Gallivanter'sGal

I hope they close in the Billboard area on the larger ships so the Rolling Stone can play their sets every 45 minutes instead of alternating with the Billboard.

We don't have gift cards with AARP, but we were told that we have to register every year for the AARP OBC to continue to receive it. We have been trying to do that since 1/1/24 and each time we have gotten an error message saying we exceeded the limit???? Has anyone had success re-registering for the OBC?

We took 5 HAL cruises this year on 3 different ships and we booked our tours in advance. We knew we had HIA shore excursion credits and other non-refundable OBC so we booked our tours and then went to the Shore Excursion desk once we arrived on board and they credited our on board account what we charged before boarding and then charged the tours to our non-refundable OBC. It was no problem, but it sometimes took a couple of days. Please note that if you have back to back cruises booked, they cannot see the tours for the 2nd or subsequent sailings until the day before each sailing.

We were on the Westerdam in Asia for 28 days (11/25 to 12/23). Our first meal at the Pinnacle was so bad we actually got up and left. I ordered the filet and it was tough and had zero taste. I flagged down the waiter and told him and his response was: "do you want to order something else?". I replied that I didn't, rather I wanted another filet. So he took away my plate and came back about 15-20 minutes later and put a dinner plate in front of me with only a piece of meat about half the size of the 8 oz steak. Nothing else on the plate. I asked if they had reheated my original steak, but I knew this couldn't be since the new "steak bite" was considerably smaller than the one they removed. I had only taken two small bites of the first steak. The response was: "well, this one is about 6 oz and was not your original steak". I was really surprised by this, but what the heck, I gave it a try. Of course by this time my sides were completely cold and they didn't bring replacements or even offer to do so. The steak was marginally better, but by then I was frustrated and my husband had finished his meal. He suggested we leave and skip dessert and that's what we did. Since we had the HIA, we had another included meal there so we did go back and it was at least editable, but nothing to write home about. Shame as it used to be something to look forward to.

Currently on the Westerdam and we had a big problem at Komodo Island where 4 and 5 state Mariners were not given any priority and HAL ended up not allowing most of the independent tour participants off the ship at all! It was a disaster. We have a cruise booked on the Oosterdam next September with 4 tender ports with only 6-8 hours in port which I think we will end up canceling.

I use hook magnets on the wall or ceiling (if the walls aren't magnetic) to hang mine. Works great

We're currently on the VOV cruise on the Zuiderdam and they now have the Classical Duo which consists of a pianist and cellist. They are playing 3 sets per day and rotate like the other groups. They are excellent so I hope they will be added to all of HAL's ships.

I say to each their own! For us, the zodiac rides and walking among the penguins, seals, etc was amazing. Once we were in the zodiac and a leopard seal popped his head out of the water a mere inches from the side of the boat and just stayed there for several minutes observing us...he was so close we could have reached over and touched him (but we wanted to keep our body parts intact so didn't of course). We were so close to the penguins that we were able to see their eggs/babies and watch them fend off the attacks from the predator birds wanting to steal the eggs/chicks. We observed cool standoffs on the "penguin highways" that could not be seen from a ship or in a zoo. We stopped at two research stations and were able to speak with the soldiers assigned there to learn about living in the isolation of these Antarctica stations. Was the cruising scenery spectacular? Yes it was. Was it amazing to be up close and personal with the wildlife and terrain? Yes it was. Would I do it again? Yes I would.

We sailed on the Seaborn Quest and were able to enjoy zodiac tours and landings. I would highly recommend, if possible, to select a cruise where you actually get on the ice vs the drive by.

We too would love to visit Cuba, but I also have a few itineraries I'd love to see HAL offer. NCL has a b2b for 29 days that goes from Doha to the Seychelles, then stops in Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Maruitius and down along southern South Africa to Cape Town. A few years ago, Celebrity offered a cruise that had 3 overnights in New Orleans during Jazz Fest and I am still regretting not booking that one, but I'd love to see HAL offer it! I also wish HAL would look at other, more off the beaten path itineraries that aren't "grand" voyages. We do mostly 28-35 day cruises which seems to be enough per sailing for us .

We buy Geo Blue and Allianz and have unfortunately used both. First time in Vienna with Geo Blue and we were directed to go to a hospital. They provided all of the information and called ahead so it was super simple. Fortunately it was not something serious. The second time was this past summer when we had a death in the family in the middle of a trip in France and Allianz paid for our travel to the funeral (and non refundable expenses) and back to resume our trip a week later.

You rent them where you arrive and we did not reserve in advance, but I'd suggest that you try to get off in the first hour or so. We went off to the left and stopped at the gravel road but we later spoke to someone who went to the very end and said it was great. Prior to the gravel road we stopped in several locations to snorkel and each location was excellent. After that we road past where we got the bikes until we decided to head back. If you go to the right there are beaches. To the left is more rocky.

We also took a bus to Tarquinia on our own from Civitavecchia which was fabulous. It's an ancient Etruscan city and is famous for its 200 painted toms dating back from the 7th century BCE.

We rented bikes and had a wonderful day. Took our snorkeling stuff with us and stopped in several places, parked our bikes and snorkeled from shore. I was one of our favorite stops!

We rented bikes, put our snorkel stuff in the basket and found our own snorkeling spots. It was great!!