filadin

I can only compare HAL's AYWD to NCL as that is the only other AYW experience that I have had. I must say that HAL compares poorly. I will not spend too much time guessing as to reasons, but it could be the smaller size of the HAL ships, the limited number of venues, the fact that HAL has retrofitted the concept while NCL has designed ships around it, who knows?

On NCL, you could make reservations in advance and for any time that they had a table. If you showed up without a reservation, you might have to wait from no time to 30 minutes depending on the popularity of the restaurant and the time that you showed up.

On the Statendam last week, you could only make reservations at 5:15, 5:30, 5:45, or I believe after 8:00. You could not make reservations for the more popular times. You also could not make reservations in advance, so as earlier posters said you would have to call at 8 a.m. to make the reservations. By 9:00 a.m. on most days the reservations would be full and you would just have to show up. If you showed up before about 6:15 you would have little to no wait. After that, the waits could be from 15 minutes to one hour (New Year's Eve).

Why can't HAL let you make a reservation at 6:30? Why can't HAL let you make reservations in advance? If you had an early morning tour, you could not make a reservation.

A side annoyance was the need to give all of the room numbers, with the MD having a brain lapse or poor command of English and never being able to get the number correctly. No exaggeration - I would have to repeat my room number about 3-4 times. It was like "Who's on First," only not funny and terribly annoying. I finally got to where I would hold up my fingers while I said the number.

While HAL claims to be an upscale line and NCL is a mass market line, I must say that I was greatly disappointed in several aspects of HAL including AYWD. NCL does almost everything better, including AYWD.

Yes. Most of the sites that you want to visit are accessible by MRT, but the National Palace Museum is not.

However, taxis in Taipei are cheap, cheap, cheap. You can get around from one place to another in Taipei from about 100 NT to about 250 NT (3 dollars to 8 dollars). Taxis here are pretty nice (especially compared to China) and are easy to get (especially compared to Singapore).

The only problem with taxis is that the drivers do not speak English. However, you can hand them an address or location in Chinese and they will take you there without a problem.

Let me know where you are going, and I can send you a list of the names and addresses in corresponding Chinese.

One other thing that you could do is to hire a car. You can probably get a nice car for the day (Mercedes/Lexus) for about US $150.00

- Doug

Donna,

That is a nice schedule that you have planned, but perhaps a bit aggressive. All your sites are worth seeing though. I have not been to the Martyr's Shrine, although I drive by it frequently.

I can't really say how far apart your stops are because I do not know the order. The farthest two points that you have are probably between the temple and the National Palace Museum and might be about 30-45 minutes. Traffic varies in Taipei and can be heavy at times.

mare s. - The National Palace Museum to Taipei 101 is about 35 minutes. There is a Din Tai Feng in NeiHu which is between the National Palace Museum and Taipei 101.

- Doug

I live in Taipei, and it is a truly wonderful city. The posted sample itinerary is good, but I would recommend some changes.

You should not come to Taipei without visiting the National Palace Museum (Gu Gong). The greatest treasures of China are mostly here in Taipei at this museum. It has just undergone a renovation and is a must see. In fact, when you visit the Forbidden City you will see signs saying that the original artifact are at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

As far as dumplings, you should go to Din Tai Feng. They have some of the best, and certainly the most famous, dumplings in Asia.

Skip the handicraft mart.

The Grand Hotel is impressive (beautiful lobby and restaurants), but not worth seeing over the National Palace Museum.