Blackduck59

Fortunately for my wife she doesn't need to "convince" YOU. An hour a day is workable, the point is dinner at 9:00 doesn't work for us. Yes one does adapt and we do, there are also a long list of food intolerances she has to work around. As to the hour and a half dinners? We really don't have a big problem with them, until they start to encroach on the gap she needs between eating and her insulin. As for sharing tables, we have met some nice people sharing tables, other times not as much. As it turns out you don't have to dine when we do, so whatever works for you; for us dinner at 5:00 would be great.

We would prefer the 7:30 and 9:00 PM show times. We also prefer to dine early, we would like to see the MDR open at 5:00 for dinner, that way even the notorious hour and a half plus dinner would still allow for a choice of after dinner entertainment. While some members seem to like to mock the early dinner folks, there can be many reasons for dining early, medical needs such as diabetes, or perhaps requirements for other medical needs. Also I'm getting tired of the constant, HAL sucks, you should cruise on any other cruise line. If HAL sucks so bad and every other line is better, then move on and enjoy the other lines, posting your rosy reports of the great voyage you had on XYZ line on the XYZ line boards.

HAL, RCL, Celebrity, Virgin Voyage and NCL do not have self serve laundry, that represents a very large percentage of the passenger load on cruise ships. Some may find the comradery of the laundry room enjoyable. Personally I would rather find that comradery some other place; while the professionals wash, press, fold or hang my clothes per my request and return it to my cabin on hangers in a garment bag or wrapped in tissue in a basket on my bed. All for a very reasonable charge.

That looks a lovely plate Linda, am I seeing leeks in your vegetable ragout? Are you travelling Mic or is that an at home presentation? Either way it looks very nice. On another note it is exactly 1 year until we meet up with Mic & Rosie (and whoever else would like to get together) in Sydney, before they head off on a cruise, and we start our long awaited Australian adventure. The booking windows are just starting to open so we will see what we can find for accommodation. I don't think we ever really had any good success with car hire bookings the last 2 times, we never actually got anything booked for that. We will probably wait a bit for that but will take any suggestions anyone has to offer. This will be a one way rental and we are aware there will be an extra charge, and for us this is part of the cost of doing business.

The laundry service on HAL is outstanding, and very reasonable. While the laundromat on those few ships that have them may be great, neither my wife or I, am interested in using one when there is a very good laundry service available at a reasonable cost. For our next adventure which will be down under a year from now we will be so happy to get on the ship after 26 days on land touring, doing our own laundry in whatever facilities we can find. Once we board we will get the "unlimited " laundry package and not have to do laundry ourselves until we get home 43 days later.

We haven't done the "pressing" service, but when we send a bag of laundry out in the early morning it is often back later that day. If we send it out in the evening it is often back when we come back from breakfast the next day. That being said sometimes it takes longer. I'm sorry you weren't prepared for no iron being available, many cruise lines don't allow them.

Call me an optimist, even naive but I think ditching the "Brand Name" licenses is a good thing. People clearly want classical music, who cares if they are from Lincoln center. I'm guessing there are plenty of talented classical museums from all over the world who would love a cruise gig. My biggest problem with most "Rock" bands is that they plat too oud for the space they are in. Most bands use volume to mask missing talent. Also a common complaint is that vocals are so often lacking. I hope the powers that be will soon wake up and realize that HAL is getting thoroughly thrashed by the competition when it comes to "Entertainment". With that knowledge maybe find an "entertainment coordinator" who is in overall charge at head office with subordinate "assistant entertainment coordinators" in the various markets where ships are home ported. Hire the local talent and rotate them around the fleet in each market. How hard can that be. I saw an episode of "Mighty Cruise Ships" that was produced when Koningsdam was brand new (Lead ship in the Pinnacle Class), there is a state of the art theater on those ships and what do we have? Rather spotty performances that do not match the capabilities of the space. I just read my own post and it really is allover the place, What I am trying to say is find local talent who will be the core cast for your entertainment venues, add some extra acts that rotate around the ships in a given market and quit paying licencing fees for brand names.

When/how did you know that "Taste of Tamarind" was available? We would definitely be interested in booking that. I'm guessing that the temporary Tamarind runs will be very popular.

@mawvkysc Thanks for posting that link, it was a pleasant presentation. I would probably try Morimoto but alas there is no tamarind let alone Morimoto on Westerdam. I'm hoping they may do a Tamarind pop up once or twice on our 6 week voyage next year.

