Heidi13

13 hours ago, cruising sister said:

I found out from a mild scolding from a captain that the correct direction is counter clockwise while walking on a ship. Ever since that encounter when I see an errant walker I think to myself you are going to get a talking to. 
 

There are no jogging signs on the  Volendam due to rooms below it. Unfortunately some choose to ignore that. They sneak and  jog early in the morning which only makes it worse. 

That is the accepted standard on all ships I worked on.

20 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I bring this up on the HAL board as they have promenades on all ships.  There is limited space please consider common courtesy.FOR EARLY MORNING WALKING. The American standard, which applies to walking etiquette ,is move on the right, pass on the left.  Please move into the right lane.  If you notice you are contra flow turn around and go with the flow.  End of rant. 
 

News - on both the Oosterdam and Koningsdam the No Jogging signs have been removed 

I have booked a cruise on a Dutch flagged ship that will not cruise anywhere close to the United States. At present, our roll call is about 50/50 from UK/Canada/Australia and USA. On a foreign-flagged cruise ship, with multiple nationalities, I having difficulty why you would expect me, as a non-American, to follow your standard while enjoying my daily walks.

Surely, since the World has different standards, it should be based on the majority of the pax, which is what I have always done in 40 + years of cruising.

2 hours ago, simplelife said:

If you book your excursion through the ship, they will get you back in time or the ship will wait for you. 

When booking Shore-ex, there is no guarantee the Master will delay departure for late arriving tours. While the Master will endeavour to delay for late shore-ex, operational requirements such as wind, tides, longshoremen, berth space, time to make next port, etc. take priority.

On 1/12/2024 at 1:24 AM, MillyDM said:

Hello @Lvntrvl
I don't have experience on the three ships you're considering, but I've just finished an Antarctica cruise on Silversea's Endeavor ship (200 guests - size), and it was fine through the Drake Passage.
I'm sure that all of the ships that are used for Antarctica cruises are special vessels built for ice and rough seas.
In our case, Silverseas's Endeavor is a state-of-the-art modern ship, and thanks to the stabilizers, the Drake shake with 6-meter waves was tolerable. 
In my opinion, picking a ship that you like is key, given you'll spend 100% of your time on it. hope this helps in your decision. Milly

All vessel operating in Antarctica are not special vessel built specifically for those waters. When designing a ship, the owner specifies a hull classification from the Classification Society that sets the design criteria and limits the operational waters.

The IMO sets Polar Classifications from PC-1 to PC-7, with PC-1 ships capable of operating year round in Polar waters. PC-7 ships can only operate in Summer/Autumn in thin 1st year ice and PC-6 ships can operate Summer/Autumn in medium 1st year ice. Most of the current expedition ships have a PC-6 classification, with at least 1 of the smaller ships being PC-5, if I recall correctly.

The larger ships, such as all 3 mentioned by the OP, I suspect are Category C ships with nothing more than Baltic ice class, or equivalent. Basically they can operate in waters with bergy bits, but cannot enter ice.

Ships with > 500 pax cannot send anyone ashore in Antarctica.

On 2/24/2024 at 1:32 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

It's looks like Grand Princess does Inside Passage one way, open ocean west of Vancouver Island coming back. So you would be exposed to the possibility of rougher seas. No way to predict if they will, or won't actually be rough. 

 

I think Koningsdam would be your best choice for all things considered across that variety of pax.

Based on the Princess map, I agree they show it returning down the West Coast and entering Juan de Fuca. However, since they are not stopping in Victoria, it makes no sense to steam all those extra miles at a higher speed, to save about 4 hrs of pilotage fees.

Would be very interested to see a posting from anyone who has completed this cruise, as the Grands and Super Grands have no issues in the Inside Passage.

15 hours ago, Ladyaruba said:

We did b2b in 2022 from Vancouver to Whittier and back to Vancouver. Same ship, same cabin!

Since you departed from a Canadian port and the OP is departing from a US port, your experience is not applicable.

