ColonyGirl2

When I did my snorkel trip out of Port Douglas, it took over an hour to get out to the reef on a fair sized boat. The water was beautiful but you couldn't see any land nearby.

Trieste is a lovely city and you can walk right from the dock. We had 2 days there is September, and took an independent tour to Lake Bled one day and walked around Trieste on the other. There are some Roman ruins there. We had spent 3 days in Venice previously so felt no need to visit there. Many of our shipmates took the train there for the day and some even stayed overnight.

We had that cruise booked and cancelled when I decided that the "cruising" days were really just more sea days. Instead are we are taking the following 29 day Far East cruise, plus the 14 day Japan/Taiwan after that. Strange that the 29 day Far East was $2K pp cheaper than the Coral Triangle with all its sea days. We are happy with the change we made, and this thread validates it. I did visit the GBR on a snorkel trip a long time ago and we did see some whales breaching on the boat trip, but that was in August so I don't know if the whales are there in January.

Another huge fan of Meghan and Gabe, so will certainly miss them. They were on the first half of our Med cruise in September. The duo on second half was "meh". Boarding the Zaandam in two weeks so hope the piano(s) are great as that is where we like to spend most of our evening.

We are on the Holland Zaandam to the Amazon next month. I haven't applied for visas yet because of the bank statement. Our statements come out the 5th and 7th of the month. I didn't want to apply that early last month because I wanted to see how it was going with the early applications. What a $h%t show! Anyway, now I have to wait until until I can download the next statement. So my question is whether anyone with Holland has used the letter that was sent to the passengers on the World Cruise? It is generic and could apply to anyone on a Holland cruise. Debating whether I should try to use it, rather than wait another week for an actual statement. Thoughts?

We did the 22 day from Santiago to Buenos Aires in Jan 2020, just before the world shut down. It was an amazing experience even without walking on the continent. Unbelievably beautiful vistas and lots of whales, seals, and penguins. It was our longest cruise up to that time, and now we try to choose itineraries that are at least 22 days. We had a great time and formed friendships that has resulted in booking cruises with people we met on our Antarctica cruise. Do it!

We were in Barcelona last month for a cruise. We took a taxi from our hotel (near Plaza Catalunya) right to the Oosterdam, which was at the furthest berth. Nice and easy, but did cost over 20€.

We were in 4176 on Noordam in February. Have never had problems with noises or vibrations, as we always choose an aft cabin on either deck 4 or 5, if available. Deck 5 on the Vista ships has a nice overhang, making it shaded and private. We could look down on deck 4 cabins (Oosterdam 5188 last month), but only when they stood at the railing. I have read of chair noise problems on deck 8, so I would not choose that.

Our Amazon cruise on the Zaandam was just changed to Miami for embarking, but goes to Port Everglades for disembarking. Makes a mess for people driving to port.

I get it too and clearing cookies has worked for me. For a while.... Rinse and repeat 🙃

We love aft balconies and always try to book one. We have been on the Nieuw Amsterdam in cabin 4180 twice- Alaska and the Caribbean No problems sleeping or vibrations. FYI. Cabin 4182 seems to have some type of ladder permanently attached to its balcony railing. I would avoid that cabin due to that.

I do too! I have tried every 3rd party cruise site that Ms. Google will show me, including the one similar to the bolded word in the first quote. No luck.

I have been waiting for summer 2025 for Europe. I am hoping HAL will offer the 24 day, round trip, Boston to Iceland. I looked at that warehouse travel site and the E travel site and don't see anything. Anyone give me a bigger hint, or just tell me if you can see it. Thanks!

We had an (E) oceanview on the Zaandam's Lower Promenade for Antarctica in 2020.. Absolutely loved it. We were near the atrium doors and could be outside, either side, in less than a minute. I don't remember any noise around us. We have the same room booked for the Amazon next February.

Maybe it depends on where you are. We embarked on the Noordam in February 2023 from Sydney. We uploaded all our info to Verifly based on our TA's recommendation. When we arrived at the port there was a huge line and lots of chaos. But....we saw a sign for Verifly and got in line and we were on the ship within 20 minutes. It made a big difference on that occasion. We also had to have a covid test within 24 hours of embarking in Sydney. This was our 4th cruise since covid, and the only time we used/needed Verifly. Other cruises were England, Egypt, and Caribbean.