We are on the Westerdam for 28 days in January when the NFL playoffs are played. Some of the Vista class HAL ships have Jumbo TV screens poolside. I can't find a definitive answer to if Westerdam has one. Have any of you been on it recently that can answer this? Thanks.
We have cruised several different cruise lines but will soon cruise the first time on HAL. We have a few questions regarding their operations: 1. We have med. advantage PPO with worldwide coverage for emergencies. Has anyone had to use medical services onboard? Will they submit the bill to your insurance comp or must you pay them and then put a claim in? 2. (more trivial question) I see HAL has 2 tier dining with the upper level often restricted to fixed dining. I assume this varies by ship, # or pax choosing fixed, etc. Have any of you with open/as you wish dining gone to the upper level? Do they let you in or politely ask you to go to the lower level? 3. Club Orange upgrade was sold out when we booked. Is that common? What is your experience with how soon after the booking is offered does it sell out? Thanks for any experiences you share.
I've been trying to figure out why the mag hooks slide down the cabin walls sometimes. When they are rated at 50# and they slide at 5-7#. So the explanation I received is that the rating is if you pull it straight away from the wall. Sliding down the wall is rated at 10-30% of the pull off weight. Mystery solved. So, if I put them on the ceiling they will support 50# as rated. My question is: has anybody done this? If so, is it unsightly (vs. wall hanging)? I'm trying to envision several things dangling from the ceiling and think it might be kind of ugly. Even if it's only a few heavy items, does it work for you? Thanks for any experience with this.
I have been frustrated the last few years with the change in the operating model for shore excursions through Viator/Shore Excursions Group/Get Your Guide, etc. Not that long ago when you saw an excursion that you liked, the price was the price you paid. In the last few years that has changed. Now they (almost) all vendors put "from" before the price and the price jumps dramatically when there's just two of you. I understand this is much less work for them as they shift the burden of forming a group onto the pax, but it is a pain. Have you come up with any workarounds, or other ways to deal with this other than to start posting requests for those who might be interested in that excursion? Thanks in advance for sharing any experiences.
We've always used Costco for booking cruises. We like the few perks added but love the Costco shopping cards they give for every cruise (several hundred to even a couple thousand). But we never tried to use them as TAs. Has anyone had experience asking the Costco Travel agents to do things an independent TA would do? Has anyone used both a good TA and Costco and can offer an opinion of how they compare? Thanks.
Although we've cruised fairly often on many different lines, this will be our first on HAL. I get conflicting information when asking about HAL embarkation process. Do they assign timed windows still? What tiers are used? How strictly do they reinforce the process rules? Thanks for any definitive information you can provide.