Back from HAL Med cruise on Oosterdam

[terrydtx]

11 hours ago, Moosers Mom said:

Not sure if this was addressed previously:
Sailing Oosterdam August 21 - September 4, 2022

Can someone who has sailed this itinerary tell which nights are gala/dressy?

I can guess at them but wanted to see if anyone had the definite answer

We are on this cruise with you, and we were able to view our cruise docs and boarding pass over the weekend, it shows we will have 4 of them for the 2-week cruise, but not which days. Normally they are held on Sea Days which we have 4.

[VMax1700]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Normally they are held on Sea Days which we have 4.

Isn't one of those 'sea days' the Dardanelles meaning you then overnight in Istanbul?

No gala night then.

Another of your sea days is the last day, so no gala night either.

I think you may end up with 3 at most.

[terrydtx]

21 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Isn't one of those 'sea days' the Dardanelles meaning you then overnight in Istanbul?

No gala night then.

Another of your sea days is the last day, so no gala night either.

I think you may end up with 3 at most.

Sorry you are right we do have 3 full sea days after HAL dropped our Sauda Crete port and replaced it with our 3rd sea day. I consider the cruising the Dardanelles a sea day but since we dock at 4pm over night it would not be a day for Gala night, so technically we have 4 sea days.

[iancal]

We had a TA who strongly recommended that we not book a last minute cruise on Veendam a number of years ago.  Serious AC, plumbing, and staffing issues.   She was not recommending against HAL, only against a specific ship in the fleet.

 

We followed her advice after sorting through a number of CC reviews.    Same for Zaandam.  As she said at the time...why do you think that Zaandam last minute Alaska prices are always the lowest  ($299)of all lines on the Alaska run?  And in the middle of summer.

 

Had similar advice from her on a Princess ship and on several Carnival ships and routes based upon her client and colleague feedback. 

 

 We did 2 Carnival cruises.  Both were excellent and compared well with other cruises we have purchased.  But...we were very selective on ship, itinerary, and date.  Our TA at the time really helped with our selection based on her client feedback.

 

This is why we tend to look at the ship first rather than the cruise line.  The logo on the funnel can imply  anything from excellent to extremely mediocre depending on ship, ship management, and staff, etc.

Edited July 5, 2022 by iancal

[Moosers Mom]

Thank you for your replies.

It's a very different itinerary with only one sea day week 1, two sea days for week 2(but one is the last night). It is also two 7 day cruises back to back(Venice to Athens; Athens to Venice) and usually there are 2 gala nights per 7 days.

I was hoping to hear from someone who has already taken this itinerary to better understand the

arrangements.

 

[Moosers Mom]

To VMax1700-

How did it work out with using VeniceShuttle to Trieste?

Thanks

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, Moosers Mom said:

To VMax1700-

How did it work out with using VeniceShuttle to Trieste?

Thanks

Not very good.  The driver thought that he was doing a qualifying lap for a F1 race.  It was a white knuckle ride.

Wouldn't recommend them.

[NSWP]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:10 PM, Oldies123 said:

Loudspeaker, sorry, we refer to it as tannoy.

Also if hand held called a 'loud hailer' or on a say a ship...PA  (Public Address System) in Australia.

Edited July 6, 2022 by NSWP