    AHOY SHIPMATES,

    MAYBE THEY ARE GETTING RID OF RUDY and replace him with someone who has less EGO and can write menus that MATCH what is served on the plate,

    Orange juice.

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    AHOY SHIPMATES,

     

    In all my days sailing on HAL I have NEVER eaten breakfast in the DR but I am quite sure that if you asked the waiter or his supervisor for a glass of FRESH OJ they would not refuse to get it for you. That is part of why you cheerfully give them that $$$$$ in the service charge on a daily basis.

    I'm usually the first one in the LIDO each AM. ( A military habit to early rise)

    SEA YA

    Orange juice.

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    In the Lido I used to enjoy watching the large rotary machine slice the ends off the oranges, squeeze them and eject the rinds. I have not seen the machines lately.

     

    Scott & Karen

     

    AHOY SHIPMATES, Hi Karen n Scott, It is still fresh squeezed. They just moved the machines on all their ships to a place in the galley so they dont have to carry the crates of oranges as far etc. as a more efficient operation. They do a lot of it ahead of time so it's better if you ask them to STIR the pitcher before pouring your glass.

    Jeanne sez HELLO also.

     

    SEA YA

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