Petronillus

Thanks! This is exactly the viewpoint I was hoping for. Very reassuring. And it carries a lot of weight. It sounds like, from a marketing standpoint, HAL's claim on orange is a plus in Ireland.

I've been following a thread on this board that focuses on how HAL embraces its Dutch roots. The content has centered almost entirely on Dutch cuisine and beverages. Several other threads have addressed upgrading to Club Orange and sometimes to the Orange parties where pax are invited to wear at least one article of clothing that is orange. In my travels in the Netherlands, I've observed that orange is ubiquitously associated with Dutch patriotism, with which HAL is justly proud to align itself. I have not, however, seen any mention made of the negative associations that some Irish folks have with the color orange. Orange has been a flash point in the sectarian clashes that plagued Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Republic) during the "Troubles." In the so-called Glorious Revolution that overthrew the Jacobins, William of Orange and his wife were transplanted from the Netherlands to rule Great Britain jointly as William and Mary. In their name the United Kingdom established its hegemony over Ireland and lorded it over the native Irish until the 1917 Easter Uprising led to the establishment of the Republic of Ireland in the south of the island. To this day tensions flare each year on July 12 when the British victory at the Battle of the Boyne is celebrated by the "Orangemen." I know that here in the U.S. it would be highly offensive -- downright inflammatory -- to show up at a Saint Patrick's Day event wearing orange. I suspect, on the other hand, that nobody would take notice is a passenger wore green at a HAL Orange party. All this leads me to wonder how HAL presents itself to the Irish market. I have met Irish people on board (not nearly as frequently or in the same numbers as English, Canadian, and Australian pax) and the topic of orange versus green has never arisen. I'd love to hear from Irish folks here on this board.

This has been a useful and enlightening thread. Y'all have just persuaded me that it's worth the extra effort to dress and take the time for the MDR. Some excellent tips here. I now know to be on the lookout for "fresh" and to order my fish cooked medium.

My favorite line from Braveheart: "What a beautiful Scottish evening! The rain's comin' straight doon."

The fjords of Norway are one of our top favorite itineraries. We were in an ordinary verandah cabin and had umbrellas in one of the closets. DW & I always carried a sturdy but collapsible umbrella in our schlepp bags. If your statement is missing umbrellas, just ask your strewards. Assuming past is prolog, on your first shorex you will be told that for Norwegians there is no bad weather; there is only bad clothing. And expect that this aphorism will be recited over and over again.

Having read this entire thread, I think this post is the most insightful. I have had occasion to sit in the Lido Market with crew members whose job is to run Club Hal for the children and teenage pax. They all had excellent backgrounds and personalities to match. While nobody complained, it was obvious that they were much happier and energized when they had a lot of kids in their charge. If you're seriously considering HAL, I second the suggestion that you discuss your plans with a booking agent responsible for groups. If the number of teens is significant, it would surprise me if HAL didn't arrange for the best crew members to staff the youth activities. How could you have a better endorsement than erdufylla's mopey 14yo nephew?

I echo the view that for me the thermal spa is for cooler-weather cruises. I enjoyed the warm-water-heated ceramic loungers frequently (and immensely) on an Alaska cruise but hardly at all on the Mexico cruise that followed. If, for instance, I suffered from arthritis, I'd appreciate it for its therapeutic utility but as it is it's a guilt-free form of self-pampering.

On our most recent cruise on the Westerdam, we saw dancing in the evening at the BB Kings lounge. I'm not an aficionado of that style of music and can't tell rock from blues, but it was not ballroom dancing of any sort. The basic swing patterns would likely serve, but don't expect foxtrot or waltz.

I enjoyed them too. They were invariably a gracious bunch of young people who played at a craftsmanlike level. But, honestly, they were nowhere near the caliber of the Lincoln Center Stage artists. Now that LCS are no more, would I be happy to hear the Adagio Strings again? Not deliriously so, but happy enough.

I'm glad to hear positive reviews of the new format purportedly replacing Lincoln Center Stage, but I will remain skeptical until I get to experience it for myself. A 3-piece combo playing classical music (or, more often, transcriptions of pieces originally composed for a larger group) is commonly referred to as a chamber music ensemble. There is reason chamber music is performed in smaller settings and not in symphony halls. The World Stage, at least on the Signature- and Pinnacle-class ships, is akin to a symphony hall. It's a matter of scale. The saddest thing, in my estimation, is that HAL made a sizable investment in building out and dedicating a space to share between BB King's and LCS, which it took great pains to design for optimal acoustics, and even equipped with a Steinway grand piano, and then abandoned. As a passenger I'm disappointed. As a shareholder I'm appalled.

From your lips to God's ear.

Assigning seats seems like the sensible way to avoid the chair hog problem.

Our excellent Rotterdam cruise to Norway last summer included a stop at Lerwick. I don't remember the precise arrangement, just that we queued up in two lines in the World Stage, at each line a delightfully affable UK border control agent checked our passports and sent us on our way, and at the end a colored sticker was affixed to the outside of the passport. Not a big deal. Not much of an inconvenience. As I think back on it, the personalities of the border agents may have made a difference. By the way, based on our how the character Jimmie Perez on "Shetland" on BritBox talked, I expected that Lerwick would be pronounced "LAIR-ick." Our guide definitely said "LER-wick." When asked she said that the actor portraying Jimmie Perez is from the west of Scotland and has an accent to match. It was also pointed out to us that the cultural affinity of the Shetlands is closer to Scandinavia than to Scotland. The Shetlands have their own flag, which uses the blue and white of the Scottish saltire (St. Andrew's cross) but reverses the colors (blue on white instead of white on blue) and sets the arms of the cross at right angles -- just like the flags of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

That being the case, does one experience something comparable to the poolside chair hogs? Do couples split up so as to each claim a window seat and thereby block another DW & DH from sitting together?

Best wishes for your 2025 6-week cruise. I am green with envy. We recently experienced a Tamarind pop-up on the Westerdam. It was in the Canaletto space and was not equipped with the full range of Tamarind offerings (no sushi) or level of service (no saki vessels). It was more like Tamarind Lite.