OlsSalt

I love having earned our various Medallions and Stars - because they represent the wonderful places we have cruised on HAL ships. Every cruise was a gem. I see them as a badge of travelers; not braggarts. Love being in their company.

Exploring pre-Columbian South America dazzles. Great Courses offers wonderful introductions to this unique cradle of civilization and the highly sophisticated cultures and monuments that were built one on top of another - long, long before the more popularized Inca, Aztec and Mayas. I believe the penguins have been around for 50 million years, so exploring the geologic history of tectonic plate movements that took the continent of Antartica from the tropics of super-continent Golwanda to its present location parked at the southern pole is an adventure as well. Geologic and evolutionary history abounds in this now deceptively sterile landscape. Except for those species who found living with few to no natural predators was the perfect place to call home. For 50 million years. (Fact check - maybe it was 5 million years?) Just tracing the entire British Explorer Ernest Shackleton story and his ship the Endeavor (recently discovered under the Weddell Sea), and his rescue on South Georgia Island is a thrilling story of exploration, girt, and human determination like no other. He in fact saved all his men when you actually see the small island they were forced to call home for long, dark, cold months, never knowing if Shackleton would make it back to rescue them too. To see this area, is to live this history. Fact check: Modern Penguins. About 55 million years ago, penguins were already completely adapted to the life in water, in a warmer environment than today. After the disappearance of the dinosaurs, many marine reptiles also became extinct but penguins diversified, or in other words, slowly developed new species that occupied the ecological niches of some extinct animals. The evolution of modern penguins took place over the course of approximately 3 million years.

The Galileo Galilei - were you on it too? Allegedly the precursor of Celebrity's entry refurbished as the all suite Meridian,, and ushered in the new world of full service destination cruising, as compared to low frills passenger ships. Later I cruised past her final resting place in the Straights of Malacca, and tossed out the Joker card from my old deck of Lloyd Triestino playing cards. What a grand adventure she offered in the 1970's - around the world - 60 days for under $1000.

My first RTW ship was the old Lloyd Triestino two class ship - circa 1977. Regular class was mainly lots of young people traveling between Aus and NZ to the Mother Country UK and back, along with Italian immigrants traveling cheaply to Australian and homesick ones going back to Italy. First class was confined to a few decks above all the hordes of young people on the lower sun deck - first class being mainly older and more cosmopolitan travelers. We quickly spied our favorite first class passenger: a woman of a certain age, with very long silver hair wearing a very skimpy black bikini. She would drape herself over the railing, looking down at all the young men below. For the young men below, it became a scene out of a Fellini movie as they tried plot a way to..... (ahem).... meet her in the later evening hours. But the rules were strict - no patronizing between the two classes. But who knows what silver passed hands when no one was looking.

How good is AI- got stuck just recently trying to order a Filet of Fish Meal at the McDonald's kiosk. I am not too swift at these things, but I got caught in an endless loop of nonsense next step directions no matter how many times I tried. Finally went to the pick up counter and told them I had been defeated by the machine and could I just place my order in person. He said no problem, and that they were always having problems with the AI interface. AI is still a work in progress - who trains AI to follow orders? And to carry out orders. Or did AI want to force me to order some extra large fries to enjoy him/herself? Daisy .....daisy .......

The old often-touted inside cabin trick of leaving the ship webcam TV channel on as a "window" and a daylight beacon did not work the one time I was in an inside cabin on the older Veendam, simply because the older TV was too small and awkwardly placed. I hated not waking up to sunshine most of all - but after that, the inside cabin was just as amenable as a regular ocean view cabin on that older ship. However, our recent Pinnacle Konigsdam had a very large screen cabin TV and the ship webcam station was really like having a large picture window right in the cabin. I imagine one could "wake up to daylight" leaving that TV channel on. The Pinnacle inside cabins did look very small, as we walked down the corridor and saw them through open doors. But then so are the regular cabins on the Pinnacle class ships.

