Susanmaz

DH and I were talking just yesterday about the dinner bell man calling us to dinner and the after dinner mint man at the door when we left dinner. And speaking of dinner,we sure do miss the later “early dinner” seating time - we hate the 5:00 time for early seating.

When we were on the Kdam, the lines for open seating were always long. I presume because of the 2700 passengers. When we were on the Volendam, there was never a line for open seating dining, presumably due to only 1400 passengers. We are doing Volendam again at Christmas and are doing open seating this time. It will be an experiment.

Smoking was port side on the Kdam last November

We had one in our vista suite on Volendam

AAA closed all of their offices in our city. One reason I cancelled our membership. However we did our photos at a local photo shop only one mile from our house…

I don’t know that open foodstuffs are allowed. Snacks that are packaged are okay. It might be best to check with the line about what you want to bring aboard.

The crew and staff are what sets the standard for Holland America. The best. Always helpful, hard working and SMILING.

We keep a second, backup card that I use once a month for gas… keeps the card active.

We were on the Volendam in May and had a perfect HAL experience. The ship is older, but the size and passenger number are perfect. The crew and staff were wonderful, courteous, helpful and always smiling. The food was very good and MDR and Lido and Pinnacle Grill service excellent. We got home and booked a holiday cruise on her again. The shows were great. AND she has a library.

We have had the HAL card since 2008. Never had an annual fee. We use our reward points for air flights or hotels ( our May cruise we stayed at the Pan Pacific in Vancouver for no cost). It’s our main use credit card, so we are always accumulating reward points - double points for Holland America charges. We pay it off every month. Works for us.

DH and went out to dinner Thursday night and paid $7.00 for a bottle of beer - at a local Mexican restaurant. Wen5 out for Father’s Day last month and paid $13.00 for a cocktail at a local Italian restaurant. $11.00 for a drink is a good price.

My favorite was a 10 day Eastern Caribbean on the Maasdam in 2013. Loved the beautiful Maasdam and new to us islands.

My preference would be the Zaandam, due to the smaller size and intimacy and ease of getting around (we just did 5his trip on sister Volendam and loved it). Second choice would be the Noordam. It’s a lovely ship, good size a also has an ease of movement. We did the Konigsdam last November, and found it too busy,with too many people always around and around much motion. There was always crowding in the Crows Nest, Grand Dutch Cafe and narrow passage ways. Unless you are familiar with larger ships and lots of people, I would go with the smaller options.

With the extreme weather happening in the summer of 2023, we here in the southwest are dealing with very high temps and waiting for rain, while everywhere else is dealing with excess water. Stay safe everyone.

I found that additional options took up extra space and led to more crowding with the extra passengers. There never seemed to be room for all of those extra people - every place was crowded and it seemed that all of the passageways were narrower and always packed. I hated it. When researching future cruises, I eliminate the Pinnacle size ships from our options,regardless of itinerary.

My two cents - maybe go back to smaller, more intimate ships. Not sure why people are looking for bigger and more crowded ships. When the Volendam and Zaandam are gone, all that will be left will be bigger ships. Sad.

She was our first HAL cruise, to Alaska, in 2000. We still have our formal portrait and a picture taken with the head chef from our galley tour. We had an obstructed ocean view cabin. They sure were different times.

Wow. This is so good to know and nice to see/hear it was done so respectfully.

I would do ship’s transfer - most likely to SeaTac

More places to sit and relax and read. Less people. Explorer’s Lounge.

I had never seen it before until I researched what and where for our next cruise. Maybe because our last two cruises - since resumption - were using our credits from Covid cancellations? Who knows. But I will probably not ever do an HIA if I have to pay to choose a cabin.

Booked this 12 day Sea of Cortez & Holiday Dec 22 - Jan 3. This will cover 3 celebrations for us, anniversary, Christmas & New Years. I have to say I was surprised to see that there is a charge for choosing a specific cabin… I paid it because I am particular about where I what to stay. As I consequence, I chose not to spend the money on HIA. Hope to see you holiday travelers on board.

Our first cruise was on the Carnival Jubilee to Mexican Riviera in 1995. Our first HAL cruise was on the Westerdam to Alaska in 2000.

Shack - unless one is like DH who has no clue of how to do that and has a DW who refuses to deal with his technology incompetence. There still are people who need to see paper.

We were on the Kdam in November. There were people EVERYWHERE. There was nowhere to find a simple place to just sit. The walk from front to back took 30-40 minutes for me with my mobility issues - there were no seating areas or benches. There were always lines at guest services. Our recent sailing on the Volendam was so different.