Roz

@Colorado Klutch, I'm not embarking in Seattle. I'm flying into Seattle and then taking the HAL transfer to Vancouver. On the HAL website, go into your acct. and look for pre- and post- travel. There will be info about hotels and transfers. The transfers are $79 each way.

I found the same thing to be true for my upcoming Alaskan cruise in September. I was looking forward to spending a few days pre-cruise in Vancouver, but the difference in airfare and hotel costs can pay for my shorex. I'm flying into Seattle a day ahead and staying at a hotel near Seatac. In the morning I'll take the HAL shuttle from the airport, and reverse the process at the end of the cruise.

@papa B me, I'm considering that same cruise.

I'm taking my 6th Alaskan cruise this coming September. My recommendation would be to take @dreamer321's advice and base your choice on itinerary. Alaska is all about glaciers and ports of call. Juneau is another port where Norwegian docks at an industrial port and you're bused in, vs Princess and HAL that get prime dock space. Do Norwegian or RC go to Glacier Bay? Don't dismiss Carnival. I did a great Alaskan cruise on Carnival.

Got back Dec. 27 from a solo Christmas river cruise on Tauck's ms Grace. There were about 12-15 solo passengers. What a way to spend the Christmas holiday! This was my first time on Tauck and they're a class act. The cruise started in Amsterdam and ended in Brussels. Tauck waives the single supplement if you book a Category 1 cabin on the lowest deck. The cabin was 150 sq. ft. and very well laid out. Here's my review in the River Cruising forum:

@Got2Cruise, Holland America has 2 14-day Alaskan cruises in both 2023 and 2024.

The Netherlands and Belgium are so small it's amazing how much you can see and do in a short amt. of time.

@Second seating, the Christmas market was small but nice in the main town square. There was ice skating and mostly food booths, but also a few booths selling crafts and clothing items. We were there on Christmas Eve and it was crowded. Plan on doing some shopping and sightseeing outside of the market because there's not enough there to keep you busy and occupied.

Here's the response I received: "Hi there, We've noticed there's a bug in the date system for our review submission form. Please go ahead and submit your review, and at the beginning type something like (Hey Cruise Critic, this sailing was December 20 but I can't pick that). We should be able to make sure the date is correct on your published review and just delete that little note to us. JoanP Community Support Assistant"

Their menus include local specialties that I wouldn't consider stereotypical mid-American fare. For instance, the first night I had Bami Goreng. We also had 2 different types of rouladen. The last night I had black tagliette (sp?) with mussels and prawns in a roasted tomato sauce. The one American dinner I recall was Christmas Eve - turkey breast rolled with stuffing, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potato puree. They did a nice job with it but there was no cranberry sauce. 😁 One day at lunch there were some delicious Belgian boulets (meatballs) in a tasty sauce. Then there was the Livar pork chop I had heard so much about. It was huge and mildly salty like ham. I was somewhat disappointed in it. It was rather dry and didn't have the rich flavor I imagined it would have coming from a specially bred pig.

@Host Jazzbeau, I posted my review of my recent Tauck cruise in this forum, but I wanted to submit it in the CC review section. I sailed last month from December 20-27, 2022. The cruise review form won't allow me to put in a December 2022 date; it defaults to January. There are only 2 choices for years - 2021 and 2022 so that's incorrect too as someone sailing this month needs a 2023 date. Do we have to submit a review in the same month as our sailing? If someone has a late in the month sailing it doesn't give them enough time. I sent an email to the CC help desk about this, but thought since you're a Host you may have more "pull" and be able to get this corrected or at least explain to me what I did wrong. Thank you!

Don't think I can work in a river cruise this year as I have two big ocean cruises booked - 31 day retirement cruise to South America and a 14-day Alaskan cruise. Looking ahead to 2024 for river cruises.

