Mary Ellen

I don't want to pack anything I don't have to.

If you want it, you have to pack it. If you don't want it, don't pack it.

Only a problem if someone on the same a/c system with a balcony is rude, selfish, and inconsiderate enough to prop their balcony door open.

If you are enrolled, and you have it noted on your boarding pass, and fly from an airport with an active pre-check line --- why would you not be allowed to use it?

As we were told during our Global Entry interviews, sometimes 'trusted travelers' are randomly selected for the regular screening. One time even though we both had the TSA PreCheck noted on our boarding passes, the TSA agent checking them and our IDs directed DH to the regular line as he had been randomly selected.

John has brought up excellent points. I strongly suggest keeping those in mind. I also agree with Keith that HAL and Princess would be my top choices. Not only do we like both cruise lines, their itineraries are better.

About the need for a balcony. The Royal Princess has pretty darn small balconies. I sure wouldn't count on being able to enjoy breakfast or dinner out there, even if the weather permitted. Our recent Princess cruise was on a different ship and our balcony was larger than on the Royal. We still had to hold our plates in our hands while having breakfast going thru the Panama Canal. On a Baltic cruise the most scenic part is sailing through the Stockholm Archipelago. I would suggest being out on deck with a forward or aft view rather than a side view from a balcony. If you are lucky enough to snag an aft view balcony on the Royal Princess or Zuiderdam, that would be great. Those are more expensive though. If smoking matters to you, HAL allows smoking on balconies, Princess does not.

If you want to save money and go with an inside cabin, the Zuiderdam has some large, square ones that are very nice. They are larger than the other cabins onboard except the suites. Inside cabins on Princess are small (and definitely avoid any that can hold 4 passengers). On either HAL or Princess you can turn the TV to the channel with the 'View from the Bridge' to use as a window. At night it gives a soft glow that is great for middle of the night trips to the bathroom. In the morning it gets brighter as the sun comes up. The Zuiderdam has lots of deck chairs on the Promanade deck as well as lots of other open deck space for viewing. We've found that is generally better on HAL than on Princess.

No matter what cruise you take, I suggest going with a private tour in St. Petersburg than a big bus tour through the cruise line.

Hope you have a great time. We've cruised to all 7 continents and the Baltic is one of our favorite cruises.

This is the key, two different cruise lines.

Actually, in this situation different cruise lines doesn't matter in the least. The OP wouldn't have any problem doing a r/t Vancouver cruise followed immediately by a one-nighter to Seattle even if they were both on Princess. Heck, it would be perfectly legal even if on the same ship. Bottom line - they aren't sailing between two U.S. ports.

I've also had a very poor experience with Luggage Direct (a suitcase wasn't sent to the airport and was picked up by the porter used by the last disembarking passengers - off with them it went). Even though we did eventually get the suitcase back, it was a major PITA and a very poor way to end a cruise. We don't foresee ever using Luggage Direct again. For us getting the fee returned sure didn't make the stress worthwhile. :mad:

A finished picture, minus some padding around the lifeboat. This is the narrowest area, appears to be almost all the way aft.

That picture is from Capt. Albert's blog and that is protected by copyright. You should at least give appropriate credit.

As I previously mentioned, DH has gone to the salon on our HAL cruises for shaves. IIRC the first time was about 8 years ago. This isn't that new a service for HAL. For those who questioned if the salon staff was all female, that barber was a male. I don't know about any of the other barbers.

Typically a licensed barber has only been on the Vista or Signature ships. Due to staffing, even on those ships, there hasn't always been a barber onboard each cruise. Given that there will be a dedicated barber area on the Koningsdam I would expect to always find a licensed barber on her.

Shaving isn't something DH enjoys. What he likes about the HAL shaves is that he doesn't need to shave for 3 days after getting one. Who knows, since Stephen says he has to shave both morning and evening, he may only need one HAL shave a day. :D

When DH had his first HAL shave, he said the barber explained that since they were on a ship, a traditional straight razor wouldn't be used. DH was very relieved. The HAL shave involved being shaved twice. Both times a brand new safety razor was used. He said that the barber made a point of showing him the new razor being opened.

Maybe I'm more observant than others, but ashore I've always seen the state license tucked into the mirror of any stylist I've used.

Is this about "licensed" or about a "male" hair cutter?

 

Aren't the Steiner Spa ladies who work in the Hair Salon "Licensed?

