herb

The itinerary difference is one does Glacier Bay ... the other Tracy Arm.... the other ports of call are the same...

Hi all...

thinking of an Alaska cruise and due to itinerary our choices are narrowed down to Westerdam and Amsterdam. The only HAL ship we've sailed on is the Oosterdam so we know what to expect on the Westerdam. Would we be disappointed in the Amsterdam. The size of the ship itself is not that important to us, just wondering if one is better maintained than the other or if the interior is just visually more appealing than the other

thanks for your input..

I would think deep down at least the ladies know the difference and hopefully we are in charge of what DH have in their suitcase!

I've seen it on numerous occasions where the husband should be in charge of what the wife puts in the suitcase... unless looking either like a tramp or a clown is the look they're going for!

OMG... I was hoping these dreaded "proper dress code" threads were only limited to ocean cruises... but alas... they have found their way here as well... :eek:

Please help me follow Viking's logic regarding phone conversation I had with them...

We booked Rhine cruise with a 2 night pre-stay in Lucerne. I was told we would therefore fly into Zurich and return home from Amsterdam... fine...

I called Viking to ask about Viking Air Plus (or whatever it's called). I had mentioned to them that my home airport is JFK in New York City and was wondering how Viking flew their guests from JFK to Zurich and Amsterdam to JFK.

I am under the impression that since JFK is a pretty sizeable airport with many options it shouldn't be too difficult to fly there and back non-stop.

I had asked the Viking representative if I could speak to someone in their Air department to see if they generally flew their JFK passengers non-stop from NY to Zurich as well as Amsterdam to NY non-stop. Her reply was that in order for me to speak to someone and find out that information I would have to pay $50 per person... are you kidding me??

I told her that I would gladly pay $50 per person plus any additional fees if I were told that I was being given a flight that included 3 stops and would take 24 hours, but how can I decide if I need Air Plus arrangements if I don't know what they're offering to begin with.

Maybe I misunderstood, or I didn't have enough coffee...

any insight from anyone??? Thanks :confused:

On all of our "ocean" cruises you gave them your credit card information and you were given a "sail & sign" card which was not only your room key but they also swiped the card each time you purchased anything on board whether in the shops, bars, etc. Even the gratuities were added and the total at the end of the cruise was then charged to the credit card on file.

Is this a similar policy on river cruises? (We'll be sailing Viking)

As you can see from our signature we are not new to cruising, but definitely new to river cruising. Our experiences are with huge cruise ships with thousands of guests sailing to blue waters and palm trees in the Caribbean :D

We had always toyed with the idea of trying a river cruise, but with air fares to Europe so high (we could actually book a cruise with the air fare spent) we always put the idea on a back burner.

With an upcoming "special" birthday for my wife we've decided to give it a go and have booked with Viking on the Longship Hlin from Basel to Amsterdam with a 2 night pre-stay in Lucerne. Our good friends will be joining us on this cruise.

We've been to Germany and Switzerland numerous times since we both have alot of family as well as friends in Germany and Switzerland but we were intrigued by the "small ship" atmosphere, not having to take the elevator to deck 15 to go swimming ;) , and just enjoying a quiet and leisurely cruise up the Rhine. We both speak German fluently so we should have no problem communicating in town as well as with ship personnel in case their native tongue is German.

Our only question .... for now... ;) is that of the flights offered. We are using Viking Air and were wondering how far in advance they will notify you as to which flights they've booked you on. We live very close to Kennedy Airport in NYC so I was thinking that a direct flight to Zurich and a direct flight from Amsterdam would not be that difficult to arrange. I know they offer Custom Air. Do you sign up for that once they give you their flight arrangements and you wish to change that, or do you sign up for Custom Air way before you even know what Viking is offering?

We will both be following CC and all that the website has to offer in upcoming year to give us a heads up on all that is important to us to make this once in a lifetime vacation a very positive and happy experience.... :)

since Uniworld is considered to be in the top luxury group while Viking is near the bottom.

Great.. we booked a river cruise with Viking... what makes this cruiseline "near the bottom" ... It sure looked nice on their website and commercials...

anything I need to be aware of ???

wonderful review Jeff... through your pictures I relived the cruise :)

NO Calypso music on the Lido Deck! :eek: Say it isn't true....

When we sail to the Caribbean we enjoy lounging by the pool listening to steel drum and the calypso music playing island music....with a foofoo drink in hand :D

unfortunately anything but.... :(

Those so called eggs were poured out of a gallon container, and IF you don't ask for FRESH eggs for an omlett this is how they will make it.

regarding the pool area, I also couldn't believe the loud parties back there, I didn't mind the music that was nice, But when all the YOUNG adults started doing that Twearking dance (shaking their booties) with those little bikinni's hanging on with a string, and the guys HOOTING I felt like I was in a strip club! Idon't know who wanted to go in that pool for the rest of the day? NOT I....

