cruz chic

The "Repeaters" lunch is on sea day, in the MDR, and is usually buffet. This has been discussed thoroughly on the boards.

 

Really? I've got over 200 days with HAL and I've never seen a buffet in the MDR:confused:. I've also never heard that discussed on this board.

Thank you for the live from thread. Please keep the ship in one piece since I'll be getting on soon:D;).

As with all cruise lines there is no room service on the last morning (it finishes at 1.00am on disembarkation day.

That's not quite true. Holland America allows you to have room service on the last day. I've used it many times. Thanks again for this wonderful thread.

Thank you SO SO much for this thread. You put a lot of effort into it and I really appreciate it. I've done one Celebrity cruise in the past and I was underwhelmed. I decided to book another cruise with them on the Eclipse for Nov.2012 but I wasn't overly excited about it. I have to say that you've totally changed my mind with this thread. I'm just sorry that it's over.

This is the most amazing thread I've seen on cruise critic to date! Thank you SO much.

Here's a link to a Cruise Critic article that should be of some help:

 

Finding a Cruise Travel Agent

Consider joining the 75 percent of cruisers who book through a travel agent for expert advice and personal service.

Thanks for the link but the info here really is pretty much common sense.

I can barely get my TA to do anything I ask her for never mind know which cabin is bad on EVERY ship. Seems like a tall order. Before someone tells me I should get a new TA she's the best I've found in Calgary. I'd love to live in a city where there was some decent TA's.[/quote]

 

 

Hey lorekauf, move east to Ontario! I have a great TA, who works for a large cruiseship;) chain, & is located right across the street from me! :) (Plus, you would enjoy far less severe winters here)! :D

Unfortunately I have a job that doesn't transfer well to working in Ontario.

There is no law that says your TA has to be in your city Lorekauf. There are some great ones out there that are quite knowledgeable and if you do most of your own research (which I am sure you do), there are some good internet TA's that offer great incentives:D

Really, how would you reasearch this? I do work for living so I don't know how you'd go about that. I don't have a ton of time.

I can barely get my TA to do anything I ask her for never mind know which cabin is bad on EVERY ship. Seems like a tall order. Before someone tells me I should get a new TA she's the best I've found in Calgary. I'd love to live in a city where there was some decent TA's.

I wouldn't worry about the shape of the Oosterdam. It still looks very good and remains my favorite ship.

I'm sorry, is this a real place? Or do you mean the tour of the island was hellish?

 

 

There is a place in Grand Cayman called hell.

Thanks so much for this thread. I really like the way you include the pics in your write up. I really enjoyed this cruise when I took it back in Oct.2010.

Good to hear you made it to the ship. Thank you for doing a live from thread. I'll be looking forward to reading it.

It is not located in the spa area.

 

It is on the port side -- there are 9 new treadmills -- they just got them in September.

 

The main equipment is free to use -- treadmills -- weights -- bicycles -- eliptical equipment.

 

If you want to take classes like yoga, pilates, spinning -- you have to sign up for them -- they are $12 per class. Sometimes there will be a discount if you sign up for so many classes -- just ask.

Actually they don't have any elipticals in there. I know for sure since because it's my favorite :D:rolleyes: piece of exercise equipment and they didn't have one for me to use. They have cross trainers which look like elipticals but aren't the same. It's so important to me to have elipticals that it mildly turns me off the Ryndam. It's important to me to keep my exercise regime going during my holidays.

Most certainly. Some friends of ours had a terrible time with them on the Statendam last year. They took all the bedding, mattresses and such out of the room and they were still being bitten. They were eventually moved to another cabin after visits to the Doctor and lots of meds for the bites.

Yuk! Luckily I never saw them in my 40 days on that ship:eek:.

Thanks lorekauf and krazy...I was wondering how it all worked!

You're most welcome. I'm always happy to help out a fellow Calgarian:).

For the posters I have on 'Ignore', I still see their posts when someone quotes them.

Yes...true...unfortunately so.........:eek:.

Me again...is it like Facebook in that if you "block" (or in this case "ignore") someone that they can't see what you write either?

They will still be able to see what you write.

Hi Walt, if I put someone on my "ignore" list, do they know it?

I'm not Walt...but no, they don't know it.

I was on the Grand in 2009 (I think:o) and we were supposed to go to Trinadad. That port got replaced by another one while we were on the cruise. I think there was some unrest there.

[quote name=ssheldo;24635099

Again' date=' anybody know about any noise or inconvenience caused by people/noise of the laundry?[/quote]

I had one room directly across from the lauderette one time and it was really noisy. This was an "upgrade" for me....and it was no upgrade. The hen party started up first thing in the morning and continued all day. The door was supposed to be shut but people kept opening it. If you are directly across from it I would be concerned in my experience. If you are several doors down I think you'll be fine.

