Newbie Sister Cruisers- HAL 14-DAY ASIA EXPLORER

[annalou]

Hello! My sister & I have been wanting to try cruising for a few years & are planning our first for next February 2012 on HAL's 14-DAY ASIA EXPLORER on the Zaandam. I've been reading the boards for a few weeks so have searched & found answers to most of our questions but still have a few I would appreciate input on:

 

1. I haven't found any reviews for the 14 Day Asia Explorer specifically. Does anyone who has been on this cruise or a similar HAL Asian cruise have any reviews, pointers, blogs or experiences to share? I have read through the port of call section on this board but would love to hear about anything specific to our actual cruise.

 

2. I have read that you can get the visas for Cambodia & Vietnam on board the ship but are there any advantages to getting them ourselves ahead of time, such as not having to wait in line to get the paperwork done, or any other reason to do it ourselves?

 

3. This may sound silly, but I only drink ice coffee and I don't pour hot coffee on ice and call it ice coffee. (I call that watered down coffee.) Is ice coffee available anywhere for free on board? If not I will bring a travel press and make my own but wanted to know ahead of time if it is available.

 

4. The Zaandam was in port here in Honolulu yesterday so I went down to check her out. All of the passengers I saw appeared to be a bit older than our mother*. (My sister & I are both single in our mid-30's.) I know it is a running joke that HAL is the cruise line for the advanced in age and while we aren't looking to party like it's 1999 or have a ship romance, it would be nice to meet some more youthful passengers to hang out with. Does anyone have an idea of the demographics of the Asian cruises? What percentage of passengers would you estimate will be under, say, 45? My sister & I can have fun regardless, but I am just curious as 14 days in an inside cabin is a lot of together time, even for us.

 

*No offense intended to anyone currently on the Zaandam! I only walked by the boarding area twice so saw a very limited number of passengers!

 

I think that is all for now! I've attached a few photos I took of the Zaandam yesterday, both from street level & from my office parking garage across the street from the port. Thank you in advance!

 

-Anna

 

[CalGal777]

Thanks for the pictures, hopefully we will have a pretty sunset like that next week.

[ScottishMaid]

I started a Roll Call several weeks ago. Please to you and anyone else, come over and start some discussion.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=28234080#post28234080

I think you mean the Feb. 5 2012 cruise leaving Singapore and going to Hong Kong? This can be booked alone or as a back to back with the Feb. 19 2012 cruise Hong Kong to Kobe to make 28 days total.

Despite the lack of postings on the roll call I started, the price on the Singapore to Hong Kong sailing is already rising so someone is booking. I'm thinking European, Australian and Asian travel agents are reserving cabins as that part of the world is closer to them and far from the US. In which case the demographics may be younger than the average HAL cruise. I know working Europeans get more vacation time.

You can't find information about the Zaandam in Asia because 2011-2012 is the first season there. This cruise is unique as it visits more ports in SE Asia than have been visited over the last few years, especially in Vietnam. I chose the Zaandam because the ship is visiting several more ports than the Diamond Princess. However I am finding information for your questions 1 and 2 on the Diamond Princess past Asia reviews and also roll calls on the Princess board for this year. There is also information on the Roll Call for Holland America's Volendam sailing 14 April 2011.

You can get a Starbucks style iced latte for less than $3 in the Explorer's lounge. The cruise is pretty port intensive so we don't expect to spend much time in our inside cabin. I'm going to research private tours.

[SilvertoGold]

Anna

 

Thank you so much for the photos! Will be sailing soon and will look for you taking more photos and doing another walk-past!

 

HAL demographics are generally older, yes. In my experience with Asia cruises there won't be a lot under 45. Probably the majority 55 to 70? Under 45 might come in at 25 to 50 pax. This is just what I remember from past Asia cruises, so you could have a completely different bunch. As noted there will likely be a lot of Australians and they are generally in the 35 and up range.

[brucory]

Hi Anna,

 

I wanted to wait and see if you got some replies before responding to your post.

 

As another poster mentioned, this is the Zaandam's first time in Asia, so it will be a new cruise for that ship. There have been other sailings on the Volendam and HAL world cruises that have gone through Asia, so it may be worthwhile looking those up to see if you can get anything. There is also a Volendam sailing happening now from NZ through Australia, up into Asia, so it may be worthwhile checking out those roll calls to see if anyone has mentioned doing a blog, so that you may get some info from there.

 

If you don't want to pay for your iced coffee, your idea about taking your own press is a good one. We have done that before and were able to get hot water and ice from the Lido and from Room service.

 

Not sure about the visas but I do know that other lines such as Costa, RCI, and Star cruises have regular itineraries in that area, so it may be worthwhile checking out reviews from those lines to see if that issue is mentioned.

 

My partner and I are in the same age group as you. On each of our HAL cruises, we have been amongst the youngest travelers. This has worked favorably for us as we are not looking for a party ship and prefer the calmer, more elegant cruising that HAL offers. You asked about percentages, and I would guess, from my limited experience that less than ten - twenty percent would be under 45 on your cruise (Other posters may shoot me down for this). Consider though, that this would be the same on any cruise with any line that was two weeks long and not in the Caribbean or Mexico.

 

One thing to bear in mind is that the cruise you are looking at is VERY port intensive. It is likely that you will be so exhausted from your days of sightseeing that you wont be looking to go wild on the ship. There is entertainment every night, bar specials, great food, and they try and organize discos and late night entertainment too, so you should have plenty to do.

 

Good luck with your decision. The itinerary looks amazing!!!

 

:D:D:D

[annalou]

Thank you so much for the replies so far! We picked the cruise for the variety and number of ports but are really excited about being on the boat, too. I park across from Aloha Tower for work so I see all the ships that come into port and the size of the Zaandam really appeals to me. We haven't booked yet, my sister still needs to clear the time with her work, but we will join the roll call as soon as we are official passengers! Thanks again & I hope those of you on your way here have good weather on your cruise!

[chrispb]

We did the Volendam cruise in SE Asia about 2 yrs ago. There were plenty of 30-40 yr olds on board, esp Australians.

I don't remember any queues for Vietnam visas, the ship just did it and we just paid. I've only done a land holiday to Cambodia and at that time I did visa on arrival, but I would imagine it would be pretty much the same as Vietnam visas on board.

I love iced coffee too, but we made our own - full glass of ice cubes with coffee on top plus a dollop of icecream. It was OK, but you can get really good iced coffee in Vietnam. I'm thinking next time to take those sachets of cappuchinos and adding more of my own coffee to make it stronger, then topping it up with icecubes/icecream.