Storylady
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Posts posted by Storylady
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On 7/25/2021 at 5:26 AM, Roz said:
I am so sorry this happened to you. I don't know how I would handle it if something like that happened to me.
On the Carnival board, someone posted that they pre-ordered distilled water for their CPAP. For some reason they decided they didn't need the CPAP for their cruise and left it at home. When the distilled water was delivered to their cabin, they declined it and may have mentioned the reason they no longer needed it. Apparently it raised a red flag and they had to leave the ship. Someone determined it was a liability for a person with a breathing issue to be on the ship without the proper equipment.
After the debacle with the Diamond Princess and HAL's World Cruise, I think cruise lines are aware that they were allowing passengers to board with medical conditions that could compromise their safety and welfare as well as the safety and welfare of others onboard.
I was on the World Cruise 2020, there were approximately 200 people who wanted the ship to take them home. They had all signed a petition. Not all of them had medical conditions. HAL permitted approximately 12 people with medical issues to sail home on the Pacific Princess which by the way had about 100 passengers sailing home along with our 12. For those who were alone and needed help navigating the airport, they had a staff escort that was doing the same flight. The rest had to fly. All of those that flew made it home safely. I wouldn’t call that a debacle. It was probably stressful for those who had a fear of flying or blood clot issues. Friends of ours helped another couple who hadn’t flown in years navigate through all the airports. Certainly wasn’t the way everyone wanted to end the cruise, but as it turns out, it was a good thing we all flew home.
One couple did stay in Australia hoping to ride it out. They spent more than 3 months there before they were allowed to fly home.
I do agree that some of the passengers with medical problems onboard the ship would have been in serious trouble if we had Covid onboard. So probably a good reason for HAL to be cautious.
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8 hours ago, matdark said:
I was never notified before this phone call, and that’s exactly what they said. They just make up stories, it is not a Greek demand. They shouldn’t have transferred us to this cruise after the first one was cancelled, knowing perfectly there was a little boy in the party. For God’s sake I even discussed this with Seth Wayne weeks ago!
i am sorry for your son. It is probably due to the Delta variant. It is better to not cruise with children until Covid is almost eliminated. Viking had an all vaccinated cruise and still they had one vaccinated couple get Covid. The ship wasn’t allowed to let the passengers to go on shore excursions. You don’t want that to happen to you. -
17 minutes ago, kazu said:
The ship limit is 25,000 tons. All of HAL’s ships are more than that so it’s not just the BIG ships that are banned.
I just checked that the Ritz Carlton yacht is 1500 tons too large. I can’t find info on the gross tons of S.S. La Venezia: Uniworld Riverboat.
As for alternate ports, the cruise ships are using Ravenna and Trieste.
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1 hour ago, mtnlvr53 said:
The 2022 South America cruises haven't been cancelled. I'm on one of them. To me, it makes sense to cancel those cruises with the current situation in Argentina and Chile regarding covid. I do wish they would just go ahead and do it so that we could make other travel plans. That being said your logic makes complete sense to me.
I was referring to 2021 cruises to South America. I suspect more SA cancellations will be announced.
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2021 Cruises to Asia, Australia and South America Canceled
While Holland America Line continues to work with governments and port authorities in coordination with the phased resumption of cruising in other areas of the world, the company is canceling cruises in Asia, Australia and New Zealand and South America through the remainder of 2021, along with the Collectors’ Voyages (combined cruises) associated with those departures. This affects itineraries on Noordam (Asia), Oosterdam (Australia) and Westerdam (South America). In addition, fall sailings through the end of 2021 on Volendam and Zaandam also are cancelled”
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On 7/7/2021 at 10:57 AM, KirkNC said:
Which begs the question of why create all that booking turmoil to swap virtually identical ships?
The reason is probably a savings of more than $500,000. The Oosterdam is in Amsterdam and the Westerdam is in Cabo San Lucas. They both would have to go through the Panama Canal to do the cruises they were orginally booked for.
The Westerdam’s South America Cruises were cancelled if I remember correctly. The Westie would have gone from South America to Europe. And the Oosterdam’s Australia and NZ cruises were cancelled. And the Oostie would have gone from TP to Alaska.
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Just now, Storylady said:
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6 hours ago, crzr said:
We just received an e-mail late yesterday from HAL cancelling our mid-April transatlantic on the Westie. We have been reassigned to the Nieuw Statendam which parallels the Westie's path. We have to wait another two weeks for a booking number and to see what they have done with our room selection.
Nothing was said about our next two legs on Westie, which visit the Middle East and end in Barcelona. Since none of these European cruises are now for sale, one would assume that they will also be cancelled. But no official news yet from Seattle.
