Derbie

Things changed again, and I think we found a Airbnb in the Waterloo area, that looks quite nice, and is reasonable. An apartment near the Shard. I hope this is a good spot, and we do much better than the airport.

I couldn't agree with you more; however, the issue is finding rooms that will sleep 3 in one room and 2 in another room, at a reasonable rate. Just as an example...Park Plaza Waterloo total one night/one room $567, Hampton by Hilton Waterloo...$592, Marlin Waterloo $664. The prices are for one room/one night. We need two rooms. So, we are looking at least on the low end...just under $1200 for two rooms for one night. As I stated in my original post, if it were up to my husband and myself. we would go straight to South Hampton and call it a day. Even the Hostel was (I believe) around $450 for the five of us in the room with at least three other people. If you can make a recommendation, I would much rather go and stay in Waterloo. I did note the Novotel is $476 per night, We can cancel our reservation with no penalty, I sincerely appreciate the assistance.

My DH and I were on a sailing Thanksgiving week. I had purchased a gift box of a delft blue cup and a small pack of coffee at the Dutch cafe, early on dis-embarkment day. When the staff rang it up, it had an 18% gratuity added to it. I have no issue whatsoever with tipping; however, I refuse to pay it on a souvenir/retail purchase. The staff couldn't remove the amount or refund my account. So, I went to guest services and asked for it to be removed from my account and left the package with them. They assured me it would be handled. When I got home and reviewed my statement it was still present. I called HAL, but the prompt only directs you to email and no option of speaking with anyone. It simply disconnects the call at the end of the recording. So, I sent an email to HAL around the end of November. On Jan 6th I received an email with a copy of my statement, asking which amount was in question? I had already disclosed this is in the first email. I did reply to them on the same day. We are now in May, and I have heard nothing. I have made multiple calls, and I am getting nowhere. I know $44 and some change is not a lot, but it is the point and it is my money. If I owed them, they would be threatening me with collections after all these months. I posted on their FB page, but have heard nothing. I am thinking of just asking Bank of America to disbute in my behalf. Can any of you kind souls, make any suggestions or directives? We are seasoned cruisers, and it was the first time on HAL. I liked the cruise a lot, but I am very disappointed with this. In fact, even with Covid slowing things down, I find five months to settle this situation, poor customer service.

Thank you one and all for your kind assistance! I will be posting several more questions very soon. I promise to try locate the answers, before I ask.

You could not have described it any better. Many thanks...,much obliged! Here is what we decided to do. We are lodging at a hotel at the airport. Honestly, our finances couldn't handle approximately $1200-$1500 for one night in the city proper, so early in our journey So, we are going to leave our luggage at the hotel, and head to the city. We will be staying in Paris 3 nights up on our return. We are going to be disembarking the ship in La Favre. My final hard "detective" work will be forthcoming. Once again; many thanks.

Thanks so very much! My husband had been looking at this very area. Was you cruise of the British isles?

Good morning, We have taken quite few cruises, but none abroad. I am hoping you all will bear with me, as I ask multiple questions on here (over the next few days). I feel like we have a lot of planning to do in a short amount of time. There will be 5 of us traveling. DH and myself. My sister and her two daughters...18 and 20 years old. We will have one full day before the ship sails in S. Hampton. The nieces really want to see London. We have been there before, so it is not so important to us, but they are truly wanting to go. A day in London is simply not enought to do anything. So, we are trying to decide if we should book a hotel near the airport, and drop luggage and go into the city, or head into London to a hotel and store luggage and set out? Our flight arrives at 7:40 on June 23rd (Friday) in Heathrow. So, what do you all recommend as the easiest way to handle our first leg of our journey? Any place you all recommend to lodge? Any area we should steer clear of when booking? I have noticed that many lodgings are severely limited on 3 people to a room. Best way to go into the city, if we choose this route? Honestly, all recommendations are welcome, and truly appreciated.