I thought it would be mandatory. You certainly can't work in a Salon here without a license.

The license for a barber is different. Our former stylist at home was getting his barber license so he could also do shaves. I know on HAL that DH has only been able to get a shave in the salon when there is a licensed barber in there. Getting his hair cut has never been an issue.

Hello all, I have one of the 'E' Class cabins on the Lower Promenade for the Va to BA Cruise around the horn in January. Has anyone been in these cabins and can comment on what they are like. Thank you

The good thing about those cabins is that you'll have quick and easy access to both sides of the Lower Promenade. That is great for whenever icebergs, penguins, and/or whales are spotted while you are in your cabin.

We do prefer the inside cabins on that deck though. The insides are larger and have more storage space. They also have shower stalls, not tubs like the outsides. For us that is particularly important on an itinerary like yours. When we went to Antarctica in 2007 we had 45+ foot seas on the way down. I remember being very thankful that I wasn't having to get in/out of a tub in order to shower. On that class of ship the tub rim is above the top of my knee. The shower stalls have a flat base, much easier to stand in during heavy seas than a tub. Actually, we have our reservation noted as 'Do not upgrade' as we really do not want one of those outside cabins (or a balcony for that matter).

We recently had a cruise that overnighted in Cabo. The only dock was for the tenders. We didn't sail offshore at night, but stayed in Cabo. Tenders didn't run all night. IIRC the last one back to the ship at night was 11 p.m. And the first one the next morning was at 7 a.m. We also didn't "anchor". Modern cruise ships sometimes use thrusters and gps to stay in place. This is easier for tendering as the ship isn't moving in the current. One Captain told us he greatly prefers this method to anchoring. This worked well for us as our aft balcony stayed facing the iconic rocks of Cabo.

To ensure that your refrigerator is doing its job, it’s important to keep its temperature at 40 °F or below; the freezer should be at 0 °F.

The older HAL ships--Prinsendam, Maasdam, Veendam, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Volendam and Zaandam--only have fridges in Deluxe Veranda cabins and Suites. Those in other cabins can request one if medically necessary.

 

The other HAL ships have one in every cabin. They should be the standard half-size mini fridges; I have never seen one as small as a cube-sized fridge on any ship.

Actually the Prinsendam does have a fridge in every cabin--not just the Deluxe Veranda cabins and Suites.

I'm confused on using GE at Amsterdam airport. From some sites it appears you can clear customs there & others say you need the Netherlands equivalent.

To my knowledge it only is applicable at US entry points.

We've used the GE kiosks at the Vancouver, Canada airport - where one clears US Immigration/Customs before flights to the US. I know there are other international airports where one clears U.S. CBP. It's been about 5 years since we've flown home thru AMS, but at the time we went thru CBP after arriving in the US. Things may have changed since then. I'd ask over on the cruise air forum where there are frequent international flyers.

We've been to Barcelona a few times and have plans to go at least a few more. We've not had problems there, but we've heard of more problems in Barcelona from other passengers than any other port we've visited - and that includes Rio and Naples. On our Oceania cruise we met a fellow passenger who didn't even make it to the airport taxi stand when she arrived with her passport and money. Thankfully they arrived several days early and was able to get her passport replaced.

We'll continue to take more than "basic precautions". :rolleyes:

Hopefully things have improved there since this article was written:

http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/barcelona-pickpocket-problem/

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Another one here who uses a sound machine type of app rather than lug another piece of equipment with batteries or extension cord. :rolleyes: I'd rather have more clothes and/or shoes.

We've done two trans Pacific cruises within the past few years. Both times one of the speakers focused on WWII (as previously mentioned). The first time it was a retired Australian General. He was very good with both his knowledge and presentation style. The second time the WWII lecturer was ok, not as good as the previous cruise but not bad either. The other lecturer on both cruises wasn't impressive. The earlier cruise was bad, both in knowledge and presentation. He spoke on a wider range of topics, but was far from an expert in at least one or two of those topics. Since we knew some of his information was just plain incorrect, we gave up attending further lectures as we couldn't trust anything from him. Still, at least from our experiences, the WWII lectures on the North Pacific cruises have been some of the best enrichment lectures we've had on HAL. Too many lectures on cruises these days are really sales pitches. Nothing they've come up to sell with the WWII theme - yet.