In boarding and disembarking in Vancouver, you were subject to Canadian Cabotage regulations, specifically the Coasting Trade Act. Since no Canadian tonnage is available, this type of voyage is permitted.

When boarding and disembarking in Seward, the OP is subject to the US Cabotage Laws, specifically the Passenger Vessel Services Act.

1 hour ago, First Time Cruiser1 said:

Hi, it is my first time on a cruise. I am doing a Mediterranean cruise on the MSC seaview. 

On the 4th day we have a port day at Barcelona, and I want to do a hop-on-hop-off bus, but dont know if I will make it back on time. I want to do both the routes (Takes approx 2 hours each if you dont climb off). Our port times are from 08:00 - 17:00. At what time should I be back on the ship?

The "All Aboard Time" is at the discretion of the Master, but in most ports, when alongside, it is normally 30 minutes before departure.

Haven't sailed with MSC, but I expect the "All Aboard Time" is published in the daily paper. However, the definitive time is that posted on the gangway sailing board, which should be readily visible close to the gangway. Other cruise lines also include this information in the lifts.

On rare occasions, you may see 2 all aboard times, one for the crew and one for pax.

That is the latest time you can return to the ship, but what time you actually return is based on your personal risk tolerance, as if you are late, the ship normally doesn't delay departure.

3 hours ago, DarrenM said:

and just for the pedants on here, of which there are many, I also know Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee are not in Northern England.

 

But are all still nicer than London. Oh yes they are.😁

All personal opinion, but as a Glaswegian, I would NOT concur that Glasgow is better than London. While Glasgow docklands have improved significantly since the 60's & 70's, so has London. Even comparing the Glasgow Underground (Subway) to the London Tube is no contest.

Don't get me started on Dundee, as the best part of that city is driving back across the Tay Bridge, heading back to St Andrews. Personally, from St Andrews, we would take the longer drive to Perth, rather than going to Dundee. 

1 hour ago, K32682 said:

Bath was granted a city charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590

 

http://royalcrescentbath.co.uk/History bath.htm

 

The UK government has set 75,000 as the population for a Major Town or City.

 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/townsandcitiesintheuk#

 

>75,000 + City Charter = City of Bath. 🙂 

 

 

The context of the URL you provided is not the UK definition of requirements for the Monarch to confer city status.

As outlined in the first paragraph of the FOI response, this definition is developed by the Census Dept for the production and analysis of statistics for Major Towns & Cities. By setting a population threshold of 75,000, they clearly state they are excluding a number of existing cities.

This is NOT the official UK Government definition of a city. This is an arbitrary number used by the Census Dept for analysis.

2 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

The  UK defines a "city" as having a population of over 75,000 so Bath qualifies but from visitor stand point it doesn't offer the same variety of attractions as London. The same could be said about Cambridge, Oxford and other similar-sized UK cities. 

 

Bath is a great place to go after you've visited London. 😉

The UK has no definitive definition of a city, as the status is by Royal Proclamation. Having a cathedral is a key consideration, but the population is irrelevant. I lived in Perth for many years, which at the time was a Royal Burgh, but has now received city status.

City of Perth has a population of < 50,000. At least a couple of cities have a population of < 2,000.

Bath is one of UK's oldest cities, but not because of its population. Whether Bath has the same variety of attractions depends on the definition of London, greater London or just the City of London.

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Andy, those are all actually "safety beers" - you can see your enemies coming through all of them (with the exception of your choice!). In my case, opaque beer is hazardous to my health - you are clearly universally beloved. 😈    🍺🥌

Rob - Good one. If I drink yellow beer, it better be hazy and/or really hoppy, so I still wouldn't see the enemies coming😁 Some of my old crews wouldn't agree with me being universally beloved, so hopefully we are all chilled on the 8 - 11% IPA's & Stouts I enjoy. After sampling a couple of growlers, everyone is pretty chilled.

