shudie

The SS Oriana from Sydney to Noumea, Vila, Vavau, Suva, Pago Pago & Nukalofa in 1983 - my dad was a musician and I was 12. No parental supervision and we pretty much hung out in the arcade, the cinema, and the pizza and ice cream bar!

Image via https://www.australiaforeveryone.com.au/ships-orient/ 

Our deposit is now in our bank account from July 2nd (cancelled August 9 and August 19 cruises on March 9th). 

45 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

So sorry to hear this -- I had just booked on to part of your "odyssey" (Copenhagen to Boston) a couple of weeks ago due to my canceled April Japan cruise...  You have done so much research and planning for it all, it must be a real wrench.

 

 

oh gosh, I hope it all goes smoothly! 
 

10 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I do have more travel planned later in 2020 and as of now I am not planning to avoid it. But I am curious what kinds of "other plans" folks are making or considering?

We are booked on a Transatlantic/Baltic later this year, 29 days with our kids. As of today, we are pretty sure we are going to cancel and try and do what we can by land. Our final payment isn't until May 8 though so will wait until then to cancel. My husband has long service leave, we have booked our two kids out of school for the term and we have basically spent $30k, mostly non refundable either side of the cruise. Our back up plan is this: Syd-Lon-Copehagen (supposed to start cruise here)- fly Reykjavik-fly Toronto - drive to Nova Scotia - friend's lake house in Nova Scotia for the remainder of our cruise time - drive Boston (where cruise was meant to end) and then pick up our NYC-SFO itinerary. We are putting the cruise refund  aside for a Baltic & Norway cruise in 2 years.

That is of course if they let us out of Australia 😅

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

It’s the uncertainty that is the killer.  By your date there should be a good indication of what’s going on and the summer months are coming too.

Sadly we are past final payment & I find myself wishing I had a crystal ball.  We are hanging in there thinking either a) things will improve or b) itineraries will be changed to avoid the hot spots and/or may have to offer cancellation?  Who knows?

The White House meets with cruise lines CEO’s on Saturday.  No idea what it is about but it might be interesting to hear the reports after.

 

I hope for those like you who are past cancellation time that cruise companies do the right thing by you all! 
 

My mum just messaged, there is a case just diagnosed at Northern Beaches Hospital 5 mins from home and where my husband does the phones... will be going out with my antiseptic wipes today 😂

We are on a 29 day Transatlantic with 2 kids later this year. We called TA 2 days ago - our final payment is May 12 and we have until May 8 to cancel with full refund. We are going to decide then and have a back-up land plan. Having sunk years of savings into many non refundable bookings either end...it’s hard to know what to do! 

On 2/21/2020 at 2:41 AM, Mike B Landlubber said:

I wouldn’t plan a trip to Asia, and probably not to Australia/NZ this year, though if I already had them booked I wouldn’t cancel yet. 

As others have written - why not Australia/NZ? 

We don't feel unsafe here re the virus and we are in desperate need of tourism now that the bush fires have ended. 

6 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I think HAL is very smart about the rail cleaning. Sure it keeps the ship clean but it is also a first line of customer service.  Those assigned to rail duty are always the most pleasant people.  In my experience this is unique to HAL.  I am sure other lines clean the rails but HAL crew are always very visibly cleaning the rails 

I noticed on both of our Carnival cruises that someone was always cleaning the railings on the staircase! We use the stairs a lot because we have a rule on cruises to never use the lift (so we can eat and drink what we like lol). Good to hear HAL is the same. 

I also saw on CC many years ago that people bring Glen 20 to spray the air con vents and room as soon as one arrives. We have done this on our 3 previous cruises... touch wood...no-one has ever been sick!

We are booked with SPB this coming August for a 2 day private tour - I have no concerns about touring with them and making it back to the ship on time - having researched a lot about this before we booked! They mentioned to me that because of roadworks, we may miss one sight but we are also adding a Russian Doll experience for the kids. They were the only ones who replied with someone specific for kids if we wanted that. 

6 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Seydisfjordur, Iceland because of weather (disappointing, of course, but we had plenty of time on land in Iceland), Paamiut, Greenland (not because of weather there, but because a huge storm blowing across Iceland kept us in Akureyri an extra day), and St. John's, Newfoundland (because a few hours before we were scheduled to arrive, the Canadian Coast Guard sent us back the other way to help search for a passenger who had "gone overboard" off the AIDA Luna.  Never found.  A terribly sad day at sea).

 

This is a long cruise, with many ports, some of them in places where weather, wind, and/or ice can cause a port to be missed. 

 

We had a fabulous time.

Thank you! 

On 2/19/2020 at 12:29 AM, scubacruiserx2 said:

This is the one we have booked on the HAL Zuiderdam .

 

 

We have an overnight in Reykjavik and have rented a car to drive to and spend the night at the Glacier Lagoon .

 We are a family of 4 and I guess not typical HAL clientele for a TA but we are very much looking forward to the same cruise as scubacruiserx2

We chose it because of the ports and the stops in Norway, Iceland and Greenland - we have also added the Baltic to the beginning. I like that the HAL cruise stops overnight in Reykjavik (many others do also). Originally this cruise was to end in NY but the destination was changed to Boston. We have hired a car in Reykjavik for the 2 days and in Akureyri. Isafjordur we are doing a HAL tour. 

18 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

We had a fabulous adventure on HAL's "Viking Passage" in August/September 2018 aboard the Zuiderdam.  Copenhagen to NY by way of Norway (Alesund), Iceland (almost a circumnavigation, with four ports around the country [would have been five but for weather], including an overnight with two full days in Reykjavik), Greenland (two ports [would have been three but for weather] as well as the spectacular Prins Christian Sund), and the Canadian Maritimes.

