ANSalberg

One of the differences - the cabins WAY toward the stern on both Amsterdam and Rotterdam ships; the last 6 on BOTH sides/outside - have large showers and NO bathtub; for us older folks those are ideal; NOT having to stp over the higher edge of a tub PLUS the size of the shower IS the range of the sides ; only there aren't sides! [ if that makes sense] just LARGE showers surrounded by drainage areas!

We sail sistership "Amsterdam" often - in those cabins toward the rear of the ship AND love them [ They have showers NO tub!] Noise has never been a problem; and I honestly think fewer and fewer people are smoking so that hasn't been "A problem"

There was an early morning noise problem that we laughed when we heard what it was; it was setting up MANY chairs for a Sunday morning CHURCH service!!!!! But other than that I don't remember night/noises!

You will also be fairly close to the rear elevators -no noise- but EASY access. ENJOY your cruise!

As an appetizer; SNAILS! They cook them 2 different ways and they are YUMMMMMMY

OH -and the Bread pudding WITH the vanilla sauce; to DIE for its so good!

Bad.............................................???????????????? ;) Anne from Colorado

Sapper - Yes! And you guessed correctly! Kerry & I still Email often. THAT'S what cruising has meant for us; Meeting people like YOU & your hubby -in the dining room at a FRIENDLY table! ;) XXXXX Anne

We retired 18 years ago and discussed THEN what we wanted in our lives -and the consensus was -We want to see the world! Looking back now -it was -for us - a good decision!

We've done a World cruise and several ALL-around the Pacifc [ with another coming up this coming Fall] and I wouldn't have changed a thing! We've spent a whole year on the Amsterdam [several cruises] and we've seen what headlines DON'T tell you -AND we have been treated wonderfully everywhere and made new friends [ one of my dearest friends of the last 18 years is a wonderful person who lives in Australia and cruises also; thank GOODNESS for Computers/And Email!] We find our world to be MORE than what we expected -more fun,more exciting and more to LEARN from.

We met family of our crew friends on several stops in Indonesia -at their request; and LOVED that! We learned SO MUCH it is totally amazing. On a stop in Greece with another HAL ship -as we strolled toward the end of the pier -a steward from the other ship ran over and gave us a hug! It FEELS like "family" to us -to cruise Holland America.

ALL everyone says about getting there is true; at this age it certainly isn't easy flying to a coastal port -TSA - and all the security we have to endure. BUT the cruises/ports -to us -are well worth it! I would NEVER regret that 18 year decision to KEEP learning about our world.

I also am NOT criticising anyone elses opinions; I'm just saying this was a learning experience in our retirement years I wouldn't trade for anything! Anne from Colorado

In 1990 my father passed away in Boston - 2 days before his 80th birthday, It was the 4th of July!!! I called a LOCAL TA and within an hour had ticket in hand [remember;1990] that got me to my Mom and my sister just after 1PM. Those were years ago but my loyalty is given to a TA -LOCALLY -that has sent us on lovely cruises & vacations -ever since. TA in TODAY'S world have a tough time as people attempt to get the cheapest whatever. Just be careful what you wish for! Anne in Colorado

I am looking at an extended cruise with 3 other friends for Jan '18. Extended defined as greater than 14 days. Three of us are retired and one works but is able to take a long vacation.

 

Whether its the South America/Antartica or Asia/Aust,NZ - my question is probably more for those first timers who took this type of cruise. Its a simple question - did you get bored or feel confined?

 

dave

We decided 18 years ago that "Seeing the World" was what we wanted to do in our retirement years -and we've done several AND on HAL [by choice] and Asia/ Aust etc is our favorite; We're schedule again for Fall/2017.

One thing - yes, this is judgemental - is actually seeing/experiencing meeting people around the WORLD and we've been THRILLED to generalize how wonderful it is [ sans HEADLINES or Media] We have LOVED experiencing our travels!

