ljgordon54

@BermudaBound2014 I found your tour company on the roll call and I have sent them an email already to try to get it organized. It looks like exactly why we are taking this cruise! With 2 days, are you spending another day on the beach or maybe taking some hikes? Are there options for hiking the area?

Janet

@BermudaBound2014 what is the port where you went to Mutu? The island names are all Greek to me, sorry!

Janet

This is fabulous! We have an AK trip scheduled for next year. You have made me seriously consider expanding to the land portion. 

Great fun following you. Your pictures are great. Thanks for the blog.

Janet--another Janet here with the same question! Thanks for asking. I think we will do the Sapphire on May 14. We will have our grandson. I hope they have some activities for kids. He isn't bringing a friend. 

1 hour ago, dkdb said:

Hi,

We are going on our first HAL cruise.  Eight family members have decided to join us.  None of us have cruised on HAL.  My question is about the dining.  If we choose the anytime option would we be able to get a table for 10 or 12?  Would we be better off with one of the set times?

Thank you!

DB

We were on a cruise with a group of 13 on a HAL and we had anytime dining. We sat at the same table together every night. We did have to call for the reservation and we generally ate at the same time. We had the same wait staff. It worked out great!

3 hours ago, drsel said:

So what exactly do you like on your various Holland America Cruises

Sent from my Lenovo K8 Note using Tapatalk
 

Every trip we take we play Trivia! There is always a daytime trivia and night time and we do them both. We have met folks on the first day that we have formed a team with and had lots of fun. Of course, then you visit and do other things with your teammates. 

I also do the Windows classes a lot of days. They have some good information. I enjoy the cooking classes. DH isn’t into either; he hangs at the bar and reads and sips bloody Mary’s because they are the BEST bloody bloody Mary’s anywhere.

Depending on your trip, they will do shore information presentations OR information presentations. Those can be informative. We seldom stay on board on port days so we get off the ship and wander and stuff too. In the evening, we generally sit in the bar where we just finished trivia and listen to the music.

Janet

4 hours ago, ToXS said:

There will be one “show” on the Main Stage almost every night, but don’t expect top quality entertainment. HAL has never made much of an investment in this venue for its guests. That was one of our biggest disappointments with HAL. (That and its monopoly on the sale of all excursions, resulting in very limited choices and unreasonably high prices.) The one area in entertainment where they do out shine ALL other cruise lines is with their daily Lincoln Center Stage classical string quintet recitals. That is what saved the cruise trip for us with evening entertainment. If you want fantastic, exciting productions a la Cirque du Soleil, comedy acts so hilarious you buy their CD, and breathtakingly beautiful singing and dancing, don’t waste your time going to HAL’s Main Stage productions. You have to go to another cruise line for that. Try Norwegian Cruise Line. That was the case with HAL when we 1st sailed with them 35 years ago. We found no improvement when we gave them another try a year ago. You will find the TV in your state room more worth your time.

In addition to above, if there is a really good show you won't get a seat unless you get there 30-45 minutes early. That is pretty disappointing also. I agree with what has been said, the bars and nightclubs are where to look for good music. On the truly up side, we just took a Carnival for the first time and HAL is not that loud! Everywhere on Carnival is loud. The piano bar is not our idea of a relaxing piano bar--it is a drunken sing-a-long bar. 

my2cents

Janet

3 hours ago, eculmone said:

Also someone stated Coffee was 'horrible'. Tell me this isn't so? I do need a good cup of java to kick start my day 😳

It isn’t unique to HAL, we have been on Princess and Carnival and the coffee is awful! Specialty coffee is pretty good, if you get a beverage card that helps. I don’t know if HAL has coffee card still. The brewed coffee at the speciality is pretty good too. BUT—we take our own (from Amazon, it’s a Chulux Single serve coffee maker cost $39.99) and our fav K-cups. (And you have to borrow 2 mugs from the lido deck, be sure to return them!) It makes our cruise more wonderful because we can enjoy our morning coffee. The stuff they deliver (free to the room) isn’t very good. HAL steward told us he was told to take it once, but we just hid it under the bed when we left the room. It truly makes our vacation better. I really don’t understand why cruise ship coffee has to be awful. 

