Naismith

I was there last year in early April. We used the "GPSmyCity" phone app, that had several articles and walking tours. We did the downtown tour including climbing up the tower for a great view (entrance to the right of city hall.) We also visited the Sao Bras Fort and military museum (which was the only place we visited with fee). After picking up lunch at a local mercado, we went up to a park/botanical garden for a picnic. On the way back, my husband was able to get a much-needed haircut at a local shop, so I walked back to the ship by myself. We were on a much smaller vessel, and could walk on and off (no tendering). It was overcast and drizzly in the morning, but was fine during our hike around the garden. But for those that cannot do all that walking or if the weather was bad, I like the idea of hiring a taxi.

My issue with the MDR is that I never have enough veggies, unless I order multiple appetizers and perhaps not even then. At the Lido, the Asian station has stir-fried veggies in addition to whatever entree they are featuring. Or, I would grab a piece of that grilled fish, and then go over to the Italian station which had excellent veggies and 3 salads, including beets and asparagus and garbanzo beans, etc. The Lido was much easier to keep the ratio of vegetables to protein that my body prefers.

Well, just to add a wrinkle...all of the ships I've been on, one checks in for Anytime on the lower level. But more than once on Nieuw Amsterdam, we were asked if we were able to walk up the stairs. And so we followed up to the higher level for our seating.

Assuming that is for two people, not each? Is there a surcharge for more than 2?

I agree that the boarding times are not closely adhered at Ft. Lauderdale. You should be fine. But other ports (San Diego) are picky about boarding times, so I don't want anyone to think that it is fleetwide practice.

Does the 3 pm 50% off Happy Hour in Billboard include soft drinks?

Are soft drinks included only in dining room venues, or also at the buffet/deli spots? Thanks.

I don't know about the other countries, but Indonesia dropped their Covid vaccine requirement this summer. I had a lot of "recommended" vaccinations before moving to Indonesia, but the reality for short-term visitors is that the most important thing is to be diligent in your mosquito protection. Some of the nastier diseases like dengue (no vaccination available) and Japanese encephalitis (the vaccination available in North America is pricey and not very good) are mosquito borne, so if you can protect against those bites you can protect against the diseases. The Hepatitis A and B vaccinations are good for decades if not a lifetime, and are generally covered by insurance so it is a wise idea for travelers to have them at some point.

Well said. I reached my PCC today, and booked a great deal. The terminology they use is like a different language. What my email from HAL called a "private fare" is considered a "Mariner discount." And is indeed eligible for the free prepaid crew incentive of the Black Friday sale.

Thanks, that is so interesting. I had clicked from an email and had a "private sale" price.

I called HAL because I was thinking about booking....the person that I spoke with informed me that the "free crew appreciation" is ONLY available if one gets the HIA package. But that is NOT the impression given by their press release, the email that I received, nor the "terms and conditions" on the website under the "Black Friday Sale" which states: Terms & Conditions ... Black Friday Offer: Crew Appreciation: Receive prepaid stateroom gratuities on board. Limit one (1) Crew Appreciation Offer for 1st/2nd guests only per stateroom, per booking. Gratuities for other services, including, but not limited to, bar, dining room, wine accounts and spa/salon services, are not included. ..... Nothing about HIA.

Another plus of using a TA is that sometimes they offer a much better deal on insurance. We still have an elderly parent at home, and of course medical evacuation is always a concern. On our last cruise, we found out that our TA could add the coverage to a week before the actual cruise for a pittance, so that was a huge advantage.

Um yeah, as much as I love HAL, the fruity drinks in the buffet on the Norwegian ships that I have sailed are a step above. (The lemonade on HAL has too much sugar for me.) And yes, I do bring a squeeze bottle to flavor my icewater. But I am not going to claim that is as good as the Nestle Vitality drinks on the Norwegian buffets.

When I was younger, I read Robert Heinlein's book, PODKAYNE OF MARS. It was a silly, sexist book in many ways, but one of Podkayne's goals in a resort setting was to be able to say "thank you" in the language of everyone who serves her. I thought that was a very good idea, and so I have tried to apply it throughout my life. And it really does have some benefits. When my older sister had an issue with her cell phone, we made the call on speaker so that all three sisters could listen and advise as necessary. When we got to the end, I said "Salamat," knowing that the company's customer service hires a lot of Filipino workers. It was like magic: He perked up, asked if he could help with anything else....and my sisters started at me--what was that word? On our last cruise (another line) we had a waiter from Macedonia; I saw the flag on his tag, and was able to remember the appropriate word. Sometimes I can guess the nationality by a common first name. But not always, and with so many Indonesians and Filipino on HAL, it really would be nice to have that indicated in some way. On one HAL cruise, up in the buffet, I said, "Terimah kasih!" and the server corrected me that he was Filipino. Other lines do this, it would seem to take little effort and would be a plus for me.

