debdiva

Being a vegetarian used to be challenging on HAL, but our last two cruises have been good in that regard, even on our last cruise where I wound up in COVID jail. We do fixed seating and make friends with our table stewards immediately. I've found they take goo care of us, even offering both the normal menu and the vegetarian menu and letting  us order bits and pieces from both. I did find mousse on the vegetarian menu made with gelatin, so those little things miss them.

If you can't find a wine under the $11 mark that appeals to your tastes that day, prosecco is always an option 🥂

Frankly, if the weather is nice, there is a lovely pavilion where the ships dock and I'd eat there and watch the truly amusing characters on cruise ships. 

So that's the disadvantage to the Have It All package. Shore excursions were filling up fast, so I booked more before the cruise than I usually do. I was thinking the OBC from my TA could go to Crew Appreciation or whatever it is called this week. Otherwise, WiFi is in package, dining is in package, beverages are in package. Maybe we'll go to Canaletto...

We were in Amsterdam in late August, early September 2019 and UGGs would have been way too warm most days. when we returned mid-September, they might have been good on rainy days, but not on bright sunny days.

We booked using FlightEase for Rotterdam July 31. We fly in United, back Delta for KLM. We have seat assignments for all flights. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be.

Deborah and Robert Sampson on Rotterdam August 31, 2022 14 day Northern Isles

I though we booked quite early, late January for an August cruise, but the particular excursion we wanted in Reykjavik was already sold out. Bummer, because it was how we wanted to spend our 40th wedding anniversary, on the Golden Circle. Sigh...

Deborah and Robert Sampson on Rotterdam August 31, 2022

We took the HOHO with a free walking tour. We love these walking tours with locals who don't stick to a script. She talked about the pride they had in their female leader, in being independent for one of the few times in their history, shared he favorite foods and where to buy them, etc. there was one tall staircase that challenged me, but I made it and loved the views from the top. We had planned to take the HOHO back to the pier, but just walked it.

Citizen M was quite close to a canal and maybe a half block from a train station. Fun place and easy to get around. Of course, we also stayed out at IJ and had no trouble using public trams to Centraal.

In 2019, we Ubered from the airport to our hotel. We used public transportation back to the airport. 

Our best tour in Dublin was the HOHO. Great commentary and a pretty comprehensive overview of the city. Granted, this was probably in the 1990s.

September 2011 MS Statendam. Delayed a day departing Seward. Seven day cruise to Vancouver with just one port, a restocking port day in Juneau. 50 ft. seas, hurricane force winds. We had waves in the swimming pool that emptied the pool the first day out of Seward. We had a great time anyway.

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Thank you so much for all the great information. You were our "unofficial" tour guide in Copenhagen, a city we quickly came to love.

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They are located very close to each other but Radisson has a ho/hobus stop almost at the door step and is also located closer to public transportation and a huge taxi rink (is that the name?) if you need that instead.

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We loved our balcony on a warm Alaska cruise, but it would have been wasted money on an earlier Alaskan cruise with high seas and strong winds. We practically lived on our balcony on our Mediterranean cruise, but rarely used our balcony on a chilly, windy Baltic cruise. I think I'll be more careful about considering the climate on future cruises. We're thinking about cruising Norwegian fjords and I may not pay the extra for a balcony. I think a lot depends on the public spaces of the ship and their connection to the sea. For all we rarely used our balcony on NCL Getaway in the Baltic, it was one of the few places on the ship with a connection to the sea. HAL ships have a large enclosed space with epic views over the bow. Warm, great views of the sea -- would have been perfect for the Baltic. So, it may be matching the ship and the environment to determine if a balcony is worth the investment.

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I don't know the answer, I would like to know if there are taxis available at the cruise terminal? Or if there is a shuttle service I can contact to get from the cruise terminal to hotels in the Copenhagen area? Thank you?

Norwegian offered shuttle service to Central Station. I imagine other Cruise lines do as well.

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I like to get a feel for the ship, walk public decks (restaurants, bars, theaters, shops, guest services, pools, etc.) bow to stern, grab a bite (walking the ship first shows me if there is an alternative to the always insane buffet crowd). Even when they say my room isn't ready, I can usually drop off any carry-on and meet the room steward.

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We got the flat rate taxi through our hotel. There are two companies doing fee walking tours. Ours was yellow umbrellas, but there is another company with red umbrellas.

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It is reassuring to see that my hotel wakeup Borgegade is fairly centrally located. I was concerned about getting to the port on sail day. Do the buses run on Sunday? Would it be better to make my way to the airport and then pay to take the ships shuttle or a taxi?

Any tours anyone can recommend?

 

 

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We loved our Free Walking Tour. It hit almost all the main spots of Copenhagen and gave us ideas of where we wanted to go on later days. We used the hop on hop off to get us to the sites that were a bit far for walking for later days. Public transportation in Copenhagen was good, but it is something of a slog from the bus stop to Ocean Kaj. We used a flat rate taxi. It might have been slightly cheaper to go metered, but there's always a risk of the meter running in a traffic jam.

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I like Europe and S. America, so I can't imagine not renewing my passport. Our next renewal will take me to age 78 & DH to 70, so it might be our last renewal.

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We had one 110 outlet. I have a two cable base (Verizon). We had one EU socket and we have a nifty cube that converts to 110 and adapts for US plugs (Amazon). We also have an emergency Mophie. To corral all the cables, connectors, etc. I bought a Power Packer from Side by Side (Indiegogo).

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I just want to say we found the free Copenhagen walking tour very helpful and interesting. Oddly, our guide immigrated from our home state of Colorado.

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The Vista Class Ships, including the Oosterdam, are getting old, and maintenance costs are likely becoming more costly. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've seen the best and the worst of the Oosterdam on two different cruises. Here's my concern, however. With the Oosterdam showing its age, it becomes more challenging and costly to keep this ship in A-1 condition. We've seen similar scenarios with HAL's smaller and older vessels. As time marches by, HAL will want to continue to build newer, modern, and larger vessels. Eventually the Oosterdam and her sister ships will be sold and taken from the current inventory of ships. Before that happens, however, we are likely to experience more problems with maintenance, renovation, and modernization.

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