headhunterke

Oh, I'm quite sad to see the Tamarind closed for lunch as I always looked forward to some of those delicious treats :)

It was a nice change than the Lido lunch I usually have.

I'm really hoping they will indeed reopen soon.

As 6rugrats has said, only use the official site. While other sites may give you a visa, you may end up paying a lot more and you run the risk of them never actually issuing the visa.

Price is fixed at $20AUD, so be extremely cautious when you're quoted any other price

Thanks for the update on the price. It has been a few years since I've been on either the Eurodam or the Nieuw Amsterdan.

Posting that menu just made me hungy. Thanks a lot for that ;)

Lunch at the Tamarind is free and dinner was $15 IIRC.

Unfortunately I do not have a menu, but I'm sure there are many others here who do.

Be careful when you send your passport in and need it back. There are a rising number of cases where they void the passport (as it should) but per accident they also void the page that includes the visa. Depending on the country they either punch holes in your passport or cut of the corner of the passport. Make it very clear you will need the page(s) with valid visa(s) and they may not be voided and/or damaged.

If you have any questions regarding passport and/or visa issues, you're welcome to ask me as I use these things on a daily basis at work and have the latest updates regarding immigration rules for each country.

Anecdotes and previous experiences are under no circumstances good feedback as these things can change from one week to another.

I also have no experience of being served 'weaker' drinks when using a package.

On my last 3 cruises with HAL, I was traveling solo. And whenever I was sitting at the bar watching a game, or just chatting with some fellow guests, I have never seen a bartender use any other bottles than the ones that were on display.

No, a couple of cocktails will not get you drunk, but over the last 4 years with HAL, I can not say I have had a drink that was watered down.

Thank you for the different views on this topic.

It gave me a good view of my options.

I don't work with a TA for very specific reasons.

Linking both reservations isn't really necessary for me since the cabins will not be from the same category. So, I have to switch rooms, even with the reservations linked.

Thank you so much everyone for these very helpful tips. I've learned a great deal from this and the questions I had are all answered. You people rock :)

Thank you for the quick replies.

I assume I need to let the front desk know I will be on a B2B but changing cabins?

Will my hanging clothes be stored until the cabin for the second leg is ready? Or will they move it as soon as those guests occupying that cabin have disembarked?

It's a great relief to hear I don't have to pack and unpack again as I will have a lot of stuff with me since I will be from home for almost 2 full months :)

Hello everyone

I am a HAL regular by now and have completed 6 cruises on the wonderful DAMships :-)

I've done a couple B2B's as well, but they were part of Collectors Voyages and thus were booked as 1 reservation.

For an upcoming cruise (kinda last minute, departure in less then a month), I would like to do a B2B as well, but in different categories. I usualy sail in oceanviews.

But I want to try a verandah cabin as well, but doing the whole B2B in a verandah is too expensive.

If I book this, are there any special requirements I need to take into account?

And how does checking in for the second leg work? I assume I need to deboard, take my bags and then check in again through the "normal" way?

If that's the case, can I get from the arrivals directly to the check-in area?

Of course, I'll disembark in the latest group as possible to avoid a long wait outside the terminal.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, my fellow HAL folks :)

I've read in another topic, the suites now have interactive TV's. Has HAL rolled this out for the other cabins as well, or just the suites?

Try searching alternative airport as well. I know it's often a zoo, but for an upcoming cruise, my airfare was a lot cheaper flying into MIA rather than FLL.

I know that's not a certainty, but it's most definitely an alternative if the airfare's too high or the hours don't suit you.

If your're flying during the busiest time of the day in a cruise port, you'll likely to pay a premium price for that. There's a good reason the other tickets are often cheaper.

I speak English, French, Dutch and German fluently and have a basic knowledge of Spanish. So I'm covered in quite a lot of areas. Whenever I travel to a region where they don't speak one of those languages, I try to learn some basic words. But I have a great app on my phone which will translate loose words into pretty much any language, even offline. So, when using that app, I'm slowly picking up some words as well.

Duolingo is great, and I use it (although not as often as I would want to) to help me improving my Spanish.