3 hours ago, AlexandersinAlaska said:

We wanted to sail from Seward, Ak to Vancouver, Canada and then return to Seward. NCL says it would be fine, but the travel agent and her manager both say it is a violation of the Passenger vessel act or Jones Act ( Maritime law): something about US customs not allowing it. I don't understand the issue at all. We are totally willing to completely get off and reboard if necessary.

   Can anyone validate that it is not allowed and explain why? Thank you

   

The short answer is that you need a new travel agent.

Your country has separate Cabotage Acts for passenger and cargo shipping, with the Passenger Vessel Services Act applying to the shipment of pax and what is known as the Jones Act applying to cargo.

Under the PVSA, your cruise is a closed loop cruise, as it departs and returns to the same port. The PVSA does not consider it 2 separate cruises, or a B2B, the Act only considers the embarkation and disembarkation ports.

The PVSA requirements for carrying pax on a closed-loop cruise on foreign-flagged tonnage, is the ship MUST visit any foreign port. Vancouver is a foreign port, so meets the PVSA requirement. Visiting a distant foreign port is only required when the embarkation and disembarkation ports are not the same.

Canada also has a Cabotage Act, but it is not applicable, as you are boarding and disembarking in a US port.

You may want to ask your travel agent why cruise lines sail R/T cruises from Seattle to Alaska, without any issues?

9 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Looking at that array I'm pretty glad I will probably be beered out from the 26 day land portion of our Down under adventure. That is a poor group to say the least. If you are going to have Guinness and it's not on tap then you better have the cans, they have the "widget" that produces the famous Guinness head. The bottles don't have the widget. I may try the HAL brand and hope it isn't too hoppy. As for the rest it is definitely for the American audience.

Lyle - If you're in Sydney, a pub crawl around "The Rocks" would be a great afternoon, as this was one of my favourite spots when we docked at OPT every 2-weeks, back in my Aussie cruising days. Hit a few of the spots on our last time in Sydney.

Totally agree with your view on the onboard selections. I haven't drunk any of that rubbish for over 20 years, as similar to Victoria, we have an abundance of local breweries. Right now we have 4 within 3 miles of the house and a 5th opening in the summer. Must admit, I am partial to a pleasant IPA, even Imperial, or double IPA's. The IPA on the ship is a joke - only 6.2% ABV and about 45 IBU - just a Pale Ale, not a true IPA.

2 hours ago, davisleel said:

Planning to spend 2 nights in London after a cruise in mid-May. We want to see the sights around Buckingham Palace and go to the Tower of London. Any advice on where to stay and transportation would be appreciated.

In London, since the Merchant Navy Hotel closed, we book a Travelodge or Premier Inn a short walk from a Tube Station. Last 2 trips to London, we stayed at the Travelodge Waterloo and the Travelodge Tower Hill.

The one at Tower Hill is a short walk to the DLR, Tube, Thames ferries and the Tower. If your ship docks in Tilbury, you can get to Tower Hill by train, or executive car. If docking in Southampton, most trains arrive at Waterloo.

1 minute ago, Langham1865 said:

when I went to Alaska, the did have Alaskan Brewing Company beer on board on the Eurodam... Can't say if the do this on other Itineraries

Thanks - Alaskan brewing has some pleasant ales, but unfortunately I'm doing South America and Antarctica. Can always hope.

3 hours ago, Nickelpenny said:

Here’s the setup on the Zaandam this morning at the SeaView Bar. 

I know they don't have any craft beers, but do any of the bars have any locally sourced beers, as of that lot, Guinness is the only one I will drink.

22 minutes ago, Bob Bruce said:

Heidi, my wife Gigi and I were on the 2020 WC. I believe that I remember you. You are correct about how Viking treated us then. We were kept abreast of the rapidly evolving Pandemic situation and given options including refunds and trip credits. I left the ship in Darwin. Gigi stayed on until they canceled the remainder of the cruise in Dubai. How they handled that situation compared to how they’re handling things now is light and day different. The Red Sea situation has been going downhill for over three months and they’re pretending like everything is hunky dory. They must think that we’re stupid. Had they been open and honest with us, their customers would not be upset. Maybe they just don’t care. I heard that they’re selling the company or taking it public. I’m not sure if either of those things are factual. However, it’s possible that the transaction, if happening, is somehow driving their current decision making. I can’t fathom how alienating repeat customers helps with that though. 

