Cailey53

12 hours ago, CruisingAndDiving said:

Hmmm might have to order those.  They are multiple use I'm guessing?

We bought the same tags from Amazon 4 years ago, and we cruise 2x/year. They still look brand new--they are super easy to use as there is a "Ziploc" top to secure tag, a reinforced metal grommet where the cable runs through, and the cable is multi-braid metal with a super secure closure. I think these will last for years.

12 hours ago, mauimacho said:

Can I buy the $25 soda card (worth $50) on board or is it only available before? 

In order to get the pay $25/worth$50 deal, you must purchase in advance. That can be done through your booking on the website. If you purchase more cards than you end up using, the balance will be credited to you onboard ship account at the end of the voyage. Hope this helps!

51 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Wow Mitch & Cathy - lots of great cruises 🙂 

 

A nice variety of cruises and what a way to polish them off with the premier sailing.  🙂 

 

Which ship is the 21 day Southern Caribbean on Jan. 6th, 2021 please?

 

You are going to have lots of fun planning.

 

Happy to add them all for you. 🙂 

Whoops--21 Southern Caribbean on Jan 6th 2021 is on Nieuw Statendam, and the May 15th 2021is on the Ryndam. 

I have to play catch up... Please put us on the August 2, 2020 14 Day Northern Isles on the Nieuw Statendam (it looks like we may be the only ones on!),  the 21 day Southern Caribbean Wayfarer/Seafarer sailing Jan 6, 2021, and now the 17 Day Premiere Voyage and European Splendor sailing May 15, 2021. So excited about this last one as this will be our first inaugural voyage! Mitch and Cathy

We were fortunate to be on NS this January and early February (just before the dedication cruise with Oprah) and onboard was a gal from the corporate art department who was actually instrumental in locating and purchasing some of the pieces that are installed on the ship. We went on 2 of her tours (each was different as she highlighted different installations) and told a bit about the pieces, where they came from and some of the stories behind the purchases and how some of them were actually installed.  It was fascinating and I guess I thought it was going to be a “regular” part of the cruises on NS. No such luck as we were on her again in August in the Baltic and no art tours were offered. We were happy we had the opportunity this winter!!

1 hour ago, Mud_Shark said:

Haven't sailed with HAL yet.  I see on the HAL website a $50 soda card available for $25.  Is this deal available once on board the ship, or only for pre-order?

 

We would like to use some OBC to pay for this if we can wait until we are on board and still get the deal.  Thanks

 

Don

I'm pretty sure the discounted cards are only sold online before your cruise. We bought several before our sailing recently and they were ready when we checked in. If you end up not using a card, you can also have the amount unused credited off your account at Guest Services. This needs to be done however before the end of your cruise.

 You can get Soda Cards onboard but they will be at face value, and not at the 50% discount. Hope this helps.

1 minute ago, racnwdow said:

I have heard HAL has shampoo, conditioner and body soap in the rooms.  Is this a dispenser in the shower/bath or are they individual bottles to share with roommate (like hotels)?

 

I have ordered the pop package and someone said it comes with a cup.  Does the cup only come on ships with the self serve pop or does every ship have the cups?  We are on the Rotterdam if this make a difference.  And does anyone know the color of the cup or the lid?  I tend to misplace things and wanted to write my room number on the cup or lid.  Didn't know if I needed a black or silver permanent marker.

 

TIA.

Shower amenities are in dispensers in the shower. The body lotion are in small bottles, and you can request more from your room steward.

AFAIK, the pop cups are only on the K'dam and NS with the Coke Freestyle machines, unless they have recently rolled these out fleet wide.

35 minutes ago, maxsales said:

I confess to being a Celebrity "lifer".  However, we have booked a transatlantic on the Nieuw Statendam and have a question about the cabin as I can't find any info on line.  Cabin number is 5225 which is a category VS aft facing.  Does anyone have any info on this cabin?  TYIA

Go to www.halfacts.com You'll find some photos of NS 6214, and also Koningsdam (sister ship) 6233. These will give you a pretty good idea of aft facing V cabins. 

On 7/7/2019 at 7:36 AM, kazu said:

 

Happy to add it for you 🙂 

 

I'm guessing this is on the Eurodam?

Whoops, yes Kazu--thanks!

Thanks everyone for the input. I think based on this we will try and book when we are on the NS next month when we are sailing the 14 day Baltic itinerary. We always book so we can re-fare should the price drop. I will keep my eye on the May 2020 date :).

Balliet, you will like the NS--we were on her in January for 18 days. They "tweaked" a few things from Koningsdam which we like a bit better. It's a lovely ship and the crew was all great. It's odd, I swear when I first looked at this sailing it was on the Zuiderdam, and when I checked again it was the NS. Happy to sail either one, but we do like the new Pinnacle class ships.

Grsnovi--we're in the "retired" group now and loving it--hope you can do this in 2020!

