budbo

Thank you!

Hi,  We are new to HAL and I'm having some difficulty navigating their website.  We prefer to pay for as much of our trip as possible before leaving home and on other lines we've always pre-paid our gratuities.  I can't find a way to do this on HAL......is there a link on the website that allows me to pay gratuities?  Or do I need to phone their customer service?  Thank you

We are  new to HAL and considering getting the Quench package for our May cruise on the Nieuw Statendam.  This thread has answered many of my questions, but I do have a couple tea questions. I'm assuming that the Quench package would cover specialty teas in Explorations Cafe....is that right?  I was surprised to learn that we won't be able to use the package in the Grand Dutch Cafe....what a shame!  We are not coffee drinkers but drink a lot of iced tea.  On Celebrity ships we really enjoy the fresh brewed individual pitchers of iced tea that are offered in Cafe Al Bacio......do the HAL ships offer anything like that?  Is the iced tea in the Lido fresh brewed?  Or does it come from concentrate out of a dispenser?  Thanks for your help.  

We were just in Marseille on the Celebrity Eclipse.  We decided not to do a tour and instead took the shuttle from the cruise terminal to the Old Port area.  There is a free shuttle offered by the city but I wouldn't recommend it.....there were several ships in port on the same day we were there and the free shuttle line was really long.  We paid $20 per person to Celebrity and the shuttle picked us up right at the ship and dropped us off across the street from the Cathedrale de la Major.  From there we walked about 10 minutes and arrived at the starting point/ticket office for Le Petit Train.  There were 2 different routes available (8 euro each per adult) and we chose the one that took us up to Notre Dame de la Garde.  Including the 20-30 minute stop at the cathedral, I'm guessing it took a little over an hour.  The "train" is on wheels so it uses city streets. Some of the cars had windows on one side of the car, others were completely open air. We thought it was a fun way to get a quick tour of town.  The cathedral was beautiful and is situated way above the port so you get an awesome view of Marseille.  There are many restaurants all around the old port and probably shops too, although we were there on a Sunday so none of the shops were open.  

For our pre-cruise stay we really liked the Meridien Hotel which is right on Las Ramblas, so it's walking distance to many restaurants, shops, HOHO bus & Metra station.  Sometimes it's pricey but keep watching rates because we found a good deal.  Due to timing of flights, we needed to stay in Barcelona for one night after our cruise.  For that stay, we booked at the Renaissance Fira, which is only 15 minutes from the airport.  This hotel is very modern & new looking, considerably less expensive and convenient to the airport but there isn't much of anything within walking distance.  

Sea Saffron offers a 6-ish hour excursion. They pick you up at the Valencia cruise terminal and drive you to “old town” by private car. We had a private guide for 8 people. We were in old town for approximately 2 hours. Except for a 20 minute sit-down snack, we were walking the entire time. After old town, our driver took us to The City of Arts & Sciences. Our guide gave a walking tour of the amazing architecture.... probably walked for 90 minutes here. Our 3rd (and final stop) was at a penthouse apartment for tapas. The penthouse is across the street from City of Arts & Sciences. We enjoyed lots of different tapas and then had a delicious sit-down, multi-course meal. Wine over flowed throughout.

 

I don’t know how many miles we walked, but the surfaces were generally smooth/level and not too many steps. I’m sure Sea Saffron can answer any questions/concerns.

 

 

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Thank you, that's just the sort of information I was looking for!

Check out www.seasaffron.com. Best day ever...way too much food!

 

 

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Hi, we've been looking at this tour but the website doesn't give too many details. How strenuous is this tour? Ok for seniors with iffy knees?

Thank you all! We are on the early March 2019 cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong. I've spent more time researching the Hanoi/Ha Long port than all the other ports put together! It's been hard to find information because so few cruise ships stop there, plus Hanoi doesn't yet have a tourism infrastructure on par with the other ports.

 

That's great news about the highway! It makes a day trip to Hanoi much more appealing. I wonder if/how Celebrity will change their Hanoi shore excursions, since the buses won't have to spend so much time on the road.

We were in Hanoi on the Millenium in March and booked an overnight there on our own. (Hanoi Tranfer Service, Oriental Central Hotel) We were very happy with our arrangements and our decision to stay overnight.

We spoke to several other passengers who had done the one day trip thru Celebrity, and the only big complaint that they seemed to have was that it was just too long of a day.....like waaaay too long a day. If Celebrity listened to reviews of their excursion, I'm guessing that once the new highway is open they might keep the tour the same and just adjust the start & ending times to allow for the shorter drive time?

There is a certain logic to returning same day.

