SonuvaBeach

1 hour ago, misguy said:

Ocean view room, not balcony

How do you like the OV room so far? We will be in one on the Koningsdam for 35 days on the cruise right after yours.

Following!

2 hours ago, RAS4331 said:

If we're going on a tour that leaves at 10:00 AM, what time do you recommend getting our Arizona memorial tickets?  I was thinking 10:45 - or does it take longer than that to get from the ship to Pearl Harbor?  Our tour is called Pearl Harbor History and Honolulu Highlights and does not include the Missouri.  I assume we'll go to Pearl Harbor first and then do the Honolulu tour.

 

I know chances are probably slim that we would time it just right but I think I will take the chance.  If we can't use our tickets I'll give them to someone who is waiting in line for tickets.

 

 

FYI....well, sort of....I phoned the Shore EX people at HAL. After over an hour on the phone with the  "experts," no one could tell me if the tickets for the Arizona memorial were included. I read TO HIM the description of the tour which clearly states we would be going to the USS Arizona Memorial and i asked if the tickets( which can only be purchased ahead of time) would be included. He said.."Let me check on that" and put me on hold...when he came back 10 minutes later, he proceeded to read back to me what i had just read TO HIM 10 minutes ago. Trying not to lose my patience, I pointed out that I just read that to him, and reiterated my concern about  the tickets to the memorial not being included. He  read the description to me AGAIN!  He clearly did not know the answer...Soooo..now I am not sure what we shall do..we may cancel the HAL excursion  and go off on our own and  lose the $149pp HIA perk. I looked through all the other tours for this whole cruise...all the ones we were even remotely interested are  now sold out. I do not want to miss out on the USS Arizona again.

Also, you can not give your tickets to someone else....They are not transferable. You have to show your ID to use them.

2 hours ago, Chris-n-Shawn said:

we fell into the HIA excursion credit pit, again. Since this is our must-do, we booked it first and it (expensively) used our HIA credit

We are on this cruise as well..which excursion did you take to Pearl? We are on the $149 pp tour...We took this for the same reason as you: HIA excursion credit, but we also have Arizona Memorial tickets for 9AM on the first day in Honolulu...we shall see.

4 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

@Chris-n-Shawn Pearl Harbor was THE must do stop for me on this cruise, so I decided to do the excursion through the ship hoping for the best experience. Surely they would use only vetted, reliable guides and put their "power in numbers" to work for the masses. Based on comments we heard, that worked for some people, but not our bus. Well, at least not for all but 4 on our bus.

Polynesian Adventures is the company HAL used, "Kama" was the guide.

The tour was sold out; our bus was not the only one that went, so many others had an opportunity for an experience that we did not. We were 20 min late leaving the ship as we waited on 4 late passengers that did not show. Unfortunately, that 20 min was not the only delay.

Tour guide immediately set the ground rules of "tight schedule, you have to be on time" which he himself had already broken and later would not honor. We waited 25 min after touring the Missouri for passengers which did eventually show. So now we were 45 min off schedule. This 45 min was completely the fault of the tour operator. 

Before and after Kama handed out tickets, he told us we had to "run to the standy line" if we wanted any chance of making it to the Memorial. He knew we would not make it - his time for us to leave was 1:45 to get back to the ship by 2. It is 45 min roundtrip for The Memorial shuttle & tour; it does not run between 12 and 1 (closed for lunch). He stressed that if we were on the 12:45 shuttle, we would not make his 1:45 deadline, meaning we had to be on one prior to 12:45. So, w/o a schedule change, we were iffy after the 20 min delay and assured of missing it after the 25 min delay. 

All tour tickets have a disclaimer that Operators reserve the right to change the order of stops. Had ours done that and taken us to the Memorial 1st, we would have made it. 

Making the experience even worse, we waited 30 min past his 1:45 deadline for 4 passengers who, you guessed it, went to the Memorial. An entire bus missed something that they may not have an opportunity to revisit and, sadly, did not have to be missed.

So, for you, I would recommend not using this tour company independently or through the ship. And regardless of the excursion you do select, go to the website and secure your own reserved time so you have a slot. We didn't know you could get reserved tickets and use them with the ship tour - you can and should. As you mention you're going through the ship, you might consider calling Shore Exc to see if they are using this Tour Operator.  If so, let them know you do NOT want that guide. I'm sure they can't arrange that in advance (you'llbe on record should somethingunfortunatelygo wrong), so I would strongly advise you ask when you're at the pier lining up and as you're assigned your bus - the guides are there - be sure you are put w/a different guide. 

Also, go to the Memorial 1st then the Missouri.

At the Memorial, there are 3 lines - left is the film, center reserved time tickets, right is stand-by.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise and are able to do everything you plan. I would love to hear about your adventure and see any pictures you'd like to share. 😊

OH MY GOD! I would have been RIPPIN ANGRY!!  We went to Pearl in 2022. The day we were there, a main water line burst! The whole part of the island was without water and Pearl was shut down. No one's fault, but disappointing.

We booked the Koningsdam excursion for this trip for March 2024...EXPENSIVE, but we used some of the  HIA shore ex. money for this...nothing else to spend it on anyways!! If we do not get to go to the memorial, I am going to demand my money back..I think you should as well!

10 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Yes it will accept my Dell Inspiron 15 inch laptop.  You need to insert it at a 45° angle through the door and not flat, but it will sit flat on the floor of the safe

Thank you! 

12 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

No ruler to measure, but took a couple pictures using the Daily as a "size guide." Note that the safe has about a 1" lip all the way around it so the opening is approx 1" narrower then the inside. See the screensot close-up of the backside of the Daily for reference on the size of the lip.

The edge of the page is touching the wall of the safe.

The Daily is longways in the safe w/the top edge touching the inside of the safe. You can see how much room is left - just remember the "lip" around the safe. If the computer just fits, you may have to angle it to clear the lip.

My laptop fits w/o issue but it's a baby 13"

Thank you! Based on the size of the paper, there should be plenty of room!

We are really enjoying YOUR cruise! 😄 I love all the photos. We may have to go the the Mariners Luncheon  this year, too!

One quick question: Is the safe big enough for a 15 inch lap top?

5 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Santa Claus 🎅 is coming to town. Well, he's really coming to sea - he'll be here 10am tomorrow morning!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Haljo1935!!! and thank you for all the information..and photos!!

Haijo? Other than the dogs, how is the ship?  How is the food? photos?? It has been almost 6 years since i was last on the Koningsdam and we will be on it again Feb. 17 for 35 days, so we are VERY interested! We loved it back in 2018!

2 minutes ago, dfish said:

They are probably "emotional support animals" and that is why they were allowed on board.  People take advantage of that and the rest of us suffer.  I agree, I would be calling guest services now.

Agreed. Emotional support animals are NOT covered under the American Disabilities Act. Even the Veterans Administration does not consider them  legitimate.

Following 🙂

9 hours ago, kapitch said:

No issue using a bottle from my wine package in the Rolling Stone Rock Room this past October, in fact, the server in the bar asked if I wanted to keep a bottle there, which I did.

Thank you! That has always been our experience as well! Let's hope this continues in 2024!

13 hours ago, ottahand7 said:

We were on Volendam in January.  Due to no beverage package on a long voyage and no happy hours at outset it was the only way to enjoy the bars.  Our Ocean bar bartenders were happy to pour our package wine.  No problem all the way through March. 

Excellent! Thank you...this is just what I wanted to know.

Just now, kazu said:

I didn’t see any enforcement last year on the Oosterdam.  

 

Technically speaking it is supposed to be only in the restaurants or your cabin now but we had no difficulty.  Mind you, we didn’t take a bottle with us every night but there were a couple of times we did.

Last year on the Noordam  we had no problem ordering bottles off our Som Suite packs in the bars. We had a card( like the coffee card) and the bar tenders just punched it when we used a bottle...BUT...this new policy may have gone into effect on Jan 1, 2023..

Has anyone encountered this? We have always been able to use the Som Suite Packages in the bars and lounges...

9 hours ago, Crew News said:

Here is a wine list for 2024.  Wine List 2024

Thank you!

2 minutes ago, zelker said:

Log into your cruise, then go to Beverages and click on Wine Packages.  They show up there on all our upcoming cruises clear into 2025.

 

Cheers!

 

Thank you! found it!

32 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Sommelir-Suite-2023.pdf

 

 

Thanks..but that is for 2023

HELP! Is Holland America  still offering Sommelier Suite packages for 2024? I can not find it on their web site. This could be a deal breaker if they are not!

4 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

I was kidding. Just envious of all of the photos. We only took about a dozen.

Very tired and family living in Israel. It was pretty stressful.

Ah..sorry, i didn't catch that...If you saw the video from Split ,Croatia, I put Game of Thrones dragons in a room in Diocletians' Palace with my wife and me 😄

So I thought maybe you were serious!! Tough having friends/relatives in Israel right now..I know how you feel.

1 minute ago, SATaxman said:

Put us in the photos too. 🙂

We had a wonderful 10 days. enjoyed every minute.

First Oceania cruise.

 

I would need some photos of the two of you

1 hour ago, SATaxman said:

Thank you. We were on the same sailing. Can you crop us in these so we can share with our friends and family? 🙂

 

I don't know  what you mean by "crop us in"...???

oops..should be 2023 in the title

For anyone who might be interested, here is my youtube review of our Oceania Marina cruise to the Mediterranean this year.  The playlist contains 10 videos.