Ipeeinthepools

We don't sail on the Koningsdam until February, I'll be looking forward to hearing about any boarding tips for San Diego.

After all of these horror stories, I'll never book a cruise from Vancouver.

I saw this on my last cruise, a beach bag with a cable lock. The chair hog locked their bag to the chair. Hopefully they won't be sell this in the gift shop anytime soon.

I think this is the best approach. Why try to spend it on things you don't really want? The crew will apreciate it.

My only experience with HAL was a B2B2B on the Rotterdam last February, but maybe this is the answer. Guests on the previous cruise that are B2B cruisers can book dining long before you get on the ship and can take up most of the prime time options. It didn't seem fair but that was how it worked on the Rotterdam. Once the system was explained to me, I made it work for the last two cruises.

Of course !

We were in a Spa Verandah balcony on the Rotterdam in February and as far as I could tell, it was only the location. There might have been a couple of water bottles. But it was a very nice location. One thing to note is that the Spa Verandah balconies on the Pinnacle Class ships are considerably smaller with a reduced depth. Even with the smaller balcony, we would book it again in a heartbeat.

The heated pools are great, I can spend all day in those pools.

If you're new to HAL perhaps you would be better served by booking through a travel agent. The travel agent may have answers to questions you haven't even thought about and you won't spend days trying to get through to HAL.

As nice as the aft cabins might be I avoid anything on the rear third of the ship. I hate vibrations. It's been my experience that vibrations are larger and more prevalent toward the rear of the ship. This is independent of any particular ship or class of ships. I don't know if it's the engines, azipods or other mechanical equipment, but I have encountered numerous annoying vibrations toward the rear of the ship. Having frequent or persistent vibration in my cabin would ruin the trip for me.

The Covid situation is a lot different today than it was last August, but I do have a question. Who monitored you and your wife after you left the ship? Was anyone watching to see if you wife left the hotel or if you were staying with her? Did you still need a negative Covid test last August to fly back into the US?

The process in India is interesting, it looks like the PIN is designed to protect the driver from people impersonating the passengers. I've also heard stories about Private car companies in India. The scam is for the imitation driver to walk around the group of real drivers holding up names of passengers and copy a name. The imitation driver is also holding a sign with the passenger's name and he hopes that you see him before you see the real driver. After you leave the airport and you are in a remote location, they demand more money or just rob the passenger. I had never thought of this scam. That's why I now ask the driver where we are going before we leave the airport.

I'll make it three. We're E+ on Celebrity and sail in balcony cabins and we're likely done with Celebrity after a cruise this Fall, primarily due to the IV balcony cabins and less interesting itineraries on the M and S class ships. We tried the Rotterdam in February and we really enjoyed that class of ship and several more cruises booked on the Pinnacle class ships. I think we'll see a lot of former Celebrity cruisers on Pinnacle class ships.

Is there a cruise line that can meet your expectations at the same price as Celebrity?

If you are new to the Rotterdam, you should be aware that smoking is allowed in the Casino. I offer this as information, please take any smoking discussion to the dedicated thread.

HAL ran a special last July where the HIA package included gratuities and we re-booked our 35-day trip on the Koningsdam for Hawaii and the Pacific islands in February 2024

Excellent questions, hopefully someone can help us.

Excellent point. I would pay a premium for better pools. I wonder if Oceania has saltwater pools and if they are heated. That would worth a lot.

If she wants us to like her, then she'll keep the PUP program going.

We sailed from Amsterdam several years ago and I remember the walk to be mainly brick and large blocks most of the way. My suitcase took quite a beating during that walk. That's why I was looking at a car or Uber for my next trip.

I'm sure Oceania is a great cruise line but I'm not sure it's a fair comparison, at least for the non-suite balcony cabins. A 12-night cruise in February on Oceania is $10,600 for a low-level balcony cabin including drinks and economy airfare. A 12-night on the Rotterdam in February is $6900 with the Have-It-All package. So if you say that the shore-excursion credit, Free wifi and the specialty dining are about the same value as economy air fare, you are left with a difference of $3700 or more than 50% more expensive. There may be a lot of things I don't like about the new Celebrity but I probably won't pay 50% more to be on Oceania.

At least on the Rotterdam, HAL is playing games with the Spa Verandah connecting cabins and Collector Voyages. We were looking to book a Collector Voyage in the Caribbean for February 2025 and there were only Spa Verandah connecting cabins available for those voyages. There were plenty of other cabins are available for the individual voyages but you couldn't book them for the combined voyage. So if I didn't want the connecting cabins, I had to book the individual voyages at a higher price. I think HAL understands that the connecting cabins are not very desirable for most people.

Thanks for the tip. 😉

That's always a good approach to line-up where the plates are stacked but that's a little more difficult in the Lido because the plates are stacked next to the server for most items in the Lido. Since most items are plated by the server and are not self-serve there isn't any reason for the plates to be next to the passengers. It's also not possible to cut into the lines at most stations because the server plates your food. At most stations you are waiting for the server and not a particular food item.

This looked like a great trip. Just a couple questions about disembarkation in Amsterdam. When were you able to get off the ship and were there large crowds in the area. Were there many taxis available and did it look like Uber was an option. Since you left the EU, how long did it take you to get through Passport Control? We are trying to arrange a car pick-up but are unsure about a pick-up time and any other options. Thanks.