VMax1700

Todays Bread Pudding......it's twins!

Day 4 Menus (which are labelled Day 3!) Lido Lunch MDR Dinner Lido Dinner There were quite a few 'extras' in the Lido. A lot of pies! Steak and Kidney, beef and potato, Cottage Pie, Toad in the Hole. Real British Food. It was well received! m3-day3-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023 (1).pdfm3-day3-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage (2).pdfm3-day3-_mdr_north_europe_2023 (2).pdf

Now some housekeeping: Day 4 Daily Program (Saturday Liverpool)

We used one of our HIA excursions and did the Footsteps of the Fab Four. Originally we had been waitlisted for this tour, but more coaches were put on, so a "lorra lorra" people were touring the Beatles trail. Our guide was a retired school teacher and as well as guiding us he had to tell the driver which way to go, as the driver had not done the tour prior to today. So it was the usual places starting at the 'Beatles Story' (admission and headset was included in the price of the tour). Interesting enough. We were here for 1 hour 15 minutes, which was just about the right length of time. We then moved on to Penny Lane for a photo op, The Bank on Penny Lane, which is now a Surgery, And the barbers shop Then it was on to the teenage years homes of John and Paul We also visited the site of Strawberry Field home. It was an enjoyable afternoon with a very professional guide and it lasted just over 4 hours.

It's been a long day, so.... Cue Gerry and the Pacemakers, Ferry across the Mersey........ "Life goes on day after day, hearts torn in every way, so ferry across the mersey......." I must have been to Liverpool at least 20 times from when I was young to the last time which would have been about 1976. My memory of the early years are the strongest as we regularly sailed on the overnight ferry from Belfast to Liverpool, where we would wake up to the sight of the Liver Building and the smell of Lime Street railway station, the smells of straw, horses and superheated steam, grease and oil from the steam driven locomotive taking us first to Crewe and then on to Stafford. Perhaps my most memorable trip to Liverpool was to see a show by Sam & Dave plus Arthur Conley in the Empire Theatre. I went to both shows a matinee and an evening show. That was 1968 as they had been support to Otis Redding in 1967 on the Stax/Volt Tour of Europe, the summer before Otis died in a plane crash. But I digress....... Liverpool is a cold grey city and specially on a wet morning. We were docked at 10am but UK Immigration were slow to arrive onboad and set up shop so the Cruise Director was begging pax not to line up outside the World Stage as they had called no one yet. But everyone ignored her. Our scheduled slot was 10.30 to 10.45 am but it was 11.15 before our deck was called and when we went down to Deck 2, the line went from the World Stage, past BBKings, past Rudi's, past Club Orange and all the way down to the entrance to the MDR where it doubled back again up to BBK. They called it a 'Process' but that was a complete misnomer. Frustrated Chaos would be closer to a discription. It was 12.30 before they called the final deck. The Liver Building:

Coming Soon! Will the stateroom TV show the saved movies on my hard drive? Can I connect my laptop? Is there an headphone socket? Answers to these long standing forum questions are about to be answered!

I don't know how that will work into the EU but the UK is, and always will be, the UK. The CD implied that the inspection should have been today, but that would have entailed the Immigration Officers being onboard since Copenhagen. Why would the UK send Immigration Officers to Denmark to board a ship for two sea days to do an inspection that can be done within UK port area? Just does not make sense. I looked back to last years cruise to Iceland and then Scotland. The Immigration was supposed to take place prior to Shetland but because Shetland was missed because of weather the inspection took place the following day in Invergordon. So again shore based Immigration officers. If you are planning on shore ex in the UK I would be inclined to allow a bit of leeway for timings.

I believe that can only happen onboard or within 24/48 hours of boarding.

I am onboard Nieuw Statendam and Navigator updated last night.

Day 4 Menus Lido Lunch Lido Dinner MDR Dinner Culinary Council m4-day4-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023 (1).pdf m4-day4-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage (1).pdf culinary_council_menu_winter_2023_en_-_v1_1_ (1).pdf Note that although it is only Day 3 the menus are titled Day 4.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION continuation.... Note the timings! There were complaints that pax had arranged private shore excursions to depart at 11 am etc and that they only had an Immigration Inspection at 11.30am. The Cruise Director advised that Immigration is Immigration. The ship had expected that the Immigration Inspection would be carried out today during the sea day, but UK Immigration had stated that they would not carry out the inspection until arrival in Liverpool. CD said that the ship has no control over the inspection and it is entirely up to the UK Immigration authorities as to where and when the inspection is carried out. One of the unexplained benefits of Brexit (and she (CD) is from UK!) Although we depart Liverpool UK and sail to Dun Laoghaire (Ireland/EU) and then back to UK there will not be another inspection on re-entry because of the UK/Ireland Common Travel Area Agreement. So if doing a similar itinerary in the future do be aware of the immigration situation for UK

IMPORTANT INFORMATION for those planning a similar cruise. Read these information sheets and then the comments afterwards!

Some images of the Isle of Lewis around the Stornaway area as we passed this morning.

Day 3 Daily Program

As mentioned earlier, this applies to North America only. HAL has different terms in different areas and UK does not get low price/repricing options.

Just shows how Disinformation is spread. A questioner to the Captain at 'Ask the Captain' this morming.............."Captain, I have been reading on Internet how (the City of) Rotterdam is banning cruise ships. How will this affect Holland America?" 🙄

Yes, Alberta Quilter is correct. So far there is no change to the itinerary or the order that we will visit them. Just approaching from a different direction.

He addressed it today at 'Ask the Captain'. Basically, he said that the route shown on the pretty picture did not make a lot of sense as sailing around England clockwise to Liverpool was about one third longer than going across the 'top of Scotland' and down the Irish Sea to Liverpool.

Day 2 Bread Pudding,,,

Another item to consider is Airfare. If you leave it to last minute to purchase the cruise, then the airfare could more than cancel out any saving on the cruise fare.

Repricing is not an option in the UK. When you pay a deposit both you and HAL commit to the contracted price. Currently the pricing includes Drinks (15 per day per person up to $15 list price), premium internet (permits streaming) a couple of free speciality restaurant meals and credit towards shore excursions and crew gratuities (currently $16 per day per person for standard cabins). It is a pretty good deal by UK HAL standards. It is very rare for them to offer low deposits. There was a recent £1 deposit promo for 3 days only, but offers of that type are as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth. I have found that prices do drop closer to sailing date, but the choice of cabins is greatly reduced. You also will find that the special reduced price is for a guarrantee bookings only and for immediate payment. Selecting your own cabin will be an additional cost and when you then add back in the price of purchasing Have it All, you will find you are very close to the original price. The terms in USA/Canada etc are different to UK/Ireland/EU terms so unless you are booking with a 'foreign' travel agent, you should tend to ignore many of the comments you will find on this board as most posters are based in North America.

Also on NSD now having boarded on Wednesday. Steward introduced himself and told us that evening turndown was by request only. We told him that we only required service once a day, but preferred the full service in the evening. He was happy to oblige.

At the Captain's noon update he told us that our route had changed and instead of heading southwards along the east coast of England and through the English Channel, along the south coast and then northwards between UK and Ireland on the Irish Sea, we would be heading across the north coast of Scotland and then southward along the west coast of Scotland on the Irish Sea to Liverpool.

Day 2 Menus (First Dressy Night) m2-day2-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023 (1).pdf m2-day2-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage (2).pdf Day 2 gala 150 year dinner.pdf