Delbankin

I guess it could have been Jeremy Ray Borders - the daily programme simply said Piano Bar with Jeremy. Having looked that guy up on video I wouldn't have said that was what he looked like but couldn't be sure. All I remember is that he wore a baseball cap sometimes and I thought he had a pony tail thing going on but could be wrong. We didn't spend that much time in his company after being disappointed on two visits!

Not wishing to steal the OP's thunder but I do happen to know who is currently on Zuiderdam - his name is Jeremy (at least he was last week).

Unfortunately we didn't rate him. He has a voice that is suited to certain styles of music and not a wide range. One night on our more recent cruise he performed Billy Joel and Elton John which was the style that suited his range. Unfortunately he dragged out the evening with long stories about the history of both singers and we quickly got bored. He also hit his fair share of bum notes on the piano.

He did seem to have a small following however that turned up every night and enjoyed what he had to offer so perhaps we were overly critical but remained disappointed as the piano bar is normally one of our favourite places on a cruise ship. To each their own.......

Thanks for the replies and questions. We'll try to answer any queries relating to the original post here and will post a new thread for the next phase of our review.

Taking the points in turn:

We do have photos (over 800 between us!) and it will take some time to sort them out so we may not be in a position to post here - perhaps with later segments.

We did stay in the Pan Pacific and labelled up our luggage and left the cases inside our room as advised in the HAL welcome letter. The porter collected them around 10am and the next time we saw them was in our cabin mid afternoon.

The Pan Pacific is literally yards away from the ship. We could have almost jumped from the hotel terrace to the deck! The walking transfer is a few hundred yards via hotel lobby, lift and indoor underground bus terminus for cruise departures.

I don't disagree that the 48 hour serving restriction in the lido is of some benefit in reducing noro however it clearly wasn't enough for previous cruises which from other posts seemed to require two deep cleans including one where all passengers were required to disembark before noro could be contained.

Our impression of HAL was that once the 48 hour restriction had been lifted, they did not enforce hand sanitisation for passengers before entering dining areas. NCL are far better at this with their light hearted washy washy routine.

We also witnessed an example of less than satisfactory hygiene routines relating to a problem with a toilet. There is one small toilet area on approach towards the dining room and one evening whilst heading for dinner there was a cleaner and maintenance operative standing outside both ladies and gents toilets which are adjacent. None of them prevented access.

On entering the gents, which consisted of a urinal and single wc compartment, I noted the wc cubicle had an out of order sign attached. I used the facility which was available and during my visit noted a strange smell. I washed my hands and left. As I exited I noted the operatives were still there and the maintenance man had a trolley labelled emergency spill kit. That then made me worry slightly of the possibility of cross infection after being allowed to enter.

My wife didn't get access to the ladies so went elsewhere and I waited for her in the corridor. I then overheard the maintenance man on the telephone. He was clearly looking for instruction from above relative to the problem at hand. He seemed surprised at the instruction which was to "leave it" because he repeated the instruction for clarity.

I did worry that I had been unwittingly exposed to a threat of infection however over the next couple of days nothing untoward happened and I remained healthy. I do beleive that HAL didn't properly look after passenger interests by both failing to clear the original problem and also failing to restrict access to the area. Even if the problem was only a choked and overflowing toilet I think the situation could have been handled better particularly given the recent outbreaks on the ship.

With regard to the formal nights, our recollection is that they were on the first two sea days which were the Sunday night and the Wednesday night. The dress code is formal and we both dressed appropriately, my wife in a dress and me in a lounge suit with shirt and tie. These days I only wear dinner suit (tux) with bow tie on Cunard cruises as the majority of lines these days do not enforce at all.

We are fairly experienced cruisers but we did have breakfast one day with some fellow Brits on their first cruise. They obviously had different expectations and the gentleman had actually complained to HAL representatives about the lack of reinforcement of dress codes where some people were allowed to enter the main dining rooms in attire not at all in accord with the dress code.

He had apparently mentioned to senior dining room staff only to be told that HAL had to be slightly flexible with guests. Clearly aggrieved by this answer he told us he approached front desk next day stating his lack of approval to the relaxed approach only to be told by front desk that they did not relax dress codes and expected guests to conform. Clearly two different messages being given by HAL but the more relaxed approach clearly evident in the dining room itself.

