Fred321

Not sure about your luggage situation or your lunch preferences but there is a very nice little Vietnamese restaurant about a block from the ship called Bamboozle. If you can drop your luggage or if you packed light enough to roll it you can go there and have a pleasant lunch using outdoor tables and then take a leisurely stroll across the street to the ship when it is your time to board. We always find this to be much more enjoyable then the embarkation lunch scrum.

Merry Christmas guys! Great to see you posting again. Hope your cruise goes well. We just got off a short 10 day trip out of Tampa on Celebrity just to dip our toes back in the water so to speak. Only 400 passengers on a 2000 passenger ship. Quite an unusual experience. Stay safe and, if you remember, say hi to Presty for us.

Rich and Peg

Just got off a 10 day cruise on Constellation 3 days ago. Luckily there were only 400 passengers so it was relatively easy to keep our distance. One problem though was the dining venue. We ate in Luminae most nights but because they sold out the suites, it was one area where there was not a lot of room between tables. Because of that we decided not to eat there if we could not be spaced out. It took some doing to get our wishes across and some nights we simply left and tried to get a table in another venue where there was more room available. We felt bad for the staff that tried to be accommodating even when there was nothing they could do to create space in a crowded restaurant. The main dining room was almost empty and able to offer a spaced out table but only after some prodding since they wanted to pack the diners together to make it easier on the wait staff. 

We wore masks in the public areas but not many other passengers did so. Almost all crew members did wear masks properly. From what we observed almost all of the passengers acted as if we were back to pre covid cruising. As I said we were lucky that the ship was so empty. Truthfully, I would not have stayed onboard for the current Christmas cruise with the increased passenger count and the virus outbreak. 

Thanks to all of you for your responses. They were very helpful.

My wife and I just booked our first cruise on Celebrity (Constellation )next month and we are in a sky suite. We have lots of cruise experience but not on Celebrity. Do we wait until we are on board before making reservations in Luminae? It looks like I can request a time in the main dining room on their website but don't see anything for Luminae. Am I missing something? Thanks.

We're in Pinellas County and still like to leave a day or two early just to make it feel longer. If you don't mind driving I would recommend doing it that way. About 4 hours total of driving. We generally take longer cruises so we usually rent a car one way and drop it off when we get to FLL. If it's prime snowbird season the drive on 75 South can be a pain.  In the past we have driven 3 hours and stopped for the night in Naples. A few nice hotels right off 75 just before Alligator Alley. That allows us to get up early the next morning for the drive across the state usually with little traffic. You can still drop your car off well within the 24 hour limit. Then we cab or Uber to the hotel. 

Would be leary about the train. We had a relative who won't fly take it down from N.J. and it arrived almost half a day late. Agree with others that suggest if you want to take a train do it at least a day early.

We were there about 3 years ago so not sure what it's like now but I don't think you should have a problem. The area in the picture which looks like a large parking lot was where the "approved" taxis waited for fares.

It is a short walk from the ship. Taxis there  were cheap and plentiful and we spent the whole day wandering around Puerto Plata and getting a taxi tour. I am guessing that you just continue walking past that area out to the main highway which is where the "local guides" shows on your map and meet them there.

They may also be able to drive up to the gate and meet you at what looks like the turnaround by the gate if you can coordinate your time. Who knows, they may even be able to get into the taxi parking lot to pick you up if the guy at the gate is not over-enthusiastic. Think your plan is doable

Interesting picture on Fort Lauderdale webcam. Comparing the Celebrity and HAL ship with the Viking Star  explains why we are going to try Viking for a change from HAL. After over 900 days ON HAL we feel that they are leaving us especially with their sale of the Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Only cruises we have left with HAL are on their two remaining R class ships. We have tried the Koningsdam and while the interior was certainly pretty and we loved Tamarind and the Dutch Cafe, the overall size of the ship and the ambience certainly leans more Carnival in my opinion rather than a grown up product. We will also miss our interaction with the wonderful crew members with whom we have become friendly. Not criticizing any one else's decisions just seems like we are less and less likely to find what we are looking for with HAL.

