bernie5

Posting while hubby gets his mouth off the floor:D

 

As hubby posted Ron, the COM, had the rest of the menus delivered to our stateroom last evening ( a VERY huge stack) and he did not do more than glance at them before packing them away.

 

He is at the desk right now with his jaw on the floor because he received on top of the entire 11 day, 10 day, all 3 7 day menus but also the menus for Christmas, New Years's and a couple others that we'd not even thought to ask about, like Canaletto and Lido Buffett menus:)

 

Ask and ye shall receive and boy aint that the truth.

 

He is just now beginning to scan them and is really looking forward to sharing them all with you our fellow CC members:)

 

Joanie

Thanks so much for all your work and reports. I cannot wait to see the menus. I talked today to our PCC and she knew nothing about a change in the PG menu.

I do not think I have ever been on a ship with minimum occupancy, but I love being on the ship when most passengers are off on an excursion etc.

Thanks for the posting and have a great cruise!

I really must know---is the glorious coffee/cappuccino maker in the Neptune working? Do you know the names of the Concierges? Temp on the Rotterdam deck OK?

Sounds like you are in for a great cruise

We sailed on HAL (Zuiderdam) to the Panama Canal for her 73rd and my 75th birthday celebration. Bad choice! We boarded, went to our suite, and determined that the air conditioning was not working. I notified the front desk and was told it would be fixed "soon." "Soon" never happened so we spent ten days in a hot and humid suite.

 

I am convinced that HAL boarded us and other passengers knowing full well that the a/c was out.We were told that three decks were affected for the entire cruise.

 

We were given $600 shipboard credit on the last day of the cruise, which we accepted as a cash payment. We have since been notified that we will each receive future cruise credit of $550 each. I find this remuneration to be well under what we should receive.

 

Has anyone out there had such an experience in the past and, if so, what was the final outcome. Thanks. I plan on sending another email to them after I talk further with my travel agent.

Please tell us your cabin number so others on the next cruise can see if this has been resolved in any way.

I am scheduled for Zuiderdam in a suite in March. This A/C issue has been written about since the ship moved to the Caribbean. HAL has to know which cabins are affected and continue to sell them. People on the ship at the present time say that engineers are on board trying to deal with this. I doubt I can make a final payment till this is resolved.

OP what cabin were you in?

I second or third the people who wish HAL would improve their accounting/billing system and make it visible to the guest via the cabin TV. Every hotel I have been in recently does this--how difficult could it be. When I am on a cruise longer than a week I occasionally have the bill printed out for me so I can check it while I remember what I did each day. If the guest could access their info in the cabin you could check things periodically.

The Daily Program could be on the TV also thus eliminating the copious pieces of paper delivered to the cabins and thrown away the next day!

The internet situation has got to be improved! It is crazy slow and because of inaccessibility around the ship my son hates to sail. Sorry, I know you guys are saying we need to be disconnected and relaxed on vacation but the fact is that young people like to communicate with their friends who are thousands of miles away. They want to send pictures of the fabulous things they are experiencing! HAL needs the publicity with the future cruisers and could use it to promote their line.

A few years back I remember a thread about cruisers swelling during a cruise especially in their feet and legs. All sorts of explanations were given but a lot of people talked about the ship's water and the fact that they did not swell if they drank only bottled water.

During my last cruise I switched to bottled water and had no problem with swelling. I am wondering if anyone has tried using a Britia or any other brand filter for the water instead of buying bottles. This would be so much more convenient and economical.

Gaume

I had to decrease the file size by a bunch. They did load but you may not be able to see much.

Thanks for your reply. And, for looking for those pictures. I take it you felt that the room was big enough. We're port side room 408.

What shoes worked best for you?

I hope I can get these picks to download. I have not done this before.

I love Merrel shoes--hope I can mention a brand. I have their hiking shoes as well as a pair of their water hiking shoes. Your shoes, hat, and camera are the most important things. Lindblad is great about sending a list of things to bring. The ship is very casual, the food is wonderful, the naturalists are absolutely the best, and the room is rarely occupied. Can you tell we loved it?

I guess the pic files are to large--I keep getting an error code. If you know how to send me your email privately I can try that or I will ask the teenager tonight and he will know how to send them.

I cannot seem to find any pictures od the Lindblad Islander suites. We are looking at the Category 4 range,but I still find it odd that there are no web pix.

 

Any insight on suite selection would be much appreciated.

We sailed on the Islander in June, 2009. I have traveled the Galapagos with A&K as well as Lindblad and I enjoyed the recent trip on the Islander immensely. I will look when I get home for pictures of the suite. We were in the middle on the port side. When you walk into the room you are looking at two beds with storage above the head of the bead and a small window between the beds looking over the balcony. There is a small desk to the left of the beds and a large bank of mirrored closet space. The bath is very small and to the left--head and shower. You walk through the room between the closet and the desk and down one step to the balcony. It has a table and two chairs as well as a chaise. It is tight. It is also sealed shut with glass--not open to air. I chose this room as I was traveling with my teenage son so I thought it would afford us both a little space for dressing, showering, etc.

The trip is absolutely fabulous. Pricey but completely worth it. I am traveling again with Lindblad in March to Sea of Cortez---my son and I enjoyed the trip to Galapagos so much we immediately another trip with Lindblad. I will see if I have pictures--I took thousands of them and have yet to get them all sorted!

If you have other questions let me know.:)