edgeman61

We were in a Sky Suite on the Infinity last year, only once did we have to wait at Luminae (the first night) and the Maitre-d' escorted us to Qsine and "treated" us to dinner there (the food in Luminae was much better).

We had more of an issue with Blu on our last cruise, several times there were significant waits. When we left Portland Maine, they had taken on Lobster for everyone on the ship, we had a wait in excess of 45 min to get a table (arrived ~8:15P were seated about 9:00P) and I'm not a big fan of lobster anyway.

We just disembarked from the Summit yesterday (7/10) and in my opinion the food quality at lunch is still pretty mediocre and repetitive.

We ate three dinners in the oceanview, one featured Mexican food that wasn't even as good as Taco Bell.

First time in Aqua class at the end of this month.

I know that Suites can have their embarkation lunch in Luminae and Concierge can have their embarkation lunch in the MDR.

Is Blu open for lunch on embarkation day? can Aqua class partake of lunch in the MDR with Concierge? or is it the Oceanview with everyone else?

It's nice to have a quiet relaxed lunch upon embarkation but we've navigated the Oceanview before.

Thanks in advance.

We were on the Infinity last fall in a Sky suite, as others have said, the lunch menu does rotate but it has a few signature items that are on all menus.

I had the Luminae burger (it was OK), the chicken and waffles (ehh), the duck confiet club sandwich (very good) but my absolute favorite was the fillet wedge salad.

The fillet wedge was a ~6 oz fillet with a iceberg wedge salad (bacon, onion, tomato w/ blue cheese dressing), I had it at least two times for lunch (whenever it was available).

The wait staff was excellent, they paired wines with what you were eating and would bring you surprise dishes to have on the side (we had a sample of every risotto that was made during that cruise).

I wasn't impressed with the Sky suite room but access to Luminae and Michael's club made up for it.

Thank you all,

You have confirmed my suspicions, beside the risk (and stress) of being late for embarkation, we are always VERY tired after the all night flight from the U.S. to the U.K. (I cannot sleep well on a plane).

I know we haven't seen all that London has to offer but we were wanting to add a day or so to the end of the cruise in Amsterdam and something has to give.

It will be hard to add time on both ends of the trip without pushing the trip into the 3 week territory.

I guess we'll arrive a day before embarkation in London and tour Amsterdam the day we disembark and return to the U.S. the following day.

We are booked on the Prinsendam for the 2018 Celtic Explorer that leaves from Dover.

I was wondering about the feasibility of flying into LHR on embarkation day and arranging a HAL transfer to the port.

I the past we have always stayed in London a day or two before our cruises from the U.K. and made our own way the port.

It sounds a bit risky to me but with a 14N itinerary there isn't much vacation time to spare.

Has anyone transferred to the port with HAL on embarkation day from Heathrow? and if so, would you do it again?

Thanks,

As far as I know, at least on M-class ships, there are no self-service drink stations like on RCL.

You will get your drinks either in cans or from a bartender in a glass.

Someone else will probably chime in but I don't see the need for bringing your own mug. In fact you are not supposed to use a personal container at any of the water/juice stations in the Oceanview (spreads germs you know), only a clean glass at the station should be used.

Thanks for the responses.

Our hotel in Vancouver is within sight of Canada Place so there shouldn't be a problem of getting onboard in time to take advantage of Luminae for lunch.

We will be in a Sky Suite on the Infinity this September out of Vancouver.

I understand that Luminae will be open for Suite guests for embarkation lunch. Does anyone know typically what the time window is for lunch in Luminae on embarkation day?

Much appreciated.

Just got back from 12N Baltic on the Navigator.

While I know that in-room TV shouldn't be top priority, the programing was so limited:

Two episodes of 'Big Bang Theory', 2 episodes of 'MOM', 2 episodes of 'Mike & Molly', 2 episodes of 'Persons of Interest' and 2 episodes of 'Chicago Fire'. It got pretty monotonous after 12 nights.

