silvercruiser

I'm in a J for the Panama Canal cruise in April and then in an I for Alaska. Same cabin, just new letter.

Maybe we should all pack a small jar of Vicks so that if there's an unpleasant odor we can just dab some right under our nose and won't notice the odor. It works.

Amsterdam also has the 'new improved' system for Internet and it just isn't working at all much of the time. On the other hand, Ryndam this past Dec. had perfect service, but one year before it was awful, kept cutting out. I had assumed that they'd installed the new system, but now I'm not sure, since at least two ships are having big problems with it.

I'm going to pay close attention to Maasdam comments before I make the final payment for the 42-day cruise next fall. Last time on her was May 2009 and we noticed some subtle changes in service from our experience in Oct. 2008.

I sailed on the Veendam for 35 days last summer on Voyage of the Vikings. Instead of complaining about thetwo decks of new cabins facing aft, go ahead and book one of them. I did and it was one of the greatest sailing experiences ever. The Veendam was in great shape, service was wonderful, the captain the best one ever.

Rumored that aft balconies had soot problems??? But they're resolving it???? I suggest you ask Ilene, most traveled Princess passenger in North America about her aft balcony last week. It was covered with soot and she just couldn't use it at all. No, it's not a rumor and it has definitely NOT been resolved.

Ditto on that Belkin device, but get the 2.1amp, 10 Watts if you want to charge larger things like an iPad.

I was just wondering the same thing, having just finished reading Jeff's latest blog.

I've heard the advice that the surge protection you get from the power strip is a good idea, as some people have had their electronics fried. I do know that the power changes and that surges can be a problem on ships.

Thanks. Since this is only a 7-day cruise I wanted to know all the places I can use the coffee card on the Royal. My next 76 days of booked cruises for 2014 are all on HAL, so it may be awhile before I could use up any unused punches on the card.

Thanks.

Look in magellans.com

This question was probably answered way back when, but I don't remember the answer. Thanks.

Is there any other place besides the IC on the Royal where the coffee card can be used? I seem to remember a mention of someplace up near Horizon Cafe that offered specialty coffee and brewed.

People don't like that the Veendam removed the aft pool, but that's how they were able to add the two decks of aft-facing Vista Suites.

I had Vista Suite A221 and it was wonderful. Faced the back of the ship and the view was so relaxing and beautiful I could have stayed there forever.

I'll be boarding the Amsterdam the day you get off, for 35 days and I sure hope the internet is working better by then. I was surprised to hear about the problems. A year ago, on the Ryndam, there were problems with it cutting out, but last summer on Voyage of the Vikings, on the Veendam, where I'd expected problems because we were sailing through pretty remote areas, it worked perfectly all the time. And in December, on the Ryndam again, in the Caribbean, it was just fine. I sort of figured that there had been a fleetwide improvement, but guess not. I wonder if other HAL ships are in the same situation as the Amsterdam.

This is interesting. It's only happened once, but DH and I both figured we'd picked up a bug that was causing an inner ear problem. It was worse when I moved my head fast. After about three days it went away, thank goodness.

Find out where the airlines in your area take damaged luggage for repair. We have a place here in Sarasota that even has the tiniest parts for luggage that's years old.

Luggage repair is available on most cruise ships with no charge. I had a retracting handle that was damaged by the luggage handlers and another time a wheel broke. I was told to bring them to the information desk both times, which I did, and they called two days later and told me to come down and pick them up.

I lost the Explore4 on a couple of cruises when I rebooked to save almost $1000 total. However, I kept it on another cruise where the prices had actually gone up. Where do I see it mentioned when I look up my statistics on the website? Or is it only on the final docs?

But you won't get the Mariners discount (50% for 4*) if you use the card at the Explorations Cafe. The full price will be deducted.

Fellow passengers were the most traveled and well educated group you could ask for, a very interesting bunch of people. I'd say that this was one of the best cruises ever. The Veendam is a great little ship, our capt., Capt. Bos, absolutely the best, and we only missed one port out of twenty. I'd say that everyone enjoyed the cruise and I didn't hear any complaints. Service was very good, as usual and I had no complaints about anything at all.

If you book this trip, I guarantee you'll love it.

I had A221 on Voyage of the Vikings last summer, also an upsell, but $1000pp because it was 35 days. As a solo it was double that amount, but worth every penny! It was the most wonderful cabin I've ever had in almost 800 days of cruising. In fact, I now have the view of the wake as my screen saver on my iPad, iPad mini and iTouch and when I look at it I'm right back there. It was just absolute heaven. The balcony was nice and big, although the two corner cabins have wrap-arounds that are even larger. And on my cruise we had daylight so many more hours of the day that I could even lie in bed at night and watch the sea.

Enjoy!!!!!

Here in Sarasota, FL, I've only had one flight with a de-icing need. Since they had no de-icing equipment, the solution was to taxi the plane out into a sunny area and wait for it to melt.