Cruising Is Bliss
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Every ship has two actual captains who alternate, generally three months on, three months off. The Staff Captain is second in command and would take over only for brief absences. Ascent's take-out captain will be Captain Dimitrios Kafetzis and he will eventually be relieved by Captain Tasos Kafetzis. Captain Kate's husband previously was Virgin's Fleet Engineer (employee #1) involved in the design and build of all of their ships. He's back at RCCL now, traveling around to all the ships of the RCCL brands.
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The laundry package is fantastic. It's one charge, per day for the cabin (I think still $7/day?) no matter how many bags your cabin sends out. I tell the room stewards on the first day we will be sending laundry every day so we need extra bags. Best friend and I each send separate bags every day. Some days we send bags in the morning and bags again in the evening.
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Violation Passenger Vessel Service Act???
Cruising Is Bliss replied to ellencmp's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Adding Seattle to Seattle doesn't help. Seattle to Vancouver would. The only thing that counts is where you first board a specific ship and where you end up and get off THAT ship. Doesn't matter how the cruise line chops that ship's overall voyage into different cruises. That ship is still on-boarding you in one US port and shoving you and all your baggage out the gangway in another US port. -
It's been 5+ ears since we last sailed Celebrity..
Cruising Is Bliss replied to reedprincess's topic in Celebrity Cruises
My favorite CC typo ever 🙂 -
HIA Selling Without PPD Gratuities ?
Cruising Is Bliss replied to mcrcruiser's topic in Holland America Line
Spending is different for everyone so running your own numbers is the only way to tell. Last cruise we did before the pandemic I took a sale re-fare that actually increased the fare. Newly included beverage package and gratuities which we would have paid out of pocket separately, meant that the increased fare with those two things included ended up in total saving us $500/person on a 14 day cruise. -
Yep that's the HAL commercial. This commercial and the Princess commercial both air a lot on the Food Network. ETA: LOL the HAL commercial started airing on the Food Network just as I hit post!
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Panama Canal Cruise - Full Transit
Cruising Is Bliss replied to fsdj1097's topic in Holland America Line
My dad went through the Panama Canal on the old USS Saratoga during WWII and he said the ship actually scrapped the sides. I love Canal transits and am hoping to do another one. One of Panama Canal transits I did was really cool. We were in one of the locks and the lock next to us didn't seem to have a ship approaching and then right in front of that set of lock doors, up popped a really big US sub! They went through surfaced with a bunch of people on top of the sub and then as soon as she cleared the doors on the way out submerged and vanished. -
Panama Canal Cruise - Full Transit
Cruising Is Bliss replied to fsdj1097's topic in Holland America Line
The problem IS with the new locks. K is too wide for the old canal. In the new locks the ship itself does fit but the problem is the life boats hang way out over the water and the Panama Canal Authority decided that's not acceptable. The new locks use tugboats to steer the ships instead of the railroad "mules" used in the old locks. They were apparently concerned about the potential to foul the tugboat Lines. -
Panama Canal Cruise - Full Transit
Cruising Is Bliss replied to fsdj1097's topic in Holland America Line
She never left. The crew only transit in April 2020 was a one-off with special pandemic permission from the Panama Canal, to re-position her to the West Coast market. The transit took the place of the cancelled 40+ days around the Horn voyage. She's been home-ported out of San Diego doing Mexico and Hawaii most of the year, alternating with the Alaska season every year. -
Panama Canal Cruise - Full Transit
Cruising Is Bliss replied to fsdj1097's topic in Holland America Line
Koningsdam's lifeboats hang wayyyy over the sides. Very obvious in this vid showing the Koningsdam transiting, crew only aboard, during the shutdown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLQykdNkvuM This link is discussion of the lifeboat problem with HAL's bigger ships. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2659045-hal-ten-years-later-nieuw-statendam-review/page/3/ The reference to the under-construction Ryndam is the ship that was completed as the Rotterdam, after HAL sold off the previous Rotterdam. -
World Cruise for 2025
Cruising Is Bliss replied to Gail & Marty sailing away's topic in Holland America Line
I did the future cruise deposit for the 2025 GWV. -
2023 Grand World Voyage with The Inside Cabin
Cruising Is Bliss replied to The-Inside-Cabin's topic in Holland America Line
Pete, thank you for your website and for posting about the various possible 2025 GWV itineraries. Very helpful. I made a future deposit on the 2025 GWC today 🙂 My previous longest cruise was 15 days and I'm looking forward to it so much! -
Zaandam Solar Eclipse Cruise March 30 ,2024
Cruising Is Bliss replied to mcrcruiser's topic in Holland America Line
No. Here's the path of totality over land on April 8th 2024. On the ship we'll see approximately four minutes of totality. https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america-2024 -
World Cruise for 2025
Cruising Is Bliss replied to Gail & Marty sailing away's topic in Holland America Line
I looked at all four possibilities for the 2025 GWV and the Antarctic to Arctic is by far my favorite. If that's not that, and they offer the 94 day Australia & New Zealand again in 2025, I'll probably do that instead. I've never had the time available for a Grand voyage before but sorry to say now I do. So many possibilities. I was booked on the 94 day 2024 Australia & New Zealand for a hot minute until I realized it overlapped with the solar eclipse cruise and cancelled. Maybe I'll end up doing a bunch of back to backs. -
What Do You Like or Don't Like About Zaadam
Cruising Is Bliss replied to mcrcruiser's topic in Holland America Line
I'm doing it too and really looking forward to this cruise. I love the Zaandam. It still has the Exploration Cafe. It also still has an entire Crows Nest instead of half of it replaced by the new expanded shore excursion department. The Vistas are larger at 297 sq feet. -
Should I wait to purchase insurance when I pay my balance?
Cruising Is Bliss replied to Saukkey1's topic in Celebrity Cruises
In the US insurance companies require purchase within a few days of paying the deposit to cover per-existing conditions. And if you didn't buy it then, and later need file a claim, your insurance company will look at your medical records going back years even if you were healthy at the time of deposit. They look back years to find something that could be an indication your claim is for a per-existing condition and therefore not reimbursable. -
richwmn Goes around the world in a daze
Cruising Is Bliss replied to richwmn's topic in Holland America Line
Looking forward to following along with you. Thank you! -
Just another Grand World Voyage blog!
Cruising Is Bliss replied to WriterOnDeck's topic in Holland America Line
Looking forward to following along! -
2023 Grand World Voyage with The Inside Cabin
Cruising Is Bliss replied to The-Inside-Cabin's topic in Holland America Line
Looking forward to following along with you. Thank you for all the very helpful work you do! -
Yes, it has.