SedNabokos

As others have said, check the deckplans - eg the ones provided by cruisecritic

Looks like you've been upgraded from CA class to BC class

CA is deck 5 midships balcony, partially obstructed (lifeboat directly underneath you)

BC is deck 8 midships balcony. Otherwise identical

The ship's motions may be more noticeable (the more you pay the more you sway) but unless you're very susceptible to motion sickness I wouldn't be too worried.  If you're leaving on QE in 38 days that means you're going from Sydney to FNQ and back.

The seas should be fairly calm (especially on the inside of the Great Barrier Reef) unless there's another Tropical Cyclone offshore somewhere.

On deck 8 I'd mostly be concerned about being underneath one of the pools, but being midships you only have the Lido buffet above you.

Also you're now on the port (left) side of the ship, not starboard.  So you'll get better views of the Australian coast (when nearby) but not the GBR.

If you're staying on for the NZ leg then you're more likely to get some heavy seas.

12 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Port intensive itineraries leave less time steaming at sea (and you have to be going near full speed to make maximum water), so they cannot match the total consumption for the cruise, and this is why they sometimes take on water in port.

A few years ago, before leaving on a cruise from Australia to PNG and back I was surprised to see on the itinerary that we were departing Kiriwina Island at 5pm and arriving at  Kitava Island at 8am the next morning.

Since the islands are adjacent (about 20nm from jetty to jetty) I wondered why it was expected take 15 hours, but when I woke up at Kitava and checked my GPS log I discovered we did a big ~140nm loop during the night.

Am I right in assuming they wanted to steam all night to produce water? 

I can see that getting shore water from these islands would have been very difficult, even if the water quality could be trusted.

11 hours ago, Poole Boy said:

As the water from the tap is made from Sea water it is likely to be as good as distilled water, very unlikely to have any limescale or other impurities

As exlondoner says, they pipe in water when ashore.  I know someone on my recent cruise that had similar issues with his CPAP machine - and although he was first told they used reverse osmosis they finally admitted that they took on more water in Heraklion and added some more chlorine to it.

11 hours ago, Poole Boy said:

if in doubt you can always boil it first and let it cool, and store in the fridge until required

Which is sound advice if you're worried about water not being suitable for drinking, but it won't remove the impurities that affect a CPAP.

18 hours ago, alibabacruisers said:

Early on we almost were not going to be allowed without masks at one port (forgot which one) because of covid cases, but then they changed their minds

That was Salalah, Oman.

Oman also had the requirement that everybody wears masks on-board for the day, even if staying on board all day.  But the mask requirement was dropped completely at the last minute.

I think most people on board got the dreaded "Cunard cough" and as you said it was horrifying to see how few people bothered to cover their mouth.

On the plus side I was amazed at how many people washed their hands after using the toilets.  It makes a nice change from being horrified (on HAL) at the number of gents that don't bother, so I always make sure to use a paper towel to open the door.

On 10/13/2023 at 12:50 PM, maggielou362 said:

Does anyone else find the Cunard website frustrating?

Very.  I tried twice to book a cruise direct with Cunard instead of going through a third party, but in both cases their website let me get all the way through to the payment page, followed by a "something went wrong, please phone us during business hours"

In both cases it was easier to just go ahead and book the same cruise via a Travel Agent website.  Their website makes it much easier to look at cabin availability too.

14 hours ago, rakkor said:

Bloody great hooter is a possibility!

I agree, the term "whistle" brings to mind a much different sound

But of course they are called a whistle because originally the sound was produced by venting steam through a much larger version of the same thing.  Just like steam trains.

On 12/3/2022 at 3:19 PM, SedNabokos said:

I'll wait for a follow-up email.

Follow-up email just came through.  I'm glad I waited.

Guests ages 2 and above are required to take a viral COVID-19 test prior to
embarkation and attest to a negative result. A PCR test may be taken within 48
hours before embarkation or a self-administered Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) may be
taken within 24 hours. Guests who opt for the RAT must take a photo with their
mobile device showing the results along with their full name, date and time of
the test.

17 hours ago, DinkyDee67 said:

Thanks for the heads up but I can’t work out how to delete the image

Maybe "report" the post, tick the "want to let a moderator know about it" and in the comments ask them to remove the image for your privacy.

