bluegiraffe

Thank you both - just what Mr. Blue Giraffe needed to know. And a secret handshake to Gardyloo, whom I know from another forum (but didn't know you posted here!).

We'll be disembarking our cruise in Seattle in May and Mr. Blue Giraffe wants to rent a car. His question (I'm just the messenger :) ) is this: Do any of the rental car companies have shuttles from the cruise terminal to their rental offices?

Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.

The Amsterdam does have self-service laundries. Lower Promenade and Verandah decks according to the deck plans I have.

Thanks Scrapnana; I appreciate it.

Take a look at Lower Promenade, just aft of the atrium, before the first of the inside cabins. There's a door or two between the laundry and the first inside cabin.

There used to be a laundry on Main Deck, just forward of mid-ship, on port side. I don't know if that one is still there. It was in the same place as cabin 2619 is on starboard.

There was also one on a higher deck, but I never got up in the rarified air. ;)

As always, thank you Ruth! I appreciate the help (no rarified air for us, either - we're down on the Dolphin deck this time!).

No, it doesn't. That includes no ironing facilities, too.

On the Nieuw Amsterdam you can hand wash in the sink, send things out on a per piece basis, send out on a per bag basis, or purchase an unlimited laundry plan.

The ships that do have a self service laundry are the older ships:

Prinsendam, the two S-class, and the four R-class ships. They also have the payment plans.

Ruth, that includes the Amsterdam, correct? I've been looking for the laundry on the HAL website deck plans, but I don't see it.

Some ladies I did a tour with in Dublin smuggled off sandwiches, fruit and I don't know what else to eat while we were on our private tour. I don't know how they did it and I wouldn't even think of trying it. To me, eating local is what it's all about in most countries. That's good advice to bring a Kind bar though. May have to do that in the future.

Absolutely! That's one of the best parts of travel. :D And if the OP has the chance to eat some pelmeny, piroshky, blini with raspberry jam, or shashlik, well - enjoy!

At that age I didn't have my generalized anxiety disorder yet so I had no fear of anything. Now all these irrational fears limit me from doing everything, which sucks.

Right there with you, BoiiMcFly. I agree with mamasylvia; try a short 3 night cruise with 1 at sea day. You'll know whether this is for you or not. I had always wanted to cruise Alaska's Inside Passage, but I have GAD and those same irrational fears (knowing that they're irrational doesn't stop them!). I took a 3 night cruise to see whether I would enjoy it, and I did. An Alaskan cruise followed a few months later. But the 3 nighter was a good way to "test the waters" so to speak. Have you spoken to a therapist/doctor about coping mechanisms that can help you through your anxiety and make more likely that you'd enjoy your trip?

Alamo and National are the only rental car companies that shuttle you back to FLL. They use the Fort Lauderdale/ Hollywood International Airport buses normally seen at the airport. Dollar, Budget, Hertz, Sixt, Thifty, Avis, and Enterprise have shuttles but they only transport you to their off site locations that are near to Port Everglades.

Just a word to the wise: We used Budget's off site location on 17th street near the port for our last FLL cruise because of the shuttle. Never again! The line was quite literally out the door, only two people were working, and they had no cars. Plenty of customers with confirmed reservations, but no cars. People there ahead of us said they had waited over 90 minutes. A quick look at yelp will show you that this was not a one-time occurrence. We ended up transferring our reservation to the airport location which was fine. Moral of the story - use the airport location.

The cruise line will search through your room for your passport?:eek:

Our steward on one of our cruises told me he had to do that once. It was an unusual circumstance; security had opened the safe and the passports weren't there, so they had two stewards and two security people look throughout the room for those passports (which they found in a drawer). The steward told me that it was a three day holiday in the country where they were docked, so without those passports, the passengers wouldn't be able to go anywhere, hence the unusual search.

I wouldn't take a chance at that early flight. I once had a flight at 4 the we barely made because the ship was late coming in (Miami) and I also had a flight at 1:30 that we almost missed (literally 5 minutes to spare) because customs was a nightmare (Long Beach).

 

Port Canaveral is a good 45 minutes to an hour away from the Orlando Airport. If everything went perfectly and you self disembark you MIGHT make it, but I would never take that chance.

To which I will add that security lines at Orlando (it's my home airport) can be long. And if you hit traffic or an accident on 528 - the road from the port to the airport, well ....