 

Here's the port schedule again:

25 Dec 2018 Hanoi, (Halong Bay), Vietnam Arrival 7:00 AM

26 Dec 2018 Hanoi, (Halong Bay), Vietnam Departure 1:00 PM

 

Whether we do a tour that returns same day or do one that spends the night, we will spend that 3-4 hours each way on a bus (or other transportation) either way...It is merely a matter of timing. If we have a tour that departs reasonably soon after the ship lands and is cleared--say 8:00 am--then we should be in Hanoi around 11:00-noon at the worst...Say we spend six hours or so touring and are on the road back to the ship at 5:00--even 6 or 7, we get back to the ship that night...with no worries about being late...The next morning, we have the option of doing something locally or even staying onboard. What we miss is any night time activity in Hanoi. If, instead, we stay over in Hanoi, we get to eat dinner locally, go out on the town at night--if that's really a reasonable option--and spend a night in a hotel. But, remember, our ship departs the next day at 1:00 pm--meaning we'd likely have to be back onboard by noon...SO, in the morning, there really would not be any time to do anything else in Hanoi. We'd have to hit the road by, at least, 8:00 am or so for the long ride back to make sure we were back onboard in time...IF the ship were in port there for two FULL days, it would make a difference...but, with "1.5", it's just a matter of when we take the long ride back to port...

 

I haven't really started researching private tours yet, but looking at the Celebrity shorexes, they offer an overnight excursion for $389 pp...or a "Hanoi Past and Present" 12 hour shorex starting at 7:30 am for $129.75 pp and a "Hanoi in a Day" 11 hour shorex at 7:30 am for $129.75 pp. Interestingly, the only excursion offered for day 2 is "Ha Long Bay by Boat"--3 hours, 45 minutes, $62.75...

Hi Bruin Steve,

We were on the Millenium in March and also had an overnight in Halong Bay. If you're considering a private day trip to Hanoi on that 1st day, keep in mind that Halong Bay is a tender port. The tenders don't run all night so you need to be back in time to catch that last one or you'll be stuck ashore until morning. We spent the night in Hanoi so I didn't pay too much attention to the night tender schedule..... but I do remember being a bit surprised that it didn't run later. Maybe someone else has that daily to check it for you?

We used Hanoi Transfer Service to get us back and forth to Hanoi and overall we were happy with them. If I used them again, I would specify at the time of booking that we didn't want to make any of the tourist shopping stops along the way . (Pearl Market, Silk Market, etc)

Thanks for this information. We are booked on the Saigon OYO in Nov on the Millennium. Any highlights of your DIY you’d like to share?

We had a great time in Saigon, despite the brutal heat....it was mid-90's with 95% humidity when we were there in March. Hopefully Nov will be cooler. Right after we were dropped at Bitexco Tower, we headed off on foot to Ben Thanh Market. Since it was hot we decided to take a ride in one of the many Tri-shaws that were all over the city. That was a mistake because the drivers tried to scam us, which apparently is very common. They took us about 1/2 mile in the wrong direction, told us the market was just down the street and tried to get us to pay 100x the amount we had agreed on. That wasn't the best intro to Saigon but the day went great after that.

We stopped and had some pho for a snack, spent some time in the market then headed towards the City Hall area which was really nice and had a park with water fountains. Right there is also the Rex Hotel where the war correspondents all hung out back in the day. There are many high end places to shop but we spent much of our time wandering down the old style street markets. Had a great seafood lunch buffet at the Sheraton Hotel (?) which was actually just as much about cooling off and hydrating as it was about having lunch. We got back to Bitexco Tower early and enjoyed all the street vendors that were there......apparently that's a popular place for buses to pick up because there were big crowds of tourists hanging out waiting for their rides.

Does your cruise overnight in Halong Bay? A large number of cruisers on our sailing chose to do the Halong Bay overnight cruises and raved about them. We really wanted to see Hanoi so we booked a car (Hanoi Transfer Service) for roundtrip transportation. We stayed at a little boutique hotel in the old part of Hanoi and really enjoyed the atmosphere in that part of the city, although crossing streets is really scary because motorbike traffic is crazy! We were happy with the choice we made for that port. Others that we spoke to had taken day tours to Hanoi (mostly ship tours) and they said it was just a brutally long day and they regretted it.

In Chan May we took Celebrity's "Hoi An on your own" and were happy with that too. Hoi An is an old fishing village with small shops, restaurants and a few temples. Very scenic, quaint and laid back compared to the other Vietnam cities that we visited.

Hope you have a great time, we'd like to go back!

We did "Saigon on your own" from the Millennium in March. I don't know how much the excursion varies, but we were dropped off/picked up at the Bitexco Financial Tower. We actually traveled around town on our own so the Bitexco Tower was a great meeting point because it was so easy to spot.....it towers above most buildings in the city.

As long as you're planning to book a private tour anyway, I'm wondering if it might be more cost effective and less complicated if you book a tour that will just pick you up right at the ship?

We were on the Summit about 18 months ago and I did find a USB port on the back of the tv to use for charging my phone. The tv wasn't working properly (can't remember exactly what was wrong) so I called for someone to fix it.....turns out charging my phone was messing something up. Once I unplugged the phone, the tv was fine......so yes, there is a USB on the tv but I wouldn't recommend using it for charging.

We've found that it's hit or miss whether or not the ship will have foreign currency to sell us. Depending on what our excursion plans are, we either purchase currency before leaving home or use ATMs in port for local currency. If you're planning to use ATMs, be sure to check with your bank to be sure your card will work and what will be the best ATM to use for lowest fees.