There is also the issue of less "service orientation" among younger workers today. And a lot more employee competition, so the lower-skill service industry entry level jobs are no longer the only choice when starting to build one's employment history. High tech entry jobs now compete for workers all around the world - including India, Indonesia and the Philippines which was the traditional HAL labor market resource.

I am not sorry we only did a HAL "drive by" in Antarctica instead of an expedition-brand Antarctic cruise - the drive-by was fabulous and flexible. Plus there were plenty of penguins to walk among on the Falkland Islands and other locations, which is often included in the same itinerary. The extra length of the cruise, and the South America stops on the HAL Antartica were a bonus as well in support for this choice. Expedition cruises have their plusses and minus, besides their extraordinary costs. Investigate both options thoroughly. So don't necessarily pass by this chance on a HAL ship into this area, knowing up front it can still be pretty spectacular and you will have money left over to do the other two wonderful choices as well - Norway and Japan

Hank take a little more care when making up what others say that give you a good laugh . The laughs on you. I said what I had for lunch (from the many HAL Konigsdam lunch offering) did not really matter since I did love their wonderful gelato. Logical for me.

We found "rare earth" magnets work best, but all the different ships have different quality metal surfaces. Something like a refrigerator magnet sign may or may not stick for very long. Some magnets slide down vertical surfaces like metal doors and walls. Others stick fast. Or you might need to use the ceiling , or door frames to get a good stick. We one got so carried away with "rare earth" magnets on a large wall map we almost could not take them off at the end of the trip. The last cruise on the Konigsdam, two of our rare earth magnets stuck together in our packing and we nearly had to send them to the machine shop to see if they could be pulled apart - we finally pried them apart using the desk top leverage. In that case on the Konnigsdam the bathroom door and bathroom ceiling did not stick - where I like to hang my toiletry kit - but the bathroom door frame did. The cabin ceiling did stick, so we could hang jackets up from those.

Agree, meh. At least it does not over-promise, and does get the name out there.

The newer the ship, one can assume better sound protection has been built into the original design. Which ship are you talking about? Assume "family rooms" are only in the newer Pinnacle class ships?

The larger the ships are now becoming, this seems to be almost an essential trend - to carve out more premium spaces for travelers who previously enjoyed the intimacy of smaller spaces on the traditional cruise ships. They offer a win-win option. Larger ships keep costs lower for mainstream cruisers - economies of scale; while still retaining some of their prior higher-spending customers who enjoyed more personal services and amenities in the past..

Do not over look the retiring baby-boomer government employees, who will have a steady and generous lifetime pension income stream; which is not subject to outside economic forces. That is a great target market. Educated, white collar, and one more full pension check always be waiting to cashed when they come home.

Have done them all, and all were great but I would grab the South America-Antarctica one as fast as you can since regulations about cruising in Antarctica can rapidly change. The other two are more standard, and any changes of ports in either of these areas still leaves a lot of other ports to chose from. Norway is starting to restrict stops in some more protected locations, but there is such an overall stunning choice of other ports - the change of one or two is not as material as a prohibition in Antarctic cruising. Love all of your choices and you found just the right cruise line to take you their with depth and experience, for the rates charged. Hope you keep sharing your future journeys and planning with us. You will find plenty of fans for any final choice you make, and agree hope over time you get to do them all..

-0- understaffed HAL ships. Over 600 days sailed.

Didn't care what the lunch food was since my real reward was two scoops at the Gelato Bar - which was magnificent on the recent Konigsdam. (Small surcharge - $2.50)

As much is near Port Hueneme as lots of out of the way ports requiring long bus trips from industrial ports to main attractions - Hanoi, Beijing, Bangkok, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, etc, etc Malibu is down the road on very scenic Highway One - also the very bucolic Santa Paula Heritage Valley - largest citrus production area in the US, Old Town Ventura, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara -about an hour away. However, ChengKP threw the appropriate cold water on the suggestion. Costs and conversion to cruise port facilities are too daunting. And yes, now I see "shore power" was a literal response; instead of the figurative one I had interpreted it to be - thinking it the "power of those on shore" which carries a lot of weight too, when deciding if a port will allow cruise ships or not.

