ISLANDFAN

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

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.

14 hours ago, CruisingAndDiving said:

Quick question for those on Rotterdam right now.  Would anyone be able to check the duty free shop to see if they carry Glen Deveron 16 year old scotch for purchase?   I am hoping to bring a bottle home with me in 3 weeks!

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! 

1 hour ago, horseymike said:

Any sign of Gilligan ?

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.  

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.  

On 8/13/2023 at 6:56 PM, Caribbean Chris said:

We alternated between the two for about 15 years. DH liked the suite benefits on Celebrity and I liked the relaxation and peaceful atmosphere on more traditional HAL ships.

 

Celebrity’s infinite veranda concept did not appeal to us at all, and the Edge-class ships seemed focused on trendy style over comfort. With multiple Caribbean cruises from 3 to 6 days in length, X is clearly aiming at attracting younger passengers  Friends we used to cruise on X with have migrated to Azamara.
 

People have great vacations on either line but we no longer book X and feel most at home on HAL. 

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!

9 hours ago, cbr663 said:

I've never sailed a TA and when we do sail we avoid the pools all together.  MY personal thoughts, and hopefully someone who has sailed a TA can confirm or refute, is that the pool area would be relatively busy with so many sea days.  HAL can easily close the roof during cooler days and this does tend to attract more passengers to the pool area.  Also remember that the Rotterdam has a passenger capacity of nearly 2700 and with that many people I would expect very few public areas to be serene.

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!

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 

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!

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.  

22 hours ago, robmtx said:

As a consumer, price increases suck. I will continue to spend, however, as price increases are across the board in every consumer sector.

 

As an investor, I appreciate the company's effort to decrease operating expenses. These changes help position Royal for the next generation of cruisers, and I expect more changes incoming to appeal to them. 

 

 

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. 

Thanks to everyone who posted!

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

On 10/1/2021 at 5:25 PM, go.without.you said:

It's still on my November 19th Equinox sailing

Just received the email on our Equinox November 19 sailing. Headed to Falmouth Jamaica    

12 hours ago, kayakcove said:

Hoping as time goes by, they will move the May 2022 sailing date further out.  I had been waiting on the 2022 Europe sailings to post.  We have a June 26 Norway 7 day and they do have the same basic sailing on the same ship but 3 weeks later in 2022.  Same room come up a little over $2000 more for 3 in a Sky Suite.

Have the same situation. Booked on The Connie May 17 Greek Island 10 day. Waiting like you for the L&S to move out another month before final payment. $1500 more on the 2022 sailing with lest OBC.

Will cancel and book Odyssey of the Seas 9 day out of Rome and save $2500. Have a September Eclipse Alaska sailing  which I will cancel and move to Princess. Marketing 101, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay! I like Celebrity however I do not see the value when considering these new price schedules. 

33 minutes ago, mnocket said:

• The CDC makes recommendations based on a single perspective - health impact.
• Pence's task force makes decisions based on multiple inputs concerning multiple perspectives.

The CDC recommended extending no sail order to Feb'21, while the task force decided to extend it to the end of Oct and review it on a month-to-month basis.  Had the CDC recommendation been accepted, it may well have caused immediate economic impact to the cruise industry - including driving some cruise lines into bankruptcy.  This may still happen if the task force's month-to-month review stretches the no sail order into next year, but by taking things month-to-month the task force keeps the option open for an earlier return to cruising.  Isn't this a good thing?  

Excellent points! 

RCCL has just announced that sailings scheduled for Venice in 2021 will now depart and arrive in Ravenna Italy. Shuttle service will be provided free of charge from Venice airport and return, about a 2 hour drive. Will Celebrity also make the change? We have a 10 day round trip on the Constellation booked in September 2021.  

We have 3 cruises currently booked. Alaska in September on The Eclipse, Eastern Caribbean on Caribbean Princess in January, and The Constellation 10 day Greek Isles in May 2021. My only concern is if The Eclipse will sail Alaska this summer, and if flights from the east coast to Vancouver will be available. Fingers crossed!

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

Would be a bonus to hold off and do the return TA in Nov. 2020.  That would be just after it's amped dry dock with lots of added features.  We have it booked and prices are still very good.

Good idea! Been on The Harmony with all the additional bells and whistles. We have booked the March 1 sailing as we will be spending a couple of weeks touring Spain and Portugal in the spring! Our favorite time to visit Europe. 

17 hours ago, teacherman said:

We were on the Allure sailing of March 31.  Although we are D+, we had never been on a ship this large.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The boarding process was one of the fastest we have experienced.  The ship never felt crowded to me, as there are so many different areas where people disperse.  The only real crowding was in the pools on sea days and in the dining room, which I did not care for as it seemed quite loud compared to smaller ships.  We did express departure with our luggage, and we just walked off at 7:00 with  no line.

 

We especially enjoyed the Central Park area for breakfast.  Also, the Diamond Lounge was never crowded, at least on this sailing, and the breakfast offered there was quite good.  The Blue Planet and Aqua show were very well done.  We made reservations for these shows 3 months prior, but we saw many people just walk in when the gates were opened 15 minutes prior to the show.

 

This was a family trip with our children and grandchildren and everyone had a great time.  I would, however, like to experience the ship without 1200 children on board.  Maybe next time.

Recently on The Harmony with 1500 children and felt the same as you. If you can, the March 1, 2020 sailing of The Allure is a transatlantic 12 day Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona cruise on which very few children will sail. Pricing is excellent and with your Diamond status, very little out of pocket money. 

Islandfan

Booked cabin 8144 on Allure March 1,2020 transatlantic and am would like to know where the bed is located in this balcony cabin.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Islandfan

Great review! Very informative and the pictures are beautiful. Headed to The Harmony during the first week of February with my son and his family. Gonna be a hoot!

Islandfan

Where does the Harmony dock while visiting San Juan PR?

My current prices for my 11/2018 HOTS sailing..

 

Chops - Dinner = $49, Lunch = $19

Jamie's - $35

150 Central Park - $45

Izumi - A La Carte

Wonderland - $49

Chef's Table - $95

Sabor - $19

Izumi Hibachi Experience - $45

Thank you very much!