grsnovi

I'll be wearing mine in Alaska in a few weeks. :)

"We apologize, but this itinerary is no longer available. If you feel you have reached this message in error, please contact us."

You may want to either: a) call HAL directly or b) have a TA book your cabin.

I was trying to book shore excursions last week and ended up calling HAL and the guy I spoke to said they were having issues with their web site.

...coming from South Florida.

We did the helicopter/glacier landing one one of our earlier Alaska jaunts with a couple from Florida. It was pretty warm in Juneau when we arrived at the airport. We were somewhat surprised to see this couple dressed in shorts and flip-flops. Let me tell you: They were cold on the glacier!!

We're doing our third Alaska cruise in a few weeks. We haven't been through Glacier Bay yet so we're doing the Westerdam. We also have not done Buchart Gardens, so we're doing that this time. On a previous cruise we did an Orca cruise when we hit Victoria that was exceptional.

As I recall, we did Canaletto sailing out of Stockholm and as others have mentioned, nothing to get excited about although I must say the scenery was awesome. If you have to have Italian, it'll work but don't expect atmosphere. That said, Tamarind was fantastic - we ate there on Eurodam both times we sailed on her and would do so again on any ship with that restaurant. The service and food were both great.

Holland no longer has formal nights

Didn't know that - thanks!

I'll bring the tux anyway :)

This coming trip will be our third to Alaska and I've never been bothered by skeeters. HAL has two "formal" nights and while there will be many who will be wearing a tux in the dining room on those nights, as long as you have on a jacket and tie you won't be frowned at (although I'm not sure that I've ever seen somebody turned away unless they were in shorts and a muscle shirt). We never worry about trying to call each other on the ship - just set a meet time someplace. Your cell phones will work in all ports. The data package is too spendy for my taste and I'm addicted to the net but it's good to dry out for the week.

We had thought about a 10 day Norway cruise but in light of all of the craziness on that side of the world opted instead for yet another to Alaska. Doing Glacier Bay this time. Can't wait. Booked a VC.

My wife is always looking at plastic with benefits and has a HAL Credit Card. We paid for the upcoming cruise with that card and should have some accumulation of useable "points".

How hard are they to redeem for online shore excursion bookings?

TIA!

Mezze Plate Vegan

Baba ghanoush, ="chickpea hummus, stuffed grape leaves and tabbouleh salad, served with warm Pita bread.

I don't believe that baba ghanoush >is< equivalent to chick pea hummus. Baba ghanoush is made with egg plant, onion and tomatoe.

In either case both are (or should be) fine for a gluten free diet.

I suppose it depend on when you go...

...we're going from NYC to Quebec in Oct. I think we have more than 2 days of just cruising. As you go down the St.Lawrence river, I suspect you'll see land to port and starboard the whole way.

Having come back down from Alaska a couple of times and gone down to Mexico along the coast I'm guessing that there will be times (middle of the night) when land won't be visible.

I'm hoping that as we go up the St.Lawrence towards Quebec we'll se a bit of fall color.

We sailed with him twice on Oosterdam. He remembered my wife's name on our second trip (in April 2008).

As I recall, we left from Copenhagen and I ordered some Danish cash from my bank before we left ($200 or so). I had Euro's left over from other trips, we took that. We also did a cash exchange in Estonia because (as I recall) at the time, they weren't yet on the Euro. Be assured that 99% of the places you'll go will take your plastic and many will take your dollars although you may not do well on the local exchange rate. Enjoy your Baltic trip - we sure did!

Having been on deck 8 in the past, check to see that you are not under the pool deck. I seem to recall very early morning shuffling of deck chairs that was pretty loud. This was on the "O" and while the "NA" is certainly different, the Navigation deck (8) is right under the Lido (9). I didn't look to see where you were stem to stern.

When we did our Baltic in 2009, we stayed with HAL shore excursions and did not need a visa. We greatly enjoyed our trip to the summer palace, the Hermitage and seeing Swan Lake at the ballet in town on the night we were in port.

Although my SIL has relatives in St.Petersburg we didn't even consider attempting to hook up with them due to the cost and associated hassle of getting visas.

We had no special insurance.

(see below)

...On your itinerary, Copenhagen, Faroe Islands, and Greenland all use the Danish Krone...

Maybe that was it, I think I purchased some DKK at our bank prior to our Baltic, but I also think I did a local exchange while in Tallin - this was 2009.

I agree, our last day itinerary out of Venice was less than ideal. We are not retired. I don't recall if we attempted to work the next day (possibly). That said, the hospitality shown us by our hotel (Hotel Gabrielli Sandwirth) was excellent and our private boat was awesome. All booked through a great travel agency in Milano.

I think we took Euro's and dollars but I do think we converted something when in Tallin, Estonia. As I recall there were one or two places where we used cash (while my DW will use plastic for everything I still use cash). We like to walk and stop in local shops and I'm pretty sure that in Estonia we needed something other than our plastic and the currency we had.

So, not on a cruise, but we left Venice at the crack of dawn in 2006. We were up around 2:30, downstairs at our hotel - they had prepared a breakfast AND coffee for the two of us. We had a private boat take us over the lagoon to the airport. The boat ride was a highlight of our trip! Winding our way through the canals in the dark and then our pilot (owner of the boat) opened it up and lifted the bow out of the water as we cruised between the lights on the lagoon. The walk (with our luggage) from the pier to the terminal was longer than I needed at 5:30 AM and the airport staff wasn't even there yet. So, it was us and another 100 or so souls waiting for the airport to wake up. We caught our flight back to Frankfurt and then on to the USA.

Made for a long but memorable day.

Don't think I'd opt for a taxi on land...

How often do you plan to actually be >>IN<< your room? I have often wondered this... We sleep there and get ready to go someplace else. On post days, we're usually scrambling to get off the ship. On sea days maybe more relaxed but we rarely spend a LOT of time in our cabin. That said, we usually book a veranda - don't ask me why (sitting outside is nice).

Would love your opinions... ...just wondering if it's worth the additional expense.

IMHO, I don't think the >food< is any better or worse. The ambiance of the restaurant and the presentation of the meal are certainly better.

We've eaten in the PG several times but unless you're a red meat carnivore, you may not appreciate the up-charge. The Caneletto (on the Eurodam) was nice but they've added them to most (?) of the other ships as a segregated area of the Lido (IIRC).

We really enjoyed the Tamarind on Eurodam and will likely make reservations again on our OCT cruise.

If you buy a bottle of wine at dinner and don't finish it, they'll keep it for you until you finish it. You might enjoy attending their wine tasting event - usually the second full "at sea" day. We have done that several times and have enjoyed them all. Some of the ship sommeliers are quite charismatic and know wine. You'll enjoy the afternoon (in the Pinnacle Grill) and might even learn a few things about wine in general and pairings of wine with various foods. I'd suggest it - your SO might even enjoy it!

We've sailed on the O several times in Alaska and in Mexico. Loved it each time. On several of the cruises we had familiar faces in the wait staff. The ship is well kept (IMHO) and I happily look forward to going back to Alaska on her again!

We're going out again on Eurodam this fall - essentially the same deck plans as the O but with one more deck and an interesting spin on a second fancy reservation restaurant: The Tamerind.

If you have specific questions about the O, ask and I'm certain that enough of us will provide opinions!

I brew Starbucks at home (Italian or Verona - both a dark roast). We'll take Via on trips but I have found that the coffee in the MDR or Lido both work just fine.

Eurodam - October 4, 2014 - NYC to Quebec