Cruise NH

On 11/16/2023 at 3:18 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Another thing to keep in mind about the Royal Court Theatre on Queen Anne is its seating capacity. The specs for Queen Anne indicate a total passenger capacity of approximately 3,000 with a seating capacity of 825 in the theatre. That compares to approximately 2,700 passengers on QM2 with a seating capacity of 1,105 in the theatre. Plus there is also Illuminations on QM2 providing an additional 500 seats for concurrent events.

 

I'll be interested to see how that's going to work out on Queen Anne. Queen Anne will also have the Bright Lights Society. Not sure what the capacity will be for that venue although it doesn't sound like it will be all that large.

oh that’s not good.   We’ve been on the Koningsdam with a similar theater seat to guest ratio.  It was very crowded.  
 

One night they had some guest dancers, we went to the theater 45 minutes early and there wasn’t one single seat left, not one.  We heard the next morning it was a great show though.😕

Why oh why do they stick us with those awful hangers!  Even when you remove them you're stuck with the rings taking up space.  With all the trend towards thin hangers you would think they would get the message.

Other then that, it looks very nice.  We have one on the 2025 world cruise.  I hope someone does a tour of the club balcony dining room.

1 hour ago, 1of4 said:

Typically river cruises do not offer laundry, or laundry packages. You can pay per item, and pay for pressing. Scenic offers 1 kg of free laundry per cabin per voyage. The Royal Suites get unlimited laundry. 

Thanks for the clarification!

On 4/15/2024 at 5:14 PM, 1of4 said:

I believe it is only 1 bag of laundry once per voyage unless you are in the top suite. 

Are you talking about a deal you had for one bag or are you saying that everyone on the boat (other then suite) are only allowed one bag each?

1 hour ago, seacruise9 said:

Hi, 

 

Thanks for your post. I was not aware that there was a discrepancy in the itineraries. 

 

I am booked on the full world cruise but I have not been able to access my booking on My Cunard since the revised itinerary was announced. When I attempt to login, the circle keeps spinning. I am guessing that they are still making the updates to the itinerary. I will let you know about the itinerary after I am able to access my booking again.

 

Chuck

Same here and I've tried chrome, firefox, etc.  

5 hours ago, rog747 said:

I think the whole Gulf/ME region will be 'off limits' to all Cruise ships for the long time foreseeable.

Cunard's ships are insured by Brokers at Lloyd's of London and the Underwriters state there is no Cover for the Region.
(My Family are all at Lloyd's in London working in this field for the past 60 odd years).

If these worrying troubles escalate further then we can likely kiss goodbye to Red Sea holidays (Sharm etc) possibly to Cyprus too, and maybe even Dubai.
So, if you want to go and see the Pyramids, The Nile and The Valley of the Kings, then go there soon.

The QA will be rerouted via the Cape as HAL has already done, and I am sure she will stay on schedule for her many US World Cruise guests to connect with the QM2's SOU-NYC crossing to get them home.


Everyday is a 'School Day' for me LOL
Scuttlebutt in slang usage means rumour or gossip, deriving from the Nautical term for the cask used to serve water.
(or in Today's' world :The term corresponds to the colloquial concept of a gathering at the water cooler (USA) or the tea trolley (UK) in an office setting, which at times becomes the focus of congregation and casual discussion and gossip.

A Navy scuttlebutt.

I used a naval term and I didn’t even know it!

Could you let us know what it said?  Where are they going, around Africa?  Thanks.

22 minutes ago, safarigal said:

I imagine there will be. Our around Africa cruise on the Sojourn has been re routed, and I just got word that the Island Princess has been rerouted, so Cunard can't be too far behind unfortunately.

Hadn't heard about Princess, that is interesting.

I see that HAL has already announced that they will not be taking the chance and go through the Suez Canal on their 2025 world cruise.  QA is currently scheduled to go that route and I'm wondering if that will hold.

We're debating taking this cruise and wouldn't mind if it detoured to Africa but that would be quite a change for them.  Is there any scuttlebutt about this?  Also I can't believe I just wrote out the word 'scuttlebutt' for the first time in my life.

This is an interesting topic for us!  We're on our first river cruise, on Amawaterways, next month.  We're going from Budapest to Nuremberg and then onto Prague for a couple of days.  The cost of flying business class to Europe is so high we felt we had to do more while there so after Prague we're flying to Amsterdam to do a 14 day Baltic cruise on HAL.

I guess we'll see the comparisons up close and personal.

Just found this site, very interesting!  Thanks for posting.