Have a great trip. Last time we were together was at the big marble table in the Amsterdam library with me trying to draw and you editing your friend's book. Please tell Manny that Rich and Peg say hi. Bon Voyage!

I'm aware of the need to get authorization from the cruise line. I was more interested in any one who has done the trip and suggestions on transportation or airlines.

Great to see you guys traveling again! We'll miss you on the 2023 world. After the ship change and a lousy room assignment we decided to switch to the Volendam South America for 2023. Good luck with the new knee and stay well.

Rich and Peg

We are currently booked on a round South America cruise in early 2023. Cruise goes down the West coast and back up the East coast. It includes 4 days in Antarctica but I have been there twice and have no interest in going again. Right now I am looking at getting off in Ushuaia and rejoining the ship in Punta del Este or Buenos Aires. Can anyone tell me from experience how either one might work? Thanks

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Welcome to the Viking Board.

 

We departed L/A the same day you sailed from Ft Lauderdale on the 2nd half of Viking's Ultimate WC. I had heard from a few pax on the HAL cruise that we literally kicked off the ship in Freemantle and expected to make their own flight arrangement to get home. Also have a friend that had HAL Air and they booked his flights.

 

Compare this to the Viking experience. We departed Muscat for an unscheduled stop in Dubai, as the cruise was being cancelled and Dubai has some of the best flight connections in the region. Viking booked flights for every pax, regardless of whether they booked Viking Air or not. Since we were all due Business Class, they booked every available seat on flights departing Dubai. First night they got everyone back to Australia and a few to North America. Next night all the Europeans got flights, with another few heading back to North America. The 3rd night they got all pax out, except about 90 US & Canadian pax, before Emirates stut down their operation. They had considered taking the ship to the US Eastern Seaboard, but US CG did not recommend. Therefore, they chartered a flight to return all remaining pax to North America. We were all scheduled to fly to Newark on the charter, then had onward flights to our final destination. Unfortunately, a chap residing in a white house refused the 8 Canadians, so Viking kept us onboard until Gibraltar. We were treated like royalty and received a refund based on the cruise being cancelled in Dubai.

 

I haven't sailed with HAL, but did work for both P&O and Princess, before Carnivalisation. When purchased by Carnival, we saw the standards continuously erode. They reached our minimum expectations during our 2015 WC on Sea Princess. We will never again sail on a Carnival brand ship. Since Princess & HAL are basically the same compary (Holland America Group), I have no doubt that HAL will/have suffer a similar Carnivalisation.

 

We researched the Premium & Luxury brands extensively, selecting Viking. We have no regrets, having completed the 2020 WC and have booked the 22/23 WC (Neptune) and 2 shorter cruises.

You are correct on the arrangements for getting home the Amsterdam in 2020 from Fremantle. We didn't use HAL for flights to get to Fort Lauderdale since we live near Tampa and, as a result, we were on our own when everything went sideways. The onboard crew did what they could and the home office finally decided that maybe they should try to help everyone on board but it was only after a few days and we were on our own to get home. A nightmare. I was impressed by what I saw Viking do for their passengers and that was another reason we decided to try them.

Thank you all for your comments. Very interesting and helpful. We have already thought about trying a shorter cruise first. We'll see if the world and the pandemic allow us to choose one but not too worried about it if it doesn't work. We are both fairly easy when it comes to making due.( Might be a function of living on small sailboats when we were young and stupid.)

One thing I see which I do like are scheduled stops with more than on night in port. HAL used to do this on the world cruise but they no longer do. We usually do most of our touring independently and love the extra time to explore and find coffee shops and restaurants we might have missed with only a one night stop.

Also like no casino, children or scooters. Entertainment is not really important either. We go on these trips to wander around new ports or revisit ones we have seen before. We're pretty good at keeping ourselves amused during sea days.

Will check on the blog you referenced. Thanks again.

Not sure if this is the place for it but I have some questions for Viking regulars. My wife and I have cruised extensively mostly on HAL (we have around 900 days with them) and mostly on long voyages (4 world cruises among others). 

After having to deal with getting ourselves home from Australia after the pandemic hit and our last world cruise was cancelled in Fremantle and now having HAL sell our favorite ships out from under us we have decided to give Viking a try. We recently made a deposit on the 2023-2024 world cruise on the Sky.

