dixieagle

We were hoping to take the cruise train from London Liverpool Street station to Harwich International to meet HAL's Ryndam for our June 13 cruise. However, I was informed by the train company that they will not be putting on special trains for the Ryndam... only RCI's Brilliance of the Seas this year. The reason given wa that Brilliance of the Seas is considerably larger than Ryndam, and therefore running a special train is worth their while. Not so for Ryndam.

 

There will be the usual train service, requiring a stop and change of train at Manningtree Station.

 

We are trying to decide between taking the regular train to Harwich International and the Harwich Cruise Bus. It would have been so nice to have that direct train! :(

We visited Glendalough many years ago, on our own. It is a lovely place, well worth a visit.

We've been on several HAL cruises and enjoy the Explorations Cafe several times/cruise. It never occurred to me that the pastries were free with a coffee purchase! (Not that we actually needed more calories...) :)

A few obvious threads came up in a quick and dirty search, which might provide you with a start on how to do it. In timing terms, you'll see that the risk is barely more than if you were flying to Amsterdam to start a cruise there on the same day, as the slowest direct trains from Schiphol to Rotterdam take less than an hour and the fastest can be under 20 minutes.

• http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1677694
• http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1595833
• http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1530399
• http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1175141

 

Many thanks; will check these out.

We are considering a HAL Baltic cruise. Given work/vacation realities, we can't arrive in Amsterdam before early morning (about 6 am if all is on time) the day of the cruise (a Saturday.) This makes me quite nervous, as we always arrive at least one day before, but it's not a possibility.

 

Is it possible/realistic to get from Schiphol airport to the Rotterdam port in time to board for a 4 pm departure the same day? (Flights to Rotterdam get in too late.) We have a couple other cruise possibilities, but are more frequent HAL cruisers.

 

Thanks!!!

[quote name='fud2468']My wife and I have begun cruising late in life, due both to age and mobility problems (the latter should not now be the problem it was because we finally got my wife's botched surgery sorted out and she can now get around quite well!).
Anyway, we've had cruises on Princess and Celebrity, and would like to try HAL. I have not gone through the 91 pages on this thread to see if this question's already been answered, so here goes:
On Celebrity we had a dining arrangement where we had to appear at a certain time and sit with the same two couples. This did not work for us. On Princess we ate exclusively in the buffet, with flexibility as to dining time and the chance to eat food that was healthier for us and in portion sizes of our choosing.
Within HAL's "anytime dining" category is there also a buffet-type of dining option like Princess has? If so, is it difficult to navigate?
Thank you,
Ray Mac[/quote]

We just returned from a week-long Southern Caribbean cruise on the Westerdam, and chose the "As You Wish" dining option; we loved it. We never made a reservation, and showed up at various times throughout the week. The maitre d' asked if we would share a table, we always said "yes", and we NEVER had a wait. We often had wonderful tables by a window, especially when we arrived early.

We ate several meals in the Lido; it was usually busy, but we always managed to find a seat. The food was quite good. We enjoyed several breakfasts in the main dining roon - big selection, excellent food.