We'll be on our first river cruise this year, May 15th leaving from Budapest on Amawaterways.  We're hoping for nice weather and normal water levels!

I think a lot of the horror stories about boarding in Boston are from before 2023.  We were on the Voyage of the Vikings last summer.  We got there around 1ish and it was a breeze, no problems at all.  Everyone was very professional.  I didn't hear of any difficulties from anyone else either.  

Just now, kazu said:

any cabin with the word suite in it is considered that category.  So yes, you will earn double mariner points and yes, you pay the suite gratuities rate for the cabin (even though it is a verandah technically).

oh good my memory isn’t going after all!  Thanks 

Do you pay the suite gratuities rate with this type of room on the Volendam. I know it’s really just a balcony room but I seem to remember on the smaller ships it counted as a suite even for double mariner points but I could be wrong.

I don't think this is a creepy subject at all, it's just a necessary one.  Similar to a previous poster we keep a file with all our financial and insurance info in our safe and let everyone in the family know where it is.

Beyond that, this past year, we sent a letter to our close family members to let them know how to handle things when (not should, remember we all go) die.  We told them to have our remains cremated where ever we are in the world, not to have a memorial service and basically do whatever is easiest and best for them.  We'll be dead, we won't care.  We wanted to make sure they had no guilt about any of this process.  Have fun with the insurance money!

We looked at flight ease for an upcoming trip where we're going into one city and back from another.  That's two one way flights on flight ease. 

 Instead I used the 'multi city' selection (depending on the airline it's with the round trip or one way selection) on my favorite airline's site.  The multi city choice was a little more then the round trip price but not as pricey as two one ways on the site.

I would recommend looking at the multi city option if you have a favorite airline and want to be in complete control of your booking.  Not all airlines offer it, eg  Delta does, Jetblue does not.

30 minutes ago, Roz said:

@Cruise NH,  the transfer from Canada Place to Seatac isn't considered to be a shore excursion.  Go into your booking and look for pre and post cruise.  There you'll see the transfers and hotels.  If you can't find it contact your TA and have them add it. 

Thanks. I’ll check that out.

24 minutes ago, Gigi1977 said:

We took the HAL transfer from Canada Place to SeaTac.  It was fine except we had time constraints because of a flight.   I would not recommend it for a same day flight.  

You could then transfer to a hotel and then to ship.  

Did you find the transfer in with the shore excursions, or some other way?  We have to go from SeaTac to Canada Place next September.  

I would love to take the train but the very early and very late departures aren't convenient.  Quick Shuttle is fine if you really love riding on a bus and making a lot of stops!  Amtrak does run a bus a few times a day from the King Street station on better times, that can be an option but in the end we might just do the one hour flight unless HAL offers a shuttle.

We're on a Japan cruise from Vancouver next year.  The ship stops at Yokohama (for those just doing the trans-Pacific) and then goes around Japan.  We'll disembark at a port simply called 'Tokyo'.  I understand Yokohama is a city of course but they indicate Tokyo tours are available from there.  So what is the 'Tokyo' cruise port?

Thanks woodinville cruisers and ferry watcher for your input!  I appreciate it.

2 hours ago, woodinville cruisers said:

We had a lovely cruise from Seattle to Japan in October this year on the Westerdam.   I can see that Noordam is sailing from Vancouver to Asia Fall 2024.  Does anyone have any idea what ship is doing that route in 2025 and what is the stating port?  I'm hoping for Seattle.

I can’t answer your question but do you mind a question?  How was the weather?  I know it varies year to year but I’m trying to convince my husband to take a similar trip next fall and he worries about rough seas. Thank you.

This subject is interesting to me.  We have a HAL cruise scheduled for Sept '24 going to Turkey and Egypt.  Hoping it goes but reading the Celebrity forum is not making me optimistic.

Roy - thanks so much for the pic

38 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

There is a direct walking route but beware.  The terminal is behind a dike, and as I recall you walk along the top of the dike, and then take stairs down to the cruise terminal   I think I have photos somewhere but not sure.

 

Roy

Roy,

Thanks so much for the pictures.  Yikes that would be difficult with luggage so a taxi would be needed.

2 minutes ago, ScottishMaid said:

In 2016 we used AirportsTaxiTransfers.com from Schiphol to Ijmuiden. It was 47 Euros and you go around Amsterdam by fairly quiet roads so quick.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Ijmuiden Seaport Beach, 91 Euros in 2016. We could see the Prinsendam from our hotel room close by.

Could you walk from the hotel to the port?  It’s not a Holiday Inn anymore but it’s still there under another name.

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Did you look on the Western Europe/Britain board?

Good idea, I will.