cshim

It's now open to everyone on most if not all ships.

 

When did this change? It doesn't seem to mention it on the HAL site.

No problem.

 

It is sometimes difficult to determine how someone is saying something on a forum :)

Hey the link finally works again!

 

And that video tells us absolutely nothing and was shot probably in September. On the ball wth the release!

 

Way to go for putting a damper on things.

 

Just nice to know what is going on. Ah well, won't bother next time.

Here is the first of a series of videos counting down to the launch of the Koningsdam.

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/pageByName/Resp.action?requestPage=Countdown_Koningsdam&WT.ac=footer_Video_CountdownKO

 

Exciting times!

Left over wine

 

It's a myth! ;)

Ours was P&O's foray into casual cruising "Ocean Village" around the Med Sadly no more as it is now with P&O Australia it really gave us the cruising bug.

 

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

BA's premium economy can be hit and miss depending on the aircraft type. I found that Virgin's cabin felt a bit more exclusive.

 

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

I used to work for BA and have flown PE on both airlines. In my opinion Virgin has the edge. Slighty better product and seats.

 

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Has anyone any idea how much "Dinner at the Culinary Arts Center" would be?

Do the servers have iPads? You would still need the servers to take the orders.

 

Or do passengers have to order from their own iPads? If so, what happens if passengers don't have an iPad?.

 

Passengers have the iPads but you don't order with them. They act as menus and the server comes to take your order as normal.

I found the bed and pillows very comfortable but as we were in CC we had pillows to chose from. We had no problems with towels. In fact our cabin steward was excellent.

 

I don't agree with the OP about the entertainment. The singers were excellent but the circus show did bore me.

 

The only issue I had was that they left us queuing in the pouring rain in St Thomas to board whilst the crew stayed in the dry.

 

I had a fabulous cruise and would definitely go on the Equinox again.

Firstly, apologies for the delay in writing this part of the review but I am been really busy at work.

So, on to the ports of call:

Venice
I have already spoken a bit about this. Sabrina Restaurant was really good and if you want to go to the Doges Palace, go to the Museum at the corner of St Marks Square and buy a "Venice museums" ticket there. This means that you can skip the queue to buy tickets and go to the prepaid tickets queue.

Dubrovnik
Bear in mind the currency is the Kuna and not Euros! Change your currency before you get to Dubrovnik as the queues were massive at the exchange offices in the city.
This was a gorgeous city but we did not have a huge amount of time there as the heavens opened after a glorious morning (and I mean I hadn't seen rain like it!). We walked around the old walled city. To get there we got a local bus from just outside the port which took about 10 minutes. I think it is a very long way to walk even though Celebrity say you can do it.
I recommend you go up in the cable car if it is a clear day as you get fantastic views and the amazing thing is the cafe is no more expensive than in the city.
We also went to the 4D show by the main gate which was reasonably priced. It was a 3D show with added "wind" basically and took you through Dubrovnik through the ages. This was a good history lesson but I don;t know whether I would do it again.
We got a taxi back as when we got to the bus stop the heavens opened and we ended up diving in a taxi to get us back to the port (I think it cost about 8 euros)

Rome
We did an organised excursion here for 2 reasons - we had never been there before and the journey time to Rome from Civitavecchia is about 1.5 hrs each way and we were worried about missing the ship if we were delayed coming back and I believe a few people who were on the train were. Be aware the coaches do not have toilets on them but do have air conditioning and they stop half way for a comfort break.
The tour started of as a coach tour taking you around the sights of Rome and we stopped of at for a walking tour at St Peter in chain, the Colosseum (outside visit) and the Vatican which is where the tour ended. The shop that we were dropped off at had toilets if you are struggling to find any.
We did not go around the Vatican as we were told that it would take a day just to go around there so you have to make a choice. The same with the Colosseum, as it would take at least 2 hours to queue to get in.
We then had 3 hours to ourselves. After going for lunch at a local restaurant we visited the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon (all amazing!) They were all in walking distance of each other but make sure you allow time to get back to the meeting point as it is further than you think. We did get a map as part of our tour and a free bottle of water. Bear in mind it is a very long and tiring day!

