POA1

HAL still had a guess the miles traveled contest as late as 1999 on the Maasdam. I don't think there was any wagering, but they did give a prize. It was probably a photo frame or something similar.

From what I understand, they install the new antenna arrays and some new hardware in front of the existing on board WLAN. It's not a gigantic job because all the access points remain the same. It would help to know if the previous installs were done at sea or during drydock. I'm thinking it could be be both because I doubt there was a hole in every ship's schedule. (But you, sir, are the expert in such matters.)

The dry dock schedule that is carefully curated by @VMax1700 might hold some clues as to the schedule. I think the Nieuw Amsterdam is last up in mid December. A bunch of people on our 12/10/2023 sailing are from canceled NA voyages.

This names the ships and says that the whole fleet will be equipped with Starlink by mid-December. I guess that means that the Nieuw Statendam will wrap things up just before we board in December. (Yay!) https://www.satellitetoday.com/mobility/2023/10/02/holland-america-implements-starlink-on-its-ships/

Thanks for your report!

For our first time upcoming cruises on the Nieuw Statendam & Rotterdam, every restaurant except Canaletto is available for dinner on embarkation day. Perhaps the Lido is more crowded on the first night?

It's a really long gangway.

Poolside ice carving demos. And we remember pretty much everything except skeet shooting. We still take our boarding documents and put them in the blue leatherette folder. It confuses people in the check in line.

If you call HAL and ask for the email of the ship coordinator for your sailing, they will likely have the address for you. They're the ones who coordinate communication with the shop.

Yes. Your TA can find out.

Can you download the movies before you leave home? That's what we do and then it's never an issue.

Naturally this shows up the month after we book & pay. Sometimes I feel like Charlie Brown and Amex Platinum is Lucy with the football. 🦶🏈

There aren't any currently, at least for Covid.

I'm not Bill, but your Club Orange priority boarding is roughly equivalent to the Four & Five Star boarding privilege. The first priority typically goes to the Pinnacle and Neptune Suites. That is usually followed by guests requiring wheelchair assistance. After that, you have 5*, 4* and Club Orange guests. (Signature and Vista Suite passengers might fall in there somewhere. I don't recall.) That whole contingent is only a small fraction of the passengers, so the whole lot boards pretty quickly. Fort Lauderdale does a good job of handling embarking passengers. I would not fret. If you are in the magic trifecta - a high star Mariner in a Neptune Suite who requires boarding assistance, they fire you out of a cannon onto the Lido deck. You parachute in right by the Dive-In. (Totally making that up.)

HAL's cruise protection cost is based on the cruise fare alone. If you add flights the cost is covered but the cruise protection plan stays the same.

I am *shocked* that no one has mentioned the Club Orange Tote Bag.

That is correct. When I try to purchase wifi in advance, I get Premium for less than Surf.

Make sure you check the itinerary for your trip. The Yukon Tundra Wilderness Tour does not run for the first few trips of the season. They substitute a different tour, but it's not the same one that runs in season.

Have a great trip! Love the itinerary.

We are a 9 day Southern Caribbean sailing at the end of March. After departing (beautiful) Fort Lauderdale, we have 2 sea days before we have our first port stop in Aruba. Would you expect the first formal fornal-gala-dressy night to be on the first sea day or the second? And, because we've had the term "dressy" for a few years now, I am pretty sure that there is a high level committee, holding meetings even as you read this, trying to figure out what to call the more festive evenings. Having written that, I'm thinking that they're going to choose Festive Nights. (Festnacht in certain European ports.) Deep down, I'd like them to combine all the previous terms, in the order they were used and call them Fogassy Nights. 😁

Actually, you are in the majority Everyone reads it as Delta Zero One. I only knew it was an L because my father booked a land & sea tour before HAL made the website "better." 🤔

Thanks. It's D0L (Dee Zero El) For reasons unclear to me, HAL does not capitalize the L and the C. The lowercase l is indistinguishable from a number 1 using the font on the HAL site. (In the grand scheme of things, that's probably the least of the problems with the websites.)

It's Friday and this isn't locked. Are we sure that the lock thing wasn't a prank on me? 🤔

It's sounds like a direct order! 😁 And a good idea. I'm only worried about missing Diamonds International in Grand Turk. It's a small, family owned boutique and you can only see it in this one particular cruise port.

Wi-Fi is less expensive if you prepay. It comes out to around $17/day on a week long cruise. The price per day goes down on longer sailings.