OlsSalt

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My favorite attacker repeated the same comment (word for word) here and on two other websites and on her satisfaction survey, saying, "I don't come to hear him "interpret" songs. (I loved how she puts "interpret" in quotes to indicate that what she really thinks is I was doing the song all wrong.) "He zigs when he should zag. If I can't sing along the whole time, he's a failure, because that's what I'm there for". Others think exactly the opposite. We love that he jokes with us and gets to know us (then) We hate the he talks too much. We love that he knows so many songs (then) We hate that he isn't playing the 5 songs we like best, every time we come in. You get the point.

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An empty house night after night pretty much says it all, when it was jumping night after night before. Greetings from the Rotterdam.

[QUOTE=lovely_serenity;40387121..... Doesn't matter how much you eat as long as you're happy! ^^

Warm regards,

My new rule is to be careful now upfront, and then finally go for broke only during the last week when my plates and dining schedules start looking a lot like your photos. :p

We love the teas too, and even the scones. The Indonesian one, the Royal Dutch ones are sure hits, and there is a very good Australian one when sailing down under.

The real treat we found at the Indonesian Tea is the offer of Sumatra coffee, in a french press. Lush, robust, deep flavor coffee comes from this Indonesian Island. In fact that is all we had on our last Indonesian Tea date - too much enjoyed on shore that day.

As the astute culinary adventurer you obviously are, you will be pleased to know we did pick up a pack of the infamous "poo-brew", civet cat pre-digested (ahem) coffee Indonesia is famous for and it was fabulous.

Hope all your travel dreams come true. I think they will!

Just found this thread and working my way up to page 20 so far, as we will be joining the Volendam in a few months ourselves.

What dazzles me more than even your entries and your photos is the candor and insightful observations you make about your journey, your family and yourself.

This is a rare gem of a thread and I think we all feel honored let us take this trip with you and your remarkable family. It has been a heart-warming story as we join you each day. I will repeat what others have also remarked: you are one heck of a writer and we all suspect you will go far in life, where ever you want it to take it.

My one observation however is it appears cruising is indeed wasted on us old folks who can only look with envy when we share how many times and ways you (as a young'in) could enjoy the multitude of dining options while onboard, while the rest of us with our creeping senior metabolisms get overweight just looking at lettuce leaves and ice water.

Just agreed to an upsell to Neptune suite SA for $499 a person for a 17 day Panama Canal cruise on the Zuiderdam. We have never done Neptune class on HAL and hopefully it will be worth the extra money. We did a grand suite on RCL for a transatlantic and really enjoyed it. Almost as much as our 2 Seabourn cruises.

 

Have a great next cruise.

Approx $30 a day pp extra is a good deal for the added luxuries.

Just a quick survey.

Would you pay 599 for an upsell from a V category to a Neptune on Nieuw Amsterdam?

We always divide the upgrade price by the days we cruise and then think about it. We recently got a nice Neptune upgrade offer on a 28 day cruise on the Prinsendam that penciled out for us very nicely, whereas earlier offers did not.

We loved the old bucket of bolts MV Discovery for her small size, intimacy, off beat itineraries, in depth enrichment programs and passenger mix.

She too was long in the tooth which showed up primarily in bubbling rust spots and layers upon layers of paint trying to keep those decades of sea away. Is this the case on the Prinsendam too, though she looks a lot more elegant and substantial in decor and cabin layouts than the MV Discovery. (Former Island Princess).

Counting the days and hours now before walking on board soon in Barcelona.

Too funny about Bordeaux. We were in Bordeaux (on the Prinsendam) about 2-3 years ago and had exactly the same problem with getting a gangplank installed. It took nearly 1 1/2 hours while passengers "stewed" onboard. The problem was that the French labor union refused to allow the crew to unbolt a small portion of a fence that blocked us from putting out our gangplank. After more then an hour 2 Union workers showed-up in their car and it took them about 30 seconds to remove the bolt. When our crew had attempted to remove the bolts they were immediately stopped by the police.

