waiting2retire

Thank you for your report @friendswithdave There are lots of reasons people may not fully enjoy their cruise (or any vacation) and many have nothing to do with the ship or efforts of the crew, as you have acknowledged. You can likely still count yourself pretty fortunate that this was your “worst”. My daughter was on the Rotterdam the cruise before yours and also came down with Covid which put her in quarantine for 4 days. Still not her worst, since she was disembarked on a transatlantic cruise in 2022 with a gallbladder attack. This has not deterred me and in fact I board the Rotterdam myself on January 4 😁. I love Club Orange on the Pinnacle class ships and the extended balconies on deck 4 are my favourites!! Hope your next cruise is uneventful.

I love that service animals allow their humans to continue to travel and live their best lives and I love that cruise ships welcome them onboard. I DO NOT think non-service animals should be allowed to impact another passenger’s enjoyment of their cruise experience. I don’t have a lot of experience with service animals, but why are there two of them? And I thought they were trained to not bark at strange noises. I give you credit @Haljo1935 for waiting a couple of days to see if they settle down. I think I would be contacting guest services sooner than that.

I did book one of the free interior special offers from HAL (not casino) and was able to choose my cabin when I added Club Orange.

Thanks @Haljo1935 Then it will have to be a hard pass for me!

Thanks for your review! I will be spending a month on the Nieuw Statendam next May and am curious about your cabin. I didn’t realize any of the interior cabins had a couch on the Pinnacle class ships. Do you mind sharing your cabin number? Was it maybe a handicapped cabin?

Crab & artichoke dip to start, followed by Glazed filet with shrimp Newberg, finishing up with the Dutch apple pie and a cappuccino. Please tell me the banana is not in the flourless chocolate cake so I can request it without the banana in the future.

I’m on this cruise in January so will be following along 😊. Have a great cruise!

If your goal is to see spectacular Norwegian fjords, I would go with the first cruise. Last spring we did a cruise that included Geiranger and Eidfjord and they were both amazing. we have just booked a North Cape cruise similar to the second one you mentioned for next spring, knowing full well it doesn’t go into the deep fjords, but will have its own highlights and interesting ports. if you can, do both 😁😁

must be a shortcut

I was so excited when I got the email with those offers for the first time ever last week. Believe me, I would have loved to take advantage, but the airfare on relatively short notice (under 3months) and around holiday periods, would have been over $1,000. Kinda negates the deeply discounted cruise for those of us not near a port 😞 Hopefully there will be a next time that will work better for me.

I always wanted to be a dancer. Aside from the fact that I have no athletic ability or coordination, I am about 40 years past the optimal age. If we can magically fix those shortcomings, I think cruising and dancing would be a great combination!! oh, and they would have to bring back traditional show productions of course 💃

Yes, I have sound. She’s moving now

September 30 is Canada’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, so not sure whether there is any historical military date of significance in Quebec today.

My mother had one too, so I had to find it online to post here 😁

Have you considered cancelling the Nieuw Statendam and booking the Nieuw Amsterdam for January 6? It goes to Grand Turk.

We were given beepers and had to wait for up to 30 minutes for a table in Club Orange at dinner on the Nieuw Statendam. Never had to wait for a table in the CO dining room on the Rotterdam. In my opinion, this is due to the better configuration of the dining room on the Rotterdam with many more 2-tops than the ones that were designed originally as Test Kitchens on the Nieuw Statendam and the Konigsdam.

I believe you can purchase a cabana for just one day rather than the whole week. It is quite likely that there will be cabanas available for daily rent on an Alaskan cruise. That would be a good way to check out what it’s like for a mere $55.

Upcharge of $6.49 but worth every penny!

Did you book your VA room specifically or is it a guarantee? I personally love the larger balconies on Deck 4. They are “VB” level, but I prefer the larger balcony to the VA balcony locations. I also prefer aft to forward, so if it was me, I would choose cabin 4193 if you decide to purchase Club Orange. Others have said they received onboard credit instead of a category upgrade if none were available. Enjoy your cruise, whatever you decide to do!

Looks lovely! Will definitely add Trondheim as a must do port on my next Norway cruise. Hope your foot does not continue to alter your plans.

I did change rooms on my recent b2b out of Amsterdam and I did exactly as @kazu stated and packed up everything except clothing on hangars in the closet. I went for breakfast, took my ereader to the Crow’s Nest and had a latte and read for a while. I then stopped by the front desk to pick up my new key card and went to my new room. Looked like embarkation day with my suitcases waiting for me except that the “hanging up” was already done for me 😁. They even moved the very wilted flowers we had picked up at Keukenhof prior to the first leg of the cruise as well as some leftover water I had forgotten about in the refrigerator. Very efficient process!

I was also surprised we did not have to leave the ship on our recent b2b in Amsterdam and wondered if it was because our ports were all in Schengen countries. I had a lovely relaxing morning on the ship 😊

I was there on May 4 this year on the Rotterdam and can confirm that the only shuttle was for those with mobility issues. Since we didn’t use it, I cannot say what the criteria were or whether there was a cost. It may be worth the cost of the Hop On Hop Off bus since it came very close to the ship. I’m not good at judging distances, but maybe 2 or 3 blocks? Also, the walk through the port area was blocked from traffic and very well marked. The only place traffic crossed was policed by port staff to ensure the traffic stopped for passengers and vice-versa. I have peripheral neuropathy and walk quite slowly but the city attractions are within a relatively small and mostly flat area. I managed the walk to the Floibanen and Bryggen and back without too much trouble.

OP back to verify we received Mariner cruise day credits at the single rate only for our recent upsell, which is exactly as stated in the upsell offer email. And exactly what I expected 😊

Never changes.