sandiego1

Go to websites to see any info you need. There’s a ton of info available online. WhatsInPort is one resource. CruiseCritic port boards. TripAdvisor. TheInsideCabin…. So many to choose from

Another common complaint was the lack of decorations in the MDR on theme and Gala nights. They sold the Amsterdam with all the decorations. The Zuiderdam doesn’t have as much storage as the Amsterdam did so they weren’t replaced. They also weren’t able to store our luggage and we had to rethink how we packed to ensure our luggage would fit under the bed.

We were on the 2019 and 2023 WC. The biggest difference was the lack of pillow gifts and the number of complaints by others. We don’t care about the gifts. We don’t need “stuff” to collect in our home. Some of the old-timers seem to complain if they change the butter dish in the MDR. Really some of the complaints were very petty. It got annoying after a while. Some people are just grumpy and look for things to dislike. We liked the Zuiderdam compared to the Amsterdam. The music walk gave us more choices at night. Again, there were complaints about the different ship. People also complained about ports in West Africa for a variety of reasons. What did they expect? We were visiting 3rd world countries with wide spread poverty. We didn’t expect Four Seasons luxury there. We had never been to Africa before and were happy to go there and experience local cultures and meet people from very different backgrounds. It was educational and eye opening. We booked independent tours in each African port and had a great time in most of the ports. There were some food shortages which led to grumpy people. Considering it was the 1st WC since COVID, we thought they did a great job. Was it perfect, no. But considering the state the world was in (ie many countries opening up for tourism again), we expected some issues. They ran out of the pillow chocolates and based on the number of complaints, you would have the thought it was a critical issue. Honestly some people need to just loved to complain! The staff was fantastic and we had great service in every venue. Our cabin stewards were the best we’ve had! Miss those guys!! Overall we loved the cruise and signed up for the 2025 Pole To Pole.

She wrote that she’s on the Oosterdam, so I didn’t neglect those 2 restaurants since they aren’t on the ship. There may be a pop up, but it would be in the Pinnacle Grill restaurant so my advice is accurate.

You can wear shorts in any venue on the ship at night except the main dining room (MDR) and the 2 up charge restaurants (Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto). They take over a section of the Lido buffet area at night to create Canaletto. You may feel a bit underdressed on Dressy night if wearing shorts. But don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. On the World Cruise, I wore shorts a few times when I didn’t feel like getting dressed up for dinner - even on the Dressy night. There were others dressed similarly in the theater and in bars.

These are standard HAL perks, not TA specifics. You can see the inside cabin perks on the HAL website too.

Yes, the courts are all outdoors and on the top deck where the wind and motion are most severe. I would suggest you learn before you go on a cruise. Playing while the ship is in motion is very different than playing on land. Injuries are much more common because of the ship’s motion. It would be awful if your ruin your cruise by getting injured.

My husband lost a crown (twice) while on our recent WC. I had a dental repair kit, but it was old and dried out so it didn’t work well. We found a dentist in Papeete to cement it back in at a whopping cost of $18. It fell out again about 2 months later (he ate a gummy vitamin again!). He had it fixed again in the Canary Islands. Both times we had to find a dentist open on a Saturday. No more gummy vitamins! I’ll buy a new kit before our next cruise.

The HAL gift cards were sold through BuyATab, not HAL. They was a link on the HAL website to the BuyATabl website in Spring 2022. The credit card statemen had BuyATab on it, not HAL.

Be warned. Most trip insurance will NOT cover the cost of the gift cards if you need to cancel the trip, etc. I recently discovered that (after I purchased some of the AARP gift cards).

If you do go to Tolanaro, I recommend Dodi’s Lemur Tours: https://www.dodislemurtours.com/

On the 2023 HAL WC, we missed the following ports: Tolanaro, Madagascar- due to Cyclone Freddy East London,South Africa- I don’t recall the reason as we were on a safari overland and missed the port anyway Dakar, Senegal- political unrest (we docked for the entire day but weren’t allowed off the ship) Brest, France - weather La Havre, France - strikes , but Dover, England was substituted

Batteries. I brought a few but missed that my E-stim used a 9-volt. Of course I didn’t have a spare. Luckily a friend had one to give me. We brought spare chargers for all devices in case one of was quarantined for COVID and we had to split up. Luckily that didn’t happen.

Didn’t see it offered anywhere, but then again, we weren’t looking 😀 Doesn’t burned hair curl up into a ball?

Way too close! I wouldn’t do that after a domestic flight, let alone an international one.

No research necessary. We happened to walk by the barber shops and my husband walked in. Easy peasy.

We were given a full size umbrella to use while on the 2023 world cruise on the Zuiderdam. We never used it as it was too large to carry.

You need to be strong enough to go down, and up, a flight of stairs to get to the tender if you are on the Volendam and Zaandam. Those ships don’t have an elevator to the tender loading platform which is on A deck.

Not supposed to be able to. But I brought one on the recent world cruise without any issues. I also brought Salonpas in case HAL confiscated the heating pad.

The outlets are on the top of the desk. You can check the photos on Halfacts to see the distance. It's quite close.

Our friends in a Neptune on the Zuiderdam got so much water (flat and sparking) and sodas, that they couldn’t drink them all. They left notes for the cabin stewards to stop leaving the bottles and cans. They gave us many of them multiple times throughout the world cruise.

Supposedly one of the tiny dogs was for him and one for his wife. Henk, the Hotel Director, did tell us and other passengers that the couple completed all of the “necessary paperwork “ to confirm they were service dogs. Based on the way he said it, I surmised that he didn’t believe it either.

I agree! TRUE service dogs such as yours, are well trained. Playing while working is not acceptable. I saw 2 tiny so called service dogs on the 2019 WC. They peed everywhere, barked at people, and bit someone while in the Pinnacle Grill. Definitely not the expected behavior of a trained service dog! A service dog is on alert and watching their owner.

Darn! We finally tried Canaletto on the 2023 WC and loved the lasagna and chicken parm. Disappointed that they were both removed. I’m not surprised that they increased the price. $19 was a pretty good deal- especially at 50% for us being 4*! Guess we’ll be skipping from now on.

I looked at the website the other day. 129 units available for either 24 yr lease, outright purchase, or shared lease.