 

Hank

Thank Hank, for the explanation. That was my immediate suspicion too - French unions.

Thanks for the Prinsendam reports as our own countdown to departure continues and the warning since our first stop will be back in France, but hopefully no tenders for Sete and then Toulon.

Our concern naturally are the current tensions going on as one sails closer to the Middle East and the Russian Fleet sharing the Dardanelles and Bosphorus, but hopefully sanity will have prevailed by the time we get there in October.

However, I got a State Department travel advisory warning about travel in Turkey (Southeastern Turkey-where we are obviously not going) so things can change quickly and cruise companies do have to make alternate plans for everyone's safety.

We remain open to a special time also on the Prinsendam regardless, but perhaps not the final itinerary we signed up for, like the recent Noordam passengers who had Israel taken off their travel plans.

Sailing on the old Discovery which had a predominantly UK crowd, people wanted to dress up for dinner. No one forced them. Finding a cruise line where the passengers find pleasure in this tradition is the answer, not asking the cruise company to inflict its will against the wishes of those who don't care.

Even Crystal did not enforce their legendary dress codes as a gentleman wore shorts and shirt every single night When we asked the Maitre D' about this, his answer was he was a long-time passenger and they let him do what ever he wanted. However, virtually all the other Crystal passengers obviously enjoyed dressing up.

I totally agree. I don't understand the resistance of some to dressing up for formal nights.

 

Why is this so difficult? If people don't wish to comply with the ship's guidelines then why cruise?

Today's lightweight, easy-care packable dressy fabrics with plenty of flex and stretch are as easy to pack and wear as similar casual clothes. Men's tuxedos fall into the same category. Easy care, easy wear but still look marvelous. Bathing suits are the real torture. :eek: Should we eliminate those now too? My long black velvet gown still goes into my suitcase, along with easy wear sparkle tops, black silk pants and skirts. How much easier can it get? Except for DH who only has to pack his tux once.

Very well said! And for those folks who do care about such things, I choose to wear a jacket and tie on so-called formal nights, but it is my choice, not yours.

The choice is the cruise company to establish, honor and/or enforce. Ship travel requires a higher degree of group conformity to standards of conduct on many levels that other modes of transportation, which passengers understand and commit to when they sign up.

I don't understand why people even care what other people wear. If you're comfortable with what YOU wear, why worry about other people.

I care that people still wear bathing clothes when they use the pool or do not lounge in the buff on the Lido deck or hot tubs. Yes, I do care what other people wear, appropriate to the setting.

Disclaimer: My own " at least 40% tuxes" visual scan on formal nights is limited to the upper level dining room for late fixed dining - this alone by choice may be a more traditional crowd.

I have not seen a figure approaching 40% for men wearing tuxes on any HAL cruise I've been on, and the remainder who are dressing up don't all wear dark suits. I've seen lots of men wearing sport coats.

 

We choose open seating, and generally dine around 8pm. I wonder if it makes a difference if you are in fixed vs. open, and early vs. late?

We have easily seen 40% in tuxes on our HAL cruises. We always do a quick visual scan ...for the record. Looks great. It will be interesting to see how this holds up on the Prinsendam - for both men and women. Long black velvet gown is getting packed for me.

They are now called guidelines, and it is hoped you enjoy following them so there can be a few nights that remain special in the former formal ship's dining traditions. Alternative dining is available in several venues (specialty restaurants, room service and Lido) if you don't want to participate on those evenings.

The smaller the ship, the longer the cruise, the later the dining time, the more likely you will still see many gowns and tuxedos. The dining room is done specially for that evening along with the menu.

There is little enforcement of dress guidelines any longer; it is a voluntary event and is now a lot easier to pack for as well at least for women. And men can rent tuxedos on the HAL website if they don't own one or want to pack one.