Naples
As we had already done Sorrento and Pompeii we decided to stay around Naples. There are some very nice sights once you get away from the port area and it is quite a good place for shopping. You can walk from the ship into the city in about 10 minutes. Very easy.

Catania
Again the ship docked in port. This was our least favourite port stop, Catania is very run down and poor. There is a hop on, hop off tour but there is not much to see. If I went here again I would take a tour to Taormina.

Valletta
Again we docked and stayed around the city as we had already done a tour of Malta on a previous cruise. It is a gorgeous little city with some quaint and historic streets. The people are very friendly there. You have to go up the hill to get to the main city and we decided that we didn't want to queue for the lift (1 euro each cost) and go up the steps. This was a mistake as it was hot, exhausting and I lost count of the amount of steps I went up. When we came back down to the ship we realised that if you turned left out of the port there was a fairly gentle slope that took you up to the city.

Kotor
Kotor was a very strange place and not one that I would probably go to again. The sail in and sail out is not to be missed however and you can get some excellent photos of the ship as it was tendered at this port. The scenery is fantastic. There was a power cut whilst we were there which I think probably happens quite a lot.

In the interests of not making my post too long, I will do Split and the arrival in Venice later.

I will get to writing about the ports as soon as I can but have had a busy week at work (serves me right for going on holiday!)

 

Regarding south central, I think I just took an instant dislike to her for some reason but that was obviously just me :)

There was always quite a bit to do onboard the ship and I will detail here as much as I can remember.

 

Silhouette Theatre

There were a number of good shows in the theatre and I will list as many as I can:

Songs from the Musicals - this was done by the Celebrity cast and was nice to listen to although some of the songs were from very bizarre musicals such as the Wiz. They were good singers though.

Juggler & Magician - I am not really into these so cannot comment as we did not go. We never heard anything negative about them. We decided not to go to the juggler after the awful show we were subjected to on RCCL.

Silhouette: The Show - this was a bit of a bizarre "Cirque du Soleil" type offering which was put on mainly to appeal to other nationalities I guess. The acrobatics were very good but the music choice was odd and I have seen this type of show done before much better.

There were port talks and other other lectures in the theatre including an excellent Q&A session with Capt Dimitrios Kafetzis. There was also a movie in here on the overnight in Venice in place of a show - this time it was "Skyfall"

Newlyweds and not-so-newlyweds show - this was an over 18s show which was after the main shows at 10:30pm. It was funny and a bit rude at times. They did mention this before it started a number of times but some people seemed to walk out in disgust when they heard something they didn't like.

 

Daytime activities

There were many daytime activities including bingo, masterclasses, trivia quizzes, etc. There was also an Officers vs Guests pool volleyball game which was very good entertainment. I spent most of the sea days on my lounger drinking cocktails to make the most of the sun (as we get so little of it in the UK!)

 

Celebrity Rox

This was an "interactive show" on deck. It was more like a party on deck with singing and dancing and was enjoyed by all as far as I could see.

 

Dancing with the Stripes

Again, another funny and entertaining activity where officers and passengers were involved in dancing a la "Dancing with the Stars/Strictly Come Dancing" depending on what area of the world you come from.

 

Sipra

These were a party band from the Philippines who sang a range of easy listening music. It was nice to listen to them in the various venues on board.

 

High C's

The ships a capella band from the USA. They were very entertaining.

 

DJ Duo

This was a combo of a DJ and a Bongo drum player. Sounds good but worked very well in an Ibiza Sunset type of way. They did play some bizarre songs though.

 

There was a country/blues type singer who was good when there was a cheese and wine event on the lawn but a bit much when you were trying to sunbathe on deck.

 

There was also a jazz singer who was a bit mediocre.

 

The classical guitarist played mainly in the Ensemble Lounge and was very relaxing to listen to. It added to the mood.

 

I think I have covered everything but I have forgotten (or my other half thinks I have forgotten) anything I will add it.

Hi Chris,

 

We are going to stay at the Hotel Plaza in a week before our June 15 cruise. Are there any grocery stores/ supermarkets near by where we could buy wine, water, toiletris, etc.?