LuckyMe17, if you're talking about a 10:50 flight from the Melbourne airport, not Orlando, then that's a different story.

I don't understand the question. Why would anyone know or care about your sexual preference. :confused:

Because there are cruel people with nothing better to do than bully and be rude to people who are different from them. I'm surprised I have to point this out.

OMG we had the worst table mates on a 10 night cruise. We suffered for 9 nights...yeah, why we did not move earlier is beyond me. But that last night I said we are not sitting here. We asked to be moved and we were, but had the same waiter. The table had 3 other couples and they all were drunks. They would leave us out of conversations since we were not of their Grey Goose Status. They would also ridicule our education. My husband has a PHD and I have a masters. They would brag that they make more in life and did not go to college. It was evident by his wife and himself. Both of them could not even pronounce creme brulee properly. He bought a bottle of expensive wine each night and showed the receipt to all the couples. When it was our turn to see it, not that we cared, he would say, "they don't need to see it, it would not impress them anyways since they are so educated." We never talked over them so this was a real source of irritation. He would show up after being in port and show off diamond bracelet that he bought his wife. Each night they talked about drinking stories and booze and material things. They would also make fun of people at other tables. They would comment on their clothes and say how little they talked at their tables--must be boring folks. The husband then would say no one was as pretty as his wife.... She was not all that!! It was the worst. So now, I do MTD when on RCCL and especially for a 10 night cruise.

We must have had their relatives on a cruise with us. Table for 6, DH and me, Mr. and Mrs. Obnoxious and another couple. Mr. O.'s first question to the table (excuse me, just the men at the table; I don't think it occurred to him that women could work outside the home) was "what do you do for a living? I own the biggest construction company in **whatever state it was**" DH says "I'm retired." Man from other couple says he is a scientist at one of the national labs - the one that was responsible for the Mars rover. Interesting, right? Not to Mr. O. whose insecurities showed up immediately. He started belittling the scientist and kept that up all through dinner - exactly as you described in your post. And then Mr. and Mrs. O. started in with the bragging about their houses, jewels, cars - you name it. What's the old saying about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing? Mr. O. moved on to politics and wouldn't get off that subject even when other couple and DH& I told him we weren't interested in discussing it. Mrs. O finally capped the evening by giving me a drunken look and saying - apropos of absolutely nothing - "Ya know, you could be pretty if you put some work into it."

Oh, and they were terribly rude to the waiter.

That could be why we no longer eat at shared tables......

Hello and Happy New Year!

 

My wife and I are veteran cruisers, but have never sailed HAL before. With the new smoking policy, I'm happy to say that HAL is now in the mix for us. :) We are looking seriously at the 20-day Viking Passage just announced for August 2018 on the Zuiderdam; it's a great itinerary.

 

My question is about the Zuiderdam -- very recent reviews of her here on CC have a "tired and dated" theme to them. Some of the photos I've been able to find bear this out (although I'm not sure when they were all taken). I know that the ship was in dry dock in the spring of 2015, but it's not clear what, if anything, was done to refresh/update the furniture and furnishings in the cabins, the MDR, etc. (If we do take this cruise, I think it would be in a Signature Suite.)

 

Also, I see that the ship is scheduled for another dry dock in October 2017, but I haven't been able to find any info about what is supposed to be done then. Anyone know?

 

We don't need the bells, whistles, water slides, etc. of new ships, but we also don't want to feel that a ship is really past her sell-by date, either, especially on a long cruise.

 

I would really appreciate frank comments about the Zuiderdam from recent cruisers (recent photos too), and any info that people may have about the 2017 dry dock.

 

Thanks in advance for any help, and happy holidays!

We were on the Zuiderdam in September. Decor is always a matter of personal taste, but I'd describe it as dated and rather garish in the ship's public areas. We had a number of maintenance issues in our room (HVAC problems, no hot water in the shower, etc.), but they were fixed quickly when reported. That said, I wouldn't let that stop me from sailing on the Zuiderdam again, particularly if I found an excellent itinerary such as the Viking Passage.

Edited to add: Service is very important to me, and the service on the Z was excellent.