Of course the ships embarking NYC tend to be larger, which is a whole 'nother experience than these smaller ships. But NCL is now sailing out of Baltmore (with an expansion in the next year), which might be an easy option for you. I am not sure if I mentioned that about 25% of pax disembarked in NYC, while the rest of us stayed through to Miami. So if you can catch a train or short flight or whatever home from NYC, flying one-way to Europe and taking the cruise back to NYC is a great option. It was such a relief not to be facing the long flight at the end, and to be able to buy more stuff along the way because we didn't have to worry about number of bags.

I am posting this to both the NCL and HAL boards, since I am doing a comparison review. As background, we are not dedicated cruisers. We have been on five lines, and might do a cruise every other year or so; most of our vacations are land-based self-driven road trips. And the cruises are based on itinerary not ship. As fate and deals worked out, we were on Nieuw Amsterdam in December 2022 and then on the Norwegian Sun in April 2023, just a few months later. Both of those ships accommodate about 2,000 pax, and both cruises were a bit undersold. Both times we had an Oceanview on the lowest passenger deck. So it should be a fair comparison. A few stark differences that I noticed: 1. THE APP. The HAL Navigator just worked. From the time we booked, it was full of information, with no drop-off in quality on our cruise. We did not purchase a wifi plan on either ship. The NCL app worked only when on ship’s wifi, which took at least three tries to get on, and regularly fell off. The HAL Navigator included free access to the New York Times website, and a free messaging app. NCL charges $10 for their messaging app; I am guessing that would also stop working when one fell off the network. 2. On the NCL Sun, menus for the MDR were available outside the main dining room, if one wanted to take a hike. The menus on the HAL NA were available for both the MDR and buffet on both the television and app, with a clear explanation of where items could be found in the buffet, which is larger and less crowded on that ship. Indeed, ship menus were available on the Navigator before our cruise, which helped me realize that some theme meals might be served on our cruise, and we watched for them and adjusted plans as needed. 3. The gym on the NCL Sun is wonderful, with a separate fitness center that allows one to do floor exercises and stretching when a class is not going on. It is well equipped with balance balls and foam rollers and all kinds of equipment. This really helped my back. It was open until 11 p.m. On the HAL NA, the gym was closed at 9 p.m., and the limited floor space was often claimed by other events. 4. The food on the buffet on the NCL Sun was excellent; they are known for the Indian dishes, but they also had a lot of great Mediterranean choices every day: lentil salad, hummus, baba ghanoush, and so on. They did not have much Southeast Asian food, and none very spicy, whereas HAL NA had great lunchtime Asian choices including sushi. 5. The soft-serve ice cream was broken on the HAL NA when we were on, and there were two on the NCL Sun. 6. The buffet on HAL NA was much more hygienic, with most serving by crew. But the NCL Sun had two sinks for handwashing, which I always did before eating. Norovirus is not eliminated by hand sanitizer. 7. NCL Sun had much more outside seating available, which was important to us having come from a place where Covid and flu are still a thing. We ate most meals outside on deck. 8. HAL NA had free room service when we were there, which was nice when returning from a strenuous excursion. 9. NCL Sun had three big production shows: a Bachrach tribute, rock & roll, and world stage. They were good if you like that kind of thing. But too loud (I could mitigate with earplugs) and too many flashing lights (hate lights in my eyes). I missed the simple elegance of Lincoln Center Stage. 10. We were really there for the ports that we were visiting; the ship was NOT the destination. But both cruises did have some sea days to fill; HAL had incredible multi-media shows on sea days. I really enjoyed the ones about radio and writers in the Caribbean, etc. Although people who cruise a lot with HAL find them to be repetitive. NCL Sun was lame by comparison. I did enjoy the class on Filipino language, but when I went to the one on Serbian language, it was a waste—he had no handouts or powerpoint and just told stories, and even said that Albania was part of Yugoslavia, which it was NOT. And while we are not trivia people, we did go to the “landmarks of the world” trivia. But the pictures were hard to see, taking up only a fraction of the screen, and the questions were in illegible outline text, with a moderator who was too busy cracking jokes to actually read the questions well. 11. Both ships had TV news available from BBC, MSNBC and Fox. But the HAL NA had a whole catalogue of on-demand movies, that kept track of where you stopped viewing so that you could spread a movie across a few nights. NCL Sun had 4 channels of entertainment, but no guide as to when movies began and ended, so it was not very satisfying. On these port-intensive cruises, we were sometimes tired when returning from port and just wanted to veg. 12. Drinks. We don’t drink alcohol, but might enjoy a Coke Zero in the late afternoon. On the HAL NA, there was a 2-for-1 happy hour in the Ocean Bar from 4-6, where we were given two cans of soda and a container of peanuts. The NCL Sun served a glass of soda with mostly ice, which we were not going to pay for. We were not interested in a package, because a friend who had it earlier complained that she drank so many calories that she did not enjoy the cruise as much, and also because our travel agent confessed some other pax did not think it was worth the cost of the required gratuities. As it happened, we did have a Coke Zero most afternoons, but on shore before returning to the ship. One sea day there was a reception for veterans and so we had a glass there (I almost didn’t go because I feared that I would be the only female vet there, but about 7% were women). 13. On NCL Sun, even the “sailaway/guarantee” room came with a $50 excursion credit, which could be used to book in advance for one ship excursion we needed (the trip would take us far enough away that I would not do a non-ship excursion). This credit was more flexible than waiting for onboard credit to book an excursion, a dilemma that I had faced before.

