lizzies_mom

Bon Voyage!

Please add

Zaandam 20-day Inca Discovery, Santiago to San Diego, April 3, 2016

Thanks

Good information here. Should be helpful for the layers we will need around Antarctica.

We did the cruise on the Veendam in 2013 (januari 30th) and it was fabulous. We did the itinerary going from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso and we indeed also did Antarctica. I still think about it very often. There are no words to describe it. You have to experience it to truly get a sense of how it is.

 

We had an OV room on the Main Deck in the middle, and it was a great cabin. We never had a cabin with a balcony before, so I can't do any comparisons, but the OV suited us fine.

 

I usually was out on deck all day, and there were so many good places to see everything. I found it never was a problem not to have an own balcony.

 

Our cruise originated in Buenos Aires, and we added a couple of days. There is so much to see and do. I loved it. We also went to Iguazu. We had an extra day added in Santiago as well, but we did not do much there. I really liked Buenos Aires alot.

 

In our case, indeed we were told that 2013 would be the last year HAL would offer this cruise, which is why we took it. I was suprised when the itinerary's for 2014 came out and the itinerary was there. And now it is 2015 and once again the itinerary is there. So I am not sure what you should do. Perhaps 2015 really is the last year, but then again....maybe not ;)

 

We were so Lucky with the weather!!! We made all ports, including the Falklands, and even in the ports where it rains more often than not (Ushuaia for one) we had the most beautiful weather. Puerto Montt was also the best: clear blue skies so the Osorno volcano was clearly visible, and that was an awesome sight. The crossing to and from Antarctica was pretty calm as well. I do get seasick, but we were lucky to have the weather we had.

 

If you are interested in seeing some photo's or reading about our cruise, I kept an extensive blog during the cruise (boy that really did cost me, internet packages were expensive, but worth it) and I also made some video's and put them up on Vimeo (downloadable if you prefer) and YouTube. I still have not finished them all, but the ones in highest demand are there, such as Falklands and Antarctica.

 

Have fun planning your cruise, this is the most amazing trip we have ever done.

 

Travel blog: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/ina01nl/1/tpod.html

YouTube channel:

Vimeo Channel: http://vimeo.com/channels/insesa2013

Ina, thank you so much for your blog. Someone posted a link to it on the roll call for our cruise (January 30, just 20 days away, but who is counting?); it really raised the level of anticipation for lizzies_dad and me. Your enthusiasm is contagious.

We did the zipline with the tramway five years ago when we were on a Panama Canal cruise. I do not remember whether an excursion without the tram was offered. They used the tram cars to take us to the point from which we started the zipline, although I believe you could just do the tramway. Not certain whether there was an alternate means for reaching the top other than hiking a trail.

It was the first time DH and I had ziplined, but those who had done it elsewhere said the Puerto Caldera ride was excellent, well maintained and felt very safe. A larger man in our group had stopped and had difficulty in restarting, but one of the guides was out there and had him moving in short order. In addition to being an interesting adventure, this is one of the ways in which Costa Rica protects its rainforests.

I'm not certain whether you will find that many people who have done both.

lizzies_mom

Noordam--8-Nov-2015--Australia & New Zealand 14 days

Bon Voyage to all!

A special wave to Jon and Donna.

I replied earlier that I do wear a half slip some time. The need for this was brought home to me at church on Sunday. A newly ordained Deacon was helping to serve Communion. She had on a somewhat tight, clingy light colored dress and black panties. IMO this was tacky under any circumstances but particularly tacky in this circumstance. A light colored slip would certainly have helped.

 

Mary Lou

Wearing light colored panties under light clothes would also solve that. Of course, there was no doubt she was wearing panties.

Thanks for the good info. We are taking this cruise January 30 next year. Haven't gotten the packable down jacket yet, although wearing my regular down coat may be an option if our midwest winter repeats itself.

We've been on Verandah suites (former name for Vista suites) on the Ryndam and received double day credit. The Prinsendam verandahs only became Vista suites recently, probably because they were frequently more expensive than Vista suites on other ships for similar cruises.

