Blackduck59

So now can we turn off the political highway before someone with little humour gets this long standing shoot the breeze thread closed because we managed to offend someone. How about we talk about...

Thank you, I don't really take note of the differences. I just noticed what was available. I rarely drink pop (Canadian for sugary fizzy drinks) and when I do it is the original. I would much rather have water then diet pop. My wife is diabetic so she does ask for no sugar varieties when available.

I'm not sure HAL has to justify their policy, it's their bar and their boat, they make the rules.

Isn't Coke Zero caffeine free?

Do you really need the menus? Are you going to cancel the cruise based on the menus? Unlike walking around a town and looking at the posted menus to decide if you will enter that establishment, you have very few restaurants to choose from in the village that is your cruise ship. Enjoy the cruise hopefully the menus that are presented while you are on it will suit your needs.

As @CruiserBruce mentioned Zaandam had Coke Zero and Diet Coke (is there a difference?) and also Sprite Zero and I think a diet Ginger Ale. All these were available in single serving cans.

Thank you, it's nice to see that HAL is recognizing our thanksgiving holiday.

Sounds like you folks hold your parliamentarians in Canberra about as highly as we hold ours in Ottawa. Of course I just happen to live in our Provincial Capital so we have our own special group of part time residents here as well.

I'm not sure it's a "dirty secret" that they use cartoned eggs for omelettes. The cartons are in plain view at the station. Keeping in mind the cartons contain real eggs, they are not "reconstituted" as some have implied on this subject on other threads. I enjoyed the omelettes I had and was fully aware of the egg product they use. Can you imagine the complaints of these same people complaining about cartoned eggs as they stood in the omelette line out into the lido pool as the single cook cracked fresh eggs for each order? I also enjoyed the fresh poached eggs as well as fried eggs when I had them.

The eggs in the carton are real eggs just cracked and premixed. I think you will find the same product used at the omelette station on many cruise lines. It's not an "idiosyncrasy" of HAL or the cruise industry for that matter. It only takes a quick look at the other egg stations to see the flats of eggs.

Well done young Oscar Piastri from Melbourne on his first win in the Formula 1 sprint race today. He is a rookie driver and has been very impressive all season. I think he has a long career ahead of him.

Well Ovation of the Seas was in Victoria north today, she was here all day. I hope they had a nice visit. It was a very nice fall day and there was a pretty nice sunset for them as they sailed away around 1800hrs. I guess this is part of her repositioning. I guess she will be on her way down under.

It almost feels like they do that on purpose "how dare you ask for a 2 top" don't you know you should share. We were lucky with our table mates most of the time when we shared a table, unfortunately when there is a table for 6 or 8 it turns into an hour and a half for dinner.

If you are in fixed dining you can't just flit over to the open dining room at your leisure. I don't think you can "reserve" a table in open dining if you are in "fixed" dining. You can make a reservation in open dining if you are booked in open dining, you may have to make these reservations a couple days in advance, we were never successful making next day reservations in the MDR and most time when we requested a 2 top we ended up right at the servery station complete with clanging lids and bustle associated with sorting meals for service.

Like I said....

I would say anyone showing up who is "handicapped" will obviously be given special consideration. Just because the boarding pass doesn't say "This person is special" doesn't mean they won't get special treatment. Unlike an airplane ships are huge and take hours to board. Unlike airplanes cruise ships have wide gangways and people don't need "assistance" to get into that tiny seat. I think that no matter when someone who needs assistance shows up they will get it, like access to elevators where other passengers would use escalators or stairs, perhaps help with carry on bags etc. I don't think you should expect to get "go to the front of the line" service, because you're "handicapped"

The laundry service is amazing. I don't know for sure but I would suggest they put everything in the "ginormous machines". Be aware of the sheer scope of the laundry being done. They put little tags on everything, we are still finding little tags on things. I'm not sure what your concern is but we were more than happy with the service and used it fully. We will also use it every time we cruise with HAL. Who wants to do laundry on vacation when there is an inexpensive professional service available.

Geez Uncle Les are you trying to get banned, it's easier than you think 🤐

I think you'll find that no matter what nationality they are, senior officers and especially the captains are highly skilled and well paid individuals responsible for a ship worth hundreds of millions of dollars as well as all souls aboard.

@Duane S. we were on Zaandam in late August. The "pop" type cans are included in HIA the screw top cans are not. You pay full price for them. The tap water is perfectly drinkable just needs some ice to cool it down. I don't recall seeing a soda gun at any bar on Zaandam they used individual cans. Be aware the soda isn't necessarily cold when you get it. Count on putting it over ice, or leaving it in your stateroom fridge to cool down.

I believe the comment you quoted was poorly worded ans easily misunderstood. I think what the poster meant was that anything including water in you cabin mini bar is not included in your beverage package. You can however order anything included on your beverage package at any bar and take it to your room. We get our steward to empty the mini bar in our room and then at the end of the day when we know we haven't used our allotment of beverage we grab a few unopened cans and take them to our cabin.

lyledotduckatshawdotca. We have met up with some CC members, some on the cruise and others we set up a meeting when they were close by.

Make one of those layers merino wool. You could probably take some hot shots hand warmers too. They're good to have along even if you don't use them.

Log in to you account on the Holland America website. There will be an option to prepay for laundry, it will give you pricing for all the options. We went with unlimited it was $96.00 for the 11 day cruise (we sent no fewer than 5 bags) and it was excellent. We usually got our laundry back on the same day if we got it in before 0900 hrs. You can choose to get it back on hangers or folded or a combination. Enjoy your cruise, pack lightly and take advantage of the laundry service.

But, but, but...🥺