The final query was about the pier and how certain someone could be that their ship would be berthed at Canada Place Quay. I must confess I didn't even know that there was a second pier in Vancouver used by Cruise ships. I have however since researched the question and it appears there is a second quay - Ballantyne where ships can be berthed. There is a schedule for cruise ships which can be found by searching under port metro Vancouver. It appears that all the way through to September there are only RCCL and NCL ships scheduled to be using Ballantyne. HAL and other lines are scheduled to leave from Canada Place.

Hopefully these answer all points and queries raised against the original post. I will follow with a new thread for the next instalment over the next couple of days.

We have just returned from 7 night round trip Inside Passage Alaska cruise on Zuiderdam out of Vancouver and thought we'd share our thoughts. Rather than post an entire review on the Review section we thought we would follow other recent trends of bit by bit reports which will hopefully be of interest.

This was our first HAL cruise and our 14th in total. We chose this cruise for the itinerary. Having researched other lines and ships this cruise suited our needs best.

Just prior to sailing, we were lucky enough to be offered an upgrade from our verandah cabin to what HAL call a superior verandah for a small additional sum. We normally cruise inside cabin but had decided to take a balcony to allow us to enjoy the scenery for this specific cruise in a degree of comfort.

We took up the offer and were pleased we did as the balcony and cabin were much more roomy than our original choice. The balcony had a table and chairs as well as two padded plastic wicker style lounger type chairs - normal balcony cabins seemed only to have the loungers and a very small and low table.

We are husband and wife, M (early 50's); F (late 40's). We flew BA out of Heathrow the day before and stayed 1 night pre-cruise. We also stayed 3 nights post cruise. Our hotel was Pan Pacific on Canada Quay. We chose it because of proximity to the ship and the convenience of a walking transfer - another first!

We arranged all our cruise and travel elements through HAL via our Travel agent. We booked 2 excursions direct with HAL via their website and 1 via the tour desk.

Although we could probably have booked flights and hotels cheaper independently we like not having to worry about anything and like the security that booking everything directly brings. We had previous close calls with volcanic eruptions and snow at home potentially affecting previous cruises which influence our thinking on this front.

Our travel arrangements went very smoothly and flights and transfers were good. We were able to book seats on the BA flight using the reference number on the pre-cruise documentation.

HAL reps were at the airport to greet us and as there were around a dozen people staying pre-cruise we had to wait a short while for the bus to transfer us to our hotel. The transfer took around 20 minutes. The driver gave us some useful information about Vancouver during the transfer. Guests were staying at 2 hotels and we were lucky enough to be the first stop.

We were able to check in immediately on arrival and a welcome letter with arrangements for joining the ship were waiting for us. Our room was on the pool deck level (8th floor) and was very roomy with a super king size bed and a sink and complimentary tea and coffee making facilities - snacks were extra. We arrived late evening and having been fed on the plane we decided not to have anything else to eat and went fairly early to bed.

In the morning our letter advised we should go to the HAL desk in the hotel to arrange our transfer. We were also advised to leave our bags in our hotel room and they would be collected and taken direct to the ship which was a bonus. I would thoroughly recommend this hotel for the convenience and location.

In the morning we went to see the rep and asked about the transfer process. We were advised we could take their transfer which was fairly early so we asked what our options were. As our luggage was being taken care of we decided to go slightly later on our own as we weren't sure our cabin would be ready if we boarded early.

After going to see the HAL rep we had a fast food breakfast in the food court directly below the hotel. There were a number of outlets to choose from ranging from burger bars to fruit and smoothie ones. We then went to board the ship at around 11am. The process was fairly smooth with HAL reps there to guide and assist all of the way.

The biggest delay, as expected, was in getting through the US customs who were on the quayside to check everyone going aboard, this presumably because the ship was sailing directly to the US. There was a considerable queue however we passed through customs and HAL registration in around 1 hour and we were on the ship and in our cabin just after noon.

After speaking to others a few days after we boarded it seems we timed it just right as other people who arrived later said they took more than 3 hours to go through the process.

What we did see whilst queuing was several people being taken away from the customs desk to a small office. We assumed, perhaps wrongly, that they had perhaps not completed the ESTA process in advance. We were well aware of the process having travelled to the US before but others may not have been aware as the cruise was departing and returning via Canada. We didn't think there was enough advance warning of the need to complete the ESTA process either by HAL or our travel agent in any of the pre-cruise documentation.