Cruising as we've headed into our late seventies -has been a totally delightful and easy way to travel. Do you "experience" everything? Probably not -but you are experiencing AS much as the "Nay-sayers' and then some. Decide where and what you want to EXPERIENCE AND can afford -and then GO for it!

I also journal these trips -which can be a good reminder and a good base for the NEXT adventure! [ and a great way to share with your family; my children etc -weren't all that thrilled to travel for long trips -but our GRANDdaughters have LOVED seeing Europe and loved Italy as much as we do!!

And -NO -we've NEVER ever been "bored"

After years not knowing what to do with our tiles, yesterday I purchased a 75 cent wooden tray at a garage sale, sprayed it blue, and glued some of our Mariner tiles inside. I had difficulty because so many are the same, and some tiles are thinner than others, so trying to get a variety was tough. The thin tiles will have to wait for another tray.

 

DH looked at it and said "Along with our HAL jewelry (pins, medallions), that's the most expensive sandwich tray I've seen." :rolleyes:

 

Here's

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

 

I have a kitchen window above the sink that faces NORTH -so I neither need/want a curtain but I glued in about a dozen tiles along the top of the window for the color! [blue!] and people always" Oh & Ah " when they see those beautiful HAL tiles!!!!!!

Relax. Sleep in. Appreciate the sunset. Enjoy an intimate conversation with my husband while having a romantic dinner. No TV. No phone. No computer. Heaven!

DEFINITELY!!!!!!!!! AND never complain [you've got nothing to complain ABOUT -SOMEbody is waiting on you hand and foot; THIS NEVER happens at HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anne in Colorado

We just returned from the Prinsendam's crossing out of Ft Lauderdale plus the Baltic cruise attached! It is a lovely ship with a FABULOUS crew [ the reason we sail HAL -the crew] The new carpets and furniture -plus paint etc - is lovely.

One of the most attractive to me was the smaller size of the ship as a whole - 850 passengers so you become "HOME" quickly -and that was not lost in the redecorating.

The Amsterdam and the Nieuw Amsterdam are our FAVORITE ships but now I can [easily] add the Prinsendam to my list!

Anne from Colorado

One of our significant memories of sailing out of Venice was listening to the recording of "Time to say good-bye" by Bocelli -and the tears rolling down our cheeks. My friend then died more than 13 years ago - and my husband and I have sailed out several times in similar circumstances.....but what a WONDERFUL memory for me of a dear friend and mentor...........Please; enjoy YOUR memories. A

Bob -THANKS for your report on Prinsendam -I'll be thinking of you when WE board the ship in MAY 2016 -AND thinking about a cruise on the Volendam in 2002 ;) when we first met you [ we were ALL kids in THOSE days!!!!!!!] Anne in Longmont,Colorado

I haven't seen bread pudding mentioned recently. Is it still being served ?It was some of my favorite desserts.

 

Marcia

MINE too!!!! and I LOVE the vanilla cream topping!!

I'd check Marshalls & TJ Maxx too.

EVERYTHING everyone has said is true; But I also am hearing "I want this to be SPECIAL" for Christmas. Tuck a box of Christmas cards in your suitcase /small sized - and with whatever you choose to tip, remind the room stewards or table crews or whatever -of a LITTLE joke or whatever you may have shared -OR just say a KIND word of how spwcial THIS cruise was "because of YOUR help" Believe me it WILL be appreciated! AND remembered!!!! The HAL crews ARE special!!!!!! I know what YOU mean!

Anne ;)

I call it the "It's ALL about ME!" syndrome. I can think of a cruise several years ago where at the first CC get-together a single man told another single man that he'd gotten an exceptionally low fare etc. The cruise was a 3 week cruise and the second single man went bonkers trying to figure out how to get HIS money back. ALL the old time cruisers said "Forget it; you're ON a cruise-This is NOTHING" but he muttered about it the entire cruise.