I am posting this to both the NCL and HAL boards, since I am doing a comparison review. As background, we are not dedicated cruisers. We have been on five lines, and might do a cruise every other year or so; most of our vacations are land-based self-driven road trips. And the cruises are based on itinerary not ship. As fate and deals worked out, we were on Nieuw Amsterdam in December 2022 and then on the Norwegian Sun in April 2023, just a few months later. Both of those ships accommodate about 2,000 pax, and both cruises were a bit undersold. Both times we had an Oceanview on the lowest passenger deck. So it should be a fair comparison. A few stark differences that I noticed: 1. THE APP. The HAL Navigator just worked. From the time we booked, it was full of information, with no drop-off in quality on our cruise. We did not purchase a wifi plan on either ship. The NCL app worked only when on ship’s wifi, which took at least three tries to get on, and regularly fell off. The HAL Navigator included free access to the New York Times website, and a free messaging app. NCL charges $10 for their messaging app; I am guessing that would also stop working when one fell off the network. 2. On the NCL Sun, menus for the MDR were available outside the main dining room, if one wanted to take a hike. The menus on the HAL NA were available for both the MDR and buffet on both the television and app, with a clear explanation of where items could be found in the buffet, which is larger and less crowded on that ship. Indeed, ship menus were available on the Navigator before our cruise, which helped me realize that some theme meals might be served on our cruise, and we watched for them and adjusted plans as needed. 3. The gym on the NCL Sun is wonderful, with a separate fitness center that allows one to do floor exercises and stretching when a class is not going on. It is well equipped with balance balls and foam rollers and all kinds of equipment. This really helped my back. It was open until 11 p.m. On the HAL NA, the gym was closed at 9 p.m., and the limited floor space was often claimed by other events. 4. The food on the buffet on the NCL Sun was excellent; they are known for the Indian dishes, but they also had a lot of great Mediterranean choices every day: lentil salad, hummus, baba ghanoush, and so on. They did not have much Southeast Asian food, and none very spicy, whereas HAL NA had great lunchtime Asian choices including sushi. 5. The soft-serve ice cream was broken on the HAL NA when we were on, and there were two on the NCL Sun. 6. The buffet on HAL NA was much more hygienic, with most serving by crew. But the NCL Sun had two sinks for handwashing, which I always did before eating. Norovirus is not eliminated by hand sanitizer. 7. NCL Sun had much more outside seating available, which was important to us having come from a place where Covid and flu are still a thing. We ate most meals outside on deck. 8. HAL NA had free room service when we were there, which was nice when returning from a strenuous excursion. 9. NCL Sun had three big production shows: a Bachrach tribute, rock & roll, and world stage. They were good if you like that kind of thing. But too loud (I could mitigate with earplugs) and too many flashing lights (hate lights in my eyes). I missed the simple elegance of Lincoln Center Stage. 10. We were really there for the ports that we were visiting; the ship was NOT the destination. But both cruises did have some sea days to fill; HAL had incredible multi-media shows on sea days. I really enjoyed the ones about radio and writers in the Caribbean, etc. Although people who cruise a lot with HAL find them to be repetitive. NCL Sun was lame by comparison. I did enjoy the class on Filipino language, but when I went to the one on Serbian language, it was a waste—he had no handouts or powerpoint and just told stories, and even said that Albania was part of Yugoslavia, which it was NOT. And while we are not trivia people, we did go to the “landmarks of the world” trivia. But the pictures were hard to see, taking up only a fraction of the screen, and the questions were in illegible outline text, with a moderator who was too busy cracking jokes to actually read the questions well. 11. Both ships had TV news available from BBC, MSNBC and Fox. But the HAL NA had a whole catalogue of on-demand movies, that kept track of where you stopped viewing so that you could spread a movie across a few nights. NCL Sun had 4 channels of entertainment, but no guide as to when movies began and ended, so it was not very satisfying. On these port-intensive cruises, we were sometimes tired when returning from port and just wanted to veg. 12. Drinks. We don’t drink alcohol, but might enjoy a Coke Zero in the late afternoon. On the HAL NA, there was a 2-for-1 happy hour in the Ocean Bar from 4-6, where we were given two cans of soda and a container of peanuts. The NCL Sun served a glass of soda with mostly ice, which we were not going to pay for. We were not interested in a package, because a friend who had it earlier complained that she drank so many calories that she did not enjoy the cruise as much, and also because our travel agent confessed some other pax did not think it was worth the cost of the required gratuities. As it happened, we did have a Coke Zero most afternoons, but on shore before returning to the ship. One sea day there was a reception for veterans and so we had a glass there (I almost didn’t go because I feared that I would be the only female vet there, but about 7% were women). 13. On NCL Sun, even the “sailaway/guarantee” room came with a $50 excursion credit, which could be used to book in advance for one ship excursion we needed (the trip would take us far enough away that I would not do a non-ship excursion). This credit was more flexible than waiting for onboard credit to book an excursion, a dilemma that I had faced before.

