cruzingnut

There was no Mariner Lunch on this cruise, nor the 12 day cruise prior. Seems they are not doing that any longer on the "shorter" cruises. I'm not sure about the longer ones (Legendary, Grands, WC). I don't remember if we had one on the WC last year. Linda R,

Ok, after a comedy of errors, mainly on my part, I managed to make an account for myself. Thanks for the help from everyone! Linda R.

I wasn't signed in, I made sure of that.

I tried that and it said wrong email/password, lol. Thing is, I can't get to the actual page where you create an account. You know, where you put in the password you want and then have to re enter it just to be sure? Still need to try it on a different computer....then if that doesn't work, I'll call the Mariner Society for help. Linda R.

I actually clicked on "create account" and then started filling it out. I wasn't signed in when I did this....maybe I'll try it on a different computer. If that doesn't work, I'll give mariners a call. Thanks!

I've had an account with HAL for years but it's under my husbands name. I'd like to create one for myself but I can't. I click to Create Account but when I put in my name, DOB and zip code, the sign in email and password spots are already populated by my sign in for my husband. Does anyone have a separate account from their other family members? I've got FCC that I'd like to check on but can't without my own account. Thanks, Linda R.

It's a flashlight of sorts. If you can pry it out of the wall, that is. Linda R.

@richwmn, I've been following the blogs of people on this cruise. We were going on but had to cancel it but i do have some friends onboard. One is coming with us on the Japan cruise so I gave her a heads up. I'm hoping she was able to attend; nice idea to have that get together! Linda R.

They have indeed closed the DR on embarkation day this Sunday. I checked the Navigator app and in capital letters, it says DR closed. We always go there to avoid the madhouse up in the Lido..... Linda R.

It WAS amazing! https://lindavesadventures.com/2015/04/30/april-8-2015-mariner-event-at-ephesus-turkey/

Amsterdam was 2019 WC.

I had "inside" info into what the plan was for the 2020 WC party so that would have been a big "do" off the ship. I guess I got spoiled with Kusadasi and Ephesus in 2015 and then the Rijks Museum on 2019. The big party in Bali (2013) was on the ship and that was pretty awesome. And, I think the 2010 WC had a big South African Braai onboard the ship. So, you're right, there are plenty of times that the celebration is held on the ship. Linda R.

Is this fair the "big shindig" that happens on the WC? I'm still bummed over the fact that 2020 was going to be on top of the "surfboard" hotel in Singapore. I would hope there would me more to it than this.... Linda R.

@jimdee3636, @OlsSalt, @DCThunder, @cruisemom42 The 2010 WC went east....we dubbed it "The Wrong Way Cruise". The time changed on sea days for the most part and was done midday. 2PM came along and it was immediately changed to 3PM. It made it a bit easier during the day, rather than at night but it was still pretty brutal overall. It was nice not to loose an hour at night but it was still hard. Plus, (not us) a lot of people were pretty peeved at NOT having their chosen activities happening due to the lost hour. The bonus of this direction was that we went to Asia area in the spring. Cebu Island had all the cherry Trees in blossom; that was amazing! We also went to Petropavlovsk before crossing back to the US and had a great experience there. I don't think Russia will be on any cruise anymore though... The other thing about this cruise was that it was NOT a true circumnavigation. It began in Ft. Lauderdale and ended in San Diego. Despite the direction of travel and not going all the way around the world, we loved the trip (of course, it was our first WC) and felt it was worth it overall. More "jaded" now, I'd prefer not to travel that way at this point. Linda R.

I know exactly why they were asking about ship preference. Last year was the first year they did it on a larger ship. The smaller ships are set up for long cruises in that they have more storage below for supplies. They also have more storage in the cabins for passengers. You usually need different clothing for where you are going to be around the world. The larger ships were designed more for short trips and we heard stories of toilet paper and other supplies being stored in unsold cabins! On prior world cruises (I've taken several starting back in 2010) they had several Balls that were held in the showroom. There is a dance floor in that venue so it worked well for as many people that wanted to, to gather there. On the Zuiderdam last year, we had one "ball" and it was split up between 3 venues; Rolling Rock, Ocean Bar and Billboard Online. Each venue had music that represented those venues. For us, we wanted to go to Ocean Bar since that music suits us more than the others. We couldn't get near it so went to Billboard and at least found a couple places to sit. Rolling Rock was busy, but too loud and not really what we wanted. Not that we wanted Billboard, we just wanted to be part of the celebration SOMEwhere. We stayed a short while and then went to our cabin. All of the world cruises we did (4 1/2) were on the Amsterdam. I LOVED that ship. Just like coming home any time we boarded her. I tried, I really did, to transfer that over to the Zuiderdam. I even went around saying "Different home, same family". Meaning that the crew, who we consider extended family, was the same. They worked hard, really hard and did the best they could. Henk and his staff worked their butts off to adapt the world cruise to that ship. For us, it didn't really work, much as I wanted it to. Although, there were lots of issues along the way that didn't help the situation. Supply issues; one country wouldn't give us 8 whole containers of supplies that we were counting on, etc. I'll admit that I'm very biased towards the smaller ships and I'm not saying I won't go on a WC on one of the larger ones (we aren't on this years). We had over 900 days on the Amsterdam so it's quite understandable that she is/was our all time favorite ship. One last thing to consider with smaller ships is the places you can go! Over the years, we visited some very out of the way places and docked places that the larger ships will never be able to. And, considering some small ports around the world are beginning to limit the size of the ships they let in...I think it's wise to stick to smaller ships. Otherwise it will be the same old, same old for every world cruise. Wow, I didn't plan on writing all that but there ya go! Linda R.