Getting nervous here...

[IRL_Joanie]

I think you will enjoy your cruise with HAL as we did and we are in our mid to late 30's. DW and I went on our 1st ever cruise with HAL last April on the Noordam and never had any issues with me smoking on the veranda. There are several other locations on the ship that you are allowed to smoke as well and I did in those areas and no one ever said a word about it. The only tip I can add is to take an ashtray with you packed in your luggage. Since the staterooms are a non smoking area they don't have them in the rooms. I never bothered to look for an extra ashtray around the ship since I took one with me. Our stateroom attendants always made sure that is was empty and clean for me since I let them know that I was smoking on the veranda. I just put a book over top of the ashtray after making sure the smoke was out to ensure that the ashes and butts didn't blow away when not out on the veranda.

 

Enjoy your honeymoon!!!:)

No need to bring your own asdhtray. The room steward will happily get you one that is absolutely great. There is no chance of ashes blowing around with the one they will bring you.

 

Click on the photo to see the ash tray better:

 

 

Joanie

[cruz chic]

Actually I had a long explanation about the fake cougher on the balcony next to ours, but I deleted it before I hit send.

 

Long story short... every time she stepped out onto her balcony, she would make this little, "k" sound repeatedly. My dh and I don't smoke cigarettes. There was no reason to cough because one or both of us were out there. BUT she reeked of perfume and stunk us out every day before dinner.

Maybe she just makes weird sounds or she's chocking on her perfume:D. I just find the fake cough comment a little silly but that's me.

[sevenseasnomad]

Hi Val,

We're on this cruise with you. I understand your nervousness. I'm a 3-star Mariner, DH & DS are 2-star; however the other people traveling with us are first time cruisers. I feel a certain responsibility for 6 people because I raved about HAL. Taking my advice, they all booked. Will they all love HAL as much as we do? Guess I shouldn't feel personally responsible, but I do.

 

All I can tell you is that our son, who was 23 for his first Holland America cruise, didn't want to go becaue he'd heard so much about HAL being for "old people." We more or less forced him to go because we couldn't leave him at home as he has Asperger's. Within 24 hours after boarding, he'd met up with a group of 20-30 somethings, about 40 of them. We rarely saw him, maybe at meals; he was having such a marvelous time with his new friends. You have to understand that he is not very sociable, just one of the aspects of Aserger's. I can't tell you how much it warmed our hearts to see our son accepted by this group of young people.

 

He has been sold on HAL ever since, to the point that this cruise his BFF will be joining him. The BFF is one of the new HAL cruisers in our party.

 

Just relax. Enjoy. And I truly hope you don't stay in your room the whole time. We were looking forward to meeting you. We have rented one of the family cabanas, so you'll probably find us there. Looking forward to seeing you. To book a cabana, call ship's services. You'll find that number on HAL's web site.

 

Just an FYI: You mentioned possibly booking with another line. If you cancel this close to the cruise, you'll lose a good portion of your money.

[kamac56]

HE HE HE I am jumping in on this one. Finally one that is not NEGATIVE!

I found on the cruises I have been on if I am curteous to the non-smokers such as, my neighbors do not smoke I try to smoke when they are not on their balcony, if they come out I put it out. Plus, I have been married for 35 years so that gives me a chance to go to the smoking area and have ALONE time! ;)

Really though I have only had one negative experience with smoking on a ship and it was handled by security. On our last cruise we met a number of awesome people at the smokers table in the pool area and are friends with them still. One of the things I found on my first cruise was I worried about everything from food to room to excursions etc, than I worried about my kids, my hubby, my animals etc etc etc and when I returned I was annoyed with myself because I spent more time worrying about everything else that fell into place than I did enjoying my vacation. never again, now I dont worry about what my hubby wears, what room we have, the food etc. I JUST PLAIN ENJOY CRUISING :D:D:D

[sammygoose]

Val, for what it's worth you will be just fine!

Smokers- on our NA cruise we identified the starboard portion of the aft deck as smokers central. It was their place and almost empty at night. The casino and sports bar had a few. On the Eurodam the casino/sports bar was more restricted and not annoying at all. Truthfully the smell of smoke was minimal. The aft pool seaview area where you can smoke at night was empty and relaxing looking up at the stars-both ships. We has smokers on one side of us on the Eurodam and you'd hardly know they were there. If fact we probably scared them off with all of our wine drinking and talking on our balcony!

I am pretty sure you will have a great time from what you have shared about your expectations. We are in our 40's and fit right in like an old shoe. I wish I had better words. I researched my first cruise and had a list of CC things that we needed and showed the list to my parents (HAL vets), they laughed because the reality vs the stuff I was reading was like night and day. They do admit I had some good insider tips but for the most part 90% of my worries were unfounded. I agree.

I think it's all about balance, and I wish I had the experience of my first cruise before I actually took it- all of your concerns would fade away.

Please bear in mind that HAL has the highest return rate of any cruise line so they must be doing something right.

We can be a pretty fierce and loyal bunch because you know what? I think it comes from a caring place- we love it and either don't want the good things to change or we care enough to want to change some things for the better because at in the end we love these place we can call home.

