pschweig

Thank you for reposting the link. It works perfectly. Antarctica is on our bucket list of places to go. 

I am a DIY-type person. I use your reviews as the starting point for making my plans. Thank you again for all the wonderful information. 

Oops. Forgive me. I forgot to say please. Again, thank you so much. 

Ive been following your wonderful and informative review since we have a deposit on the 2020 Rotterdam Northern Isle cruise which includes Iceland. I am just getting caught up with your review after a recent trip.

In your #313 post from July 16 about Seydisfjordur you posted a link for a review. I only see a blank image “box.” 

Could you please repost this link? I am very interested in it’s contents. 

Again, thank you for the immense amount of time it is taking for you to post this information. I cannot begin to tell you how helpful it is. 

The Signature Experience was included with our June 27 Baltic cruise. We stayed at the Scandic Hotel near the Planetarium in Copenhagen. Breakfast was included (a very extensive buffet appealing to all nationalities). The hotel was an easy walk to the Old Town and Tivoli Gardens. Rooms were small and typically Danish.

Our visit to Kronborg Castle occurred on the second night. All of us thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It began with a very scenic 45 min drive along the coastline. We toured part of Kronborg Castle, ending with hors d’ourves, champagne, beer and sodas in the main hall. The promised “heavy” hors d’ourves consisted of six selections. Most of our group of six ate 1-2. Be advised - eat dinner before going. This was followed by one actor performing parts of Hamlet.

One member of our group was not able to go to Kronborg Castle. We were told at check-in that it would be very difficult for someone in a wheelchair. The 15 min. walk from where the bus parked to the castle had some uneven, cobblestone areas. Once in the Castle, you had to climb 42 steps to reach the second floor where the main hall was located. There wasn’t any handrail, just a rope along the outer wall of the spiral staircase. No elevator was available.

We used HAL’s Flight Ease program to reserve flights for June 2018. I paid for the tickets last August. At that time, we were issued ticket numbers. I do not have a “ticket” but I do have a ticket number for each passenger. BTW, we used a TA from our credit card company,

How about purchashing a transport chair?, hey are small ish, not very costly and store easily. Sailors on the gangway will help get her down the gang way in her chair. Tenderding might be a problem for her. Seeing you are a family group, is there someone who would push her chair during any stops the bus makes? You may find it is less costly to buy a transport chair than to rent a chair and you would own it. In my area, they are not pricey. On the ship, she would be more independent with the scooter. She would need someone to push the chair.

Thank goodness - no tendering. I think I know what a transport chair is - a small, narrow wheelchair?

We’ve got to sit down and get a good feeling of what she can and can’t do. We’ve got 1 1/2 months to get this figured out. I had no idea what to advise her to do! I knew I could ask this question on CC and get good suggestions from people with first-hand experiences. Thanks to You all.

Just a word of caution.....alot of the tour buses have steep steps....would she have a problem getting in and out....??

 

I have had some knee problems.....and I always pack a velcro knee brace....just in case.....it really helps stabilize my knee getting in and out of cars....and tour buses......!!!

Thank you again for another excellent suggestion.

Thanks so much for the your responses. I tried to research my question on CC before posting but I guess I don’t do a good job of selecting search words. You all have given us the information which We needed.

My sister is accompanying my extended family on a Baltic cruise aboard the Zuiderdam in June 2018. To make a long story short, her bad knee has sudden,y become much worse since we made our reservations in July 2017. She plans to take panaramic shore excursions but does not feel she would be able to walk from the ship to the tour bus and back unassisted.

I thought she might be able to reserve a scooter for the cruise, but do not know yet if that is a possibility (more research!).

My question - do staff members assist passengers (on scooters) from the ship to the tour bus? Or, should she consider canceling her cruise reservation because there isn’t any way for her to walk to a tour bus?

Thank you in advance for any replies, suggestions or personal stories about your experiences. I have no knowledge or experience which would enable me to give her suggestions.

I'm a first time cruiser and I have celiac's disease and therefore must eat gluten free. I'm concerned I will be sick. Anyone with experience on this ship?

Both my granddaughter and I are gluten intolerant. I used the email info for HAL Ship services provided in mslindz’ post yesterday and received this reply from HAL on the same day. Much easier than it was in the past!

“Everything is all set for you and Ava now for your Gluten Free request. There are no forms to fill out for this as there were in the past as all of the ships now carry a stock of gluten free foods onboard all sailings. All that is needed now is for you to let us know that that you need to have a gluten free diet while onboard our ships. The only dining venue onboard that can guarantee against cross contamination is the Main Dining Room as the other venues have too small of kitchens to dedicate a space for gluten free food preparation.”

Kazu, yes, we were able to pay for the airfare separately. We will not pay for the cruise until right before the deadline for final payment. I double checked yesterday and our requested seats are still assigned to us.

