rjbean4

3 hours ago, kathy49 said:

VERY sorry for the victims. I am wondering why they continue to sell this particular excursion when the track record is not good. This is not the first crash. I assume people have to sign a waiver but still maybe just give this a miss.

people involved booked this independently so was not through HAL.

3 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Won’t that depend on Canada?

That has been my thought regarding close friends that are booked in August out of Vancouver on NA. They have invited me to go with them as I lost my mom in early October and even before that we had canceled our Holiday cruise for this year on NS cause we just knew it wasn't going to happen and eventually was cancelled. I would of course love to go with our friends but have to see where things are at as that time gets closer and I also have to renew my passport.  Cruising for me just wont be the same without my mom.

I know I missed this and its likely posted somewhere but if the Veendam and Maasdam are headed to the Suez Canal where are they headed?

I wish we could get to family in Minnesota. They are out in the country and have a pool too. Time with them is what I am wishing for right now and where at some point I would rather be. I'm not so sure about our future cruising anyways and  not just because of the virus. I have thought too about doing other things besides cruising to see and do other things at some point.

6 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

 

Sorry, the poster wrote fall of 2021, I was just going by that.  Very well could have meant to type 2020....which is indeed cancelled.

Oops. My Bad as I didn't go back far enough in the thread to see it mentioned as 2021. Have had a lot of things on my mind lately cause of what has been going on with my mom and we have no family close by to us. I have literally said that I wish we were across the street from my niece where they are in MN. Oh they are away from where everything has been going on and in a pretty rural area. And I am a native Minnesotan myself.

9 minutes ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

Perhaps the poster meant that the 2020 Around Africa cruise was canceled which it has been.

That's what I was referring to. If this cruise is also happening in 2021 then I  was not aware of it.

1 hour ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I am afraid Holland America is not going to have any more cruises this year.

Not official yet so all we can do is wait and see.

We are booked for the Holidays in December as always but we have our doubts. When we get to final payment if it hasn't already been canceled I think we will be. This would really hurt as we have been cruising for the Holidays every year since 1988. That's 32 years in a row. I have told my mom that I have always known that there would come a time that we wouldn't go and if this is the year its more because of something happening that we didn't have any control over. I have mentioned in other posts that when the cruise lines can get their  ships  going again its going to be gradual and limited capacity. Some cruise lines have already announced at least starting with a limited number of ships. So there will be people that will lose their cruises because the ship they are supposed to be on isn't back in service yet.

5 hours ago, canoncruiser said:

Hi all, I’m booked on the ‘round Africa in the Fall of 2021-one port, the Seychelles has closed , so we’ll see about the others. There are many stops there that I would love to experience, even though I lived in Botswana for 3 years and saw much of there,  South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. Hope there is lot’s of interest but one never knows in the current situation of incredible uncertainty.🤔

Hope you are aware that this cruise has been canceled.

After all the crew have been through who are still on board this is shocking. Not their fault that they are stuck in this mess and the way the Philoppino crew are having to wait so long to be able to get off. With all the ships still sitting at Manila it doesn't look like the words of their  Prime Minister have done much to speed things up and when earlier today I saw a new video on my Facebook timeline show up featuring crew on the Noordam I did see someone we have known for a long time. Oh how I feel for them wanting to get off and be with their families. 

1 hour ago, YXU AC*SE said:

 

Current list of cancelled cruises -->   https://gohal.com/app/uploads/2020/05/Holland_America_Line_Cancelled_Voyages_050420.xlsx    Scott. 

That is the list of canceled cruises for sure and sounds right from what has been announced. Some people seem to think that all of the rest of 2020 has been canceled which is NOT the case. All we can do is just wait and see what happens for what is left of 2020 cruises that have NOT been canceled. Not just because of the pandemic but also now because of financial reasons and my moms health issues I think we have pretty much at this point decided that we won't be going for the Holidays in December which will be so disappointing since it has been our tradition to do so since Dec. 1988. But at the same time I have said that I have known that there would come a time that we don't go for some reason or another and this could be that year.  Our plan is to make the decision when our final payment is due. Our new travel agent is aware of this and already shared about going after getting our deposit back. With the plan that some cruise lines have announced as to how they are going to go about starting up when they can it does't look like it will be all ships at once and limited capacity as I have said in other posts. So as a result there will also be people that lose cruises at the time they have them booked cause their ship isn't sailing. Oh and President Trump has stopped people now coming from Brazil. Should have done this sooner.

On 5/22/2020 at 5:23 PM, Tennessee Titan said:

I thought Dec 2020 was THIS YEAR!

HAL has cancelled all 2020 cruises.

No they have not. All Alaska, Canada/New England, Europe and the Circle Africa cruise on the Amsterdam have been canceled but that is not all of the rest of 2020. There has been NO mention of fall Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Trans Canal cruises ETC yet at this time. Oh and I have also read that Trans Atlantic and Trans pacific cruises to Australia/New Zealand have been canceled.

