sagavista

Hi Bill & Mary Ann,

Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish that originated in the Arab world consisting of meat cut into thin slices, stacked in an inverted cone, and roasted on a slowly turning vertical rotisserie or spit.  Have enjoyed your posts to date.  Smooth seas.

Best,

Ed 

Do you know how many passengers are on this sailing?

Will be stopping at Santa Barbara on a California Costal Cruise.  I have one choice to visit wineries in the area: do I go to the wineries of Santa Ynez or the wineries of Santa Barbara?  Also, I gather it's a tender port - does anyone know the name of the dock where the tender arrives.

Thank you

Hi Cruisemom42.   If you could share the name of the guide/arranger with me it would be much appreciated.  My email address is: egtighe@gmail.com.

Regards.

I would leave a note detailing what you witnessed for the Hotel Manager to address.  Inform him you are available to discuss.  By signing the note it lends more creditability to your account.  It will be up to the Hotel Manger to then address.  

The Volendam only had refrigerators in the the suites.  For all other cabins you had to rent a refrigerator for cabin use.

What a great day.  Enjoy your glass of Gluhwein. 

Looking for suggestions for private tours out of Rotterdam.  Have visited Amsterdam several times and will be staying in Rotterdam for this trip.  I'm having trouble finding options.  Would love your opinions and recommendations.

Thanks,

I read recently that the policy of allowing 2 bottles of wine to be brought on board and pay a corkage fee has changed very recently.   A couple on the Nieuw Statendam brought 2 bottles of wine on board and they were confiscated at the gangway to be returned at the end of the voyage.  They were not happy campers.  So you may want to inquire of the policy has changed. 

Statendam 4 and 5 and Veendam 3.

Statendam 1958 was the first world cruise.   HAL ships to complete a full World Cruise: Statendam, Rotterdam V, VI, Amsterdam, Veendam, Prinsendam.

I wonder what happened to the Stephen Card paintings on both HAL ships?  

Great photos of Tuxedo Junction.  Now you need Tuxedo Junction with a martini !!!!   A 35 day voyage is an elegant voyage especially in the South Pacific.  Smooth seas.

Ah! The Heavenlydam.

Since HAL ships are registered in the Netherlands maybe they can do cruises between the dutch islands of the Caribbean: St. Maarten, Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire?  It's an idea!  

Maybe HAL hasn't finalized the schedule.

Fred Olsen paid a lot less for the Rotterdam and Amsterdam - I think I will wait for the "buy one get one free coupon" in my local PennySaver before I pay $50m each for the Zaandam and/or Volendam.

Remember the Borealis world cruise does not return to the United States so you have to make your own arrangements to fly back home with ALL the luggage.  You should factor that additional cost into the final cost of the voyage.

Just an FYI - Carnival still has some old tonnage in its fleet it hasn't disposed of and Princess has not been touched to date.  I would expect those lines will be pared down before additional HAL tonnage is reduced.

Is the possible new owner willing/able to put a $100 million+ into each ship (not peanuts) to update and fix 25+ year old ships?  It goes back to the old question, do you buy a used car or a new car?

There is no source to the demise of the Pacific Princess.  It's a RUMOR!  All ships have a price for sale - I would think CCL would offer a good price to either Azamara or Oceania to add to their fleet.  Although do they have the $$$$ to buy?   

Just received a notice from Cunard that they are cancelling the published 2022 cruises of the QM2.  This is the second Cunard voyage that has been cancelled.  FCC is a joke as the line doesn't know what to expect, so why rebook?  It makes no sense to publish a schedule at all.  Frustrated.

I believe both the Bolette and Borealis are too big to transit the Kiel Canal.

FYI - There was also an article in yesterday's NYTimes on the Diamond Princess and Covid-19.  Not good.

The only itinerary Fred Olsen has announced to America is a 34 day cruise from the UK to the east coast of the US on the Balmoral.  Don't think HAL has much to worry about.  Besides if they do base a ship in the US, competition is good.