I think cruise ships should look into using Port Hueneme, California - south of Santa Barbara - a natural deep water port that would allow docking and not tendering. Yet within bus ride access to many attractions in the surrounding area - not unlike many, many other ports around the world today that no longer dock "downtown"..

Assume initially it was a bad review by a disgruntled reviewer; not necessarily a bad cruise ship experience. This is the hospitality business. No one stays in business offering a punishing travel experience.

I expect banquet food on cruise ships, and HAL offers often very good banquet food. I think it is unrealistic to expect much more, even in the specialty restaurants for the price. Agree, thousands of meals three times a day in less than ideal facilities, with limited fresh food sources, and even rocky seas. 24/7 How do they do it as well as they do? I get fed, I get a clean comfortable room, I get a travel experience and it does not break my budget. I am happy. And I only unpacked once. But I would be even happier if they brought back the libraries and turned off the G.D. piped in music, so I can truly feel the full magnificence of being at sea with all the sounds including the hum of the engines and the breaking waves.

That really does describe the two primary orientations found among fellow cruisers. One I failed to understand for years, when a lot cruise talk would just buzz past me - "our last ship had an ice rink with fully staged ice show -we loved it, this is a terrible ship" vs. isn't the Volendam a wonderful cruise ship going to all those swell places"? (1) Using a ship for a convenient travel adventure with fairly basic amenities, or (2) using a cruise ship for an on-board high activity and variety experiences. And of course a third - hybrid - the have it all cruiser - unique travel experience and high onboard entertainment. But for us, HAL for the longest time was the smaller, basic ships with high travel adventure to very unique collections of ports. Often the only ship in port too. And yes, we were in bed by 9pm. We recently found the Konigsdam much too large for our own traditional HAL tastes, but saw plenty of people really did enjoy the variety of options that could not exist on the smaller, more modest ships. So for us, the cruise market moved away from us. And the smaller cruise lines moved out of our travel budget. Economic realities for both options today are appreciated. So we appreciate even more how lucky we were able have those glorious cruise travel adventures on the past fleet of smaller HAL ships, taking us all over the world for modest prices. What a gift, what a window of time, when we were lucky to get the total cruise travel package that we liked the best. Thank you, HAL.

Looking for smaller ships, non-luxury? Remember a certain unnamed cruise line did buy the former Hal Rotterdam and Amsterdam. HAL, you lost two grand ladies who were still welcomed into smaller ports.

Interesting, I believe Icy Straights, AK is also a privately owned pier operation - Hoonan. ???? On a visit to Key West (Veendam Cuba cruise), I was shocked to see the overall cruise ship impact on what was a small, quirky and delightful little town. Quite frankly it was awful. Don't blame them for wanting their little town back again.

Agree, Pan Pacific is a good choice and the Metro is practically door to door from the airport to the cruise ship departure plaza next to the Pan Pacific, but you will need to cross a busy street with your luggage to get to the hotel. The Fairmont is the other major hotel that is closer to the Metro stop but does not have the wonderful close up view of the HAL ship and harbor. We paid extra to get a harbor view at the Fairmont, only to see the Coral Princess come in, and not the Hal Zuiderdam that year which was on the other side and out of hotel view. Boo. Carefully plan your course on the Metro map, since there are many exits out of the underground station in this area. Pick the one that will be closest to the Hotel Best part of the Pan Pacific if you don't get a harbor view room is having breakfast at their terrace cafe and looking right directly into the ship's decks, knowing this will be your snug new home in just a few more hours. If rolling luggage is a problem, agree then some other form of transportation to the hotel other than the Metro is the right choice.