cathaana

True (we usually don't).

If you don't mind booking through a German TA though (they speak English), you can use Kreuzfahrtberater.de which will give you a nice on-board credit. Sometimes they even have a 'double' promotion which can easily give you more than 400 Euros in credits.

Also, Hapag Lloyd has an Adventskalender every December on their website, which often gives on-board credits to use on any cruise (you have to book in the following few months though). You can even use the Adventskalender vouchers when booking through a TA instead of HL.

My impression of the Europa (after 4 cruises) is pretty much the same.

A few notes though:

- Wearing jeans is no problem in the Lido since the dress code doesn't apply there.

- Ice tea is free all the time. And with the free water in the fitness center, the included mini bar, all the events that include alcohol as well as the the afternoon tea, we have had a $0 beverage bill without going 'without' (hubby loves expensive dessert wines though, so we usually don't manage :D).

- I haven't noticed the 'not-my-job'-attitude but I can see it happening - it is a German ship after all ;)

We have chatted with several of the international hostesses on our Europa cruises and also with some of the English speaking passengers (on our (non-bilingual) cruises there were about 4-10).

It seems that menus and the daily information are translated every day by the hostess.

During the tours, they have one of the staff translating as much as possible.

In general, all staff members speak English to some extend.

There are no announcements in English aside from drill. Not sure whether they have an English newspaper in the library but you can definitely request it.

An important difference between the Europa, and the Europa 2, is that the former no longer has 'International' cruises, so cruises are conducted solely in German.

 

Additionally, the Europa requires a far more formal dress code.

But that only means that there are no official bilingual cruises anymore, right? :confused: If there are English speaking cruisers on-board, they'll still be looked after by the international hostess. At least that was the case on all the cruises I've been on (which where not designated 'international'). Hard to believe they wouldn't offer that anymore...

Maybe one of the music cruises by Hapag Lloyd? We'll be doing the 'new voices' one as we love opera.

My husband and I are your age/younger and have always enjoyed the Europa. Generally, the Europa 2 is probably more suitable for younger cruisers though.

They do have a club you can join (for a fee). You will collect miles for your cruise (360 per night) which you can then exchange for discounts, on-board credits (700 miles for 50 Euro), free cruises or upgrades. We recently used our miles for a 1.750 Euro discount per person on our cruise.

No free extras though.

tiggis,

One thing that irked me on my cruise last year was being charged for bottled water during a meal.

Charging for water is a very German thing so I doubt it will change. We got around it by always drinking (the unsweetened) ice tea which is free funnily enough.

I wouldn't worry too much about the clothing. On my cruise one guy always wore jeans with a suit jacket and most of the other men leaned towards the 'professor' look. I usually wore a dress or skirt with a nice top or jeans with a jacket.

IIRC there is no buffet for dinner. Just a set menue as alternative to the main restaurant.

The food was very good in both locations.

However - I wasn't aware of the point mpfund has made regarding pre assigned tables - this could be a real red flag for us.

You can request a table for 2 but otherwise it's preassigned tables (but you can always ask to switch tables).

They open an alternative dining venue several times a week (which I used quite regularly to escape my table :D - not that the people were horrible, we just didn't have much in common).

That ship looks wonderful!

 

I found an Asian itinerary I like on the Hanseatic. Anybody here has cruised on this expedition ship?

I cruised on the Hanseatic 3 years ago on a wonderful Sicily itinerary. Can highly recommend it.

Hapag Lloyd has a daily Easter special at the moment. Today the prices for several Europa 2 cruises are reduced by nearly a third. You'll get a voucher so you don't have to decide right away whether to use the special.

I don't mind that HL does not include alcohol but free water would be nice (totally against German tradition though). But the minibar is free as are tea/coffee and ice tea. And prices for alcohol are very reasonable.

and maybe a second in the Piano Bar ?:)

I opened a roll call thread so we can discuss our get-together without cluttering this thread.

Then we should meet up for a drink at the Sansibar. :D

The Caribbean cruise was actually our cheapest HL-cruise. ;) (But also the most boring.)

On which cruise will you be in May?