Cathy

6 hours ago, iceman93 said:

We took this exact cruise the summer of 2018.  The weather and seas were fantastic, but of course that can vary from day to day, let alone year to year.  "Must do" is so subjective--we generally enjoyed all the HAL excursions we did plus walking around near the ports where we didn't have an excursion.

Thanks iceman93!

We are thinking of booking the 8/2/2020 14 day Northern Isles cruise RT Amsterdam. Ports include 2 in Norway, Iceland, Shetland Islands, Scotland, and the UK. We have never been to any of these areas, and just wanted some feedback to some that had perhaps done this sailing, and what is a "must do", and how would the weather/seas be in early August. TIA for your responses!

Cathy

Please add us to the  18 day Circle Hawaii departing March 18, 2020. Looking forward to seeing parts of Hawaii by ship! 

Mitch and Cathy

I just realized we are not signed up for the Bon Voyage yet! We are on the August 25th 2019 Nieuw Statendam 14 day Jewels of the Baltic— our first sailing as 4 star Mariners☺️. Looking forward to the free laundry!

Mitch and Cathy

No, you will not be 4 Star mid-cruise. We attained it during the middle of our last voyage, and until your trip is logged in your account after the end of your voyage, you will be at the lesser level. Make sure you check your account that you have been credited the correct amount of days--they have intermittent problems in getting the credit right sometimes.

I’d suggest a wrap or two depending on the length of your itinerary. We were on the NS in January for 17 days and the temp in the public areas varied between cool and VERY cool. I had packed a bunch of sleeveless things and was quite happy to have a lightweight sweater for my shoulders in the evening.

  Happy cruising!

We tried Hotel Morrison on South Federal Highway in Dania Beach in January. It was brand new at the end of 2018.  Free shuttle from the airport, great hot breakfast included and a small bar in the lobby. It's only a couple of blocks from a Walgreens for last minute forgotten items, and close to a couple of local restaurants. We would stay here again.

The plug in the bathroom will not accommodate a plug in nightlight. Take some sort of battery operated light (tea light etc) . We bring the free lights from Harbor Freight that have a little hook on them and just leave in the cabin when we’re finished with the cruise.

On 2/12/2019 at 10:01 AM, GulfShoresCruiser said:

Thanks for the fast responses!.....I've forwarded an email inquiry to the Mariner Society via their contact form on the website.  I'm glad I checked and am following up.  

I'd suggest calling as I had no response to my initial email. The Mariner Society person was able to manually update our status while I was still on the phone. She said they were having difficulty "loading" the Nieuw Statendam points. I checked the website after getting off the phone with her and it had been updated. Hopefully you will get to 4* soon!!

10 hours ago, Alberta Quilter said:

 

 

We have yet to receive a breakfast room service hang tag on this cruise.  On the interactive tv, it gives the various room service menus and advises one to call room service.  Is this a change on ships with this tv system?

 

 

Take a look under the right flap of the large grey cardboard that your steward puts on your bed in the evening. It's usually hiding there. 

Hope you are enjoying the ship--she's a beauty!

Yours should have posted by now. We disembarked from the NS on 1/30 and ours were posted early last week, but our on board ship spend credits were incorrect. They had posted 2 spend credits when we actually had 13 (!) which required a phone call to get corrected. I was watching like a hawk as it put us at 4* (and free laundry for our August sailing)!!! Make sure you double check your spend credits.....

I can’t comment on the Nieuw Amsterdam being “driven aground”, but the newest ship of the ones you are considering is the Nieuw Statendam. She just started sailing this past December and is a lovely ship. We were just on 2 weeks ago, and also have sailed on the NA as well. 

We’re pretty biased on Holland and choose to sail with the time after time. We are in our 60’s and sailed with them for the first time in our 20’s.

6 minutes ago, Caribbean Chris said:

 

We’re probably sailing same date, March 18 (I posted April above but that’s actually when our 40th  anniversary falls, which we’ll be celebrating). There’s a small Roll Call underway now for the cruise.

Thanks for the heads up Caribbean Chris. I'll get signed up for the Roll Call. Congratulations on your upcoming celebration--we just got off a 17 day Nieuw Statendam voyage where we celebrated our 44th. We had been on the old Statendam in 1975 for our honeymoon so the sailing was extra special for us.

 We're so looking forward to this Hawaii trip to see the islands without having to fly over!

Following as well as we just booked the March 2020/ 18 day sailing last week. Have a wonderful trip!

We were in an aft facing cabin on deck 7 on KDam (this was the first time we had been in one). I would advise you that if you are at all bothered by cigarette smoke, or possible noise from deck chairs don’t book the aft cabin. We got some  smoke from those smoking on deck 9 and you would be one deck higher. I also had a bit of trouble adjusting at night sleeping as the bed is in a different orientation in the back staterooms. I did get used to it after a few nights. We also heard more wave noise on the back of the ship than we normally do in Verandah cabins. Hope this helps.

Cathy