flowery

Batsabode mentioned HAL's Rotterdam, Neptune suite and Orange. We were on a 2 week sailing last August. The service was good in the Neptune suite (but not better than most that we've experienced), however, the food in Orange is mediocre- we never looked forward to it. The only advantage to Orange is that it's quiet and small with good service compared to the MDR. Crowds and lines on the Rotterdam were overwhelming. The experience actually soured us on future cruises with any line. Specialty restaurants were just OK. I'm sorry to hear that the food on Luminae has gone downhill (?) along with increasing prices. I want room service breakfast at times but other than that, we don't utilize butlers and agree with some posters that they can be annoying with constant knocking on the door- even once after putting out a do not disturb sign! On our two Luminae sailings we felt that the food was wonderful, consistent and with perfect timing and service. Crystal's food is getting good reviews (it was excellent in the past).. don't know how the pricing compares with Luminae sky suites. The lowest category Crystal rooms are tiny (215 sq ft) but have been renovated. Crystal ships are never crowded and have good evening entertainment. We wouldn't use Regent's included excursions and some Crystal cruisers have reported mediocre food on Seabourn. Seeing some mixed reviews on Oceania which we've never tried.. Curious if any Luminae passengers have tried the "new" Crystal.

It's funny you bring that up. We were on the Celebrity Constellation that had to end in Naples because of the high winds in Civitavecchia. If I remember correctly, passengers left the ship on buses to Rome in staggered groupings- some in the middle of the night- starting at 2 or 3 am? We had been on a private excursion in Naples earlier in the day- I contacted the private tour company that evening (after hours!) and was lucky to reach someone who arranged a driver for us the next morning. It was kind of an adventure. The only difficulty was because of the bad weather, the friends we were traveling with opted to stay longer in Rome instead of parting ways and our carefully planned restaurant reservations couldn't be expanded to accommodate more people- missing out on Armando al Pantheon was heartbreaking LOL. Thanks to the locals and other cruisers for posting about the Rotterdam embarkation change.

Interesting that Australia only allows shorter cruises. The two week cruises are probably especially risky. I'm sorry you felt that your cruise was ruined LazyDaze. Cruising right now is definitely a gamble.

Thanks for describing everything so thoroughly! Eating/drinking indoors, in a public area, especially on a cruise ship, is a risky endeavor. I guess we will be taking that risk and hope for the best. The magical thinking about wearing masks at all times except while eating/drinking persists. You are only protected while wearing the mask. I'm sorry you guys went through this experience. Pulse oximeters are an essential item for all cruisers. The medical dept sounds woefully deficient. I wouldn't allow a loved one to be alone in a quarantine cabin without blood oxygen monitoring. How are you feeling now? What were your worst symptoms?

Thanks for the suggestion Mary!!

Glad to get some positive news Tiggerwudz! There's so much chaos these days at the airports- you need luck. I would sign up for international biometric/Clear if it was available and could expedite things. Syesmar- I have a vague memory of buying some bottled water in Schiphol after we cleared security and passport control and then having it confiscated at the gate. Heathrow was also taking some extreme measures but Schiphol stands out as the worst- it took forever to get to our gate. A United agent recently suggested that we take a train to Brussels instead of flying out of AMS!

Thanks everyone for your comments- really appreciate everyone's input. We are spending several days at the beginning in Amsterdam and hadn't planned additional time afterward but one way or the other it will work out. Hopefully we can get home the following day if it comes to it. Currently, there are no guarantees with air travel schedules it seems. I've been monitoring our flights for weeks and tried to build in additional connection time after the cancellation and forced additional stops.

Redtravel- that's interesting. We'll have to hope for the best and hope we get home the same day. I thought flying home the same day was safe if you allowed sufficient time. I never wanted to cut it close but the cancelation didn't allow us an alternative. LOL quiet cruiser- thanks for your story! Did your suitcase ever turn up? Did you have to cruise without your luggage? Sounds awful! I have bad memories of Schiphol from years ago after terrorist attacks in Europe and heightened security measures- thought we would never get to the gate.

Thanks so much Bruce- so we can line up in the vicinity of the exit deck? We don't have to go to a lounge or central spot and wait for an announcement? The flight leaves at 11:00. We should be OK if we can get off at 7:30 or soon thereafter. Are there always taxis at the pier early morning?

Our original flight was canceled and we need to move quickly to get to the airport. I've read accounts that from arrival to gate it could take 3 hours. Are there taxis available at the pier to take us to Schiphol? I hesitate to book a car in advance not knowing exactly when we can disembark. The Rotterdam is due to arrive at 7am- any idea when we will be off the ship and through port security? We plan to keep our luggage in our cabins overnight and self disembark as we've occasionally done on other cruises. Therefore, we won't be in a "group" (?) Does Neptune suite status give us any advantage in getting off the ship quickly? What deck will we be disembarking from? Any comments appreciated!

What bizarre accusations! That's right, HAL's competitor and the Dutch Secret Service just booked me new 10K plane tickets so I could continue with my surveillance! I'm certainly glad I didn't pay for them! I still have time to make some decisions. Are you envious that we can pivot and do land based Europe if needed? I will continue with my research and I'm sure there are others like me who want to know what's going on.

RobtL and RynoWally- thanks so much for taking the time to update all of us. It will be interesting to hear if there's mask wearing compliance and enforcement. Also, would like to hear from anyone in quarantine on the ship or in Amsterdam.

Thanks for your replies. I need to decide if we will take out the "Standard" or the "Platinum." I was told Standard would cover 80% and must be canceled at least 24 hours out whereas Platinum would cover 90% as we could cancel even more last minute. If we also have BCBS Geo for medical then we probably don't need the pricier Platinum? We have had MedJet plans in the past- pricey for sure but another layer of protection and peace of mind. We probably won't get it this time. I think the last time we had MedJet it was for a Cuba trip.

