mcrcruiser

Be careful what the cruise lines sell as insurance does not vcover 100% of the loss  'however ,my post above does cover all 100% of the loss 

As Hank said above the biggest risk is the medical which can easily run into the many thousands  , Actually in order to be safest  you need Med Jet Assist insurance to get you home from a foreign hospital if you can not board a commercial plane but  need ambulance to take you to amedical jet  to get you home when you are half way around the world  . With out med jet assist  ,the cost to get back to a home based hospital is in the 6 figures  costing . This is fact

We use these to insure our trip & have medical & medical evacuation as well . first you need the Chase Sapphire Credit card & you book the cruise using this credit card .This then insures  the cruise for trip interruption & Trip cancellation due to health or death reasons . Then go to Aalianz Travel Insurance  not .com on the internet & pick a  yearly plan that suits your needs  .Ay 85 uears of age ,we find this combination the best of all worlds when it comes to travel insurance  . Much much cheaper because you cover for one full year vs buying expensive one trip at a time travel insurance plans .A plus is with the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card if you spend$4000  in 3 months ,easy to do with some cruise costs , you can get the bonus which when I took that card was a $800 bonus to spend as we wanted ,It may now be $600 bomus but iot chamges . I am filing a claim  right now for illness & had to cancel a cruise with a $700 penalty . We will get all $700 back form the Chase Yravel ins company

11 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Have you looked at HAL Facts? There is information about one of those cabins on Eurodam. I haven't looked at deck plans, but they're likely the same on both Signature class ships. 

 

6001 – Eurodam | HAL Cruiser Information (halfacts.com)

 

Signature Class | HAL Cruiser Information (halfacts.com)

 

 

Thanks the pictures of that cabin are the ones all the way up front on deck 6  .Yes those 2 cabins are actual handicap sized cabins .  however ,as far as we could  see all the other cabins marked handicap are no larger than the same cabin standard sized ;which is very weird to mark a cabin handicapped & yet you could not place a scooter into one of them . When we looked at the deck plans we could not believe what we saw  

Most of the handicap cabins on  Nieuw Amsterdam are like the standard size cabin according to the web site  " Cruise  Ship Deck Plans " . There were 2 balcony cabins on deck 6 way up front of the ship that were handicap size . We were amazed that HAL could call a standard cabin size as handicap 

 Is there any one who sailed this ship & stayed in one of those so called handicap cabins & their impression   of the handicap facilities ?

 The Nieuw  Amsterdam is taking the place of Konigsdam  in late 2025 & on in the San Diego  cruise port 

Sending a e-mail requesting that  HAL   change  the closure of the MDR on embarkation day for lunch ,  get  them to rethink closing the MDR  

13 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

I've seen people with many different kinds of infirmities manage the Lido, with the help of the kind crew members.

And that is my only comment.

 Because the crew directs people to the Lido is the problem at embarkation . for us the MDR is best .I just can't imagine navigating my electric scooter between all those people in the Lido  .while on the ship we eat in the MDR breakfast & dinner . Lunch at sea we have in the MDR .In port we go to dive In or the NY Pizza & Deli or Dutch Cafe . We need space & it is very unlikely for the Lido to have a lot of space on embarkation day especially with 12 noon boarding time for every one now .

22 minutes ago, Laminator said:

Everyone now has the same boarding time now at 12pm. There are no longer separate boarding times. Maybe HAL feels with everyone checking in early and consequently boarding early they could not handle the influx of pax wanting to eat in the MDR on embarkation day,  

This whole new direction is not good for the elderly that frequents this cruise line 

4 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

We've dined in MDR about 25 percent of the time on boarding day.  It's usually really empty.

The good news is I can't remember the last time we've experienced an overcrowded, chaotic Lido on boarding day.  People come onboard at different times, are busy looking around the ship, checking things out.  And there's always something special at the carving station.  With MDR closed, they might make the buffet even more special on boarding day.

 

For us, not the end of the world.

What about the older people & those who are handicapped ? not so easy to navigate with walkers & scooters with a crowded lido 

15 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

I sent an email to this address mariner_society@hollandamerica.com

 

We just sent the e-mail as we are handicapped & I said that we then must order from room service if we can no longer have k=lunch in the MDR 

Where do you send the e-mail to request that the MDR be open for lunch on embarkation day ?

