regnig

So I changed my flight to 10pm on the 31st. I don’t know what I’ll do with 15 hours in FLL, but it was the cheapest flight they had and the only one after 9am... only costed $72.00

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Tony once onboard your cruise HAL will provide information about excursions in FLL on disembarkation day. One of them usually includes a visit to the Everglades and then transportation to the airport. You might consider doing one of those to kill some of your wait time.

Regardless of how you spend that day I really really hope you enjoy your 1st cruise and that it will not be your last!

BTW, many of us made major errors in judgement about traveling to/from our 1st cruise, I know we sure did as at the last moment it ended up costing us more getting to the ship and then back home due to a major storm. :eek: But that was 20 years ago and we still are sailing!

ENJOY!!

Ship Services at 1-800-541-1576

One call will do it. :)

We were on the K'dam January '17 and the smoking area was the port side with regular tables and chairs. The padded nice furniture was on the starboard side with the Ocean View bar. ......................................

The K'dam just made to change to smoking on the Starboard. See https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2568239

The reason the lounges appear less is due to the fact that there are less rows across the aft but that is compensated by the loungers lining up along the other sides of the pool.

We are booked on the K for March and have not gotten the survey either. But our getting emails from HAL are most infrequent, guess we don't count. :rolleyes:

Diane I hope the weather conditions have improved enough for you two to enjoy a bit of "soaking up the sun" before you reach Half Moon Cay.

Thank you again for taking us along with you on your cruise and I look forward to our next voyage.

Diane thank you again so very much for taking your time to post almost daily. Cruising with you and John is such a pleasure. Please continue to enjoy your trip.

I would consider calling HAL Ship Services at 1-800-541-1576 and asking them this question and any others you have about the renewal.

CONGRATULATIONS to you both! :D

While we haven't sailed on the Eurodam we have sailed on 3 Vista class ships and our last cruise was in one of the staterooms you have questioned. The footprint for the entire stateroom was identical to those with tubs. The stateroom itself was the same size as those with bathtubs and bathroom was actually seemed a bit bigger since the tub takes up more room than the shower. The sink counter was also a bit longer. We decided we really liked it better than those with the tubs which we have never used other than to step over it's high side. IMHO I believe you will really like it better.

Google "pictures of 4168 Eurodam" and then pick the link to halfacts as there are a coupe of great pictures of the bathroom and yours will look just like them.

And of course nothing beats the deeper veranda's on deck 4! :D

We are not lanyard folks, but could certainly care less if someone likes them.

 

According to DW, it is my job, no duty, to carry her card. She says "here Dear" (she had my name legally changed many years ago to Here Dear), and I pocket her card. :cool:

(y)FOFLOL :D

No HAL does not provide free of charge lanyards but they do sell them in one of their shops for aprox $5.00. The ones they have stocked in the past had a plastic sleeve so the cards did not require a punched hole. Several of us use them. I personally had my room card fall out of my pocket on my very 1st cruise and ever since have used a lanyard when onboard. I also find it easier to find my card when I lay it on a counter top in the stateroom. When we go ashore or to dinner it stores neatly in one of the little bags I carry.

The only thing is the doubling of the OBC.

 

You can get the same thing by buying a Future Cruise Deposit on board (no commitment to any particular cruise) and then booking when you get home. Book within 60 days and you double your OBC by using the ZPM promotion.

 

Other than the OBC (which you can get later) I haven't seen any promos for booking on board.

HAL has been offering this "double" (FCC + ZPM) OBC when booking onboard since the spring. We booked onboard 3/17 for 3/18 and got both OBCs and others have reported here on CC the same situation. Therefore I would suggest you check with the Future Cruise agent prior to just buying an "open" FCC. Apparently HAL decided it was worth offering both OBCs to increase the number of onboard bookings.

