ExpatBride

Yes!!! It also had a pool, a sauna, and a fireplace 🤣 I think it had a "Roman" theme? But the room was on multiple levels, so there was a staircase up to the bedroom area where there was an entrance to the tub. OMG!!!

I used to hide behind my grandparents' sofa on Saturday nights to watch The Love Boat, which I think is why I've always been fascinated with cruising. As for "deceptions": 1) Cruising is not nearly as glamorous as it was depicted back in the 70s & early 80s (for reasons mentioned earlier in this thread), but that's the case with most things. 2) I was under the impression that a lot of people went on cruises to fall in love or rekindle their romances, but my ex-husband asked for a divorce 3 weeks after disembarking from one of our cruises, so... In spite of this, cruising has turned out better than my 2008 visit to one of the Poconos "honeymoon resorts" – also inspired by TV exposure in my formative years. Those "Beautiful Mount Airy Lodge" commercials that used to air on daytime TV in the tri-state area in the 80s made a lasting impression on me. The resort wast 20 years past its prime and 😝

The drinking age in Denmark is 16 for beer and wine below a certain percentage – and 18 for everything else. She'll be legal to drink on dry land over here, but I'd check with HAL to clarify what rules apply onboard.

Agreed! Toxic positivity is almost as bad as the opposite.

That's a solution looking for a problem. I wear my jewels because I enjoy their history and imagining all the places they've been before me. Replicas would suck the joy out of that, and I doubt I'd be able to get something of comparable style made cheaply.

I lusted after an aft balcony for several sailings. When I finally got my wish, it was a one and done. It was awful in the mornings when the ship was docking. It might've been something to do with the position of the thrusters (?) relative to my cabin, but I was jolted awake by them very early every morning. I've never experienced that in any other cabin. Now I get my aft fill by grabbing a cocktail and hanging out on the promenade deck. That suits me a lot better.

This probably depends on the itinerary. I only sail in Northern Europe and I've never encountered the "chair hogs" that people post of. Even on sea days, I've only seen a handful of people in the pools and hot tubs.

Stay on the ship until it's time to disembark. Norway is my favourite place to cruise and I sail for the scenery, so I board the ship and stay on until it's time to get off. I love having it mostly to myself during port days.

Because I collect jewellery to enjoy it, not to decorate the inside of my safe-deposit box. It's beautiful, unique, and most is 100+ years old, but it's just jewellery 🤷‍♀️

I often travel with expensive antique jewellery, which spends most of the day in my hotel room safe. (knock on wood) I've never had an issue and I don't think twice about it. It's all insured, but it would be irreplaceable and much worse than losing my passport or credit cards to theft. Anything can happen, but the odds are generally against it.

It's hard to say. I'm farther South (in Denmark) and I'm still wearing my winter coat. I've sailed the Fjords in early June and was happy to have my coat onboard, particularly at sea where it tends to be windy. You might be ok in layers and a windbreaker/rain jacket – or you might be freezing.

I generally roll the dice and book a guarantee. It's only bit me in the 🍑 once on Zuiderdam when they stuck me next to the elevator and I had to listen to the constant dinging into the night and early morning. Other than that, I like to walk so I don't mind being far away from things and I don't notice a difference in motion whether I'm up, down, forward, or aft. It's worth the cost savings to me to take my chances.

I disagree. Most of Europe has caught up.

I live in Denmark and I can't remember the last time I had cash in my possession.

I always stay on the ship during port days. I sail for the scenery (Norway) and I love being on the ship when most people are ashore.

I've cruised the fjords on both Royal Caribbean and NCL. Should be easy enough to find out all of your options by searching on pretty much any mass market cruise seller website. Fall might be an issue because the Norwegian cruise season is pretty short... Like late May until September.

Do you have to ask for this? Last time I sailed HAL, I ordered in advance from the vegetarian menu – it wasn't wasn't very good. An Indian menu sounds much better. To answer the original question, I prefer the MDR for all meals when it's available. I usually go to the MDR for breakfast and dinner. I find buffets stressful mostly because I don't want to hold up the queue. On days when MDR isn't an option for lunch, I usually go to DiveIn.

Sailing in and out of Geirangerfjord in Norway is my absolute favorite. I'm about to do it for the fourth time!

Favorite: HAL, though I haven't sailed with them since 2016 and I'm afraid I'll be disappointed on my upcoming sailing. Least favorite: NCL

I sailed the Mediterranean on Epic in 2016 and it was the worst cruise of my life. It's like the previous poster said, Epic is a love-it or hate-it ship. I couldn't disembark fast enough. Beside the size and overall vibe of the ship being a bad match for me, the crew was by and large unpleasant and it wasn't a great experience.

I usually cruise the Norwegian Fjords and the ship is my destination, so I generally get on in Copenhagen and don't get off again until we dock in Copenhagen. Even in Norway, the ship is usually a ghost town during the day without much in the way of activities, but I like it that way. If you're looking for sea-day-level activities in port, I think you'll be disappointed. It just doesn't make sense for the cruiseline to have a packed activity schedule when the ship is basically empty. 7 days is my bare minimum. On a 3-4 day cruise, the hassle of embarkation day and disembarking leaves 1-2 days onboard and it's just not worth my effort.

HP Sauce 😋

Thanks for your reply. This is so sad! The yum-yum man and the dinner bell ringer were part of the "je ne sais quoi" that endeared me to HAL despite being a bit younger than their core demographic.

Is there a "yum-yum man" on this ship? I'm sailing her in late July and I credit the Zuiderdam man's post-dinner ginger for keeping me from getting seasick for the first time ever!