Charlies Aunt

We are on the the Koningsdam now and have Two chairs (non-recliner) and a footstool for each chair. Be aware that those deep balconies on deck 4 are half overlooked by all the balconies above.

8 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

We weren’t sure if we’d be at the meet so didn’t sign up but might drop by.  We are on the 12th floor and love the breeze coming through & of course the view!

We are on the 11th floor and agree it's some view! We are having problems with the jet lag fairy but hope to make it later!

4 hours ago, canadianbear said:

Princess ship is here today in San Diego and tomorrow we get on the Koningsdam!  It’s real everyone! 

You must be in a room very close to us as this is the view we had this morning. Hope to meet you in the lobby later!

2 hours ago, misguy said:

Here is the video of the walk to the Port

 

Thank you so much for doing all this. We board on the 17h when it's time for you to leave and all this information you are providing is invaluable to us and we much appreciate the time and effort it takes.

I take my hat off to you for giving up your vacation time to write this. 

Have a wonderful cruise and know that we are hanging on your every word!

Bon Voyage!

Sorry I omitted the name of the ship. It is the Koningsdam and judging by the comments so far I think we’ll pass. 
Thank you for your replies.

Could someone explain the benefits of a vista suit cabin over a standard balcony cabin please?

We have been offered a paid upgrade on our upcoming cruise and I cannot see what the benefits would be.

Anyone reading this for future travels I would just like to give a shout-out for a great tour guide Augusto Guimaraes in Rio de Janeiro. We have just spent the day with him in this wonderful city and much appreciated his knowledge of all things Brazilian. He is also extremely proficient in getting you through lines at breakneck speed making it possible to enjoy a delicious lunch and still get to see the major sights in a day without being totally frazzled at the end. 

Please consider him for any future visits. He is a great character and will make your visit to Rio very memorable.

gusguide@hotmail.com

Yes they had them on the Onward in July and they were of very reasonable quality.

Just worked out how to send a photo of the said pamphlet.

II have just recently returned from a Greece Intensive on the Onward and a port information pamphlet was awaiting us in our cabin which gave very useful maps and information for each port we would visit. Very informative and so useful I have brought it home with me for future reference.

HAL does have great music for most tastes. Some of the larger ships also have the Tamarind Asian restaurant which is a great change from the French or grills of most cruise lines.

Another line I would consider is Azamara there is a great deal of fun to be had on those somewhat smaller ships and they have great country intensive itineraries and an overall great atmosphere on board.

I have just been on Princess for the first time having cruised with most of the major cruise lines including Cunard, Celebrity, Costa, Azamara,Regent Seven Seas and HAL of course.

I urge you to try HAL for whilst I enjoyed the cruise I was quite happy to disembark in Southampton on Saturday (in the pouring rain). I felt I had "done " all that there was to do on the ship and I had very little desire to repeat any of it. I have never felt like that disembarking from a HAL ship in fact quite the opposite.

Food is subjective but I did feel the Lido is far more impressive on HAL and a much more pleasant area to eat in and HALS Dive-in burgers and fries leave Princesses offerings standing. 

I will say Alfredo's pizzas were great and I cannot fault the staff on either Princess or HAL.

The pool areas on HAL are much more comfortable and the sliding roof on the main pool area is invaluable on bad weather sea days in spreading the passenger load. I am not sure how comfortable Princess would be with anywhere near a full load.

I wanted so much to like Princess as to have another line that would allow us to cruise out of the UK would have been useful but sadly for us it wasn't a match almost to the point that I am so glad that it was not our first cruise...had it been I think we would have missed out on a tremendous amount of fun over the last 15 years.

I hope you choose to give HAL a try you sound like a good match.

regards 

Chris

If you’re travelling on a cruise that lasts 19 days or less, submit the form in the 48 hours before boarding. If your cruise is longer, you can submit the form while travelling

This is the new regulations on the uk governments website. When I cruised last month the form had to be submitted 48 hours before arrival back in the UK.

It seems technically the staff at Southampton were correct but it sounds like  more training is needed and a huge change of attitude..

On 9/29/2021 at 6:30 PM, aprilsp88 said:

Hi,

 

I'm trying to use Medallion app to select arrival group. I can select it, but there is no "confirm" button to click to save my selection.

