dchip

I’m on my iPad and Safari right now. It’s fine. 

9 hours ago, WCB said:

By the way, we got a report that most of the coffee machines are broken.  There are only a few places to get the specialty coffees until the machines are fixed.

Now that could present a serious problem. 😜

Enjoy your time in Cape Town!

Denise and Howie, too

Mazatlan, Mexico. On our TV. Enjoy everyone on this amazing cruise.  

Wow, wow, wow what a fabulous photo. Catch of the day for sure, both the bird and your pic!

Thanks, Denise and Howie, too

15 hours ago, julig22 said:

My opinion. Speaking as someone who had to spend the night in the airport not that long ago because the last plane of the day left without me - and it was the airline who delayed my flight, then messed up my ticket so even tho I made it to the gate in time, I couldn't board.  Neither could a couple of other families with small children who arrived after me.  And I'm 70 years old, sleeping in the airport isn't exactly a piece of cake.

Exactly!!!!!!! Same happened to us. The plane was at the gate for another 15 minutes but the gate was closed. We were delayed 90 minutes out of SFO. We had 120 minutes to make our connecting flight. Instead we spent 13 hours overnight in LAX. 

On the Volendam, Tales of the South Pacific, 11/20/23 (my birthday) the Lido had a seafood extravaganza. I believe this was King Crab. If it wasn’t it sure tasted the same. 😁 This was seriously the most amazing buffet I have seen in 20 years of cruising. 
Denise

Thanks for your thoughts. We sailed on the Carnival Miracle (older ship) with our kids and grands in 2022. We were very apprehensive. We had a blast!!

The steak house was the best on any of our 44 previous cruises with Princess and HAL. Truly amazing food and presentation. They made an error in our reservation for 10. In turn we ended up with the best tables in the house, 4 bottles of wine, comped cocktails and drinks for the kids. We didn’t ask for a thing. It was a triple anniversary dinner. 

Because you don’t dress for dinner, the dressy nights were really dressy. Everyone glamed up. We were impressed. 

We are going to give it another go in 2025 on the same type of ship, the Legend. Both of these cruise are Alaska 10 days RT San Francisco. Another huge plus. 30 minutes from home. 

We love our long cruises on HAL but glad we took a chance on Carnival. 

We put our clocks back 1/2 going to Nuku Hiva on the Tales cruise. 
 

D&H

1 hour ago, FlaMariner said:

I would think exactly where you booked....You will enjoy a FF cabin or something HAL defines as an upgrade.

Thanks! We love aft cabins and being close to the water line, so I am hoping we stay there. 

When we booked a couple of months ago there were no OV cabins to choose on the Zaandam for a November cruise.  So for the first time in 47 cruises, we took an FF guarantee. No other category was offered. 
 

I just checked the deck plans. There are only 6 FF cabins. 2 are handicap accessible, the other 4 are triples. Exactly where does that leave us? 🤪

We have had cabin1824 across from the elevators on both the Amsterdam and Volendam. 5 cruises,  48-53 days each. It’s a perfect cabin with no noise from the elevators. Also quick to get to the Crows Nest or the World Stage. 

3 minutes ago, mikey55 said:

I have been following your cruise and have never figured out to get on your blog.  I would love to see your pictures.  Is there some way for me to get access?  Thank you and have a great continuing cruise.  

Here you go 😄

https://cruisingwithbillandmaryann.blogspot.com/
 

We got a card to get one on our next cruise. They didn’t have any on the Volendam Tales of the South Pacific last fall. This was a first!!

9 hours ago, Stratheden said:

I cannot understand folk who pay a fortune to travel to all the exotic places offered and then look for American food.  They might as well save their money and stay home. 

Some folks have serious food allergies. Sticking to food they know makes a mealtime enjoyable. Everyone travels differently. 

We have spent over 200 days in an ocean view cabin on the Dolphin Deck of the Amsterdam, Maasdam and Volendam. Even thought we love a veranda, these cabins are great choices on the smaller ships. Two flights up and you are outside. The promenade deck on the Volendam has wonderful lounge chairs. You won’t miss the veranda especially if you hit three straight weeks of rain…..which happened the year we had an aft facing veranda. 😝 

13 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Does anyone know the cost to upgrade HIA surf to premium?  I will be doing 35 days but I can extrapolate 😉

It depends on when you upgrade. On our 51 day cruise in the fall, it was $150 to upgrade at the beginning of the cruise. About 10 days in the price went to $100, where it pretty much stayed until close to the end of the cruise. Then it went down in price again. 

Love Top Chef!!! How fun to have the finale on a HAL ship!

2 hours ago, WCB said:

wood carvings bought in Brazil will be collected at the gangway and kept in a freezer for 24 hours.  This prevents unwanted pests from damaging your items and also entering the vessel. 

Howie bought a wooden object on the Tales cruise last fall in Suva, Fiji. It was taken as we went through security. They explained it would be put in the freezer and why.  We received it three days later. This was a first for us. 
Denise and Howie, too

Spectacular photos of the boobies and flying fish!! 🩵👏👏👏🩵

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Startlink Internet speed - Wow!

 

Previous cruises were lucky to get above 6 Mbps - But we are still in the Caribbean when the speed is always pretty good.   We'll see how we do in the mid pacific.

 

 

Pete, the speeds were great all through the SP this fall. We were able to send and receive videos as fast as when we are home! 7 weeks of simply amazing WIFI. We were amazed. 
Cheers, Denise

BON VOYAGE!!!! To our friends on board. Have a wonderful magical mystery tour. 
Cheers, Denise and Howie, too

BON VOYAGE!!!!!!!🎉🥰☕️🚢⚓️🎊

Good Grief!! No visa yet!!

Wishing you both a wonderful New Year and a great mystery cruise. It seems like there have been a couple of those lately. Tales of the South Pacific 2022 comes to mind. 😝

Cheers, Denise and Howie, too

What a wonderful year! I love your blog. So excited to have several to read every morning for the next 4 months. 
Cheers and Bon Voyage,

Denise

Travel safely!! Happy to be virtually traveling along with you both. We will be waiting to have lunch when you come home. 🥰

Enjoy,

Denise and Howie, too,