I am biased because since leaving our full-time employment we have switched to big meal in the middle of the day. That changes the dynamic. Happy to have a salad after the sun goes down. In our experience of Nov/Dec 2022, the lunchtime Asian station on the Nieuw Amsterdam buffet was phenomenal. They had plates of sushi, which would have cost on other lines. The Indonesian (pork sate!) and Singapuran food was particularly good. We did have one dinner at Tamarind, and while of course presentation was outstanding and their steak is incredible, honestly the other dishes were no better than the lunchtime Asian offerings. One day we did DiveIn for lunch, which I ordered on my app at the tail end of a lecture, and our order was ready within minutes of arriving up there. I had the wurst, which reminded me of living in Germany as a young soldier. We did do the Gala Nights in the MDR and thought the Prime Rib, etc. was fine. (But I have to admit we may have gotten preferential treatment from waitstaff because we were wearing formal batik/ulos and speaking Indonesian; the asst. maitre d' even came over to chat with us.) And to be even more fair, we don't eat out much at home. Pretty much never, except for every other month some Mexican dishes that are such effort to cook.

I don't feel the fanatical loyalty to a cruiseline that some people report. I go with the best itinerary and price. Most of our travel is land trips, so we only cruise once a year, maybe. If I ever tour Hawaii, I will of course go on Norwegian Pride of America, as their itinerary is unique. For Alaska, HAL has much better port stops and enrichment lectures. We've decided that ships with about 2,000 pax are the best fit for us, enough food choices and entertainment but not so crowded. So that means only a few NCL, two Princess, a few HAL.

I was on the Nieuw Amsterdam for the Marconi & radio talk, but this was one of the multimedia presentations that is hosted by the cruise director, but with packaged graphics and music. I think they are on many/all the ships. Also, I think Marconi may have been added to the line-up when the wind was too high in Jamaica and we had a sudden Sea Day--at least, I clearly remember it being a daytime event on a Sea Day, because I ordered lunch from Dive-In with the app during the last few minutes of the show.

Omigosh, I was on a week Caribbean in early December 2022, and loved the multimedia presentations. The history of HAL. The story of Marconi and radio (which was tactfully done because of his *** sympathies). The one about Hemingway and Jimmy Buffet. I am sure I am forgetting one. Also, on a previous cruise the port lecture about visiting Cartegena was so helpful; for example, he showed a map and indicated where to catch a taxi outside the port gates (cheaper). And of course Ask The Captain, which is always interesting and not every cruise line does it

They do exist but are now known as Road Scholar. And the offerings are wide and varied, but do include some cruises as well, including a Nile River cruise and a tour of Hawaii that includes Pride of America.

Yup, Holland America is my favorite for those reasons. And High Tea on sea days. Although people who go on HAL a lot say that the lectures become repetitive But many of them are multi-media and very well done. We only go on 1-2 cruises a year so not a repeat to us. And sometimes we go on Princess or NCL if the itinerary is right--but we like the smaller ships, around 2,000 pax, so only a few Princess ships that size still operating.

Good choices. I also have the Capital One 360, which does not require advance notification of foreign travel. Because you never know when something is gonna be eaten or rejected, I feel better having two ATM cards, and I also use a Schwab debit card, which credits any ATM fees and doesn't have a foreign transaction fee (but does ask for advance notification of where you are traveling). I keep any leftover Euro until next time. They also make a great gift for young family members taking a trip abroad. (Unlike the currency from Albania or Bulgaria, which is all but impossible to exchange outside the country).

Did not try it, sorry. Anyone else attempt from the ship? It's a good question because we regularly pick up a signal from Haiti when we are down that way (without landing.)