karmies

We are headed to the Leeward Islands in October. There is not much information about the birds of the region in print. Here is a link for a decent field guide and another for a good list of birds that frequent the islands. I also bought a laminated card of 77 fish species found in the islands; if you are headed to Raiatea consider an excursion to the Taha'a Coral Gardens for snorkeling. 

Local birds: https://www.manu.pf/les-especes/

Field guide for birds: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691023991/a-field-guide-to-the-birds-of-hawaii-and-the-tropical-pacific

Taha'a Coral Gardens: https://www.snorkeling-report.com/spot/snorkeling-coral-garden-tahaa/

Fish guide for snorkeling: https://www.readinglength.com/book/isbn-1601903944

Have a great trip. 

Hi!

 

A year from now will be my first time on HAL, sailing to Alaska on NA. We have booked a CQ, overlooking the bow; it is a bit larger than most OceanView cabins.

The one photo I can see of a CQ room, does not show a small couch in it! Please assure me that there is a couch and table in the seating area!

Many thanks!

I looked at a photo on a website full of Hal Facts and in those pictures for this cabin one can see a small couch and small table on the wall opposite of the desk and abutting the bathroom wall.

We did the same for our upcoming cruise and our PCC added the explore 4 to our booking. I could not see the explore 4 anywhere on the reservation and asked then received a confirmation email. It proved unnecessary because once I could print my cruise documents it was listed on them. This approach still gives you 50 days to resolve the issue should you find it is not on your documents.

chengkp75,

You know far more that I do about this stuff, but one question. I always thought that the water displacement of each specific ship also went into the calculations. Maybe this is from years ago? of from my mistaken information.

This was the correct formula prior to 2016; however, the rate structure changed to a per/berth calculation with a slightly higher charge per berth for the new canal.

That is wonderful news; when do you sail?

The bedside USB charging stations were part of the $300M suite upgrade process that Holland America announced last year. Prinsendam is not listed as one of the ships that will receive these suite upgrades.

From a press release:

First up to receive the new suite accommodations will be the Eurodam during its December 7-20, 2015 refit and the Oosterdam during its April 3-18, 2016 dry-dock followed by the Nieuw Amsterdam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam, and Noordam. The Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Volendam and Zaandam will also receive the new suites during their respective dry-docks scheduled across the next few years.

Take a look at this post, suggestions here may help

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2529174

USN59-79

I read last year that TSA was going to relax security and allow you to carry a small pocket knife on board a plane. Whatever happened to that?

The TSA did relax this standard; however, they did it without consulting the airline unions and the pilots and flight attendants were not the least bit happy with this decision. Not unreasonable IMO given the damage a person armed with a box cutter was able to inflict. TSA quickly backed away from the issue and the regulations stand as before.

HAL removed the interactive deck plans from the site about three weeks ago. They replaced them with the new .pdf format. Based on other threads I have read, no one seems to know if this is the new reality or just a temporary solution while the interactive deck plans are updated.

We used our PCC to make arrangements and are booked on the Prinsendam in September. Our last payment is also due 90 days prior to the cruise date. I believe you can view the final payment date on the HAL site in the "Make a Payment" if you are already booked.

Please add karmies for the

Prinsendam - 21-Sep-17 - 14 day Burgundian Explorer (Ams – Bcn)