Bingo! When I read the Club Class description and the "Perks", I thought to my self really....? Then I attempted to book a cruise in Club Class and was shocked at the price difference between a Club Class mini and a standard mini that was only 2 doors away. Celebrity offers suite guest their own dining room with an upgraded menu that is not offered in the MDR, Michael's Club which is a private cocktail venue with complementary drinks and a Concierge plus a choice of a drink package, unlimited internet, $300 OBC or paid gratuities for about the same price. I really don't know why anyone would pay extra just to eat dinner in a roped off section in the steerage dining room. I would rather pay an uncharge to eat in a specialty restaurant every night.

Ditto. While understanding that people value things differently, I looked at the "perks" of Club Class and saw zero value for me. Pass.

Just reporting back in case anyone wants to know in the future. Easyboy was correct; our room was on the starboard side and we heard nothing from the Princess Live area. That might be different on the port side.

Our stateroom is one deck above the Princess Live area on the Royal. It appears that the area is used pretty much all day from 8 am to after 10 p.m. I'm wondering how noisy it is and how much of that noise will filter up to our room. I'll pack earplugs anyway, but it would be nice to know ahead of time. Thanks!

I agree it is a tough call indeed.

 

But for me, until other cruise companies plead guilty to seven felony counts and agree to pay what is acknowledged as the largest fine of its kind for these activities, it is not up to me to find them guilty. I can only act on the knowledge and certain facts available.

 

Thus, I will likely not sail Princess again -- unless they can somehow demonstrate to me, via probably years of validated good behavior, that they have changed.

 

As an aside, having worked in corporate communications, I enjoy the irony implicit in Princess's FAQ statement posted by azbirdmom above (Post 184). Masterful work. :rolleyes:

Agree with all your points. Ironically, we're scheduled for our first Princess cruise this month. It will be our last Princess cruise until such time as they can convince us that they have changed.

The stupidity of polluting the very thing you depend on is stunning. :(

Not to hijack this thread, but as a first-timer to Princess, is "just plain" coffee an extra cost even in the buffet? Or are you talking about Starbuck's style fresh brewed premium type coffee? Thanks!

The kind, generous people of the Falklands put the stranded passengers up for the night, and IIRC, also got them required meds. They were taken care of until the ship could return, and tender the passengers back on board.

I believe the Amsterdam was able to do that the next day.

 

It was that incident that made me aware of what can happen, though. Since then I have always packed up a couple of days worth of meds to bring with me when I tender ashore. It's one good use for that HAL bag they pass out.

As always, thanks for the info, Ruth. Gotta say, that's an adventure I could do without (and a good reminder about taking a few meds with me).

That could certainly explain why passengers who don't know any better would be suspicious. They should also be smart enough to realize, though, that in the long run, no good can come from that.

 

Perhaps passengers should think more positively, and realize they don't know the forecast for the weather coming in, or predicted changes to currents, within the next several hours. It does no good to get hundreds of passengers ashore if you can't get them back on the ship.

Remember when the Amsterdam had to strand passengers ashore in the Falklands several years ago, because they could not tender them back to the ship? Conditions had deteriorated that much.

I would have hated to see my ship---and my meds!---sailing off without me.

Not to derail this thread, but WHAAAT? How did that get resolved? I would hate to see my ship and my meds sailing away too!

Thank you ALL so much for all the very helpful advice!

sknight, thanks for the info about the coffee card; my husband will definitely want that.

Thanks for the advice. It would be a 10 day cruise, so that might work out.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts - Mark Twain"

Love the quote! So very true.

Very helpful, thank you. Good point about the kids - the cruise would be over the holidays. Since it's a bigger ship than the HAL ships we're used to, I'm hoping we can find a quiet spot anyhow.

We're thinking about a cruise on the Royal Princess next month. Nothing like the last minute! We've cruised on HAL (and Royal Caribbean once). Obviously the Royal Princess is a much larger ship than we're used to on HAL, but is Princess comparable in terms of service, food, amenities? We enjoy HAL for its quieter style and good service. Any info/opinion is appreciated!

I hate all those new filters when booking a cruise also. All the select and update from every category. Just too much.

 

The worst is that if you have even the slightest privacy safeguards on your web browser, the site just will not work. It just spins round and round and you can't get anywhere through it.

 

HAL's goal should be to actually sell cruises and not track people on its web site. When tracking people prevents people from buying, then you have lost sight of why you even have a web site.

Yep. I've found the HAL website to be quite user un-friendly.

Simple is better.