asebastian

Finished our cruise from FLL to San Diego full transit thru the Panama Canal and off the ship this morning. Just wanted to share a couple of things: HAL is negotiating a new contract with the Lincoln Center group which may see them return "soon" on the Dam ships. While America's Test Kitchen may not reappear, we had three live cooking demonstrations, one by the Executive Chef, one by the Tamarind Chef and the other by the Captain himself. Tasting portions and recipe cards also given at the end. Emphasis was on that these would be more frequent especially on longer cruises. The Library is back!!! We had the official opening of the spanking new library on Deck 3 on April 10th. Photos below. Pretty good selection of books, mostly N Y Times best sellers, across a broad range of genres. A book exchange shelf was also provided for guests wanting to drop off their books and not take them back home. Works on honor system, no check-in or check-out. We didn't have the Internet package, but friends bought the package and complained of very slow speeds and drop-outs. On one day in Costa Rica the Internet dropped out completely for 24hrs (and some guests had money refunded for just 1 day).

That's interesting you mention that. We've book a cruise for July next year (Viking Passage with HAL) and the itinerary states departing at Ijmuiden instead of Amsterdam! Ijmuiden is not particularly easy to get to as it doesn't seem to have a direct train connection, and only bus travel to anywhere close to the cruise terminal is offered. Perhaps it would have been much easier to go from Rotterdam if the ship cannot get into Amsterdam itself. Just hoping that the departure port changes before our cruise!

Another one

Here in this photo you can see the closeness of the shoreline

Cherie, below is a track of the Zaandam on our 2019 cruise to South America and Antarctica. The yellow line shows the track of the ship over 4 days, you can see how close to the shore it is, in places. All of these are around the Palmer Peninsula in Antarctica.

Is the HAL shuttle fare for the return trip or just 1 way? Check out the local taxi service, supposed to be about USD10 per trip, pre-Covid. May have gone up a little bit, but not guessing $25.

Just been searching for longer Caribbean cruises (21 days) on the HAL site but most of the ones are showing only up to March or April 2024. We would like to book them later in the year. Would anyone know when these cruises and schedules would be listed? Am I too early to be searching for second half of 2024 now? We've got 4 cruises booked for this year, and would like to progressively fill up our calendar for next year if possible.

Ok, I will seek out the security officer on board and ASK before purchase! Osaka is on the 2nd cruise of our B2B2B, so will have plenty of time to seek clarification. Happy if they keep it securely (and not pass it on to the galley for a test run!) until we disembark in Singapore. All good, thanks for your responses.

Hey all, I want to buy a couple of kitchen knives from a shop I know in Osaka during our port stop in Oct. I now about the "no knives" policy on board, but can the knives be kept in secure/bonded storage for me until I disembark? Or will the knives just be confiscated and not returned? Do I need to speak to the security officer beforehand, need a permit or something? Perhaps John (@Copper10-8) can provide a clue... I'm also exploring the option of posting the knives back home to me, but logistically challenged (knives need to be boxed apparently).

The best source I've come across says this: When using a standard four-passenger taxi, fares typically start around 400-750 yen for the first 1-2 kilometers and increase by around 80-100 yen for every additional 200-400 meters traveled. The cost also increases when the taxi is not moving for a prolonged time. Late in the evening (typically 10pm to 5am), rates are raised by typically 20 percent. If the taxi uses expressways, the expressway tolls are added to the fare. Google says the bus terminal drop off point is roughly 8km from the Kochi port, so it computes to approximately 2250 yen for the 1 way trip (assuming traffic flows smoothly).

Good, I hope you report back on the shuttle situation. Also if there was no shuttle provided and you had to take a cab to the city center, what was the cost (I assume meter as Japanese taxis are usually very honest). Thanks

When is your trip? Mine is in October this year.

Thank you all for your responses.

Not at the moment, I am still debating the pros and cons. Financially it doesn't make sense for us as we are not big on alcohol (would probably get a couple bottles of wine, that's all). We also usually do independent excursions, and very rarely buy ship excursions. Having said that, I'm being bombarded by HAL offering 50% on the HIA at the moment!

Hi all, To those who may be in the Japan cruises in March, April or later, and if you're stopping in Kochi, can you please come back and let us know if there is a free (or paid) shuttle service that is run from the port to the city? I understand in the past the cruise lines seem to have provided the shuttle, but that was pre-Covid. I wonder if things may have changed since. Cost cutting and all that. Thank you.

I'm asking this question that may have asked many times before (but I can't seem to find the topics). If I pre-book any ship excursions and specialty dining, does the amounts count towards the cruise credits? Thanks for your patience in responding to this silly question!

I don't know about the aft cabins. Do you miss seeing the action on the sides of the ship, like tying up at port, loading/unloading of stuff etc? One of the highlights for us is seeing the tenders dropped into the water and then picked up again. And the pilot transfer, amazing. I think I would miss that from the aft cabins...

No mention of visas etc. Here is the cut and paste from the itinerary. In any case, we will get a visa waiver via the K-STA website closer to date of travel just in case. So minor tweaks overall:

An updated itinerary from HAL today - Vladivostok now replaced with Sokcho, South Korea. Have to do some research on what's there to see/experience. A smallish city not far from the North Korean border! Disappointed that it's not Busan though.

Thank you all for your helpful responses. Quite a few places and tips to ponder!

Hi All, Would anyone know of a reliable pharmacy in Puerto Vallarta with walking distance from the cruise terminal (up to a mile is fine)? Possibly large chain pharmacies, I hear they are more reliable and don't sell any counterfeit stuff. If so please post details. I'm after strictly prescribed medication only, nothing under the counter or possibly illegal!😃 Too many borders to cross for me to risk anything else on the way back after the cruise. Thank you.

Itinerary at the moment includes Yokohama, Miyako, Hakodate, Aomori, Vladivostok, Sakaiminato, Sasebo, Kagoshima, Kochi and back to Yokohama. This is for the 13-day Japan Discovery cruise. First of our B2B2B that we have booked, all on the Westerdam!

Checked out the fish market in YouTube. Sounds interesting, you can buy any kind of seafood at the market at retail prices, and take it to the restaurants upstairs where they will prepare and cook it for you!

Thank you all for your responses. Happy with Busan!

Hi all, In the itinerary of our next cruise in Japan, Vladivostok was listed as a port of call. However. due to the current situation with Russia, we're expecting this port call to disappear and possibly another one in Japan substituted. Would anyone hazard a guess what port that would be, possibly in the northern part of Japan? Or would we be getting an additional sea day? Anyone had Vladivostok cancelled before? Thanks