Stratheden

I can't find any itineries for either of these ships for September, 2015. Just wondering if anyone has any inside knowledge. I'm hoping for one of them to be New England/Canada. Pickings seem pretty miserable at the moment.

I wish the eurodam had more than one cruise in addition to the repositioning cruise. We would need to fly to New York the day of the cruise.

Really disappointed with the New England/Canada Cruises that are on offer. Had planned 10 day Colours of New England and Canada out of Quebec but not happening now. Only 7 day cruises missing some of the ports. :mad::mad:

Have to completely rethink September, 2015 now.

Hi -

 

"Am curious what is was about your cruises with Viking and Scenic that moved them to the bottom of the list?...."

 

Subjective is the operative word. Although the original question dealt with the physical looks of the ships it is difficult to separate emotions from your memories.

 

Scenic with their fare price baiting and both lines with how they treated their passengers during last year's flooding. Passengers deserve to treated fairly....they are the reason for a company being in business. Customer care is paramount

Again, it is only my opinion :-)

 

Ritabob, I don't understand what you mean by 'fair price baiting'. Would you mind explaining. It is not a term that I understand.

Yes there are just 2 of us. Thanks for the sites - I knew about Tripadvisor but not the others.

Stay safe. Looking forward to reading your next reports.

You could try the Canaletto one formal night, smart casual.....no shorts.

We hope to try everything this time. Last time was our first cruise anywhere. 7 night Inside Passage on the Zuiderdam. We had just got used to the ship and begun to find our way around and it was time to get off. Also, I hadn't found CC either. I now know a lot more than I did before.

We recently booked a 22 night Med cruise again on the Zuiderdam and we have a hold on a 10 night New England and Canada cruise which I think will be on the Eurodam. Both of these are in 2015. I am really excited about these cruises and keep forgetting that we have 3 River cruises in September/October this year. I will have to concentrate on them for a while now. Lots of planning still to do for them.

We have 5 nights on our own in Rome, between the end of our cruise and the beginning of another tour.

We are thinking of an apartment - centrally located so we can walk to most of the sights. We will need to walk off all the food from our cruise. :p

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Yes I have to agree, anything cooked by someone else is great. :)

5 children married - 5 mother of the groom/bride gowns with nowhere to go now. It's great to be able to wear them on our HAL cruises. We enjoy getting dressed up - I love how handsome my husband looks in his suit and tie. Depending on the length of the cruise, I will take 2-4 of them with me. And I have a couple of others I have picked up in my travels, too. I also take short cocktail dresses, and even will often take more casual dresses for non-formal nights. I find them very comfortable to wear, and I feel good in them. The rest of our life is very casual, so formal cruise nights are our only chance to get gussied up. Please take your gown with you and enjoy yourself wearing it. Although not everyone will be in full gowns, I highly doubt you will be the only one.

 

We also would be glad to join Ruth in a vocal campaign to ensure HAL does not reduce formal nights. For those not wanting to do formal, they already provide that opportunity. It is called the Lido, Canaletto, or room service. I hope they continue to provide those of us who WANT to do formal the same choice and opportunity as those who don't. It is one of the things I really look forward to when choosing HAL.

I love it that you get the chance to wear your lovely outfits. I just wish I could fit into mine. :)

Unfortunately what you are packing for your cruise would take up my whole suitcase. When we travel we need do a lot more than just a cruise. We will be travelling for 10 weeks - on and off planes, trains, coaches and ships. We just cannot bring the gowns and tux's with us. Nice black slacks and a sparkly top is easy for me but my DH will not carry a jacket around for 2-3 nights out of 10 weeks. He needs a much more casual jacket for sightseeing and windproofing.

We don't go to the MDR on formal nights - we can order room service if the menu looks nice. It really isn't that big a deal for us.

