Chocolate Rose

23 hours ago, lyannea said:

https://www.cruisetransatlantic.com/cruises.html

 

i have found this thread helpful. You can click on Holland America on any of their transatlantics and get a list of all the repositioning cruises

Awesome! Thanks!

On 12/26/2018 at 5:35 PM, GCHAN said:

I don't think you are going to have any trouble with heat in April. It is the best time of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

The Northern cruises are from Tokyo but the cruise lines would have cruises around Asia prior to that. The cold part is going North of Tokyo.

 

If you are getting a Balcony on the Northern cruise make sure you get the sunny side as apparently it makes all the difference. 

Thank you! Good info!

16 minutes ago, knittinggirl said:

We did a 38-day San Francisco to Auckland in 2017.  People boarded the ship in San Francisco (of course), Oahu, Sydney and Sydney AU.  On our roll call, we had passengers board from Seaward. Vancouver too.   The 38-day was all under one booking.

 

We were on the southbound itinerary, and we had some issues with some of their EXC tours.   In Picton, the bus had no air conditioning.  You'd think it wouldn't be a problem in early spring, but they have quite the greenhouse effect down there.  Port Chalmer's train ride was also quite warm since the windows wouldn't open.  We had a bus in Tauranga that earned the award for the worst bus 30+ cruises.  It was designed for short shuttle rides, but they put it into service.  I almost quit the tour at the first stop, and probably would have if I thought I could afford the taxi back to the ship. 

 

The bus (see photo below)  in Tauranga had no seat belts, low seat backs.  The several people fell on the steps in the back of the bus.  They had a slope leading to the first step.  A guy in the front seat complained he had to twist his feet, because they wouldn't fit straight in the floorboard.  This was a tour where we went to a Mauri home (where there were no bathrooms for us to use), beautiful view of the ocean from the back yard though.  At the Mauri ceremony, we were told no to use the bathroom and go right into the temple (removing shoes first).  

 

Napier had the best bus of the trip.  It had a camera in front, and we  could see a video of the front of the road from inside the bus.

 

Overall, it was the trip of a lifetime!  I wish HAL had a round trip cruise to Australia/NZ.

Wow! Quite the trip!

2 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

They don't go to Seattle because often one segment of the cruise will end in Honolulu and the last begins there, dictating the final destination to be Vancouver because of the Passenger Vessel Services Act.  Go to www.cruisetimetables.com and choose your departure port(s) and the month you want to cruise.  For this itinerary, it would be March/April.  It will tell you who is sailing from there, and their itineraries.  EM

Thanks! I must have misread a post I had seen last year. Vancouver will still work, was just hoping for Seattle. Great link!

15 hours ago, GCHAN said:

We have been on another line in April Sydney to Honolulu via NZ and Tahiti(it then continued to Vancouver). Very good time of the year to be cruising as it seems there aren't any Cyclones or hurricanes at that time of the year.

 

There are also a number of cruises that go from Asia to Vancouver and they are very cheap but it can be cold from what i have heard. I have heard a lot of people have enjoyed this itinerary as well. I think Westerdam is doing this cruise in April 2019 and it is an excellent price.

Thank you! Hadn't even thought about hurricanes, but glad we'd like to go in the spring. For this cruise, we'd like to start in Australia/New Zealand, but Asia is definitely on our radar. Cold is actually better for me - I hate heat. 

16 hours ago, wyobean said:

We did the repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Auckland. We booked it in 2 segments. Got to keep the same cabin. It ended up being cheaper for us that way due to one segment having a casino rate(I have no idea why). We always check the prices both ways as we have stock and can get the OBC for each segment. This was 3 years ago and I am sorry I don’t remember the total. It was a wonderful cruise...we came down the west coast to Astoria, San Diego and then went on to Hawaii, American Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia, Australia and NZ. It was 39 days. 

Thank you! Sounds wonderful. I'll keep this in mind.

I found it. Don't know why I couldn't earlier. Thanks for your help!

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Noordam is going SYD-Vancouver April 9, 2020. On the HAL website.

Thanks! Why couldn't I find that?

Still hoping for Seattle, though. :-)

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

Those are typically in the Spring...say April.

Right! I'm trying to find out about them now so I can plan for possibly 2020. I was hoping for an idea of itinerary, cost, etc.

I would love to find out about repositioning cruises but seem to be striking out. 

I'm particularly interested in Australia/New Zealand to Seattle. Any suggestions?

TIA

I have used this method on my last two cruises. It has worked fine. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the process before you go while you have easy access to online help if needed.

