Shetlander

Fantastic value and I’m glad you could pre book. Sorry for wrong info, but I have never had an opportunity to pre book this before

How was your cruise? Hope you enjoyed it

Caryl

No worries. We have used HAL's unlimited laundry in the past and this worked out just as convenient.

This was our first cruise with Costa and we had a great time. The food was great and most port stops were quite short which worked well for a 7 night cruise.

We travel Int`l with 22" bags and backpacks. We`ll be spending a few days in Venice before boarding. It`s essential that we get laundry done 2nd or 3rd day. Did you do that and how long till you got it back. On the Costa Site, it says "The Magic Bag" is available a couple of days before "end of cruise" Really need to know this one. All other Europe cruise lines, it was mid cruise which worked out perfect!

Thanks in advance!

Hi

It was one of the items you could purchased on the cruise personaliser and you could select it for any day of the cruise. We selected it for the second day. As this was our first cruise with Costa once we boarded we asked how this worked and whether we would receive a special bag. We were told to just use the normal laundry bag and write in "Magic Bag".

We left it in the cabin when we went to dinner on the 2nd night and it was returned the next day.

There was a letter inviting us to use the service again. This we did a few days later and again our clothes came back the next day.

This was our only experience of Costa but it worked fine for us.

The magic bag can’t be booked

The cabin steward places it on your bed a few days into the cruise

Caryl ( a Shetlander) :cool:

Just spotted your post. We're now back from our cruise and we did in fact book it before we sailed. It came up as one of the options on the cruise personaliser, although I can't remember whereabouts! We were told to simply use one of the normal laundry bags and write in "Magic Bag". This we did and everything came back the next day together with a letter inviting us to take another "Magic Laundry bag" which we did! Great value in my opinion.

A really useful post - thank you.

The Piu Gusto package looks like really good value. The one question I have is whether there is much difference in the selection of wines in the MDR between the Piu Gusto and the Intenditore?

Costa has a laundry, pressing and dry cleaning service, two turn around, if required same day then 50% surcharge. Shirt used to be €3.50.

 

Costa also has wha it calls "Magic Bag", 25 pieces for €19.99, this used to be offered towards the end of a cruise, on a particular day. Last year this service could also be booked online for a certain date (or dates). I do not know if this was available for all cabin categories or if it is still available.

Thanks. The "Magic Bag" seems like good value - do you know if you can also book it on board or if it has to be booked online in advance of departure?

Thanks again.

You will find two "bath size" towels in the wardrobe in your cabin, for use by the swimming pool / beach. These are a different colour from your bathroom towels.

 

Leave them on the floor in your cabin and your cabin steward will replace them.

 

Still think there is a charge if lost, i.e. €25.

Thanks!

Apologies for another question, but do Costa supply towels for the beach? I imagine they do but I've been asked to ask the question!

I'm thinking about taking a Costa cruise for the first time and was wondering about options for laundry. In the past we have used the all-inclusive laundry option on HAL and just wondering what the options are on Costa as I haven't managed to find a pricelist online. Thanks!

I posted this question in the France ports of call and no response out of 78 views, so I would like to ask here hoping someone could help. Thank you.

 

Does anyone know the name of the dock where the Holland America ships dock in Marseille? We have family picking us up for the day and need to tell them where we will be docked. Thank you.

You don't say the date that you will be arriving in Marseille, but you should be able to find the information on the port's website.

It looks to me like . . . . .

21 May = 186

19 July = 163

8 July = 163

1 June = 162

All of these are at the Marseille-Provence Cruise Terminal.

What is the dress code for children aged 8 and 11? What do they need to wear on Formal nights, that is do they have to have jackets or is a dress shirt fine? How about for the casual nights?

We cruised before we had children and then after a break for a number of years with our children. The issue of dress codes for children caused me some angst as I think it it far less defined for children than for adults.

In reality (most of the time anyway) as long as they are dressed smartly and behave well nobody is going to mind. One rule of thumb is to have them dressed in something so that the photos of you all together look nice!

On our first family cruise they were 4 and 8 and for formal nights they had red waistcoats and bowties. Last year at 8 and 12 they chose to wear dinner suits. On both occasions we received nice comments and have some lovely photographs.

