rkacruiser

My thinking as well! I have had the experience of having to run from one gate to another and arriving just after the door to the aircraft had closed as well as one time when I was the last person on the plane and a Flight Attendant was "barking" at me to get seated so the plane could back out of the gate. I hope your flight home went well. Great photos and reports! Thank you so very much!

As my world cruise came to an end, I discovered that all of the stuff that I had collected would not fit in the suitcases that I had along with the clothes that needed to come home. The Amsterdam's gift shop sold some nice HAL collapsible bags at a reasonable price. That bag saved the day. (In some ports that may have good prices on luggage, i.e. Hong Kong), some will buy another piece of luggage for that reason in anticipation of disembarkation packing.)

The pop-ups that I have experienced have had a reduced menu of selections than the stand alone on Nieuw Statendam. But, the items offered that, I suspect, are the most ordered are on the menu. What amazes me is the excellent consistency of the food and its preparation and presentation as well as the service from one ship to another. Dining at Rudi's on the evening of sailing is something that I would not consider doing. The stress, chaos, and getting settled on those initial hours could prevent a guest from really being able to appreciate the dining experience that will be presented. I have dined at the PG the first night and I did enjoy it. But, Rudi's is a "step above" the PG dining experience.

Yawn. What's the latest news? I think it was. Receiving one in in the recent years preceding Covid? No. As did I. Sometimes an article or two that would be interesting; photography was good. However, when compared to Holiday Magazine of yesteryear, both were woefully lacking.

I have been under the impression that some of the goodies do appear in the crew's dining room at times. Incorrect, am I?

Laundry service is usually very prompt. 24 hours or less; can be longer, though, but not more than another day. Be prepared for your underwear and socks to complain when you return home and discover that they are not neatly pressed and folded with one sock matching another sock. I only used the dry cleaning service once and recall very prompt service as well.

Smart. Nothing to be done at that time, at that place. My experience after many cruises is that if the soups are well prepared, most, if not all, of what I am served will meet my expectations.

Agree. So long ago, I don't have a good memory whether we did or did not use the buffet. Except, for the morning of disembarkation in Miami. We had some delay in leaving the ship and decided to find a table/seats one of the open decks overlooking Miami. The location must have been near the buffet and one of us ducked into the buffet and obtained some coffee and pastries while we waited. This was a significant moment in my cruising experience because it was then that I decided to do whatever I needed to do to convince my traveling companion and arrange my employment time periods to sail on the Royal Viking Line cruises that I had been "shopping" for awhile.

Thank you very much!

This explanation does not make sense if the dining facility is open for dinner. The F&B Manager was pointing one finger at the CDC while 3 others were pointing to him, in my opinion.

The Adventurer, as Sunward II, did have a small buffet. Nothing like what current ships have.

Thanks for posting these! Many, many good sounding choices with a few that are new to me. The Jubilee Celebration Dinner sounded extraordinarily good. I wonder how the "Coronation Chicken" compared to "chicken"?

I rather felt that way as a YC guest on MSC and decided to stop trying after more futile attempts than successful ones. I'll just "go along for the ride" hoping we didn't stop at each deck. There is a different "feel" when one is a guest in such accommodations.

Thanks for an interesting review and photos. Do you have any pictures of when you had tea? The over the head of the bed storage areas, I noticed, were present. Have seen this concept on other ships (most over the sofa, if there is one--Celebrity and HAL). How is one supposedly to make use of these, safely?

It was a fairly good day, but, celebrating a birthday on a ship would be even better.

I booked this tour and really enjoyed it. It was a full day, but, was very scenic and worth it. Enjoyed a nice lunch at Carcross and had time to explore a small museum which had an interesting RCMP exhibits.

Walking from Garage G to Terminal F, which is not a far distance, proved to be very challenging because of all of the guests jamming the sidewalk at Terminal G as well as the heavy traffic. At times, I had to walk in the street, hoping I wouldn't get hit, because of the number of people. Get a taxi and tip well, OP!

Agree. The current Great Lakes cruises are more expensive than I think the experience is worth. A day's round trip cruise on the S. S. Badger is a much better priced substitute. But, it wouldn't of the same quality as the small cruise ships now operating on the Lakes.

Agree. Santiago seems to be a different kind of organized city than other cities. There are probably some who would not care for the section of the city where the Sheraton was located. But, it met my needs. What else does a traveler need?

That has been my experience. What an inconvenience to have to turn them right side out! 🤣 I hope you went into the lobby. When I was there, tours of the building were sometimes offered. Not, however, on the date I was there.

There was a particular service that HAL used. The company went out of business during my cruise and my luggage was returned by a different company. HAL will be a better source of information for such a service than I can provide. It may well change from cruise to cruise.

I would not read too much into this unavailability of booking pop-up on a short cruise. If some Seattle "suit" makes a decision to eliminate Rudi's, it will be one more example of the incompetence of some of the senior executives in Seattle. New President? Yes? Same old poor decisions? I hope not. HAL has a winner with Rudi's either as a stand alone or as a pop-up. To eliminate it? Whomever would make such a decision must have gotten his/her MBA at the same prestigious Timbuctu University where I got my M. D. degree.

Thanks for an excellent post. As a public sector employee (a public school teacher), I think I understand your point of view and share it. I was taught to live frugally and to save and invest wisely, which I have done. Even living "frugally", remembering what travel experiences that I have had and which I shared (at my expense) with my Mother and Brother) is a marvel to me. How in the heck did I do that, I wonder. A few years ago, I decided that First Class/Business Class flights were affordable for me. Staying a few days at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort rather than a Fairfield Inn was a better choice. A HAL Neptune Suite beats an top of the category veranda stateroom. And, for me thus far, being a Yacht Club guest on MSC Meraviglia has been a cruise pinnacle. I hope that I will experience being a Grills guest on one of the Queens. My comment about the "Grill Guests Only" signs was not meant to be a negative when it would be read by others. My first experience of that was on QE2 many years before I encountered that on QM2. I had several more cruises under my keel between those two cruises. And, of course, such signs had not been encountered by me.

I sailed on her sister Cunard Adventurer when she became Sunward II. As Sunward II, she was structurally the same, as I recall, when she sailed for Cunard and was a very nice and modern ship at that time. Both ships were probably too small for some previous Cunard guests.

For what little it probably is worth, I will share a few thoughts about my Britannia experience on QM2 quite some time pre-Covid. The stateroom was one of the sheltered balcony ones. A very nice stateroom, bath, and cabin service. The veranda, however, because of the steel hull, prevented no view of the sea when seated in the comfortable deck chair. Great views of the sky, though. Wouldn't book such a stateroom again. Seated at a second seating round table for 6, next to a window, near the front of the restaurant. Only 4 were assigned (delightful people) until our officious and obnoxious Assistant Maitre d' added a Mother/Daughter duo which immediately altered the chemistry of the table. After two nights of "their performances", we had had enough of both them and the Assistant Maitre d'. I confronted him after that dinner and expressed what the original 4 thought of him as well as "encouraging" us to keep these two women at our table. The next evening, the two ladies "disappeared" and there was a noticeable change in the Assistant Maitre d's attitude. The dinner menu did not offer as many choices as I had been offered on HAL. Food was good, but not great. (Wine service and list was very good.) Breakfast in the Britannia Restaurant was the best. Many choices on the menu and all that I ordered were very good to excellent. Respectfully disagree. Wandering around as a Britannia guest and finding "Grill Guests Only" signs reminds one of what class I had booked. I have had that experience as a MSC Yacht Club guest. (I heard one guest say when his deck was passed: "Why the heck didn't we stop there?")