OlsSalt

From my War Baby demographic arrogance and growing ennui, I just call the whole thing Gens XYZ because I lose track of them as much as they are surprised to learn I am still alive.

Great book about Naples - Between Saltwater and Holy Water. It was a leading Mediterranean seaport for centuries - a truly international global commerce port at the crossroads of the east, west and North African trade routes, on into into Northern Europe. This created immense wealth due to its pivotal location by the sea, when water was the only way to move goods and cover long distances. This position was later overtaken by railroads in the mid 19th Century and Naples fell into a backwater, but with a historical and architectural legacy unmatched by few other cities. Maritime history of Naples, with also includes its maritime resources is part of the warp and woof of this city. One can still feel a lot of "Italy" in Naples still, as the country has become more generic and overly impacted by tourism as found in other famous Italian cites. Naples is not for the faint of hear,t on first impressions. So digging more into what keeps it alive today is a very worthy approach to take.

HAL's former EXC In-Depth cruises on the Maasdam were their own, self created and excellent product. Heading back in that direction again, albeit with a less immersive, is welcome. Plus younger generations are more concerned about the environmental and cultural impacts of mass tourism, which HAL is at least showing some sensitivity to acknowledging. Overly-impacted ports are rapidly losing their appeal, and their welcome for all considered. A first time HAL cruiser to Alaska was pressed to ask ...why are there so many Diamond shops in Alaska? With Del Sol and Bamboo sheets soon to follow. So this new direction and early partnership to try new things with National Geographic, is just a helping hand at this point. Good way to introduce fleet wide continuity of product first, then tweak it later for what works best for HAL. I think this is a sound marketing direction to take for this particular twixt and tween cruise line - not small enough to be premium luxury, not large enough to just sell generic onboard entertainments. HAL is somewhere in-between --- retaining travel itself as a destination, and travel itself as an adventure. Best wishes, HAL. Thanks for seeking new ways to find your unique niche, and not just playing catch-up to other's bigger is better cruise line models.

We found a side room area to the right as you enter at the Crows Nest to be one of the very few places where there was no constant noise or piped in music during the day, assume this might also be the case in the evening - very pleasant. Took a lot of searching to find these quiet havens on this ship. Even the Lido Buffet and Canaletto areas after they stop serving the evening hour meals can be a quieter place than most of the other venues. During the day the Ocean Bar was the surprising quiet spot, along with the other suggestion - seating along Club Orange. Not sure at night, but worth a look see. The "Library" off the Crows Nest had the constant distraction of the coffee machines, but don't know how late they are open - so that might be one more area in the Crows Nest area in the evening if the Explorations Cafe has closed..

Not long ago, HAL performers also did double duty on shore excursions and other tasks (voluntary or assigned as part of the contract?) Then I heard there was contract change that said they were to be performers only, with no expected auxillary duties. This put a crimp on filling those precious cabin beds with limited duty persons. One more performer, one more lecturer, one more enrichment tutor, and by sheer cabin numbers that can lead to one less dining steward ........ or whatever. One less paying customer bed. Not because HAL is "cheap", but simply lacks the real estate particularly on the smaller ships to offer a wide variety of "extras"..

Interesting. Thanks for the report. The bottom line decisions HAL must juggle when there are only a fixed number of beds to allocate. Four cabin beds for a Lincoln Center ensemble - with little direct return revenue production vs using those same four cabin beds for some more direct revenue producing personnel instead. (Art sales, casino staff, teeth whitening, acupuncture......) That probably is the way it will be for while, until the bottom line heads more steadily into the black. IMO, chamber music simply does not belong in a large stage auditorium setting. However, I wonder if any sound design features were installed upfront to tweak the acoustics of those large room settings, besides simply louder amplification that drives most of their current performances. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised.

How many people per table would share the one "seafood dump"? Sorry to learn there are no longer additional servings. Thnx.

Using ginger - learned that the best forms are pickled (often part of the sushi plates) or fresh brewed in a tea. . Bring along a freshly purchased knob of ginger, which can be kept in a sealed container/bag in the cabin fridge, if you have one. Slice off a piece and steep it in hot water from the Lido. I would also bring chunks of candied ginger. Not sure if this is as potent as fresh ginger but it was a very tasty form of getting ginger. Ginger ale or ginger beer apparently do not contain sufficient gingerol unfortunately, but still make a refreshing beverage when one wants to add up various forms of ginger. Moscow Mules? Reader discretion advised.

Yes, the Love Boat interior scenes were a stage set mock up, for the ships identified and used as the TV series actual cruise ships . Forgot to mention the hugely spacious cabins from the stage set Love Boat mock up version. Our "Island Princess" cabin was 130 sq ft and that was the extra large size. My own "cruise ships" from the 1960's/70's were bunk beds and bathrooms down the hall, so a private ensuite cabin, even if only 130 sq feet certainly exceeded my prior cruise ship expectations from decades earlier. So "expectations" about cruising remains a fascinating part of present cruise experiences.

