FRANKIEDNYC

:) In the Canaletto, I find the seafood soup outstanding

:) I know that there was Mrs Rotterdam in 2004 on the VOV as Ruth has stated because my dw was it on the 1st segment. And we remember meeting Ruth. It was our 1st Hal cruise. Then in the summer of 2005 my dw was again Mrs Maasdam. In 2006 again summer on the Maasdam there was a Mrs Maasdam and I rememberit well because it was our young sons 1st and only HAL cruise and he discovered who it was. Since then we have done over 20 more HAL cruises (all on the smaller ships) and never remember it ever being done again

:)Id probably be at the late show or the evening movie.

If I'm not mistaken, there is a vegetarian choice on the dinner menu every night.:)

VOYAGE OF THE VIKINGS June 2004 on the Rotterdam 35 day round trip from New York.

Fabulous cruise and weve been sailing almost exclusively on HAL ever since

Midship pool has two step like ladders , aft pool has two ladders

Had a couple of long cruises on Prinsendam and used the pools daily. Both pools are fresh water, but was told that they can switch to salt water in the aft pool. The midship pool pictures kind of looking like a keyhole with steps into the top part which is only about 3 feet deep than step like ladder into the larger part which is about 4 -5 feet deep if memory serves me. The whole deep part isn't too much bigger than a hot tub. Maybe about a 20 - 25 ft diameter. The aft pool is much deeper going from aroun 5 feet deep at the shallow end and I thnk about 9 Feet at the deep end. My guesstimate is that its about 25 feet wide and 40 - 50 feet long

Carnival may fill the ship once or twice but than they will be sailing empty after the initial rush. Then the prices will come way down

Try this site: http://www.stay123 They offer many hotels with parking and port transfers at all U.S. ports. In Ft Lauderdale, we usually use the Sheraton in Plantation. They have one of the nicest and largest pools of most hotels on the roof. nice restaurant free shuttle to the port, free breakfast, and indoor parking. We usually only take cruises of more than 30 days and were never charged extra for long term parking. Last Jan we took 68 day Antarctic cruise on Prinsendam and they had no problem with that. Cost's a little more than some (about $200 a night) But the rooms are beautiful (all suites) and the staff very nice

There is no tax on drinks unless purchased while ship is still in U.S Port. The 15% is a gratuity

I know that the Mar. 2016 55 day r/t Ft Lauderdale,Prinsendam Grand Voyage to the Med is posted already as we are in the process of booking it.

I've seen even lower online, usually 3-4 weeks prior to cruise date

Linda and I had the pleasure of dining with the Captain on the Prinsendam during the South America/Antarctica cruise this past winter . He told us that the Prinsendam was guaranteed to be around for a minimum of four more years with HAL.

Try http://www.stay123.com Ive used them several times, no problems

We checked with travel agent in Pa and are able to book a 7 day Peru trip with 3 days at Cusco/Machu Pichu including ai fare for about the same price as the HAL excursion

We are 150 miles from Ft Lauderdale and will be boarding her tomorrow

The worst we ever encountered was New Orleans a few years ago. After we disembarked, it too over 3 hours to get thru customs. It wasn't even a huge ship. Norwegian Spirit about the size of an S or R class HAL ship

I posted this on the roll call but pretty late. Ask to have the doctor use self melting sutures. My wife had tis done once right before a trip we took a while back and it worked well. The sutures just slowly melted away all except for where a small knot was tied She had the doctor remove that when we got home, even tho I could have pulled out for her. Doctor said that that knot should have also melted and probably would have with a little more time

:) Oceania offers a 360 day world cruise on I believe Insignia She leaves Miami In January and July for 180 days and covers most of the world if you book both segments. My self I would like to see a few longer cruises doing round trips from n.y. Several years ago the Voyage of the Vikings did this and it was great.

:) Thank you all for the good info. I thought maybe it came with maybe a massage or some other spa service. As far as yoga is concerned , we know nothing and the water thing looks like it just takes up good counter space. We are happy with the location and we'll see if they can remove the yoga mats and water thing for the cruise duration

We had a guarantee BB on our 42 day Maasdam transatlantic next week. Just got our room assignment. We were supposedly upgraded to a BQ cat spa something or other. Anyone know anything about these rooms We were assigned BQ124. :confused:

:) We attended one of these presentations about 3 years ago at a local hotel. It was very nice with free hors dourves wine and a goody bag for each couple. Also had door prizes and I won a beautiful hard covered book spotlighting all the art aboard HAL ships

:) We faxed one in yesterday and an hour later we got a phone call confirming.

:oThanx for all the input, I got thru to HAL today with very little problem. I was put on hold while the did research for about 15 minutes. However I got no satisfaction. I booked this cruise on the Prinsendam in Feb or Mar with the promise that I could xfer it to my own TA. I was told that I had the Explore 4 at that time. When I got home I transferred the booking at a much lower price and for a much higher category. Now When I printed out my on line registration, I found nothing about Explore 4 on it. TA said it never was on there But is was when I made reservation on ship. Now HAL tells me that it's a different reservation # because I booked a Cat BB guarantee vice the HH I booked on the cruise. The future cruise guy told me to book the lowest cat for now and it could be changed later. I guess he lied. They also said that at the time of my booking the explore 4 was not offered. Any way I'll still enjoy the cruise and drink less.

:mad: Any body out there having a problem getting in touch with customer service at HAL? Yesterday afternoon about 6PM EST, I called about a problem with my Explore 4 disappearing. I was on hold for 15 minutes before I got an agent. I explained my problem and the agent asked if he could put me on hold for a minute. After 25 minutes on hold I got a dial tone than a hangup. I called right back and after 30 minutes on hold and no one answering except for the recording saying how important my call is to them and that the next available agent would pick up. At first the message was about every minute or so but after about 15 minutes it went on every 8 seconds (I timed them) I finally hung up after 30 minutes. I was hoping that by virtue of the fact that the agent had my name and booking # that maybe they would call me back. But no such luck. We are going to become 5 star mariners on our upcoming cruise at the end of the month. This is the first time ever had to call them. Is this Typical?