They have a 2-for-1 special for the Europa 2 cruises EUX1410 and EUX1411 at the moment which makes it a lot more affordable. If we hadn't just booked another Europa cruise we probably would have made use of that.

We are looking at the Amazonas, Antarctica, and PNG cruises of the Hanseatic (or maybe the Bremen). They have a few other really interesting routes but those are the ones that are on top of our list.

On the Europa sometimes but on pretty much all the Hanseatic and Bremen cruises. Europa 2 I haven't seen any either. I don't think it goes with the 'vibe' that they are trying to create there.

Hapag Lloyd's Europa allows jeans everywhere during the day but at night only in the buffet restaurant. I would have to ask during my next cruise whether they allow jeans (if with jacket) in the MDR at night.

Hapag Lloyd's Hanseatic and Bremen are quite informal and I saw several people wearing jeans at night. A lot of times not even with a jacket, just a nice shirt.

In St. Petersburg, we had private concert in the Heremitage with 1.5 hours to walk around after they had closed for the day. I checked a few tour operators but couldn't find any that offered something similar. And if I had it probably would have been prohibitively expensive.

I don't mind sitting on a bus for a bit if I have a guide who really knows what he is talking about or having a larger group (10 in St Petersburg) for events like the above-mentioned. So I'll stick with private tours when doing 'normal' stuff and with Hapag Lloyd when they do their special stuff. :D

My last tour guide was a professor with degrees in Art History and Archeology who spent same time at Oxford and has lived in several countries including Egypt and Italy and works for the UNESCO world heritage center as an advisor. Another one had degrees in History and Archeology and has several books published. If you know tour companies who offer tours with people like that (especially in Italy or Spain) please let me now as I haven't found any.

That might be true for 'normal' tours but any Hapag Lloyd expert tour is probably better and cheaper than what you could arrange by yourself.

The prices are very reasonable, especially the cocktails (less than 6 Euros). Tours are also very reasonably priced and usually quite good.

Tips are included. Even if they weren't - this is a German ship, so tips really are optional.

I found the article and I think in that part they were talking about the separate area for children and the baby sitting service Hapag Lloyd offers (if there are 4+ children on board).

Hapag Lloyd has a number of 'kids cruises', usually during spring/summer/fall breaks when they offer special tours and activities for children. My next cruise on the Europa will be one of those.

I do agree that outside a bilingual sailing I'm not so sure I would recommend Hapag Lloyd. The English speaking couple on my last cruise seemed pretty happy though. It might be better on the Europa 2 but I didn't find anybody who had sailed her (I asked around on my Europa cruise). We thought about booking them, but the mostly one week-routes they do at the moment are a bit boring.

Finally read a write-up on the Europa 2. It apparently has accommodations for children and their nannies -- not something that U.S. luxury passengers are looking for. The staff speak both English and German and they even offer some excursions with English speaking guides (not many and they were described as being "vanilla".) In the USA Today article (dated July 5th), it sounds as though they are trying but have a long way to go in terms of attracting English speaking passengers.

 

Last week, the 516 passenger ship was carrying around "a half dozen" Americans.

 

Another issue could be the German views on nudity. There are coed saunas, steam rooms and showers in the spa. This is something very common in Germany.

 

Another cultural difference is the way dinner is served. Europeans waiters take food orders first, before taking drink orders. Americans, of course, like their drinks brought out quickly, thank you -- and keep them coming.

 

If this were a new Silversea, Regent, Seabourn or Crystal ship, we would consider booking (without the quirks and children). They identify themselves with Seabourn. IMO, they are more closely related to Silversea since they are European-owned. Perhaps they could learn something from Silversea in terms of catering to English speaking passengers.

The 'accomodation for children and their nannies' refers to connecting suites called Familien Appartement (2x20sqm). I doubt you will find many children on board though considering the cost of about 10.000 Euros for the cheapest cruises.

Taking food orders before drink orders is not normal in Germany. And it's certainly not a Hapag Lloyd thing either since they didn't do that on either the Hanseatic or the Europa. But drink orders are often taken by a different waiter, so maybe the 'drink' waiter didn't get to them before the 'food' waiter did.

For those of you interested, I posted some notes and photos of the Europa in the Other Cruise Lines forum.