SeaCruiser_1

My brother and his wife are on a Bar Harbor boat excursion and he sent me this photo of the Veendam this morning!

Seacruiser_1

Koningsdam 24 day Mediterranean Dream and Passage to America

October 18, 2018

I am a fan of booking air and hotel through HAL in Europe for various reasons. Rome is quite a distance from the port. The convenience of transfers from port to city and also to the airport was great! Holland Americas hotels did not disappoint. They also have an assistant at a desk for HAL guests. Another thing to keep in mind is travel insurance. The package covers you through everything. That's just my opinion!

When I book a HAL hotel package another thing to think about is travel insurance! If you are on Medicare you are not covered out of the country. So if you book a hotel on your own you need an additional policy to cover that period of time. By the time I added up airport transfers, hotel, insurance and ship transfers, I really an satisfied with the package.

My personal opinion is that there are many more people whose retirement accounts and stock accounts have done very well. They are more comfortable spending some funds on travel!

I enjoyed your overview. I will be sailing the TA back to Fort Lauderdale in November! This wil be my first Transatlantic sailing. I'm glad to hear about the movies. I am looking forward to the sea days and relaxing atmosphere. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

I received a survey regarding my Mediterranean Cruise last October. I was more than willing to share my opinions. For me, it was a trip of a lifetime. I also included that Cruise Critic was the source of much of my preparations.

I am looking forward to a fall Mediterranean cruise on the Noordam. When researching and reading what others were doing there I was surprised to read that many were planning camels rides in this port. Many posters wrote of youngsters traveling with them. Don't get me wrong I am all for cultural experiences but please read this first!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-19/african-camels-show-mers-virus-is-more-widespread-than-believed.html

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/faq/en/

The 2 cases of MERS that were confirmed in the US hospitals were in complete isolation. All hospital staff was in complete protective coverings. People who were on the plane with them were contacted for testing. CDC and WHO are following this closely.

Not enough is known about this virus yet but it is know that over 50% of the camels in Tunisia carry this virus!

I can't imagine what it would do to the cruise industry if any passengers got this disease!

Please consider this a public service announcement!

Thank you for all the thoughtful replies. Hlitner had it correct in that we are trying to minimize stress. My friend and I will probably come in on different flights since we live in different parts of the country. Our travel agent presented several options and honestly the HAL quote was slightly higher. We are also looking at insurance coverage for the whole package. I just was hoping to hear from others to assure us that those who booked it had positive experiences. I was perfectly aware of the Italy boards but I was after folks opinion that had recently experienced the HAL package.

LindaM I am with you in that I know I will be exhausted after the flight and I want things to be taken care of for me.

I will do the work planning for port excursions.

Thanks again!

A friend and I have plans for a HAL Mediterranean cruise this year. We are contemplating just booking the cruise lines pre cruise package to have hotel, airport transfers and transfer to ship included. In the past I have had no problem booking pre cruise stays myself in Fort Lauderdale, Seattle etc. but I don't have a clue about Rome. We want to minimize stress and surprises.

I am interested in any feedback from cruisers that have experienced the HAL package in Rome.

Thank you all

We sailed on the Eurodam December 1st and I will share with you there was a serious problem. A certain block of cabins had diesel smelling exhaust venting into their cabins. At first the front desk said it was fumes from another ship docked in San Juan. That ship left and the odor remained present. The next explanation was the emergency generator had a cover that fell off? and was venting exhaust into the port side cabins aft of the glass elevators on all levels I was told. You could smell it in the halls. It continued all evening and into the night. My friend slept on her verandah and propped the door open trying to air out the cabin. One lady called from the front desk and told us "it's not harmful to breathe the fumes". In the morning I heard some doctor was at the front desk telling them that "it was indeed harmful to breathe the fumes" We heard that the generator was being replaced during dry dock the following week. The odor was a problem for 2 days.

The rest of the cruise was wonderful. We had a great time!

Eurodam December 1, 2013 7 day Eastern Caribbean