Got an email from HAL today about our cruise in March which included scheduled stops in St. Marten and St. Thomas that read -

"Holland America Line’s Caribbean cruise season begins in mid-October,and we look forward to providing the great cruise experience our guests expectas well as the economic support the region relies on, now more than ever. Nocruises will be cancelled, and while select itineraries have been modified, weare pleased to let you know that the ports of call on the itinerary you bookedremain the same. This is due to the fact that these areas were not impacted bythe hurricanes, or expect to be ready to welcome cruise guests in time for yoursailing, based on information received so far from local authorities."

Not that it makes a big difference but HAL has done silent disembarkation for at least 7 years. Based on the color/number of your bag tags they give you and estimate of what time you should disembark. They encourage you to stay in your stateroom leaving common areas free of the masses. They also allow you to order "full" room service breakfast. Sure makes the entire event very stress free and civilized.

Yep there sure were better ways to handle the tender issue but none of them were employed. Additionally there was no way the ship didn't know about the problem until 3pm as I believe the 1st tender broke down prior to 230p. While everyone got back to the ship safely it was a bit frustrating that no one on the Cay was keeping the crowd informed as to the situation.

I also agree that while the inside of the ship was being kept very neat and clean the outside, including the verandas were full of rust and in much need of paint.

Staff was excellent and once aware of one's name always used it.... Most impressive!

Wednesday night (day we missed Freeport) the ship was really really rocking and rolling. While some of us slept very well there were two gals down the hall from our stateroom who slept in their life jackets. While I initially got a good chuckle out of that in retrospect I felt very sorry that they were that terrified.

If any of you are traveling with kids I must shout out kudos to the youth program on the ship. We had a 12 year older with us and she just loved the Circle "C" (12 to 14) program and Regina who was the staff running the program.

And for all of you wondering, for all the "problems" VolzCruiser experienced never was he, or his beautiful bride, without smile and an a wonderful attitude.

Patrick so many thanks for the compliment but perhaps you are far too kind. :o And the pleasure was all ours, like a clam in the mist of chaos! ;p

I look forward to reading the rest of "the story"!

Barb

Dave the WiFi on most cruise line ships is just not worth the time or money unless it is absolutely necessary for you to have. Slow, slow, slow!! :eek:

chocolate melting cake your Huskies will also have competition from all those NC teams too so be prepared! ;p

DaveRRT I sure don't think you have been overly negative. This cruise was not perfect but that being said it was not typical either. On a short 5 day cruise where you only have 4 real days on the ship when things go wrong there just isn't a lot of time for them to get better and that seemed to be the case on this one.

IMHO the two incidents that had the biggest negative impact on the cruise were the weather and the breakdown of the port tender in Princess Cays. Needless to say the Ecstasy wasn't responsible for either. While I think the staff did what they could with the weather situation there was perhaps a bit more that could have been done in Princess Cays. Why didn't the Ecstasy drop a couple of her own life boats to get folks off Princess Cays without an hour & 1/2 "standing" in the sun wait? The onshore staff could have informed the mass of waiting folks just what the problem was and assured people that if they just wanted to go sit in the shade there would be announcements made and that no one would get left. While the Ecstasy staff couldn't fix the shore tender problem they sure could have helped make the getting folks back to the ship a much better experience.

The ship is certainly not new and glitzy and in some areas is showing her age but for those who do not covet the "mega ship" experience she sure does the job. We had one problem with the shower control in our stateroom, darn thing would turn on just fine but then wouldn't turn off, and while it took 2 days they did finally get it fixed. We were fortunate in that all the staff we encountered were more that pleasant and doing their darn best to remain positive under not the best of circumstances. When impacts outside of the cruise line's control happen there are some people who take it out on the staff and that just seems so unfair. As we left the Windstar dining room the last night I said to the 3 hostesses at the desk that I sure "wished them better weather" on the next voyage and they all sighed and responded with "thank you for understanding".

If VolzCruiser is who I believe he is (I could be wrong) he does have a tale of a "less that perfect" day to tell but even with that he kept right on smiling.