You are very welcome! We had been approached by quite a few people, and I thought based on the quotes we wouldn't find anyone for two hours for the amount we had. It was almost the last man that approached us before we left. I am not a good negotiator, but he knew we were offering all we had in Pecos, At one point, he wanted to change the price. I started to take the money back from him and he relented. Again, I am not aggressive, and we did tip nicely to the captain and the first mate. It was a great two hour cruise, and it was a very nice boat. Everyone had a great time. Best to you in your searching for the same type of deal!

Quick update on our Cabo visit a few days ago. We did get 2 hours on a very nice boat for eight people to the arch, and then whale spotting. $4040 pesos, as we had already exchanged funds in the US ahead of time. Approximately $240. We did give the captain and his first mate a good tip in US funds. Just an FYI, as most folks thought the amount was not a possibility. We had a great time, and spotted several whales.

I think we decided on Stone Island for our beach day. Can you advise which restaurant area you enjoyed the most? Also, have any idea on the cost of the wave runners? I think the grandkids would enjoy this. Many thanks!

What a great review! I read every last bit of it. Leaving on 3/25 for the same ports and on the same ship. Thanks

They asked as I entered the ship, and I told the truth. My husband advised he had been vaccinated, but they never asked him for any paperwork.

Many thanks for the information. As I stated in a post further below yours, my husband has had two heart attacks since 2020. He walks miles each day on his job, but I do worry about a hard climb. I may be mixing up the climb to the top; although, the other family members could take the walk and we could stay behind.

My husband has had two heart attacks since 2020. He walks a lot so I am not afraid of the walking, etc. But, I thought someone posted a picture of the walk to the lighthouse and it was quite a climb. Am I mixing this up with another spot? Thanks!

I sincerely thank you for taking the time to reply with this valuable information!

Thanks very much! I appreciate the information. I am going to try to visit them on a sea day.

Thanks! What kind of price range is JiJi's? Do you happen to know where the secret deck is located? I have an older screen shot of a post where the person was able to see the stars from an area in the secret deck. It is on my bucket list to see the milky way, etc.

Is it primarily an Asian type restaurant? I have seen people mention it, but I haven't really done a lot of digging into the specialty restaurants.

Originally, we were going to head to Stone Beach, but our grandson is very much interested in history; therefore, we have decided to do a walking tour of Mazatlan. The four grandkids would like to do one beach day. PV is our longest day in port. We have Uber, so we can call cars for us to go back and forth; however, we don't mind walking if there is one not too far away. Is there a nice safe beach, that we can go to, and pay to eat and drink and get chairs, restrooms? I really don't want to pay $119 pp through Carnival for a day pass to a resort. I know there will be people selling trinkets, but hey...that is MX. So, I am hoping you all can kindly make some recommendations. Thanks to all!

I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions. We sail next week as well. We are flying from Nashville, and going to Knotts before the cruise. I would like to first ask what you did while you were in port? We have a few things planned, but still open to suggestions. DH and myself have been there several times in advance, but the other travelers have not. There are 8 people in our group. Grandparents, our son and his family. I may think of more, so I hope you will bear with me. I also want to eat the seafood restaurant! Wanting a good lobster roll! Jiji's is on my list for lunch. Any show you recommend we don't miss? Thanks in advance!

We have a late flight home, and I was wondering if anyone had an idea on when they kick out the last people off the ship? We are arranging transportation and want to plan accordingly. Sailing the Panorama out of Long Beach in a few weeks. Thanks to anyone who may know.

I was able to finally get seatings for the last day of the cruise. Yee Haw!

Thanks to everyone! I will pass along the information to all that are sailing. There are three teens in the group, so I was hoping the Hub would be an option, at a reasonable price.

The wording on the website is a little confusing, so I am going to ask here. Is the cost of chat only; $5 per day per user or $5 per user for the entire 7 days? We are not interested in the regular internet service as there are 8 of us traveling. We will try to grab usage somewhere in port. Thanks so much,

Many thanks. I will check them out. I had looked at uber prices last night, but I think I it was rush hour in LA,as the cost for Uber XL Knotts to the port was around $185 for one vehicle.