We just came back from a short 5-day and we only had carry-ons and it fit fine along with 20 k-cups! 

22 minutes ago, jonyboy said:

I'm glad you sent that website, 2 of the ports on the NCL have 16,000 and 30,000 in ports the days we are there.

I am sure you know, but just in case I will remind others that that is just a potential. If every ship was full and everyone got off! Sometimes the numbers are staggering. I wish I would have seen this site a long time ago, it would have saved me some stress. Especially when you have to tender in to port.

Janet

1 minute ago, jonyboy said:

Thanks, it was the size that had me concerned as well.  I've always liked the atmosphere on HAL, not just a big party boat

 

Not only the size of the ship, but look at the population of the ports when you arrive (if you like port days.) Instead of 1,000 people visiting sometimes a very small area, you have 3-4,000 easily. 

A website I LOVE to look at when I book a cruise is http://m.cruisett.com/p

You can see how many ships will be in a port on a given day and the potential population increase. It is fascinating, depending on the size of the port you are going to and how well they absorb the population.

If you are big on just staying on the ship, that might not be a concern.

Janet

34 minutes ago, we3peas said:

I'm coming over from Princess where they have a coffee card to use for specialty coffees on any ship and/or brewed for that trip only. Does HAL offer something like this or do you have to buy the beverage package which doesn't work for us at all?

Yes, you can get a coffee card. One the ships we have been on the specialty coffee is great

10 hours ago, cruises42 said:

We  will be on the Amsterdam. I looked at the deck plans our TA sent us and on HAL's site and could not see a difference in any of the balcony pictures on deck 6. How can you tell?

Well, you don’t have many selections of adjoining decks on Deck #6. Look at the deck plan https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/ships/pdf-files/AM_deck_plan_web_100118.pdf

you will see some of the rooms around the edges you have a “+”. Those are the ones with adjoining decks. That was our experience on the Zaandam. I could be wrong.

54 minutes ago, cruises42 said:

Can the balcony dividers be opened up between balconies?

It will depend on your rooms. Ours did on one side, but not on the other. Look at the deck plan and you can tell.

3 hours ago, TheChiefNL said:

On the Nieuw Statendam, are there computers u can use just only for backup you camera pictures? My idea is to take

my external hard drive and contact it to a PC to backup the movies and photos....

Have you checked into taking any of the Windows10 classes on board? After the classes I took on our Greece cruise, she let us so some work on our own pictures. Maybe you could do that. Just an idea. The classes are very informative also.

1 hour ago, przyk said:

Another Wine Question

 

I understand we can bring one bottle of wine per person.  Is the only place we can drink the wine without paying the corkage fee literally in our room?  My past cruise experiences have been on Carnival and I remember taking a glass of wine from our cabin to the MDR for dinner or to a show, or even just for a walk around after dinner.  I'm not trying to get away with anything, just trying to understand the rules.

 

Nobody is going to test or question where you got your wine as you wander around the ship. We carry wine/beer/drinks around all the time. The corkage thing is if you bring your bottle to the MDR, basically. If you have your wine in your wine glass and take it with you, I can't imagine anyone would question you. I know they won't in the Lido, we seldom use the MDR.

On 5/30/2019 at 1:25 AM, miss said:

Can anyone help me understand the Signature Beverage Package?  Thank you so much. 

Fouremco covered it well. We just go off the Veendam and before we left we were told the $9 figure and told if we wanted a better variety to see about an upgrade when we got on board. If we wait until after the first drink we couldn’t change. So I asked the beverage manager on embarkation day. He told me the price was up to $11 and he said to visit a bar before I decide to upgrade. He said almost everything is included. We did and grilled the bartender with everything we might order—all were included. The high end brandy was the only thing not included that we asked about and DH is happy with the cheap stuff. It was a great plan, especially since it was “included.” We booked another cruise so we could get that add-on before t expires May31. Have a great time.

On 5/29/2019 at 8:16 PM, jennb said:

Does anyone know if it is less expensive to pre-purchase unlimited laundry prior to sailing or is it the same price if purchased once on board?

