edward01ca

Does a solo traveler pay a single crew appreciation fee or a double?

Thanks

On 3/22/2023 at 9:57 AM, cruisemom42 said:

Funnily enough I recently posted about just this topic over on the Ports of Call board for Italy. I will slightly paraphrase here:

 

Everyone travels differently. Just like there are different types of learners (visual, auditory, learn-by-doing), there are different travel styles. 

Saying this probably will sound rude to some, but I don't really care that much about meeting locals when I travel. 😱  What makes travel special to me is seeing where history was made -- the sites of ancient civilizations, ancient battles, places where great historic figures lived and breathed, the things people wrote poems, epics, songs about. Second to that, I love seeing the height of human achievements through the ages -- sculpture, architecture, paintings, jewelry and other decorative objects, etc.

 

I'm not saying that it's not pleasant to converse with locals -- but for me it's not a big imperative. I'm not a great one for wanting to cozy up to the local vintners or cheesemakers or artisans or "everyday people". The type of tour where you visit local people in their homes has always seemed cringey to me, like an imposition.  I've had great conversations with guides, but they've been about a shared love of history, or experiences at an archaeological dig, or local lore. 

 

The things I remember most are impressions, moments when I've been more or less on my own in the environment. Sitting on a column drum at Troy, trying to figure out the (seven? nine?) different layers of history, one on top of the other. Walking along the aqueduct on the beach at Caesarea Marittima in Israel at sunset, looking for graffiti written by the Roman soldiers who built it. Studying the 1900-year-old writing tablets in the almost empty museum at Vindolanda, along Hadrian's Wall, trying to imagine what it must have felt like to be a Roman soldier posted to this desolate border of the empire. Standing on the roof of Notre Dame at noon while the bells tolled -- so loud you can actually feel the vibrations -- while looking out at Paris below me.

 

I've stored away so many impressions like these. Very few have to do with people I've met or talked with.

 

 

My sentiments exactly.

Dale

We also were on the Maasdam in January of 2019 for the cruise from Perth to East Timor and then onto Singapore.  We stayed overnight in Singapore and continued on into the Indian Ocean to the Maldives and Sri Lanka and then back to Singapore.  The total length of the cruise was 40 days.  It was quite reasonable, but that was because we did not have the HIA package.  It would likely be called a "legendary" cruise now but much more costly because the HIA is seemingly included. 

Dale 

On each of your posts, you mention pictures on on parts.  Is it possible to see them and where are they located.

Thanks,

Dale

9 hours ago, bigrednole said:

This was zoomed in a bit if I recall at about 15-20 feet down. The water and sky were cloudy, so getting great pics was very difficult. The first picture is straight out of the camera. The second is with a few slight adjustments using DXO. I am not a photo editor. These adjustments are very slight. Most of it was DXO's automatic lens adjustments. About the only adjustment I did was the Red. Slight adjustment on that brought the colors more in line with how I saw this.

I have a TG 4.  I have photoshop and when I choose just ordinary Auto Colour, all of the blue goes away and you can have a great pic.

For your underwater photos, what kind of camera do  you use.  They are great.

Get off your flight from Chicago, immediately find a display that lists flights/gates/airlines.  Find your flight.  Look for signs around you and start to follow them.  If you have a problem,. ask for assistance at any of the information kiosks, they will put you in the right direction.  Listen carefully since they will likely speak English with a foreign accent.

Having lived in downtown Vancouver, BC for many years, I can only say good riddance to the cruise ship industry.  Flying in 10,000 people on some days and then boarding buses or cabs creates huge amounts of air pollution not to mention the stink of diesel fumes from the ships themselves.  HAL at least can plug their ships in here if they choose.  There were often 25-30 ships/week.  Then there is the food and drink brought in by truck from locals, but more frequently Mexico/California for fruits and vegetables.  Vancouver often has water shortages in the summer, but the city still had to supply water for all these ships as well as take care of their sewage.  Now, I live in Victoria in James Bay, the cruise ship area.  This summer is the first time in about 13 years that we do not have the smell of diesel fumes floating across and into our homes.  Going into downtown Victoria on cruise ship days was absolute hell.  For many posters here, try living in a city for a cruise ship season and see how you like it.

2 hours ago, bouhunter said:

And then have TWO ships roaming around looking for a port?  I don't think so.....

What about infecting a crew that is currently disease free!!

38 minutes ago, whogo said:

Gastrointestinal food poisoning or respiratory flu like ailment, how will they tell, how will they tell.

The two problems are quite distinct.  On the news here in Canada, a gastrointestinal problem involves usually severe vomiting and diarrhea with an elevated temperature.  This could be food poisoning or Norwalk.  Covid-19 is a respiratory infection with high fever, dry throat, dry coughing and an elevated temperature.  I am quite sure that medical personnel on the ship can tell the difference.  

1 hour ago, yvrcruzer said:

This move by the Canadian government doesn't make a lot of sense considering they allow 1000's of people a day to fly into Canadian airports from all around the world with little or no screening. Packed airports waiting rooms and waiting around luggage carousels seems just as likely to spread the virus. All just for show. 

