MAVIP

I cannot believe a suite passenger is in need of a few pods/Nespresso cups, can you?

So next time you have to bring the smallest of the small Nespresso machines, the Essenza Mini; if HAL allows using them of course. 😉

Do you see on the photo in the middle the white hotel (Hotel from the movie "The Wave")? If you like chocolates etc you could enjoy a nice hot chocolate and buy delicious homemade "bonbons" in a little shop/café. Just walk from the pier to the exit between the 2 grey buildings and walk into a small street in the direction of that hotel. The chocolaterie is at your right hand site. 😋

Of course no problem at all; everybody was busy finding their taxidrivers. To my astonishment ours was driving with a private car plate and you can imagine what "officialdom" did. The driver told me by telephone we had to walk to his car. DH walking with 2 crutches and I with 3 suitcases and a trolly.....No dice. Never again this company. And: maybe we will meet again on another cruise. Greeting to you and Ellen from Joost and of course from Lenny

My experience in Geiranger: 1st: HAL tour to both sides of Geiranger, 2nd time: Geirangerfjord.no tour to both sides in small bus (12? seats), but they do not use that anymore, This year in May: the Panorama- exclusive bus. Good trustworthy company situated very close to the pier. and: the port is not a tender port for the 1st cruise ship of the day that pays for the Seawalk. The Seawalk is a perfect way to walk ashore from the ship to the pier. This is the situation that day for m.s. Rotterdam: M/S ROTTERDAM 29.09.2022 07:00 29.09.2022 17:00 Pos. 4B/SW and SW stands for Sea Walk. So, you will walk from the ship via the SeaWalk to the pier and drive from the pier to the SkyWalk with the Panoramic-exclusive bus. 😉

And the Frans Hals museum..... 😉

Seeing the date and ports, it must be the ms Rotterdam of HAL. We did that twice. EIdfjord: walking (almost crawling) distance. If no excursion can be booked maybe you are interested in the troll train tour of an hour (nothing amiss with a troll train for adults). tickets at the tourist office next to the ship. They also have brochures with different routes to walk through the little "town" and surroundings. Alesund walking distance, because you walk right into the center. If no excursion: HoHo bus or troll train or just walk in this very nice town Geiranger book a local tour to at least Dalsnibba (or HoHo as Halasm suggests) and enjoy the views. Bergen The Rotterdam will most probably dock at Jekteviken, 15-20 minutes walk to the center-fishmarket. If the weather is good: Floibanen (station 5 minutes from the fishmarket) trip for a nice trip and view over the city, walk, look and maybe eat something at the fishmarket and absolutely visit Bryggen and please do not forget to enter the alleys behind the quayside shops at Bryggen. (bring a raincoat....). If you would like to hve a Norwegian sweater: much choice in Bergen and do not forget the Global Blue taxfree and collect the tax on board the ship or via Guest Service (they will take care of it if everything properly filled out and in time handen to them in an enveloppe....). Enjoy your cruise in the most beatifull fjords of Norway and nice ports.

I remember expecially the 6 weeks in 2019 with quite a few tender ports spent on the ms Rotterdam VI.

OK, I agree of course that those "posts" do not appear on the on board statements.

By telephone or in person: yes, but not the last week or so, because everything availiable for booking was fully booked. Walk-in: only once waiting with a pager and other nights just a little waiting time before being seated. They obviously keep quite a few tables available for walkin/open seating purposes. JMO: and are right doing that, because quite a few passengers (we too..) like to be free in their choice.

yes they do. DH has cigarette buying daughter on the phone right now and he will ask her the country of production. $50 per box of 10 packets and 4 boxes for the price of 3. Answer: produced in USA by Philip Morris in Richmond. An tell your DH to quit smoking (we both did in 1986 together and it almost cost our marriage 😉 After 6 months: Healthy and happy and a few kilograms more).

Before Covid HAL had a different meeting place for priority passengers and we asked which room we had to go now. Answer: just show the roomkey with the stars. More efficient too.

Prebooking "in person" or by telephone is the best and still only way we were told.

See #45 if you look very very well you could see that it was open for the Mariners lunch from 12.30 to 13.30. To be honest I looked in my own WHen and Where to check the exact hours. In May it was 12:00 to 13:00 if I remember well.

Maybe good to mention that disembarking at certain ports is restricted because of (lacking of) immigration and customs possibilities.

Was always a problem and the reason that HAL had signs with: "the Line starts here"). I didi not see them anymore on the Rotterdam in May and last few weeks... Many new (cruise-)passengers from seem not to understand a "line system". (And as I noticed: quite a few different nationalities....).

Every cruise our prebooked reservations for dinners and excursions were counted for the "extra days" UP TO the $ 300 per day. (SO: Hiring Private car AND buying a nice handbag or jewel in the evening IMO: 1 day extra).

Thanks! I agree with your observations. Luckily it was only a part of the passengers.

Nespresso espresso coffee or Lungo or ristretto comes in 1 lot of different pods/qualities/coffee mixtures of arabica out of different countries and Robusta. We use them the last 25 years at home. In the morning we drink lungo's (simply said: more water and other pods than used for espresso's). My husband prefers another coffee mixture than I do. Later in the morning or after a meal espresso or ristretto. Special pods for cappuccino. In my opinion more than a few types/tastes should be available on board. If you are interested: https://www.nespresso.com/nl/en

Unused I hope?

I agree.

IMO not much of a difference in price for hiring a bus from AMS or RTM cruise terminal. Kilometers are of less importance than personnel and the bus itself. It is a long time ago, but I hired buses myself a few times. No difference whether we used them the whole day in the neighbourhood or driving to a neighbouring country.

peanuts.

One mistake in your text is enough for me not to look for more. This is text concerning the tax to be paid in Amsterdam: "Sea cruise ship C moors at Passenger Terminal Amsterdam with 3,000 TURNAROUND passengers who disembark the same day and for whom Amsterdam is the end of the cruise. Before the passengers leave for Schiphol Airport, they visit Amsterdam. On the same day, another 3,000 passengers come on board for whom Amsterdam is the start of their cruise. You'll have to file a declaration but do not have to pay Day Tourist Tax. Explanation: This example involves only TURNAROUND passengers. Day Tourist Tax is charged only for TRANSIT passengers. "

No, you donot miss anything. Maybe that it has to be booked a number of days before sailingdate. And HAL asks you to mention the arrival flight. (Maybe someone knows the importance.)