picking brains again; some HAL questions

[newmexicoNita]

ok to all of you HAL loyalist and anyone else. I now have a few more questions. Yes, we are going to do the canal in November but would like some opinions of things.

 

Any idea the price of alcohal on board?

 

Anyone bring their own on to consume in the cabin?

 

Is the specialty restaurant on the Amsterdam worth the cost and what is it? The website says $20 but I don't know how updated this is?

 

Other than the usual like gratuities, casino and Bingo what are the other extra charges and are they worth the cost?

 

Thanks everyone. Hope we see some of you on the Amsterdam.

 

NMNita

[K&RCurt]

ok to all of you HAL loyalist and anyone else. I now have a few more questions. Yes, we are going to do the canal in November but would like some opinions of things.

 

Any idea the price of alcohal on board?

 

They typically hava a "Cocktail of the Day" special at $4.75 and a "Martini of the Day" special at $5.75. Other drinks are in the $6.00 - $9.00 range. Wine runs the gamut from affordable to very expensive, more than you would pay on land certainly.

 

Anyone bring their own on to consume in the cabin?

 

Judging by some of the posts I have to say some people do. It is not "allowed" by HAL however, except for wine. You can have your own wine in your cabin for no additional charge but there is a $15.00 corkage fee if you want to bring it to the DR.

 

Is the specialty restaurant on the Amsterdam worth the cost and what is it? The website says $20 but I don't know how updated this is?

 

I believe that the specialty restaurants are the same fleet-wide. it is called the Pinnacle grill and is a "Premium Steakhouse" type. They offer several cuts of beef, lamb chops and a few seafood dishes. The cost is $20.00pp and IMO is well worth it for at least 1 night.

 

Other than the usual like gratuities, casino and Bingo what are the other extra charges and are they worth the cost?

 

Gratuities will be added to your ship account. You can go to the from office and modify them idf you wish. One note, if you lessen or remove the auto tip, any cash tips you give to the DR waiters or room sterward will have to be turned in and pooled. I can't think of anything on HAL that is extra cost that is not on other lines also.

 

Thanks everyone. Hope we see some of you on the Amsterdam.

 

NMNita

 

Hope you have a great time

[newmexicoNita]

Hope you have a great time

K&R, thanks, this is just the type of information we need. let me see if I have this straight? The $10 per day I understand and think it is the best way to handle gratuities. It is so much easier than to figure out all the $$ and Cents stuff. I also understand about adjusting, but if we want to give extra to someone or more than someone I assume we can without them needing to pool it? Correct? That is what we always do on NCL. We usually have a couple of the crew that seem to go above and beyond for us.

 

NMNita

[Sayyadina]

We gave cash to various staff and crew the last day on board. That is in addition to the $10/person/day that they automatically added to the shipboard account. We gave cash to our dining room people, our room steward, a very nice/cool guy at the Lido pool, and our favorite bartenders in the Crow's Nest.

 

As for booze, we thought the prices for mixed drinks was very high. However, we found the bottles in the ship's store to be a good deal as compared to the prices at home (Maryland and Pennsylvania).

[K&RCurt]

I also understand about adjusting, but if we want to give extra to someone or more than someone I assume we can without them needing to pool it? Correct? That is what we always do on NCL. We usually have a couple of the crew that seem to go above and beyond for us.

 

NMNita

 

If you keep the auto tip in place any additional cash tip can be kept by the person you give it to.

 

It was our experience on the Westerdam that everyone we happened upon went "above and beyond" so we gave additional cah tips to the DR waiters and our cabin steward as well as added to our "autotip" to be pooled.

[newmexicoNita]

We gave cash to various staff and crew the last day on board. That is in addition to the $10/person/day that they automatically added to the shipboard account. We gave cash to our dining room people, our room steward, a very nice/cool guy at the Lido pool, and our favorite bartenders in the Crow's Nest.

 

As for booze, we thought the prices for mixed drinks was very high. However, we found the bottles in the ship's store to be a good deal as compared to the prices at home (Maryland and Pennsylvania).

Can you buy a bottle and bring it back to your cabin? I know a couple of lines have discontued this practice. NMNita

[RuthC]

Can you buy a bottle and bring it back to your cabin? I know a couple of lines have discontued this practice. NMNita

If you buy from the ship's store they will keep it and deliver it the last night. If you want liquor for your cabin you may either purchase it in advance from Ship's Services, or buy it on board from either a bar or room service.

If you purchase it on board for consumption on board there will be the 15% service charge added. If you purchase it while in Florida waters there will also be that state's sales tax.

[newmexicoNita]

If you buy from the ship's store they will keep it and deliver it the last night. If you want liquor for your cabin you may either purchase it in advance from Ship's Services, or buy it on board from either a bar or room service.

If you purchase it on board for consumption on board there will be the 15% service charge added. If you purchase it while in Florida waters there will also be that state's sales tax.

Thanks Ruth, That is pretty much what others are doing. We usually order 1 bottle in our room from Ships services. We will also bring a few bottle of wine on for consumption in the cabin. I know we sound like a bunch of alcies, but not really. I will admit we might try bringing a bottle on in our luggage as well, but I didn't say that you understand....We do like a drink either at the bar or in our room before dinner and always purchase a bottle of wine with dinner or a glass. When I am with my DD the martini bar becomes our hangout, with DH and the friends we are going with this won't be true. They are just old foggies who did their drinking back in the 60s. lol NMnita

[xpcdoojk]

Hey Nita

 

We did our first HAL cruise last November, and we picked up wine before we embarked, and bought wine while in ports on the cruise. We, also preordered a bottle of Gin and a bottle of Vodka which came with a few cans of tonic and a couple of bottles of champagne for sailaway celebrations. If you like a lime in your cocktails you might want to pick up a few at a grocery store before you sailaway, as limes were impossible to find on the ship we could find lemons and oranges, but no limes.

