Oosterdam - Newsletter & Port presentations

[jantoby]

I haven't been with HAL before and am hoping to do Mexico Sea of Cortez in April. Did a Royal Carib to the Caribbean last month and was disappointed with just 2 things - they didn't produce daily mini-newspapers. Princess and other lines do separate ones for American and English passengers. I missed knowing the headlines of what was going on at home and the ship's tv channels were no good for news outside the US. The other thing was that the Port presentations on the ship's channel were focussed entirely on shopping, with a bit of plugging ship's tours. For those of us who cruise to see the destinations and not to shop, this was as much use as a chocolate teacup. And I prefer to work out my own tours.

Please can someone tell me if there's a newsheet available, and presentations on the ports of call rather than shops/excursions of call.

Many thanks, and Happy New Year.

[gregdude]

HAL produces a daily activity document to help with planning activities. They also produce and distribute to all cabins a condensed version of the New York Times each day (usually 4-8 pages). The TV runs CNN international as long as they have satelite coverage. I don't recall a port channel on the TV other than excursions that are available, however on many cruises they have afternoon speakers who do port history, biology, ecology, and geology talks.

One of the very nice things about HAL that people don't always mention here on CC is that they don't do a lot of hard sell stuff. I think even the art auction has gone from HAL, but not certain.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The art auctions are still alive on HAL!!

As for the port shopping and excursion talks. Yes -- there is a talk about each port. Basically for the excursions they read the same information that you can read about the various tours on HAL's web site.

For the ports -- they pass out a map of the port area and all the stores that they recommend -- in other words the stores that are paying a fee to HAL to have them promote them. Naturally places like Tanzanite International, Diamonds Internation, etc., are always pushed.

On some itineraries there will be a lecturer that will talk about the culture, etc. of the region where the ship is sailing.

[RuthC]

The art auctions are still alive on HAL!!
KK is correct. Park West is no longer doing art auctions on HAL, but the "activity" itself is alive and well. :rolleyes:

[solocanadian]

I haven't been with HAL before and am hoping to do Mexico Sea of Cortez in April. Did a Royal Carib to the Caribbean last month and was disappointed with just 2 things - they didn't produce daily mini-newspapers. Princess and other lines do separate ones for American and English passengers. I missed knowing the headlines of what was going on at home and the ship's tv channels were no good for news outside the US. The other thing was that the Port presentations on the ship's channel were focussed entirely on shopping, with a bit of plugging ship's tours. For those of us who cruise to see the destinations and not to shop, this was as much use as a chocolate teacup. And I prefer to work out my own tours.

Please can someone tell me if there's a newsheet available, and presentations on the ports of call rather than shops/excursions of call.

Many thanks, and Happy New Year.
Can't answer your question about a mini British Newspaper. I do know they produce a Canadian edition every 2 -3 days since I am Canadian. It is delivered to your cabin when available. Haven't met any Brits on the Mexican cruises so don't know about their availability.

[Sandy64]

On our 8 HAL cruises we have had a daily newssheet "Britain Today" delivered to our cabin. HAL also produces similar versions for passengers from Germany, Australia, Canada, and possibly other countries.
Have a great cruise.

[jantoby]

Thanks, Sandy.

[Ine]

On our 8 HAL cruises we have had a daily newssheet "Britain Today" delivered to our cabin. HAL also produces similar versions for passengers from Germany, Australia, Canada, and possibly other countries.
Have a great cruise.

We received the english as well as a shortened version in dutch.