Glad I was able to help :)

I've looked it up at work using the Timatic, a book used to determine needed travel documents for all destinations and nationalities. The response was the following:

Passport

Passport required.

Document Validity:

Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid on arrival.

Visa

Visa required.

Visa Issuance:

Nationals of Australia can obtain a visa on arrival for a max. stay of 30 days at Beira (BEW), Nampula (APL), Maputo (MPM), Pemba (POL), Tete (TET) and Vilankulo (VNX) if holding a return/onward ticket , sufficient funds to support their stay and proof of purpose of visit. Extension of a further 30 days is possible. Fee: USD 66.-.

Additional Information:

Visitors are required to hold proof of sufficient funds to cover their stay and documents required for their next destination.

Warning:

Visitors not holding return/onward tickets could be refused entry.

So, to sum it up, you need a passport which needs to be valid on arrival and a visa which you will need before sailing, imo. As you can see, a visa on arrival can only be obtained at select airport and not cruise ports.

As a solo on HAL, you will be absolutely fine. While it is true HAL has an older (generaly spoken) crowd, you'll find all ages on board. However, to give you a funny story: when I travel solo on HAL (I'm 25 atm; first solo with them 3 years ago) they always ask me if I'm part of some entertainment on board :D

So, yes, there are young(er) people on HAL, but they will be in much fewer numbers compared to NCL or Carnival.

But, a lot of these folks are very young at heart. You'll be able to engage with many very friendly people. I have cruised both HAL & NCL and I must say I found the guests with HAL more friendly, a little more distinguished. Of course that can change with every voyage. There's rude and obnoxious people everywhere, no matter where you go.

HAL also has some smaller ships and I find that you run into the same people from time to time which makes it easier as a solo to get to know people a bit better.

I don't know if you have cruised solo before, but you shouldn't worry that you'll find yourself with nothing to do on HAL during the evenings. Yes, a fair portion of the ship goes to sleep a bit earlier, but there are always people enjoying a late night something.

Glad to read it all turned out for the best. Thanks for the info, and stay safe.

I hope this is just a false alarm. Everyone has been on high alert this past week but better safe than sorry, of course. It's too bad I have to get to sleep now, I'd like to follow this one live. Hopefully everyone will be safe and authorities won't find a thing. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed in my sleep.

Hmm, those cakes are delish, raider :-)

I remember the first time I brought one for my parents, they were sad when they finished it and asked me when I'd go back to bring some more. They also deliver them, but shipping rates to Belgium are quite high :(

Just as easy to get your tags from the porter at the terminal...no need to do a craft project or pay for luggage tag holder's.

That's what I always do as well. No need to print it yourself, and go through all the hassle of attaching it so it doesn't come off, unless you have the right size of labelholder. The porters have a lot of bagtags which can easily be fixed on your bag. You just need to fill in your name, statenumber, etc.

Sometimes they do have horse-drawn carriages between the cruise piers and the Paseo de Princesa. I don't know how much they cost however.

Are they back then? Because I think I've read some stories earlier this year they were banned in San Juan, but not sure if these specific ones were included.

I'm sorry if I caused some confusion about the degree of difficulty regarding the cobblestones. I made an automatic comparison with the cobblestones where I'm from. And these San Juan cobbles are very easy compared to the ones we have.

So, let me rephrase: Old San Juan is easily explored on foot if you have no mobility issues.

That is why excursions are available.

While that certainly is a valid point, all the Caribbean ports (the port area, not the island itself) are starting to look very similar.

I was all in favor of HAL's policy to try and include at least 1 authentic Caribbean port in their sailings if possible. And I agree with many that Samana was not your typical, tropical paradise, but at least it felt real. And that's what's very important to me when I travel.

I look forward to the review as well. I'm not trying to sound disrespectful, but what can you like about a port that has been built exactly how the cruise industry wants it? I mean, they literally planted the entire area there.

I think it has zero charm and the artificial feel of it makes it yet another generic port, as there are (too) many of them around the Caribbean. Eventualy, lines will stop docking at Bahia de Samana. Granted, there was not much to do there either, but at least it had some of the most pure wildlife I have ever seen. That was a relatively pure experience and at least you had a feel how the Caribbean are when you take all these artificial stores that sell the same around all the islands.