 

jc:D

[jascruise]

If you like a lime in your cocktails you might want to pick up a few at a grocery store before you sailaway, as limes were impossible to find on the ship we could find lemons and oranges, but no limes.

 

jc:D

 

A G&T or V&T without lime is simply barbaric. We've found that tipping any bartender a buck or two will yield an ample supply.

[Green4me]

You want to talk about barbaric, how can you drink a corona with out a lime:confused:

[MikeT718]

K&R, thanks, this is just the type of information we need. let me see if I have this straight? The $10 per day I understand and think it is the best way to handle gratuities. It is so much easier than to figure out all the $$ and Cents stuff. I also understand about adjusting, but if we want to give extra to someone or more than someone I assume we can without them needing to pool it? Correct? That is what we always do on NCL. We usually have a couple of the crew that seem to go above and beyond for us.

 

NMNita

 

Hi NewMex we talked over at the NCL board welcome to the HAL boards..One thing that Dw and myself did for extra tipping was we bought some phone cards and gave them out, for those who went above and beyond and they really liked the idea...Have a great time doing the canel and I hope I get to do it in a couple of years:)

[newmexicoNita]

You want to talk about barbaric, how can you drink a corona with out a lime:confused:

We offered the same advise on another board; if you don't want to bring the lime on do what I did: bring one of those limes filled with juise. That, probably works better.

 

NMnita

[newmexicoNita]

You want to talk about barbaric, how can you drink a corona with out a lime:confused:

We offered the same advise on another board; if you don't want to bring the lime on do what I did: bring one of those limes filled with juise. That, probably works better.

 

NMnita

[newmexicoNita]

You want to talk about barbaric, how can you drink a corona with out a lime:confused:

We offered the same advise on another board; if you don't want to bring the lime on do what I did: bring one of those limes filled with juise. That, probably works better.

 

NMnita

[newmexicoNita]

Hi NewMex we talked over at the NCL board welcome to the HAL boards..One thing that Dw and myself did for extra tipping was we bought some phone cards and gave them out, for those who went above and beyond and they really liked the idea...Have a great time doing the canel and I hope I get to do it in a couple of years:)

I know we will have a great time; the price is a little mind bogling as the government taxes are about 3 to 4 times more than any other itinerary not to mention the port charges. Guess we will live a very simple life on HAL if DH can keep me away from the casino. As for the phone cards, I have heard about doing this before; we may get a few and give them to those who do go above and beyond. There are always some that do. I have a feeling HAL will soon become our 2nd favorite cruise line. LOL

 

Nita

[xpcdoojk]

A G&T or V&T without lime is simply barbaric. We've found that tipping any bartender a buck or two will yield an ample supply.

 

I made the mistake of tipping my room steward and the other couples room steward when mine failed, they both failed.:o :D Yeah we couldn't even find limes in South America in the stores. It was like an entire continent without limes. It was very surprising!

 

jc

[sailorbill]

Bringing wine or booze on board is possible if done in small quantities and discretely. I have done it on nearly every cruise without a problem. Hauling several cases of brew to the gangway with a hand truck is frowned upon and is cause for confiscation until the end of the cruise.

 

Just don't do what I saw an unfortunate passenger do in St. Thomas.

He was carrying a paper shopping bag by the handles that contained a couple of bottles of hard liquor and one or two bottles of chilled wine.

As you know St. Thomas is hot and humid.

Chilled bottles of wine will sweat.

Paper bags are not very strong when wet.

Sure enough, just as he approached the gangway the bottom of the paper bag gave way and all the bottles crashed to the pier and broke.

Mixing booze and wine on hot asphault makes a malodorous dizzying hazardous mess.

It was very funny because it happened to someone else.

The lesson is to be careful as well as discrete.

[bruceh4]

Bringing wine or booze on board is possible if done in small quantities and discretely. I have done it on nearly every cruise without a problem. Hauling several cases of brew to the gangway with a hand truck is frowned upon and is cause for confiscation until the end of the cruise.

 

I have to disagree with this statement. On my last cruise a couple showed up at the terminal with a hand truck with 4 cases of wine. They boarded with no problem at all, hand truck, wine and all!:)

[hammybee]

I have to disagree with this statement. On my last cruise a couple showed up at the terminal with a hand truck with 4 cases of wine. They boarded with no problem at all, hand truck, wine and all!:)

 

Wine is Ok. Beer is no good with or without a hand truck.

[Navy_Chief]

Can you buy a bottle and bring it back to your cabin? I know a couple of lines have discontued this practice. NMNita

 

On Rotterdam, my DW purchased a "Package" from the Crow's Nest which consisted of a bottle of Bicardi Rum and 5 cokes which were delivered to the cabin for consumption through the cruise (she thought I might want that, it's the thought that counts). I don't recall the cost and I'm sure it wasn't cheap, needless to say, I didn't finish it (not even close) so I gave it back to my favorite bartenders in the Crow's Nest to be consumed at the next "Crew's Party" which they did according to his e-mail I received later on.

[bruce-r]

I have to disagree with this statement. On my last cruise a couple showed up at the terminal with a hand truck with 4 cases of wine. They boarded with no problem at all, hand truck, wine and all!:)

I have to think that this was a longer than 7 day cruise or they were with a wine club.

 

Wine is Ok. Beer is no good with or without a hand truck.

Beer discrimination, that's what that is.:mad: