Tom O.

If you were to purchase the beverage package, it would cost about $69 per person per day - A 10 day cruise would be $1380 for two people. It is rarely worthwhile for even people who drink - for non-drinkers it is an exceptionally bad deal.

Like others said, you should be able to rebook without the package. This should give you some significant savings, but not the full $69 per person per day savings - since it is a special deal.

This may seem a silly question. I am planning on getting some Euros at my bank before my cruise. But, when I do that, they usually give me a few small denominations, but most of it is in large bills, and no coins.

Can I trade some large bills for smaller bills and coins on my ship? (HAL Zuiderdam).

Or is there an easy way to do this once I am off the ship?

Once I buy something, I will get some change. But I have no real use for large bills, because any large purchase I make I will use a credit card. I just need the cash for small purchases.

I don't want end up in a restroom where I need a 1 Euro coin and not have one.

Any suggestions of how I can get a supply of small bills and coins?

1 hour ago, yerdua said:

Hi tom. Dh and I will be on this cruise 7/16. There is a short roll call started if you would like to join it. I think it will get more active after the holidays. Good question re tallinn. I'm just starting to plan shore activities for us. Audrey

Our cruise is on 8/9. We have already booked a private tour in Saint Petersburg with Alla Tours. This was very expensive since it is just the two of us. But we decided to go ahead and splurge, since it is unlikely that we will ever be there again. With a private tour, we can opt to skip things if we get too tired. It will be a very busy time in Saint Petersburg, because we also have booked a ballet in the evening.

Thank you to everybody who replied. We have decided to cancel our ship's excursion, and make our own way to Old Town.

1 hour ago, dogs4fun said:

I found the walking tour that we used on our first visit to Tallinn. It provides walking directions from port, hits all of the high points of the old town & includes photos. If you would like a copy of the PDF, email me (address included in signature).

 

Thanks very much, I have sent you and email.

We are booked for our first Baltic Cruise on Holland America Zuiderdam next summer.

Our first port is Tallinn, and we just wanted to go to the old town, walk around and shop, and maybe have lunch.

I have already booked a ship's excursion called Walk & Shop in Tallinn's Old Town.

But I am thinking of canceling it, because we don't really need a guided tour. Also, the excursion is only 3 1/2 hours, and of that time, we only get about one hour on our own. The rest of the time we are walking with a guide.

Is it easy to get from our ship to Old Town on our own? We have some minor walking issues, and would prefer to not to take a long strenuous walk.

Recommendations?

33 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Doesn't work that way; the captain has ultimate responsibility and is always on the bridge next to (or behind) the pilot when entering or leaving a port

I am sure you are correct.

I've always wondered what goes on in the bridge after the Harbor Pilot comes on board. Does a Captain really trust his ship and passengers to some local guy, he may not even know? It would be interesting to know what went on in that bridge between the Captain and the Pilot. We will probably never know.

On 12/20/2019 at 12:56 PM, Despegue said:

Please do not immediately start to blame the Captain, crew and pilot for this accident, not even if you hold your STCW 2 🙄

Not the place, not the time, not the audience.

I believe, since the ship was coming into port, it was under the control of the Harbor Pilot, not the Captain or Crew.

7 minutes ago, STANCPA44 said:

How come the coffee on Royal Caribbean taste great while Holland's coffee is vile.  Royal have Seattle Best grounds.  I sail frequently on both Holland and Royal.  

Once again, to each their own. For me Seattle's Best is vile.

6 minutes ago, Overhead Fred said:

The final payment date is not the critical date for determining when you can no longer re-fare without penalty. They key date is when the cancellation penalties begin. For many cruises, these dates are the same. However, for some longer cruises, the cancellation penalty start date can be a month before the final payment date. 

Thanks, I did not know that. We aren't, financially, able to do long cruises, so we have never run into that. The longest cruise we have been on is 15 days. I assume you are talking about cruises that are over 20 days.

Booking after the final payment due date will sometimes get you a real bargain, if there are lots of empty cabins still available.

Booking really early gives you a much better choice on cabins, if that is important.

Choice of cabins is really important to me, so I usually book early, and if the price drops before final payment is due, my TA will rebook it for us and we will get the lower price. But once final payment is made, I cannot rebook, if there are even lower prices announced.

I have never booked a cruise after final payment is due, but I suspect that only "guarantees" are available - where you are guaranteed a certain cabin category, but cannot choose the exact cabin you want.

Everyone has their own taste, and that helps make the world an interesting place.

It is easy for a cruise ship or restaurant to provide a large assortment of tea - they simply keep an assortment of tea bags available.

But, not so easy to supply a large selection of coffee, since it must be brewed and kept fresh. Most restaurants usually only have the choice of regular or decaf.

So a cruise ship simply brews something that most people will accept. There will always be some who don't like it and others that do.

