triplestar

If you do the Danube cruise Passau to Budapest  I would suggest you spend some time in Salzburg before hand  very good train service form Salzburg to Passau &great Christmas market. Also there is a very good Mozart dinner in St Peter Cellars. If you go the other way starting Budapest to Passau do Salzburg afterwards. Europe has very good rail system so v easy to connect to Munich,  Vienna or Zurich  for flights home. Budapest is said to have one of the best Christmas markets.

Position of beds  If you look on the deck plan you will see  an indent for where the door to the cabin is.   The bathroom is always next to the door & the bed the same side as the bathroom .My husband always works it out as I like to face forward if possible. The inside cabin beds  face the door so are  east to west& don't face forward or aft so to speak  Hope you can make sense of this  much easier when you have a deck plan in front of you. 7114 will face forward and you can use that as a guide

Hi,NZ is out as everyone arriving here has to self isolate for 14 days. Just hope for every ones sake that Australia doesn't follow suit. If you can I would have several contingency plans  in mind, in view of these ever changing times. I feel HAL must be aware of  the many headaches people are having &  will be working on the many problems ahead.

We did a South American cruise on the Zaandam  in an obstructed oceanview  cabin  7086  The only obstruction was the handrails & steps going up to deck above . There was a door to the outside deck next to the cabin & we rarely saw anyone on this deck  The cabin didn't have a bath only a shower but was fine  & views were good. 

Hi, We are also doing a SA cruise Cape Town  /Walvis bay/Durban in April 2020 & I find the website impossible .  I thought that it was just me ,pleased its not . It may improve nearer the time  I do hope so.

We did have to get permission from Oceania to embark a day late. The travel agent contacted them re this as we were already booked on the cruise                

My husband & I have done it twice. First time  was in Istanbul where we had to leave our Azamara cruise one day early & miss the first day on the Oceania cruise(both ships had an overnight  in Istanbul),but apart from that all we had to do was walk  along the quay to the next ship.  The next time  involved getting from Venice to Rome once again the ship had been overnight in port  so we were able to leave early& catch the 7.30am  train to Rome & be in the port at 1.30pm.  In both cases  the ships were already in port & all custom formalities  done  & so there were no worries if a late docking & slow  clearance  would affect the connections.  Plan a little ahead re transfers to avoid hassle & possible panic ! 

We are  doing a cruise out of CapeTown in April 2020 &I would be grateful for any suggestions for an hotel in the centre city. Many thanks 

The Faberge museum  was part of the tour schedule not an evening add on, however we saw that as the first stop of our tour on day one not as schedule for the afternoon of day 2. They did this as it wouldn't be busy  at time and Peterhof which was stop one day 1 was busy at that time. They do move the schedules around to try & minimize time wasted due to queuing. We had very few people when we visited& viewing was excellent. I can not remember how long we were there but saw all there was to see. We had chosen this tour instead of the 2 day tour which went to St Isaacs cathedral. Faberge museum have a good web site,if you google it  you will see what a beautiful palace it is.

When we cruised on the Nautica in August 2016 one of the highlights was sailing up the river to the English Quay, the sun was shining on the church domes turning them to shimmering gold & silver, truly magical. However I don't know whether the Nautica always docks there. We did the 2 day Alla tour  which visited the Faberge museum which my husband claimed as his highlight. He had previously visited St Petersburg in the late 1960s so was amazed at the many changes. The Alla tour was excellent ,we were the only 2 people on the Nautica that chose the Faberge tour,  but we went on a tour with 14 others off a? Celebrity cruise ship & there were no problems being pick up from a different ship & dock. In any city every one will discover their own special surprises and also some slight let downs (The amber room didn't do a lot for me, whilst for others it was totally amazing.) We really loved our time in St Petersburg and would love do it again. Enjoy your trip and enjoy what you do see.

In October this year we stayed at the Hotel Smeraldo.  It had  a very good location, in walking distance to many of the major sites, but was on a very quiet side street, which we didn't feel to be at all touristy. The rooms were small , but had adequate storage. We had a classic room which had a small bathroom, but my daughter & her partner had  a superior room ,which whilst still small had a much superior bathroom. The Hotel was very clean & had be updated & there was a lift. There was a generous breakfast included in the tariff & complimentary afternoon tea between 3.30 & 4.30pm.( Nil tea or coffee making facilities in the bedroom) There was a pleasant roof terrace & bar .There were plenty of places to eat  in the area & I would heartily recommend "Emmas" just around the corner. It was 60 Euro by Rome cabs from the airport & I think about 130 Euro for a transfer for 2  to  to the port. For a 3 star hotel it was very good value & we would stay there again. I suggest you have a look at their web site