And the band in the Casino, If Iwere a high roller, I wouldn't have been on the Splendor, between the music, the dancing (people would just Stop walking and start dancing where ever they were, and the kids yelling and jumping around, it was not a Bell listening time, Ya think all those bells and whistles going off all the time was loud, most of the time you didn't know you were in a casino! That is where IF need be have some one playing some easy listening music NOT dance Latin music. I don't get Why the kids club and arcade is right outside the casino... I was on the cruise the same time as Jeff.

I'm glad to hear it wasn't just me who noticed this...and I see you were on the same cruise with Jeff... so it wasn't just a one time situation..

HI JEFF :D

so glad to see you here posting your review. I am reliving our Splendor cruise, which we did 2 weeks prior to yours, through your pictures and posts (even though we were rerouted due to Tropical Storm Dorian).

Whenever I see a picture of the ship I say "hey, there's our cabin" LOL...

We also ate at the Steakhouse and since we were a party of 8 they combined 2 tables and we were seated directly in front of the piano. It was as if we were VIP ... :D

You're right about the scrambled eggs. The first breakfast I got the one's from the buffet line as we always had in our past 19 cruises. Not quite sure how they were prepared, but they had to have been the worst ever... from that day on we went to the omelet station to order eggs...

A question for you Jeff...We had a great time on the Splendor... except...on our previous Carnival cruises the aft pool area was a quiet retreat for adults wanting some pool time without a lot of noise, but this time they even had the loud DJ playing there. We also noticed that they had a band set up in the casino area and boy, were they loud! :eek: Is this something new Carnival does now??

Can't wait to read more and see more of the wonderful pictures you took :)

not to take away from your Splendor review but what were your thoughts about the Norwegian Gem. Reason I'm asking is that when we sailed on the Celebrity Summit 2 years ago we were docked next to the Gem in Bermuda and I asked quite a few people how they liked the Gem and the majority of those I asked said they'd wished they had been on the Summit...

great pictures... enjoyed reading your review :)

Here is a photograph of everyone waiting for the doors to open for dinner ...

 

I guess we don't have to worry about the air conditioning not working... what's up with the ski hat going into the dining room? :eek:

The pictures you took are beautiful... Glad we chose this ship for our summer cruise out of New York City... :D

The Carnival unlimited drinks (alcohol and soda) program.

Restrictions:

Beverages purchased on Half Moon Cay.

I can understand that in Grand Turk you need to pay for all food and beverages because Margaritaville is in no way connected to Carnival ... but I read that you can't use the Cheers program on Half Moon Cay... I thought this was Carnival's private island and that all food and beverages came from the ship...... therefore the Cheers Program should be in effect there..

We booked the Splendor for next July... Have sailed on Miracle & Legend so it'll be nice to get on a different ship.. Looking forward to it...

just got off the phone with the Customer Service at RCI... spoke to a nasty supervisor named Iceola.. unable to make dinner reservations at specialty restaurant Portofino's and link our booking # with our friends because their "system" won't allow it. It seems our booking # was within a "group booking".. she basically told me "TOO BAD"... I'm now waiting for my TA to call me back and settle this... will also call Crown & Anchor!

This is not our first cruise with RCI but it may be the last

Normally I don't vent but RCI really needs to re-vamp their pre-cruise planner!!... What a waste of time asking to click "reserve" and then asking to choose from available times.. then, how many guests.. and then asking for last names as well as booking #'s for us and others who would be joining us .. and after all that telling me it's not available.. Why not just say it's not available from the get-go and stop wasting my time! Called RCI and basically got nothing more than a "I'm sorry about that and thank you for choosing RCI"

I can't believe that NCL is that much more than Celebrity for the same category cabin... in that case I would jump on Celebrity no questions asked!! :D

As for "seniors"...it's school's out for the summer in the tri-state area... a lack of children will be unheard of, no matter which cruiseline you sail out of NY/NJ....

Glad to hear that my time dining works well on RCI..

We did Freestyle with NCL and EVERY night we had to wait a minimum of 15-20 min. for a table! :(

I just want to ask a sincere, straightforward question. I'm not looking for a debate or an argument. I mean no disrespect and I'm not trying to make a value judgment. If you were at a wedding or business dinner (assuming you had a jacket) would you take it off while eating?

I have been working as a Maitre D' for 25 years and have therefore been in the midst of countless weddings... the majority of men will take their jackets off at some point during the wedding. The only one's I've seen keep their jackets on throughout the affair are those who don't want to "show off" their beer bellys :rolleyes:

I wear a tuxedo to work.... need I say more :)

interesting thread... and I now know anything and everything regarding cabanas ;)

I'm curious whether anyone did the parasailing and/or waverunners? How was it?