When I called the Mariner Society (our TA knows nothing about this development), he asked around and said that Westie has been taken out of service for "operational issues". Hmmmm...
Meanwhile, nobody I talked to with access to HAL's computer system has any information about Oosterdam picking up the European agenda. The reservation pages list only Nieuw Statendam as being available in the Med next spring.
It appears that HAL has some work to resolve all this confusion and incomplete information. I look forward to further developments.
As Kazu and others have posted The Westerdam’s itineraries were transferred to the Oosterdam which is the identical sized ship.
So your Athens to Barcelona cruise should be on same date and same cabin.
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18 hours ago, Lindancer said:
I am on the 8-15 to 29 Eurodam cruise from Athens. What I see online is that my boarding pass won't be available to print until July 13. It says my express docs will be available after July 1 and I don't even know what they are talking about. BUT I booked my cruise through a PCC from HAL and she was able to tell me my boarding time - which she said is important because with the Covid protocols they are definitely staggering the boarding times.
I did get the "Have it All" package so I will see if I can schedule those. I don't want a card in my room with the times already assigned.
Thanks for the info.
Did your PCC say whether you had to have a Covid test test besides vaccination card?
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Not since we started cruising. We did do an 11 day cruise from SD to Alaska, but had to fly home. Haven’t seen an 11 day cruise offered recently.
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40 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:
I am actually crying tears right now.......................
It is cancelled, I e-mailed my TA to ask if it was true after reading that it had been cancelled. It is also listed under cancelled cruises on HAl website. Replacement is the Eurodam.
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1 hour ago, Vict0riann said:
No mention at all of Volendam....
The Zaandam and Volendam Christmas Cruises were also cancelled. Nothing for the Volendam nd Zaandam in 2021.
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12 hours ago, Mary229 said:
Maybe I am looking at the wrong cruise but it is $4000 for 14 days not $10000. This is SS
OP is doing back to back cruises of 14 days each. Price for 14 days for one person is approximately $5000. At least that is what I thought I saw for SS category. 28 days per person is $10,000.
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3 hours ago, IPB4IGO said:
The fare for our 28-day B2B Panama Canal cruises in January has increased from around $15,000 to over $20,000 since we booked in February.
Anybody care to speculate on the reason for this?
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Dave
Demand. There is only one stateroom left in SS category, we know several people who are on the World Cruise, who have placed a hold for your cruise as they suspect the World will be cancelled.
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42 minutes ago, Torquer said:
I am resurrecting this old thread for perhaps some new news (or not).
We are thinking about booking the 12-Day Mediterranean Empires leaving August 9, 2022. Here is the HAL link:
https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/E2M12F/W248.html
The quote that our travel agency gave us for this cruise says:
Cruise Line: HOLLAND AMERICA LINE Ship: MS WESTERDAM Destination: MEDITERRANEAN Sail Date: 8/9/2022 Departure Port: VENICE (RAVENNA), ITALY Arrival Port: VENICE (RAVENNA), ITALY Note the departure/arrival port has "(RAVENNA)" in it. Has anyone heard of HAL changing to use the port of Ravenna? As I understand it, it is about a 2 1/2 hour bus ride between the two cities, so it is very undesirable for visiting Venice. In fact this cruise overnights in "Venice" before disembarkation, which really doesn't make any sense for taking a very long bus ride to Venice, another long bus ride back to the ship, and then yet another long bus ride the next day to the Venice airport.
Hopefully, it is just a glitch in the travel agent's computer, but before asking, I wanted to know if anyone has heard any rumors of this.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens. Other cruise ship companies are scrambling to for docks outside the Venice area. It will take years to prepare the docks in the Marghera industrial port so some cruise companies have relocated to Trieste and Ravenna. What you need to do is enjoy Ravenna and sights within the area. Either before or after the cruise, stay in Venice for several days.
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On 6/10/2021 at 11:57 AM, onthegogirl said:
Wondering why she’s not sailing next year.
The Koningsdam first cruise is Mexico on October 24, 2021. And she does her first cruise on the January 19th to Hawaii. After that, alternating between Mexico and Hawaii.
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2 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:
We sailed on the Zaandam on the S.A./Antarctica cruise in December 2019. We found the ship to be in good condition and would cheerfully sail on her on a GV. In fact, of all HAL's current ships, she would be the only one I would want to sail on another GV. The library and Crows Nest are our major concerns. I think that the Zaandam is the only ship that still retains both those venues? Hasn't the Volendam done away with the "old" Crows Nest?
The Zaandam and Volendam both have the Crows Nest and Explorations Cafe aka library. I just checked Holland America’s deck plans.