We are booked for the Holidays in December but the feeling on our end is that we wont be going. We will make our decision when our final payment is due.Not just because of the pandemic but also financial and my moms health situation. AS it is she just spent 2 1/2 days in a hospital and came home yesterday. I was beyond terrified cause hospitals are not allowing visitors at least at this time. By final payment time  we will know more. When cruise lines do get going again so much has to happen. Ships could have limited capacity, not all ships will start back up from the start and will be gradual. Ports have to open back up, etc, etc. People that have cruises booked on ships that aren't sailing when they are scheduled to go will have their cruises canceled unless they can change to a ship that is. Ships will basically start back up where they are allowed to and when.

I figured this would happen when I saw it pop up when yesterday I was checking on what we have potentially developing off the east coast and the Bahamas. All the ships out in that area are certainly keeping a eye on things and will go accordingly. We are being told that this area of weather that could potentially develop into something will be moving away from us and the east coast. The area of concern is actually currently in the Florida Straits between Cuba and Florida accoding to the National Hurricane Center and  NOAA.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=2

I'm going to remember this when it comes to our decision later this year when it comes time for our final payment for our Holiday Cruise in December. Of course I have been reading hear about all the problems people are having getting their refund and the length of time  to get that money back which is money that could certainly be used for more important things right now. Our final payment is towards the end of September unless the date gets changed and we can do it closer to sailing. When we get to that time is when we will make our decision but we both feel even at this time there is a chance it won't happen. If we cancel at final payment we would avoid the hassle of what people have been putting up with. If this ends up happening it would be so gut wrenching for us as  we have been cruising with HAL for over 32 years which includes that we have been at sea for the Holidays on board a Dam Ship every year since 1988. With the latest round of cancellations  now effecting cruises into the fall, our plans for the Holidays could be next.

17 hours ago, sevenseasnomad said:

Thank you, Cooper.  Guess I'm holding out less and less hope for our July 4th cruise from Boston.  Should I give up hoping altogether and realize I won't be doing any B2B in Canada this year?  I was due to return to Boston on July 11th sailing from Montreal.

HI again. Glad we had the chance to meet while on the Nieuw Statendam over the recent holidays. 

Yeah stuck between a rock and a hard place. While we were on we booked our Holiday back on Nieuw Statendam for 20-21 in the same cabin. Nothing else in between cruising wise. But now because of this nagging virus we are not so sure even for our sailing in December. What we are planning to do is see where things are at when it comes to final payment time but even at this point we are both not optimistic that we will want to go even if the ship is scheduled to sail. Also due to mom's underlying health problems. I have said too that if we wanted to go see family in Minnesota we might have to drive and I would be the one doing all of it. I don't know where you are with your final payment but with so much having to happen its hard to say when ships will get going again. Ours is fortunately not till later this year but making our decision at final payment time will be the difference in our $200 deposit and thousands if we went ahead and made our final payment and didn't end up going canceling closer to sailing and yeah we always take the insurance. But its taking forever for the cruise lines to refund money to so many people and its that money which people really could use right now. Good luck with whatever happens. For us if we don't go it will be gut wrenching as we have been at sea for the Holidays 32 years in a row so we haven't been home since 1988 and I won't know what to do if we end up here at home this year and we have no family in our area. I remember before we started this Holiday cruising I would stay up and watch the festivities in Times Square on TV and then go to bed. For so many years it has been way more fun to be doing this on the ship.

2 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

John, just read on my newsfeed where NCL Escape employees weren't allowed separate cabins even though cabins are available. The article stated something about a certain class of employees?

Watch this video from Traveling with Bruce that I found on Youtube. He talks about  this. Also a Dr. on the Norwegian Gem that has apparently passed away. When I saw this and they have so many crew on two ships. Then I think of HAL and out of the 14 ships in the fleet, 12 of them are now involved with taking crew home. A much better situation for the crew to be more spread out. Way to go HAL.

2 minutes ago, Taters said:

Is it possible to cut and paste the article here?  I am not subscribed to WSJ.

Same here as I wish I could read it too.

12 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

I commend you for keeping the VHS format alive. 👍 We still have a DVD player that we use once every other year, but watching tape is awesome.

 

Just think. There's an entire generation that'll never understand, "Be Kind. Rewind."