As soon as we paid for the fares, HAL issued us a document which showed the actual airline ticket numbers for each of us.

As the two previous posters have stated, your fare and seat can change before tickets are purcgased. Our TA clearly stated these conditions to us. Once purchased, your tickets are issued. As the previous poster stated, your flexible, refundable fares now become non-refundable. We chose to purchase our tickets in August 2017 for our June 2018 flights for our Baltic cruise. $2450 pp vs $4600 pp represented too significant a savings to jeopardize by waiting.

OP, a previous CC thread suggested researching fares and schedules on the princess cruise site. The original poster said it was the same company as HAL’s and had the same offerings. Per its suggestion, I found a princess cruise leaving the same port around the same time. Doing a dummy booking, I selected that cruise and saw a tab for flight quotes. I was able to enter my desired departure and return times. I then saw what their flight program called flexible fares. When I contacted my TA to reserve our flights, I was able to get the exact business fares, flights and schedule I had researched on the princess site. Our KLM/AF round trip flights from Houston to Copenhagen for our Baltic cruise next June cost about $2450 pp, as opposed to about $4600 pp on United. A significant savings! Hope this is helpful.

I am also gluten intolerant and successfully ate in the NA Tamarind with no problems last year. I was able to preorder my food using a menu in the Neptune Lounge. If I remember correctly, I received a call later in the day telling me a modification had to be made to a dish I preordered. I've always been impressed with how HAL manages my GF dietary needs!

Thanks so much to everyone who responded. My son and DIL made a booking themselves on the same cruise as us. We want to transfer their booking to our TA. I KNEW all you very knowledgeable people could answer my question!

i searched and did not find an answer to my question. What specific steps do you follow to move a booking you made yourself to a TA? Is there a specific telephone number to call?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

I am gluten intolerant. I've had no difficulty with any of the food which was prepared for me.

As previous posters have described, you are presented with the next night's menu and preorder. The waiters are very knowledgeable and can advise you which dishes can be prepared gluten-free. If there is any question, they either consult someone in the kitchen or send over one of the dining room managers. Also, many of the selections in the MDR are already prepared gluten-free and need no modifications (most of the vegetables and the fish entree). I can eat almost any salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing (according to the waiter, my only safe dressing choice). I can successfully eat the flourless chocolate cake, but my usual desert is the cheese plate selection. The gluten free bread is quite good.

I always speak to the manager in the Lido who tells me what I can and cannot eat in the restaurant. Gluten-free pasta is available, so I can always have pasta and meat sauce.

There is also a form which I send to HAL when we make our cruise reservations. It is called "Special Requirements Information (SRI) Form." It has a section lableled "For Guests with Severe Allergies." There is a box which you check for food-related allergies. Additional comments can be made at the end of the form which I use to state that I require a gluten-free diet. I also file an additional form to which HAL refers as a "Gluten Free Request Form." This must be filed no later than 90 days before departure. You can pre-order gluten-free products (a maximum of 3 from each list per day) to ensure that these products are on board. For example, for a 7-day cruise, you can select a total of 21 items.

Again, I stress that I feel totally safe when eating on board and have never had any difficulties.

My husband and I disembarked from the Prisendam in Ijmuiden last May and took the HAL transfer to Schipol. The time of our disembarkation group was 8:30-9:00. Everyone must take a bus from the ship to the terminal at Ijmuiden. I remember only waiting a few minutes for this bus service. We only had carry-ons so did not have to look for baggage in the terminal and were able to board the bus (I think around 9:30). We waited at least 30 min for our bus to fill up before departing for the airport. The ride to Schipol was longer than I expected, over 40 min.

We had reservations for that night at the Sheraton at Schipol Airport. We got off our bus, retrieved our bags and walked about 10-15 min to the Sheraton (a little longer because we were not sure which way to go). We arrived at the Sheraton before noon.

We had friends onboard who prebooked a taxi to pick them up at 7:30 to take them to Schipol. I believe they paid around $55-$60. I just remember thinking that it was about the same amount that we were paying for our HAL transfer.

To answer your specific questions:

In our case, 7 am was the arrival time, though I saw people getting off around 7:15-7:30.

Based upon conversations with other passengers, I never heard anyone taking the HAL transfer say that they were in any disembarkation groups earlier than 8 am.

I hope this was helpful.

We were on the P'Dam in May.

I am gluten intolerant, requiring modified menus every day. I cannot begin to stress how hard everyone onboard seemed to work to ensure that I was given gluten-free versions of what was on the dinner menu and gluten-free options for breakfast and lunch. Not only was my food was excellent, but it was safe for me to eat!

I was concerned before our trip that I would have a difficult time not getting sick from exposure to gluten. This never happened due to their diligence!

I changed our assigned cabin number yesterday (Aug 13) through our AmEx TA. It was for our cruise which departs Nov 13, booked last Jan. I asked she provide a written copy of the AmEx Platinum benefits we will receive on this cruise. I have it in writing that we will receive our 1st night Pinnacle dinner, bottle of champagne and our OBC.