As we boarded relatively early, the ship was still quiet and we had our first and only main meal in the lido at a fairly leisurely pace. The lido was server based for the first two days due to recent previous noro virus outbreaks. This may be standard process for HAL but is something they might relax for cruises if the ship has been healthy for a period of time. As the ship was quiet we didn't have any trouble with queuing to be served. We weren't aware of any noro issues whilst on board and it seems HAL did a good job of eradicating it following earlier problems on previous cruises.

After our meal we went to explore what the ship had to offer. The layout was fairly standard for a Vista class ship which we had sailed on before with other lines. If anyone is still interested we will post more about the ship later and about our cruise in general. If everyone is bored rigid by the facts thus far we won't post any more. Let us know if we should continue..........

We just returned from 31 May sailing and also had to tender in Juneau.

We attended the Captain's Q&A early in the cruise and he advised that we would be tendering in Juneau and that this was an alternate weekly arrangement with Zuiderdam and the Princess ship getting the berth time about. He also advised this was a short tender some 600yds, one of the shortest and smoothest we have encountered.

I intend to write a review of our cruise shortly, our first with HAL, which was mostly positive I'm pleased to say!

Would be interested to hear from you again or anyone else joining Zuiderdam this weekend. We are due on in a couple of weeks and would prefer to read posts that suggested the GI Problem had been brought under control.

Not sure HAL can be seen to be to blame. You suggest they weren't as vigilant as they might have been in the MDR but our experience is that cruise companies prefer to sanitise menus out of main sight to avoid causing alarm amongst diners.

Cruise companies aren't generally responsible for the GI Problems as they are brought on board by infected passengers or others who don't self isolate on board when infected. What more can HAL do except introduce 48 hour ban on self service in the Lido and deep clean twice in a number of days.

Hopefully things will improve for everyone soon.

Thank you for all of the more recent replies which answered my question perfectly. I now understand that HAL more or less has the same routine as everyone else. Looking forward to our first HAL cruise in a few weeks!

We were on the same cruise as TracieABD (who helped us win the music quiz one day - thanks again!) but took a slightly different opinion of the Spirit away with us.

The ship is certainly unique in terms of layout and decor and definitely smaller than some ships we have cruised before. We found the size quite restrictive in places with a strange walk through arrangement in Blue Lagoon and the dead end arrangement in the pub which was too small for some of the events.

We did feel the oriental decor, although unique, was a little dated. The ship is obviously much older and although showing in places was fairly well maintained and clean. The crew were always pleasant and fairly efficient too.

It may have been the high seas we were subjected to at times during our cruise but I didn't feel the ship handled particularly well as it pitched and rolled quite a bit.

I have no idea about the Sun but if you like newer and larger ships I can't quite see why you would opt for the Spirit. Would we go back on Spirit again - probably if the price and itinerary was right.

If TracieABD is reading this, we would be interested to hear what you thought of Zuiderdam (another older ship) as we are due to sail to Alaska out of Vancouver in a few weeks time.

Thanks again for further replies although it does seem to have gone off beam a little - I am not interested in wine tasting events. What I'd really like to know is, if we order a wine package from the wine waiter on our first night or from somewhere on the ship after boarding what happens after that.

What I have previously experienced with other lines is that you either get vouchers to exchange for wines each evening or you get a sticker on your stateroom card which gets marked out when you reach your quota of bottles.

Do HAL really deliver wine to your room? I wouldn't really want that because it would mean having to have white on chill in your room every day should you wish to have white with your dinner one evening and then carting the bottle with you to dinner. I'd prefer if they kept the wine and we could simply call it off when required.

Can anyone please explain how it really works with HAL.

Thanks for the replies. From what I can deduce the wine isn't delivered to your cabin at all despite what it says in the HAL sales information.

On some cruise lines we have cruised with, they apply a sticker to the stateroom card which tells the wine waiter you have a package. On other cruise lines you get vouchers which you exchange for wine each night. I'm curious to find out how HAL know you have a package if they don't apply something to the card or provide vouchers.

I'm also amused by the concept of setting bottles aside for another day - we haven't quite managed to make one last two days so far on any of our cruises!

We will shortly be taking our first HAL cruise and I have a couple of questions regarding the above.

Can anyone advise if there is a discernible difference between the qualities of the wines offered between the two packages which would make paying the extra worthwhile?

Also on other ships we have cruised with, the package is purchased and wines are available for a choice to be made at any time or venue i.e. Lunch or dinner. The pre-cruise information for HAL suggests that the wine is delivered to your cabin.