Read Prime Minister Trudeau's speech on CBC Newsworld and you will find out that flights coming into Canada from Europe will be funneled to certain airports only for better screening.

What country did you come from that actually required a visa to a Schengen country?   Don't need one from Canada

We spent 40 days on her from Perth to Singapore to Sri Lanka return to Singapore.  Had a wonderful time.  We have only sailed on this class of ship or the Vista class from HAL and like the smaller ships a lot.  No big problems.  My favourite thing to do on the sea days is to sit on a lounge chair on the promenade deck, read, and watch the ocean go by.

After reading this and another posting about how the costs are going up on cruise ships and people complaining about higher cruise costs, is the desire to take on as much water, soda, and wine just cheating the ship of income.  If the ship can't sell these items, then they will have to increase prices.  What's next, bringing on your own food to eat in the cabin.  

We had the exact same experience on our cruise on the Zaandam from Vancouver to Rio a couple of years ago.  

On 2/20/2019 at 12:30 PM, scubadawg said:

You were not alone. I was on the Perth to singapore leg and our cabin was hot the whole trip, in both the dry heat of Western Austalia or the high humidity of Indonesia. Lots of trips to the front desk and while the staff are all polite and tryi g to be helpful it never got fixed. We had zero air flow and thermostat did nothing. We chose our aft corner cabin because it was larger and had easy access to the outside deck. We too kept the curtains closed the entire cruise. We heard whole sections of cabins had issues. We were offered PG dinner etc to make up for the inconvenience which doesnt fix the problem of hardly being able to stay in the cabin for any length of time. 

I finally took them up on offer of a sleeping cabin near the end of cruise, so after dinner I would trek down to sleep in a different cabin down on the A deck.

 

Unacceptable to put staff in a no win situation and even worse for the affected passengers. There were also cabins that flooded from broken pipes.

If these issues happen to "your'" cabin, it tends to color your opinion of the cruise.

 

 

We have to agree with what you say.  Our cabin temperature, 544, was up and down all day long.  After awhile, it seemed that they actually turned off the A/C at night since it really warmed up night necessitating not sleeping with even a sheet on.  This went on for the  entire 40 day cruise from Perth to Singapore and Singapore to Colombo and return. On aboutt the sixth day of the cruise, I came down with the cruise crud and I still have it.  I think it will be a long time before I cruise again.

We will be on the Maasdam out of Fremantle on January 6.  When we went on the Volendam repositioning cruise through the Panama Canal last October, we were happily surprised with the new larger shower with no tub and a big glass door to the shower.  We were wondering if the Maasdam has had this renovation?

Men go topless on every cruise line, on every ship, even with children around ...... and I've certainly seen plenty of men that could use some over the shoulder boulder holders! Call them breasts or pecs - they are only skin .... no big deal in my opinion. I have always felt Americans are very prudish in this regard and the "taboo" of women being topless is very sexist.

 

I know HAL has quite a large German clientele, especially on their more exotic cruises - perhaps this small change is meant to appeal to that client base, especially with Maasdam doing more trips in tropical locales

I quite agree with you. I have been on HAL cruises where there were more Canadians than Americans on the ship. We were on

the Zaandam last year from Vancouver to Rio. There were 300 German people on board out of total of 1400 people. There were many Australians, New Zealanders, and Canadians as well. It was very possible that Americans were in a minority.

It looks great. We will be boarding in Perth in January, 2019 for 40 days.

As far as I know, the HAL ships are able to use shore electricity while in Vancouver and so do not need to run their engines. Maybe the Alaskan ports should try this solution.

I have done the Panama canal cruise from both directions as well, but starting or ending in Vancouver. Going west to east, I have often experienced storms on the Washington and Oregon coast. It seems to be a bit wetter on the west coast of Central America as well and when you enter the Caribbean, you are still in the tail end of the hurricane season and so might get bumpy rides. Going west, this is the dry season and so the island and Central American might not be so lush. But, the weather is warmer since you will be heading into summer. I leave on the 26th of this month on the Volendam from Vancouver to FLL. This will be my third time and I am keeping my fingers crossed for good weather.

I understand about the rules for the bringing on of alcohol onto the HAL ships. We intend to bring one each in Vancouver, but when we dock in San Diego, are we able to bring another bottle each to continue our voyage to South America? What about the other ports on the way?

You have to consider that your "high" hotel prices are about 32% less since the hotel prices are in Canadian dollars not American dollars. Makes more sense to fly into Vancouver.

Hi All,

We are booked for the 33 day Mediterranean cruise on the Zuiderdam on May 17. We paid about $5000 CA for an inside cabin in late February through our travel agent. Now the price for an inside cabin on the HAL site is about $4000 CA. Will we get a price reduction or an upgrade? Our TA doesn't seem to respond to our emails.

Dale

There are 30,000 deaths per year in the USA from gun use. I don't think the number of deaths in Tunisia are that significant compared to what happens in the USA.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-weisser/guns-nra-doctors_b_5939384.html