jules815

Thank you for all the replies.

We're staying at the Hotel Amstel (InterContinental). Just booked, it looks lovely.

We'll be sailing on Viking Einar mid-July, Amsterdam - Basel.  

We're doing a few days in Amsterdam on our own and plan on taking a cab or Uber to the boat. Is this done often with river cruising? Most of the YouTube videos we've watched about river cruising show people arriving by bus (Viking transfers). We've done ocean cruising from European ports several times and never had a problem. This will be our first time in Amsterdam and first river cruise, so we know things are different. 

Thanks in advance.

4 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

On river cruises, third-party tours are very difficult to line up.  Port arrival and departure times are fluid, dependent on how crowded the locks are, and what the dockmaster has to say.  Often the ship will drop you off in one port for a tour, then sail away, to go through a lock for example, and pick you up at another port.  So the third party tour provider needs to know where the ship will be when the tour is over.

 

Hadn't even thought about that! Just watched another YouTube video where they talked about exactly this. Getting dropped off and then picking up the ship at a different location. 

After years of ocean cruising, my husband and I have booked our first river cruise. 

We've booked our flights thru Viking (that was "the deal") and are arriving a few days prior to the cruise, but we'll be doing airport transfers and hotel on our own. We're also doing 3 days on the end on our own. 

I've been all over the internet researching river cruising, but still have some questions. We start in Amsterdam, with stops in Kinderdijk, Cologne, Koblenz, Speyer, Strasbourg, Breisach, and ending in Basel.

So far I've booked all of the included walking tours. If we decide at a later date, and I mean after the trip has started, that we'd like to add another excursion (something in the evening) is it possible to add it while on board? Do the excursions fill up?

Also, while the ship is docked, do people go on and off the ship and walk around the towns on their own? (Obviously given there's time...we wouldn't do anything risky.)

For those of you that have done the Rhine with Viking, are there any excursions that you highly recommend? There's one in, I think it was Cologne, where you learned about a certain beer unique to that region, and it ended in a traditional pub (beirhaus?) with dinner. Was all set to book, then watched a YouTube video of our itinerary, and it showed a fantastic German dinner with entertainment brought on board. We wouldn't want to miss out on something like that, so we're kind of torn with what to book. Is there usually some type of cultural entertainment on board most evenings?

Do any of you ever book excursions thru 3rd party providers, or stick with Viking tours only? 

Looking for some guidance regarding tipping. I know tipping is discussed to death on the ocean voyage boards, but this is a completely different type of trip for us. I see that gratuities are charged, but do you tip extra? I know the tipping culture in Europe is completely different. Even when we've pre-paid our gratuities on other cruises, we've always tipped our stateroom attendants and waiters something additional at the end. Is this done on river cruising? What about the Viking tour guides and bus drivers? Additional tips?  Euros? This is the one area my husband handles when we travel, and I can tell he's already agonizing a little about it.

Drink package. Very reasonably priced, but it also looks like drinks are quite reasonable as well. Are things like sparkling water and soft drinks included outside of lunch and dinner hours?

On 11/8/2023 at 8:00 PM, dd57 said:

I have actually sailed with Viking.  After having done over 20 ocean cruises, on several lines, I was used to doing research before choosing.  We decided to try river cruising and chose Viking because of the itinerary and dates fit with our schedule, and the emphasis on culture and history appealed to us.  This was 2 years before the cruise and there were only 2 cabins available.  I was taken aback by the early payment but we went ahead, because at the time the TA gave enormous paybacks after the cruise (they are no longer allowed to sell Viking cruises). That payback meant that Viking cost less than other lines.

 

We were so happy with our experience that when Viking started ocean cruising, we started looking for a cruise to take with them.  I built a spreadsheet to compare apples to apples between Viking and Princess for the itinerary we wanted to do, comparing cabin sizes, extra costs, etc, and Viking only cost $10/day for a much better smaller ship experience.  OK, let's go.  Wait, it's all booked 2 years out?  So we booked it that far out.  We had to pay a year in advance, but we were willing to do it to get the experience we wanted.  On that cruise we booked our next cruise and final payment was set to 6 months.  Since then, we always get a 6 month payment because we already have another cruise booked or have just returned from a cruise, which I learned to ask for by reading the Viking Ocean board.  (I don't know why the text turned red)

 

Viking is often fully booked over a year in advance.  I just booked a July 2025 cruise because 2024 was sold out.  We have 2 river cruises booked in 2024 that we booked last year.

 

I'm sure there are some people who are swayed by the ads, but that isn't everyone.  Most of the people we met on that first river cruise were well travelled and not new to cruising.