I have found the HAL coffee to be very good. We always have breakfast delivered to our room, including coffee. I don't have coffee after breakfast.

People who are fans of Starbucks will not like the regular coffee, and will need to pay extra for fancy coffee. I prefer "donut shop" coffee and have no problem with HAL regular coffee - as long as it is hot. When having it delivered to the room sometimes it is not as hot as I would like.

2 hours ago, danv3 said:

 

We have chip and signature cards like 99% of US-based cards and had no problems anywhere.  

 

Even when I did have to swipe a card, I was not asked for a PIN on any occasion.  

That is the experience of many people who cruise, because they spend all their time in tourist areas doing typical tourist activities. But, did you try using your chip and signature card at any automated device, such as a train ticket kiosk or pay to use restroom? I am more concerned with restrooms than anything else, for my trip next summer. I have heard that chip and signature cards will not work at automated devices.

10 minutes ago, John Bull said:

Do you know where you'll be berthed?

There are bus and ho-ho boat options, depending on your berth

 

JB 

I don't know where we will be berthed. We will be on Holland America Zuiderdam. I assume that Holland America ships berth in the same place, but I don't know for sure. I have never been to this part of the world, so I have no experience here.

23 hours ago, Tom O. said:

Excuse me for bringing this old thread back to life, but I have a question about the chip and pin cards mentioned above.

I have several credit cards and all of them have chips. But I have never set up a pin for any of them. I have never ran into any situation where I needed a pin here in the USA. Can I just contact my credit card company to set up a pin for them? Will that work in Europe as a chip and pin card? Or do I have to have some different type credit card that is chip and pin.

I am responding to my own post. Since I asked this question, I have done some research.

Most US credit cards are "chip and signature" and if a pin number is added to it, it is only for borrowing money at a ATM machine - they still won't work for a European purchase that requires a "chip and pin" card.

However there are a few cards that will allow you to make your chip and signature card into a chip and pin card by adding a pin. One of these cards happens to be a card that I already own, the Bank of America Travel Rewards Card.

So I called them and they guided me through the process of adding a pin online. So I should be fine using this card anywhere in Europe. It will still work as a chip and signature card as well. Also this card is a Visa card which is the most accepted in Europe, and there are no foreign transaction fees.

From what I understand, chip and signature cards will usually be accepted in hotels, restaurants, and other places where there are many tourist customers. But if you go somewhere where they don't see many tourists, such as a grocery store, you will need a chip and pin card.

We have been looking at shore excursions for Stockholm. We don't know how well I will be able to get around next summer, because I just had a knee replacement. We mainly want to see old town. I was looking at a tour that had a tour to old town and included the Vasa Museum. I was concerned that I might not be able to keep up with a guided tour.

So, I was considering just taking a taxi from the ship to old town, doing some shopping, and then, when we feel like it, taking a taxi back to the ship.

Can anybody see anything wrong with this plan? I assume there will be plenty of taxis available.

Excuse me for bringing this old thread back to life, but I have a question about the chip and pin cards mentioned above.

I have several credit cards and all of them have chips. But I have never set up a pin for any of them. I have never ran into any situation where I needed a pin here in the USA. Can I just contact my credit card company to set up a pin for them? Will that work in Europe as a chip and pin card? Or do I have to have some different type credit card that is chip and pin.

Yes, try creating a new thread with the word Alla in the title. Maybe it will work for you.

The thought occurred to me that it could have been deleted because it is similar to Allah - the Muslim God. But I did a search and found other threads with Alla in the title. 

I read in the guidelines, that if a tour company promotes itself on this forum, that it risks having its name banned.

So, I suppose it is possible that Alla crossed the line sometime in the past, and is being punished by having it's name censured. Although I would think that it would disappear from the body of text too.

As I wrote the original post. The word Alla appeared in the title. But as soon as I posted it, the word disappeared. I tried editing it and changing the order of the words, but the word Alla disappeared when I was done.

The website obviously has been programmed to omit that word in the title of any post, as if it were a swear word. Yet, I can use the word in the body of the text.

This left me with a title that was a little nonsensical.

I understand the rules about posting about tour operators. But I was just asking a simple question. I was not recommending anyone. It is sort of heavy handed control of the forum.

But luckily, my question got answered despite the nonsense title.

Thanks Dogs. I will go ahead and book with them.

I just noticed that the word Alla was deleted from the title of my post. I guess listing a well known tour company's name in the title of a post is not allowed on this forum.

I just booked a Baltic Cruise and I am considering Alla Tours for St. Petersburg. I was just wondering if anybody has actually had to cancel with them, and if it was difficult to get a refund. Alla claims to offer 100% refunds if given notice 72 hours (3 days) before arriving in port, but I would like to hear from someone who has actually had to cancel.

Thanks Ruth, that is very helpful information.

If I book an excursion online before my cruise, will that count as onboard spending and give me Mariner points toward my next level?