You can put cash in. They'll always make it convenient to put money in. ;)

 

Getting it out requires creating an account with your stateroom key, moving the money from the machine to your key, and then getting cash at the casino cashier. I'm sure it's easy once you get the hang of it, but we don't generally gamble on land, so we always have to get a casino employee to help us if we win something. Of course, you don't generally win in the long run...

Don't think I can be bothered with all that. Will give it a miss. They won't miss my $20. :)

I'm pretty sure an Australian Travel Card is the same as your pre loaded Travel Visa cards that is the subject of a similar thread on this board.

There must be some great commissions in these for the Banks because as soon as you mention that you are going o/s they try to sell you one.

Just take your normal credit card.

I am not much of a gambler but sometimes like to play the slots for a little while. Is it possible to put cash in the machine to start to play or do I have to have an account. I can easy limit myself with cash.

Better HAL's policy, as I say. One authorisation at the beginning of the cruise, and no further hassles. (But then, I personally couldn't imagine travelling anywhere without several cards that each have limits big enough to absorb this sort of authorisation with ample headroom to spare. That could be vital if anything goes wrong while you're away.)

Totally agree with you. When we travel O/s we usually put credit onto one of our credit cards so that we can just get cash advances out of the ATM without any cash advance fees. We are withdrawing our own money. Never had a problem with this anywhere.

We are leaving Sunday on NA and I just saw that they will put a $440 hold per person on our card. We normally do a preloaded travel Visa or cash onboard because I book excursions, coffee package, prepay tips and book and pay for dining. We rarely use more than $300 onboard between 2 of us. It said if you use cash and don't put down the $440 per person you could be denied boarding.

 

We've never come across a policy like this before on any of the cruise lines. Are they strict about this? If so I shouldn't have prepaid for everything.

It is very clear on their website that they hold $60pp pd. You really should have known about this before now. If you booked yourself you should have read the fine print or if you used a TA - he/she should have told you.

i'm pretty sure they are very strict about it. I would be giving them my usual credit card no. and then going down to the front desk on the last night and settling up in cash.

what is the process for getting off the ship at the different ports for either a HAL excursion, private excursion, or walking around?

 

Is there any advantage or privileges for Neptune Suites passengers?

Don't take this the wrong way Uilleann, but you need to chill out. ;)

Thanks Ruth.

Not sure if we are on a B2B or not, but think we are. What exactly is a B2B. We are new to some of these terms.

We are on the 22 Adriatic and Mediterranean Dream. Part of it is an 11 day Adriatic Dream.

How do you prepay tips?

I will do that if possible but didn't know that you could.

Yes we have also splurged on the Negresco. Looking forward to it.

I think the OP made the mistake of dealing with the wrong person.

If I had a problem with the Pinnacle Grill I would go there and sort it out.

If I had a problem with a Spa booking I would go to the Spa to sort it.

Why go to the Front Desk? You are just adding another layer to the confusion.

We had the most annoying CD on our May, 2013 Zuiderdam Alaskan tour. His voice was absolutely grating. We cringed everytime we heard him.

I wonder how they get the job as someone must like it.

Hope he is not still on the Zuiderdam next year as we are going on her again.

Sorry but all the info seems to be about wine and corkage.

We are not wine drinkers - we usually have a couple of G&T's ot V&T's at happy hour and then just drink water with our dinner. I like wine but it gives me a headache and I feel dreadful the next day.

How would we go about getting a bottle of Vodka or Gin for our room to mix for ourselves if we wanted one. Not sure if I would bother but just wondering? I prefer the atmosphere of the ocean bar rather than drinking in our room.

We will be almost 10 weeks in Europe in Aug, Sept, Oct and Nov. We are doing 3 River cruises. It is costing so much and so long to get there we are going to make it worthwhile.

We are fortunate to be retired and can spend the time.

I would never do that either. You don't say where you are flying in from and your profile doesn't tell us where you live but we need at least two days to recover from jet lag. Why would you risk missing a day of your cruise? How long is your cruise.