 

HAL has changed the itinerary a bit since then; I believe it's the cruise referenced in comment 9 above, that now ends in Boston.

 

Here's the review with photos that I posted on the HAL board:

 

 

We are doing the same cruise this year - just out of interest, and to perhaps lower expectations, what ports did you miss?

We just watched the Rick Steves Northern European Cruise Ports on YouTube - it was highly informative. 

8 hours ago, Arrowinc said:

I have always found the HAL pools to be too cold for my old bones, but the temperature doesn’t seem to bother many others.  

Yes! Reading above, 27c  doesn't seem terribly warm  - especially as we will be in the North Atlantic!

We are sailing for 29 days in August/September with our 9 year old and 11 year old to the Baltic/Transatlantic. Just looking for an update on the Zuiderdam  - reading above, it sounds like they are heated, specifically for pools that children can use, is this still the case re temperature? Also, are there hot tubs in the child friendly area? 

4 hours ago, IPB4IGO said:

I. too, use the public libraries for my eBooks.

 

Each library has a different limit to the number of eBooks you can have checked out at any one time. The libraries where I have accounts vary from six to 30. After I have read all those that I have preloaded on my Kindle Fire and Paperwhite, I have found that shipboard Internet packages are fast enough to let me log on with my laptop and find another batch to download to the portable devices.

 

I miss the libraries on the ships mostly for the nice reading areas, but there are still quite a few comfortable seats in the same area where the libraries used to be.

That's good to know re downloading on board - both of the above mentioned have a 10 book limit. 

thank you! we are taking our first HAL cruise later this year - we wouldn't have been impacted this time as they assured us the roll out on the Zuiderdam would be after our cruise, nevertheless, the idea of 7-17 was crazy!

the new flyer you have attached sounds great for future cruises with HAL. 

On 1/18/2020 at 6:09 AM, newtocruiseinblue said:

One of the reasons I have stopped coming to this board is because there is so much misinformation out there that is posted. One man had a bad experience on the Oosterdam and now everyone with children is concerned. Right after that man posted,on December 7th, HAL put a post on their blog clarifying that Club HAL is not going away. I don't think they could have made it more clear than that, but yet others (not referring to you, OP) continue to just keep the rumor mill going that HAL is discontinuing Club HAL and it's just NOT TRUE. Further, they had an entire advertising campaign last fall of "bring your whole crew" targeting families with children. 

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/topics/arts-entertainment/club-hal-and-high-score-update/

The HAL post is misleading - I have had confirmation via 3 emails from HAL that Club HAL will only be for 3-6 years old and 7 to 17 can use High Score - which is NOT Club HAL. Club HAL is not going away for 3-6 years old! This will be rolled out by 2021. 

56 minutes ago, kaisatsu said:

The hairpins can definitely be a bit intense, since it's a steep gravel path. So it's important to be wary and dismount to walk before letting the cycle get out of control. The steep part of the path is around 1.2 km. If you're okay walking the bikes down, the rest of the route is fairly straightforward as long as they'd be okay with the 17km ride through the valley. It's a relatively easy ride, but there isn't really an option to bail out before you get back to town.

Thank you - they make our local lake track ok but might do two loops a few times before the trip as it is only 8 kms. 
 

We have booked bikes at Myrdal for my husband and I,  and our two children  who will be 9 and 11. Those hairpin turns look scary! Is this bike ride OK for kids? We are thinking we will walk the hairpin section. 

2 hours ago, Travelanni said:

 

Hi, the difference is time and convenience.  The bus takes 34 mins direct, no changes.  The train takes 58 mins plus time to change trains in Rostock main station. Fare in either the bus or train is 4euro each way or 8.40euro for a day ticket which covers all pubic transport in the area , all day.  Useful if you want to go by bus and return by train and include a quick visit to Rostock.

Happy cruising 😊

Anni

www.travelanni.webs.com

 

That's great - the bus it is 🙂 

Another option, which I discovered a few years ago...audio books and free ones from the library apps! I use Overdrive and Borrow Box (plus a paid subscription to Audible). You log on before you leave home, using your local library card, and you can download up to 10 books  - ebooks or audio books. Then as they run out, I download more via free Wi-Fi (I haven't tried downloading using HAL internet yet).  

We have kids, 9 and 11, and I love that I can lounge and keep an eye on the kids in the pool. Also in the cabin at night - I can turn the lights off whilst other sleep and listen to my book! (remember to add the sleep timer though as I have reached the end of the book without hearing a word 😂)

On 1/8/2020 at 7:16 AM, trosebery said:

On our last trip, I downloaded the app before leaving home and just purchased and then activated the Card when needed (in my case, as soon as I needed to hop on public transportation). I did need to have Wifi or a data plan to do the purchase and activation, but then I didn't need to connect again to use the card (and we did purchase multiple cards on one device, just swiping through them at the ticket office).

So just to clarify, we are having half day in Copenhagen, then activating ours for the next 3 days, then back to no card for the last half day. If we are at the hotel where there is Wi-Fi, we can activate the card on our phone via hotel Wi-Fi and then we are good to go for the 3 days? 

We had to go with HAL for Ísafjörður as we wanted to see the Arctic Fox and when I emailed them, they said there was no way of getting there apart from ship tours, not even taxi - so probably similar for your smaller ports. 

We are hiring a car in Akureyri and Reykjavik this coming August.

We will self drive the Golden Circle one day with a lunch stop at Friðheimar  (the tomato greenhouse) and evening swim at Blue Lagoon (cheaper after 7pm) and explore Reykjavik on the 2nd day (with a visit to the Northern Lights Museum).

Akureyri , we hired a car to get us out to horse riding, the grass houses, Santa's hut and wherever else interests us.

We went with Holdur/Europcar as I believe they are one of the only ones to have the car at the port.