Molson99

Yahoo! Counting the days!

Been off the boards a few weeks, and last I had read, the NA was in shipyard having one of the engines fixed, and a cruise was cancelled. Is she back in the water and ok these days? we have a mid march cruise coming up

we were able to change the cruise when a better sale came up, no problem. or you can cancel, and your FCD was on record to use another time.

We ALWAYS bought FCD because it was a good deal, and made SURE to book on board!! this certainly will cut down on our business, and give us time to check out other lines and options. bummer. One of the perks that kept us coming back to HAL every year!!

I also miss the libraries, (the book they have now are all "coffee table books") and the crow's nest.

We were on the Oosterdam twice this year: a 2 week Caribbean with my elderly mom, and then my husband and I for a 14 day European cruise. We were happy both times. Love the layout of the ship and that it has an intimate well laid out feel to it, food was good especially in the Canaletto. Service was excellent both times, especially the bar staff. The only thing I was disappointed in was the dual piano players, HAL seems to consistently find people who can't sing. And it could be such a fun venue.

many cabins and ship areas have been redone.

I agree, some things have changed on HAL, and I miss the bigger library, would like band before dinner in the Ocean Bar, but over all still like the wonderful service and small ship feel of the HAL ships and the oosterdam is well laid out. We had a verandah room both times and loved it, loved the spa too!

We rented a clamshell in March one year... while it did provide some shade, it was HOT and hard to let any breeze in. It is a heavy material and holds the heat. We ended up just sitting out on some chairs with a bit of shade.

We had explore 4 with the SBP a few cruises ago: for the price of the explore 4, we had large coffees from the Explorers café every am, water we bought at a bar to take off the ship, and to drink around the ship, often an afternoon "Sunshine lemonade" that my mom loved, 2 before dinner drinks, specialty coffee with dinner and afterdinner cordials and sometimes a drink at bingo or at the show. for us, it was worth it, but we did not buy the package itself, part of Explore 4.

I also enjoyed trying different drinks, that I normally would not spend $8 on to try. Found some new favorites (Lemon Drop martini. Yum!)

what is a wang wang????

I think it was shorter than 30 days. I couldn't believe we lost in in 5 minutes! oh well, its a busy med cruise we are on, so we would not have spent much time in the room, but easy come, easy go! I'm hoping for an offer for our next cruise with my 91 year old mom. She would love it!!!

so close, and yet so far. Got a phone call last week (woke me from a nap!) with an offer to upsell to Neptune suite for approx. $900 pp for 12 day med cruise. I said yes (after a brief hesitation,) as we have never been able to afford a Neptune and the look awesomely wonderful! In the time it took for the agent to put me on hold to get a room assigned, she came back and they were sold out!! Bummer to raise my hopes and then disappoint me!! could not have been 5 minutes!!!

Question, would I have lost our $175pp OBC? Our explore 4 we purchased??? just wondering.

hopefully we will get this offer when my 91 year old mom and I are cruising the Caribbean! She would love it!

I am a 4 star and this is the very first time I even had the chance!

I just was a $ star on our last cruise, it was wonderful. Kazu, used your suggestions on specifying "cold water, low heat dry" and taking a photo of all clothes sent to laundry (I once paid to have a lovely favorite pair of kahkis sent to laundry and they came back too short) and all went well. It was delightful to find a that little wicker basket with carefully folded tissue paper and the gold HAL seal, to open it and find my little white cotton underware, all folded and clean!!! We loved it. they even ironed my mom's seersucker pj's, all clean and ironed.

I loved the wine tasting, we had a great winemaster (forget the title, sorry!) who was informative and fun, and I found a wonderful wine I loved. plus fun to meet people and compare wines and cheeses, etc.

Mom and I decided we liked the discounted lunch in the Pinnacle Grill, wonderful quiet lunch for $5 each !! much better than the busy Lido for us. Mom is 90 and it is hard to help her get lunch in the Pinnacle and then get mine, she is done by the time I sit down. So the PG is a nice luxury.

It also depends on the instructor.

One cruise, the instructor was wonderful on answering questions from both savy and moderate and beginner students and I learned SO MUCH!! however, her handouts were not so good, and I forgot things as I didn't take notes/ thinking it would be in the handout. I attended every class I could!

the next cruise, I was so excited to attend the class, and the instructor was awful. went on and on about the benefits of certain programs, but whipped thru how to access them, or get them and when I asked a question gave such a fast and detailed answer I totally didn't understand. I only attended one more class on a 16 day cruise and it was a waste of my time.