My husband and I aren't new to cruising at all, but will be going on our first river cruise in July on Viking Einar. We were supposed to be doing a transatlantic in April with Holland America, but canceled that this morning. My sister in-law and her husband are also newly retired, and just booked this river cruise and asked us to join them. This is the first time I've ever booked something so quickly without doing my research. We've always wanted to try river cruising though, and the itinerary is just beautiful so we went with it. 

Aware that there are other river cruise companies, and had I done a bunch of research, we may not have gone with Viking, but, from the little bit of research I've done in the past 24-hours, YouTube videos, etc., there's no way we won't have a great time. 

It's going to feel very different than the mega-ships we're used to sailing. In a good way though...this is just going to be a very different type of trip. Definitely more about the destination. We'll be in a Veranda suite on deck 3. 

We got a deal on airfare....that was the deal...and my husband and I are flying into Amsterdam a few days pre-cruise, they're not, and then we're all spending 3 days on the end in Basel. My husband and his sister have family there and we'll be visiting with them. So really, trip of a lifetime for all of us.

4 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Here is the new Europe Visa page, as Ann mentioned.  You will need this and it can be gotten and carried digitally 

 

How long does it take to receive? 

3 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Here is the new Europe Visa page, as Ann mentioned.  You will need this and it can be gotten and carried digitally 

 

Great thank you so much. 

2 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Looks like you are visiting primarily UK and "Schengen" countries on this TA cruise.  A great itinerary for your first HAL cruise, BTW.

 

Good to get up to speed on this topic - Schengen is basically the EU (European Union - common market) collection of countries now in Europe, that allows one entrance requirement for all of them.  You can run into this term "Schengen" at various airport security check lines. Threw me the first time I ran into it years ago, and had to get up to speed myself.  "Schengen" is the location where this inter-country agreement was made. 

 

No longer individual checks at each European country borders that way it used to be a few decades ago. But just today was a news story about Germany reinstituting border checks, so agree today this can be a fast moving field. Good you are trying to get up to sped ahead of time. 

 

Best resource is the website for each country you will be visiting. They will keep you up to date on any visa requirements. No longer automatic that a US passport opens most doors.  Also registering with the US State Dept "STEP" program makes more sense in  today's volatile world - letting them know where you are, as well as getting automatic notices of any changes in travel safety status.

 

Though today US State Dept just issued a "world wide" unsafe travel notice, so be aware of the politics than can also drive these decisions as well as actual practical travel assessments. 

Thanks for the info. I believe we registered with the US Department of State for the TA we did out of Barcelona in 2016. I was going thru my travel information earlier today and have phone numbers and other information we needed back then. 

Glad to hear this is a good itinerary for a first time with HAL. We're doing it because we'll be in FLL for a wedding. We were originally booked on Celebrity Ascent TA going into Barcelona, (kind of bummed we're missing Portugal) and then they moved the wedding date to a week later. We had to cancel that one and found the HAL TA sailing the Sunday after the new wedding date. Excited to be visiting all new ports that honestly weren't even on our radar and trying a new cruise line.

57 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Sold our excursions can put on extra spaces later, and people do cancel. So put yourself on the waiting list now, and see what evolves later. 

Good idea. Thanks.

4 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

If you don't use the $200 for excursion(s), you lose it. It cannot be used for anything else. Same goes for the HIA dining credits.

That's what I thought. Thank you!

My husband and I will be doing the April TA from FLL to Rotterdam. On the itinerary it says "Visa required for some." We have stops in Bermuda, Brest, LaHavre, Guernsey and Dover. We're both US citizens. Does this apply to us? (My TA is traveling and hasn't gotten back to me yet...but she didn't think so.) Also, I booked our return flights from Amsterdam to Chicago thru Flight Ease and I can't seem to find any confirmation that I did that. No email (would it have gone to my TA if we booked?) and if it's on the HAL website somewhere, I can't seem to find it. I know we haven't paid for the flights yet, but it's giving me a little anxiety not being able to see a reservation.

One more question. We both have a $200 credit for an excursion. If we don't use it, would it turn into OBC or something like that? Many of the excursions are booked already, and the few that are available aren't really of interest. Thanks in advance. This group has already been so helpful. Appreciate all of you.

On 10/11/2023 at 9:04 PM, jcpc said:

But easy solution......stick to YC enclave until you want to venture out for shows or specialty dining.