Also, the question about the Sabrina Restaurant. Is it in the center of Venice (and where exactly?) or on main land?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

There are a couple of (expensive) shops in the train station across the road. The best bet is to go to the supermarket around the corner from the hotel. Come out of the main door, turn right and right again, go down the road at the side of the hotel and you will see a supermarket on the left hand side called "Ali" (opposite a green space)

 

Sabrina restaurant can be found in the centre of Venice. They have a website at http://www.ristorante-sabrina.it/

Hi,

 

As for frappes & crocante I didn't have them so I am not sure I am afraid.

Great review so far! I notice you had the classic drink package, any issues with service? Also did you have any problems with getting specialty coffee and smoothies? Thanks!

 

No issues with service apart from the wine waiter in the restaurant were very busy but if you asked your normal waiter they would get someone to take your order. We had the same waine waiter a couple of nights and they had run out of the usual South African Chenin Blanc but he recommended another one. I asked if it was included in the package and he said "Of course, I know what package you are on" which was amazing that he remembered!

 

Getting speciality coffee (I assume you mean cappuccinos, etc.) was very easy to get on the package, not only in Cafe al Bacio but also in the Oceanview Cafe (they had a Secondo al Bacio in there) and the main dining room.

 

Regarding smoothies, I always forgot about these until it was too late as they only did it for breakfast. You could get non-fresh fruit smoothies in any other bar but it wasn't the same.

Onto bars and lounges

 

There was plenty of seating in all the bars and lounges which was nice apart from around the grand atrium when some of the entertainment was on.

 

Cafe al Bacio

This is where you can get cappuccinos, etc with free pastries (you can have these to go and no coffee purchase needed) The coffee was lovely and so were the pastries/cookies, etc. These were available all day from breakfast. The good thing was that as we were in 6210 we could go down and get coffee and croissants to take upstairs to the cabin as it was a 5 minute walk.

The staff were nice, especially Neils the barista who got to know what we wanted every morning and did it for us without asking. It was a very nice and comfortable atmosphere.

 

Pool Bars

The usual pool bars really and they were frequently coming around deck asking if you wanted drinks. The sunset bar was nice on a sailaway.

 

Sky Bar

This was open in the evenings although the lounge itself was open all day with quizzes, etc. going on.. It was nice for the views and had lounge beds which made it a bit strange drinking whilst lying down! In the evening, there was entertainment including the DJ Duo. This also seemed to be the place for Elite cocktail hour.

 

Ensemble Lounge

This was by the speciality restaurants and Blu. This was very low key at night, a bit dark if you tried to read the menus. There was entertainment such as the High C's acapella group, a classical guitarist and the party band.

 

Michaels Club

It was a lovely place but unfortunately this is where we met the only one rude member of staff on the ship. So much so we complained to the bars manager who was very good. He seemed to be a beer snob and almost sneered at you if you wanted an Amstel light. Also, one of us wanted a beer but the other wanted a cocktail and he told us that "no, you can't have cocktails in here" but the bar manager disagreed saying you should be able to get all drinks in all bars. There was a trivia quiz in here which was good.

 

Martini Bar/Crush

This is where they had the bar staff showing off making martinis which was good entertainment and the ice-topped bar is very unusual (just don't put your glass directly on the bar otherwise you will not be able to get it back off!) You can get small cosmopolitans in here included in the Classic drinks package - just let them know you are on it otherwise they will try to charge you for the large one.

 

Quasar

The nightclub. The bar waiter in here was Lukas and he was very efficient and VERY patient especially with a few drunk passengers. It was quite busy but you could always get a seat. The DJ could probably have been better in here as he played a strange mix of music. The Eurovision night they had in here where they played "Eurovision" music was not quite accurate as they played mainly American music!!! (For those who don't know about Eurovision, visit eurovision.tv) It was a nice place to round off the evening.

 

Molecular Bar

Did not get drinks from here as they were not included in our package but it rarely seemed busy on our cruise. It is in a strange place almost in the middle of the upstairs shopping boutiques.

