newtocruiseinblue

Thank you for sharing! I will check out your review!!

True and good points!!

Good buy! Thank you!!

Thank you and I knew you would know! Happy travels!

Cruisemom, Thinking of doing a transatlantic out of Civitavecchia ...have been to Rome twice recently and was thinking of skipping it. Have you ever stayed in Civitavecchia or is there any other places nearby to visit besides Rome? We loved Rome but will be short on time so would prefer to save the expense this time around. Thank you!

Thank you! Good info!

Not even breakfast? Boo 😂😂

Thinking of doing the package land tour before an Alaska cruise with HAL. Are meals included during the land tour portion? I like the idea of the train and seeing more of Alaska prior to the cruise. Thank you! ❤️

Bimini is only about 7 miles long and not that wide. I heard mixed reviews on the resorts excursion so we decided to try adventuring on our own and had a fun adventure. Hard to get lost or miss the ship on a 7-mile island. I watched several YouTube videos to get the lay of the land and found this helpful. Things I learned about Bimini: - It was a favorite spot of Earnest Hemingway and the place where The Old Man and the Sea is based on. - It's known for conch. You can find the most beautiful conch shells on the lesser traveled area of the beach. They are everywhere on the island. - The food to try on the island is conch. - The prices for souvenirs, in the bars and stores will be more expensive than other places, such as Jamaica and Grand Cayman, so do your souvenir shopping elsewhere. - The cost to rent a golf cart was $100 that day but it can fluctuate. My husband talked the guy down to $80 as we would only need it until 2 pm. - if you drive the golf cart to almost the end of an island, you will see a cemetery on your right. Go down on the beach beyond the cemetery and you will see a small ship wreck (see pictures). I really liked the beaches of Bimini as I found sea glass and it had more of the feel of some better islands than most of the Bahamas. Happy cruising!

What about the price difference though? Isn't beyond a little beyond on price? Just wondering...I would have to travel less if I chose beyond. I'm still doing celebrity, the newer ships seem out of my price range...

Went a couple of weeks ago and I believe it was 5:45 pm and 8 pm but I could be wrong. Not much off of that. I just made a reservation for each day on the app as soon as I boarded for 8 pm bc we like to go after the crowd dissipates.

Wanted to add a trip for those flying into Schiphol. The airport has an app. If you sign up for the app or notifications, you get a coupon for 5 EU off of 25 at the duty free on chocolate, alcohol; etc. This worked out great for me as I realized upon departure that there were many little souvenirs that O did not get during our travels so I stocked up on stropwaffels at the airport.

Really enjoyed reading this thread! I've been mulling a transatlantic for years and this helped give me a feel for the pace and experience. We just did a quick HAL Amsterdam and Scotland cruise last week. Thank you for posting your experience. Cheers!

I've done most of these ports and while, you really can't go wrong - the combination of Instanbul, Ephesus, Naples and Sicily sounds a bit more intriguing to me. If I had to choose which ports to do excursions I would see the ruins of Ephesus, Taormina in Sicily and Capri at Naples. Enjoy

So glad you had an enjoyable adventure! It is fun and interesting to compare your trip to my own experience!! We were only an hour behind you in Amsterdam at most places. We had an amazing experience and I am still recovering from jet lag! Happy cruising!

Almost immediately

I just disembarked Amsterdam yesterday morning. I believe the earliest time to get off of the ship is 7-730 am. You will be given special luggage tags and instructions if you are in a Naptune Suite. We flew to and from Schiphol and the conditions have definitely improved since last year. They seemed to have an abundance of staff in place. Our departure was the most efficient we've ever experienced internationally. I know the head of the airport was replaced due to all of the problems from last year. Although April is the shoulder season, it is spring break in Holland, they just celebrated King's Day, and had the annual tulip parade the day we arrived. Still probably won't compare to the summer months though. The good news is things are getting much better! When we arrived we did face a challenge in that it took over one hour for our luggage to arrive. They never provided an explanation as to why Just be ready with the attitude of "the show must go on". We only checked our bags bc we had to bring clothes to fit the cooler weather We traveled by train from the airport to Amsterdam and traveled by Uber from the port to the airport. If I could redo it, I would have skipped the train when we arrived and used Uber. Taxis were very expensive and we used one twice. I would have not done the taxi and chosen Uber. I'm not a big Uber person but it was so simple. They use mostly Teslas for their Ubers or other electric vehicles. Very glad I didn't waste money on a private car as we typically do. I can understand arranging for a private car transfer when you disembark for peace of mind but my experience with Uber is that it's so simple you could easily do it. Other Amsterdam advice - get Ann Frank house tickets six weeks in advance as soon as they are released, get any museum tickets in advance and take a canal cruise!

Yes, it seems post-Covid "we can't have nice things" in all aspects of life. I had the level 1 wine package on my last HAL and was happy when they substituted the included Rose with Whispering Angel. I would have pushed back on the White Zin as well ☺️ Leaving Friday for the Scottish highlands cruise. May the rest of your cruise be filled with good (at least drinkable) wine.

Presenting the bottle, vintage, and allowing your taste and approval is part of the process of ordering wine. You can politely ask for the wine steward and say, I'm not sure if this is the vintage that I ordered, it tastes off. You can politely tell them that it tastes off. I guarantee if you do this once, they will probably go out of their way to make sure you are happy with the wine. That is a huge part of the decorum of any restaurant. They should respect your request. Also, I learned that no one can tell you what wine tastes good - what I mean is that every mouth has between 2000-4000 taste buds in it and every wine tastes different to each individual.

They didn't "remove" it - you can still chose all included. They added cruise only fares in response to customer demand. Happy cruising!

I've sailed both lines and will say HAL generally offers better itineraries. The music walk is really great and we loved it, but the Celebrity ship had more energy at night. Both felt equally crowded. It is going to depend on where you are going and when. It never hurts to try other lives. We stick to both HAL and Celebrity. 💖

Yes, you have made a mistake. It is not trusting yourself to go in your vacation, experience it for yourself, and make your own decision. I am guilty of the same "mistake", but the good news is that I sailed the Oosterdam and everything was amazing for me. I like the size and layout better than the new ships. The crew was fantastic and even better was the itinerary and ports. It is natural to stress and worry before a big trip but what matters most is your attitude while traveling. If every little, tiny thing is going to bother you while traveling, then it is going to be stressful. If you have the attitude "I'm on this adventure, situations are bound to arise, just go with it and enjoy the ride" your chances of enjoyment will increase. Just do you and don't worry what other people think. Happy cruising!

We sailed on deck eight and noticed no noise from deck 9. We were in a forward veranda 8030 or something like that...we really loved the ship.

Where did you get this detailed schedule? It's great but I've never seen this format before! Thank you so much!

Anytime a booked excursion has changed. I've received an email notification of the change. What was the change?