Yes, and it's easy enough to do too. I don't think a lot of people understand the size of the YC enclave. The private pool area with the buffet throughout the day, the bar, etc., is worth it alone to us. Never having to worry about getting a nicely padded lounger. We were on Seascape in the YC last month for two weeks and it was heaven. We feel the same way you do though about the rest of the ship though. If we were doing a cruise for ports and weren't going to go with a suite, we'd go with Celebrity. We're trying HAL next year (a transatlantic in April). (Thought we were going to go with a standard balcony room and ended up booking a Neptune suite. Was a little surprised to find out that the larger bottles of water we got with YC aren't included with our suite on HAL. And we have the highest tier of drink package. Oh well. Still looking forward to trying another line.)

Are there any dinner menus on Holland America (we'll have Club Orange access) that we wouldn't want to miss? I'm getting ready to book our specialty dining for our April TA on Nieuw Statendam. I usually don't like to book specialty dining ahead of time, but worried it might book up. Your thoughts on that? Should we just wait and have the concierge handle it for us once we board? We usually eat later.

We'll be sailing for the first time with HAL on Nieuw Statendam on the April TA to Rotterdam. We'll be in Fort Lauderdale for a wedding before the cruise and will most definitely be bringing some dirty laundry on board with us. Pleasantly surprised to see we get laundry with our Neptune suite. We always pay to have laundry done when we cruise and would have had no problem paying again on HAL, but so happy with this suite perk. 

Also, because of this type of cruise, it will be less summery type cruise wear and more of the athletic clothing I wear most of the year here at home. (leggings, casual tunic tops, etc.) I rarely put those things in the dryer and I was thinking I'd be hand washing my laundry in the bathroom sink on board, but now I know I'll be able to send everything. 

On 7/22/2021 at 7:01 AM, RGEDad said:

One of the things we have really enjoyed is after dinner (we dine early) - and all the nights festivities - is to go to the Pizza place on the ship and get a late night custom made/custom cooked pizza. Unknown to me - and this only came to light when booking the myriad of post-COVID cruises - not every HAL ship has a Pizza (NY Pizza/Slice) place. It appears to be only the Signature & Pinnacle class have them on-board and all my previous cruises have been on these two classes, except for one. Early in our cruising life we did sail on the Westerdam - but that was before we understood the finer things in late night cruising life...

The (first world) problem is, now I have to consider the NY Slice/Pizza availability when booking cruises. Just makes things a bit more complicated in these troubled times.

I use a Web site called CruiseDeckPlans now to find what & where various things are available, along with Cabin location, and a variety of ship/cabin photos also.

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com

Do they package the whole pizza up so you can take it back to your cabin?

Are you able to go all the way out on the bow of Nieuw Statendam? 

On 10/1/2023 at 9:02 AM, ShipWalker said:

Here are four different HAL bread plates.

 

Notice the HAL ship logo? When you are seated at the dining table it will always be placed in this position to greet you.

 

The plates are also available for purchase by asking the Maître d’. (a boxed set of 4 was about $35)

Now this is a cruise ship souvenir I would purchase. Do all ships offer these?

Is there an online form for requesting distilled water for my husband's CPAP?

Thanks.

5 hours ago, donandmelissa said:

 Loved our last TA on Nieuw Statendam

Our first HAL cruise is going to be a TA on Nieuw Statendam in April. We're both very excited!

19 minutes ago, Abe3689 said:

All I’m asking is who I speak to about this issues?

You came on Cruise Critic to ask? Not your first cruise, but you don't know about guest relations desk? I haven't sailed on HAL yet, but anyone who has cruised should know this. Your problem's with the food. Did you say something to the Matre'd? 

I wasn't sure if specialty dining was available for lunch with HAL, so this makes me happy.

21 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I missed the butter chicken

We were just on Seascape in the YC and we hadn't ordered the butter chicken, but our waiter knew we liked Indian food and brought it for us anyway. It was very good. We did our complimentary Diamond meal in Butcher's Cut, but I thought the filet was dry, not as good as the filet I had in YC from the every day menu. The filet in YC was very good each time I ordered. I know people say it comes from Butcher's Cut, so you'd think they'd be the same.

Following along! Have a great cruise.

3 hours ago, horseymike said:

My wife and I always enjoy walking around the promenade deck when on a cruise 🚢.

It is a simple pleasure that is quietly disappearing on many ships.

I'm the OP. Even when we could find an open area on another deck (besides our balcony), they had glass panels attached to the railing that were probably about 6 feet high. (This was on MSC Seascape).

41 minutes ago, Reagan0712 said:

I had to upgrade to premium internet and watch it on the TCM app on my iPad. And, believe me, I gave it a workout.

It sounds like Nieuw Statendam should have Starlink by the time we sail in April. Never even dawned on me that I can log into our Hulu live (which is how we stream tv here at home) and watch it there if we wanted to. Doh! 

We were really surprised that MSC had it because otherwise their tv selections were some of the worst we've seen.