no-name-at-all

We’re thinking about going on the complete 2026 world cruise.  Does anyone know about how many duplicate bridge tables there have been throughout the 2024 Oceania world cruise?

Does anyone know if smoking in the casino on the Volendam gets out into any of the public areas?

1 hour ago, meg1021 said:

Thanks for the information.  I will be on the 2025 World Cruise, and would be happy to participate in a passenger led Zumba class.  Are these classes listed in the Daily Program, or just word of mouth?  Also, the classes by the ship's dancers sound like fun, as well as being great exercise!  I did make a note of your email, and can contact you regarding the 2025 World Cruise.  If you post at all during the 2024 cruise, I'll be sure to follow!

It's only word of mouth since it is a privately sponsored program--but open to everyone.  For the 2024 World I  found someone who also has a laptop to help me.  We're alternating sea days to take care of the videos. Maybe you can do the same?  Lots of time to talk before 2025 World.

Bonita

18 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

On HAL World Cruises a passenger @no-name-at-all usually coordinates a passenger-led ZUMBA session.   I don't think the ship leads that type of class.   I could be wrong - others can chime in if they are in the know here.  

Thanks, Pete, for mentioning my "video" zumba classes.  (I download YouTube videos and we all dance to those on a big screen.) HAL is the only cruise line that I know that never contracted with Zumba to offer classes.  Therefore, they allow me to provide what they called an "aerobic dance" class--not allowed to even use the "Zumba" name.

Let me add, that for those who love dance classes, on the 2023 World Cruise some of the ship's singers and dancers lead a class for passengers.  They taught us some dance routines similar to ones that they were doing on stage.  It was just so much fun to pretend to be performers like them --even though many of us (including me!) were nowhere close to being any good at all! 🙂  I am hoping that they will have the same class on the 2024 World Cruise.  I'll keep you posted.

If all goes well, we'll be on the 2024 and 2025 World Cruises.  If you are interested in an  "aerobic dance" class, you can email me, Bonita: no.name.at.all.2018@gmail.com if you like.  I always provide the details at the first meet and greet on the ship.

Bonita 

25 minutes ago, msweezie said:

We got that same postcard we are going tomorrow night. I will let you know the outcome. We did something similar with a timeshare presentation maybe 4 years ago, and we were given a four-day cruise, and it did work out, all we had to pay was port charges. I will let you know how this one works out

You might want to check Post #30 by The Nurse before you go.  They did attend and reported back.  All those $99 each "refundable" deposits and $99 each "refundable" reservation fees seems like a lot of money to give for a "free" cruise to a company no one has verified is legitimate . 

We opted to cancel our reservation after reading that post. If you do go, let us know if you have the same experience or not.

Good luck in whatever you decide!

On 8/29/2023 at 12:12 PM, the nurse said:

Well, I did receive my cruise certificate in the mail.  They are requesting a $99 refundable deposit (check or money order only).  This needs to be mailed to Vacation Advisor, in New Smyrna Beach, FL, who will send me (another) voucher in 3-4 weeks.  Then, I send in my request for 2 separate dates with $99 per person reservation fee.  It must be postmarked 60 days in advance of the dates I choose.  If those dates are not available, then the process starts all over again!!!

We've decided to pass on this!!!  I was really hoping this would be worth the effort involved.  I checked  with the BBB and found out that Vacation Advisor is a storefront "travel agency" with no telephone number to call.

I guess the offer was really too good to be true  🙂

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing about your experience with this 2023 Travel and Cruise Showcase.  We just received the same flyer here in CT and thought --like you-- that we would give it a try.  In the past, we went to so many Timeshare talks to get the freebies--Disney tickets, free hotel stays etc.--which were real.  We were always very good --unlike some of our friends--at saying NO at the end of each presentation. We actually take World Cruises on HAL each winter since we retired (except during COVID 😪) instead of buying a vacation home.  At one Timeshare talk we actually convinced the agent that our cruising idea was something he wanted to do when he retired! 🙂

In any event, we thought, like you, that we would give it a try and definitely say NO to any promotion.  I am so grateful that you kept posting about your experiences.  The nerve of them to make you go through so many hoops to get the reservation.  Sending them $99 a person twice is utterly insane.  Might as well kiss that money goodbye.  

Oh, well.  We love cruising so much that we hoped the offer would be for real.  THANK YOU for doing all the leg work for us and saving us the hassle.  So glad you didn't get suckered in like the other people you saw at the event. There should be a way to have the police stop scammy events like this to prevent people from making dumb decisions with their money. 

Hmmm.....I think I will call the town police department to alert them of the event and give them the pertinent information from BBB and the scam websites.  Worth a try.

1 minute ago, DeeDee Groff said:

Good to see you here and know you and Lenny will be aboard, Bonita!!

 

Please come over and join us on the roll call when you have a few minutes.

 

Cheers,

DeeDee (aka Deb)

Will do!  (All this threads are quite confusing!  Hope the link from Rick is where everyone will end up!)

Great to be cruising with you again, Deb.

Bonita

13 minutes ago, RBB said:

  Are you coming with us Bonita?  The roll call is here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2667823-amsterdam-grand-africa-october-3-2020

 

Thanks for the link, Rick.  Yes, we booked on Monday!! Keep in touch!

Bonita

On 6/6/2019 at 5:44 PM, rafinmd said:

The posts which discuss tours on this thread violate Cruise Critic Guidelines and should simply be deleted.  The roll call started by budddawn has the right format for inclusion in the roll call tool and should become the official one.

 

This thread should be a general discussion of the nature of the voyage.

 

Roy

How do we get to the roll call started by budddawn?

Who would like Israel to be a stop on the 2019 World Cruise?

YES!!! We would love to see Israel added to HAL's 2019 World Cruise!! The Israelis go out of their way to make sure everyone is as safe as possible there -- at least as safe as anywhere else in the world these days!! It is a destination that means so much for so many religions. I am sure there are many fellow cruisers who would love to return again and again. Since the 2019 WC is going to Jordan again and passing through the Suez Canal before heading west to Italy' date=' it would be easy to make one or two stops in Israel on the way.[/font']

Hoping the powers that be in Seattle will reconsider and add Israel!!

In July we are scheduled for a 35 day "Voyage of the Vikings" cruise on the Maasdam with Holland America. Being the Zumba fan that I am, I just don't want to be 35 days without it and I know HAL doesn't offer it yet on their ships. I found about 10 people who love Zumba or would like to try it on the Voyage of the Vikings thread. Here's my plan: I've reserved a room with a big screen TV and a DVD player in the mornings on sea days. My plan is to buy one of the Zumba Fitness DVD sets and use it to Zumba together.

My question for all you Zumba fans: Has anyone used one of these DVD's? As far as I know Zumba fitness has 2 sets. The original one is called "Total Transformation" and the more recent one is called "Fitness Exhilarate". Would anyone recommend one over the other? Does anyone have any suggestions on how best I can use them on my cruise?

Any help would be much appreciated!!:)