We were 2 of the 8 pax that eventually disembarked in Gibraltar, as they couldn't get us flights from Dubai.

Based on reports I read, Viking are investigating floating about a $500 Million IPO in the US. At present, they already have 2 large investors, with one being the Canadian Pension Plan Fund. In addition, I believe they received Chinese investments for building Viking Sun.

They already lost us as pax, based on our multiple negative experiences with the L/A office management ranks. While I would have considered booking through UK, their procrastination on the current World Cruise itinerary has completely soured me on the Viking brand.

Real pity, since the onboard experience was excellent.

4 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

With Viking bering the only line with scheduled transits to not avoid the Red Sea I feel Viking is closing in on negligence.  It is past time for Viking to give two shiploads of passengers information on this not insignificant problem.

Well said Jim, I totally agree.

Sadly, Viking have gone from leaders in pax service, as per our experience on the 2020 WC, to rock bottom. OMG!! even Carnival & RCI have beat Viking.

Welcome to Cruise Critic, this subject matter has been discussed extensively on the live threads on the Viking Board and in a number of other boards.

In addition to insurance syndicates and P&I Clubs charging war zone premiums, many crew contracts also include premiums for sailing within a war zone.

2 hours ago, MajSteve said:

Here's a handy weather site for those of us planning Transatlantic cruises!

 

https://www.weather25.com/north-america/usa/new-jersey/atlantic?page=14

This is one of many 3rd party website providing forecasts on land. The Atlantic is a huge ocean and experiences numerous weather systems concurrently.

I'll suggest, when they mention "Atlantic" they are talking about the county in New Jersey and not the ocean.

For pax, the best 3rd party weather site is windy.com.

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

A humidifier in the cabin would be a blessing. I use a nasal spray to ward of nasal/sinus infections, but overnight, I'm not waking up to respray my nose. 

 

Cunard provides kettles, which I love. On my last Cunard cruise (Norway in November), the air was dry in the ship and outside. I tried boiling water and leaving the kettle open while I walked around the room to add a little moisture to the air, but it didn't help. I guess the dehumidifier in the system was working harder than the kettle.

The ship's HVAC reduces both moisture and heat from the air, so any moisture added by the kettle is being continuously removed. Extended boiling of the kettle will provide an increase in relative humidity, but it will be steadily reduced overnight.

In an aircon environment, removing moisture with the heat is essential, as colder air can hold less moisture than warmer air. As the air temperature cools, if the moisture content remained constant, the relative humidity would increase. As it reaches 100% the excess moisture would be condensed, with the potential for mould, etc.

2 hours ago, StanleyStanley said:

Well, I have now spoken to NCL, and have been told to plan on returning to the ship 2hours before we leave EVERY stop, and it may take up to two hours to disembark.  So I said this means each port of call schedule is really four hours less than indicated.  They said yup!   This seems crazy to me, but… there you have it!   This certainly puts a damper on some plans. 

When talking to cruise line call centres, you may be chatting with somebody who has never been aboard a cruise ship, whereas on Cruise Critic many posters have cruised extensively.

At the embarkation port, the 2 hr cut-off is normal, as the Master must submit the ship's final manifest prior to departure. Assuming an 06:00 to 07:00 arrival at the final port, disembarkation normally commences as soon as the ship clears. Depending on customs/immigration, it can take 2 to 5 hrs to completely disembark the ship. Since NCL has larger pax counts, I would guess at least 3 hrs.

The Master determines the all aboard times at all ports of call. This information is usually published in the daily paper, with the definitive sailing time and all aboard time posted at the gangway. When docked alongside, this is normally 1/2 hr before departure. For tender ports, it can be 1 hr before departure. On some ships, this information is also posted in the lifts. Note - on occasion, you may see different all aboard times for crew and pax.