Hope this is helpful.

We were on the Rotterdam last November in an SA cabin. My DH says that there wasn't a medicine cabinet in the bathroom, but there were glass shelves at eye level which stuck out from the wall with bars across them. I don't remember them, so I think they were only on 'his' side of the sink. I hope this helps.

My sympathies to you and your mother.

I know another poster addressed your room card issue, but I wished to share my experience with other CC members. I repeatedly demagnetized my room card last November on our Holy Land cruise aboard the Rotterdam. A wonderful front desk person suggested that it was due to my cell phone. I always wear my room card on a lanyard around my neck. Sure enough - my cell phone was hung from a different lanyard around my neck everytime we went ashore! I had no more problems once I put my room card in a pocket.

This was something that never occurred to me which I learned about the hard way. Hopefully, this post will spare someone the problems which I, unknowingly, inflicted upon myself.

My husband and I were on the Rotterdam Nov 2013 and had the De Librije dinner. I had the wine pairing option, which was fine for me. My husband had the wine tasting option, which was a much better option for him. As another person responded, the wine selections are chosen by the De Librije chef and not HAL. We enjoyed all of them; I had an outstanding chardonnay.

Food presentation was unbelievable. The dinner was worth experiencing just for the chance to enjoy this. I wish I had taken pictures of each dish. They were like culinary works of art sitting in front of us. I cannot begin to imagine how much time was spent preparing for this dinner.

I found this menu on another post with my comments (marked *). This isn't exactly what was offered last November but it does give you an idea of what to expect. We were told that the chefs from De Librije recently visited the Rotterdam, ensuring that the food and presentation was exactly as they planned. I think at that time the menu was changed a little.

North Sea Scallop - black garlic pearls, celeriac juice

* neither of us cared for this. The scallop is served raw. This was the only negative aspect of our experience.

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Torched Langoustine with Green Bean Coulis - butternut squash quinoa salad

or

Oyster on the Beach - foie gras, oyster, micro greens

or

Goats Cheese Basil Croutons - cucumber juice

* I frankly cannot remember what we had. I think the second two options are very close to what was offered last Nov. We both think we had something very close to the first option. It was excellent.

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Potato Soup with Lobster and Chorizo - potato soufflé

or

Chilled ClearTomato Gazpacho - black olive and celeriac mousse

* we both had the first soup. We don't remember it having chorizo.

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Seared North Sea Cod with Speck Ham - coconut foam and lemon grass

or

Duo of Lamb Loin and Crusted Lamb Neck - lentil sprouts, watercress, carrot coulis and lamb jus reduction

or

Baked Red Mullet with Couscous - cockles and bay shrimps

or

Venison Loin and Beef Tenderloin - bulgur wheat and smoked olive oil foam

* finally can help you. I had the north sea cod. It was excellent. My husband had lamb. It was not exactly as described above. He pronounced it to be excellent.

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Deconstructed Apple Pie - vanilla gelato and Chantilly-style cream

or

Rice Chocolate Stones - tuile and strawberries

or

Assortment of Sorbets

* we both had the apple pie. It was totally different than what we expected. Deconstructed meant that they represented apple pie ingredients on your plate. For example, an apple pie would contain vanilla so a vanilla bean was on your plate made from dark chocolate. Very interesting.

I hope this was helpful. Are we glad we went? - yes. It was quite an experience. We love culinary experiences. Would we go again? No. My husband just made me laugh. His answer was "since we went, now we won't go again."

I personally loved the mid size ship vs the mega ships. There were a few things that hit me wrong such as lido deck beverages. You often had to wait for coffee machine, the ice tea ran out, the ice ran out on one side, those were really annoying. The smaller ship was much easier to get around and the public spaces were very well laid out. There was always a quiet spot or a social place if you wanted to sit and meet new people. The dining room was a little slow, but then I think that is just cruising now. If you want more, you have to pay higher cruise fares such as on other lines I think HAL is a nice middle ground for price and service.

 

We constantly saw the officers around the ship and they were very personable. They went out of their way to engage you, several remembered our names and stopped to chat anytime they saw us. The food was good and a few items were exceptional. There were a couple of misses, but then again, nothing was a show stopper for me.

 

Orlando, the mix bartender was one of the most service oriented people we met. He worked very hard, but managed to make it all look effortless. We went out of our way to give him an extra tip at the end of the cruise.

 

The last day of the cruise I took extensive photos of the lido breakfast. I've never been a Lido fan, but HAL has changed that!

Thank you so much for your response. As I said, we will join the Rotterdam in Athens on Sunday for a 20 day cruise. I am trying to get my nerve up to write my first review!

We will be on the Rotterdam on Sunday. What are your impressions of the ship and crew? Thanks for your review!