We would love to sail in and out of Tampa, would allow us to drive to port, but didn't want to do the Rotterdam as they didn't have regular Verandah rooms, just Verandah "suites" that they charged more for. Would LOVE to see a nice 14 day itinerary out of Tampa on the Oosterdam dam, or any other HAL ship!!!

We simply tape a bow to our door so it is easy to see which hall it is down. We DO see door decorations many times on HAL, as long as it doesn't damage the door, who cares?

I did not hear this but found on my Med cruise there was little emphasis on the singers and dancers. They only had 3 shows on a 12 day cruise and one was somehow connected to a BBC earth presentation. We had no Voice like shows but did have three BBC Explorations type shows with live music. I did not attend any and heard no reviews as people I spoke with did not attend either. We only had 4 guest performers, a beatles guy who did one show alone then teamed with a magician who had done one show alone. In malta we overnighted and they had a local group come on and perform. Near the end of cruise they had a cello player one night. I only went to two shows and they were ok. Other nights the show description did not encourage me to trek all the way to the front of the ship and sit for an hour performance. I went to other venues like BB Kings.

We have attended the BBC movies with the live music by Lincoln Center and they were awesome. the photography is unbelievable and the live orchestra music really enhances it. My mom is Heard of hearing but even she loved it both times. Highly recommend it.

My elderly mom and I got explore 4 as a special on a cruise a few years ago, cruise price was the same with or without it. She doesn't drink, so I wasn't sure it would be a great deal for us, but it turned out we really enjoyed it. She could get soda from the bar, water bottles from the bar to take in port, and she got very fond of the specialty coffees both at the coffee bar in the morning and after dinner as well. She also had pages of non alcoholic drinks to chose from, and loved the "sunshine lemonade".

I loved being able to order and try different drinks and not worry if I didn't like them. Found 2 or 3 cocktails I enjoyed just trying things. I wasn't thrilled with the sparkling champagne brand available, but the wine options were fine to me.

We have passed it up when the cost was too much, but my husband and I are booked for a cruise this fall and it was $120pp more, really worth it for us! a few glasses of wine with dinner, a drink before and after dinner and coffees will more than make up for the cost.

We will be on the Oosterdam. any idea of how much a 12 day cruise pass for thermal spa/stone lounges would run? Can you buy a day pass?

We were going to use HAL Visa Barclay card points for this and I have been informed they don't offer a 12 day pass, so we can't use the 10 or 15 day pass we could have got with points.

Will post over there as well. Tried a general search and didn't get anything, but will search there. Thanks

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We are booking a number of tours with them, I've been very pleased with their quick response but wonder if anyone has any feedback? We are doing almalfi coast and Rome and the Vatican.

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oops, yes, it is old town in Dubrovnik I am asking about! Public busses nearby? how the walled area referred to on the stops? we won't have their currency right off the bus, will we have to get Krona at the port before getting on the bus?

we will be on the Oosterdam, I am wondering how to get to Old town from the ship. doesn't sound like it is usually too far. any info, please?

I sailed on the Rotterdam last February. It was a Caribbean cruise. I spend most of my time on cruises at the back pool and the Rotterdam does not have a pool at the back of the ship. It has kind of a strange water feature with some deck chairs sitting in a couple inches of water which just feels gross because it is so warm. Because a back pool is important to me on warm-weather cruises I would not sell on the Rotterdam again if it was a warm-weather cruise however it would be fine for a non warm-weather vacation.

 

I know there is a mid-ship pool but even with the ceiling open that area seems to heat up during the day and I did not like having to go from the back of the ship to Mid ship to get in the pool and cool off and walk wet back to my desk chair in the aft

I sailed Rotterdam 2 years ago and was very disappointed in the aft "wading pool" or whatever it is. especially for a Caribbean cruise. We had looked at your trip, (leaving and returning to Tampa, right?) and loved the itinerary, but not the pricing on the Rotterdam (no regular balcony rooms, have to get "Signature Suite") and it just wasn't on of my favorite ships in layout. Crew, food, all fine. If the itinerary is really what you want (and it is a nice one, the cruise around St Lucia is lovely) it's worth it. I did find a similar itinerary for 2019 on Kongesdam, 11 day southern wayfarer, might want to check it out. but lack of an aft pool won't ruin your trip!!!

Loved your review. We will be on the NA March 31 and found it helpful. Are there still seats in the crows nest? With ocean view? Any library at all? Book swap?

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My mom loves the sunshine lemonade

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Can you request one at front desk? Or COULD YOUR tA request one?

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