Thanks. I have a lot of video since we have done a lot of cruising.  I just really want to keep all of it but in a newer format. One time I was in Best Buy and found a VCR/DVD combo and came home with it. Since then have slowly picked away at all the cruise video and other video to get it off the tapes. Because of having so much it would be very expensive if we had it done. So using the VCR/DVD combo Along with Pinnacle Dazzle software I am able to capture the video off of the VHS tapes. At that point its a MPEG video file and can also make DVD's so more current than the dated and space consuming VHS tapes. With the cruise video I started with the video that is the oldest. Oh and I have  the negatives for the pictures from all of these cruises too and want to do the same thing and I have a scanner to use to scan the negatives to digitize them. No deadline to get it all done and just something to pick away at. When I want to take a break there are other things to do and that includes a number of Lego Star Wars Kits that I have had  and have yet to do. One is the Millennium Falcon which is over 1,000 pieces.

When it cones to the generation thing I volunteer at a Y that we live very close to with the Tennis program and yes I do get to play. The person that teaches the classes did play professionally for a short period of time and is a lot of fun to be with. We have also hit it off because we both have a very strong interest in aviation as my dad flew for NWA for 31 years. He did so much more than just fly he carried a management pass. At one time was the youngest commercial pilot in the country and one of the first certified to fly the DC-10 for NWA. Back to the generation thing is that I have told the older kids in the classes we do about when we were their age we didn't have all the technology that we have today like cell phones, computers, Wi Fi, Blurtooth, and all the social media like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Face Time, Zoom, Etc. and it's like "Wow" to them.

See you are in Ft. Lauderdale. Hope you are OK since the virus has been more of a problem down in your area. For us, Pinellas County beaches will re open on Monday with strict guidelines and monitored by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Dept. so will see how it goes. I certainly hope I can get to my re scheduled Orthodontist appointment the end of May that was supposed to be the end of March. My mom also badly needs a haircut.

At this point there are no HAL ships at the anchorages in the Bahamas as all the ships that had been there are now en route going somewhere to take crew home. There is now a very large group of Carnival ships that have met up in that area to do crew transfers as they start doing the same thing to get crew home. It includes the 2 ships (Carnival Legend & Paradise) that sail from here at Port Tampa Bay. Both had been hanging around either docked over at Sparkman Warf (formerly known as Channelside) or out at the anchorage in the gulf that is west of the Skyway bridge.

My mom and I have been watching the videos from past cruises that we still have on VHS tapes as I have been working on capturing the video to convert to MPEG's and DVD's. Just finished another one from our 1991 Alaska cruise on the old Nieuw Amsterdam. Decided it was time to check on the ships off the west coast and those still in the Bahamas. When it comes to the remaining ships in the Bahamas there was another crew transfer and starting sometime earlier today they have all set out to get more crew home. According to the AIS for the ships on Marine Traffic,

Zaandam  - Rotterdam

Nieuw Statendam - Rotterdam

Zuiderdam - Cape Town

Rotterdam -  I think also Cape Town as her AIS says CPT

Not HAL but also in the area the Sky Princess is also headed to Rotterdam.

On the west coast there was another transfer involving the Westerdam, Noordam, Oosterdam, Koningsdam and the Seabourn Sojourn in All Saints Bay at Ensenada, Mexico. Maasdam wasn't involved in this one. The AIS for the Maasdam (PH MNL), Westerdam (Manilla Island) and the Noordam (Manilla)  indicate they are all headed to Manilla. Oosterdam appears to be heading to Puerto Vallarta (MX PVR) and Koningsdam is TBA as she now has non Asian crew on board. And speaking of we did see on the NBC national news at dinner tonight a story about the American crew still on board and HAL was a part of it. Sure hope they can figure something out. So with the ships that were still in the Bahamas now headed where they are there won't be any more sail aways  form Port Everglades till the fall. Hope all the ships and the crew on board now on the way home have a safe journey in doing so. I also like using https://www.cruisemapper.com/  as its just cruise ships and cruise lines are color coded with HAL being yellow.               

It can be hard to decide what to do. My mom and I have been cruising with HAL now for over 32 years. We started back on the old Nieuw A sailing from Tampa for Christmas in 1988. We have been at sea for the Holidays (both Christmas and New Years) every year since along with other cruises in between. When we have canceled which is a handful maybe at the most it has been due to financial reasons. Also dealing with the fact that my mom is 89 with underlying health problems. We had two cruises booked for October last year with the idea that we were going to do one or the other. As it turned out we didn't do either one of them and did nothing last summer/early fall. We did do the Holidays again and booked while on board for 20-21. This past year for the Holidays we were on board Nieuw Statendam when the virus was starting to heat up more in China. I remember seeing in on the news while we were on board. When it comes to going this year for 20-21 we will likely make our decision at final payment time.  Its possible that date could end up being closer to the sailing date so by then will have a better idea of where things are at. For us we also always take insurance. But with everything going on with people trying to deal with having their cruises canceled and the $$ involved that can be a lot of money that we all could use for other things that are more important right now.  Just look at what the cruise lines are having to do now to get crew home. Looks like more Asian crew is going to be transferred on to the Noordam from HAL ships off the west coast and the Seabourn Sojurn. I did read this on another thread but don't remember which one. Then also via a Facebook group I saw a post tonight that seems to indicate that there is another transfer going on involving the ships in the Bahamas and one of them (Nieuw Statendam I think) will be going Trans Atlantic. Back to our situation I know when we get to our final payment date is likely when we will make our decision for December. We would much rather deal with a $200 refundable deposit than thousands if we make  the final payment and then not end up going even though we would have the insurance. OMG if this were to happen I don't know what I would do with myself  as we have been on a HAL ship for the last 32 years in a row for the Holidays and we have no family in our area. We still don't know for sure and we won't for a while when the ships will actually be able to get back to cruising again and when they do it wont't be all at once which will cause more cancellations. Ports need to open back up. People need to be able to fly to get to the ships to get on them. Hotels need to open back up. Cruise lines will have to be able to get their ships ready to go again. Think about all the people that were caught up in the mess of trying to get off a ship and get home and if something flares up would you want to be stuck in that position.

