JeffElizabeth

Our Butler on Riviera was awesome! In fact, he told us we weren't asking for enough from him. True, the ship was only 3/4 to 1/2 full on our cruise from Miami to Venice, er, Trieste. Especially loved getting my morning paper. Made other guests extremely jealous.

Interesting. Our cruise to Hawaii on the Nieuw Amsterdam in October had the crew fully masked. Captain's decision?

I tip our MDR people before our final dinner in a specialty restaurant.

We were just in a Neptune Suite on the Nieuw Amsterdam on our cruise to Hawaii and didn't like the room. Not a spacious as the Neptune's on the older, smaller ships. Didn't even have a curtain to separate the sitting room from the beds.

We were on three cruises this year of 28, 20, and 18 days and neither of us got ill. And we were tested numerous times. But none of our ships were full, 60%, 80%, and 80%. We didn't wear masks except when we were forced to. 50 somethings with diabetes and an autoimmune disorder.

We stayed at one of the Vidante resorts in PV in January. Nice place, they were pumping tons of money into the resort. Land and cruise combo tour?

15,000! Wow. And I thought Alaskan ports got busy. We love PV and would still be willing to tender. No wonder Carnival built that nice port facility there.

I like the option of the collared shirt and slacks but we are going on the 35 day Viking cruise in July of 2023 so I will be bringing a tux for that many "gala" nights. I do get compliments and I think others appreciate that some of us still dress up.

Agree. King Crab costs back in Denver are $75 a meal. Told that the Crab from Russia isn't being imported any longer.

We have to agree. The Neptune Suite doesn't even have a heavy drape to break up the sitting area from the bedroom. Nor a desk for the sitting area.

We still miss the Prinsendam. We were so fortunate to sail on it through the Kiel Canal and on its final voyage.

For us? Itinerary and smaller ships.

If you sit at a two top in the MDR, it does seem you get served faster. Not waiting for the slow eaters at an 8-top?

Was just on Princess in September and Holland in October, HAL had a much better buffet experience in our eyes, both ships were 3100. More options and better quality. The MDR is slower but the posters above are right. The dress code is pretty loose these days, even on formal night. I was getting away with black jeans and Hawaiian shirts.

Very cool. I will have to drink some on our next cruise in July. Would love to take the Rotterdam 150th cruise next year. Met up with a couple who got bumped up to that cruise!

Fair points. I was just curious. My wife and I can't even agree on lines. She prefers HAL, I prefer Oceania. So we are going on a 35 day cruise on the Zuiderdam next July.

Love the Princess suite cabin on the Emerald Princess and the Crown Princess. Such an awesome design especially when the passengers keep different hours from each other.

We used a PCC for twenty years and loved him, but get so much better benefits with our current travel agent.

Why didn't you like Princess? We did a Princess cruise in October and loved their suite. Only complaint was three specialty restaurants were closed. The food was not as quality as Holland America but still OK. Did a Holland cruise in October to Hawaii. Same size ships, but the Konigsdam was more full.

We loved all the trivia. Had the drink package so we enjoyed winning even if we already had 16 free drinks daily. Also made the five straight sea days pass.

We were on that same cruise. Food wasn't as good for us. Thought the staff from room stewards to cruise director staff to restaurant and bar staff were great. We used to love Prinsendam, Amsterdam, and Old Rotterdam. We didn't care for the suite on the Konigsdam. Don't even consider it a suite, more like a Vista. The tours? I heard they couldn't get enough people in Hawaii to work the tours. I don't know, was only able to book a tour to the air museum. Did have problems in Maui getting taxi service away from the docking area.

We like Holland America's food, we don't care about the shows either. We are about to take Konigsdam to Hawaii from Vancouver.

Agree. Now would not be a good time to implement fuel surcharges. They will probably eat the increase or have hedged the market. Might see more low price deals to fill the ship's, because they use almost the same amount of diesel at 50 or 100% capacity.

My wife does that! Not dirty laundry but stuff she needs pressed.

Our trip from Miami to Rome on Oceania dropped Bermuda because their rules were too obnoxious. Went to their private island instead, liked it more.