On casual nights they wear nice shirts (though a bit brighter / more patterned than me) and nice trousers. Again we use "photo compatibility" as a benchmark.

One final comment . . . check out the photo packages as we found them great value last year and have a pile of photos to treasure.

Have a great cruise.

We will be on the Eurodam from 18th May and are wondering whether or not to pack DH's dinner suit and my frocks. Does anyone know please just how formal the gala nights are now they have loosened the dress code? We have never sailed with HAL before and are really looking forward to it.

 

Thanks

On our Med cruise last summer I did not feel out of place in black tie. The overwhelming majority were smartly dressed with a significant minority in black tie.

Enjoy your cruise!

We'll be sailing on Eurodam from Barcelona to Venice on 30 May and are currently looking at booking a few non cruise line excursions.

 

We"ve cruised quite a bit before but never with HAL.

 

Any ideas how long before sailing times you need to be back on board? Has anyone had recent HAL experience in the Med?

I would guess it's about 30 - 60 minutes, but I'm afraid I can't really remember! We sailed the Med last summer so I can probably find out some examples of All Aboard times and sailing times if you are interested.

If you are booking an organised excursion then I would have thought that they would know all the timings?

Hi all.

 

We are going to Italy in Aug with RC. We consists of 3 adults and 3 kids (2,5 and 7) and we are really wanting to do Pompeii. RC offers 2 or 3 Pompeii excersions and 2 of them only give you a max a 4 hours (which includes travel time).

 

Are we worth braving it on our own as we were really hoping to spend a full day there. We are pretty new to cruises and also very new to Italy so it does seem kind of daunting but the £250 price tag is really off putting when we will only be getting a few hours there.

 

Thanks :)

As others have said it is very easy to do on your own. There is a kiosk across the road from the cruise terminal where you can buy tickets for the trolley bus and the train. They are very used to cruise passengers. I have visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum with my children this way.

The train journey to Pompeii is longer but the station is right on top of the site; the journey to Herculaneum is shorter but there is a longer walk to the site.

Personally I prefer Herculaneum and I find it great for exploring - I thought that when I first visited over 30 years ago and still feel the same way after visiting last year. There is no cafe at Herculaneum although there is a spot with vending machines, whilst Pompeii has a cafe on the edge of the site, where we bought ice-creams in October a couple of years ago.

Both sites are great and well worth a day's visit. My advice would be that if you go to Pompeii then don't try to do all of it in one day, especially in the summer.

Not sure what your cruise line charge for a shuttle but if it's any help when we were there in September, the taxis were charging 13 euros into town for up to 4 people. Also, they were charging 50 euros for an hour trip - all the prices are printed on the wall just as you get off the ship. This is excellent value between 4 people as we spoke to someone who had done this and the taxi took them into town, up the hill to the top of the cablecar (therefore saving 120 croatian kuna each for the cablecar from town) and then out of the city and over the new bridge. They would then either drop you by the old town or bring you back to the ship. If you're short on time, this would be an excellent way of seeing some of the surrounding area as well as the walled city. There were several taxis all lined up and waiting. N.B.some places only take kuna so it would be wise to have some with you. Enjoy your cruise:)

 

We took the taxi when we were there a few years ago - very easy, quick and cheap. There was a taxi rank on the outskirts of the old town so that it was easy to get back as well

We were in Katakolon in October and took the bus to Olympia. Caught the bus across the street from where the ship docked, there are signs to show you where to go. It was 8E each return and took about 30 minutes each way. We got the bus just before 11am and the bus dropped us off in the town of Olympia. It was a 5 minute walk to the Olympia site and we had 2 hours there before the bus picked us up. We had a guide book with us and saw quite abit in that time frame, even saw the museums. It was very, very hot and this was Oct 8th so at least for us 2 hours was the right amount of time to spend there.

We have always used one of the tourist offices in Katakolon. The museum is definitely worth visiting and my tip is that if it's busy (as it was last summer) then pop along to the museum first and buy your combined ticket there . . . . as there were no queues there when we were there last summer!