 

Passport Bar

This was a nice place to sit when they had entertainment on in the grand foyer.

 

Hideaway

A nice place to sit on your own but not if you wanted to sit together as all the seating was individual. It had tea and coffee in here.

 

Library

Never very busy but a nice quiet place to relax and read

 

The Aquaspa Cafe

This is where you could get smoothies for breakfast and a range of healthy options throughout the day. It was located in the solarium and had very little seating so it was always a difficult place to get a table.

 

I think that was all of them but if you feel I have missed any then let me know!

 

More pics have been uploaded to http://sdrv.ms/10ZUsma - I have reaslised that I need a new camera now so it is on its way!

Did you use the ships shuttle in any ports or are you a DIYer!

 

I am a DIYer but if you need any info on shuttles I will try my best to help.

 

I know that there was a shuttle boat for $20pp in Venice to go "5 bridges away from St Marks Square" but I would use the People Mover for 1 euro which is a 10 minute walk away from the ship.

 

There was also a charge for the shuttle in Dubrovnik as the port was quite a way (15 minute drive) from the old town but a taxi was only about $13 each way or the public bus was just outside the port which was quite cheap.

Bar soap was available.

 

Champers is champagne. I forgot about the worldwide reach of this forum!

 

Thanks for posting, I am enjoying your review. I have a couple of questions...

 

sorry, I'm not sure what this is? :o

 

You mentioned that shampoo and conditioner are included but not shower gel? That's good to know as I hadn't planned on bringing gel but was going to bring the others. Was bar soap available?

Really enjoying your review, thank you for taking the time to do it.

 

You mentioned the discount in the Tuscan grill, when was that offered? We have a lot of OBC so I don't want to book prior to boarding but if that is a routine offer I will wait for that rather than book immediately we board!

 

Hi,

 

They were frequently hanging around the entrance to the Oceanview Cafe. I showed interest and after talking to her about it and saying I was not sure she said that she could give us 50% discount but it was for that evening. So we made the booking and got the time we wanted. I believe a few people got discounts that way. The only restaurants I didn't see them giving discounts on was the Lawn Club Grill and Murano.

Ok, so now on to dining.

 

We dined at nearly all the speciality restaurants and in both the Oceanview Café and the Grand Cuvee. I found I was full most of the time!

 

Grand Cuvee:

We had select dining which meant that we could dine any time between 6:30pm-9pm. We made reservations beforehand and we found this worked very well. There were 2 queues for select dining in the evening, one for those without a reservation and 1 for those with one and suite guests. We were normally seated within about 5 minutes of arriving even when we wanted a table for 2. We even had a table near the window on occasion which was nice.

The waiters were very knowledgeable, friendly and efficient. The only thing I would say is that the wine service was a bit slow at times – it seems they do not have enough wine waiters. We were on the Classic drinks package so had wine by the glass so we had to wait with an empty glass every now and again. The food was gorgeous and on the last formal night they had beef wellington and baked Alaska that went down very well. Select dining took place on the top level of the restaurant on both sides and fixed seat dining was on the lower tier.

The Grand Cuvee was also where the brunch buffet was held on the last sea day. What I would advise is that you look around as to what is on offer as we went to the first stations to have breakfast and didn’t realise there were lots of other goodies until we had already made some choices. There was breakfast fayre and other delights such as roast beef and Yorkshire puddings (to the confusion of some American passengers), fish and chips and a chocolate fountain. There was so much other stuff it is too much to mention. Tea, coffee and drinks were served tableside.

 

Oceanview café:

This is the buffet restaurant on the ship. We found this was never heaving, even on sea days, unlike other ships I have sailed on. Again food was aplenty with a lot of variety but we found it didn’t really change from day to day. The best place to sit was the rear outside area and there were plenty of drinks waiters who could get you freshly squeezed orange juice and cappuccinos (included in our package) in the morning and other drinks at lunch time and in the evening. I think it is really a good idea not having trays as you can just get what you want without having to wait in line. Even with eggs and toast in the morning, they would take your name so you could go and get other food instead of waiting by the station. They also had free scoop and whippy ice cream with toppings such as M&Ms, M&Ms peanuts and Reese’s Pieces which you could get in a cup to go if you did not want the ice cream. It was a nice atmosphere in there.