I was on the December 20, 2022 Yuletide Spirit sailing on the ms Grace from Amsterdam to Brussels. It was an outstanding cruise featuring Winterfest in The Netherlands and Belgium. It wasn’t marketed as a Christmas market cruise, so the focus was a bit different although we did have the opportunity to visit a couple of winter festivals in The Netherlands and a few Christmas festivals and markets in Belgium. Pre-Cruise I spent 3 days pre-cruise in Amsterdam at the Doubletree Centraal Station. Great hotel in a good location for cruisers and for getting around the city. I’m a Hilton Honors member and checked it out on my first visit to Amsterdam. Wonderful service that reminded me of the way things used to be pre-Covid. I booked my flights through Tauck. Even though I came in 3 days early and wasn’t staying at Tauck’s hotel, they still sent a driver to meet me at Schipol Airport. That was a nice touch. I booked 2 activities online for my time in Amsterdam. On Sunday I took a morning tour of the Rijksmuseum and on Monday I did an Amsterdam food tour. Enjoyed both immensely. Passengers There was a nice mix of passengers. Several families, about 12-15 solos like myself, and the rest were couples. All were Americans to the best of my knowledge, with the exception of 2 British ladies. The Cruise This was my first Tauck cruise. Prior to this I took 3 river cruises with Uniworld. I found the 2 lines to be more alike than different. I like Tauck's lowest category cabins (no single supplement for solos) better than Uniworld's, but I think Uniworld's food is better overall and there's more variety. Tauck's "aquarium" class cabins have larger windows and are above the water line. I will say Tauck's soups are outstanding and unique - cream of chestnut soup and mustard soup, for example. The 4 cruise directors were all helpful and informative and went above and beyond to make passengers feel welcome and comfortable. There were Christmas activities onboard such as a Secret Santa gift exchange, cookie decorating, Christmas carol karaoke, etc. And the ship was beautifully decorated for the holidays. All the excursions I participated in were outstanding, and each city we visited was unique and offered something different. It would be hard to name a favorite. All were well done. The dining room service was sometimes a bit off at dinner. For instance, if the hostess seated me at a table where people were already seated, she wouldn’t give me a menu or let the waiter know she had seated someone else. One night our table wasn’t offered rolls, and we had to flag down a waiter for wine. Two of the ladies already had wine. The waiter poured wine for the third lady but didn’t offer me any even though it was clear both wine glasses were empty. It could take a while to get tea or coffee with dessert if it arrived at all. Not sure if the dining room service issues were due to staffing shortages or inexperienced employees. I will say the waiters were good about asking if we wanted something off the menu for breakfast instead of the buffet or in addition to it. Itinerary Our itinerary included Amsterdam, Gouda (pronounced How - da), Rotterdam or Delft, The Hague, Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels. There was only one change to the itinerary due to wind and water levels that involved spending 2 overnights in Antwerp instead of one, and then being bused to Bruges and Ghent. I only visited Bruges as it was going to be too long of a day to do both. Be prepared to do a lot of walking and I can’t stress enough about wearing comfortable walking shoes. For example, in Bruges the buses aren’t allowed in the city center so we had to walk a mile in and a mile out, in addition to hours of walking around Bruges, most of it on cobblestones. My hips and knees were screaming at me that night, and I had to take an Aleve and drink a martini in order to be in shape for the next day’s activities. Throughout the cruise and excursions we were awash in cheese, chocolate, sausages, stroopwafels, and fish. The hot waffle I had from a vendor stand in Bruges and the oliebollen (literal translation - oil balls) in Gouda stand out in my mind. Not to mention the puffy little Dutch pancakes (poffertjes) with butter and powdered sugar I had the opportunity to eat twice. Weather The weather was pretty much what I expected - cold, wet, windy, and dark. Did I mention wet? The most useful items I packed were a compact umbrella, lots of socks, gloves, and athletic shoes with thick soles for staying out of the water. Some people were prepared and others weren’t. The worst weather we encountered was the evening we were in The Hague. It was rush hour and dark and raining, making it almost impossible to see the bike lanes and puddles. I spent all my time at the Mauritshuis Museum as I needed an indoor activity. Flights As I previously mentioned, I had my TA book my flights through Tauck. Going over I was on American Airlines, Nashville to Philadelphia and then Philadelphia to Amsterdam. I had a 4 hour layover in Philadelphia that turned into 2 hours due to delays in Nashville. It took me about 40 minutes to get from the gate where we landed to the international terminal. I returned home from Brussels on December 27 on British Airways. Despite dire warnings, I made it back on schedule. The saving grace was I flew direct from Heathrow to Nashville, bypassing the East Coast weather mess and of course I wasn't on Southwest. I got up at 2:15 am so I could make the flight from Brussels to London, then had a 6.5 hour layover at Heathrow. It was a L-O-N-G day. Miscellaneous The last time I visited Europe was in 2018. A big change I noticed on this trip was the number of businesses, including small mom and pop shops, that only take credit and debit cards. I was told this came about as a result of the requirement to have contactless payment during the peak of the Covid epidemic. It was also easier to use my AMEX card. I carry 2 cards with me, one AMEX and one Visa. The only place I couldn’t use my AMEX was for a canal boat ride in Bruges. I brought some leftover euros with me to get me started, but didn’t have a need to get any additional from an ATM. I ended up with a zero balance on my onboard account. All food, drinks, excursions, tips, and transfers were included. Conclusion Tauck is a class act, and I will definitely consider them for future river cruises. This was definitely an itinerary I would consider doing again, and I heard other passengers echo the same sentiment.

