Underthemoonlight

We just disembarked 2 days early  from the South American and Antartica Grand Voyage.     Sorry to hear about all of your difficulties.   
Just a suggestion for your unused onboard credit.     Along with a number of fellow passengers we had the extra monies go as additional gratuities to the crew fund especially since a portion of their income is based on gratuities and now they won’t be receiving any. 
hope you have a safe and non stressful trip home

We will be boarding the Zuiderdam on Wednesday    Out of friendship and appreciation of y’all I will do a detailed investigation of the strength of happy hour mixed drinks.  I decided not to wear my lab coat but to go  incognito. 

In the past never found any dilution  in happy hour drinks,  but apparently inquiring minds want to know.   In addition when ordering wine or champagne they have been generous pours.   

Since HAL is not a local bar trying to meet their rent, they don’t have to resort to making penny pinching cutbacks.    Though would love to see the TV series Bar Rescue do an episode on a cruise ship. 

I will have 11 chances to do my research and evaluation.   Glad I can help you out.    I apologize in advance for misspellings, grammatical errors and illogical babble.   That is if I can work my iPad. 

Hey Magictam

We called guest services a couple weeks before we left.   You do not have to rent A refrigerator, we found it worthwhile to have cold water or soda always available.  That’s us, you know yourself what is good for you.   

The Sept itenaries are very intriguing and we will decide soon which one to take.  

We loved our lanai on the Veendam last summer going to Cuba.   We are looking at at booking a lanai in Sept. 2020 in Europe.   Besides being more enjoyble the difference in price to a much more expensive vista room makes it an easy decision.   It will take a few minutes not jump every time someone walks outside on the promenade but you will soon get used to it.     People cannot see in.  We tested this out daytime and nighttime when we walked around the deck and walked up to the lanai windows with curtains not closed and saw absolutely nothing.  

You can for $2 a day rent a refrigerator.  We found it great to get up from our private

lounger and in a minute have a nice cold beverage.  

Ruth is right about location.  Look at the Rotterdam deck plan and see what is above on the 4th floor. 

Have a great trip. 

On 1/11/2019 at 12:22 PM, Krazy Kruizers said:

than

One fact about Tim Hortons that should.  be mentioned, is that the stores were founded by Tim Horton a legendary and beloved hockey player.  He started the stores while he was still playing in the 1960s.   He played over 20 years, mostly with the Toronto Maple Leafs.   While still playing in the NHL he was killed in a car accident in the 1970s.   

If you have never been just think Dunkin Donuts with more maple flavored items.   

Hi RB

The Nieuw Amsterdam has a great 3 laps to a mile promenade walking.   Agree with DW, the promenade walk saves my sanity and therefore my marriage.  We also will not consider a ship without one 

About a year ago HAL “upgraded” their website so that became unfriendly and counter intuitive.   It is no way a reflection of the service you will receive on the ship. 

Unfortunately you cannot look at FlightEase unless you have already booked.  Perhaps if you call HAL and ask to speak to personal cruise consultant(PCC) the PCC should be able to give you the desired info.   Our PCC has also expressed his displeasure and frustration with the new website.  

Enjoy!

19 hours ago, scluvsrain said:

Snort is my buddy. He’s traveled all over the world with me for almost 10 years now. And he’s a perfect companion. Well mannered. Doesn’t “hog” the bed. Never leaves the seat up. 

 

I always fear airlines will lose my luggage, especially when I fly Delta. Because it’s happened before to me. So that’s one reason. The other is someone on my recent Alaska cruise did it and she inspired me. Finally, I’ve learned how well I can do with so little, especially for 2 weeks. . One color scheme. Mix and match. Free laundry. A clever suitcase. Rolling the clothes technique.....and....believe it or not, I managed to pack 5 pairs of shoes in my bag and I wear a size 10!!! And yes, I eat in the dining room and packed for formal nights too. 

We had the pleasure of being in a Lanai cabin next door to Snort sailing to Cuba.  As there were several sea days we spent a lot of wonderful time lounging and partying next to Snort.  I will confirm what Sherita has said,  Snort is quiet but friendly, never complains, never spills his food or wine, always returns his towel , bravely protected our reserved loungers from intruders.  Amazingly he uses his ventriloquist talents when you talk to him, without moving his lips he makes it seem like Sherita is talking.

Sherita have a great voyage!  Hope we see you soon 

Stu

We noticed on a cruise in February that the background music on the ship had become much better and had stepped out of the big band era. Instead of Mitch Miller we heard Steve Miller, from the Mills Brothers to the Doobie Brothers, Perry Como to Steve Perry, Jeanette McDonald to Michael McDonald, etc. When instead of Patti Paige they play Patti Smith, it will finally be a Boomer ship.

What a long strange trip it will be.

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I am on board the Veendam at the moment and we are getting a ‘share your thoughts’ card every three or four days - it is a tri folded card with space for three questions -

- tell us what you like & we won’t change it

-tell us what you didn’t like & we will try to make it better

-tell us about our crew - did someoneone give you legendary service?

I filled one out last week and both the crew members I mentioned thanked me and one apologized for the awful coffee on board (what I didn’t like). They read them for sure.

Lynda hope you are having a great voyage. We were on the Veendam a month ago and had an issue with service and with one staff officer. Used the Navigator app to register a complaint and got automated response that we would be contacted within 24 hours. After 48 hrs of no response and filled out a share your thoughts card mentioning the same problem. When we got our on line survey we mentioned the problem and no response. We heard back with appropriate apologies and surprisingly some OBC for our next cruise.

So definitely fill out the cards and mention good staff members, they do get rewarded. Have fun and check out the omelette guy Salvador on the starboard side of the Lido. Delicious and funny pleasant man.

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Highly recommend you go. We took the train and then walked around ourselves 2 years ago. Had time to see many of the famous land marks and visit a couple museums. Advantage of the train is that there are no rest stops as there are bathrooms on board, you can stand and walk a little and was able to nap on way back. It was a long day, but the memories and experience of seeing Berlin made it very worthwhile. You will not regret it.

You are shuttled by bus from the train station to the center of the city. When you take the shuttle back, the locatIon is next to an incredible Rausch chocolate shop. This alone makes the long train ride worthwhile.

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We have a signature experience in Venice for our 8/28 cruise. How far in advance did they let you know what hotel you were staying in? We have friends going that don't have the signature experience but want to stay in the same hotel as us. I have asked our PCC to let us know as soon as he knows.

We are going on 9/21 for the Venice signature experience. About a week ago logged onto my account and checked the itinerary and the name of the hotel was listed. Give it a try. Have a great trip.

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We are curious what you decide to do and how it works out. We opted for the train after much debate, on the assumption we can walk around and stand as opposed to the bus. Also no need for rest stops. Don't stress it, you are on vacation, cruising, going to Berlin, either bus or train is the right decision. Enjoy!

According to Rick Steve's book most likely you will left off at Gendarmenmarkt. If you look at HAL's website one of the reviews of the train on your own tour states we would have access to use the Hilton Hotel facilities. A Google search shows the hostel is one block away from the square. We will be taking the train version of Berlin on your own tour in August and assuming that is where we will start our own walking tour.