saatuk

Two ideas.

Hire a taxi.  When I was last there two years ago it was about $40 per hour.

Not sure about Crystal, but many/most cruise lines offer a tour for people with late flights that does some scenic things and drops you and your luggage at the airport. 

11 hours ago, Port Power said:

 

We were seated just before 7:45pm.  It was after 10:00pm when are mains were served.  Every table around us were either gone or eating dessert.  I totally agree with @drron29 about a good waiter keeping an eye on the order that mains leave the kitchen.  Our waiter was most definitely missing!  Other waiters were serving water and topping up our wine.  

 

Anyway, I spoke to the overall Restaurant Manager this morning at breakfast, so he will review last night’s service (and possibly staff).  And speaking to Grant also provided valuable answers.  I always find it better to speak directly to management about an issue rather than moan and do nothing, or write about it in the feedback after disembarking.

As the lout who left before the mains came I'm pleased with what you did.

Was so good our meal progressed as normal tonight.  Happy to sit with you anytime.

An

1 hour ago, canderson said:

Given where we will be for the first part, lots of Portuguese food? 😄  Arroz de Pato might be fun!

There have to be sardines involved.

23 hours ago, richard_london said:

 

It sounds like they haven't been able to do much overall with the ships to bring them into line with the original fleet.  I shall wait and see what other reviews have to say.  

 

I'm a solo traveller and I can't really afford or justify paying Fred's prices anymore which is a shame.  

There are areas that are unchanged but there are changes.  The casino is gone so much space freed up.  The NY Pizza is also gone, which is a shame since they made the best pizzas I've had on a ship.

One HAL captain sailed on Borealis's first cruise and blogged on several changes and areas that are blocked off presumably to change them later.  

If interested,  http://www.captainalbert.com  and the first post is about that cruise.

On 8/31/2020 at 12:50 PM, rotjeknor said:

You are all very lucky cruisers ! We’ve done 9 cruises on the Rotterdam and just love this ship. So sad to see it leave the HAL fleet ... I might just become a FredOlsen cruiser!

I think you'd like Fred.Olsen, Jaap.  They remind me a bit of HAL from several years ago.

I'm really interested in seeing what they do with Rotterdam.

Last November Balmoral did A Coruna, Malaga, Cartagena, Gibralter, Cadiz and Lisbon on the mystery cruise.

Coming up on final payment for this year's cruises:

Braemar (Fred.Olsen) Nov 24 French, Spanish, and Belgian Cities Overnights

and for the back-to-back

Braemar - Dec 3 Voyage to the Islands of the Caribbean.

Both leave Southampton. The TA ends in Bridgetown.

Should be good. Fred is good for Solos. 

On 5/8/2019 at 12:27 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

, but HAL seemed like the one holdout in the more mass market category to offer genuine port information 

oops. Finger trouble.

18 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

On Cunard, the CD is now "Entertainment Director," so perhaps they were trying to get a more modern term. (Maybe getting away from images of Julie McCoy?)  Heaven help us if HAL turns over CD tasks to the Event Planner. The ones I've seen have been pretty bad. At a cooking class, the Event Planner couldn't even give out the recipe cards without a major kerfuffle.

 

 My last 2 cruises were on P&O and there was no CD. The 'Entertainment Director' didn't really conform to the CD. No PA announcements, etc.  It was different. Mind you I expected PandO to be different. :)

There were certainly long talks in advance of each port with really good information from a staff member who had been there.

I was on the same cruise and was surprised how little Aurora was affected. We were having 4 M swells and Force 8 winds and the ship hardly moved at all. I was on deck 9 so pretty high up.

Well, I've got 3 cruises from Southampton coming up fast. 

First is a Mystery cruise on Fred. Olsen's Balmoral Nov 12, followed by back-to-back cruises on P & O's Aurora - Nov 28 Northern Lights and Dec 10 Baltic.  I'm very interested in seeing what British market cruises are like. I suspect being above the Arctic Circle in December is going to be kinda different.