I do understand that you know the Statendam and that you had some major problems with it. However, my point is that this poster, HNLGAL really wants to go to Glacier Bay. The Ryndam does not go there, it goes to Tracey Arm which is not as good from what I understand. Also, as I pointed out to her in several posts, she is not going until September and I believe, the problems you've had, may have been fixed by then. And, in my opinion, if you go having had major problems, or looking for them, you will find them! This is not saying that you yourself will but... I really think that the poster will be happy on the Statendam and going to Glacier Bay.

 

Joanie

I didn't go on that ship looking for major problems. I went on it a second time after I wasn't overly thrilled with it the first time. The reason I did that was for the itin. The ship has been in drydock and it is still having problems. I'm not quite sure how you think they will be ironed out by then. I took my first trip on a Vista (the Oosterdam) in April. I love that ship! That ship is nothing like the Statendam. I've mentioned my concerns to several posters before about the Statendam and a lot of them blew me off.....until they got their turn on that ship. I do not feel this way about any other ship of HALs. I just don't want you to encourage this poster to think things will be "ironed' out somehow. I want her to go in with her eyes open and I completely understand about her wanting to do that itin. I LOVE the Panama Canal but will not be doing that trip on HAL if I have to do it on the Statendam. In that case I would go to Princess.

I think you will be happy with your choice hon!! Keep in mind what YOU want!! Another thing to always keep in mind is, you will be on a cruise of a lifetime. One you have dreamt about (will be dreaming about) for years. How many others do you know who will be able to relive your memories?

 

Also, I stress to everyone that we each have our own standards of what is great and what is misery. I look at any cruise as a wonderful vacation and I do not let little things get me down. I hated my last stateroom, VA as opposed to a Deluxe Verandah Suite, it was just to small for me, but I did not let it ruin my vacation. I slammed the verandah door shut onto my left hand and had to have 6 stitches in my middle finger. I did not let that ruin my vacation. I looked at the finger incident as the only time in my life I was able to give the 'finger' to everyone and get away with it:D

 

Enjoy the cruise hon!!! And I hope you take lots of photos for the HAL Staterooms Pages for me??;):D

 

Joanie

Joanie, I can see that you have only sailed on Vista class ships of Hals and with all due respect .......I don't think you know what it's like to sail on a old, broken down ship. The Vista class ships are beautiful! Having a smaller room on one ship then you did on another would not be what I would consider a hardship. Having no air conditioning and 2 dead motors were 2 things I had to deal with on my last trip on the Statendam. I could go on at length by why bother. The reviews for the Statendam have been consistanely bad. I have spent 40 days on the ship in the since Nov.08 so I think I might know a little about it. Like I've mentioned to this poster before....I would only go on this ship again if it was free. I don't think I'm overly picky. If I was the poster I would for sure go on the Ryndam but the poster seems to really want to go on the Statendam. I really hope that she is not going to be terribly disappointed....and if she is...I hope she'll remember the discussions on this board.

Well, that was an interesting exercise. Information obtained from a cruise fan board probably doesn't give the very best information, but it's what we have.

 

About a dozen reviews mentioned air conditioning problems during the period July 2005 through December 2009. I only counted those reviews that actually mentioned an a/c issue--a couple of reviews indicated that although *their* cabin's a/c worked fine, they talked to other passengers who experienced problems. I did a very cursory read, and could have missed some. However, there are enough reviews to draw some conclusions.

 

Over half of the reviews in this sampling indicated a Southern Caribbean itinerary; the remaining reviews were evenly split between the Eastern and Western Caribbean with one review each for Transatlantic and Canada/NE (which is an immense relief to me!)

 

Half of the cabins with reported problems (on the CC member reviews, anyway) were located way down on the A Deck, followed by 3 cabins on Lower Promenade and 1 each on the Main, Navigation and Veranda decks.

 

There's no consistency in particular cabin categories affected by a/c problems.

 

I hope somebody finds it helpful, or interesting.

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. I'm thinking I'll be booking my 50th birthday cruise on the Maasdam so this information is good to know. I've been on the Maasdam once and my A/C was fine. I have had many issues on the Statendam and Ryndam but I've sailed those ships the most out of the fleet.

Who would have thought such a simple VOLUNTARY request would cause such a stir and so many opinions. :eek: If you think it is stupid, useless, illegal, a waste of time, or anything else just don't particiate.

 

Good luck with your project Joanie. I will be checking for the link. :)

I agree 100%. Some people on cc think they own the place and their words rule. It gets very tiresome.

Good luck Joanie.