I find the concept of receiving a proper newspaper at sea a little odd. Wouldn't that require the ship to have a full printing press and the paper come digitally by satellite. For them to run the "paper". Call me skeptical but somehow I don't think a current issue of any daily paper was delivered to your suite.

It's nice to know the change was well received, and the world as we know it has not ended. For the "I don't like the piano bar" crowd, don't go there, there probably won't be room for you anyhow.

We never encountered any masking rules on Zaandam in August/September of last year. Not at the embarkation port of Boston nor any of the port stops including all stops in Canada.

Good question, I don't know. Unfortunately the seemingly frequent troubles in many parts of our neighbours to the south (and northwest of us) has made us reluctant to visit many parts of the US. I should mention I probably wouldn't be that interested in visiting Jamaica either; that being said I'm not really that interested in the Caribbean anyway.

I was simply pointing out that there was yet another mass shooting in the US, this time Kansas City. It just seems strange that there is much hand wringing over a port call in Jamaica, when it isn't necessarily that safe at home. See my post #53.

@FlaMariner While that particular chart is interesting, where do St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit or Chicago fit on that chart. I think that anyone from anywhere could find themselves in a bad situation and proper caution is required. I just think it is ironic when people say "I wouldn't go there on a bet" and many places in their own country (mine included) are just as bad.

Keeping in mind that you are flying down there at considerable expense and a certain amount of discomfort (depending on what class you are flying). It would be prudent to spend some time looking around both pre-cruise and post cruise, depending on how much time you can be away. Vacation time can be restrictive. We are now planning our 3rd attempt at an Auckland to Australia cruise (the first cruise ended in Melbourne). When our cruise finally happens in 2025 we will be fortunate to both be retired. With no time constraints we will be extending this vacation to 9 weeks including a 43 day cruise from Auckland to Seattle (we will get off during the port stop in Victoria) We are planning 23 days in Oz and 3 days in Auckland before the cruise. Your circumstances may not allow that much time, but at least plan to spend some time in Auckland before the cruise and Sydney after the cruise. Not long ago there was a thread asking if it was possible to catch a 1430 hrs. flight if the ship released passengers at 0800 hrs. I will just say there is no way I'm flying that far, just to jump an the plane again the moment the cruise is over.

This is interesting as we all look back at a news story from Kansas City yesterday, or perhaps any number of news stories we see from the US several times a month. Think about it.

Thanks @crystalspin, when we were on Zaandam last year you could definitely see in the deck 3 OV cabins when walking on the promenade deck. The Vista Suites (the lowest cabin class with a veranda) are quite comfortable for 2, 3 would be a squeeze. We enjoyed ours.

With the ocean view cabins on deck 3, keep in mind you will need to keep the curtains closed. The wind looks directly out on the very popular "promenade", everyone out for there daily steps will have a clear view into your cabin. Something to consider.

Thanks @The-Inside-Cabin good to know, I guess there are no grand voyages in my future. I really hate trying to travel with my Tux, and my wife is finished with the formal gown thing. I do however applaud those who go to the effort to do formal.

We were on Zaandam at the end of August/early September last year. The dress was basically casual. I don't wear shorts to meals ever. For the "dressy" nights I wore dress slacks and a button down shirt my wife wore a black dress with some sparkly accessories. I think we saw a grand total of 3 tuxedos on the 11 day cruise. One couple renewed heir vows so he was in a tux and she wore her wedding dress they were enjoying drinks in Mix Bar. Enjoy your cruise, use common sense (remember this isn't the Double Deuce Road House) and you should be fine.

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I just had a look at the menu for that venue Julie, it is just a little pretentious. The prices are truly astounding. I will also mention the irony on the "no gratuities" thread that at the bottom of the menu in the incidental disclaimers, there is mention of an automatic 10% "service charge" (read mandatory gratuity) for all parties more the 11 persons. Needless to say we will not be patronizing The Meat & Wine Company. I do hope to get a nice steak dinner in Australia, hopefully some place less pretentious with tasty steaks for me and maybe some nice lamb for Lynn.

It is, I had some mussels from an earlier dinner, there was salmon in the fridge and some prawns in the freezer. I also had some cooking liquid from the mussels. So I added some veggies, some bacon and a carton of chicken stock. I add cream at the table and a sprinkling of fresh dill.

I was just looking at that Julie, I'm trying to decypher the bill. It looks like the "W Ribeye 300" is a 300 gram Ribeye and with that price tag I have to think the "W" is for Wagyu, and $85.00 for a 350 gram strip loin? that seems very high. While I am prepared for higher prices that restaurant is over the top.