We cruised on the Nautica this October/November and my advice would be not to change your  cruise. Whilst the staff & food were as excellent as usual there were some things that were not up to the usual standard. My husband's main complaint was a problem with the hot water, they came and fixed the shower so I only had to have one tepid shower, but the water in the basin was another story. My husband got rather irritated by a lack of consistent hot water for shaving(20day cruise) to such an extent that I quote "We are not sailing on the Nautica again until it has had its refit" We had a 30day cruise for 2020 Cape Town to Singapore booked  which was cancelled. We have cruised with Oceania 7 times  5 on the Nautica & 2 on the Marina & my husband feels that the R ships are showing their age. We purchased a future cruise deposit whilst on board so have not given up on Oceania. However we have  booked a cruise on Viking for 2020 so will see how they compare, half way in size between a R & O ship.  My other observation was that for the first time I found the bed  not to be as comfortable as previously. We had sailed on the Nautica in 2015 and had none of these issues. We still  enjoyed our  cruise but not as much as some & feel we have to say that from an A++ they are now  more in the range of an A- or B++. Some people have stated that they thought the ships were tired, but I feel stale would be a better word. They do need a refit . 

I should have made it clear that the $ were NZ$ & not US$. I was only posting this to show that they were as good as their word when they said there would be a price increase from the 1st of October. They gave plenty of warning.

Hi, There have certainly been some price increases my Feb 2020 Cape town to Singapore cruise has gone up$990 pp. in the category I booked. It wasn't a cheap cruise to start with.!

I agree the engine room is the most important room on a ship, no point in having fancy icing if the cake is stale. As for the décor I cannot stand the net curtains & from the photos appears as if they still have them. I thought they could have invested in sunscreen blinds for sunny weather & let us see the ocean at other times. I just hope that the dining room chairs are not vinyl. Overall verdict on décor okay, but not an A+

HI, There has been a lot of negative replies re your choice of cabin. Deck 6 is a nice deck compared to deck 3 or even deck 4 which has people walking past the cabins on the way to tender station when ship is tendering, so you could say that is a plus. The cabin is small ,but there is no difference in the size of the closets or bathroom, and in fact the closets are in a better position than in the other oceanview cabins. There is no sofa to sit on & the table takes up a lot of space you can ask for that to be removed. It is an obstructed view ,but less obstructed than some of the obstructed view cabins, you will still have some natural light & not need the lights on during the day. I don't think that it will ruin your cruise, just think of all the excursions you can pay for with the money saved. Enjoy your cruise & your road trip.

Here in New Zealand it was exactly the same. I learnt of the cancellation of 3rd September cruise via the roll all, but as it was still showing on my account I phoned my travel agent. He had had no notification from Holland America. Once he contacted them & told them it was a pretty poor show that he had not received any notification, they sent him the details which he forwarded to me. I sat on the info for 2 days then cancelled my booking. Now we just await to see how long it takes HAL to give the refund. I live in hope that they may repeat the itinerary next year.

I know that there is a tax on goods bought on board whilst sailing in Spanish & Italian waters. My query is does that apply to shore excursions purchased on board as opposed to those purchased online prior to the cruise. The second question is we will be stopping in Monte Carlo & Albania will a tax apply when in these ports. I know that there have been previous answers re tax, but would appreciate current knowledge Many Thanks

Apologies that only works for deck plans on the Marina & Riviera

You can work it out by looking at the deck plan. The head of the bed is the same side as the bathroom & not directly opposite the cabin door

In 2014 we travelled from Mendoza to Santiago on the public bus. It was easy, we bought the tickets online & had no problems. The seats were very comfortable ( oh for airline seats like that) and we had great views from the upper level of the bus. The one down side was the wait at the border, the Chileans do not like the Argentinians & so we had a very thorough check of all the luggage on the bus to make sure we were not bringing in any fruit,veg etc. I would not hesitate to do the trip again. However I would not be game to do it by car. We really enjoyed Mendoza & Santiago.

In 2012 we stayed at the Hotel Colon. It is situated opposite the Gothic Cathedral with good reasonably priced Spanish restaurants(ie local Spanish were eating there) in the Cathedral Square It had very helpful staff, clean comfortable rooms and was close to a Hop on Hop off bus stop. I would stay there again. We didn't have any meals there preferring the nearby cafes.

There is a cruise in September 2019 on the Rotterdam which visits Newfoundland, Labrador, Greenland & Iceland. Its a 24 night cruise Boston to Boston

To Sue from Canada, We are doing the 24 day Boston to Boston cruise in September 2019. We were originally going to do VOV Rotterdam to Boston in July2019,but then someone mentioned this cruise on CC board & we changed our booking. We liked the idea of Labrador & Newfoundland plus Greenland x2 & Iceland. The only thing that worries me a little is all the negative reports of the ship Rotterdam

I agree 100% with your choice of 2020 world cruise option. Are you doing a 2020 world cruise?