How does this work out if you want to have a particular wine once you see the menu for the day? Does this mean you have to have a bottle constantly on ice in your cabin and you then take it with you if you want to drink white with your meal.

It seems a bit strange but perhaps I haven't understood correctly how the package can be used. Any advice would be appreciated.

Del.

Can't beleive an innocent question about lifeboat muster gets turned into an argument about people listing previous cabins and what the proper name is for lifeboat drill!!

In answer to the question, I can't imagine they would prevent anyone getting on board provided you arrive within their allotted timescales. If you happened to arrive late for whatever reason, but before the allotted sail away time, I'm sure they would make provision for you to be advised of the proper procedures. The procedure is normally relayed on cabin TV's in any case.

I wouldn't however recommend pitching up late. Sooner rather than later would be my advice.

I chose NCL Spirit for the amazing itinerary, not the food.

 

BARCELONA...TOULON...FLORENCE/PISA...ROME...NAPLES/POMPEII...MYKONOS...ISTANBUL...KUSADASI...ATHENS...and VENICE!

 

Feed me a freakin' cold cheeseburger and a flat pop for all I care! This is going to be AWESOME!!!

 

#pickypicky

Having cruised on Spirit in January I'd say be careful what you wish for. If you like cold cheeseburgers and flat pop you should be OK on Spirit. For me, I'm looking for a little bit more from my vacation and money than the destinations!

In the past we have attended Art Auctions held on various cruise lines. A good number of cruise lines do keep the supply of sparkling wine flowing up to a point which was one of our main reasons for attending, along with the "spectacle" of the auction itself.

We do like the preview session where it is possible to sample the free sparkling and to walk around freely and look at the art. Some of it is quite nice. In the past we have stayed to watch the auctions.

Cunard had some very nice art on one of our cruises and one of the artists was on board -Fabian Perez and some of his originals were on offer - we were slightly tempted.

We attended a preview on our recent Spirit cruise (sparkling was in very short supply!. The room they held the auction in was very cramped such that one of the art team members had to frequently climb over the servery to wash out glasses and pour out more (or should that be less) fizzy stuff. Also one of the passengers knocked over a painting due to the cramped conditions - no apparent damage.

I made the mistake of asking how much one of the pieces was. The young guy from the art team asked me what I liked about it and where I would hang it. He then went off and came back with a price. I said thanks and he asked me if I was going to buy it. I said no. His reply was along the lines that if I liked it and had identified where I would hang it why wasn't I going to buy it? I told him I had asked out of interest. He became very pushy and asked if it was him that was the problem and if I didn't like him. A fairly bizarre question I thought.

Needless to say I became a bit irritated at that point and we left the preview without staying for the auction. This is the first time we have had any negative experience - normally staff are understanding that the majority of people are just there to have a look and not to buy.

I am assuming this more aggressive approach is part of the Park West strategy on NCL as we haven't experienced it anywhere else. At this point we are not sure if we will go along to any future cruise auctions - our next cruise is on Holland America and I haven't yet looked to see if they do such a thing.

If people want to spend their money buying art on a cruise ship that is their prerogative, but it's not for me.

Hello, cjc3008, Not sure why all the negative comments about NCL transfers. We took the transfers for our Spirit cruise in January. There are plenty of representatives to show you where to go once you arrive.

We had to wait in the terminal an hour or so until a number of other flights arrived before we could go to the area where the coaches were waiting. The transfer was relatively short and very relaxing.

We didn't get a tour of the city but wouldn't have minded if we did. It is definitely the best option for you and as long as you know what might be ahead of you it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Enjoy your cruise.

Thank you underwatr that's exactly what I was looking for!

Can someone remind me please where to find photos of the views from various balcony cabins on Cunard ships. I remember seeing it somewhere in the past but can't recall where. I think it was on a Cunard related web site.

We cruised on Spirit at the beginning of January for the first time - Casablanca and the Canaries.

I'm not sure I can see why so many people describe her as their favourite NCL ship. Definitely smaller than what we are used to (Jade and larger Vista class ships from other lines) and it had some unique Asian themed interiors.

I found some areas too small e.g. The pub and Blue Lagoon (a walk through diner and bar next door). Also some dead ends ie towards the dining rooms.

The food was OK in the main dining areas (what do people expect from a galley catering for hundreds at a time!) with the main complaint being temperature - a number of people sending it back because it wasn't hot.

