alanstarr

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 We never did get a response (and apparently it has been the same anyone else (on various Roll Calls) asking the simple question, "Do we need to get our own K-ETA or is this handled by HAL?"

 

 

 

 

Having just visited South Korea the past couple days on the Westerdam, I can tell there was never any mention of K-ETA, nor was it required or asked for in any way upon entering Korea. (Unless HAL took care of it all behind the scenes?) I still don't regret doing it beforehand, just in case...

On 3/19/2023 at 1:59 AM, Mosaic said:

We are currently on the Zaandam and Happy Hour is 50% off all "regular" drinks.

Same here on the Westerdam. 

10 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Have you been given any information about cases on  board?

On the Westerdam this week, the captain announced 9 passengers in quarantine, and zero crew members. Pretty good, IMO! 

On 3/13/2023 at 1:11 PM, USN59-79 said:

Thanks for the reply.  We board the Westerdam soon with fifteen different Japanese ports.  Fortunately Tokushima is not one of them.  If it were, I would be looking for an alternative way to get around.

Ray

I know I'm hijacking this thread a bit, but just to close the loop - arrived in Tokushima this morning. They announced there's a free shuttle bus, run by the local port, which will take you to the train station (about 15 minutes away). 
 

10 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I have plans to pick up a Suica card at Haneda also -- did it seem like the terminals were just temporarily down? 

I think it was just temporary. I flew in on March 6th and bought a SUICA card at a machine in Haneda. And I used a US credit card, didn't have to be cash. 

2 minutes ago, USN59-79 said:

Could you expound on that?  Who is charging $150 roundtrip?  Is there no public transportation?  From a map it looks like Tokushima is a seaport with downtown less than a mile away.  

Ship docks an hour away from downtown. Haven't checked into public transportation yet, I think it's a bus line.

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Is that per person round-trip?  Seems a ridiculous amount!

 

That's a lot better than in Tokushima, where its $150 round trip just to get downtown!

I got my k-eta last week, and had a hard time processing the payment. Finally figured out that you HAVE to use the little pop-up keyboard to enter the final digits of your card, typing them in doesn't work. Maybe that helps? Good luck! 

I don't know that we HAVE to, but I believe we do. I'm on a Holland America cruise this week that has two stops in South Korea, and I did the online application. Only took a few minutes and cost about $10, wasn't worth taking the chance. 

I was on the NCL Star last week. Cruise was sold out, but I think there were a lot of last minute bookings to fill it up. I booked only 10 days out, when solo supplements dropped. I talked to another couple that booked 2 days before sailing. Only 1/3 of the passengers were from USA, many Argentinians and Brazilians; I kinda assume they took advantage of last minute deals as well. 

2 hours ago, cruiseat50 said:

Are you able to go on the tour if you use a rollator or foldup scooter?

When I did it on the Star last week, there were 5-6 flights of stairs involved. For example, it was 3 flights from the theater stage up to the dressing rooms. 

I was in a porthole oceanview cabin, and there were no outlets at all near the bed (USB or regular plug).

One day we saw over 100 whales! (Verified by two different counts!)

Straight of Magellan quick panorama 

Admiralty Bay quick panorama

Ushuaia was a big surprise to me, it was so stunningly beautiful.

Smith Island is the first thing to you see once you near Antarctica


Penguin colony on Elephant Island


 

31 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

Thanks for the review. Any photos, please?

 

 

To be honest, I didn't think to take too many photos onboard. But here a couple random ones:

Stateroom 5502

Suckling Pig at the buffet:

Best part of the BTS scenes tour was getting a sneak preview at our future dinners!

Never done an official review of a cruise before, but thought I’d at least post some random thoughts, as there’s not much info here about the Star and Antarctica.

OVERALL – It was an amazing trip. We were blessed with great weather almost throughout the entire two weeks. Got the “Drake lake” instead of the “Drake shake” both ways. Our first day cruising the Peninsula, there was 100km visibility and we could actually see the continent itself. We did have to skip the Falklands because of rough seas for tendering, but that really didn’t diminish the overall cruise for me.

SERVICE – I know there have been lots of complaints about service onboard some ships lately. That was certainly not the case here. From top to bottom, all the crew seemed to be in good moods and happy to serve. There was almost no waiting at any bar or restaurant, despite the fact the cruise was sold out. Cabin stewards still did turndown service. Other than a crowded buffet at times, there were no real crowding issues.

FOOD – I mostly did the buffet, along with 2 MDR dinners and 4 specialty restaurants. I do feel like the buffet food is down just a notch from previous cruises. Some of the dishes that contain chicken or pork were really overcooked. The prime rib was pretty inedible. But for the most part, everything was okay, about the level of a mall food court or a low-level chain restaurant. Of course, everyone has their favorites; as often mentioned, Indian dishes are always a great option. They often had noodle soups available, great to warm you up on those chilly days. And I happen to really like their chicken salad for some reason. 

