Piccolopower

Remember, the Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa card does NOT cover preexisting conditions.

RB

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We use our Chase Sapphire Visa card which has special travel insurance included when you pay with the card. Or we use squaremouth but read the policies word for word....some are very slippery.

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Voyage of the vikings Roundtrip boston 35 to 38 days on HAL loved Iceland Scotland Norway and so much more. Have done it twice.

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Did you ever decide on a snuba place?

HI heather....just now seeing your question. We decided not to snuba. The reviews were mixed, and with a lack of feedback we scrapped the idea...

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In our opinion:

Hits:

Love the shrimp cocktail in mustard sauce

Beef wellington

The quail (although, as expected, portions are "small") grin...

In the morning, I like their cinnamon fresh toast mixed with a side of bananas.

Misses:

Most of the desserts.

Thai curry soup - all at our table (6) sent it back.

I agree with posters about the salty hot soups, sticky risotto, and the weird veal tenderloin.

I learned on our last Veendam cruise that we could order a huge plate of fried calamari for our table as an appetizer. It was not on the menu, but required a 2-day advance order. No extra charge. DELICIOUS.

Also, I love topping my Lido ice cream with liquor (no charge). A lady in front of me ordered rainbow sherbet with Peach Schnapps poured over it. I said "you can hold the sherbet".....They frequently provide Creme de Menthe, Cacao, and Banana Rum. I called it my afternoon delight!

We also had an issue with lobster in the Caribbean. Our tablemate's lobsters were gray, and had a bad smell. Ours were white and firm.

Sheila

Like many of you, we also do a combination of DIY, private, and ship. Here are some comments about each of ours:

Best DIY: Rome. Another poster mentioned that they did DIY in the Med on everything but Rome. I was aggravated that the ship tours forced us to choose between the Vatican and the Forum/Coliseum tours. I found an itinerary/suggestion site online that was ideal. We pre-purchased tickets to the Vatican (no line) bought the combo ticket at the Forum (no lines!!) and still visited the Coliseum, Trevi, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and ate lovely Roman gelato. We finished by 3:30pm, took the train back and were showered and dressed for dinner by 7:30pm. Ship left at 11:00 pm. Perfect.

Closest Call: Akureyri, Iceland on a private tour. All aboard was 5:30 and we were on the other side of the mountain (after our soak in a hot spring) at 5:20pm in a 4-wheel drive jeep. I said "are we going to make it?" Our drive/guide said - "here we go!!" and we skipped the main road, opting instead for a thrilling, bumpy, moderately stressful off-road experience directly over the mountain. Arrived at 5:35pm....thank heavens a ship's tour had arrived at 5:30 and were still loading. We just slid in behind them.

Ships tour AKA "Do not get on the bus with me": 1. Heimaey Iceland. First, the tour was oversold, so someone had to get off the bus for a refund. Second, the bus caught fire about a mile from the port. They made us walk back since no buses were available. We got a cookbook. And a refund. 2. Antigua, Guatemala. Tour guide was prevented from coming into the port due to lack of ID, so he jumped on outside the gate. Coming back from the full-day tour, the rickety bus was hit by a box truck who tried to squeeze past us, shattering (you guessed it) MY window. Cops come, we see a lot of shouting and arms flailing. About an hour late coming back to the ship. Dipped strawberries later in the room if I remember correctly....

Ships that buy out the tours: Bar Harbor LuLu Lobster Boat reserves one tour time for DIY, all the rest are ship. Grand Cayman: No private tours available to Stingray City - ALL were ship tours. Our tablemates were disappointed - they encouraged us to DIY stingray city and then they couldn't find any tours! We booked the ship tour and had a great time!

Captain's error: Short day in Grand Cayman was cut even shorter when our Veendam captain didn't realize that Grand Cayman was in the Central time zone and not Eastern. His pilot asked "why are you an hour early?" All the excursions were delayed one hour, including ours. We were on the last tender coming back to the ship, (late) protected by our ship excursion, since our all-aboard time did not change! His apology speech included "I will be discussing this issue with our Navigation Staff...."

We also tend to book ship's tours after boarding, due to the cancellation policy. I like the policy on-board (full refund up to 2 days before you go, and sometimes the SE department bends their own rules, and extends it a day. I haven't seen big price changes (unless there is a sale that expires).

Sheila

Just bumping my request for information -

No snuba fans in St. Thomas?

I am considering doing a snuba adventure on our upcoming trip to St. Thomas. A friend in my roll call said he had done it before on an excursion (and loved it!), and the snuba folks back then provided transportation. Snuba is not being offered by our cruise line - we are on our own.

Two companies are available, as far as I can tell: VI Snuba and Snuba Coral World. Both are operating near or on the Coki beach area.

Reviews on tripadvisor are mixed - and the youtube videos that I've seen don't look like the reef is in very good shape - and the fish were sparse.

VI Snuba has a strong website - with a side by side comparison of the two companies (but of course they are biased). They also indicated that the taxi to Coral World is $11 per person each way. Which looks low, until you add it up - $44.00 in addition to the almost $80 charge for snuba per person.

If you have done Snuba with one of the companies (recently) can you comment please on your experience, and what the transportation arrangements were? Was it worth $200 for 2?

Thanks!

Sheila

These unwanted upgrades tend to happen at the last minute. I wonder sometimes if part of HAL's strategy in assigning guarantees and making theses upgrades so late is that there's no time for people to make changes. "Sorry, but you'll have to ask onboard." It saves Seattle a lot of wrangling.

 

The people at check-in at the port have no control over assignments. So all you can do is go to the front desk and hassle it out. NOT a good start to a vacation.

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I agree with this! The port folks couldn't do anything - and we certainly realized quickly that they were not able to help us. I was most upset that our luggage went into the wrong cabin due to the last-minute upgrade. No one re-marked it, and it was out of our hands when we checked in. It took a room steward to do some detective work to find them.

Also from RuthC's comment: "I wonder if the consultant would have been willing to trade cabins, and what the Front Desk would have done if you both had approached them with the option. Or, even if you had approached alone with that suggestion!"

In our situation, we tried to get the front desk to approach the people who ended up in our original room for the upgrade switch. They absolutely refused, even though we had just boarded the ship. One of the front desk people said to me - "Well, YOU could approach the people in that room to switch". And I said back "it truly isn't up to me to intrude on one of your guests." (I was still pretty steamed) She made it sound like it was something they recommended on a regular basis. (A supervisor later said she spoke out of turn!) We opted not to bother those folks. A room was offered from the front desk 2 days later. They claimed that there was a last-minute no-show.

To the folks here: Would you have knocked on their door?

We had this happen last year. I booked with Travelocity into a specific cabin, inside aft on the Lower Promenade of the Zaandam. Our goal was to have a private, quiet cabin but still have access to the outer deck. I specifically told them to check the box "no upgrade". I did online check-in, printed my ID tags, affixed them to my luggage. It all looked great.

We arrived at Port Everglades about 11:30 am, walked up to the check-in desk, and the woman behind the counter looked confused. She turned around to a supervisor, who started leafing through their folders. Oh, she says - you've been upgraded! I'm thinking, hot dog - a verandah!! No. It was an obstructed OV on the Lower Promenade. This is the worst cabin (for me) that I can imagine. Not private. Not quiet. I start to argue - I can't cope with this cabin, didn't ask for an upgrade, yada yada.... Didn't do any good - she informs me that they cannot change the cabin until I get on the ship. Unfortunately, due to an issue with the ship, we aren't allowed on board until 3:30 pm. A very uncomfortable afternoon.

Finally onboard, I marched straight to the front desk, where there seemed to be a large number of people who were complaining about their cabins. (about 35). I've never seen that before. Front Desk explained that we were upgraded due to our Mariner Status. (Apparently 3-star Mariners should not book inside cabins) They put me on a waiting list, and told us to wait until tomorrow. Great. We went to our cabin, and found excursion tickets on the side table for someone else, and no luggage. Our cabin steward tracked down our luggage, which had been placed in our original room!!!!!

Two days later (curtain closed, earplugs to sleep), they found an inside cabin (one of the sideways cabins which I loved) on the Dolphin Deck. It had some minor issues - TV didn't work, keys didn't work, some HVAC issues that were resolved but we did finally get settled. Whew.

After the cruise, I contacted Travelocity. They pointed the finger at HAL. HAL pointed back at Travelocity. A supervisor at Travelocity actually said to me - we can't check that box. What????

So there it is....I have learned that it might be best to contact your travel agent or HAL directly periodically to verify that the box is checked. It has never happened on any other cruise - hopefully it is an isolated incident.

I would think that if you have specified a shower for a medical reason, that they would take that quite seriously.

Sheila

Hi kzengineer:

You have come to the right place for advice - there are literally thousands of helpful Cruise Critics here.

I have planned all the cruises that you see in my signature. Only one was with a local travel agent who happened to have "group space" for Alaska. My advice for you is to take this process in steps. Step one is to truly choose where you want to go. There are numerous online travel agents who have easy "search" engines that will help you initially. Do a search for each area you are interested in. Then select, usually in the upper right corner, sort by price. Some engines allow you to sort by price per day (my favorite). Your engine will show you the name of the ship, the dates of sailing, and the number of days. Remember that some engines will not show the total with tax - a number which can be very high. Keep clicking through as if you are reserving - (until you put a deposit down, you won't be buying anything). In addition, remember to account for any Visas if you decide to go overseas. If you need to keep costs down, be sure and do some sample air travel itineraries - I am always amazed how summer air costs are so much more expensive than off-season.

After you establish your top three choices, hop over to Cruise Critic and read the ship review AND the recent cruiser reviews. Go to the websites of your short list and view the ships - some have beautiful 360 degree virtual tours.

Another thing you will want to consider is the type of room. Personally I like inside cabins - we find that the inside of the ship gets to port at the same time as the suites. We are never in our room. However, we also are fussy about which room we are in. (Quiet is good) The companies will sell the rooms two ways: select a specific room, or take a category guarantee. People who are not fussy about their rooms can save some money with a category guarantee, but upgrades on a cruise may or may not be "nicer". I personally select my room and tell the cruise line "no upgrades please". There are websites available that will advise you about favored cruise cabins as well. Google the Category/Cabin number and cruise line that you like, and they will pop right up with recommendations.

Addressing your question about whether to wait to book: Since you are in the United States, you can put a fully refundable deposit on the cruise of your choice, and continue to look for specials and deals. This way if you see a particular room that speaks to you, grab it! If the price goes down (they do fluctuate) simply call your travel agent for an adjustment. It isn't like booking airline travel - you can monitor the prices and get these adjustments until the final payment date. Sometimes I even get adjustments after final payment - usually in the form of courtesy on-board credit. Just pay close attention in the fine print of the date that the deposit becomes nonrefundable - each line is different.

Unless your travel agent has group space, the prices will typically be the same everywhere. The thing that differs are the "goodies" that the travel agents offer. I've seen promos with 10% of the cruise price in OBC, free meals, free wine, free wifi, all sorts of things. Just remember, some online travel agents charge a booking fee!! (watch for that) Typically the cruise lines themselves do not have as many goodies, but they offer peace of mind and a direct line for information. I personally shop for the goodies - in fact, we own Carnival Corp stock to get a stockholders benefit OBC for every cruise.

Feel free to send me a personal message if you want more specifics - our hands are a bit tied here - we cannot mention specific companies in the forum.

Sheila

We are aboard a Viking ship now on the Rhine (The Netherlands). The CD has already addressed the issue and indicated that the flights that were arranged by Viking will go as scheduled. We're on Delta but we have new friends who are biting their nails. The front desk told me that Lufthansa goes on strike 5-7 times per year, and that they are used to it. Hmmmm.

Sorry to hear about your "cruise".... Hope Viking gave you some perks. Wondered why the ships weren't getting to Budapest. Praying for rain there. Thanks for the update and safe travels!

After speaking with our cruise director today, he indicated that the water level in Budapest is too low at present for Viking to sail. He also showed us where the water level should be on the Rhine (we are in Cologne today). His feeling was that the Rhine would also be a problem for the future cruises, but of course it will be up to the captains to make that call. From the ship, it looked to be about 12 feet lower than usual.

We sailed quite slowly from Wertheim to Koblenz, arriving just a little bit late. It was the highlight of the cruise; however, with castle after castle.

Sheila

Anxious to visit the Market.

Just a reminder - Hungary is not on the Euro. Almost made the mistake at an ATM. Some vendors may accept euros, but some do not. Have a great time!

We are now in Koblenz. Water is low, but it was sprinkling a little this evening.

We are still on the Viking Skirnir, presently near Wertheim. Nearly all of our souvenirs have come from grocery stores, including special wines, advent calendars (,59 each!) unique teas, and sample packages of liquor from Bratislava. We love going into department stores, malls, and grocery stores wherever we travel.

So glad you enjoyed my home town Passau.

 

One very small item, the Danube depth in Passau at 3 ft 8 in., the depth is around 3.90, that is 3 meters 90 cm which is about which is about 12 ft 10 in.

 

Have a great cruise.

GMT thank you for the correction - I realized after I posted that it couldn't be right.....

Passau was worth the extra time. We walked over to the pedestrian bridge on All Saints Day, sort of "through" the university. After visiting the old church and seeing the beautifully manicured cemetery (that everyone was visiting), we took this photo from the peninsula. Wow.

Tomorrow will be another beautiful day, we'll be in the town of Wurzburg. No rain in the forecast. We have been assured that we are past all the water issues, as we are now north of Bamberg. Our enthusiastic cruise director informed us today that he is leaving at the end of this cruise, so GWN will have a different one. Tonight was the music quiz - fun but long.

What link do I use to track a ship or find its location? Thanks.

I checked two trackers, vesselfinder and marinetraffic. Marinetraffic was a bit harder to figure out, but more up to date.

If CC will let me post the link, here is the Skirnir on Marine traffic. If not, I apologize for the asterisks, haha.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:1073068/mmsi:269057498/vessel:VIKING%20SKIRNIR

Getting ready to go into Bamberg and drink some smoke-flavored beer....

We are scheduled to leave Amsterdam on the Viking Modi on 11/9/15. I've noticed via ship tracking ( Modi position ) it has been 'stuck' in Passau for a few days so I gave Viking a call since there are no updates yet for the Modi on their update page ( Viking current sailings ). As of this morning (11/2/15) they have "no information of any changes", so I guess with today's information on the internet the 'passengers' can know sometimes more then the 'company'. We look forward to our trip regardless of the ship and I will update here to pass along river information

Well if Viking won't answer you, then I will give you the update. We started on the Modi in Budapest on Oct. 26. The weather has been ideal, sunny and pleasant. Unfortunately for the Danube, it has not rained at all, and the water level in Passau on October 31 was 3 feet, 8 inches. We docked successfully next to the Viking Ve and Viking Prestige. When we came back from our tour of Passau, we were informed that we would be ship swapping with the Viking Skirnir on Nov. 2. On November 1, we were given two choices, take the scheduled Regensburg tour or go on a half-day tour back to a cute border town in Austria. (we chose the latter, normally 49 euros, but for us it was free). We stayed another night in Passau. Quite honestly, it was such a beautiful day in Passau, we explored more of the city and had a great extra day. Some of those who went to Regensburg were disappointed because the shops were closed due to All-Saints Day. We packed our bags last night, and were bussed 3.5 hours today to Nuremburg, where we met the Skirner, had lunch, and were back on schedule with a guided tour.

So the bottom line is the Skirner will meet you in Amsterdam for your vacation. It is one week older than the Modi. Identical in every way. The service today was very good, and I like the entertainer much better. Our cruise director, Joey, is enthusiastic and fun, and he, along with several of the crew, came with us. Unless it rains, I seriously doubt that you will make it all the way to Budapest without a ship swap, but as I've outlined, ours was handled very well, with only the morning bus ride and a "packup" as our downside.

Good luck. The good weather is our tradeoff for the swap. We're having a great time.

We just got off the Zaandam last week and I have pictures but cannot find a way of attaching them. I guess I could upload to Flickr and add a link but any other suggestions would be welcomed.

After selecting "Reply", go down to the bottom, and you will see "Manage Attachments". A window will pop open where you can select your photos and upload them. If you have a slow internet connection, just wait for the photos to load before attaching them to your reply. You can monitor the progress (%) in the lower left corner of the window.

Good luck!

This was actually taken in Nicaragua, the day after we lost so many ropes. I was meandering down the dock, taking photos of pelicans, when the port security pointed out the fraying rope, and advised us to stay away from the front of the ship. I snapped this photo as we hastily retreated.

Zaandam, early May 2015.

For the next two days, we saw maintenance crews on the ship cutting up the damaged ropes into five or six foot sections.

Sheila

Carpeting was taken up, and replaced with a fake hard wood floor.

The comfortable easy chairs along the window were left, and are upholstered in velvet in four shades of: brown, gold, light tan, and dark tan.

The center was filled with "ice cream shoppe" type chairs (a bit larger) upholstered in red velvet seats with white leatherette backs.

 

There is no harmony at all with the easy chairs sharing the room! There are small, round tables for every 2-3 chairs.

 

The center furniture is arranged classroom style most of the day, as the area is used for "seminars" several times during the day. A large projection screen is at one end much, if not most, of the time.

 

At night, that center area is rearranged more cocktail style, but is not comfortable for long when listening to the Adagio duo.

I did not take any photos of the Explorer's Lounge - but when we attended the Medallion ceremony, I distinctly remember tables and chairs in the middle (we were drinking Mimosas). Chairs were comfortable, nothing funky. There is a row of seating along the windows, groups of four I believe with no tables. Then in the back is a built-in sofa (sort of looks like a huge sectional) which is set apart from the rest of the Lounge. I think it is still carpeted, but please don't "quote" me on that. The Hotel manager admitted that the sound system was not installed yet - there are pre-cut holes in the walls behind the Adagio area which will eventually be hooked up.

FYI The Hotel Manager said that the Zaandam received one of the new backup generators but it was not online quite yet.

Anyone on board of the Zaandam at the moment? What changes do you see after drydock? Have the cabins been updated?

I can answer this - we've just returned from the Panama Canal.

Noticeable drydock changes: The Showroom was completely re-done, new carpets and upholstery. The aft Lido deck and pool were also re-done. They have switched from teak to a teak-lookalike produce with painted-on lines.

The Explorers Lounge has been redone - I like a new cozy corner they have added, which seats about 12 and is set away from the group.

Cabins have new mattresses and many of them have new "edges" on their side tables and desks.

We attended a talk, where Renee the hotel manager showed a slideshow of all the changes, and some of our dining stewards were pitching in, holding spray bottles for "hot" work, and carrying carpeting all over. It was interesting to see the containers being lowered onto the Lido Deck by a crane!!!!!

Our voyage was not without bumps however - the air conditioning system is acting funky - very warm the first and last few days. Several cabins have leaks, presumably from the condensation created when the air conditioning was put back into service.

We also lost 8 tie-lines in Puntarenas (not a scheduled port). There was a container ship that sunk near Puerto Caldera so we moved to Puntarenas.

By the way, the Captain is from Groningen (as are my grandparents) and he is excellent. Sounds like Sean Connery with a Dutch accent.

Laundry is only available on Deck 3. Four units, $2.00 washer $1,00 dryer. Get there during a mealtime or port and you might get one. I actually did mine while in port in Nicaragua.

Overall the ship looks very nice. Enjoy your cruise!

Sheila

1. Alaska: Sparkly black sweater/black dress pants

2. Med: Sleeveless full length blue dress from Macy's.

3. Baltic: Gold bodice with chiffon skirt tea-length.

4. Canada: Red/Gold Sparkly sweater/red dress pants.

I apologize - they aren't all dresses, but the sparkly sweaters work for packing, when the dress pants are worn with other tops for dinner in the MBR. I couldn't find a photo of a lovely beaded black dress that I also wore last year in Canada - just my head in the formal night photos!!

I haven't decided what to do about our upcoming voyage of the vikings - 35 days. Perhaps a silver dress for "Iceland" and a green one for "Greenland"!!

Sheila

Let me see if I can answer your questions.

 

1). Hotels within walking distance of South Station. Don't understand the reason for this question. If you take the SL1 from the airport to a waterfront hotel, you would get off at World Trade Center for the Westin, Seaport, and Renaissance, and at the Courthouse for the Residence Inn. It's a short walk to the hotels from the stops.

 

Thanks Carol, I was definitely confused about the stop - thank you so much for the clarification.

My concern with Hotwire was that only one hotel was showing up when I requested the Waterfront area. After reading other posts, it sounded like people were seeing numerous offers on the secret hotels. Do you think the 95% rating one is the Westin?

I will research the Boston Harborwalk - that sounds lovely.

I think we paid $159 last year for the Embassy Suites in July - which I realize now was an excellent deal, especially for a family of four with breakfast.

From reading other posts, it sounds like any of the waterfront hotels will be suitable. I'll read up on tripadvisor as well for the latest comments.

Thanks again - I appreciate your help very much.

Sheila

Looking for help with hotwire interpretation on specific dates: July 11, one night, two people, probably prefer waterfront. No issues with mobility - early 50s. Will come into town, hopefully by 4:00 pm, then onto the Veendam on the 12th for the Voyage of the Vikings.

Stayed at the Embassy Suites last year with teenagers in tow, excellent choice, great breakfast (but busy). Unfortunately we came in very late due to rainstorms and missed walking around Boston. We didn't use the port van to get to Black Falcon ($10 each) but opted instead for a taxi for the four of us for ($20.00). Nice Italian pizza place within walking distance, ate super late - 8:30 pm. We chose Embassy Suites for the free breakfast and shuttle bus from the airport/direct call to the hotel pricing.

This year, we are traveling by ourselves. Breakfast is not a big deal, nor is the shuttle bus - I'm pretty comfortable that we can take the S1 to South Station.

Here are the questions. 1. Are all the Waterfront hotels within walking distance of South Station? 2. Only one hotel comes up on my search, which I think is the Westin (95%) at $192. Ouch. (Carol???? can you address this?) 3. Is the Freedom Trail safe to walk at night? 4. What is the most economical and most direct way to go from Waterfront hotels to an interesting place to walk for a while? 5. Going to Black Falcon, is it smarter to just take a cab, or take public transport? (Or walk???)

We probably will not go into Boston on the morning of the cruise - we like to be early on the ship. If the Waterfront doesn't work out - I'll grab a room at the Embassy Suites again.

Thanks so much!!

Sheila