Alphen

Yes, we are hoping to do the Amazon next year, thanks for the reply.

Just wondering if HAL is sailing to Devil’s Island, is the movie Papillon always available or shown on board beforehand?

Living in the Netherlands and having experience with cruising out of both homeports in the Netherlands and always using public transport to get to and from the ship, the 4 hours is too short to allow for unforeseen circumstances. Travelling on a Sunday, public transport is less frequent and if delays occur, there is not much room for alternatives. Train traffic is often disrupted with short or larger interruptions, especially the line to Schiphol airport is often struck by unforeseen interruptions. Also take into account that check in times, together with security clearance on the airport can also take a lot of time! I think it would cause a lot of stress.

On the ports website, you will find the ships in port on that day, with this link; Cruise Schedule | Massport

It will be in your booking confirmation/itinerary, where part of the detailed itinerary, is also which hotel you will be staying, but this is not for all of the locations. In our case, it remained listed as Anchorage area hotel, during the land tour we were informed that it would be the Westmark.

Question regarding the Amazon/Brasil part of your cruise; was there any additional VAT present on board, while in Brazilian waters and if so, was it only on purchases in shops, or also on bar drinks, drinks in the MDR and drinks and surcharges in specialty restaurants?

Excellent tip, thanks, not only for cold areas, but also getting from AC ship inside, to hot and humid outside, never thought of that!

We are looking at the pros and cons of the Quench package. I have read and searched for the coffee's that are included and found lots of info already and learned that also coffee's are included and understand this is also for the Explorations Cafe. My question is, if the Espresso/Cappuccino in the MDR is also included in the Quench Package? Beverage-Package-Contents.pdf

Thanks for all the tips, we have done almost 90% of our preparation and booking, just a few tours that are not open for booking at this moment. We already have noticed a price increase in a ships tour, after booking it, so the early bird...... 🙂

Many thanks for this eyes on report, I have only my research, but came to the conclusion that from the tender port, both Tea House Trail and the Santana Trail plus Dare Devil Trail, are doable, figuring the distances I measured on Google, together with the YouTube footage I found on the actual Dare Devil Trail.

Just to make sure, that’s the location where the ships tenders will dock!

We will also be there this season, so did some research, in the map below, you will find the tender dock in the yellow circle and several points of interest are on the map, with the numbers below. The red circles are for our own use, indicating several hikes near the tender dock.

Thanks for the info, have taken the liberty of saving and reposting the info on Scarborough, on our upcoming Amazon cruise in 2025.

Are these port guides a unique WC service?

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Last dry-dock in 2022, typo, sorry!

Found an updated Sommelier Suite listing of the wine packages. Do not know if wines have been changed, but prices have changed in some cases, not all. sommsuite_flyer.pdf

Nothing official, but judging the itinerary listing of Zaandam and the fact that its last dry dock was in 2020, Zaandam has no sailings between January 18th 2025 and February 8th 2025 and is believed to have a dry-dock in that period, as mentioned by a FCC on board.

First, all the best for 2024 for both of you, sad to hear of the OP and also you had some ports cancelled, hoping that since we have not heard anything and we are cruising before you, that we do not face the same fate.

Thanks for completing this, best wishes for you and Maria, bit of a first for years not having a live report over NYE on board one of the DAM ships!

Tagging along, bon voyage! You are a great source of information for cruising in general and at this moment, also for those that have to struggle through Brasil visa on the 2024 and 2025 Amazon cruises.

We have had mixed success with claiming the Best Price Guarantee, sometimes it works, sometimes not. I think we have had a 70% success rate over the years, just this week claiming two excursions, of which one was granted, the other not, because not being exactly the same, the other was the same operator HAL uses, so they could not deny. We always put in a claim if we think we have located the original partner that HAL uses for the exact excursion and as said, reasonable success over the years and always a response within two business days, sometimes even shorter. Good Luck!

For tax purposes, several HAL ships have been registered to Willemstad/Curacao and St. Maarten for a short period, I think it was the seventies. If you are interested, there are some older discussions about the alternative flagging of Dam ships somewhere on the HAL board.

It has been done recently with a former HAL ship, the Statendam is now sailing as Vasco da Gama. Next to obvious interior refits there have been extensive technical refits, including engines general overhaul. Vasco Ga Gama now burns low-sulphur MGO (marine gas oil) and all five engines are now fitted with SCR catalysers, which reduce nitrogen oxides by up to 80 percent. Apparently they are now within new regulations that also cover the strict environmental rules for Norway, to sail there after new rules are implemented in 2025.They have also updated wastewater systems. Source for this is the current owners website; Nicko Cruises and there should be an extensive article about the refit, which I cannot find anymore.

Bummer indeed, so sad, having had the same experience in 2015, also on Zaandam. Gotten all the way with Port Stanley in sight and also cancelled due to high winds, so still remaining on our bucket list too.