Bryan

On 10/17/2018 at 9:01 AM, GTVCRUISER said:

Solo cruise on the Eurodam  3 days and a Wake Up 

I hope you enjoyed it.  In early december when I'm off on a cruise I'll miss sitting with you in the Crow's Nest like on Oosterdam last year.

I'll make another addition to the thread. When ordering in advance, I always order steamed vegetables in addition to the other courses and I've always get them. I usually do fixed dining, and after a couple of weeks, the amount of vegetables tends to increase as the waiter gets to know one.

If you are not doing fixed dining, I'm sure you could stop at the podium each evening and place your order for the next day.

You can place the order with the head waiter serving you. You specify your room number with the order. The next night if on anytime dining, you tell your waiter that you have pre-ordered and tell him your room number.

saatuk: are you saying you need to preorder off the vegetarian menu the night before for the next night's meal?

That's how I've always done it, and I believe that's the procedure for every special diet.

I have only used the vegetarian menu to order for the next night, not the current one. Usually that's the process for a special diet (I do low sodium and often vegetarian too, since I like the veg menu). There are vegetarian choices available on the main menu every day as well.

I WISH they'd change one of the ports we're visiting in February to Dominica!!

Amen. My favourite island.

In Palermo we walked around the city, we were supposed to do a free walking tour but the guides never showed up. It was a crowded noisy town. If I had it to do over again I'd probably take a tour to somewhere there. Perhaps someone with a better experience there might chime in.

That sounds like Palermo. I've gone to the botanical garden both times I've been there, but that's up my alley. It's a quite nice Botanical Garden, even though it's on one of the crowded, noisy streets. (I think the street name is Abraham Lincoln!)

Leaving town might be a better experience for sure.

I am considering a Panama Canal cruise on the Westerdam which disembarks 2/4/18 in Fort Lauderdale and then, on the same day embarking on a cruise aboard the Eurodam , departing from Port Everglades. Does anyone know if there is a shuttle service between ships at Port Everglades?

Taxis are there as well, but they have a minimum charge of either $10 or 11 (I can't quite remember). I did this in December.

I keep looking for Capt. Albert's blog to come back. Can't find it.

If/when it comes back and you/anyone sees it, please post the location here.

Thanks

https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/albert/

I sailed sister ship Equinox in December immediately after a Rotterdam cruise. I would agree that those S-class ships are gorgeous, almost spectacular. It does take a little getting used to the difference in size, but I was happy with the crew on both.

A few things that I found noticeable: Celebrity really wants you to buy a drink package, which is why I think that bar wine was just under $9 per glass, which came as a shock after 5.95 on Rotterdam. The jogging track on Celebrity's S class lies outside between two very popular locations (fore and aft) and can be very congested with people going for a snack, event, etc who don't even realize they are on a track. (and if it rains, you'll get wet). The entertainment around the main pool was continuous and loud once started - almost like Carnival, however there is a very nice glassed in quiet pool for adults. There was more trivia on Equinox - I think the least was 2 per day, often 3 or 4, sometimes back to back. There was more variety in entertainment as well, which makes sense on a larger ship with more venues.

I enjoyed both, but they are very different experiences.

Good to know - might bring back limoncello in Naples too :)

In Naples last November, I had 3 bottles of wine and went to the alcohol desk. They said 'no problem' as long as it wasn't Limoncello, so on I went ?! One person in my party was stopped to investigate a bottle of vinegar, though.

I think anything is possible.

 

I do know that the potential problem is that they are only in the bow and stern areas of the ship - rockier trip if it gets rough.

Inside cabins have showers. Those I've had (Vista, S, and R) worked well - no water outside the shower stall.

 

For esimon above: The BB King Blues Band does not play on the Maasdam. I believe they're only on the Vista, Signature, and Pinnacle class ships, not the Prinsendam, R and S class ships (Maasdam belongs to the S class).

There's BB King on Rotterdam, but I think it's the only R class. On Rotterdam they play in the Crow's Nest. I'm happy they're not on Maasdam since they're way too loud for me to enjoy.

Have fun, Ann. I'm jealous.

Bryan