cruiseaholic78

Not sure how old the kids are but in this digital age and if you go to Cadiz they might enjoy this. I know our kids did. https://www.torretavira.com/en/what-is-a-camera-obscura/ Happy planning

Agree with all of the above but to me the most important thing is to book non stop direct flights. Spitting flights might seem the way to go but adds on quite a lot of extra waiting time as well. We flew back from Australia to The Netherlands 5 hours wait in Tokyo 5 hours wait in Frankfurt and even the luxury of business class lounges gets boring when all you want is to get home. When/if booking and you decide to book P.E. Make sure it is a proper premium, some airlines have economy comfort which is just a little extra recline and nothing near real P.E. Look at each airline and check the fotos and seat plans first. Have a great cruise and enjoy Asia it is definitely worth the long flights.

Welcome to CC, now you have found it you may want to join your roll call for your sailing. The link is shown below, here you can also discuss things with your fellow cruisers. Have a great cruise.

We will be sailing on N.S. From Rotterdam, no flights booked however we (would be) are able to book transfers see attached. The transfers can be booked separately wether you have booked with Flightease or not, I think this is exactly what the Op is looking for.

Not sure about this, all HAL requires is a collared shirt and long trousers, we have never taken a jacket, never taken one on Oceania either! Did you do a search for dress code Oceania? there are so many threads on that. Have a great cruise.

I have no idea if you are interested in history but we took a trip to Lamanai when we were in Belize. It involved a river trip and then a visit to an ancient pyramid, this one has not been completely reclaimed and pristine like Chichen Itza so you get an idea of how amazing the discovery was. We had a meal there and heard howler monkeys however we saw the local guides were actually making the sounds! No idea if your cruise line offers an excursion but if they do it was one of our highlights. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g291968-d5452919-Reviews-Lamanai_Belize_Tours-Belize_City_Belize_District.html Happy planning

I had hoped for the (fresh stuff too) but the little letters say no.

This is a translation from an article in a Dutch Maritime newspaper De Schuttevaer. OVV investigates fatal accident on cruise ship Holland America Line The Safety Research Council (OVV) is investigating an accident on a Holland America Line cruise ship, in which two crew members were killed on Friday. Two OVV employees traveled to the Caribbean, where the accident happened, the council said.

Why not book an hotel next to the cruise terminal, take a taxi from the airport to your hotel and walk to the cruise ship on embarkation day? I would first of all check the price for the HAL hotel booking, it is usually priced per person instead of per room. See if it is worth the price difference and then check the hotel for their checkout times. HAL seems to have dropped staggered boarding times (read on CC here not yet verified myself) and allow it after 12:00.

Good to know but on our 28 days cruise last October it was on the menu (nearly) every night, no need for a special order.

I sincerely hope not, bread pudding reminds me of school dinners (UK) and was never a favorite of mine! That said I have been following the menus on the Nieuw Statendam as we will be sailing on her next month and been very sorry to see hardly any fruit crisp offerings. I hope you have not been influencing the chefs on HAL to replace my beloved fruit crisp with your beloved bread pudding. I might even need to put in a special request with of course double portion of creme anglais instead of ice cream (have to watch my weight).

We are booked for this October, to be honest for us the only real advantage is booking a guarantee and then buying C.O. to upgrade to the cabin of our choice. The price difference was not worth it for this cruise as the upgrade is the only real value for us and there are not as many (other) advantages with this ship versus the Pinnacle class ones. If you have already booked and paid it could be interesting for an upgrade otherwise all you get is OBC. https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/activity-types/dining/club-orange/Club_Orange_Benefits.pdf

Yes I just realised that and was looking for a more up to date version, you beat me to it! Rosalyn

Maybe this will help. https://www.space-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Avoiding-Stairs-on-the-Tube2.pdf Rosalyn

We were on the Westerdam 28 days Asia in October 2023 and on embarkation day we were (of course) sent to the Lido for lunch. I actually went down to the MDR to check and it was definitely closed. I didn’t quite understand this thread as I am sure this has been discussed previously but as I couldn’t find it I didn’t bother to answer.