 

Qsine:

We went here on the first night and got a 20% discount. It was an experience ordering from iPads but mine did crash and lost all my choices which was annoying. The waiter was really good at explaining everything. Wine and drinks could be ordered from the drinks package but the cocktails on the iPad were not included. We found that there was just too much food and the waiter made us wave our napkins as a white flag to say we surrender. This was a shame as I was really looking forward to sliders but I really could not eat another thing! There is an enormous amount of food and a very good experience. It is probably only a restaurant I would want to go to once in the cruise due to the experience.

 

Murano:

A very classy restaurant and the lobster was cooked tableside. The Grand Marnier soufflé was to die for. The waiting staff were very good, if a bit subservient. Again you could use your package for the wine here. I am not sure if I would go here again as I found the experience in the Tuscan Grille better.

 

Tuscan Grille:

This was lovely and even better knowing we had 50% off. We had a table by the window and there were not many other people in there (hence the offer). The food was very good and the antipasti were a nice touch before the starter. The wine service was slow at first as the wine waiter had forgotten our wine but he did apologise profusely and it was fine after that. My partner had the chocolate fondue which was gorgeous but very filling.

 

Porch:

We went here once ($5 cover charge each) as we wanted to do something other than the buffet for lunch. We had a gorgeous soup followed by a Panini. The good thing was you could look at the paninis and desserts in the cabinet which helped you choose. I had pesto chicken and my partner had NY strip steak. Yummy. The service was very good and a nice place to eat an al fresco lunch which was under cover from the hot sun (if you know what I mean). Be aware that the paninis are pre-made so you can only have it as it is described on the menu.

 

Mast Grill:

This served burgers, hot dogs and help-yourself whippy ice cream. The burgers were lovely and freshly cooked to order and one of the very few places on the ship you could get fries. We went there a couple of times.

 

 

Room service:

We had room service a couple of times for breakfast so we could eat it on the balcony. It was generally good but there was once when they forgot the coffee and cutlery but it was quickly resolved. You could also order potato chips by calling them.

We found that the TV ordering system was a bit hit and miss as it wasn’t always available but you could use the paper menu and phone them.

 

I have added more pictures to http://sdrv.ms/10ZUsma

In answer to your questions:

 

Looking forward to reading more about your cruise. I am doing the July 31st sailing out of Venice.

 

I'm sure you'll get around to these but just in case, here are a couple questions.

 

1) How many formal nights were there? Last year we were on the Solstice and were told there would be two but in fact there were 3.

There were 2 on this cruise. The first sea day and, off the top of my head, Split.

 

2) Other than Qsine, were there any other specialty restaurant discounts? I know they always have the 3-4 restaurant packages but we are just interested in Tuscan and Murano.

We prebooked Murano for my partners birthday so I am unsure about that one but they were hanging around outside the buffet restaurant and we got a deal of 50% off for the Tuscan Grill. It is always worth engaging them in conversation and appear unsure when they ask if you want to dine there ;)

 

3) Last year they had a wine bottle sale ($20 per bottle) for cabin consumption. Just wondering with the number of people having the drink package if they still had it on your cruise?

I don't know about this as we had the Classic drinks package so didn't really take much notice. However, the Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc was lovely in the main restaurant if you like white wine.

We did get some sun (depending on the position of the ship) especially in the forward part of the balcony.

As I said previously, we had cabin 6210 which did not appear to have much storage space until we saw the cupboards above the bed. These are a bit inconvenient as you have to stand on the bed to get at them if you are not tall enough. There is also room under the bed for your cases which is a good feature. It was also a balcony cabin on the diagonal side of the “hump” which means there was a large amount of room which was nice.

 

There was complementary shampoo, conditioner and moisturiser but oddly no shower gel, bearing in mind it only had a shower cubicle. However, this was not a problem as we brought our own.

 

The flat screen TV had a number of films and music on demand which were free and a number of TV channels which were mainly American except Sky News and BBC News. You could also order room service, excursions and photos on this.