Jacaluke

Yesterday I asked for your help between 2 itineraries - all feedback I received was very positive for the 1st itinerary with HAL (see below).  Could I please ask if you could have a look at this 3rd itinerary for May 2025 and let me know what you think comparing it with the other 2:

1st Itinerary

14 nights on Nieuw Statendam - Departing Sept 20 2025

Barcelona; Valletta; Alexandria (Egypt) overnight; Cyprus; Rhodes; Bodrum; Istanbul; Athens.

We have 2nights in Barcelona and Athens at the start and end of the cruise

2nd Itinerary

10 nights on Norwegian Breakaway - Departing 3rd June 2025

Barcelona; Cannes; Livorno (overnight); Rome; Naples; Messina; Valletta; Cagliari; Palma de Mallorca; Barcelona

We have 2 nights Barcelona prior to cruise

3rd Itinerary

10 nights on Celebrity Ascent - departing May 16 2025

Rome; Katakolon; Corfu; Dubrovnik; Split; Bar (Montenegro); Messina; Naples; Rome

We have 2 nights in Rome prior to cruise.

We have sailed on both HAL and NCL before and love both - have not sailed with Celebrity.  It will just be my husband and I are we are late 40's/early 50's.

Any comments/suggestions would be welcome, thank-you.

Could you also please look at this third option with Celebrity and give me your thoughts - thank-you:

3rd Itinerary

10 nights on Celebrity Ascent - departing May 16 2025

Rome; Katakolon; Corfu; Dubrovnik; Split; Bar (Montenegro); Messina; Naples; Rome

We have 2 nights in Rome prior to cruise.

Could you also please look at this third option with Celebrity and give me your thoughts - thank-you:

3rd Itinerary

10 nights on Celebrity Ascent - departing May 16 2025

Rome; Katakolon; Corfu; Dubrovnik; Split; Bar (Montenegro); Messina; Naples; Rome

We have 2 nights in Rome prior to cruise.

Yesterday I asked for your help between 2 itineraries - all feedback I received was very positive for the 1st itinerary with HAL (see below).  Could I please ask if you could have a look at this 3rd itinerary for May 2025 and let me know what you think comparing it with the other 2:

1st Itinerary

14 nights on Nieuw Statendam - Departing Sept 20 2025

Barcelona; Valletta; Alexandria (Egypt) overnight; Cyprus; Rhodes; Bodrum; Istanbul; Athens.

We have 2nights in Barcelona and Athens at the start and end of the cruise

2nd Itinerary

10 nights on Norwegian Breakaway - Departing 3rd June 2025

Barcelona; Cannes; Livorno (overnight); Rome; Naples; Messina; Valletta; Cagliari; Palma de Mallorca; Barcelona

We have 2 nights Barcelona prior to cruise

3rd Itinerary

10 nights on Celebrity Ascent - departing May 16 2025

Rome; Katakolon; Corfu; Dubrovnik; Split; Bar (Montenegro); Messina; Naples; Rome

We have 2 nights in Rome prior to cruise.

We have sailed on both HAL and NCL before and love both - have not sailed with Celebrity.  It will just be my husband and I are we are late 40's/early 50's.

Any comments/suggestions would be welcome, thank-you.

We've never sailed the mediteranean before and have the opportunity to do a cruise next year (2025) but with 2 different itineraries.  Could I please receive feedback on the following:

14 nights on Nieuw Statendam - Departing Sept 20 2025

Barcelona; Valletta; Alexandria (Egypt) overnight; Cyprus; Rhodes; Bodrum; Istanbul; Athens.

We have 2nights in Barcelona and Athens at the start and end of the cruise

10 nights on Norwegian Breakaway - Departing 3rd June 2025

Barcelona; Cannes; Livorno (overnight); Rome; Naples; Messina; Valletta; Cagliari; Palma de Mallorca; Barcelona

We have 2 nights Barcelona prior to cruise

I love both itineraries for their differences.  What we don't see this time we will prob go back and do again another time.  My only concern with the June itinerary is the crowds.  I have checkec Cruise Mapper though and for a lot of the ports the Breakaway is the only ship in port on that particular day which is good.

We have sailed on both HAL and NCL before and love both.  It will just be my husband and I are we are late 40's/early 50's.

Any comments/suggestions would be welcome, thank-you.

We've never sailed the mediteranean before and have the opportunity to do a cruise next year (2025) but with 2 different itineraries.  Could I please receive feedback on the following:

14 nights on Nieuw Statendam - Departing Sept 20 2025

Barcelona; Valletta; Alexandria (Egypt) overnight; Cyprus; Rhodes; Bodrum; Istanbul; Athens.

We have 2nights in Barcelona and Athens at the start and end of the cruise

10 nights on Norwegian Breakaway - Departing 3rd June 2025

Barcelona; Cannes; Livorno (overnight); Rome; Naples; Messina; Valletta; Cagliari; Palma de Mallorca; Barcelona

We have 2 nights Barcelona prior to cruise

I love both itineraries for their differences.  What we don't see this time we will prob go back and do again another time.  My only concern with the June itinerary is the crowds.  I have checkec Cruise Mapper though and for a lot of the ports the Breakaway is the only ship in port on that particular day which is good.

We have sailed on both HAL and NCL before and love both.  It will just be my husband and I are we are late 40's/early 50's.

Any comments/suggestions would be welcome, thank-you.

We've never sailed the mediteranean before and have the opportunity to do a cruise next year (2025) but with 2 different itineraries.  Could I please receive feedback on the following:

14 nights on Nieuw Statendam - Departing Sept 20 2025

Barcelona; Valletta; Alexandria (Egypt) overnight; Cyprus; Rhodes; Bodrum; Istanbul; Athens.