 

Thanks

We just got off the Veendam in Venice. The bag of laundry has gone up to $30/bag. However, we rolled up our clothes real tight and got 1 jeans, 2 pants, 5 t-shirts. Bar, panties, 7 pair men’s underpants. A couple of shorts, PJs and 2 pillow cases in. I think a few more pieces. If that is an option for you, look into it. The price might be less. The Veendam did away with public laundry.

1 hour ago, Bengalfang said:

So I’ve read thru many pages and people talk about dining times. I’ve been on 2 previous cruises CCL and NCL.  I’m now booked on the Westerdaam NB from Vancouver to Alaska. My parents and my wife make up my group. My question is what’s the advantage of choosing early or late dining. And what happens if I miss my time of want to change for a day? Also I saw a lot about shared tables. I don’t remember those in my last cruises. Is there option for waiting for my own table of 2 or 4?

I see you are a Bengal Fan, so probably live in the Eastern Time Zone. Keep that in mind when you plan things. If you are used to eating at 7ish then your dinner time may seem like it should be about 3 or 4! Maybe early seating is good for you. We find open seating fits us the best and we love to share table with new people. The problem with choosing an assigned seat and picking a table with others, then not showing up; sometimes people end up eating alone. I know that is their problem and they may not mind; but we were on a cruise where the dinner table crew felt slighted when some didn’t show up. Also, in AK where it won’t get dark until late, you may want to enjoy the sights longer and eat late. Just some stuff to consider. We are almost always able to get MDR reservations for 7pm 

1 hour ago, raesive said:

On previous cruises with other lines (Carnival and RC) we went a little nuts at dinner in the MDR and got more than one appetizer or dessert per person... is this acceptable on HAL? It's hard to hold back when several things sound good... but I don't want to be greedy or rude either. 

Another thing, if you want to try something different and you aren’t sure; we gave the server our second choice. He brought it along with our first!. It so happened we like the first choice so everyone took a bite of the extra plate; there were 11 of us at the table. They are great; they aim to please.

Good coffee solutions!

DH’s idea of a vacation is coffee in bed. The coffee on HAL delivered to the room when we were on in 2017 was AWFUL! We took our own Keurig and had it confiscated last cruise. Does anyone have suggestions for good coffee besides wandering down to the specialty coffee place? Can you get good coffee delivered to your room for extra money?

5 hours ago, Princeandstella said:

We are travelling with our very well behaved 12 year old daughter and understand that the aft pool is adults only but is the area also adults only or can she sit in a deck chair around the pool?

 

Do any of you feel ok about receiving room service without giving the delivery person "extra" money each time they come?  We are not accustomed to tipping here in Australia and actually feel uncomfortable about it but will make a special effort to get some american currency in small denominations to hand out each time if this is the must do thing?  Or is the daily hotel charge sufficient?  Alternatively is there a place to write an extra tip amount like on the Princess delivery form?  

We cruise seldom but on both Princess and HAL, but as a favor to the other cruisers; why bring a 12 year old to the adult pool? I am sure she is a doll, but some old folks (like us) occasionally would rather not be around children. We have grandkids and love them to death, but when someplace says no kids; we don’t take them. It is just a courtesy. 

For some reason, we always felt compelled to give a little extra on some ships and not on others. It is not by line; sometimes on Princess and sometimes on HAL. I don’t feel we should ever need to tip extra. They seem to cover it with the room tips.

Enjoy your cruise; it is hard not to!

I was going to suggest UBER also. That is who we used. They took us to the grocery store for some supplies, to the liquor store for wine, and to dinner. We didn’t need a ride to the port, the hotel provided that. So much easier than messing with a car, and probably cheaper.

I have boarded in Vancouver and we had no problem at all. We were on board in time for lunch, and our grandkids had time to investigate the ship before the muster.

As for dining in the MDR on gala night, not "galad-up." I just wonder why? It is fun to dress up and see all the elegance. If it isn't your thing, the buffet is always good. Why do people want to push the envelope. When we don't bring our finery, we dine upstairs under the stars. 

WOW, Just thanks so much for this and your blog post. So much good information.