crystalspin

Where is the "Shaking My Head" emoticon???

If you sailed the Veendam, that was a smaller "S" class. Sailed twice in the (not Nieuw) Statendam with three adults in an Inside! Very roomy for an inside. Have sailed three times in "R" class ships: Zaandam with three adults in an upsell Vista Suite -- VERY ROOMY! -- and once each on Zaandam and Volendam on the Lower Promenade deck (the actual Promenade walkway location) in oceanviews, steps from the largest balcony on the ship. Two of our family joined later and ended up in a nearby Inside, and it did have a loveseat and a chair. The last was 2018 and there was a sing-along piano bar in "the Mix" and a small dance band (pre-dinner) in the Ocean Bar. I believe that entertainment has been cut!!! There was at least one canned music "production" show the last night. I have not sailed in a Pinnacle class ship (have three booked!), but I recently looked into some of the cabins thereon -- most of the Insides are VERY small with only a storage cube-stool at the desk for seating! Like a dorm room or smaller. But as others have noted, there are Verandahs that are not Vista Suites and are more economical. In the COVID age, I would not sail without a balcony, although that is not the only reason I'm booked x3 on the Koningsdam! (Itineraries and not having to fly being the major ones.)

OTOH, putting one 'sheet' of moleskin permanently in the skinny inside pocket of my (only) 21" bag adds little weight or bulk. Sometimes searching for things you didn't bring can be fun (thrift shops in Iceland? sign me up!), but sometimes combing store after store takes away from the fun (ShoeGoo in Ketchikan for us). Of course you can't plan for everything with carryon only...

Don't book immediately: follow it for a while until you see the trend. I personally wouldn't be looking to book (for next August) until after the holidays... But that could be pre-COVID thinking...

Following.

I suspect you are looking at an older website, or some website that has not updated its information to match the terminology HAL uses. If you go to cruisedeckplans.com and "Enter Public Site"; click the orange ship shape in the top left corner, choose ship by typing Z twice... when it loads, you will see diagrams of the three classes of suites on Zuiderdam: Signature, Neptune, and Pinnacle.

I think you will not be in the smallest insides on the ship! I recently had a reason to look at Spa Insides on the Pinnacle class (the NS is one) and they are definitely the smallest possible!

"Perks" for a Spa Cabin (Inside or Verandah) are pretty slim. There two or three smaller bottles of flavored Vitamin Water, and one or two larger bottles of mineral water. You get the use of a yoga mat, an iPod dock/speakers, possibly a mini-fountain noisemaker (have only seen that pic from N.Amsterdam), and as of 2016, two pedometers. None of which are yours to keep! The inside cabins are very small, with only a backless storage stool to sit on other than the bed. But the location is handy to a number of areas! See the deck 10 pics here: https://halfacts.com/pinnacle-class/ The K'dam Verandah entry has a mini review...

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Like @dmcfad2, we would have certainly made 4* in March of 2020 on a long Hawaii-Tahiti cruise. "But we all know what happened." Now, we will have the free laundry FOR the make up So.Pacific cruise in 2024.

You will be welcomed on HAL no matter the stars on your card! Just give those hard-workers a big smile! We have one cruise each on NCL and RCI. I would not sail with NCL if the cruise was free. RCI was acceptable, with similar HIGH levels of service and a livelier Attrium; I would book again for the right price/right itinerary, but they do not email me so I will probably never find out about such a cruise! I have also booked and had to cancel 3 or 4 Princess cruises, but (1) they are no longer sailing out of S.California, and (2) Holland America suits us SO well it's hard to stray!

First HAL cruise 1999 (after which 1*) I was 41. Third HAL cruise 2014 (after which I was 2*+18pts) I was 56. Fourth HAL cruise 20 15 (after which I was 3*+13pts) I was still 56. Note this was a 26-day TransAtlantic with a number of HAL excursions to add Onboard Spending Points! Currently sitting at seven HAL cruises completed and 156 points (44 to go to 4*). The B2B we are booked on over coming New Year should put us to 4* if spending bonus points are figured as in the pre-COVID past! ETA: I am 64 and will be 65 by the time of those cruises.

@danny1951All of the HAL ships sailing to AK have "triples" that are not suites. The Volendam does not have Verandahs, so you may be looking at a Vista Suite (in order to have a balcony) that is also a triple! But that ship does have OV-triples... The rest have Verandahs and some have the sofa bed.

Which ship?

You have to do the math for every situation. Your 18-day cruise also being sold as an 11- plus a 7-day would give you 2x$100 ($100 for cruises 7-13 days), whereas at 18d it gave or will give you $250, and probably had a better fare as a single booking. I have a 9- plus a 7-day back to back at New Years, and will be getting $100+$100 -- if they could have been booked as one cruise, would have been $250! (My PCC checked, no-go. 😞 )

I will still call them Gala! My thought is that Gala is fancier than Dressy. While Gala left more options open than Formal which in Shore Speak would be Black Tie (-ish). So just a continued lowering of expectations... But who knows what "they" mean by it. We will continue with guayabera and sparkly top. Dark pants which we probably have been wearing all day. The menus look good! Thanks Collin!

I need 3 more $500 cards to pay off my Jan7 sailing. But I have 2.5 weeks to Final Payment. Here's hoping!

I did use the laundry bag on RCI but don't remember the cost. However one point I do remember is they didn't want any larger items, nothing that you would want hung, for instance. Nothing much bigger than a tee-shirt. Not sure if even PJs went in that bag. Also it is paper and tears easily so not much chance of stuffing extra in.

No but you are in pretty good luck as the next door cabin has a bunch of pics on halfacts: https://halfacts.com/pinnacle-class/10031-koningsdam/ Your cabin would be the mirror image (horizontal flip on IrfanView). ETA: there is also a video of 10031, the mirror image cabin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFVH1PP5LYA&t=4s

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I see you commented on a Nieuw Statendam sailing. Just checking the NS deckplans, I see some "I" insides that appear somewhat larger, but some of that is just proportion -- they are wider, but shallower. They are all mid-ship: four on Deck 1 and 2 each on 4-5-6-7-8. Those higher decks also have two each inside HANDICAP rooms, which are probably the ones that actually set that higher limit. There is usually no more and possibly less storage, as room has been left for mobility equipment to maneuver and park/be stored. So inspect the deckplans, but beware: a smaller room in a quieter location is probably better than a larger one under a showroom or galley!

Yes.

Looking at the itinerary, I would guess the 11th (sea day), either the 14th or 15th (earlyish all-aboard), and either the 19th or 20th (seadays). You might book your specialty dinners for whichever of the "either" pairs speculated above!

You might just look up the tour without the well-known business taking the major profit from the local tour provider. Just saying. I only found out they did this after using such a "service" in Ireland...

There are no 3rd party deliveries of alcohol (on any mainstream line at least). You will be able to pre-order a bottle of rum and probably the beer, but the size and price of the bottle, and number and price of beer will vary on the cruise line. For example, on Holland America you can preorder 1 liter of either Bacardi White rum or Myers Dark for $70.80 ($60+18% service), for your cabin, to be drunk only in your cabin. A package of Bacardi White + 3 cans of Coke is $82.60 ($70+18%). Assorted beers are available in 5-can packages, total prices of $33 to $36.

My step-mom sure doesn't [want to] travel without hers!