Alphen

15 hours ago, Navybikermom said:

I will be there next week. What webcam are you viewing?

You can look from start to finish;

Entrance to the Waterway, leading up to Rotterdam;

And two live views of the actual docking location:

The 3 latest Holland America Line vessels named Rotterdam, are in Rotterdam port today, May 4^th 2024. Currently the MS Rotterdam VII and the Fred Olsen’s Borealis (former MS Rotterdam VI) are moored on the Rotterdam cruise terminal, only a stone throw away from the SS Rotterdam V, now a hotel in Rotterdam.

Rotterdam VII and Borealis moored together, visible on the webcam.

With some work, someone would probably be able to get all 3 of the ships in one photo shot!

We also found the entire plan pretty expensive, however, since most days are long and start early in the land portion (tripple Denali, land first), not knowing exactly what to expect, we chose to do the breakfast plan only.

Was it more expensive than searching on our own?, probably yes, but we wanted to make a good start of every day and not wanting to wander around searching for breakfast options and we were glad with our choice.

On dinner choices, we had a couple of extra excursion that included a form of dinner and for other places, we searched internet for dinner options near our hotel(s), which made it easy not to go searching to much, but go directly for a dining option, sometimes with not too much time on your hands. We were successful in every stop we had, to find affordable dining options, including the Denali lodge, where there are a couple of acceptable options right outside the lodge, across the street.

You might find our report useful; 

1 hour ago, Alphen said:

In the Keukenhof, just like other tourist spots where tulip bulbs are on display, there will undoubtedly be specially packaged tulip bulbs for sale that meet the agricultural access requirements of, among others, the United States. This is also the case at Schiphol Airport. You are not the first tourist, wanting to take bulbs to their homecountry and they will cater to those needs and requirements.

Here is a correction, with an official reply of "Keukenhof"; 

The sale of flower bulbs on the Keukenhof premises is managed by the bulb companies Frylink and QFB. At these companies, you can place an order to have them shipped abroad. These bulbs will need to be inspected and sent to the destination with official documents.

Links to the companies' websites: Frylink: http://www.frylink.com/ QFB: https://www.qfbgardening.nl/

In the Keukenhof, just like other tourist spots where tulip bulbs are on display, there will undoubtedly be specially packaged tulip bulbs for sale that meet the agricultural access requirements of, among others, the United States. This is also the case at Schiphol Airport. You are not the first tourist, wanting to take bulbs to their homecountry and they will cater to those needs and requirements.

Have asked the question regarding luggage storage on other media as well, there I was pointed to a website giving information that there is indeed luggage storage in the terminal.

I do not know if this information can be shared here, but the website is named after what we all like to do and followed by the words port and advisor, followed by dot com.

I also got this information confirmed by people at the terminal itself.

Have used the search on this forum and found one or two suggestions for luggage storage close to the Montreal cruise terminal, but hoping someone has any experience in storing luggage close to the terminal with one of the storage options and can recommend a specific one.

Have seen people mentioning Luggage Hero's, but also seen Nannybag and bounce. Experience/reviews would be appreciated.

15 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

@Alphen As from today: shareholders OBC not visible anymore in Navigator. Reason? Please let me know whether it is the case in your Navigator too. 

Just looked, still showing here!

2 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

Before I never found any OBC too and as of now I still donot see any "normal" OBC, but I was surprised to see this this morning:

 

Open APP Navigator

Account/Myaccount

Profile

Cruise credits, Deposits & Onboard Credits

scroll all the way down to Onboard Credits

text

AVAILABLE

#.....

SAIL by 9 maart 2025   USD  $....

#....

SAIL by 9 maart 2025   USD  $

 

Hartelijke groet.

Found, bedankt!

11 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

In the meantime: Everything approved and applied. And even visible in Navigator for both bookings!

Would be interested to know where you can see this in the Navigator App, I can only pull up one booking at the time and haven't found any OBC in the App yet, but that could be me!

25 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

I am curious how many days they need to approve copy of our bank statement (I deleted the same information as before) and to confirm the OBC for our cruise in april. Redeeming for a booking in August seems not possible at this very moment in the App as the green knob turned grey.....

We submitted our proof of ownership and recent statement in January and it was approved within 2 business days.

Regarding your booking, ours is also in August, are you sure you entered 2024 for year, in stead of 24 like we did at first? Does it show that you are "eligible" for all of the Carnival Corp cruise lines in the App? Otherwise your approval of the stock might still be pending.

It should show like this, if you select "Carnival Corp. & PLC" in the main screen of your App.

We have successfully requested and received notification of our OBC for two cruises, after figuring out you need to enter the year in four digits in the form in the App, instead of two digits 🤪

2 hours ago, Sea42 said:

Our cruise leaves January 6th, 2025. I'll have to see if there will be enough time to submit and get accepted before sailing.

 

The new date was now announced for cruises from 31st of July onward, so guessing they will also announce new dates well ahead of the 31st of December, so should not be a problem?

21 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Hasn’t this always been extended annually (as opposed to 6 months)???