There are some people who don't "enjoy" cruising BECAUSE they don't "get it" -your cruise -once its SET -once you are ON that ship -is a PLACE to enjoy/learn/EAT/have fun

Not to get crazy about!

I'm not sure "Cuba" per se has anything to do with anything BUT legality NOW; 16 years ago my DH and I decided we "wanted to see the world" and cruising was the perfect WAY to do this -and now I think even more FIRMLY that we made a good choice to do that -LARGELY because most of what we saw or learned THERE [ and there being MANY many world ports via HAL] was that "propaganda" is not JUST a foreign thing done by "them" It comes from our country as well.

What we have found in 16 years/ over 1000 days on HAL [ and a VERY few other lines a FEW times] that in this WORLD are MANY many people who are just like us and love to see/learn/visit/etc and more etc - We have loved every minute of our travels and would do it all again in a heartbeat. Do we "need" or "want" warfare and killing? NOT my problem; MY problem was learning how NICE people all over this world ARE!

ANSalberg it sounds like you've had a lot of great experiences!

 

DH was Vietnam era US Navy (although not sent there) so the Vietnam & Cambodia ports have a special interest. And we both want to see at least some of Australia. I guess we want to balance between richness of experience and the time away. I realize that's quite a challenge.

On one cruise where we had 2 stops in Vietnam -table mates came back to dinner one night practically in tears! They had been in Vietnam and Japan [ the wife was a nurse there where severe cases were sent -then] To see Vietnam in the 21st century meant everything to these two military veterans; the new highways with separate BICYCLE/motor bike lanes -separated by BEAUTIFULLY blooming flowerbeds-and to see the smiling /laughing young people with their children....Jim said afterward "THIS visit probably saved my life";) True story and one I'll always remember!

I'm not sure if this will answer your question; But I'll try. We've taken quite a few HAL "Grand" cruises -and our favorite was in and out of Southern California and went to Hawaii/Asia/Indonesia/down along the east coast of Australia -and on several similar cruises there were simply variations; The Pacific is SO huge-= but so interesting -the countries SO varied......These Grand cruises were from 70- 79 days depending on where you stopped etc -sometimes skipping China- OR Singapore or Darwin[Aus] -OR maybe all BUT went to 2 or 3 New Zealand ports.

So I won't go into where/etc etc - BUT if we loved ALL of them we took. [including a World that did many -but 'escaped' via India and the Red Sea into the Med.

The ANSWER is yes; We loved every one and Asia/Pacific will always be my FAVORITE destination. People were friendly/MANY spoke English easily and were helpful within the ports. Things were VERY different & unique -BUT that was the exciting PART! [ one of my dearest friends from several of these cruises lives just outside Sydney,Aust. Thank goodness FOR the Internet! we MET on one of the first cruises]

Open your heart & your mind [ and, Yes- probably your pocketbook as well] This is NOT Disney -Travel there is 'Real" and exciting, and fun, and a whole NEW learning experience. You will gasp at some unique finds [ we REALLY like Aust/NZ wines now & CAN buy them here] We've been traveling at least 2 months [ the World was 110 days -that WE felt was a bit too long away from OUR family; but only because we adore our family] We began cruising MANY years ago but both had WORK schedules; when we retired; we knew -"Get it done while you can" and we did and we are [probably] at that "end in sight" place -or ALMOST. Would I change anything? NO Was HAL a good choice [ the BEST for us; we ADORE the crew from Indonesia] Were ALL the cruises all THAT spectacular? YES yes and another yes yes yes!

Ages; we were 60 and 62 when we started the LONG retirement agenda. We are now 77 and 75. I would not [now] change a thing. and I'm SO glad we set this goal to do what we did! Anne

I honestly do NOT think "Budget cruisers " NEED to defend anything;" For MANY years that's what we were -whether we sailed WITH my hubby's parents or on our own; when we both retired we decided the MOST important thing we wanted to do was LIVE the history of OUR world [ we retired in 2000] so we did a World cruise and several "Grand" HAL cruises plus a few more. NOW I think we TOTALLY made the RIGHT choices and I'm SO glad we did because our age would change those decisions NOW [2015]

The bottom line is it is nobody ELSE'S business what you decide OR why. We often HAD inside cabins and now we don't. What we LEARNED would fill an encyclopedia.