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22 hours ago, Storylady said:
Chrisoxfan, I believe you are comparing a transatlantic cruise with very popular itinerary that includes Iceland and Greenland. The Iceland Greenland route has always been priced higher, even on Princess. What you are taking is an ordinary TA route which is naturally less expensive. If you are are only interested in getting home, then naturally, you have a great deal. But if you were interested in seeing Iceland and Greenland, then you need to compare the Coral Princess (July 9th) and the HAL itinerary. HAL is still slightly more expensive due to being a much small ship.
I wasn’t criticizing OP’s decision to switch to Princess. I was trying to explain why the HAL itinerary going to Iceland and Greenland was more expensive. I also didn’t mention that the size of the ship also has a lot to do with pricing. The Nieuw Statendam (2650-3214) although fairly new is a smaller ship compared to the Enchanted Princess (3660-4272).
The itinerary he chose is a B2B. I didn’t clarify that when I said standard TA. I was personally referring to the 15 day portion of his cruise which has some nice stops, but lots of sea days which is standard for a TA crossing on most of the major cruise lines. They are always priced cheaper unless you are crossing by way of Iceland and Greenland. The first 11 days are his Baltic Cruise which is priced higher.
Personally, I prefer a much smaller ship than the cruises mentioned. If the OP is happy with his choice and feels that the price is right. He made a good decision. That is why there are cruise lines of all different sizes as everyone has different reasons for choosing the cruise line, ship or itinerary that they did.
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Chrisoxfan, I believe you are comparing a transatlantic cruise with very popular itinerary that includes Iceland and Greenland. The Iceland Greenland route has always been priced higher, even on Princess. What you are taking is an ordinary TA route which is naturally less expensive. If you are are only interested in getting home, then naturally, you have a great deal. But if you were interested in seeing Iceland and Greenland, then you need to compare the Coral Princess (July 9th) and the HAL itinerary. HAL is still slightly more expensive due to being a much small ship.
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23 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:
I had a bit of change of my mind last night when some new information came to light. Here in Las Vegas many of the casinos were giving incentives for employees to get vaccinated, For the month of May casino capacity was limited to 80% unless the casino could get employees fully vaccinated to 80% then once that hit 80% they could go to 100%+ occupancy. Many casinos have reached the 100%.
With the new remove mask if you are vaccinated the casinos and many employers are stating that with proof the employees are vaccinated they now can work without masks but those that cannot prove being fully vaccinated they must continue to be masked.
Many of the places hiring are requiring proof of vaccination. Maybe the CDC did know what they were doing after all. This will basically shame those not vaccinated to get vaccinated which will bring those percentages up.
If this happens I say "Well Played CDC"
Maybe the whole cruise ship industry should require vaccination to sail. Carnival and other ships with loads of small children should also require vaccination for everyone except those too young to receive vaccination.
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17 hours ago, Im on a ship said:
Thank you for the input. After much deliberation, we decide on aft on the Main deck. At least we have our deposit paid now so I can settle in to planning the fun stuff.
If constant engine noise isn’t a problem for you, you will enjoy the main deck. More noise from engines than from elevators and stairs. When you sleep at night, you will hear the engines vibrating through your pillow. If you are one that is asleep as soon as you hit the bed, you will be okay. We avoid the aft third of the ship as I can’t sleep at all due to the constant noise.
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20 hours ago, rkacruiser said:
Never was on a wait list. I had a guarantee once and received an upgrade by one category.
All the verandas are gone for his cruise. I believe due to pent-up demand. Also, HAL has eliminated 5 ships since July 2019. So not as many cruises to chose from.
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56 minutes ago, 57redbird said:
Wait listed for a veranda.
56 minutes ago, 57redbird said:Wait listed for a veranda.
56 minutes ago, 57redbird said:Wait listed for a veranda.
You must be in the the 35 day Hawaii Tahiti Cruise. You will definitely have to wait unti someone cancels their cruise which as everyone has mentioned won’t be until the last 3 months before the cruise. As to how soon, will depend on how soon you were wait listed. If you did soon after the last cabin was sold, you have a good chance of getting your veranda.
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Did you select a guarantee or are wait listed for a specific cabin? There does seem to be verandas available for the the Zuiderdam in February 2022.
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21 hours ago, rkacruiser said:
Would it be appropriate to widen the topic on this thread as to the Hostesses on HAL cruises that are memorable? They became extinct several years ago, but, their services to us guests deserve to be recognized. I think.
Our favorite Hostess was Beth on the Prinsendam. She was on two of our GV and was the host of the Captain who didn’t have a companion to host all the dinners he had to attend. She also hostesses many events. But sadly the position disappeared when they started cutting personnel.
2022 World Cruise Cancelled....Zuiderdam to become WC Ship for 2023
in Holland America Line
Posted
Bob, the Seaborn WC was also just cancelled.