Indeed, it used to be July to July the next year.

Shareholder Benefit website now updated with extended benefit, changed and extended from July 31st 2024 to 31st December 2024.

They are now suggesting to use the Stockperks App to implement a more automated and streamlined process for the processing of shareholder benefits.

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/shareholder-information/shareholder-benefit

Staff shortages have improved since the problems in 2022, still not perfect, but not as bad as they were when indeed there were large rows getting into the airport at times.

There is a way of finding out what expected wait times are on the official Schiphol website:

https://www.schiphol.nl/en/my-travel-day/today

Zaandam just docked in Miami, squashed in between Independence OTS, MSC Seascape and the largest of them all, the Icon OTS. Starting her Amazon adventure later today, something we hope to do in less then a year from now!

https://www.portmiamiwebcam.com/

1 minute ago, Mary229 said:

 We were discussing this yesterday with other cruisers. We have been to South America by various modes quite a bit and I must warn you that southern Brazil is not a place to take chances - use the ship excursions.  DO the 4 day Iguazu Falls, it is wonderful.  You will not regret it, we left the ship in Buenos Aires and rejoined in Sao Paolo, we went with HAL and it was money well spent!  We find Northern Brazil tame by our measure and enjoy independent strolls as well as ship excursions to some hard to reach locations.  If you are also doing western South America get to Lima early and go to Macchu Picchu independently.

Thanks for the tips, we are doing FLL - FLL, so no Iguazu Falls, but we have done South America/Antarctica previously from BA (declined the falls because we did not have enough days off) and have also done San Diego to Lima, followed by Machu Picchu independently previously.

5 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Last year - yes

 

if you are on the Amazon they show a very interesting movie based on a fable about a wild boy who lives with the pink dolphins 

Yes, we are hoping to do the Amazon next year, thanks for the reply.

Just wondering if HAL is sailing to Devil’s Island, is the movie Papillon always available or shown on board beforehand?

8 hours ago, RagnarDanneskjold said:

Hello all. I booked a cruise with Holland America that is scheduled to arrive in Rotterdam on April 21st, 2024, a Sunday at 07:00 am.

 

From there, we will fly to Vienna, AT. There is a flight to Vienna leaving from Amsterdam at 11:50 am local time.

 

Essentially, we would have a 4 hour interval to get off the ship on Rotterdam, get to the railway station (550m from the Cruise Port of Rotterdam), than get to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (about 1 hour) and get the 11:50 am flight to Vienna. We will have 2 handbags and one 20kg suitcase with us.

 

If HAL is extremely punctual and we get off the ship a little after 07:00 am, I think that this is doable, but I normally prefer to be on the safe side and get a later flight. My wife thinks it'll be OK and that we will easily get the 11:50 flight in Amsterdam.

 

To all the experienced cruisers here, preferably the ones with the most experience with HAL and the Rotterdam Cruise Port, which one of us is right?

Living in the Netherlands and having experience with cruising out of both homeports in the Netherlands and always using public transport to get to and from the ship, the 4 hours is too short to allow for unforeseen circumstances. Travelling on a Sunday, public transport is less frequent and if delays occur, there is not much room for alternatives. Train traffic is often disrupted with short or larger interruptions, especially the line to Schiphol airport is often struck by unforeseen interruptions. Also take into account that check in times, together with security clearance on the airport can also take a lot of time! I think it would cause a lot of stress.

3 hours ago, Toad said:

Not sure if there are other ships in port that day…..

 

we don’t need assistance and we are 4*’s but I don’t think that will matter.  I’m just not a big fan of packing in with hundreds and I definitely need to work on my patience 😉

On the ports website, you will find the ships in port on that day, with this link; Cruise Schedule | Massport

17 hours ago, LynKev said:

I read that HAL mainly uses the Westmark in Anchorage, but we could also possibly be assigned to a different hotel.

 

When you booked your cruisetour, when did you get the information on what hotel you would be staying at in Anchorage?  Our final payment is due at the end of February, so I'm assuming it will be after that.   I'm currently looking at flights and coming in a day earlier, so we will need to book an extra night in Anchorage if we do that.  It would be easier to not change hotels.

It will be in your booking confirmation/itinerary, where part of the detailed itinerary, is also which hotel you will be staying, but this is not for all of the locations. In our case, it remained listed as Anchorage area hotel, during the land tour we were informed that it would be the Westmark.

Question regarding the Amazon/Brasil part of your cruise; was there any additional VAT present on board, while in Brazilian waters and if so, was it only on purchases in shops, or also on bar drinks, drinks in the MDR and drinks and surcharges in specialty restaurants?  

7 hours ago, RuthC said:

Have you tried storing the lens in a plastic bag, tightly closed? Bring it outside still in the bag, and leave it that way for a little while. 
The condensation should land on the bag that way, and not the lens. After the temperature of the bag/lens should have changed to the outside temperature, then you can remove the lens from the bag. 

Excellent tip, thanks, not only for cold areas, but also getting from AC ship inside, to hot and humid outside, never thought of that!