[momatibm]

I am not a smoker -- however I grew up in a house of smokers -- I am the only one that didn't smoke. That being said, my DH likes a cigar. Actually introduced to cigars on the Maasdam.:rolleyes:

 

He doesn't smoke a cigar on the balcony -- we go to the aft and he has one there.

 

We sit out there in the breeze and chat. After 45 years of marriage we still have things to chat about.:rolleyes:

[itzmered]

just remember less than 5% of cruisers every post on cruise critic, go have fun and dont worry about it

[VallyD]

Hi Val,

We're on this cruise with you. I understand your nervousness. I'm a 3-star Mariner, DH & DS are 2-star; however the other people traveling with us are first time cruisers. I feel a certain responsibility for 6 people because I raved about HAL. Taking my advice, they all booked. Will they all love HAL as much as we do? Guess I shouldn't feel personally responsible, but I do.

 

All I can tell you is that our son, who was 23 for his first Holland America cruise, didn't want to go becaue he'd heard so much about HAL being for "old people." We more or less forced him to go because we couldn't leave him at home as he has Asperger's. Within 24 hours after boarding, he'd met up with a group of 20-30 somethings, about 40 of them. We rarely saw him, maybe at meals; he was having such a marvelous time with his new friends. You have to understand that he is not very sociable, just one of the aspects of Aserger's. I can't tell you how much it warmed our hearts to see our son accepted by this group of young people.

 

He has been sold on HAL ever since, to the point that this cruise his BFF will be joining him. The BFF is one of the new HAL cruisers in our party.

 

Just relax. Enjoy. And I truly hope you don't stay in your room the whole time. We were looking forward to meeting you. We have rented one of the family cabanas, so you'll probably find us there. Looking forward to seeing you. To book a cabana, call ship's services. You'll find that number on HAL's web site.

 

Just an FYI: You mentioned possibly booking with another line. If you cancel this close to the cruise, you'll lose a good portion of your money.

 

I have so much to respond to but before I fall asleep I wanted to address this. I am not concerned about older cruisers at all! In fact, it will be a nice reprieve from what I've experienced on carnival :eek:

 

I just don't want them to look down on me.... sensitive...yes, I am, but I was raised to be respectful and thoughtful for what it's worth.

[SwissMyst]

......

I just don't want them to look down on me.... sensitive...yes, I am, but I was raised to be respectful and thoughtful for what it's worth.

 

Keep in mind these ships have well over a thousand to two thousand other passengers, all going off in different directions, doing different things at different times.

 

You may not even see the same people twice and vice versa. Or recognize them again when you do. Think of the last time you were in a group of over 1000 people - being on board ship will be a lot like that - pretty anonymous.

 

No one is organized enough to look down at anyone else and all you have to do is look down on them for looking down at you. ...... (ad nauseum). Get the picture? However, everyone is on board to have a good time ... and so will you. I would only caution about thinking someone is looking down at you.

 

Most of the time we are just looking for an empty table or a place to sit in the sun. Plus we don't hear or see so well either any more, so sometimes if you talk to us, we simply can't hear you.

 

This can often happen in the elevator and especially with young women's voices -- so soft and we are embarrassed to ask you to talk louder or repeat yourself. It isn't rudeness on our parts; just frailties taking their toll.

 

I have been on a cruise line that is a little snootier, but this is definitely not HAL - they seem to go out of their way to welcome new cruisers. We are great team players and proud of anyone who also falls in love with HAL ships.

 

You will have a lot of fans here waiting for your post-cruise report so for now, just pack and repack until it is just right and learn as much as you can about the ports you will visit so you can enjoy every moment.

 

If you forget something, there will be stores and shops along the way. And even if you don't read up on your ports, there will lectures onboard before every port that touch their highlights.

 

Bon voyage.

[Wakepatrol]

May I suggest booking the Thalassotherapy pool for your cruise. I think you'll enjoy it. Have a wonderful cruise.:)

[lovetocruise2020]

Well all I got out of the live chat was that yes, msEurodam does have cabanas. Sent an email to Guest Services, I'll let ya'll know what I find out :)

 

They are booked over the phone with guest services and are the best money we ever spend.

 

If I had to choose a cabana on HMC or a VILLA on HMC or a cabana on the ship, I would take one on the ship ANY day.

 

We also order our liquor on the ship through the same ship services.

 

Email has been a little show in my experience.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I was speaking of those who wear black stretch pants and a K-mart blouse. Not nicely dressed slacks and a truly dressy blouse. I should have been more clear. My apologies. :o

 

I understand....no harm done.:) I just wanted to be sure I was wearing something that long time cruisers would consider acceptable....I don't want to be ignorant of what is right or wrong......

And yes, I have seen stretch pants and k-mart blouses on women, but not on the one HAL cruise I have taken. Everybody seemed to dress very nicely on the HAL Alaska cruise. I admit I didn't see many long gowns, but we ate early (5:30) and maybe the truly "formal" folks didn't eat till later.

Thanks for your input and expertise here, it is appreciated.

[hal lover]

May I suggest booking the Thalassotherapy pool for your cruise. I think you'll enjoy it. Have a wonderful cruise.:)

 

 

This the best advise ever!! Do try it! It's WONDERFUL!:)