ldog

Thanks you for posting all of this. We were on the Westerdam from Feb 2 - March 13 out of Singapore to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. It was an experience with how all of those countries have dealt with new immigration protocols. It sure made our problems last summer and ArriveCan seem trivial. Japan was the most bureaucratic and time consuming including having to fill out their App with little notice and instruction while we were onboard. We were told before boarding that it wouldn't be necessary. There were long lines at guest services with those who needed assistance. I totally agree with you about the lack of entertainment. We were in our cabin most nights by 930 pm. I found the sound in the Rolling Stone Lounge too hard on my head. The ceiling is low and the music bounces around. For over twenty years we have always enjoyed a cocktail in the Ocean Bar before dinner while listening to the band or piano. It's criminal that there is no music there at all. When I asked the entertainment director why I was told that because these are a series of BTBs there was no need. Doesn't make any sense to me. The Lincoln Centre group is very good but the venue is tiny. We found you had to get there at least twenty minutes early to get a seat. Because of the BTBs the entertainment was repetitive. We saw the same Cantare and World Step Dance shows three times each. The set lists for Billboard were the same too. With that number of songs they could have been mixed up more. I won't even go into the repetitive trivia questions. I gave up on that a few cruises ago. I won't give up on HAL....we cruise more for the itinerary than the onboard amenities but there is a huge difference from what we used to have.

no sudoku on the Westerdam....they had kakaru on the Zaandam but I don't know how to do that. Crosswords available at Guest Services.

that probably is a priority time. What group are you in?

We book for the itinerary so as long as HAL goes to interesting ports we will put up with the other stuff. I do miss the guest lecturers, the folk singers, the jazz groups and the production shows. I think the canned EXC talks are atrocious.

But if you are paying without the HIA it's $7 a bottle plus 18% which is ridiculous. It doesn't cost the same to produce as beer with alcohol because it doesn't have the additional taxes that alcohol has.

We are just off the Zaandam too. Quality was mostly fine. I am happy that the portions are smaller. I hate wasting food. Sometimes the fish was overcooked in MDR. Poached eggs - made to order- in the Lido every morning. We laughed about the berries though. The strawberries are cut into four little pieces and the raspberries and blueberries in half. so if the dessert said something like "creme caramel with berries" there would be 2 pieces of strawberry and one piece of blueberry - so technically they are as advertised. I'm not complaining though, just happy to be cruising.

We arrive at Yokohama port at 7 am and our flight home from Narita is at 1830. I know that we can take a train to the airport but I don't really want to sit around there all day. We will have luggage. Can anyone recommend a private tour/transfer service? thanks

The Westerdam is making two stops in Bali in February 2023. I can find tour operators in Benoa but am having no luck with Celukan Bawang on the North shore. Not even very much on Tripadvisor either. Has anyone been there?

If you were going in March the Westerdam goes from Singapore to Japan and onwards.

I still can't see any shore excursions on our booking on the HAL website for Indonesia. there are excursions posted for Phuket and Malaysia but nothing after Feb 14. Not even anything in Singapore on that day.

All I can say is keep very good records if you cancel your HIA excursions. I didn't and when we combined with paid for excursions it turned into a real mess that the shore excursion staff on board couldn't deal with. The accounting system is flawed. We ended up losing $180. We will no longer do HIA and will be very selective of HAL shore excursions.

On Nieuw Statendam we were told that we weren’t reimbursed the 25% for Sel de Mer because we would still have to pay the 18% service charge. I walked away shaking my head.

We had a good lobster dinner at Bluenose II in Halifax.

There was a Gray Lines table at the exit. We took a cab to drive us to Lunenburg.

We have done that itinerary but on two different cruises. Lots of interesting ports. Enjoy.

One of my favourite things is attending lectures on sea days. I've heard nothing about them since I've been planning our July cruise from Copenhagen to Boston. Have they all been stopped or can I hope for some intellectual stimulation on sea days?