nanlaur

We were on an Western/Eastern Caribbean B2B in 2017 on the Nieuw Amsterdam. We did anytime dining and usually showed up at the MDR around 8:00. The first week was great. The first evening of the second week, we showed up at our accustomed time and saw a long line on the "reservations" side of things. We were informed that a big group had the dining room and anytime dining was unavailable. The staff seemed to be uninformed that there would be a group monopolizing the dining room. Had to feel sorry for them. Felt sorry for us, too. At that time of night the Lido was closing down and our only choice would have been pizza. Eventually they found a table for the six of us who were waiting to be seated, and they got us a two-top in fixed dining for the week. As I recall, the group had a mass gathering earlier in the evening and were all dismissed at the same time for dinner. I believe the evening show was offered only once at around 8:00. 

We definitely check the Charter/Group Information thread when booking now, and usually book cruises longer than 7 days.

4 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

... We do not care how close we are to dining venues or activity centers. The exercise helps us to enjoy more HAL food than otherwise.

That's usually our philosophy, too, and we usually book way forward. We got the aft as a Club Orange upgrade so we often took the scenic route to dining venues 😄

We were on the Nieuw Statendam in February in an aft balcony on the port side, deck 6. We could smell smoke sometimes when in port, but I don't recall smelling it while underway.

We just got off the Nieuw Statendam last week and received a note that, because of supply issues, they are temporarily suspending the distribution of the tiles. We have the option of saving that note and getting a tile on a future cruise.

We used them last year. No need to call for a pick-up, the vans were parked and loading when we got off the ship. The vans aren't huge and fill up fast, we had a short wait to get into one with available room. I suppose the wait time might depend on how many ships are in port and how many vans are assigned to each ship. We were pleased with the service and are using them again next month.

9 hours ago, soccermom4 said:

Thanks @nanlaur.  I had been trying to find a picture like that.  Helps me visualize.  Did you like the location?  Any noise from the gym?

Nope, no noise. We actually liked the location so much that we booked a similar location for our cruise next month. It's far enough away from the food that we tell ourselves that we can walk off some of those calories 😆

We were way forward on deck 8 for our last cruise and didn't find the bridge being much of an obstruction.

The far-forward VF balconies have solid steel veranda railings instead of the plexiglass. Some people don't mind, but we spend a lot of time on our veranda watching the sea go by and prefer the unobstructed view.

We were far forward on Navigation deck and it was quiet. But we were below the spa, so that makes a difference. We saw the officers coming and going from the bridge a lot 🙂

One reason that I tend to steer clear of the NA is that we had a bad experience with a very large group on the ship affecting the availability of the MDR. For whatever reason, that ship tends to book large groups. If you want to make sure you don't book a cruise like that, keep an eye on the list maintained by VMax1700: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2834513-march-2022-update-hal-dry-docks-charters-and-groups-onboard/

One thing we like to do at Grand Turk is to search for sea glass. We have found more of it to the right of the pier (as you face the shore) than at the beach on the left.

I read Clive Cussler on cruises, too. Though with all the ships sinking in his books, that might be a strange choice 😆

Thank you for the words of condolence. My sister was on hospice for nearly a year, and she is now free of her physical and mental struggles. We are rejoicing for her in the midst of our pain.

1 hour ago, arijsky said:

So many people on this thread apparently won’t cruise because they don’t want to engage in safe practices in the midst of a pandemic.  As someone whose cruise embarks in 23 days, I find this reassuring: I don’t want to sail with a bunch of people who engage in self delusion by refusing to wear masks or get tested.  With HAL’s procedures in place, I feel safer on a cruise ship than at my local grocery store!

We chose to cancel partially because of the protocols, not because we "don't want to engage in safe practices", but because three weeks of masking in the tropics would make it a very expensive, non-vacation experience for us. Our choice.

As it happens, I am currently waiting out the quarantine time after contracting Covid from the assisted living facility where we sat with my sister last weekend as she died. (They had at least one resident with Covid.) We were to leave on Weds. to drive down to FLL for the cruise, so would have had to cancel anyway. 

Looks like the owner of Karlito's Cantina is a Wisconsin sports fan 😁

4 hours ago, Cruisin MarcnFran said:

We were booked on a 25 night Hawaii & Mexico cruise.

So it looks like the Hawaii leg of it is still available. Hmm, we are looking at that, but I think I'll wait a few days to move on it. The Koningsdam has nothing available for Feb., so I have a feeling they are not quite ready for prime time.

Huh. It looks like it is still available to book on their website.

1 hour ago, cruisewiththekids said:

That's good to know.    Hoping then my mobile hotspot will do the trick.   Thanks.

FYI, on another blog for this cruise: "He works for ATT and filled us in: our T-Mobile, which has provided us service all over the world, wasn’t going to do squat for us in Alaska.  ATT has a monopoly there."

34 minutes ago, Belgian fry said:

 

I think you mean in St Lucia? The answer is yes, and it's in my next post, which is ready to go!

Oh gee. It's too early to be trying to talk 😄 You are absolutely right 😳

Love reading your review. We were on this cruise and I meant to write up a review, but life raced at us and I didn't do it. Maybe I should look through my photos and see if I remember enough to write sometime up too.

Did you get out to see the Pitons from the ship when we sailed from Martinique? Even though it was stormy, they were very impressive. 

We got off last month (seems longer ago!) and your impression is correct. The tables were more squared off into rows. My impression is that there were more two-tops as well.

In case anyone is still checking...the reason we were late leaving on the Zuiderdam was because of a "catastrophic failure" of one of the lifeboat davits. Couldn't leave without those critters working!

8 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

There were enough breakfast pastries to carb load before running a marathon or to induce a diabetic coma. The Lido is a very dangerous place to be.

I agree. Hmm, maybe I need to go into training. Only a month until we sail. Plus there will be Panama buns in the mix.

10 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

They were there, in both plain and nutted varieties. There were also iced cinnamon buns. No need to panic.

Whew, what a relief.

Don't forget the sticky buns over by the waffle station. Unless...horrors!...they are no longer offered. Well that would just ruin MY cruise 😵