The ship is older and although showing a little wear and tear here and there is well kept. Again, people seem to have unreal expectations about cruise ships where they expect them to be as new all of the time. Similar expectations aren't had where hotels are concerned - how many people moan about faded carpets and interiors when staying in hotels?

We had some fairly rough seas on our trip which saw numbers around the ship reduced on some evenings. Conditions in and out of Casablanca caused the ship to move quite a bit. May have been the sea conditions during our cruise but we did find the ship pitched and rolled quite a bit.

The staff were in the main cheery and helpful which is what you would want on a holiday.

All in all we would cruise on Spirit again if the price was right.

Overheard a rather large and loud American gentleman (clearly a smoker) whilst on a cruise ship coach tour saying how stupid it was that people were asked not to throw cigar or cigarette butts overboard. After all........" the ocean is huge and one cigar butt wouldn't make any difference". Maybe not to the ocean but it would if it landed on your balcony and caused a fire. He didn't seem to realise the significance of the request related to passenger safety as opposed to the environment! It wasn't particularly funny - just showed his ignorance.

I always try to get a couple of "standard" photos on each cruise we take. One is with the lifebelt (that's what we call it in the UK) and the other is a photo with me standing at the stern with the name of the ship and place of registration in view. Enjoy your cruise!

Have to agree with jaspersmycat about the sound resonating through the cabin if you are lower down at the front of the ship.

Worst we had it was on Queen Elizabeth, which I beleive is Vista Class design like a large number of cruise ships, when cruising up the Spanish and Portugese coast. The ship was really pitching and rolling and the booming sound of hull hitting waves was relentless through the night. Mind you it was force 9 at the time.

It has made us mindful of choosing guarantee cabins, which we had on that occasion, and we are now a little more careful in our choice of cabin depending on the seas we are sailing in.

We took the 9 day R/T from Barcelona on Spirit in January and enjoyed it. Spirit is an older ship but we found it to be well maintained with a happy crew. No reason why you shouldn't enjoy your cruise.

Being from the UK we regularly visit the Canaries for some winter sunshine. You don't say when you are taking your cruise. If it is fairly soon the weather in Spain may not be particularly warm. We had some mixed temperatures until we moved closer to the Canaries but managed to get sunshine most days.

You are concerned about food quality. We didn't have any complaints about the quality but then again we never expect gourmet food when cruising with a mid market cruise line - after all, the galley is catering for more than a thousand people. The only complaints we heard about food on Spirit was with the temperature. Some people had to send food back because it wasn't hot enough.

The only thing we weren't overly enamoured with was the desserts but there doesn't seem to be any cruise company that has a great line in desserts, not from our experience anyway.

As regards ports, Barcelona, Malaga and Casablanca have a lot to offer in terms of history and architecture. There are some pretty long trips available if you'd like to go further afield.

The Canaries ports are all fairly nice. Funchal is good to walk around and perhaps take the cable car up to the botanical garden and a sled down again. Arrecife has some nice scenery and a trip to Timanfaya national park is worthwhile.

I don't think you should have any regrets about your choice but you may not get Caribbean weather all the way. Have a nice trip!

Setting aside the issues of NCL informing guests we have been to Kusadasi twice now on cruises. The port has more of a holiday feel and the cruise terminal has been purpose built. The surrounding area is nice to walk around. There are shops close to the port.

On our first visit a few years ago we found the shopkeepers to be very persistent and quite aggressive. On our visit last year we found it a more enjoyable experience and they seemed to have eased their attitude towards shoppers. We did notice some people who treated them with little respect received similar treatment back but we didn't have any problems at all.

I don't remember Ephesus being minutes away however I don't believe it was a long trip and it is certainly not to be missed. I hope everyone who now has Kusadasi on their itinerary enjoys what the area has to offer - as we did.

Thanks for the replies to my query about wines in the packages.

Kazu, the HAL website names some wines and states "wonderful selection that includes........" which is why I asked if anyone had details of exactly what was included in the packages.Thanks for your advice but we have been on a good number of cruises and are always a bit wary of any website information as we have found the actual on board content can sometimes differ.

CruiseWhere, we don't cruise with HAL until May so would be quite happy to wait for you to return home and share your information then - thanks for the offer.

As a matter of interest, how does the HAL package operate?. Can you choose any wine from within the package any night, i.e. could you have the same wines every night if you wanted?

We have been on other cruise lines where you have to select your wines in advance which is OK but we would prefer to select from the entire list once we sit down for our meal.

The wine list is useful, thanks. Does anyone have a copy of the wines in the packages?