Amazing photos .Thanks for posting them 

2 minutes ago, bajae said:

I’m just curious how this move saves much money. I would think the cost of feeding passengers would be very similar no matter where they eat. IMO, this is more likely a staffing issue. Less staff is needed with passengers eating in the lido allowing more staff available for other embarkation activities. 

Whether is be a labor or food supply issue , Carnival still can save money  . No I do not like what they did at all .Even as a share holder with more than the 100  shares to get OBCs , it still erks me to see this happen . could it change back to the MDR llunch only if there are many complaints filed with the cruise line 

Seems to us Carnival Corp is cutting where ever they can with out loosing  business ;as they lower that huge debt & simultaneously increased their pricies across their fleets . nor that we like loosing the MDR ;however ,imo another cost cutting  event . The question remains how many other cost cutting events they will make . I don't believe it all these  cost cuttings comes from  HAL's headquarters in Seattle ,Wa ..The stock is going up so as a share holder I can't  complain .On the other hand some of this cost cutting really makes no sense to make the cruise experience less desireable

2 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Tamarind is not listed under Specialty Dining for next year's 35-day Hawaii/Tahiti voyage on Koningsdam. I have a sad!  

Crystal I have given up with the Tahiti cruise . We do have the 18 day Hawaii cruise . where are you seeing Tamarind not operating ?

Cliff

Take in not only the best bid price but are they offering  any On Board Credits . when dealing with a TA I alwau=ys rate them o nease of communicating  & their ability to follow up for us like on the HAL AARP special on board credit ,can they take our AARP gift cards ie

You will have to search the net as we can not tell you the identity  on Cruise Critic .Their rules .

When on a cruise ,especially of there is a  Meet & Greet  set up oj your Roll Call . when on the ship ask about  of any one is using the cruise bidding web site . .Again we have saved a lot of money over the years . Each TAS that bids our cruise already has a track recird of accomplishments that you can read . You should also check them on web sites like Yelp 

 We were using a particular person until he wanted to do every thing by e-mail .That would work but not all the time .so we now use TAs will the best posted bid price 

We use a cruise bidding board service  for all our cruises . We check out their standings with inthe industry .That info is shown always . We then look at the prices we been quoted by different TAs. We go with the best pricing . From there we may or may not build a relationship with that particular TA . It has been very cost effective over many years of  booking cruises 

It seems to us that  the Tamarind restaurant  on koningsdam  is our best choice  over the pther 2  restaurants for what you get 

Your pictures have a lot of scenic drama to them .Excellent photos !!

Club Orange sells out very fast  .  So if you want CO then book it very early . Cost is under 14 day cruise $50 per day for 2 people 14c days or longer $30 perc day for 2 people  .Good luck 

Thanks for the info  for  new bookings 

Love all the pictures .Wish we could chance going to the south Pacific again  .Just getting well up in yrears now 

cruisermom that is a lot of new inventory . We are amazed that you were able tp post all those ships entering into  the cruise business since 2021 .  More amazing  is filling   that new inventory with passengers .Now the question could be do the cruise lines have too much capacity  .Only time will tell all  

Thanks for all your replies . Planing future travels   takes a llot of planing   & your replies  shed light  on  booking future cruises 

3 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

It's called the law of supply and demand. As long as cruise ships are sailing full like they seem to be now, the fares will not go down.

 

If you are predicting a recession, that would probably lower fares as there would be less demand. But there have been predictions of a recession for quite a while now, but instead the economy keeps growing. 

We can agree that while ships are sailing full pricing will remain high  . About a potential recession that card is still in the deck imo . Federal government spending is at a all time high but ,it can't keep growing with out very severe consequences ;which most people will agree . Then the other side of the coin is  consumer spending . Can consumer spending be as  robust as it has been  or will it  slow down ?  Is a recession possible , imo yes it is possible this year .We see crypto & gold prices reaching all time highs  ,so we got to ask ourselves ,why ? .Thus ,should a recession happen ,by all means cruise prices will go down as the cruise line costs  will also go down ,imo