We are newly-minted four stars on HAL, but last year we took our first Princess cruise with DS and DBIL. They enjoyed showing us why Princess is their cruise line, and for the most part we had a great time. However, there were little things like not having the wrap-around teak deck, having difficulty finding a quiet spot to read UTS (Under The Sun) with MUTS at full volume, the beds, and claustrophobia in the tiny shower. All things being equal, HAL is likely to remain our favorite, but given the right itinerary, we will be on Princess again.

Should have probably added that linked bookings such as ours do not get the offers because they may not want people at the same table to find that one party got the same category room for $1000 less than the other.

Not everyone gets the upsell offer in the category, at least not when the offers first go out. I was following the roll call for our 2012 Ryndam TA and knew that some roll call members had gotten upsell offers from Verandah (now Vista) Suites to Deluxe/Neptune Suites. We were finishing our packing in the evening, readying for our flight to Barcelona the next day when Holland America called us with an upsell offer. They explained that we had not gotten earlier offers because our booking was linked to that of our friends because we wanted to dine with them with fixed seating. But they had two Neptune cabins, and we had our upsell for about half of what the original offer had been.

But the creme brûlée is no longer the 3-flavored kind, but a lemon creme brûlée tart, which might be delicious.

We were in the Pinnacle on the Westerdam January 16. DH had the three-flavored creme brûlée.

Bon voyage!

Thank you for the review. DH and I will be taking the 19 day SA/Antarctica cruise next January, and this is makes me look forward to it even more.

Thanks for all the good wishes. Pretty sure we will be able to handle seven days of temperatures above zero.

We're just hoping our flight can get out.

Ruth,

Thank you for an interesting and balanced review.

On Caribbean cruises you just get one $50 beverage card per cruise regardless of the length (7 days or 21 days).

Thanks, must have been a lazy day as I could have checked that, or that OP was on European cruise.

Regarding the drink promotions, our trivia teammates told us that at beginning of cruise they had other teammates who decided they needed to drop trivia because they needed more time to drink.

We've worked directly with HAL and they have generally given us the lower price with no questions asked. Actually, they told DH the price had dropped when he called to make an additional payment.

Despite all the talk on our last cruise about Explore 4 and the drinks you will get, if you are in the Caribbean, you only get $50 pp per seven day cruise. Reservations for the other benefit, the Pinnacle (or Canaletto) dinner, are made by HAL.

We have three Aldi's within about 5 miles of here. One store was totally out of stollen, while the other had plenty of all three varieties: butter, cherry, and marzipan. The checker at one store said a bakery in the area would buy the Aldi's stollen and sell it at their store.

Last two cruises we've done Team Trivia and Pub Trivia. Haven't had progressive trivia since PC repositioning cruise in '09. May depend on CD.

While most of the time it is just heated competition for HAL pins, our team won a round of drinks one evening at Pub Trivia when we managed a perfect score. Major problem with Pub Trivia is that we and another couple were often late getting to late seating because the team usually stayed to catch up on our day after the game was over.

While everything you send out to be laundered comes back pressed (when appropriate), the laundry package does not include pressing for items that are customarily dry cleaned and only require pressing.

OP, sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. DH and I are looking forward to our first Westerdam cruise in January, so I'm concerned about your comments. While we have enjoyed many of our recent cruises on smaller ships, I think I noted some similar concerns on our Eurodam TA this year.

One observation is that the evening activities seem more oriented for Anytime Dining or perhaps the Early Seating. We've not been finished at 9:00 any time in recent history, and for that reason, we are giving up our late seating for the first time. Our tablemates thought that there were few late afternoon activities beyond support groups and such, another concern that would favor earlier seating.

One one early cruise, we had trouble making the acquaintance of the wine steward after not buying a bottle the first night. Since that time we have purchased wine packages. Even with that, we were afraid that we wouldn't be able to drink all the wine as the steward was not to be found when there was only one glass left in the bottle saved from the previous night. I used a card in the room, politely detailed the problem, and dropped the card off at the Front Office. Ah, the next evening one would have thought a celebrity was at our table, and yes, the problem did not recur.

I had no complaints about the turkey served on the Prinsendam on our transatlantic two years ago except, perhaps, that the portions were too large. A tablemate who had attended most of the culinary sessions noted that our cranberry sauce was made from dried cranberries because fresh cranberries are not to be found in Europe.