Milkman- when you switched to Air Canada did you pre-book your Buffalo flight as well? On the ArrivalCan app, did they ask where you would quarantine (in the event you were selected for Mandatory Random Testing on arrival at YYZ)? Did you list your US home address as the place you would quarantine? I'm still a bit confused about the process. Apparently if you're transiting through the airport as we would be on the way to Amsterdam you don't need to fill out the ArrivalCan app- only on the return if you're leaving the airport and haven't booked a connecting flight from YYZ ?

AZ Wildcat- were you given a PCR test also? (like Ex-Airbalancer's family?) How many days for the results? We would like to spend a few days in Canada but will depart immediately if we get selected for the Mandatory Random Testing.

Thanks for the additional details.

Ex-Airbalancer- Could you please elaborate on your daughter's and her husband's (?) experience with Mandatory Random Testing ? Did they have to do the required test at the airport or at a location of their choice? Did they have to pay for the testing or did the govt pay for it? How quickly did they get their results back? I've read Canada is happy for non Canadians who test positive to get out of their country quickly (drive out) and not spread Covid around. I thought the turnaround time for the Mandatory Random test results was at least 24 hours. I hadn't heard that those selected for testing are required to immediately check into quarantine lodging while awaiting their results.

Thanks again Babr. We will be spending a lot to insure this trip. We can handle delays and quarantine on land but I'm concerned about associated medical bills since the coverage under Platinum is minimal and won't cover most of our excursions since they weren't booked through HAL. I wonder too about getting through to Seattle at 1 am on a Sunday morning if we want to cancel last minute. Glad to know we need to fax or email them to cancel- not phone. It was really helpful getting the link you provided.

I just spoke to Deanna at the travelinsurancestore and she said BCBS would be primary and it would be up to us to file with HAL as a secondary. According to her, the HAL AON platinum plan can still be used as a secondary if the medical bills exceed what's allowed with BCBS. BCBS is only for medical claims. The cancel for any reason is still with HAL AON.

Babr- thanks sooo much for the insurance link! I'm glad I could read the fine print. I didn't realize that "you are not eligible to purchase coverage or receive benefits under this Certificate if You have other insurance coverage for the loss (es) for which this Certificate is intended to insurance against. Multiple recovers for the same loss covered by other insurance coverage is not available under this Certificate." I was also planning to purchase a BCBS Geo Plan. I thought one would be primary and the other secondary. There's too much red tape with most travel insurance but I trust Blue Cross based on our experience using them for non travel issues. One year I purchased expensive travel insurance (online via Square M...) and decided to see if it would cover a tiny shipboard medical visit (under 200). The paper work required was ridiculous- starting with my proving that I had their insurance! I'd have to be making a very large claim to subject myself to the hassle of filing all that paperwork.

Thanks so much Duquesmom! Interesting about the Cancel for Any Reason provided by HAL- the rep didn't make that clear. I guess if you board and have a problem it converts to the AON plan?

Has anyone used Platinum in the past year to cancel at the last minute before boarding? I've been told that prior to boarding we can cancel for "any reason." I just spoke to a HAL rep to see if they could email me the fine print or provide an online link to the fine print and was told no, not available. She suggested I phone the underwriter, AON Affinity at 1-800-453-4047. Since 1-800 and 1-866 toll free numbers don't work in Europe, does anyone have a number to call HAL from within Europe? The rep couldn't provide a Seattle 206 phone number either. She also pointed out that since Seattle is 9 hrs behind, we would need to go to the pier to cancel (!)

RynoWally- it's great to hear from you. Thanks for taking the time to post about current conditions on the Rotterdam and about prevalence of mask wearing on the ship, land and during excursions. Excellent you will have so much time in Norway! Hope we hear from you again. Kamfish- I agree with you too. We love cruising and will hope for the best. If we hadn't already been infected with Omicron we might be more cautious. I don't think anyone contemplating cruising right now is excessively worried- it makes sense to want to know numbers, conditions and trends to make a decision. People who have already decided it's too risky have probably cancelled before final payment.

I'm sure the original plan of moving passengers to a quarantine area made sense from a medical/safety standpoint. Now, if I were a cruise line and contending with a lot of people who wanted to remain onboard to quarantine, I would certainly not change my policy to allow suite passengers to remain in suites- sounds too comfortable. I would want to incentivize them to get off. With the pervasive amt of Covid floating about cruise ships, quarantine areas seem pointless.

From the Celebrity board: The Netherlands quarantine rules: remain in isolation for 10 or 14 days? Yet someone says their relatives are roaming about Amsterdam visiting museums and eating at restaurants etc. The official Dutch rules sound strict-similar to Italy's but maybe aren't enforced? If you prefer not to pay for a land based quarantine accommodation, ask to be tested on the ship on the next to the last day and they will be forced to keep you until you test negative? It sounds like Viking didn't get this memo! No wonder cruise lines want to avoid testing people on the ship... I can't imagine wanting to remain onboard in a quarantine cabin... Unless I really couldn't afford a hotel and meals on my own... Celebrity Apex- positivity rates were at 20% or higher when the mask mandate came out but it wasn't enforced and then a few days later the sailing ended. If you take off your mask to eat and drink on cruise ship you are at risk. It's as simple as that. The virus can be transmitted in seconds- not minutes. I continue to be amazed at the number of people speculating on when and where they picked up the virus.. We are planning on sailing- feeling confident that we are immune or resistant to a heavy viral load at the moment -but of course in a few months that could all change.