Look Before You Book,know B4 U Go

[Charlie2na]

Booked Maasdam 1/16/05 , then realized that 1/2 the time, we are in port for only 1/2 a day!! This limits the excursion potential greatly.Wanted to do the cat sail and Nevis beach bbq...7 hrs , but only there 6... St Thomas @10:00 a.m. HMC @11:00.... CHAIRS PROBABLY GONE!... San Juan headed for home @1:00 pm. HMMMMM.... ideal cruise? not so much!

[doone]

All's not lost yet, call your TA and I am sure at this early stage, you can cancel and re-book something else more suited to what your looking for.

[Charlie2na]

Not an option... booked airfare and hotels seperatly... OH WELL...on the bright side only ship @ HMC that day and have a full day at Barbadoes and most of the day in St Thomas!.......................UGH ...... what have I done?

[doone]

Your hotel you should be able to cancel and if you don't mind, you can probably change your airfare, for a fee. Before you do make the change on your cruise, I would ask the airline's how much to change your day, usually its about $50 - $75 per person. Check it out before you say no and then at least you are making an informed decision.

[Orcrone]

Charlie,

You may want to check out changing it. One reason I went for the 10 day rather than the 11 day Maasdam out of Norfolk were the port times. They're relatively short on the 11 day as you point out. On the ten day we have 10 hours in St. Thomas, 12 in St. Maarten and 15 in St. John's. However, we have the same schedule for HMC and San Juan.

Marc

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

Most of the airlines now charge $100 per person to change tickets.

It may be worth it if you see something else you like better.

:)

[Charlie2na]

Thanks all, I did look at other options, however we loved Hal for our first cruise , so we are there. Loved the idea of St Thomas and St John, but it isn't St John BVI, it's Antigua.... and really wanted the southern caribbean with Barbadoes in Jan. HMMMM! Just goes to show" you can't have it all"... "I've made my bed", now I must sleep in it!

[doone]

Check out the Volendam for January. I am sailing her in March and St. Thomas and Barbados are in my itinerary!!!!! There is still hope!!!!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

HAL made some changes for the Volendam for winter of 2005. Even though they may be listed as Eastern and Western on HAL's website, open up the dates you like and check them out because of the Western itineraries are really Southern itineraries.

:)

[Charlie2na]

Yes... that Volendam 1/15 looks great... another time maybe , "haste makes waste"..
besides, less time in port equals more time at sea.. hah!

[superstein61]

Charlie - if you are worried about your air - check to see if there are any other cruises leaving that port the same time - you may find another one to your liking.

[Orcrone]

Charlie - if you are worried about your air - check to see if there are any other cruises leaving that port the same time - you may find another one to your liking.Superstein,

The Maasdam leaves out of Norfolk, VA. There are only a handful of cruises out of this port, with the Maasdam being the only one out of there that time of year.

[superstein61]

Superstein,

The Maasdam leaves out of Norfolk, VA. There are only a handful of cruises out of this port, with the Maasdam being the only one out of there that time of year.

Ahhh - didn't realize it left from Norfolk. Yes, that makes things difficult

[kryos]

:)

Most of the airlines now charge $100 per person to change tickets.

It may be worth it if you see something else you like better.

:)
That's what truly sucks. I remember when it was only $50 ... as recently as 1998 when I made not one, but two changes to my return date while on a vacation. :(

I fortunately avoided this added charge with my upcoming 8-28 sailing on the Zuiderdam. This was originally supposed to be a 7-day cruise, but a couple of months after booking, I got a deal to make it a b2b with the 9-4 sailing. In my case, I had booked air through the cruiseline and they "ate" the return air change fee. Of course, I probably paid more for the airfare, so I really didn't make out by much. :(

Blue skies ...

--rita

[Charlie2na]

Yes ,it would be costly to cancel and rebook airfare as well as the cruise. The 1.5 hr flight from Bos to Norfolk very attractive. We also have family and friends in San Juan, wanted to do a quick visit{it better be} ... 5 hrs in port!
Southern caribbean sounded much warmer than eastern, when shopping for the perfect cruisebut krazy kruiser was right,the only port that should be billed as southern ,is Barbadoes. Moral of the story... east is south and south is east and I'll be cruzen in January!

[Sue's Mom]

Well, you will just have to use it as an excuse for another cruise!!! LOL.

Every cloud has a sliver lining.