Good question to ask .... where do the expectations come from in the first place? Marketing imagery creates expectations? - serene dinners on the balcony, everyone dressed up and sharing laughter with the warm winds wafting in your hair, so often with few other people around. The movies, TV, media? Was a huge fan of The Love Boat (Pacific Princess) which created many of my own early "expectations" about life onboard a modern cruise ship. We watched re-run of The Love Boat, before we took a long cruise on her sister ship - the former Island Princess which was sailing as the Discovery for Voyages of Discovery at the time (2008??) Lavish formal dinners in long gowns every night, widely spaced tables, officers always in full dress mingling daily and personally with the passengers, wide hallways where 3-4 abreast could carry on conversations, front desk, cruise director and bar tenders at your beck and call for anything, moonlight on the promenades every night....... Expectations hit reality pretty hard, once we got on board the "Love Boat" sister ship, but one thing exceeded expectations - we fell in love with cruising, and the wonderful places a ship could take us in such contained comfort - bumps, rust, warts, wind, weather and all. The old Island Princess in deed was a cramped, rusty old bucket of bolts........... but oooooh, the places she could still go ....

Try the Grilled Shrimp appetizer, the Osso Bucco, and either the Affogato or the Tiramisu for dessert. They get consistently good reviews.

Hope the lunch was also..... magical .....😉

We are signed up for the 14 day - late September Alaska Noordam cruise and some excursions are already showing limited capacity. Some of the more popular ports in Alaska were listing up to 31 shore excursion options. Since this will be close to their last chance for revenue before the Alaska cruise season closes, lots of choices may still exist. Taking others suggestions here, we just signed up for the Crab Boil at the Silverking Lodge thinking it too might get sold out the longer we waited. Plus the 14 day onboard Thermal Spa pass also posted only limited capacity left. Agree, the roll call for this cruise is your best way to get someone to check this out for you. Do you know what you want to do in each port?

Having been to clanging casinos in decades past which were calculated to be deafening roars, the onboard casinos are virtually silent in comparison - electronic now; not mechanical. Our local tribal casino, while highly successful for its few authenticated tribal members is almost like a grim morgue.

Wants to compete ...........or needs to compete? If they sell out the real estate at this price and value point, why add additional expenses? Always an interesting and perhaps arcane process - setting cabin pricing.

Some of the easiest and lightweight things to pack are dressy night items. The fun continues. Any sort of sparkle tops are just fine. Virtually unwrinkable, to stuff in a corner of a suitcase. Even a light weight dinner jacket for men is an easy pack staple. So there must be other reasons besides packing and weight allowances, but that is the way it goes these days.

A Neptune Suite gives you significant real estate and some exclusive amenities, but it is not a premium deluxe total experience if this is what you are expecting. You can exchange your "cheap champagne" (Prosecco?) for another item, but Veuve Cliquot it will not be. We love the spaciousness of Neptunes and the ease of getting daily items being close to the Neptune Lounge. We find we spend more time in the cabin when we have them, because we love the space. But beyond that, the extra benefits will be somewhat limited. Have you been in top end suites on other cruise lines - if so, that will make a standard for comparison on what to expect from HAL Neptune Suites.

With the domination now by larger ships, the appeal of visiting Bermuda just dropped 1000%.

Crew is very busy on turn-around days. Many up all night getting luggage out of the hallways and into the loading area and then getting it off the ship when it docks. I think a lot of the crew has to do double duty on turn-around days, so fewer available for routine services. Plus the cabin crews need to get all cabins ready for the new passengers by check-in time starting around noon. We always go to the MDR on disembarkation days. Our last farewell to the ship moment.

On the Konigsdam, the "library" was right next to the coffee bar so one's quiet was constantly getting interrupted by the hissing cappuccino machines. Getting away from that infernal canned music was a huge chore, I don't remember facing on any other older HAL ship.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Many travelers hit a wall - used to call it culture shock and museumed-out, jet-lagged, etc. even with the best intentions and pre-planning. Was very much a known part of early travel days . Along with almost requisite bouts of "tourista" - GI ailments. You did an exceptional job exploring upfront the places you later visited. And you will have wonderful travel stories to bring back home. Loved hearing how well your kids took to the cruise experiences too. What joy it will be when you hear them relate their tales to their friends later. Your "meltdown" day is also a reminder of one of the intangible joys of the cruise option for travel - coming back to a safe, predictable little nest onboard and having a good night's sleep in your "own bed". Thanks so much for taking us along on your "first ever" cruise travel adventure. Our own first HAL cruise in 2008 included getting robbed in Antigua, so there are sobering incidents lurking out there but they did not deter us from adding more than 650 more days to the joys of HAL cruise travel. They were exceptionally helpful once we got back on board after than initial trauma.

Maybe the policy is responsive to onboard conditions. Let's say the remaining volume of the liquor bottles does not materially reflect the number of "honor" tickets signed. So staff has the flexibility to institute a more restrictive policy. Bell curve stuff, when dealing with "honor" systems.

Not really. How about just not liking being asked to subsidize the "free good fortune" of others, when they brag they did nothing that let the casino earn back that "free gift"? I think that was the point that was being made. Someone has to make up those "free costs", when there is no actual return on that investment. However, this does seem to be a closed system arrangement within the casino franchise - it must work for them, and for HAL. Few to no loss leaders for either party can survive this current cruise world economic climate today.

Best to never choose HAL for "trendy decor". The newer HAL ships are so bland to be lifeless, but others like them because they are "clean, modern and far more minimalist". To each their own. When I see "out-dated decor" on HAL ships I personally thank HAL for keeping cruise prices down and caring more about where they are going; not whether there is dated pink tile in the bathrooms.

Helsinki, Finland - Löyly spa, near the port https://www.loylyhelsinki.fi/en/ Great find, thanks.