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Campolady.....you are a true wealth of information, as I have been reading almost all of this thread. You mentioned that there is a bus M110 that runs to Torremolinos and

that it is possible to catch it outside of the port gates....I assume there is a return bus

to malaga, but to the port?

Also, we a a little leary of riding the bus....not so young anymore, and wondered about getting a taxi from the port to Torremolinos and then another one back to the Port. Is this posssible, and how many euros, do you think?

Changing the subject a little, I was wondering if anyone has ever used Luggage Forward or a similar service when traveling to Europe to pick up a cruise on NCL. We have used this service before on both Princess and HAL, and found it so easy! You pay a little more, but you don't have to worry about trying to carry large pieces of luggage all over, especially in Venice, where there are the bridges everywhere. We are picking up the Jade in Venice in October, and it would be so much easier! Also, I just heard that the city of Venice has passed a rule that you can be fined for using luggage on rollers in the city.

 

So, I just wondered if anyone has or has heard of anyone using a luggage service that picks up your suitcase at your home or wherever, and it is waiting for you in your stateroom when you arrive on board.

Thanks....appreciate the info. Anyone else? I have heard that many use NCL's hotels, and many others choose to do their own hotel. I would love to know any other NCL hotels. Thanks everyone.

Hi all....wondered if anyone has booked their NCL pre-cruise Hotel stay in Venice through the cruise line. If so, would appreciate the names of the hotels, perhaps location, and if already stayed at the hotel, a little critique and cost, perhaps. Would certainly appreciate it. Have been in Venice before, and wondered what NCL offered. Thanks

You have hit the nail right on! We had the wonderful opportunity to sail on the Ryndam on her last Med cruise this past fall, and then we stayed onboard for the Transatlantic crossing back to Tampa. We loved each and every moment onboard, and agree with all you mentioned, and then some. The staff, from our steward to our wonderful dining staff were top notch, and we found all of the administrative staff to be extremely helpful and pleasant, as well. We loved our captain, Captain Werner Timmers, too! What a wonderful, personable, and true man of the sea he is!

 

This size ship is the best experience at sea, in our opinion. To us, this is what cruising is all about. We have tried some of the larger ships, and except for the Ruby Princess, we will come back to the "S" and "R" class ships on HAL as long as we can. We pray that HAL can keep these gorgeous ships sailing as long as possible....we love them!

 

Again, thanks for the wonderful and positive review.

Yes, thank you so much for zooming in on the gorgeous Amsterdam...most of wish that we were onboard this evening....have always dreamed of sailing to Australia. Have to have a bigger "cruise Jar" for that one! Love watching the sailaways especially on Saturdays, but I do check it out EvERY day! Thanks, again!

Hello...and a special hello to Roz! We dined with you, I think it was on the Veendam or the Volendam, out of Tampa about 4-5 years ago. We were friends of Gulfcoaster, and dined on upper level at a 5top. Great Cruise!

Now the reason for this post. We just returned from a Back to Back, but not the usual kind. We first sailed a wester Carib. itin. on the Nieuw Amsterdam, then changed terminals and ships, and sailed on the Ruby Princess to the Eastern Carib. This post is about our experiences with the Anytime Dining on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

First of all, we booked late, so were assigned to Open Dining. We were dismayed, and hoped that we could change to Traditional Dining once on board. We are a Traditional kind of couple, and love having the same waiter team each evening, and love the interaction with that same team. We always tip generously, extra, at the end of the cruise, and prefer this kind of dining to a different waitor every evening. In the past, we had one experience with Open Dining, and were able to change easily with the kind and understanding Maitre'D. Unfortunately, this time on the Nieuw Amsterdam, we were told it was not possible to change, and we needed to call the special phone number for reservations. There followed several days of never knowing when or what time or with whom or at what size table we would be able to dine. We were told various versions about when we were to call for reservations, we were terribly frustrated because we could never understand the person taking the reservations, and it was never the same person. We always got the reply, "The only times you can get a reservation are at 5:30 or at 9:00." Since we don't like to eat that early or that late, we often just hung up, because the voice at the other end would only repeat this statement over and over. We could not deal with the Maitre'D at the podium, as he always said to call for a reservation, and he was never able to give us a reservation or change us to Traditional Dining. We tried Caneletto and did have a reasonable experience, but not wanting to eat there every evening, we continued to deal with the reservationless system. Eventually, during the course of the cruise, we met another couple that we enjoyed, and we were able to arrange to have a particular table, however early at 5:30, for a couple of nights in a row. It is a lousy system if you are not interested in Open Dining. If you like Open Dining, it works just fine, and I know many people are happy with it. However, for us, the frustrations of trying to get a reasonable time for a reservation just put an unhappy cast over our weeks' cruise. The ship is lovely, but we could tell that Holland is cutting down on crew numbers, not only in the dining rooms, but with cabin stewards as well.

Now, we don't know what to do, as we had already booked a transatlantic on the N.A. for next year, and we have been assigned Open Dining....We will attempt to change it to Traditional Dining, and if we cannot, we are going to have to decide if we will need to cancel it, even though we love the itinerary. My husband and I cannot face the thought of trying to call and call and call to get a reservation for something other than 5:30 or 9:00.