 

Has anyone had this issue? How to resolve it? I asked Princess but no one can resolve it. They keep on telling me to restart the app, or reinstall it.

 

Thanks,

April

I had this problem last night. The confirm button is further down the page underneath the EDIT ALL button.so keep scrolling down.

I don`t see how it could be any other way. Unless you want to play Russian Roulette with the crew (and everyone else`s) health.

HAL have been doing a great job in keeping everyone safe and operating within the regulations of, not only different countries, but the way those countries require different regulations for various nationalities... It must be an everchanging nightmare to organize but in so doing they are slowly building up our confidence in their ability to sail safely therefore to allow non vaccinated people on board now would be a very retrograde step in my opinion.

See you there!

Thank You Kazu!

I felt like the cruising gods were looking down on me when the news broke very late last night.

ttps://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/italy-to-drop-covid-quarantine-for-vaccinated-and-negative-uk-arrivals/ar-AANQwiL?ocid=msedgntp

Having waited a month for this news I feel that maybe I can begin to pack at last.

I think where we are going to dock is the least of our worries at this time.

The Powers That Be in Italy are due to review their regulations as to who can cross their borders without quarantine on the 30th August. This decision will be a major deciding factor as to where our cruises are heading or if indeed they are able to find their way out of this chaos at all.

The British already have to quarantine for 5 days and , from what I can gather, there is a fifty fifty chance that this will be extended due to our rising infection rates. Which puts me out of the running.

How this will effect those travelling from the US?

We will find out on the 30th 

5th September Eurodam 7 days Athens to Venice (?) if it ever happens. At the moment Italy isn't letting us Brits in without quarantining. They are going to review this on 30th August..

Crazy times.

Fingers and pretty much everything else crossed.

7 hours ago, cruisegirl said:

Was it for a specific time slot?

No, but it was bought several weeks ago and long before the recent changes were announced. Maybe this is the way they are going to "police" the number of people in the spa at any one time. Who knows?

I think we are going to cancel this pass anyway. There seems to be little point in wearing a mask in other venues and then going into an enclosed warm, humid and somewhat airless place. Maybe next time.

I have purchased the spa pass for our up coming cruise but now that masks are mandatory inside I cant see how the spa can safely operate. I certainly have no wish to wear a mask whilst in there. I await the answer to this with interest.

Talking of Mariners lunches on one particular cruise my DH and I went down to the dinning room to check the menu for that evening and realized that the Mariners lunch was just starting and that my husband was not in the correct attire. We checked the menu and got back in the lift when this (I wont call her a lady) woman and her poor husband got in the lift. She had obviously tried to get into the dinning room for lunch and been turned away as it was her first cruise on HAL. She said very loudly how disgusting it was that HAL did not value it`s new customers enough to provide a lunch in the dinning room. At which point I very foolishly said "Never mind you will have something to look forward to on your next HAL cruise"...well she went off like a rocket!!

My husband and I got out of the lift at the Lido and she followed me screaming how she would never book a HAL cruise again. Our loss....not

It may be worth baring in mind that Marghera IS in the municipality of Venice and therefore HAL is within its rights to continue to call it Venice. It may not be as close to the centre as we are used to but it is still Venice.

Knowing the Italians they will have water buses and water taxes running from there to St Marc's Square 'pronto'

1 hour ago, Crew News said:

Tamarind Menu Changes from last season:

·        Deleted – appetizer - Crispy Duck w/Steamed Bao Bun

·        Deleted – entrée – Braised Eggplant Massaman

·        Deleted – entrée – Caramelized Hamachi Clay Pot

·        Deleted – entrée – Wok Seared Lobster & Shrimp

·        Deleted – entrée – Roasted Pork Belly Siu

·        Deleted – entrée – Fire Prawns, Thai-Chili Jam

·        Added – entrée – Thai Basil Szechuan Shrimp

·        Deleted – dessert – Fortune Cookie

·        Added – dessert – Japanese Mochi Ice Cream

The Mochi icecream is delicious. I have them in my freezer with the star flavour being mango.

Can you feel us all hanging off your coat tails? Have a fabulous time looking forward to following your adventures.