If you check the 7 day Mexican Riviera cruises, the outside rooms are at $1,000. Of course if you compare (or expect) the price to be the same as say Alaska at $499 or Caribbean at $599, the price is high. But for just comparing 7 days- $1,000 or 12 days $1,800 I don't think it is that out of line.

 

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Good thing about this Mexican Riviera/Sea of Cortez itinerary is you don't need to do many shore excursions. Most of the stops are plenty interesting to explore on your own. Loreto is the best. PV is also great - but you do need to have good mobility to walk around a bit and take some local transportation.

dcsam,

While I realize that $150 per day may be more than you can pay, or want to pay, for a popular, relatively uncommon cruise I personally do not think that is a high price at all. In fact, for an outside cabin on this itinerary I would expect to pay more for such a cruise. Unlike cruises that are run frequently, like Alaska and the Carib., this type of cruise will be priced higher.

 

Of course, this does not help you if it is beyond your budget. However, unless there are some serious problems in that area I would not expect prices to go down next year if I were you. Have you looked into an inside cabin or do you have problems with a windowless cabin? While I certainly prefer a window (or a veranda is possible), an inside is fine for me if it is necessary to afford the cruise.

When we analyzed inside versus window cabins, we realize we spend most of our cabin time asleep or in the enclosed bathroom getting ready for events. So daylight in the cabin was really of only minor significance time wise.

However, those few moments of daylight when the run comes up in the morning and greeting us during the day always outweigh the perfectly reasonable option of an inside cabin; all things considered. Plus getting snookered on several Red Sea area cruises where they had to cover the port-holes anyway for pirate securities, we had a de facto inside cabin after all.

So if it came down to cruising or not cruising and taking an inside cabin to do it, the immediate practicalities of real time cabin use would definitely win out over those few more intangible extra minutes of real daylight.

Sea of Cortez is a special itinerary - so bottom-line, go for it and go inside if this is the way to make it work.

Sea of Cortez was one of our favorite trips. We are sorry HAL is no longer doing more of them. Maybe supply and demand dictated this price -- or the extra precautions they have to provide in this troubled corner of the world. Shame because it was really wonderful in every stop, even Cabo has its honky tonk charms and good deals on glassware.

Agree, those blatant spa marketing hypes do no credit to HAL ship board life though I have been very happy with the HAL's regular salon procedures: hair cuts, coloring and pedicures. Feel they are well priced too compared to state side.

Agree, no ship photos other than ship ID card. We slip around the photo line-up after embarkation too. Looks like we are "cheating" to get ahead of everyone to first board the ship but we are merely choosing no-photos. That is all. I will give HAL ship photographers credit for being very accommodating after the first no with no more pressure and soon they learn to avoid us. Been on other ships where the ship photo people almost amounted to harassment if you said no.

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Judging from the pictures of the Balmoral I'd be surprised if they were all from the Bay as there is land showing in one of them.......

Is not the Balmoral a pretty old ship too --maybe it does not have the same stabilizing equipment we find on other ships? Beyond my technical knowledge, Anyone else know. I just know when I see Fred Olson ships in port, they look a lot older.

-------okay, asked and answered: built in 1988: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balmoral_(cruise_ship)

We did it this last January, 2013 - heard it could be rough, but there were no problems that I remember. Left from London and next stop was Lisbon. However, I always start Bonine and ginger before the start of each trip and continue it daily for a while -- so if there were problems, that took care of it for me.

Don't forget salon services for your OBC: pedicures, manicures hair highlighting are fun to fit into your cruise schedule during down time.

looking for the right itinerary;)

There is the rub. We could never find as interesting itineraries on the "other" cruise lines.

HAL announced a policy change that is in line with most others in the industry; starting with current sailings, notice given in current cruise documents. Backlash organized against it. Policy is now delayed until Jan 2014. Crisis over in less than one week. Misstep yes, but PR disaster, no.