Just wondering how some of you with experience would compare the lines. I like the size of the Viking ships although we booked a larger room than we normally would need on HAL for storage. Not crazy about Viking's overly grabby payment policy but I guess they wouldn't do it if they couldn't.

Have heard some folks say that a full Viking ship seems crowded sometimes. One other thing that seems unusual to me is that I don't see a roll call started for this trip. I know on HAL they seem to start even before the trip is available so am I missing something or is this just another difference? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. 

This is another reason why we decided to forego the 2023 world and book the Volendam South America and then move over to Viking for a 2024 World Cruise. We used to really enjoy some of the smaller ports that the Prinsendam or even the Amsterdam could access but with the changeover in size of ship for HAL's 2023 world I think you are going to see more "generic" ports and I can't even imagine what a zoo any tender ports will be. Tendering on the Amsterdam was bad enough. On the Zuiderdam, good luck.

Liked the open feeling and the bright color schemes. Tamarind and Dutch Cafe were great. HATED the main dining room. It is a zoo. Loud, crowded, way too rushed, no chance to enjoy your meal or strike up a relationship with your serving staff. Sound proofing between cabins was abysmal. Didn't have a connecting room and could still hear everything next door in our Vista suite. BB King was very good. Crows Nest was horrible. They ruined the best place on a HAL ship to get a drink in the evening. Also not a fan of the new promenade deck.

While I liked the look of the interior the ship, the downsides were too down for me to ever book this class again.

Anyone think that there may have been some dissembling about their vaccine status?

36 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Totally agree. He could not only tell you where the best pub in the port was, but who was tending bar the day you were in port! (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration. maybe)

I agree with both of you. He was on the Prinsendam round South America in 2011 which was our first HAL cruise. Almost 1000 sea days later he is still the best of what has been a mostly good group. We were lucky enough to become friendly with him on that trip and enjoyed a number of lunchs off the ship and some dinners with him in the dining room. Endless stories, a great sense of humor. At times it was like being in a Monty Python sketch.

Looking at the itinerary for the 2023 world cruise there seems to be a significant number of tender ports and small ports scheduled which probably won't be doable with anything larger than the Zaandam or Volendam. Of course all plans are subject to change but right now it looks like they are planning to hold onto at least one of the R class ships.

If you put down a deposit to hold the 2023, the itinerary is now available in your account with HAL.

12 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

With nine months to plan this thing why are they not using military and national guard personnel to setup shot centers at arenas and other large venues to give shots.

Agree with all the comments about the apparent lack of preparation when all anyone has been talking about for 6 months is a vaccine. On a personal note, my wife and I were lucky enough to stumble on an available reservation time in a county North of us in Central Fl. Got our first shot last Sunday with a follow up appointment in 28 days.(Assuming the new Admin. doesn't screw that up)

The reservation system in Florida is a nightmare with crashing web sites and long lines of seniors waiting for a shot that may or may not be available. However, the location that we went to was a drive thru inoculation run by the National Guard. Incredibly well organized by friendly and professional people. Based on that limited experience I would be in favor of turning the whole system over to them. Either that or the commercial pharmacies which are used to this. County Health Depts. are way over their heads down here. 

Glad to hear that you guys are doing as well as can be expected these days. We were lucky with our luggage which was in surprisingly good shape even though it turned up 7 months to the day from the last time we saw it. Stay safe, have a good holiday season and we look forward to seeing you again, hopefully in 2022 if things calm down, on the Zaandam.

Rich and Peg

Have stayed in Vista suites on the Koningsdam twice and both times I was disappointed in being able to hear noise from the adjoining room especially on the wall behind the bed. First time I have ever had that problem and we have almost 800 days on HAL in every class of ship. Would also agree that the overall size of the room is not much different from the balcony cabin. I like the music venues on the larger ships especially BB King and the interior design of these larger ships but the crazy crowding of the main dining room and the noise between cabins made us decide to give this class a pass.

Copper, thanks so much for your informative reports. Unfortunately too many posts here seem to quickly devolve into sniping or wild guesses. It is alwyas nice when you show up to add an informed piece of information.