Several years ago on Princess we started seeing presentations from junior officers like rkacruiser mentioned. At least on Princess they were very interesting and well attended. We've not noticed that type of presentation on HAL, but if they are following Princess' lead with those we'd be interested.

are you sure it said Salerno and NOT Sorrento which is just across the Bay of Naples-- Sorrento is a tender port where Naples is a regular dock port.. they usually switch between Naples and Sorrento or at least they had in the 5x we took cruises there.. never heard HAL mention Salerno though instead of Naples.. Naples is PIZZA it doesn't get any better :) :)

I'm sure they meant Salerno, as they posted. There is currently another thread also about the substitution of Salerno for Naples. We took 4 Med cruises last fall. On the original itineraries we were to go to Naples twice. Months before departure we were notified that Salerno would be our port for one cruise instead of Naples, for operational reasons. Just because you haven't heard of this switch occurring, doesn't meant it doesn't happen. ;)

Our DVD players have always died well before the TV. It seems like an incredible waste of money to replace a relatively expensive TV because of a reactively inexpensive DVD player. I know there are many other places I'd prefer HAL to spend that money.

We had things we'd prefer to watch loaded on our iPad. Easy enough for us to use without expecting HAL to provide for our tastes.

Another bad decision by HAL management. Why couldn't they have left the DVD players alone when they installed the new system?

The new, large TVs are mounted on the wall (above the sofa in our cabin). Not really any place for a DVD player. They are much too large to fit in the former location that also held the DVD player.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam this past Oct/Nov for over a month. On this ship, lunch in the Tamarind is a thing of the past, as are made to order sandwiches in the Lido. Lunch in the Pinnacle Grill was very nice. Our dining steward, Yan, was outstanding. We have a future cruise on HAL and he is currently scheduled to be on the same ship then. He was so good that we will be requesting him then as our steward. The dinner menus weren't to my tastes. I'm not a fan of Chef Rudy. While I'm familiar with most of the Culinary Counsel, I've not been impressed by any of their offerings either. I even made a comment to DH that it's a good thing we don't cruise for the food. A few nights an entree salad was a option. I usually went for that or an 'always available' item. When the nicest thing I can say about the menus is that I didn't starve, that isn't a ringing endorsement. :rolleyes:

Service in the Lido was hit or miss. We found the female stewards there (servers from Tamarind) were excellent. We tried to sit in their areas whenever possible.

I agree with other comments about the BB King show being way, WAY too loud. It was even too loud while we were trying to have a quiet dinner in the Pinnacle.

Bar service was very good. We did enjoy the band in the Ocean Bar the few nights they played there.

The new, large TVs are quite nice. The placement is a bit odd, but I imagine they had to work around what space was available - as the cabins weren't originally designed to have them. Since the TVs are now on the wall (above the sofa in our cabin), that did free up the outlet (North American style) that they, and the now former DVD player, used to use. Being able to plug in two more things was a bonus. We did enjoy being able to see movies on our schedule.

This would be good to know. But do they even show the room stewards cupboard on the deck plans? I've not seen it.

When looking at the deck plans, if there is 'white space' next to a cabin, it could be service area for the stewards. If there are cabins on both sides, no worries.

I've had three different inside cabins on the Emerald. All the same size, none that I'd consider spacious, but adequate. All of our inside cabins on HAL have been larger (they've all had sofas). The main thing we'd now look for when booking an inside on the Emerald is to make sure it is NOT a quad cabin. Learned that one the hard way. :rolleyes:

We've been cruising for coming up on 35 years. I can't recall ever seeing any crawlies on board. I'm pretty sure I would remember seeing ants/spiders/any bugs. :eek: No doubt some hitch a ride on board when the ships are reprovisioning, but at least the ships on which we've sailed have done a great job with pest control.

Oh, I do remember one cruise ages ago where we were warned against bringing seashells from the beach back on board. Several cruises before someone had done so, putting the seashells in their bathtub. At least one of the shells had some sort of mites in it. The ship was able to eradicate them, but they didn't want another incident. So - they do take pest control seriously. Don't worry.

They broadcast it on the television as you go through. If you turn the volume up really loud you can hear the commentary from the balcony. :D

Thank you. We're planning on taking a baby monitor so we can hear the TV commentary out on our balcony. We didn't want to pack one if either it was already broadcast out on the balconies or wasn't on the tv anyway.