cruiseaholic78

Is the Mariner early booking bonus of $400 (for the 28 days) per cabin also applicable? It is already including a lot of extras but it is always worth checking.I was too late for that on a previous booking but ended up with a welcome back bonus of $150 each. Happy planning Rosalyn

If you look at the link from James Suckling with the PG menu there are many many other wines available by the glass all within the SBP limits. I couldn’t copy paste just the list but here is an example of the whites. (I only drink white and luckily my favorite is included phew!) Rosalyn PLU # 1308 Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling, Columbia Valley, 10 40 Washington State 1309 Danzante Pinot Grigio, Delle Venezie, Italy 11 44 1310 Pian di Remole Bianco, Tuscany, Italy 10 40 1311 Caliterra Sauvignon Blanc Reserva, Valle de Casablanca, Chile 9 36 Laurenz V. Gruner “Singing” Veltliner, Niederösterreich, 12 48 Austria 1313 Chateau St Michelle Mimi Chardonnay, Washington State 11 44 1314 Simi Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County, California 11 44 1364 Clos du Bois Chardonnay, North Coast, California 11 44 1365 Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 12 48 1368 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 18 77 1306 Pascal Jolivet Sauvage, Sancerre, France 19 81 1361 Grgich Hills Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California 21 95 1312 1364 Cakebread Chardonnay Reserve, Carneros, Napa Valley, California 25 115

When booking our Westerdam cruise (28 days Tokyo Singapore) the cabin we wanted was not available for the whole trip. Looking at booking two cruises of 14 days it was, so contacted T.A. and after an extra phone call it was booked, so its always worth checking if wanting a B2B.

Maybe too late but whatever you (and anyone else) decide do choose a different color than black. So many black bags at airport or cruise terminal, we have turquoise ones that we can see at a distance, just in “case” we also put a luggage band around them. Rosalyn

I started out as so many here giving my own advice about my experience booking directly or via the cruiseline saying how both had increased so much within a month. Based on your own findings I now have the opportunity to change my flights if they become cheaper. If for any reason we have to cancel I will get my money back, otherwise with KLM I would only be able to change them and pay any difference, and the only refund would be for taxes. By the way our flights are now €15013 non refundable €16011 refundable, more expensive than the cruise!

Flyertalker and Zach 1213, I was referring to my second case Amsterdam-Tokyo Singapore-Amsterdam and as said after our previous very long flights/layovers (Amsterdam Tokyo Sydney/ Sydney Tokyo Amsterdam)we would try to fly as direct as possible. As KLM are the only ones flying both directly we chose them as being our “only option” I know KLM do not fly to Australia and that there are no non stops available. Refundable flights were about €700 more for both of us and I thought this was (comparatively) cheap for the peace of mind. That said time will tell and I will definitely post if our flights do go down in price.

I stand corrected, now I know the expression is buckets, in our case the first flights were not refundable only changeable. In the second case we did indeed book refundable, will follow them to see if they ever become cheaper but I don’t think from 13000 to below 7300 is likely to happen. In this case our only option was KLM, after our last flights from Sydney with long waits between flights we said only direct if possible.

I am afraid I beg to differ, in most cases we try to book as soon as flights are available! Two examples bear in mind these are flights from Europe. Last February booked for December Amsterdam-Tokyo(to see family)-Sydney return again via Tokyo abt € 8000 business two people return.Later prices increased to nearly double. Last month booked for October Amsterdam-Tokyo Singapore-Amsterdam abt €7300 refundable business two people. Now same flight abt €13000 non refundable and same or similar via Easy Air. Each flight has different letters available when the first one is filled they go on to the next one each time more expensive but all for exactly the same flight. Weird I know but thats how it seems to work. Happy planning Rosalyn

One thing to consider is that this is the school holidays so Schiphol will probably be a bit of a madhouse! Great itinerary by the way however while you are in Amsterdam why not take the advice of others above and stay (at least) one night. No worries if you will be in time and such a relaxing end to a cruise. Here is some more info about the port. https://www.whatsinport.com/Amsterdam.htm Happy planning. Rosalyn

