Zukini

According to Cruise Mapper, Riviera appears to be a charter that week with "Desire Cruises" (Couples only - Clothing Optional).

Wow, that's excellent service by GV Tours! Glad to hear it, since my contact also had a tour scheduled with them.

Thanks, Mercruiser. Someone I know is on this cruise, so I'm interested in hearing how things shake out. Sorry to hear you're missing Puerto Montt, hopefully they'll be able to get this sorted out.

Keep in mind what day of the week you'll be there. If it's a Sunday, most everything will be closed so you'll definitely want to book an excursion of some sort.

Just curious, did they ever fix the horizontal shower?

On our July cruise on the Nieuw Statendam, with HIA, I asked about upgrading the beverage package. The response was that because HIA bundles a number of perks at a discount, it cannot be "unbundled" to allow for an upgrade of a single component. It was a definitive "no, we won't do that with Have It All".

Last year, the Travelmar ferries for the Amalfi Coast ran until November 6th (weather permitting of course). If the ferries are running for your visit, it's a very scenic run up to Amalfi (where you could also make a connection for a bus up to Ravello), or to Positano. Alternatively, you could take a train from the Salerno train station (a short walk from the port) up to Pompeii just 75 minutes away if that interests you. A longer excursion would be to take a train/bus combo from the Salerno station south to the Greek temples at the Paestum Archaeological Site. If the ferries aren't running due to weather, it's also possible to take a bus from Salerno up to Amalfi. I wouldn't consider Sorrento, it's too difficult to get to from Salerno. While I'm sure fans of Salerno may chip in, I've never really be crazy about Salerno itself, but that may just be a failure on my part to seek out the historic center.

We were on the Nieuw Statendam the same week as you. While I have PLENTY of complaints about the thermal spa facilities, the Thalassotherapy Pool wasn't one of them. The temperature couldn't have been any higher than 100F. We keep our hot tub at home at around 104, and it was nowhere near that hot.

Now that you mention it, I have no idea, since we booked this July 2023 cruise in September of 2022. On our other paperwork, it's listed as the "Best Sale Ever" promo and also included $50pp cabin credit. Don't know why it was also listed as a July Promo, unless it was something they had extended from July of 22.

That sounds like it was ideal. I had contacted that company prior to cruising, but was told that when a ship was in port, they wouldn't take privately booked passengers. Guess that wasn't the case. We paid about $55USD for the shared taxi (no free hot beverage, alas). I don't know if the extra 10 minutes would have made a difference...I really could have wandered that area all day!

Just adding to the knowledge bank, the roulette table on Holland America (at least on the Nieuw Statendam) is now triple zero (0,00, and HAL).

Following up now that our cruise is done, we did pre-book a taxi tour to Voringsfossen through the tourist office (they contacted me to say that they were now taking reservations). You absolutey cannot extend your time at the falls. The taxis are all pre-booked and are on a strict time schedule, so they strictly adhere to the 30 minute limit. They are also shared: we had a total of 6 passengers in ours. Thirty minutes gave us just enough time to walk down to the step bridge, take a few photos, and get back to the taxi. We could have easily spent 90 minutes at the site, if we had been permitted to. Even though we were pre-booked, we had to wait on a LONG line to check in at the tourist office.

We did our tour with FjordGuiding at Geiranger. While fast, it wasn't particularly rough. The pilot occassionally would intentionally try to cross the wake of another passing boat to give us a little bit of excitement, but certainly no slamming up and down (at least on our trip). The water within the fjord is so calm, the pilot really would need to go out of their way to give you "air time". Here's a 5 minute highlight video of our trip.

Here's an example from our latest cruise. The HIA promos are clearly stated, as is the separate crew appreciation promo. 18% gratuity on specialty dining and beverages were included in the HIA packages, and ordering more expensive beverages we paid the difference + 18%. If ordering doubles, they counted as 2 singles.

You may have misunderstood. Service isn't slowed down because you don't add an additional tip. It's just that the act of printing out receipts for everyone and having them sign them (so that you have the opportunity to add an additional tip) is what slows down service overall.

It would be a shame to get all the way to Alexandria and not have the opportunity to make the trip to the pyramids, but the 12 hour port time is problematic. Even with a private tour, you're going to have a minimum of 3 hours to Giza and 3 hours back (with a quick restroom break each way). Your guide will undoubtedly insist on a visit to his cousin's perfume shop or rug emporium, leaving just a few hours to view the pyramid complex, which is massive and spread out. Certainly no time to visit the museum. If you attempt to do this on your own, you'll need to book with a reputable company and insist that there be no "shopping" stops. Get there, visit the pyramids and the sphinx, maybe pose on a camel, and get back. Spending more than two hours at the site would be risky in terms of getting back to the ship with sufficient leeway to deal with unforseen traffic.

I wouldn't consider any port schedule to be set in stone, particularly for Norway. While I blame HAL for a complete lack of transparency on the changes that affected our cruise (and the one before us, I believe), the fact is that Norway is cracking down on the number of ships accessing their UNESCO Heritage Sites (of which Bergen is one), and is supposedly closing those sites to any emmission producing vessels by 2025. That being said, the port shuffling they did in this batch DID allow Rotterdam to visit Bergen instead of the Nieuw Statendam, but I would definitely not trust that the Norway itineraries will sail as published (and I certainly wouldn't trust anything Holland America says to the contrary).

Pinnacle Grill Menu pinnacle_grill_dinner_menu_winter_2023_en_v2_-_de_lijn_-_navigator.pdf

Dive In Menu divein_menu_2021_noshake.pdf

Tamarind Menu tamarind_menu_winter_2023_en_-_navigator.pdf

Canaletto Menu canaletto_menu_winter_2023_en_v2.pdf

Lido Breakfast Menu caribbean_lido_breakfast_2021_pinnacle_v1_-_menu_01_en.pdf

In-Room Dining Menu ird_all_day_menu_summer_2023_sig_pinnacle_class_en_2023.04_1_.pdf

Main Dining Room Breakfast Menu mdr_breakfast_menu_winter_2023_en_-_v1.pdf

Main Dining Room Lunch Menu mdr_lunch_menu_winter_2022_print_en_-_v2.2_-_no_specials.pdf