We'll be dropped off in Athens from our cruise and have 2 days to take in everything before our flight home. With that being said, what area should I try to stay at to maximize our time and take in as much as possible in Athens?

When we stayed in Athens before a cruise we aimed for a hotel that was close to a Metro station for going around and a roof terrace with views of the Acropolis for the evening.

You'll have a great time!

I much prefer to visit any archaeological site with just a good book! It means that you can go at your on pace and spend time where you want to be. My children also enjoy the exploration aspect.

You could easily spend at least half a day at the acropolis alone if you wanted to.

A few years ago we started a cruise in Athens and so had a few days there beforehand - the first day we simply visited the acropolis and the new museum, which is well worth a visit in my opinion.

Last year we visited Athen on a cruise and we simply visited the agora.

One tip is that you can buy combined tickets for more than one site and so it makes sense to buy it from one of the quieter ones in order to avoid queues. I can see if I can find any more information if anybody is interested.

Hotel Olympia is located very close to the bus station and a short walk over only two bridges. It's a nice hotel that I recommend to all friends and relatives when they are visiting Venice.

We had a great few days in Venice when we stayed here last summer.

We took a water taxi from the airport to the hotel's landing stage - great fun, but it is a bit of a walk from the airport to the water taxi stop. We took a land taxi to the cruise terminal which was very easy and relaxing!

We had lovely views of the canals and the area is a really nice "just to be".

enjoy your time in Venice.

As I said if you do a quick online search you should be able to find a floorplan for the Cabanas on the Zuiderdam.

Hi All' date='

We are due to board the Eurodam tomorrow in Venice. How does one find out which terminal she will dock at?

Have tried the Venice port authority but I just get the message that the ship's company will liaise with the port authority at the time of docking (which is 1pm today).

We have to organise transfers from our hotel, so would be good if we could organise somewhere as close as possible to her dock for dropoff.

Thank you

Chris

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk[/quote']

 

 

Don't worry and enjoy your time in Venice; a few days in Venice is a great way to start a cruise. The driver will know exactly where the ship is!

 

We got our hotel to book our transfer - I think it cost about 40 - 50 Euros. The driver took us as close to the terminal as he could where he unloaded our bags and helped us in with our hand luggage.

 

Enjoy your last full day in Venice.

 

P.S. We also walked down to see our ship coming in which was quite a fun thing to do!

Hi all,

 

Just booked onto a 17nt collectors cruise leaving on Dec 11th and am interested in booking a retreat cabana. Does anyone have a floor plan and recommendations on which are good to book? Any advice gratefully received!

 

Thanks

I can't help with personal experience as we were not bar to get one when we were on Zuiderdam but if you do a quick search online you should be able to find a floor plan.

I read that Eurodam is for older crowds and was wondering if there are gonna be any kids on our summer cruise ( 12 night ) ?!?!

 

Thanks !

I think that you will find that there will be other children on your cruise. We were on Zuiderdam last summer and there were quite a few children. My children had a good time although used Club HAL less than when we sailed on Ryndam with fewer children!

If your itinerary is Barcelona to Venice then that is a lovely one - we visited Kotor on Ryndam and thought that it was a particularly nice port.

I'm sure that you will all have a great time!

Have a look here

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2223960

I imagine that location and time of year will have a far greater effect on the on-board atmosphere than any differences between two Vista-class ships.

We were on Zuiderdam last summer from Venice to Barcelona and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I imagine that your itinerary would be similar although I presume you will also be visiting some of the Adriatic ports such as Kotor and Dubrovnik, which are wonderful places.

We did not find the ship busy at night but then it wasn't completely void of people either. As an example there were plenty of people out on deck when we left Monaco at night.

At the end of the day it all depends upon what you specifically want! I hope that you have a nice cruise whatever you decide.

We had 3 nights in Venice before our cruise last summer - it is a fabulous way to start a cruise. As others have said it is easy to find your own way around Venice.

We took a water taxi from the airport to our hotel. This was a great way to arrive especially as we have 2 children, but it does involve a walk from the airport to the water taxi.

We took a road taxi from our hotel to the ship which is less exciting but very convenient!