For those of you who are looking for a short, easy to reach cruise this is about your only choice and as long as you accept in advance that if something goes wrong it there isn't much time for Carnival to erase that unpleasant memory this one is perfect.

DaveRRT we were also on this cruise and I have to agree with a lot of what you said and in particular "The other passengers were mostly from the Carolinas or other southern states and were the nicest least pushy group we have sailed with and the children were well behaved". With so very many kids (I believe Tenn or KY was having a "Fall School Break") I was very surprised at how well behaved all the little folks were. Particularly with the pool being closed on Wednesday it had to have been a big disappointment that they could not use the pool. I felt as if the Cruise Director did a good job at putting "entertainment" on our Extra Sea Day. Needless to say there was lots of grumbling but I guess some people just didn't understand that Carnival nor our Captain could control the weather. I also thought the Captain did a wonderful job attempting to sail between all the storms off the coast of FL.

We were also disappointed that we had to miss Freeport as we had also planned snorkeling, but at least we were not on a ship that slammed against the pier! With the refund of what we had paid for that and the port charges we walked off owing practically nothing.

While the 5 days were sure not perfect, a bad day on a Cruise Ship is better than a good day at home! :D

Thanks for the quick response. Just knew my CC family could solve my problem! :D

Well I've had no luck trying to find this answer on Carnival's web site.

I'm looking for information to leave family not traveling with us in case of an emergency. We will be sailing on the Ecstasy 9/30. I've always found that information easily for Princess & HAL but I'll be darned if I can find it for Carnival. Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

I like the idea of mailing all of the "junk mail" from the cruise to Mr. Ashford's office. Maybe include a short note that says "In an effort to reduce my carbon footprint I am mailing this all back to you so that it can be used again on another sailing. Perhaps now you will be able to provide a cruise log."

Like others I also agree this is a great idea. Only suggestion I would make is not only address this mailing to Mr Ashford but use that same address for the return address on the envelope or package. Drop the envelope in the mail, the post office will process it and HAL will have to pay the cost of postage upon delivery. That will get their attention!

Agree lizardhowson. We use the same Credit Card for both and OBC get applied to the "joint" account regardless of how it shows up on the booking paperwork. No need to worry. :D

Looking at both http://www.ftlauderdalewebcam.com/

and

http://www.portevergladeswebcam.com/

I've never seen the port with no ships in sight. EERIE :eek:

Since everyone needs a "silly" every now and again I'm compelled to post the following post I found on the Carnival boards.

"Leaving soon for my first cruise and I've picked up a lot of information from this forum but I'm still a bit confused about the beach towels. I know...a minor issue but the less time I have to spend figuring things out the more time I can have on the ship enjoying my cruise.

So what I am assuming...

In the cabin you have a blue beach towel per person when arriving. You can exchange for a fresh towel at the towel station or your steward will exchange if you leave it on the floor of your cabin. You can take it with you in port and return when getting back on the ship or exchange for fresh towel. Correct?

Where I'm confused...

I've read if you lose/leave the towel when off the ship, you will be charged for it, in the range between 20 and 30 dollars. I also have read about people hogging chairs by leaving towels on them to reserve a spot. So why would people leave towels unattended if they will be charged if it goes missing? Anyone can walk up and take it and no one would question it. Is it just a case of musical towels? When the music stops (cruise ends) people just grab the nearest towel and those who can't find one get charged?

Thanks"

Gotta love the poster! :D

OP

Were you counting on your cabins being next to each other?

I looked at HAL's deck plans and there is a big white area between the cabins.

Those staterooms are actually next to each other. The white space you see is a service area for the room stewards. It is standard, although a bit smaller, on even the Vista Class ships. The balconies are twice as long as the other Deck 4 ones and will have a door that the room steward can unlock between the two.

And yes gizmodog, there will be a small sofa, think love seat size, in your stateroom. ENJOY:D