Willsot

We plan to take a Harbour coffee cruise, do the Bondi to Googee Walk, a Blue Mountains tour and to see the Gap in Watson's Bay.

Based on a friend's recommendation, we just booked a full-day tour to the Blue Mountains with Gray Line.

We did the Viking post-cruise extension in Prague after our Eastern Europe Danube cruise and absolutely loved it. The hotel was first class and even though it was not in Old Prague, we walked everywhere. Prague is now a favorite city for us.

We saw many on a Resurrection Bay boat tour out of Seward. Have never seen them in our two visits to the ports you mention.

Without fail, the only thing I seem to pick up every cruise is about 4 pounds of weight gain.

Happens every time regardless of my almost religious handwashing and sanitizing!

Is late seating really 9 pm? I thought I had read someplace that it was 8pm, on Eurodam.

On our last two cruises on the Eurodam (April and July 2009), main seating was at 8:00 p.m. We always have main (the later) seating and it has varied from 8:00 to 8:15 and 8:30, depending upon the ship. We have never had late seating at 9:00 p.m.

I just booked the same cruise for September 2010 and will be anxious to hear your cruise review. I booked the Bucharest/Transylvania extension for pre-cruise and am very excited about it. Everything I've seen so far in reviews, online sites, etc. have been pretty positive.

I looked up the hotels and they look good.

We've never been disappointed by CDs. Most recently we enjoyed Johnny Quinn.

Captain Chris Turner, ms Prinsendam (2006-2008). Very friendly and accessible.

My first cruise was with one of my friends and after much deliberation we chose the Norway which had just become the Norway ( from the SS France)over a carnival ship the Mardi gras I think?? My parents had already been on at least a half dozen cruises so instead of our usual Club Med we picked the Norway...

 

Big mistake, we were seated at a table of 6 the other 4 people were honeymooners( 2nd marriages) we were in our mid 20's and everyone else except the 40something tablemates were at least 70, we had a lot of Don Ameche looking guys hitting on us. We had late seating and never made it for Bkfst ( there was no bkfst/lunch buffett back then..just hamburgers by the pool at lunch)..Tiny Tim was the guest Emcee and what a sight to behold he was...My one and only visit to the midnite buffett was to witness him stuffing shopping bags with the MN buffett food.. Other memories were of seeing On golden pond in the ships theatre, we had to tender into some ports as I recall as the ship was so big( the biggest at the time???) we visited ST Thomas, nassau and I forget the rest. Drinks were like 50 cents cash, our room was bunks and probably was a broom closet in a previous life. We paid $1100pp including airfare for our broom closet . My friend was seasick most the time... the seas were rough

 

Didn't cruise again till 1998 when we cruised as a family on the regal empress out of Port Manatee / My kids and I were hooked not so my husband..

Tiny Tim & Don Ameches - the images make me smile!

My first cruise was with one of my friends and after much deliberation we chose the Norway which had just become the Norway ( from the SS France)over a carnival ship the Mardi gras I think?? My parents had already been on at least a half dozen cruises so instead of our usual Club Med we picked the Norway...

 

Big mistake, we were seated at a table of 6 the other 4 people were honeymooners( 2nd marriages) we were in our mid 20's and everyone else except the 40something tablemates were at least 70, we had a lot of Don Ameche looking guys hitting on us. We had late seating and never made it for Bkfst ( there was no bkfst/lunch buffett back then..just hamburgers by the pool at lunch)..Tiny Tim was the guest Emcee and what a sight to behold he was...My one and only visit to the midnite buffett was to witness him stuffing shopping bags with the MN buffett food.. Other memories were of seeing On golden pond in the ships theatre, we had to tender into some ports as I recall as the ship was so big( the biggest at the time???) we visited ST Thomas, nassau and I forget the rest. Drinks were like 50 cents cash, our room was bunks and probably was a broom closet in a previous life. We paid $1100pp including airfare for our broom closet . My friend was seasick most the time... the seas were rough

 

Didn't cruise again till 1998 when we cruised as a family on the regal empress out of Port Manatee / My kids and I were hooked not so my husband..

Tiny Tim & Don Ameches - the images make me smile!

The Nieuw Amsterdam II. I was a young boy and my father had business with Royal Dutch Petroleum(Shell). The initial adventure was my first airplane flight from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to New York City. We sailed out of the Hoboken terminal to Rotterdam. I was awed by the size of the ship (over 1,000 passengers), the open Atlantic, the meals, and watching motion pictures in the theatre. My life-long love of travel began with that cruise in the late 1950s.

The Nieuw Amsterdam II. I was a young boy and my father had business with Royal Dutch Petroleum(Shell). The initial adventure was my first airplane flight from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to New York City. We sailed out of the Hoboken terminal to Rotterdam. I was awed by the size of the ship (over 1,000 passengers), the open Atlantic, the meals, and watching motion pictures in the theatre. My life-long love of travel began with that cruise in the late 1950s.

Oh yes. By traditional I meant "fixed." Instead of AYWD I should have said "open."

So Reverand Neal reports from the Eurodam that 4/5 of all passengers requested traditional seating and that he was assigned open even though requesting traditional when booking 18 months ahead for a three-week cruise. We booked a year ahead for our last cruise and, like many others, were waitlisted for traditional dining.

AYWD fans help me understand - seems like this should not be happening when this new option is promoted as the most popular among HAL cruisers?

I'll be on my third HAL cruise in a few weeks. I've always worn my tux on both formal nights and then wear a nice shirt, tie and slacks on informal nights with no concern about being underdressed. In my limited experience I have found that others even skip the tie but maybe wear a jacket.

Martini of the Day in the Crow's Nest every evening before dinner, along with the hors d'oeuvres as mentioned. Chocolates in the Explorer's Lounge after dinner while relaxing to the string quartet or whatever classical group is performing on your cruise.