The channels for children and pre-teens had the same limited programming.

Other cruise lines we've been on had a movie channel or two, something to watch after getting back from excursions before dinner or before bed.

I thought that the on-line questionnaire would have an area to critique this but no.

This was our first RCI cruise, the ship was very nice. Our MDR stewards were outstanding and the food generally very good. We ate at Chop's twice, Giovanni's table and Sabor once each. Chop's is a pretty typical steak house, overall very good. Giovanni's table was OK, we had a fish dish that really needed a sauce to bring it together. We were less than impressed with Sabor, perhaps being from Texas spoils us for Mexican food. On the positive side, Sabor's chips were very good but needed salsa not pico-de-gallo, the guacamole was good, the entrees however were disappointing. I thought Johnny Rockets was pretty good despite the additional cost. MDR breakfast and Room Service breakfast menu were disappointing in their limited fare.

Our Junior Suite was great for the longer trip duration, incredible amount of storage and the additional seating area was much appreciated.

All of the ports were great and the weather for the most part was very good.

We are planning on trying another RCI cruise in a year or so.

"Moral of the story, the next time I even think I am getting a cold or flu I am hotfooting it to the Med Centre and getting Tamiflu. I never want to go through that again"

I came down with Influenza B (positively diagnosed) less than a week before our Feb '16 cruise to the Virgin Islands on the Constellation. The Doctor perscribed Tamiflu, the side effects of that stuff can be worse than the Flu! The first night, after taking the second pill of the day, I passed out and vomitted all over myself while unconcious. I stopped taking it after that incident. We eventually missed the cruise because I had not recovered before our flight was scheduled to leave.

The cost of Tamiflu can be quite high (depending on insurance) costing up to $100 for a 5 day treatment.

The Doctor told me with Tamiflu you'll feel like cr*p for 3 days instead of 5 days if you do nothing other than rest and fluids.

Never again with Tamiflu for me.

Our Summit Cruise for Feb 2017 was to replace a Pacific Coastal cruise that got canceled (re-positioned) for 2016.

We recieved $100 OBC for having the previous cruise canceled. If we re-book this cruise will they add another $100 OBC on top of that?

We may re-book to get the added OBC and to hold our booking # untill the new schedules come out and then move the booking to another itinerary that suits us better.

They are only giving us until Nov. 20th to re-book, it may take that long to get hold of someone with the wait times I've experience trying to call them up.

We booked the Koningsdam 11N S Caribbean Wayfarer for 3/1/2017.

The only dining option was open but the agent waitlisted us for late traditional. We'll see what happens as we get closer to the sail date.

My DW and I spent time today in "heated" negotiations and have narrowed down the selections. It is good to know it was not time wasted. Thanks for confirming what we suspected about the Blue Ray.

Seems funny to bring DVDs on vacation but sometimes life is so hectic at home that sitting down to watch a movie is not an option. Isn't vacation all about doing things you cannot do at home . . . . ???

Hello,

I'm curious to know whether U.S. Region DVDs will work in the players that are on the Amsterdam (or the rest of HAL's fleet).

I know that there is a DVD library available and we may utilize it but we have some movies that we own that we haven't watched yet and we may not watch them trough in a single setting so we would hate to have one of the library's DVDs checked out for multiple days.

Thanks for any input.

DW and I have been booked on the 9/11/2016 Infinity Pacific Coast sailing for some time now.

In the event of X deciding to modify or cancel this itinerary how much notice would they give me and would there be any compensation for the inconvenience of having to change cruises?

I realize that the cruise is over a year away but I've read about cancelations happening just wanted to know what to expect, if anything.

Thanks,

That's somewhat of an obvious answer but with the Eurozone you have to do a little (fairly easy) research to see which countries you're visiting are members and use the Euro and which countries retained their sovereign currency.