@notamermaid, there was only one day when we had some daylight sailing. I knew The Netherlands was at or below sea level and had reclaimed a lot of land from the sea. There is water everywhere! In fields, around homes, along roads, etc. It was interesting.

The ship was decorated for Christmas, and there were special meals and activities such as a secret Santa gift exchange and tree decorating. After Christmas dinner Santa brought gifts for the children onboard. There were enrichment lectures on holiday customs in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Hi all. I'm going to be writing up a detailed review this weekend, but wanted to give you my initial thoughts. I returned late afternoon on Tuesday as scheduled. The saving grace was I flew direct from Heathrow to Nashville, bypassing the East Coast weather mess and of course I wasn't on SW. I got up at 2:15 am so I could make the flight from Brussels to London, then had a 6.5 hr. layover at Heathrow. It was a L-O-N-G day. This was my first Tauck cruise and it won't be my last. Prior to this I took 3 river cruises with Uniworld. I found the 2 lines to be more alike than different. Service levels were the same. I like Tauck's lowest category cabins better than Uniworld's, but I think Uniworld's food is better and there's more variety. Tauck's "aquarium" class cabins have larger windows and are above the water line. I will say Tauck's soups are outstanding and unique - cream of chestnut soup and mustard soup, for example. This was a Yuletide cruise, not a Christmas market cruise, so the focus was a bit different although we did have the opportunity to visit a couple of winter festivals in The Netherlands and a few Christmas festivals and markets in Belgium. There was only one change to the itinerary that involved spending 2 overnights in Antwerp instead of one and then being bused to Brugges and Ghent. I only visited Brugges as it was going to be too long of a day to do both. I spent 3 days pre-cruise in Amsterdam at the Doubletree Centraal Station. Great hotel in a good location for cruisers and for getting around the city. Wonderful service that reminded me of the way things used to be pre-Covid. I pre-booked 2 activities. On Sunday I took a morning tour of the Rijksmuseum and on Monday I did a food tour. Enjoyed both immensely. There were probably about 15 passengers sailing solo like myself. This was the first Christmas that I didn't spend either with family or by myself. It was such a fun time that I want to go somewhere for Christmas from now on. If you have any questions while I'm writing up my review, let me know and I'll try to answer them.

@Canal archive, the thought of hot wine makes me ill 🤮 but thank you for the other advice.

This is not acceptable food handling on ANY cruise line. Did you bring it to the attention of a Lido manager?

@worldtraveller99, thank you so much for your review. I'm taking my first Tauck river cruise in 11 days, a Yuletide cruise thru the canals of The Netherlands and Belgium, Amsterdam to Brussels. So far I've been impressed with the service I've received from Tauck. @Host Jazzbeau, your Elvis comment cracked me up.

I didn't see this thread and started another one about this same subject. Sorry....I'm sure the HAL forum "police" will beat me about the head.

Yesterday I received this email from HAL regarding my Alaskan cruise next September: "Dear Roz, We look forward to welcoming you aboard your upcoming cruise! To show our appreciation, we’d like to extend a special offer. Receive a bonus $100 Onboard Credit on or before January 31 when you pay your remaining cruise fare balance in full by January 3.* Your Onboard Credit is the best way to enjoy a relaxing massage, more adventures ashore or perhaps an elegant dinner at the Pinnacle Grill." Usually when companies make offers like this it means they're having cash flow problems. Your thoughts? I have 2 cruises coming up shortly so I'm in no position to pay off the Sept. cruise even if I wanted to. One of the reasons I'll never sail with Viking is their onerous final payment schedule, which requires you to make final payment shortly after putting down a deposit, even though the cruise may be one or two years away. I've always thought they use their passengers as a bank to finance their rapid expansion.

I consider myself to be a fairly savvy world traveler. My reasons for river cruising and booking with a TA have nothing to do with an inability to do my own research. As a solo female cruiser, I like the safety and security of cruising vs. just striking out on my own. I also like being able to be with others and by myself at times, depending on my mood. Not having to figure out each day how to get from Point A to Point B is a big plus to me. I also like being able to essentially pay for 90% of the travel cost upfront, making it easier to budget my travel dollars.

@crusin'k, I was looking in the app store this morning and found out my phone doesn't support the latest version of Navigator, nor does my Samsung tablet. I can still use the version I currently have on my phone. My phone is several years old, probably time for a new one before my next HAL cruise in March.

@crusin'k, Tracfone is your service, not the kind of phone you have. You may have an older phone that doesn't support the latest version of Navigator.

Thanks for all your great suggestions. I'm online researching and comparing. Will report back later.