Cruise NH

Thank you for the recommendation!

I know there are public transportation options for this journey but with our luggage we won't be using them. I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for car services from the airport to the terminal area. We actually will stay at a hotel near the port the night before so a shuttle to the cruise port wouldn't really help. Thanks for your help!

thanks so much. I’m surprised they’re not posting Normandy or Paris excursions because that seems like enough time. Maybe they’re yet to come.

I was going to post almost the same ? as the original OP. We're on a 3 day cruise (QM2) next May, I need to find out how long we'll be in port for Le Havre. They haven't posted any WWII excursions and that's what I want. Anyone know where I can find the port info for Le Havre online? That would seem to be the best bet. Thanks.

They might not have known how big of an attack it was immediately and that could explain the delay in notification. We were there in 2017 coming back from a private tour and we heard gunfire, etc. Our guide just sort of shrugged it off like they heard stuff like that ( and worse) all the time.

Yes I’m sorry I was thinking about the summer and fall, I thought some were offered there in the past. That’s what I didn’t see on the website , I should have been more specific. Thanks

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not good with website searches sometimes. I’ve been looking for ‘grand’ cruises in 24 and 25 but I can’t find anything other then the world cruises and the pole to pole ones. Am I missing something or are none being offered? I thought HAL was going to be doing more of them not less.

Thanks again for all the information, it’s so helpful. Not surprisingly downtown hotels on the weekend in June are very expensive so we decided to stay at the Hilton at the airport. We’ll only be going downtown one day so I don’t think it will be a big deal.

Thanks for everyone's input. I did change our flight. I don't mind a little stress but DH does so why go through it? We actually decided to stay a couple of nights, probably in Amsterdam or at the airport because I think there's pretty good transportation to downtown. Thanks again!

Thanks for your response. Do you happen to remember when people were allowed to self disembark by any chance?

For those who have taken cruises out of Rotterdam. We're on a Norway cruise round trip out of Rotterdam next year. The ship is only going to Norway ports, will we have to go through customs when we debark? I'm wondering because we have a pre-noon flight out of Amsterdam I want to make sure (as much as it is possible) that we can make it. We intend to self disembark and get a car service (looking for one now). Thank you.

Would any of you who have done it worry about making an 11:35 international flight after debarking at Rotterdam? We would self disembark and line up private transport (though I haven't looked into that so I would welcome recommendations). Also, it is a Saturday.

We're 4* on HAL and Diamond on Cunard so we've been on both a lot. We like the more international nature of the passengers, I mean we can talk to Americans anytime right? There's no comparison in speakers (enrichment talks), Cunard wins that one and that's important to us, but not to all I understand. We've been on Cunard with John Cleese as a speaker and the just recently retired Governor General of Australia...when we were going around Australia! That Australia trip was part of the 2020 world cruise that ended (like HALs) in Fremantle. The difference being Cunard took care of everyone's plane reservations (whether you flew with them or not) among other things. They really shined during that crisis. Obviously we love both lines and really I don't think you can go wrong if the ship is going where you want to go.

We did that excursion on the VOV. We loved it but if they told you that New Englanders attacked remember here in NE we like to think of it as the British attacking.🤔

Get used to that. We just got off the Zuiderdam on Saturday the 26th (voyage of the vikings cruise). The rolls and pastries were always dry, bordering on stale. We thought they might have been previously frozen.

We are on the current Zuiderdam cruise out of Boston. Plenty of people ignored their boarding time and got on the ship whenever they arrived. Boarding in Boston was a breeze. Just check out of your hotel at 11 and walk on over. I wouldn’t get there before 11 IMOP.

One thing we have done is accept some risk. We’re in the US so what we do may or may not be applicable to your situation. Our health insurance covers us internationally and we buy a separate evacuation insurance called GeoBlue, I think plans like Medijet ( right name?) are the same. Where we take a risk is not looking to cover 100% of the trips cost. For example we’re currently on a 35 day cruise and we only have 80% coverage. It saved a lot of money but we would only get 80% back if we cancelled and there is no trip interruption coverage. Its a big decision but we felt it was right for us. The medical coverage is more important to us.

Forgot to say, we’re on the Zuiderdam Voyage of the Vikings. great weather today, chilly of course but the sun came out after the fog lifted. We’ve had good weather at ports but very foggy at sea.

Noon Greenland time. Prince Christian Sound.

Oh no, no more reports? I would love to hear about your trip to Boston. How was Greenland? Did you encounter any icebergs? Did you make it to all the ports? Inquiring minds want to know.

this is the entertainment for the first couple of weeks. exc talks are just the cruise director reading a script. The Step One Dance Company are repeats from voyages we took earlier this year. One speaker we haven’t heard from yet so we have no opinion there. He’s scheduled to talk about ships and such. The only other speaker is a couple who are supposed to be talking about the ports in some way but from their first talk I don’t know what they are trying to accomplish. They are listed as former teachers who started cruising several years ago. What I expected is subject matter experts on Viking history or Canadian history, etc. I also expected to get practical information about the ports we are going to. We did the 2017 WC, so what I’m asking is, was the’23 WC more like what we have here on the VOV or more like the special voyage the ‘17 WC was.

Thanks for all your comments. For us, the lecturers and entertainers are important. We’re not into trivia or crafts, etc but of course everyone is different. My comment about the vov was just about our disappointment in the two areas I mentioned above, I’m sure we’ll have a great time at the ports and we’re happy to be here. We’re just thinking about the same experience for 128 days.

Hmmm how can I put this…I haven’t read the ‘live from’ ones, which can be difficult to get through, but I have read a few blogs from seasoned world cruisers, they tend to be huge fans of hal and maybe just maybe wearing their rose colored glasses at times. I just want to know did they have good guest speakers, knowledgeable about the area being traveled through, did they have a variety of entertainment, things like that.

With so many cuts being made on cruise lines I wondered, from those of you who were on board, how were the world cruises this past year? Did they have the usual selection of great enrichment speakers and good entertainment? We're currently scheduled for a world cruise on another line but I'm concerned about their cutbacks so I wanted to know how Cunard is comparing. Thanks.

We were on the 2017 Hal wc and were impressed by the entertainment, on board speakers , the staff, just everything. We have reservations for the’25 wc but now we’re having second thoughts. We were on two hal cruises earlier this year both over 14 days and we were underwhelmed by the entertainment, onboard speakers and activities. The staff on the other hand were great as usual. We’re currently on the Voyage of the Vikings cruise, which we thought would be much better but it’s not. So now we’re worried about the world cruise, 120+ days with no great entertainment or guest speakers, that would be tough. So, my question for those who were on the ‘23 world cruise, what did you think? Other than the ports, was it special? thanks