Its was the OLD Nieuw A. She is pretty much gone by now and I also found a couple of pictures that made me cry that included after she had been beached and during the scrapping process. Thought of where our cabins had been during all the times we sailed on her and that part of the hull was gone. During this time staying at home I have gone back to transferring video off of VHS tapes to MPEG's and DVD's going back to our 90-91 holiday cruise when we bought our first video camera during a stop at St. Thomas. It sure has brought back memories that I want to preserve. I have what I need to do this as since we have so much would cost us a fortune to have someone else do it. She was our first HAL ship during all the years she was sailing from Tampa. Why the current Nieuw A is our ship today. Its been a very hard pill to swallow with all that has happened. We don't have any cruising plans till December for the Holidays but have said to mom that we may have taken our last cruise and we have been at sea for the Holidays every year since 1988. 32 years and counting. Will see how things go when the ships start sailing again because it sure doesn't appear that they will all start up at once and will be gradual. My mom is also 89 and has underlying health problems. We also don't have family in our area.

Oh I also read somewhere recently that the old Noordam and Westerdam are for sale.

1 hour ago, Ottawa traveller said:

Latest AIS shows Veendam meeting up with Seabourn Quest near British Virgin Islands and with Veendam's destination as Gibraltar. Nieuw Amsterdam's destination is now showing as Walvis Bay. Seabourn Quest is showing destination as Rotterdam.

I have noticed this also between the Veendam and Seabourn Quest. They are now done with the transfer that they had been doing and heading out again to where they are going next. Next destination listed on the AIS too.  As I have said before we just have to follow them on tracking websites to see where they are actually going. 

Regarding the ships on the west coast (Oosterdam, Westerdam, Noordam,  Maasdam and Koningsdam) I read in another thread thanks to a post from copper10-8 that there is going to be another crew transfer to the Koningsdam involving non Asian crew ( I think) but he did not go into any details.I don't remember the other thread that I found this on. So once again we just need to sit back and see where they go using the tracking websites. Marine Traffic doesn't always give the information we want to see. Cruise Mapper is just cruise ships, ferries, etc only and are color coded by cruise line (HAL is yellow) so I have also found this useful as when you zoom in enough it also gives the ship name.

1 hour ago, dobiemom said:

Clear your cookies/history. Works for me every time. 

Yes I have done this also to be able to read a article. Guess I was just hoping to get to it without doing it so will just come back to this after I clear cookies/history. See what is says about Caribbean ports. I mentioned copy and paste as there is a lot of it here anyways. Especially all the videos that are being done by the crew on the ships. I have shared some of them and just copied and pasted the link. Oh well. 

Yeah it would be nice if someone who has access to this article could somehow copy and paste it into this thread.

I have a feeling that our cruising could be over because of all of this. We don't have plans to cruise till December for the Holidays and has been our tradition to do so for 32 years and counting.Have told my mom that we may have done our last cruise and she has a tendency to agree. We are only under deposit at this time. Mom is 89 with underlying health problems. We are originally from Minnesota and have said that if we were to want to go see family we might have to drive. We are used to always flying cause my dad flew for NWA for 31 years. Due to the merge we are Delta people now. But now, who knows as its going to take a long time for the airlines to recover too just like everything else.

9 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Thanks for the update on the Nieuw Amsterdam, Volendam, and Veendam.  I check Marine Traffic, but once they are away from land, there usually isn't satellite coverage.

Also for sharing the #HAL STRONG videos.  I have seen several, and it does make us feel better to see some of those familiar faces.

 

 

Late night greeting from the opposite end of the county. I have found that I also like to use https://www.cruisemapper.com/ as its specific to cruise ships, ferries, etc. Also shows the name of the ship when zoomed in enough. HAL ships are Yellow. I have also just joined a Facebook group called Holland America Fans and that is also where I have found the videos.

#HALSTRONG