Jump to content

ISLANDFAN

Members
  • Posts

    370
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Central Florida
  • Interests
    Cruising, Travel
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    RCCL, Princess, Celebrity
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    South Pacific, Asia, South America, Trans Atlantic,Trans Pacific

Recent Profile Visitors

433 profile views

ISLANDFAN's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. I am seeing conflicting information on whether or not a ED card is required to enter Aruba via a cruise ship. Anyone recently visited Aruba that can provide an answer? We have cruised to Aruba a number of times however not since the pandemic. Thanks, Islandfan
  2. Sailing on Rotterdam February 16th from Ft.Lauderdale. I have completed check in however I don't see how to select boarding time, does Holland America select a time for you or can you pick a time? Seems different than our sailing on the Rotterdam Norway cruise this past July.
  3. We sailed on the Rotterdam in July and found the scotch selection to be the best anywhere on the high seas! I particularly enjoyed the Dalwhinnie 15 year single malt. However I did have a host of other fine scotch including McCallan Terra which was excellent but very pricey. See you at the half moon bar!
  4. My wife and I recently sailed on the Rotterdam which was our first sailing on Holland America in 20 years. With over 40 cruises on RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess, like you, we were a little apprehensive on sailing Holland America. However we were very pleased with our cruise. I will share our thoughts on the difference between RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess verses Holland America. A few highlights: Level of service a notch above Food presentation and flavor in dining room was outstanding Dive In and NY Pizza were excellent as our food was made to order Music venues were incredible. Enjoyed all three rooms. Stateroom attendants were efficient and friendly Veranda stateroom was one of the best we have had. We are now focused on cruising on Holland America verses our past lines as we have become disenchanted with them post pandemic. We believe you will enjoy your cruise on Koningsdam.
  5. My wife and I recently sailed on the Rotterdam which was our first sailing on Holland America in 20 years. With over 40 cruises on RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess, like you, we were a little apprehensive on sailing Holland America. However we were very pleased with our cruise. I will share our thoughts on the difference between RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess verses Holland America. A few highlights: Level of service a notch above Food presentation and flavor in dining room was outstanding Dive In and NY Pizza were excellent as our food was made to order Music venues were incredible. Enjoyed all three rooms. Stateroom attendants were efficient and friendly Veranda stateroom was one of the best we have had. We are now focused on cruising on Holland America verses our past lines as we have become disenchanted with them post pandemic. We believe you will enjoy your cruise on Koningsdam.
  6. I agree with your assessment. We recently sailed on the Rotterdam 14 day Norwegian Fjords cruise from Amsterdam and found the ship, service, food, and music venues to be superior to our post pandemic cruises on Celebrity Eclipse and Apex. Your thoughts on infinite verandas and Edge class ships is spot on. We were really turned off by the Apex. Now we understand that Celebrity feels they need to re imagine themselves in order to attract future cruise age demographics. Ok, so be it! Our experience on recent Celebrity Cruises found the food and service was lacking, therefore our venture cruising on Holland America seemed well founded. Our focus is now directed towards Holland America and we will forgo our Elite status on Celebrity in order to sail on Pinnacle Class ships!
  7. We have sailed on 5 TA's and find them very relaxing. Our most recent cruise which was in July onboard Rotterdam gives me perhaps a perspective you are looking for. First, whether east or west bound you will encounter 6-8 days at sea crossing the Atlantic, during that time you will find that most passengers fall into a rhythm which tends to spread out participation in activities and venues. Therefore I would suggest that Hot Tubs will be available for use through out the day. The Rotterdam in our view was one of the best overall ships that we have cruised. As we have become somewhat disenchanted with RCCL and Celebrity, we took the risk and booked Holland America. We were pleasantly surprised with all of our expectations being met or exceeded. Enjoy your TA on Rotterdam, I hope your expectations will be met or exceeded as well!
  8. My wife and I have been on 8 cruises totaling 91 days post covid. We have become somewhat disenchanted with our experiences on RCCL and Celebrity as in our opinion dining and service onboard has diminished. We recently sailed on Silversea which as you would imagine was outstanding in every way. Also we just returned from a 14 day Norwegian Fjord cruise onboard Holland America Rotterdam which was excellent. We are prepared to jump ship to Holland America from RCCL and Celebrity however we are wondering what the current experience cruisers are having on Princess. Your thoughts please Islandfan
  9. After becoming somewhat disenchanted with Celebrity post Covid, we booked and sailed on the 14 day North Cape sailing of the Rotterdam from Amsterdam. We had high hopes for this cruise and I will state that our expectations were were more than met. The ship is beautiful and pristine. Our veranda stateroom featured what I believe to be the most comfortable bed in all our 42 cruises. Attendants were polite, and efficient. Service onboard was friendly, gracious, and again efficient in all departments. All the food venues were great! From the Main Dining Room, Lido Cafe, the specialty restaurants, Dutch Cafe, and we especially enjoyed Dive In with their made to order burgers, New York Deli with made to order pizzas, and our favorite Tamarind Asian Restaurant which I found to be one of the best specialty restaurants at sea! The music venues onboard were outstanding, as we spent most evenings enjoying music from one or more of the three music halls. Man can those musicians play! Getting on and off the ship was a breeze as embarking and disembarking in Amsterdam quick and easy. All in all we found Holland America to be superior to Celebrity and Royal Caribbean during this post Covid return to sailing. I believe you will find the same!
  10. I have found that sourcing your own hotel in Fort Lauderdale works best for me. After arriving in FLL grab a taxi and head to the hotel rather than wait for other guests to arrive in order to fill the shuttle or bus. The hotels near the cruise port are very close to the airport, about a $15 ride. Next most hotels around the cruise port offer either a free or nominal fee shuttle to the ship or again a quick taxi ride. Not waiting for other guests is a plus for me. If on a budget, there are a myriad of hotels around the airport or city. There are many apps and travel sites that you may use to find one inside your budget. Fort Lauderdale is on of my favorite cruise ports! Now that we live in Central Florida we still choose to begin our vacation with an overnight stay which adds to the excitement of taking a cruise.
  11. Well said! Cruise lines must look forward to their future guests. As a Diamond member I am quite happy with the drink voucher program they now offer. As far as menu change, it only makes sense to reduce the time for dining by streamlining the kitchen operation. Yeah, I like the evening cleaning and turn down service however will it change my attitude towards cruising with RCCL? No, not at all. The next generation of cruisers are not accustomed to lengthy dinners and turn down service, they much rather have a grab and go dinner in order to enjoy one of the many entertainment options onboard. I have sailed numerous times with my children when they were young, I can attest that they although well behaved hanging around for 2 hours in the dining room was the last thing they wanted to do. RCCL is geared toward families and as they move forward they have to address their needs and wants in order to be profitable.
  12. Thanks to everyone who posted!
  13. ISLANDFAN

    Documents

    We are booked on the January 16 sailing of the Cloud, which is our first with Silversea. When will we receive our documents? Thanks, Bryan
×
×
  • Create New...