Here is some useful general information, if you are looking for something different regarding pre cruise hotel you could look at the old SS Rotterdam. https://www.whatsinport.com/Rotterdam.htm https://ssrotterdam.nl/ happy planning Rosalyn

We were also on this cruise and are still waiting for any reaction from Oceania except confirmation of receipt of our mail. I have now contacted our TA about this so we will see if we get any further. Apart from total loss of power for about four hours one evening the lost ports and shortening one port visit it was an amazing cruise. We have spoken to many first time Oceania cruisers who were adamant that this was their last with them. So many new customers lost due to a total lack of consideration but as I mentioned before as long as there are wait lists for their cruises they really don’t seem to care.

If you booked them onboard don’t US conditions apply? Or did you transfer to a local UK based T.A.?

We were also on that cruise and sent our complaints on 27th January, until now we have only had a confirmation from Oceania saying they have received our mail. Based on the above I think its time to contact our T.A. and see if they can do anything for us. We are based in The Netherlands.

We have had a few receptions there, eaten in the restaurant and DH has stayed overnight (it was a business do). I can’t imagine any better place to start a cruise holiday. Try using a water taxi its great fun and they can drop you off at your SS hotel. https://rotterdamnetherlands.com/water-taxi-rotterdam/ Happy planning Rosalyn

I understand your frustration about the other details but I have now read this a few times and keep seeing new itinerary has Amsterdam instead of IJmuiden which I thought is what you wanted.

We met up with some friends and gave it away, they loved the idea. Similarly I always used to keep the bed chocolates and take them into work, now I am retired and there were rather a lot on our 35 days cruise I took them ashore with me. I asked the customs lady if she liked chocolate, she did but as government official was not allowed to accept anything! DH claims I tried to bribe an official. So I took them into town on the shuttle and gave them to the volunteers there. Rosalyn

Here another advocate of sea-bands, after an extremely bumpy ride on an excursion at the end of the day and being hungry I departed the coach (and then a tender) a weird shade of green. Talked to friends on the ship about this dreading a long excursion to Borabodur the next day when she suggested using seabands I said I didn’t believe in them but she said try them anyway and they really do work. Our coach plus police escort went from one side of the road to the other no chance of focusing on the horizon! DH kept asking me are you ok ? and I was. Rosalyn

On our Regatta circumnavigation in December why did people need a proper internet service? To try to find excursions when Oceania suddenly cancelled them! To tell their Operators on private tours when Oceania cancelled our port day or changed the times in port! Rosalyn

We did the same spent ages going back and forth trying to do this, gave up in the end. When on the ship we recvd a link for an online form we had to fill in which generated a Q code which we then had on our phones and we were also given a paper form to fill in. So armed with Q code copy of passport (always have one with you, also useful to get senior deductions for museums etc) yellow book we went through to leave the ship for a wander. They only looked at the Q code and and we were good to go, not sure what happened with the form though. That said we do have the Yellow book showing all our vaccinations. Many on our roll call said they had also tried and given up! Happy planning Rosalyn

AIDA has a special deck FKK which allows for nudity, anywhere/everywhere else is clothing compulsory. Rosalyn

The aft cabins on deck four have larger verandas, 4152 and 4154 are the best but quickly sold out. This is a useful website to check cabin/veranda reviews. Happy planning Rosalyn https://halfacts.com/

We always mention how much help CC can be for other cruisers, I always say that it is definitely not criticism (well ok sometimes) and everyone always tries to help. Rosalyn

No, its more important to check what is above you than below, as said above we think the VB cabins deck four near the aft are the best. Rosalyn

Actually I understand that has only recently been stopped on HAL( not for 1st class passengers though) he was called the Yum yum man and our group started cheering him on. This was quickly taken up by everyone in the bar! I think he enjoyed all the attention. Rosalyn

Now I understand, seriously I never saw these ones when we were in Japan, even my brother has a toilet with shower function and music. I’m not sure where but I really saw this sign somewhere on my travels I think it was Kuranda Australia.