In the past, we've really enjoyed the many enrichment seminars and nature talks on Celebrity ships, on a wide variety of topics. We learned about whales & glaciers & how the recycling and waste is handled on ships. Some talks were done by ship staff, some done by "experts" who were on board just to share their knowledge. These presentations were always a highlight of our sea days.

On our most recent cruise on the Millenium, there was absolutely nothing like that offered. Every single talk or presentation involved a sales pitch of some sort....really disappointing. We were sailing in Asia and would have loved to hear some information on culture, foods, geography....anything really. We went to a couple of the port talks, knowing that we'd hear sales pitches, but wanting to learn more about the ports. We were amazed that the shore excursion manager who was speaking actually seemed to know less about the ports than we did.

You need to look on the Roll Call, there is already a thread started for your sailing.

:)

Have you looked at any of the Family Veranda Cabins? The YouTube that I saw of one on an S class ship showed a cabin with 1 lg and 1 sm bedroom and had a shared living room, veranda and bathroom.

We typically purchase our insurance from insuremytrip.com. On their site you can pick and choose exactly what you want coverage for and what you don't. You can choose several options and compare side by side to see which best suits your needs. Check it out.

Yes, I see that. Is it true that there are no footrests though? We are short..that is an issue for us!

I am also short and really miss having a footrest on many aircraft. I tried a couple of inflatable ones and didn't care for them. A couple years ago I found a solution on Amazon, it's a foot rest that hangs on the frame of your tray table....kind of like a little hammock for your feet. Check it out, I really use mine a lot.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M35M87O/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01M35M87O&pd_rd_wg=INwCT&pd_rd_r=CGHDKGMAVEAV4ZPWZ34Z&pd_rd_w=i2y61

In Portland we love a little hole in the wall place called the Porthole Restaurant. It's only a few minutes walk from where you'll be docked. They do a twin lobster dinner (also available at lunch) for $25. Don't know what time you sail but if you're there in the evening, the Porthole has live entertainment on some nights. We did a tour on the back of an old firetruck in Portland too...that was a fun way to see the city!

We really liked the Summit. Great crew!

There's a very well reviewed tapas tour thebarcelonataste.com that might be just the thing for those of us who want to explore but don't speak the language. It is sometimes hard to know what's in things (I hate seafood!) just by looking and a guide sure would help! Might be something you want to consider. There are several tapas tours with good reviews on Trip Advisor.

On two separate trips to Barcelona we've done the food tour with Barcelona Taste and highly recommend them. One tour was in the Eixample(sp?) area and the other was in the Gothic. Both times we had great guides and tasted some wonderful food & drinks. The guides are more than happy to recommend restaurants for the remainder of your stay. The morning after the tour, you will be sent a list of all the places that you visited on the tour, as well as some additional recommendations.

We do food tours in many of the cities that we visit and have found that it's a great way to learn our way around and to get a feel for the place. We do use TripAdvisor frequently, but often the places ranked highly on that site are very touristy.....the food tours tend to take you to little hole-in-the-wall places that are frequented more by locals than by tourists.

Please excuse our non-adventurous dining preference. We're just plain type folks...where can we get just some basic american type food in Barcelona. We'll be staying at the Jazz Hotel. Our last trip there our dining options left us anxious to board the ship.

 

Thanks so much for not criticizing and instead offering some suggestions.

We've stayed at the Hotel Jazz. Last time we were there (a few years ago), there was a McDonalds and a Subway within a block or 2.....just start walking towards the Placa de Catalunya and you can't miss them.

Several years ago we used beijingtoursbycoco and were extremely happy with them....would definitely use again.

In Shanghai, we like the Shanghai City Center Marriott. It's walking distance to the Bund and very close to People's Square, where you can catch subways going all directions.

Have a great trip!

We had trouble with my husband's cpap our first time in Barcelona. We brought a converter & adaptor with us and thought we were all set. On the first nite the cpap stopped working and we were panicked....wondering how he would do a 14 day cruise with no cpap. With the help of the hotel staff, we were able to find a medical supply store that sold us a new cpap and adjusted the settings for us (no prescription was needed). Vacation saved!

Once we boarded the ship, just for the heck of it we tried the "broken" cpap.....and it worked fine. Lesson learned that, even when using converters and plug adaptors, US electrical appliances don't always do well in other countries. Now we travel with a new cpap that has 2 different cords, one for 120v and one for 220v.

We switched over to T-Mobile a year or so ago. Their plans include unlimited international texting & data in most countries. It's great to be able to skype and text without worrying about charges. It has to be done in port though because we'd still get roaming charges if we used it while at sea.

We recently did a cruise that included 3 ports in Vietnam. The ship handled visas for everyone once we were aboard. Most passengers only needed the landing card ($6 US) but since we were staying overnight in a hotel in Hanoi, we needed a different visa ($28 US). That type of visa was valid for 15 days and it was returned to us with our passports at the end of the cruise.

As long as that type of visa was available aboard your ship, might that solve your problem? Note that we had to provide 2 passport photos in order to apply for this visa. We weren't aware of that requirement ahead of time but the ship's photo dept was able to get them for us fairly quickly.