We have 2nights in Barcelona and Athens at the start and end of the cruise

10 nights on Norwegian Breakaway - Departing 3rd June 2025

Barcelona; Cannes; Livorno (overnight); Rome; Naples; Messina; Valletta; Cagliari; Palma de Mallorca; Barcelona

We have 2 nights Barcelona prior to cruise

I love both itineraries for their differences.  What we don't see this time we will prob go back and do again another time.  My only concern with the June itinerary is the crowds.  I have checkec Cruise Mapper though and for a lot of the ports the Breakaway is the only ship in port on that particular day which is good.

We have sailed on both HAL and NCL before and love both.  It will just be my husband and I are we are late 40's/early 50's.

Any comments/suggestions would be welcome, thank-you.

On 2/14/2021 at 7:29 PM, Mike B Landlubber said:

I’m excited about the ship, I just signed up today for the eleven day cruise from Perth to Sydney this December. A little of a gamble, but I am looking forward to it! 🙂

We are on the same cruise, do you think it will go ahead?

We are booked on a HAL Australia circumnavigation cruise in December 2021 - we are on the southern segment of the cruise, leaving from Perth and docking in Sydney Dec 22.  After this it heads to NZ.  Although this cruise doesn't enter international waters, is it still unlikely to go ahead due to the ship having to travel here from another country?  Also a lot of the travellers booked on the cruise are from the US.  I'm not very hopeful of it going ahead.

We board our cruise on the Maasdam today and I have another question in relation to the bottle of wine we are allowed to take on board - my son is 19 years old and over the legal drinking age in Australia - is he able to take a bottle of wine on-board?  I know HAL operates under the American system where the legal age is 21 - just curious if this rule still applies in Australia?  Many thanks.

Can anybody recommend any good tour company's in Port Vila?  We are looking at a day trip to see the main sights - Cascades/Blue Lagoon/Swimming with Turtles - but are looking for a reputable tour company - thanks.

Does anybody know if the Lanai cabins on the Maasdam have fridges in them?

Another question re the bottle of wine we are allowed to bring on board - are there fridges in the cabin to chill the wine as I'm thinking of bringing a bottle of champagne?  We are sailing on the Maasdam - many thanks.

Thanks for your help everybody - I telephoned the 1300 number of HAL in Sydney but unfortunately the cruise is fully booked.  They advised me to ask at check-in if there had been any last minute cancellations which she said happens quite often.  She did say though that she had not heard any complaints about cabin 370 so maybe it will be OK 🙂

There are no other cabins available in the category we booked in.  We sail in 3 days - I'm hoping that if it's too noisey HAL might be able to move us if there is another cabin available in another category.

Thank-you so much!!  I was worried it was the 'Conditioning Shampoo' which I've had on other cruise lines.

Do HAL supply separate shampoo and conditioner?  We are sailing on the Maasdam in a few days - thank-you.

What's the chances of being able to change your cabin if it's under the galley?  We are in 370 and I think it's under the galley - we didn't realise when we booked it!!  

On 10/12/2019 at 8:42 AM, oaktreerb said:

Call HAL to ask for a different stateroom but have in mind what you would accept.  Or if you booked with a TA you will have to explain the situation to the TA and have them act on your behalf.    On the other hand if you said you would accept an upgrade you could be upgraded but more likely HAL would try to upsell you to a verandah.  What did you pay for the lanai?  maybe veranda cabin asking prices have gone down to a lanai rate?

It never hurts to ask.  

 

We got the lanai cabin on a cheap rate - it was actually cheaper than the OV cabins at the time.

On 11/1/2016 at 5:37 AM, oaktreerb said:

We had a lanai room on the Veendam for the Mexican Riviera #365. I like being on the promenade deck and really enjoyed the view and the deck chair outside our sliding doors. You will not have a cooler and there is not much room to add one.

 

The lanai is an upgrade to the ocean views on the promenade. The ocean views on lower decks are larger but don't have the easy access to the promenade, the views, or the deck chairs.

 

Be sure to choose a lanai that is not under the kitchen (empty area on the deck plan). Our last cruise (Maasdam) we chose the lanai room we wanted and said we would accept an upgrade. We were upgraded to a verandah spa room. They had oversold the lanai guarantees so we got a free upgrade.

 

Google the Holland America stateroom pictures fact site for Veendam #365. The Maasdam and Veendam are very similar and there will be other stateroom info.

We have unfortunately got a lanai cabin underneath the galley on the Maasdam (CA370)!!!  We have paid in full - what would our chances be of changing it for another cabin?

On 9/12/2019 at 4:16 AM, rjhoward13 said:

We were below a galley on the Noorsdam last year and it was the worst. The ship was full so no remedy. If you can change do so. The staff was great but had no options.

Do you remember what cabin number and deck you were?

We will be docking in Auckland on Monday the 20/1/20 at 7am and our return flight to Australia leaves at 10am - just wondering if this gives us enough time to get from the port to the airport to catch our flight.  If anybody has been in this position before I would love to know how it worked out for them - thank-you.

We are sailing on the 6th of January 2020 and have got Cabin CA370 on LP Deck - has anybody stayed in this cabin?

We are on a cruise on the Maasdam in January and we have got a Lanai cabin CA370 - it is directly below the galley.  I'm just a bit worried about noise - has anybody stayed under the galley and if so how bad was the noise?  Thanks.

Vineyard View our schedule was changed and we didn't end up visiting Dominica - we visited Antigua instead - sorry I can't be of more assistance with this.