This subject annoys me more than you CAN know; I had a woman who NEVER worked outside her $$$$$$ home say VERY nastily to me "I HEAR- ALL you do is cruise!" Our home is wonderful but smaller/modest; OUR cruises are NOT -they are WORLD calibre. AND we've LOVED ever single one and I OWE her NOTHING[ OR anybody ELSE for that matter!]

I doubt I will ever ever go to my GRAVE saying "WE should have saved more!"

Just remember- there ARE things that aren't anybody ELSE'S business........

We haven't done Viking, but did do a river cruise on Uniworld, and we loved it. A very small ship (after sea voyages), and everything was included, even shore excursions, and most drinks. We loved tying up in towns for the day, where you could just walk off, and the food was excellent.

 

That said, we love the sea days on a larger ship, and HAL can go lots of places the river boats can't! It's really comparing apples and oranges - I like them both!:)

PERFECT answer -and we're going on our first River cruise in SEptember and looking forward with GREAT anticipation to September -but have a Veendam cruise first/in July!

There doesn't NEED to be a limit on adventures!!!!!;)

The is NOTHING better on this planet than A HAL cruise in DECEMBER for a CANADIAN -where its LOVELY and WARM!!!!!!! The CREW is the best on the ocean [ Indonesian] KIND, gentle and they make great friends, The dining room on ANY ship is a delight. The ADVENTUREs you will have will be amazing. Just smile and say "Merry Christmas, Honey, I love you> TRUST me! ;)

I try to find little items native and MADE in the area. I will not buy anything made in China. I don't buy much anymore since we usually have been to the ports we go to many times. If by chance, I am on ship we have not been on before, I buy a ship's magnet. I used to display them on my kitchen fan hood but anymore they go into a drawer.

Some of my TREASURES - both for me and friends/family -are jade jewelry from either Hong Kong [ a store very close to the pier] or Shanghai,. They aren't terribly expensive BUT NOBODY else HAS them! [ I LOVE that!]

The other place we go in any place that carries literature in English -we buy books of local [Nationality] authors. Mainly fiction but ANY WWII history is on my Bucket-list!!!! LOVE book stores; ANY continent ;)

We have 1000 day on HAL -and have cruised sporadically since we retired 17 years ago [shorter-more coastal cruising until then] And I'm ESPECIALLY fond of cruising Asia and/or Australia -and Europe. LOVE cruises of more than 70 days......that said we are doing our first river cruise in September from Bucharest to Amsterdam.

Reasons; my adult granddaughter went to S Europe LAST summer -including our favorite areas of Italy but by LAND. They flew into Prague, Czech. -When I heard that I was stunned; MY Mother's family came from there BEFORE she was born; some time between 1906 [picture of my Grandfather in an Austro-Hungarian uniform] and my mother was BORN in Nebraska 1910.......There was a LOT of mystery about it/ Mom wouldn't talk about it and I left home for college [1958] and only visited back and forth after that; MY folks/ that generation =has been gone for over 20 years.........FINALLY my curiosity peaked and I'm ready to see 100+ year old history that touched MY family.

AND I waited until I was 75 BEFORE that happened!

Anne [ and Dick] on Viking THIS September/October

Actually, I'd love to see someone come to dinner looking like a pirate.

I LOVE all these discussions - it reminds me of being on a short cruise once where- ON FORMAL night -a man came into the diningroom in Bermuda shorts and a "Pull My Finger" T-shirt........He was stopped at the door with a gentle reminder "Maybe you would prefer to eat in the Lido?" ...BTW he was exceptionally hairy too.........Its all in the DEGREE of which you choose to break the rules!;)