We traveled to England, Scotland, N. Ireland, Ireland and France a few years ago, only two currencies needed but they seemed to change by the day so switching out your wallet became a tiring task.

Now, going to the Baltic with the potential for 4-6 currencies makes the logistics a bit trickier. If one knew that Euro's, GBP or USD could be used in multiple ports it makes your trip a little easier and more enjoyable.

As an example I have been to Canada 3 times (Victoria and Vancouver) and have never acquired any CAD before or during our trips. OK, I felt a little prickish but It didn't seem to bother anyone as they were set up to sell in either currency. We are going again for a longer trip (more than a day) and so I acquired sufficient CAD to cover us and feel better for it.

I was curious if payment for private tours in St Petersburg are handled in USD or Rubles? (if from GB or Eurozone, substitute your currency for USD).

I suspect they would prefer a Western currency for stability of value but I could be way off the mark.

It wouldn't be that much trouble to get some Rubles prior to our departure but would I just be wasting my time?

Thanks for your responses.

IIRC when we left Seattle on our first Alaska cruise on the Amsterdam, the crew rolled out grills into the pool area between the Lido and the Spa area and cooked up burgers, ribs, chicken etc. We didn't partake at that time since we had just eaten lunch a few hours earlier and didn't want to ruin our dinner.

We did an E. Caribbean cruise on the Eurodam, the BBQ was held later in the cruise on a sea day, I believe the day after we left St. Thomas. Knowing about the BBQ ahead of time allowed us to "adjust" our mealtimes to take part in the event.

The suite amenities package has a lot of nice benefits, does it allow use of the Neptune lounge and Pinnacle Grill breakfast?

We are in a Vista Suite on our upcoming 7N Alaska cruise and was wondering if the suite amenities package was worth it.

Thanks for any replies,

On our first cruise with HAL on the Amsterdam to Alaska, RT from Seattle, their was a BBQ after the sail-away.

We were kind of taken aback by the event as we had just experienced the Lido lunch after boarding and had 8:00 fixed dining for dinner so we were not very hungry and did not want to ruin our dinner.

Does this event still take place on the first day or has it been moved to later in the cruise.

Thanks,

Will be on M.S. Amsterdam in June 2015 visiting Sitka, AK.

Been to Sitka twice before on HAL and tendered both times.

I have heard that they have some cruise ships docking now, fact or fantasy?

Sitka is a lovely place but the tendering process is somewhat of a PITA, walking off the ship would be much nicer but probably put us further away from the center of town.

Anyone know the who, what and where of docking in Sitka?

Thanks in advance,

Thanks for all of your replies.

We booked our cruise during a promotion and they were giving suites OBC, the wine package and soda card.

We have been on the Amsterdam twice before, both times in a DA category OV on the Main Deck. We've never done Alaska with a verandah so we thought we might splurge with a Vista Suite.

We would have trouble putting down the sparkling wine much less three other bottles not to mention we would have no idea of which wines to choose.

I will try calling HAL to see if I can substitute for something else beforehand. Otherwise I guess I can see Guest Services once onboard.

The DW and I are headed to Alaska on the Amsterdam this June to celebrate our anniversary. One of the perks for our room category is a Navigator Wine Package (3 bottles IIRC).

The dilemma is that we dont drink wine or much of any alcholic beverages.

Has anyone "traded in" the wine package for something that might be more usefull to a non-drinker.

If not I guess we could bring the bottles to the MDR and share with our tablemates.

Any responses will be greatly appreciated.

If you have 123Go or other freebie promo on your current booking, you will likely lose it if you upgrade at the resident rate. Such promos are generally not combinable with discounted fares.

Thanks for your input.

I don't have a 123Go promo associated with this booking and am aware that the discounted rate will supersede any other promo.

The residency discount is significantly greater than the value of 123Go.

I guess what I'm getting at is, are Concierge class rooms on the Century worth it? The C2's that are now available are all on deck 10.

Any other input?