As far as specialty restaurants go, La Cucina continues to be my favorite. Love the Bolognese lasagna and their filet. Cagney’s was also good as usual. Ginzu sushi continues to be okay, but not great. It really should be better, given the level that its supposed to be. Moderno was very good, although I had to specifically request the two filet mignon dishes, they never came around in my first hour of eating. (Cost cutting, or just bad timing on my part? Dunno.)

ENTERTAINMENT – As always, a mixed bag, based largely on personal preferences. I absolutely loved “Paradis”, fantastic show. “What The World Needs Now” was enjoyable; Burt Bacharach had just passed away that week, so it was especially apt. “Band On The Run” didn’t do much for me, but in general I’m not a fan of jukebox musicals. The tango/gaucho troupe were VERY good. The ballroom dancing pair were also good, but not my cup of tea. A couple singers and a magic act filled out the bills, all were talented but a bit unremarkable. No comedians.

INTERNET – As usual, it was pretty bad. Loading the free CC pages could take 5-10 minutes. But I’ve come to expect it now. I had 300 free minutes, which I parsed out on sea days just to check emails and FB. 

CABIN – I had a 5502, which is a porthole OV at the front of the boat. First time cruising where I didn’t have a balcony. I was worried about that a bit, as I spend a lot of time on my balcony usually. But given the weather conditions most days, I don’t feel like I missed out on much. I found a nice little nook up at H2O, where you’re outside but protected from the wind, and spent many hours there. Room itself felt a little bigger than I expected, thought I would feel cramped. As a solo traveler, I had the bed pushed against one of the walls, and that helped out. There was only one night with rough seas that was problem in being up front – not the rocking, which doesn’t bother me. But the loud banging as the ship hit the waves was incredibly disruptive, and I actually used earplugs to sleep for the first time in my life. But it was just that one night, otherwise it was fine.

LECTURERS – We had three folks onboard who rotated giving various talks twice on every sea day, always on a different topic. Torre was a biologist who talked about wildlife, Joe was a geologist, and Liam a historian. Torre and Joe were fantastic! Liam was just okay – it was like he was just reading a book report most of the time. I commented that Joe took a boring subject (rocks) and made it really interesting, while Liam took an exciting topic (mostly Shackleton) and made it boring. Having these talks onboard was really special, and it really enhanced the entire experience of the cruise.

EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION – Getting on was a breeze, I had a later boarding time (3pm), and had minimal wait. Getting off took about 30 minutes of standing in line; not horrible, but a little annoying. I was self-assist both times.
 

Didn’t use the gym or spa, so I can’t comment on those. And I’m not a gambler, so never visited the casino. 

 

NCL has some nice deals on April cruises. There's a 16-day transatlantic from NYC to Rome on the Breakaway; inside sail-away is only $649 ($968 total). A balcony with Free At Sea is $1149 ($1821 total). 

3 minutes ago, kjquilts said:

 

any chance you could post a photo of the card handed out at the meet and greet with the various officer extension numbers

 

thanks in advance

No cards were handed out. 

5 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

How did you know that you got two bags?  Our recent ten day didn't even have any bags in the room and we had to ask for them.

It was mentioned at the Cruise Critic M&G by the Latitudes director. 

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

 

Just off of the Star in Antarctica - and we had amazing lecture program.  Basically 2 lectures on sea days, about the geology, biology and history of the area.  It was wonderful!!!  

Was going to post the same thing, I was there as well. 3 different lecturers; Torre was an expert at wildlife, Joe was a geologist, and Liam was a historian. They also did live broadcasts all throughout the two days cruising Antarctica. They were one of the (many) highlights of the trip

2 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Bird, I have read on longer cruises you can get 2 bags of laundry each.
From your experience, if it's true, how many days does it kick in, will my upcoming 12 day get us 2 bags each?

14-day cruise last week on the Star, got two free bags as a platinum. Just a data point though, don't know about 12 days. 

10 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

Tendered no problems on celebrity infinity last week.

Perfect calm weather.

 

Ncl star was 1 day behind us. 

Same clear calm weather from pics of angry pax on the Star.

Star cancelled the port stating water was too rough for their tender ships. 😮

 

Infinity has four 2 engine tender boats.

Does the Star not have double engine tender boats and we're using the underpowered single engine life boats to tender? 😮 

 

I was on the Star this week. The captain made it very clear that while the waters looked calm, there was a storm coming in and people would not have been able to return to the boat that afternoon. 

My muster next week on the Star will likely fall right in the middle of the Super Bowl. That should be interesting!