kiwijohn

Closest one to the Cruise Terminal in Wellington would be 24 Elizabeth St off Kent Terrace in Courtenay Place and on bus route to Eastern suburbs

Mike, I have done the Rotterdam cruise and obtained my visa from the Indian High Commission in Wellington. The form is not easy to fill in and takes about a week for them to process it. Full details are on the Indian High Commission website. John

One of the quickest ways to earn mariner points is to spend three days in the medical centre and have tests like X-Rays. I found this out on a recent cruise when I had to pay the bill - Ouch.

I come from New Zealand and our exchange rate is probably one of the lowest in the western world (1 NZ dollar = 0.63USD). Even though tipping is not the custom in NZ I gladly pay the gratuities and always give the good HAL stewards and waiters something extra. I cruise on HAL ships because of the excellent service given by the crew.

Prices have gone up because of Explore 4 promotion which starts on Monday

Hi grayjay, we will be joining you on this short cruise. We booked it last night. Looking forward to the adventure.

I look forward to joining you all on this cruise to get some sunshine after the Transatlantic

We are thinking of booking the new HAL Koningsdam 24 night cruise from Amsterdam to Rome, leaving 18/9/16.

 

Just wondering if people think its expensive at $5949pp for the cheapest balcony?

 

We are thinking of booking now but could delay until next February. Is the price likely to go up or down between now and then. There has been no movement in the price at all to date.

I have booked an Ocean View on the Koningsdam from Rome to Fort Lauderdale 28 days single occupancy and the price works out at $247 per day. Experienced HAL cruisers posting on the roll call remarked that they were surprised at the reasonable prices for a new ship.

Where do you find "chat" on the HAL website?? I looked up "contact us" on the HAL website and I could not find it.

I'm biased but have flown on Qantas, Cathay and BA and I believe Air NZ Premium Economy seats are good value and strangely enough I find the PE seats more comfortable then the lie flat business seats. John

Carnival Corporation have announced that they are rolling out a new internet system across the fleet which includes HAL. The system combines land based broadband system with satellite technology and is called Wifi@Sea. It is supposed to give speeds equivalent to what you get in Starbucks cafes. Carnival said it is already installed in one HAL ship. Does anybody know which one it is and if you have experienced it, how does it compare with existing satellite systems???

Hi: thanks for the info. Do you know what the "Road scholar group" is? Would appreciate knowing

 

Phyllis (of kenphy)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

HI Phyllis, I think it should be "Rhodes scholars" who are top university graduates from British Commonwealth countries who are awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University. Funded by Cecil John Rhodes of "Rhodesia." John

My first cruise was on the ss Nevasa owned by the British India Company around the Mediterranean in 1970. She was an ex World War 2 troop carrier and carried British schoolchildren on cruises with a few adult passengers.

The age group at the beginning of the season October and November tends to be older, but the age group in the December/January period is younger, as that period is the Australia and New Zealand school holidays and the passengers tend to be young families. It reverts to an older group from March onwards. I believe the weather in March is more settled.

Who will be the senior officers on the Volendam on her repositioning cruise across the Pacific departing Vancouver 23 September??

Who will be the senior officers on Volendam on the repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Sydney departing Vancouver September 25th

The best deals for singles are on repositioning cruises around 160%

Could I suggest a ferry trip to Waiheke Island and then a tour round the island

The Volendam (Holland America) is doing a cruise from Los Angeles to Sydney on September 27th and then doing a circum navigation of Australia if that is of interest. If you wanted to do NZ you could pick up a NZ cruise from Sydney later.

The reason I am repeating this question is neither cruise calendar lists the above cruise and we are on it. Our documents will tell us eventually when we get them, but in the meantime I am wondering wish one we will board the ship. Thank you.,

Hi Boards, I asked HAL by e-mail where Volendam was going to berth on 27 September and they replied Long Beach (Carnival)Port John

CC It would be great if the Hearing Loss Association of America could lobby the large cruise lines that serve the USA like the Carnival Group, RCCL and Celebrity. I belong to the New Zealand Hearing Association and served on the Board of the National Foudation of the Deaf but the cruise lines would not take any notice of our little country, but if the US hearing loss associations took it up they would.

This matter is one that concerns me. I normally cruise on HAL and there is no provision for closed captions on any of their ships. I think it also depends where the ship is registered and the legislation applicable to that country. Most HAL ships are registered in the Netherlands and I don't know what the legislation for deaf people is in that country. In Australia and UK a certain percentage of programmes on TV must be captioned by law. It is very difficult to hear the Captain's daily broadcast and safety announcements on the public broadcast system

I have cruised on the Volendam three times and have enjoyed every cruise. I believe that the Indonesian cabin stewards and waiters trained in the HAL shore academy are the best. Also the ship is a good size and has lovely art work - easy to get about unlike the larger Vista class. HAL charge US$11 per night for tips which is taken off your credit card. You can give extra if a crew member performs a special service for you. I have just completed a 36 day cruise from Southampton to Singapore in the Rotterdam a sister ship and the cruise was excellent with good food.

I went to St Helena on a cruise in 2012 on the old "Athena" formerly the "Stockholm" built in 1948 and carrying 600 passengers. She was the ship that collided with the Italian liner "Andrea Doria" in 1952 off the Nantucket coast. I enjoyed the visit to St Helena which was one of the highlights of the cruise largely because of the features mentioned in your report namely Napoleon's house, the old tortoise and the ancient colonial buildings. I was intrigued at the age of the taxis - one was a 1921 Chev open tourer. Like you we could not visit Ascension Island because of the weather.

Watch out for pickpockets in Athens. I had my iPhone stolen at the Acropolis car park. It was in my shirt pocket. The tour guide said hundred of phones are stolen each day in Athens.

I am over 75 and for my last cruise I used Southern Cross Travel Insurance which covers the USA as I visited the USA. You can get it on line. I had to make a claim for a stolen iPhone and they paid me within a fortnight.