ann1bell

14 day RT Buenos Aires, Jan. 13-27, 2016, Antartic Discovery on the Crystal Symphony, first Crystal cruise.

Thanks for the info.We are still deciding and will post about our final choice. We esp like the restaurant recs.

I have read about the BA hotels here and on tripadvisor. I know the Recoleta area is highly recommended.

However, I have found a brand new hotel with a reasonable rate in San Telmo. It is a Curio by

Hilton. Is San Telmo area still an unsafe neighborhood? My husband and I are not out much at night.

Just wondered what was going on there lately.

The odd thing is that the Zaandam does have a launderette on deck 3 near the atrium but it is not shown on the deck plan. I think it states there is a launderette on deck three but does not show where it is.

We had booked cabin 3343 for a future cruise but changed it when we checked out deck three and saw it was near the launderette. The noise would not be that bad but when we walked near there many folks were in the hall chatting.

We are disembarking the Amalegro tomorrow, Thurs., Sept.3. Our cruise manager has spent all afternoon rearranging our transportation to the CDG airport. All of us are leaving an hour earlier since a farmers strike has been announced. We do not know what roads will be blocked but will leave the boat with extra travel time.

So there might be lots of traffic problems tomorrow.

My husband and I each had a 25 inch bag and carry on for both the land and cruise portions. We decided to keep everything with us. When boarding the train in Anchorage our bags were trucked to the Denali hotel. You will need your meds, etc with you on the train and can take a small bag for that.

The bad news on our cruise was that the 35 couples who gave HAL their meet me on the ship bags got to the ship and none of the bags made it. Hal had the bags for 4 days or so and lost them. We boarded the ship on Sunday and did not have a port stop until Wednesday. Needless to say these people were very upset.

We were so happy that we did not send any bags directly to the ship. I am sure this does not happen often but it did on our trip.

We went in August and have no opinion about the season or the rear facing balcony. I can say that we were happy not to have the meal plan. We were in Anchorage one night and ate at the Glacier Brewhouse for 20 to 25 pp. The next AM we had breakfast at a deli around the corner from the Westmark Hotel for about 6 pp before heading to Denali.

When in Denali we had breakfast daily at the coffee counter at the Mckinley Chalet Resort and all our dinners over at the Base Camp Restaurant in the Princess Lodge.It was much better, more popular, and more reasonably priced than the dinner options at the HAL lodge.

We do not eat big meals and thought our choices were much better than the meal plan.

Have fun!

We hope to have a grand time!

Thanks for the info! The rest rooms do not sound so bad. We look forward to our adventure beginning next week.

I have read here that the bus on the TWT does not stop often for rest rooms. How often did you stop? Were the rest rooms quite primitive?

What time did you leave and how long was the tour?

Onboard how long was dinner in the dining room? We do not like to spend over 2 hrs dining.

How was service onboard in general?

Thanks for your nice review.

We stayed in a Barcelona hotel we love that was cheaper than the AMA land portion. We did book the bus transfer from Barcelona to the ship through Ama. Then we rode the train from Lyon to Paris on our own and did Paris independently. We do not eat large meals but can't recall the prices. In Paris we ate at some of the small delis.

The cruise is wonderful. AMA rocks! Good luck!

My husband is in his late 60s and never gets sick but got a kidney stone on our transatlantic cruise this spring. We were at sea for eight days. He passed it after five days. The dr and his staff took good care of him and our $1500 bill was covered by our travel insurance. We were so happy he recovered for our European ports!

This is what I thought!

I think I understand what I have read here.

If we book shore excursions online a month in advance for our HAL land portion in Denali, we do get the Mariner spending bonus of one day for each 300 dollars spent?

I think the answer is yes but wanted to confirm. Thanks.

Looking forward to Alaska again!

I appreciate your opinion, Ruth! I know you are the inside cabin expert!

I am thinking of doing the 14 day RT Seattle on the Statendam and am looking at a cabin on the main deck. It is an inside near the launderette in the forward part of the ship, about 12 cabins from the front.

I know that midship is better but am wondering if this area might be ok. I have had some problems with motion sickness, always have the scopolamine patches with me but usually am just fine with bonine if I take it before I sail.

Any ideas from anyone who has sailed in Alaska often? Thanks.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza and loved it. The train to the city was a breeze.

The bus picked us up at the airport for our free trip to the hotel. There is no reason to call for the shuttle as it comes every 20 minutes or so.

The food was very pricey at the restaurant so we walked over to the mall next door for our breakfast and dinner.

Enjoy your stay in Copenhagen.

What movies were shown this week? Were any shown in the main theater inside?

Also, some dining questions. Was there a wait in open dining? How was the food in the MDR?

How was the ice cream?

Did you eat in any of the specialty restaurants? If so, were you pleased?

We board on the 21st for the trip to Europe!

We were in cabin 8066 last summer. I think this one was more under the spa. The only noise we heard was some pretty annoying vibration the first night. For some reason that was the only night this happened.

There were other minor sounds from above ..cannot recall for sure but perhaps there were food trolleys being pushed around.

I would happily stay in this cabin again. We got a big upgrade because there was a lot of fear last spring regarding the Baltic and Russia, causing many cruisers to cancel.

We were on the Noordam for b2b in January. On the first leg service in the dining room was ok, but we saw a big difference on the second leg. We were in anytime dining and dinner took 2.5 hours. That is ridiculous. We started eating in the Lido after that. We could not understand why the service declined so much from the first to the second.

We did have a nice cruise and enjoyed the ship.

We did use the Steve's book, esp for Tallin. There was a shuttle in Tallin but we walked to the old town.

In Stockholm we got on a van that was at the port for 5 euros pp which took us to the Vasa Museum. We took a city bus back.

In Riga we also walked to the city.

Enjoy the Baltics! It is a great itinerary.

They said he would be turned away. As I said my husband is stubborn!

He does not care who has worn it before..lol.

My husband is stubborn and refuses to pack a jacket. On formal nights I wear black pants and a sparkly top and he gets a loaner jacket hanging near the entrance. He has room to pack one, he is just honery.

We were on the Noordam for 3 weeks earlier this year. The biggest problem we had at dinner any night was the slow service. The food was fine but some nights it took 2.5 hours to eat. We were in open dining.

Have a great cruise!

I have enjoyed reading your review. One question: did you have a guaranteed reservation with them which was not held because the hotel was overbooked or did you try to book when you arrived? Just wondered. Thanks.