VMax1700

I told you there was a 'Santa Claus' 🤣

Enjoy your cruise!

Have a great cruise!

Have a great cruise and see you onboard August 28th!

Koningsdam has 2 coffee shops. Crow's Nest and Grand Dutch. Food is included in your cruise price, but coffee - as they are speciality coffees (latte etc) are not included and cost extra. Perhaps a more accurate way to look at the no charge/extra charge system is to remember that only the Main Dining Room and the Lido have free coffee and tea. MDR has free (regular) tea and coffee after dinner and Lido has free tea and regular coffee (serve yourself) 24 hours.

While doing a bit of research for the Charters & Groups thread, I noticed that the 'Legendary Rhythm & Blues cruise' is opening pre booking for an October 2023 Mexican Riviera cruise on next Tuesday. Guessing it will be on Koningsdam, but as yet HAL has not listed any cruises for the period. Could be that the updates are on the way 🤞

Most ships do not dock in Dun Laoghaire, it is a tender port. Only the smallest ship actually dock. The map shows (red X) where the tender will drop you and the train station (dart station) is underlined in red.

I don't know what time they started embarkation but she sailed right on scheduled time!

My understanding is that the Have it All package, at the time of cruise booking, applies only to Guests 1 and 2. Whereas if you book a cruise without HIA and subsequently purchase the Signature Beverage Pack, then all occupants must purchase the SBP. Check your Booking Confirmation from HAL (or ask your travel agent to send a copy to you). The details of who gets what is on page 3.

That is the way it was for the last couple of years pre-covid, well certainly on Koningsdam that's the way it was done.

We have used Stefano's Rome Cabs numerous times. Picking a random date and they are coming in at €150 each way (€300 total) but no mention of child seats. That is only €20 more than it was in 2017, so that is the price to expect. https://www.romecabs.com/transferservice/airports/

I believe they 'estimate' the fees and taxes at booking time/final payment and if the actual fees charged by the port are less, then they refund. p.s. enjoying your posts

I understand your anguish, however there is no other resource. Currently you all need to be tested within the required period or you will not be permitted to board the ship. There were numerous places in Venice area doing the tests (pharmacies etc) but it seems that they are getting less and less because there is very little demand for testing, apart from cruisers on a few cruise lines. https://www.veneziaairport.it/en/info-and-assistance/swab-test-covid-19.html https://www.live-venice.it/en/covid-19-where-to-reserve-rapid-antigen-tests-in-venice/

My understanding is that the carry on baggage restriction only applied to KLM pax flying from AMS on 21st July and that the system is ok now.

Previously we have taken our bags to MIA and the baggage storage, https://www.shopmiamiairport.com/directory/communitel-baggage-storage-central-terminal-e-pre-security/ then taken the shuttle to Dolphin Mall. (which does not appear to be running anymore!)

We were able to reserve MDR times on the HAL webpage for our recent June Oosterdam cruise. We received an email confirming our reservation. We booked on May 9th for our June 13th cruise. We are cruising again at the end of August and as yet we cannot reserved MDR times.

Correct.

Oosterdam June 2022 in Mediterranean/Adriatic 12 day cruise

There is a flash notice on the KLM website currently, which states: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – Due to a malfunction of the Airport Baggage System all customers with a transfer connection within Europe on 21 July 2022 can travel with hand luggage only. We apologise for the inconvenience. That does not sound promising!

So glad you enjoyed your first cruise ever. Looking forward to your report on your second cruise! 😉

Sorry, didn't realise that you wanted to book another one! Just thought you were tidying up.

Just let it lapse. HAL will cancel it after a few days.

Thank you for the information.

OK. I still appreciate the facility to be able to take a good bottle of wine onboard. Even with the $20 corkage it is still good value compared to the onboard choices.

On Eurodam last October, there were no crackers. On Oosterdam in June just gone, the only crackers were mine! Lots of cheese and bread but no crackers. I have learned and now they are second thing packed. First is a tray and then crackers.