 

Dave

Thanks, Dave!! Looks like I'm ready to place my order.

Buy a Kindle Fire 8 and a 128GB SD card to extend capacity (something Apple avoids for some reason). It supports USB OTG (connect card reader to the tablet) and also allows pretty quick rendering for viewing.

Dave

With ES File Explorer for Fire (free app), I was able to transfer files using an OTG connector cable and a Transcend card reader.

 

I had a 128 GB chip in my Fire's microSD slot and just transferred the files to a holding directory.

Dave

Thank you!!

So, just so that I'm clear, with these two items and the file explorer app I will be able to copy photos from my camera's sd card to a folder on the Fire 8?

If so, I'm thinking this is a perfect way to back up my photos without a laptop.

Buy a Kindle Fire 8 and a 128GB SD card to extend capacity (something Apple avoids for some reason). It supports USB OTG (connect card reader to the tablet) and also allows pretty quick rendering for viewing.

 

Dave

I'm considering purchasing a Kindle Fire 8 for this purpose. But, in the reviews I'm reading, many are saying this is not possible.

Is this something you have been able to do?

Just off Zaandam 3 weeks ago. I recommend you go stand or sit near the Future Cruise Consultant’s desk, There is a Wi-Fi connection there that worked really well for me. I was able to get intranet (slow) in my main deck cabin, but never tried intranet.

 

You might consider turning off all background updates and services so you don’t waste minutes on that. I emailed ( including pictures (not HD) and posted to my blog daily.

Most sessions online were under 5 minutes and I walked away leaving 50 minutes unused on a 14 day cruise.

Thank you!! Will definitely check this out.

You can access the HAL site for free, so you can use that to test how the performance is at a given time. If it is bad (as is often the case) don't log on for $.

Thank you! Great advice!

A quick search on the board would find lots of info.

 

$100 gets you 250 minutes, $175 (IIRC) gets you 500 minutes.

 

And others are correct, no buying in advance, only on board.

Thank you! Yes, I did search the boards but I was hoping to get the official HAL info as I didn't know it couldn't be purchased ahead of time.

Thank you! Wow, pricey!!

I actually had to cancel that trip last year due to a family emergency a few weeks before sailing. Have rescheduled for this year and will be on the Zaandam. Guess I need to change my sig :o

Ohhhhhh, so you can't pre-purchase?

Do they publish the rates ahead of time?

I have been unable to find where to pre-purchase internet access on HA's website. I am booked and can see the other amenities that are available, just not internet. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks, everyone! This isn't something I'm stressing about, just needed to know so I could plan. This is probably the only cruise we'll ever go on, and our budget is pretty tight. I know for some of you the additional cost is no big deal. That's not true for everyone. And, yes, I do think the crew probably do deserve the increase and am not begrudging them that at all. We do plan to do additional tipping, but am happy to know that the majority will still be covered by the Explore 4.

We received the following email today:

"Holland America Line is adjusting its daily Hotel Service Charge for all sailings beginning on or after May 1, 2017. The Hotel Service Charge will increase as follows:

US $13.50 per person per day for staterooms (interior, ocean-view and verandah) which is a total increase of $1.

US $15.00 per person per day for suites which is a total increase of $1.50.

To ensure that the efforts of all crewmembers are recognized and rewarded, a Hotel Service Charge is automatically added to each guest's shipboard account on a daily basis. If Holland America's service exceeds or fails to meet expectations, guests are free to adjust this amount at the end of the cruise."

We purchased the Explore 4 package which covered the Hotel Service Charge. Does anyone know if or how this increase effects the Explore 4?

Totally loving your photos and comments!! I want to grow up and be just like you when I leave for Alaska next May! Would you be willing to share what camera you use? I'm still trying to figure out which camera to get before my cruise. TIA

VERY frustrated. Trying to work this out through my TA, but HAL is saying she has to go through the Deployment Office which closes at 5pm. I can't make calls from work and they're not open before I leave for work and close before I get home. UGGHHHHH. just venting, kind of

When did you receive notice of the change? Are you booked with a TA?

The time on my email says 3:06pm. We booked through a big box TA and they sent the email.

We are booked on the Amsterdam to Alaska sailing out of Seattle for the 14 day explorer sailing May 28, 2017. I have logged into my account and nothing appears to have changed, I have also not received any emails as of yet. Does that mean our cruise not effected by this change?

We also booked this cruise. The email I received today said that it will be changed to a May 22 sailing date.