cabinluvn

Thanks for the great review. We sail on her in January.

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I am really sensitive to cigarette smoke and I hate to be around it. We only sail HAL because of the ships and the service. We don't like the mega ships, like the fact there are not many children and don't do activities like rock climbing. We did a TA and never smelled smoke, it it was in March and we had really rough seas, so we were not out on our balcony. I guess it is a roll of the dice, but worth is for us. Our next cruise is in January and we got an aft corner cabin. It is a w/c accessible next door, so hoping if is someone with a disability they won't be smoking. If it is, we can move around the corner.

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We had smokers on both sides of our verandah on our Mediterranean cruise. It was worse in port when we wanted to stand and watch us come into port...morning when they were having their first smoke, I guess. We were mid ship, but it depends on which way the wind is blowing whether or not you get the stink. It drove us inside. We did have chances to sit outside and have wine so we did enjoy it smoke free sometimes

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http://rivercruiseinfo.com/content/river-levels

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I googled the river levels and it said all rivers were at good levels,msg I am hoping they will be good to go for us. We board our ship from Prague on September 26

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We did a good search and read so many reviews from unhappy people, we decided we will never sail with them. They must put all their money into the TV ads and catalogs and not customer satisfaction

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Sounds like a standard auto reply from Viking

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It was my understanding that you could not order any drink above a value of $8. Even if it was $15 you still could not get a bottle of wine...maybe a glass of cheap wine

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I find his very unfortunate. The $300 OBC, the Pinnicle dining and the Canaletto dining, along with then$50/pp/pd drink allowance was certainly not worth the $1000pp extra charge on our trip. I would have done it if we could have had alcohol ordered to our room to enjoy on our verandah or been able to order a nice bottle of wine in the MDR or Pinnicle, but being constrained to drinks under $8 was the deal breaker, not being able to have it delivered to our suite was just silly. We can drink a lot of alcohol for $1000/pp. We got the wine package with two Pinnicle dinners and will bring our 1 bottle/pp on board and be happy as clams!

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We had it removed from our Panama cruise and saved $2000. You can't order drinks in your cabin and the limit is $8/drink, so you can't order a bottle of wine. We don't drink soda pop or coffee, so it was pretty much useless. We ordered a wine package that included dinners in the Pinnacle Grill for a fraction of the Explore 4

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You can have the Explore 4 removed and save a ton of money

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I think drinking liquids with ice would apply to third world countries, not on the ship

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I would say the atmosphere is laid back. The ship is not a noisy conglomeration of kids yelling, loud music and PA announcements. We did a 16 day TA and finally had to limit our daily activities in order to just sit and relax...meaning there is more than enough to keep you busy on sea days. Your daily newspaper will keep you informed of all the activities. We like the atmosphere and have never felt a lack of something to do. Many options for dining during the day and evening. We love the food..never have had a bad meal, but then, if I am not cooking, I am grateful someone else is

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Thanks, blizzardboy. We are also in an aft wrap and I would love to be able to stay there, watch and listen. Hope we can heat the PA system

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Is the lecturer able to be heard on one's verandah or must you go to someplace like the crows nest to hear him/her?

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Snook, we are doing the canal on the Zuiderdam as well...January?

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We take Airborne the day we leave. We wipe down everything we can around our airline seats. We also put a smear of bacitracin under our noses to capture any errant germs. We wipe down everything in the cabin and use the hand sanitizer the ship provides. We wash our hands when we get back to our cabin. We never, ever touch our mouth or eyes unless we have washed our hands first. That is the port of entry of most viruses and germs. We had many intra continent flights when we traveled China and Tibet and failed to do that a couple of times. We both got very sick the day we left to fly back. Talk about a miserable flight home! I felt badly about flying sick, but there was no possible way we could have stayed an extra few days in Beijing by ourselves. That is the only time we have been sick during travel and we do not want to repeat the experience.

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We are on the Zuiderdam January 4. We are wary of flying in January, so have decided to drive to Florida and then extend our trip with a week in the Keys. That will shorten our winter greatly!

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Blizzardboy, we also got an aft wraparound cabin for our cruise in January. I am assuming you are also from the north, hence the blizzardboy!

When I think about going to the lounge for Danish and yogurt, I think that would mean I would miss breakfast in the Pinnicle Grill. I anticipate that being one of the great perks. Breakfast in the Lido is a hassle and I will be nice to avoid that

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No, never used concierge services from a hotel. Thanks everyone. I think I have some idea of who to call for what services

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Sorry to be so dense, but how is the cabin steward different from the concierge? One attends the cabin and the other is there for ship services? What about the people that attend the Neptune lounge? Our cabin is a long way fro there and I don't see us using it. If we frequent it, do they also get a tip at the end of the cruise?

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I had no idea what they actually did, so than you very much. We are not used to asking for help doing things,so I think it will be hard for us to enlist their help. I can see us asking for appetizers being brought to us so we ca enjoy a bottle of wine before dinner!

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I hate to be ignorant, but what would I be asking the concierge to do that I wouldn't be asking my cabin attendant in a verandah suite to do?

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We snagged out first Neptune Suite at a reasonable price. The best we have ever done is a verandah suite. I am assuming you tip the attendants for the suite above and beyond what they take out for for daily HSC. Wondering what the acceptable amount to give them at the end of the cruise would be

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Google GENvisa. That is who I went through to get my visa for Tibet. I think they do visas for all countries

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