trixiee

On 9/17/2023 at 11:20 PM, Freyzer said:

The cruise to the amazon is really amazing. Im native from the Amazonas , Im live in a small fisher village called Boca da Valeria near of Parintins and Manaus . The cruise is to visit this ports of call. I will be happy to help you if you need some information about the ports in the amazon . Please let me know !
 

I'm hearing rumours that ships cannot go up the river because of drought conditions.  Is this true?

1 minute ago, Sir PMP said:

Right, the best dancing will be in the BB King lounge, R&R is hard rock.

R & R wasn't hard rock on my last NS cruise.  It was a great mix of classic rock and some new-ish stuff. To me, hard rock is Guns n Roses, Deff Leppard.  YMMV.

Making me nervous about my H GTY on the Zaandam!  Any suggestions?  I checked out CO, but it doesn't seem to make any sense to get it on the Zaandam, plus the rep wouldn't allow me to pay in USD, making it something like $38.00/day in CND.  I have a US credit card with a credit balance and wanted to apply the CO payment to that card, but she said it wasn't possible.

10 hours ago, POA1 said:

A steakhouse meal is all about the sides. On land, we like to have a party of 4 or 6 just so we can sample all the sides. They're generally quite a bit larger than the PG versions.

Not for this meatatarian!  It's mainly about the meat!  I leave most of the sides. I might pick at the baked potato, and of course will eat the mushrooms with my steak, but you can have the rest of the sides! 🙂

Just last month I ordered the rib eye from the Pinnacle in the Main Dining Room and it was delicious!  The meal took a bit longer to arrive but it was good and hot.  We did eat in the Pinnacle once and I was not impressed by the service.  (Over 20 minutes for a glass of wine).  Our waiters and our table in the MDR were awesome.  

Hope to meet you onboard!  We'll be joining you on July 2!

Thank you both very much!

Is there any way to discover what portion (if any!) of my OBC is refundable vs non-refundable?  

I only see one line item which says OBC and the amount on my statement.

TIA

On 6/7/2023 at 5:39 PM, Native Floridian 26 said:

Yes, that's when the flights showed up.  I can pick them and try to book.  Nothing goes through.

Clear your cookies?  Try another browser?

How do you tip your drivers or tour guides? Specifically in Norway, Iceland and Greenland?

4 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

I am with you @mcrcruiser that 1 bag holds a lot of tightly rolled laundry. We have cut our clothing to about half and utilize laundry service on every cruise. We go home with all clean clothes except for what we travel in on the last day. Makes unpacking so much better - from suitcase to closet w/ no detour to laundry room! Added benefit of no concern about pesky luggage fees due to the extra clothes.

And then there is that little smile you get on your face when you find a HAL laundry tag on your clothes some months later!

I may be the only nay-sayer here!   I will not ever take an aft cabin again.  The motion was very noticeable - not only side to side but up and down as well - and I would say fairly calm seas.  I spent a lot of time outside of the cabin.  

Let us know how you enjoyed it!

11 hours ago, spleenstomper said:

We made it to Montréal and met 4 people on the last flight that are also on the cruise. 
 

I’ll post pics from the ship. Thanks for everyone’s support. 

YEAH!!! 

15 minutes ago, Giggleypuff said:

Yikes! I’m boarding the ship Sunday and don’t have a room assigned yet either. I wasn’t worried initially cause there’s only 8-10 cabins in the F class but not having an assignment till getting to the pier is just stressful!

You’ll be fine.  Breathe in. Breathe out.  You’re going to have a cabin.  

Thank you Gentlemen.  Much appreciated!

TIA.

23 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

We'll be doing one next Wed on Nieuw A (San Diego - Vancouver, BC, one stop in Victoria, BC) and will tell you all about it 😉 

Awesome!  I have a deposit down on next year's version!

16 minutes ago, Chefaleslie said:

Why are you being rude to food service workers? The answer they need to give you is, they are doing it because it's the rules they are told to follow. You trying to be "smarter" than the people that serve you food is nothing but mean spirited, and distasteful. If you want to have a serious discussion about the importance of proper glove wearing you need to speak with the heads of the CDC that come and do the inspections and set the rules for cruise ship food safety. Please be nice to the people that handle your food they deserve more respect than you are giving them currently. 

Sorry, Chefaleslie - He is correct.  Misuse of these gloves is rampant.  And it's not only food service workers - it's housekeepers, nurses, you name it - anyone wearing them. 

I didn't think he was being rude.  A simple request to change to new gloves before touching your food is not abusive. IMO

21 hours ago, Banditswife said:

We have this cruise booked for the 2025 version.  Sailing the Amazon river & crossing the equator were our draws, since we have never done either.  

As far as the smaller ship & older passengers- we like the idea of a more laid back, more mature group.  The smaller ship may have fewer amenities, but I think/hope that service will be better than on a larger ship.  We are excited to try it.

On 4/10/2023 at 7:36 PM, RuthC said:

If the cabin has a balcony, then it has a fridge. 
Inside ad outside cabins can rent one for (I believe this is still the price) $2/day. The question if you rent is where are you going to put the darned thing. 

@RuthC  Do you have a favourite "Larger" outside cabin on the Zaandam that you would recommend?  Taking my sister for her first ever cruise, and it's on the longer side ~ 11 days...

TIA!!

8 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

They are mountain bikes.  The route is on an abandoned highway with lots of rock falls.  

Thank you! 

Has anyone done this tour? Biking on the ghost road? What type of bike do they use? 
thank you!

Does anyone know what type of bicycles are used?  
TIA!

My Bev card on the zuiderdam cruise in Dec/Jan looked identical to our cabin key card. I was refunded the 1.60$ that I didn’t spend. I did purchase the card online prior to departure.  I checked all of our purchases on the Nav App, and thankfully everything was 💯 accurate. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen all the time. Good luck with getting your money back. 

1 hour ago, MUD said:

Thanks to all who have commented so far. I did not mention that the cabin we chose on the Zaandam (we also have reservations on the Rotterdam)has one of the very few conversions to walk in shower only. We have sailed over 100 days on this size HAL ship. Our concern about this itinerary is that there may be very little to do on port days when we don’t take an excursion.

Do you mean you won’t get off the ship on some port days? You would have the ship to yourself! “Private”  pools, hot tubs, empty gym, and no lines in the Lido!