You must be back aboard by the all-aboard time, but the actual time you return is based on your risk tolerance, remembering that if you are late, the Master doesn't wait.

When alongside, some of the crew can be ashore and 50% of the survival craft(lifeboats & liferaft) are not available. Hence the reason for having at least 2 gangways. In the event of a shipboard emergency, if the Master decides to evacuate the ship, it will be to the shore. I can guarantee it should not take 2 hrs to evacuate all pax, with more time for the crew.

Therefore, No, it should not take 2 hrs to get all pax ashore, and if it does, the Master needs to address the issue with more and/or higher capacity gangways.

Falmouth, at the entrance to the River Fal is a very challenging arrival and has docking times limited by the tides.

The entrance channel is reasonably deep, but it is very narrow, shoaling on both sides. If the wind is blowing, it would not be prudent for the Master to enter the approaches. Once inside, you then alter to port, leaving the main channel.

To approach the berth, the Master requires a specific height of tide to provide the required under keel clearance. Departure time is also limited by tidal height, as once the tide drop below a certain amount the ship is stuck. It has been many years since I have been into Falmouth, so can't remember the tidal restrictions, based on the ship's draught.

If tidal conditions dictated an early departure, rather than docking for only a few hours, they can anchor in deeper water, within the bay, so pax can have the full experience in this amazing area, using tenders.

24 minutes ago, SoloAlaska said:

@Heidi13 thank you for sharing so much technical info on here. Usually I just enjoy the view if it’s there but now you have me going back to my good old days and wanting to research ride schedules again. I use to work on some of the highest tides in the world so it brings back memories.

Seymour Narrows is interesting, both for the tidal currents and the history. It used to have a pinnacle almost centre channel, known as Ripple Rock. A Google search for Ripple Rock will provide the history of how they removed it with the largest non-nuclear explosion.

Contrary to what many believe, the flood tide actually flows S'bd and the Ebb flows N'bd, as the 2 tides from Juan de Fuca & Queen Charlotte, meet just south of Campbell River.

Most challenging transit is northbound bucking a huge flood at night. You can take the easy route bucking the flood all the way through, but with a 16 kt tide, we only made 4 - 6 kts. We held to the Stbd shore at Maude Island, which has a real nice back eddy close to shore. Since the tide came through the narrows as a well defined wall of water, we cranked on hard over helm to get the bow swinging into the tide before we hit it. If too late, we used opposite helm and took a round turn and another attempt.

Best speed ever was a southbound transit running with a 16 kt flood. Speed made good was about about 35 kts.

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any cruise ship making the scheduled transit in daylight and even BC Ferries don't carry pax on this route any more. Only possible option for a daylight transit would be Alaska State Ferries. Note - I don't follow the expedition ships, so some of them might have different schedules.

The entire BC Coast has many examples of significant tides in narrow channels, coupled with big turns. A little North of Seymour is Helmecken Island at Kelsey Bay, which also has some interesting tides and rock outcrops that don't interact well with a steel hull. Going through Seymour at slack water means the tide is running at Helmecken. I've had a few interesting N'bd transits.

More than happy sharing my knowledge and experiences, from many years on the coast, both in cruise ships and Ro/Pax.

8 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

I’m thinking maybe no one bothered to look at the tide tables before setting Sky’s itinerary (“make it the same as Neptune, but 3 days earlier and let them dock in Melbourne, Circular Quay, and Brisbane”) and only just discovered that three days earlier in HCM City is a low low tide so if we don’t go and come at the highest tide, we won’t be able to?  Calling @Heidi13 for his thoughts….

Clay,

It tough making an educated guess for Saigon, due to the number of variable. The actual berth availability is always an issue. If originally scheduled for one of the outer commercial berths, the tides shouldn't be an issue. However, if assigned a berth further up river, tides could be an issue.

Based on other ship movements, pilot availability, tug availability, etc could also be issues.