vicd1969

My very first cruise was a Sept cruise in Alaska on the Zaandam. Really loved it and was lucky to have good weather most of the time. Had 80 degree in Juneau. A highlight was being able to see the Northern lights a bit one evening. But Alaska weather is a roll of the dice, regardless time of the year.

I would imagine some of these activities would be paid events. But more activities staff is in the right direction.

Since time is not a constraint (unlike some of us cruisers), go for the 21 day one. Even if you say you likely won't go on many shore excursions, who knows if an opportunity presents itself to explore something new and wonderful, on what was a place you already had visited.

The closest is if you are on an European itinerary, the fries in the Dive In are made like the thicker cut Dutch fries, and not the american style thinner cut with its yummy coated batter.

I understand Royal Caribbean effectively does the same thing for a few of their premium restaurants. But they are more transparent by making the restaurant a la carte and if you have the dining package then you can only order a fixed number of appetizers and entrees/tapas. That’s easier to stomach than what HAL is doing.

Who wants to bet that the new menu will also limit you to one main and one appetizer? i give it 3-1 odds.

Can't answer about the phone either. For internet access, you can basically forget about using the ship internet for VPN. I had to wake up early each day to check work email and run cloud applications. It was pretty difficult between 9 AM and 12 PM during the sea days. Certain spots on the ship may give you better wifi connection, so you may want to move to a public space like one of the music lounges or the Lido if your cabin's internet isn't good. Now that said - things may get a lot better by end of 2023. Carnival Corp. is said to be rolling out StarLink on its Carnival/Princess/HAL/Seabourn ships this year. But I don't think your ship will get it by end of March.

Dinner at the buffet has a few of the same main courses and desserts as the MDR, they just aren't plated as nicely. You should get a wider variety of choices than NCL or even Celebrity for dinner. One drawback however, is that a few of the stations close pretty early like around 8:30 PM. If you're an early diner, shouldn't be a problem but if you eat late like most Europeans, the MDR is a better bet.

Yes, the “12 oz” strip steak seems always a lot bigger on the Rotterdam and Nieuw Statendam.

Is the Pinnacle now charging for extra dessert as well? My nephew finished two crème brûlées there last summer, that was the highlight of his meal.

Likewise on my November NS sailing. If you go before 8ish, line shouldn't be long.

You have to turn in your room card with the spa pass sticker to obtain the spa keycard each time, then return back the spa card for your room card after you are finished with the thermal suite session. Thus, the attendants pretty much know who are the thermal suite customers after day two or so and may notice that the room card turned in by your husband is not his. They may or may not turn a blind eye to this. I'm not going to suggest ways to get around this, but this is what the spa use process is.

Depending on when you arrive in Seattle, you may be able to take a train to Vancouver the afternoon before. There is an Amtrak train that arrives around 11:50 AM in Vancouver should you wish to take one same-day. Train trips are 3.5 - 4 hours. There are several bus lines that take 5-6 hours as well. Unfortunately, Southwest isn't on Flight Ease as an offering, but if you don't have to use Flight Ease, they are a viable option.

Maybe a reason among many for all these reports of HAL running out of booze - the logistics side has underestimated the popularity of the Have-it-All packages and haven't elevated their orders as much as they should have. Could be a case that sales and marketing didn't provide good data to logistics and supply chain on how many passengers are getting HIA.

You can also play board games or do puzzles on the Explorations Central deck, and view the scenery from there as well. Or enjoy late night snacks at the NY Pizza or Lido buffet. But yeah, HAL ships are more limited in entertainment options for non-gambling night owls, other than the music walk.

My first cruise was a main deck quad on the Zaandam. While we were 4 adults, 2 of the other were of petite-sized. There is a curtain that you can use to separate the couch area with the bed area for some dressing privacy. Storage space was very good for 4. I didn't feel cramped as the couch surfer, but it may be difficult at night to get by the couch, laid out as a bed, to go to the bathroom. One thing that helped me cope with the quad was that I booked the thermal suite for the cruise, so took my showers in the locker room instead of in the cabin. Halfacts has some pics - the sofa of the cabin in question does fold out, just didn't in the pics. https://halfacts.com/2671-amsterdam/

Depends - the bag can fit a lot of clothes and may allow you to save on having to check in a piece of luggage on your flight (up to $60-$70 round-trip cost if you're not flying Southwest). It used to be $20-25 per bag for non-European itineraries but I believe HAL has raised the price to $30 for all cruises. On Pinnacle class ships like the Rotterdam, if you are planning to eat dinner in mostly the main dining room, run to the dining room manager on embarkation day as soon as you are done with your muster requirements and reserve a set preferred time (may only be allowed to set from night #2 onwards). That's because anytime dining where you just show up can be a crapshoot in both wait times and getting an attentive waiter (they're kind of understaffed in the MDRs of that class of ship). Intermediate-level hack: Hopefully, is your booked cabin like an obstructed balcony or bottom-category oceanview? Then I highly, highly recommend buying the club orange package. That allows you to upgrade for free to the highest category room in the type of cabin (ie, the highest level of non-suite balcony if you are currently booked on a balcony, or the highest level of oceanview if you currently have an oceanview) AND allows you to dine in the separate Club Orange room on the Rotterdam - where the service is usually better due to a higher waitstaff-to-diner ratio.

OP said this particular cruise is a charter with activities that don’t interest him, but he is going along with his travel partner. Would be curious to see if he can pull this off in a safe manner , in case I need to use the tv input myself possibly in the future to view photos taken during the cruise.

No he is a veteran poster on this board and his website is THE go-to resource for HAL menus.

You can even wear shorts to the dining room and no one would bat an eye.I do recommend bringing your wildlife camera with you in case a whale comes to say hi.

That is a good idea worth asking. On the Nieuw Statendam most of the video consoles in Club Hal were PS4 but I think they also had one PS5. Also I don’t know if this is still the case, but the large J class interior on the main deck of Vista and Signature class ships like Westerdam had TVs that could swivel due to the bed layout. So their ports were accessible at that time.

One nice thing about the Carnival Pride - if you have ever been on the Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam, its layout is very similar except it doesn’t have a full promenade deck.

CrewNews has the menus Dutch Cafe menu https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Grand-Dutch-Cafe-2021-1.pdf Exploration cafe https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Explorations-Cafe.pdf both have very good coffee but the Dutch Cafe line can be a bit long during peak morning times

I did a similar itinerary a few years before COVID, except replace Cannes with Monaco. The Taormina tender was not a problem for getting back to the ship. Kotor has a small port - unfortunately HAL is drawing the short straw and another ship gets to dock right in front of the town main entrance. But I don't expect the tender there will have to cover a long distance like a tender at Half Moon or Grand Cayman. Given that the Oosterdam isn't a huge ship and the short tender distances involved, I think you'll be safe scheduling a private tour an hour after arrival time. At both Taormina and Kotor, four of us just grabbed a taxi for the day, and the drivers waited while we walked around the spots we wanted to go, with some advice from them. I haven't been to Cannes but would only consider getting a private tour if you're set on exploring the countryside regions outside Cannes.

Not as much as Alaska, at least from the ship. I saw zero whales on my 7-day cruise. There may be excursions that are more focused on wildlife, but the best time for marine life is more towards the early late fall from what I understand.