1 hour ago, DinkyDee67 said:

We are also boarding Noordam in Sydney and checked the health protocols specific to our cruise on the HAL website

I saw that, which is what I meant by it "contradicts their generic advice for Australia."

And the New South Wales protocols for the cruise industry state that a self-test is fine, unless the passenger is symptomatic.

Which is why I suspect this automated email (which had a whole bunch of other "tips and tricks") hasn't been updated with the latest information and a more up-to-date email will follow closer to the sail date, as happened with Westerdam. 

If not, I'll go for a PCR test the day before flying to Sydney.

Edit: @DinkyDee67 you might want to delete that image and repost it without your booking number. If someone can figure out your name they can use it to mess with your booking.

Or link to the generic advice for Australia

17 minutes ago, Mike B Landlubber said:

It sounds like they may have different requirements for Sydney.

I'll wait for a follow-up email.

Someone just posted that they're boarding the Westerdam in Sydney in 3 days and just received an email to say a self-test is fine.

Thanks for posting your experience.  Am boarding Noordam in Sydney soon and just got an email from HAL stating that we need "medically observed COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen)" which contradicts their generic advice for Australia.

Am pleased to hear that a self-administered RAT is OK, and we don't need to go through the hassle and expense to have a GP supervise the test.

June 20 sailing was cancelled by HAL on April 15, refund was requested same day and arrived this morning (Jul 4, Aussie time)

On the CC statement the transaction was dated the 1st of July but didn't show up until now.

With the criminal investigation into the handling of the Ruby Princess (responsible for 10% of known Covid-19 cases in Australia, and a large percentage of deaths) expected to take around 6 months, don't expect any Aus/NZ cruises to happen any time soon.

From the Australian trade minister (Simon Birmingham) just now, in response to reports that "more people are booking cruises now than before the virus":

“I would say to Australians that now is not a time to be making bookings for travel unless you have an iron clad insurance policy, because we cannot guarantee when you will be able to undertake that travel, that clearly areas that have been proven to be higher risk are likely to be some of the last areas where that travel is permitted again.”

Birmingham says cruise travel would likely be “very last thing that is reactivated again, given the difficulties Australia has faced with the cruise sector so far”.

1 hour ago, Boatdrill said:

To those who choose to wait to cruise until there is an effective vaccine, will you take flights without a vaccine ?

I won't be cruising, flying, travelling by bus/train or going to any large events until there's a vaccine or effective treatment.

I do believe a vaccine will be possible, but I doubt we'll see it this year.

Here's a good "layman" explanation of why:  https://www.city-journal.org/coronavirus-vaccine

14 hours ago, jakkojakko said:

Does anyone know where she is. Latest update on vesselfinder is march 24.

FYI you can find out where any Holland America Line ship is at any time via the Navigator phone app.

Just click on "cruise map"

You don't even need to be logged into your mariner account.

Noordam location highlighted by me:

2 hours ago, Kfrech said:

the balance was sitting on our credit card but since the bill wasn't due yet, I didn't want to pay--why give HAL more money at that point

By that point HAL already has the money - they were paid by your credit card provider immediately.

2 hours ago, Kfrech said:

I guess my question is this, if 60 days goes by without a refund, what will the credit card company do for you? Refund all of your money? What is their obligation at that point? If they were to refund monies, wouldn't everyone be going that route?

If a merchant has charged your credit card but not provided the goods or service you're entitled to a "chargeback" where the credit card company gives you the money back, and then tries to recover it from the merchant.

But chargebacks should only be done as a last resort - you need to dispute it with the merchant first - and a chargeback may result in a lawsuit from the merchant if they believe you were not entitled to the refund.

On 4/11/2020 at 5:13 AM, casavaha said:

If anything, this virus might force people on cruise ships to wash their hands after

restroom visits.  I am sure all of us have seen pax leave the bathrooms without washing

hands.

 

 

I doubt it'll result in anyone changing their habits, unless they are shamed into doing so.

The cruise lines might have to introduce "bathroom attendants" to hand you a towel after you've washed your hands, and who can call out those that try to leave without washing.

On 4/10/2020 at 12:39 PM, SedNabokos said:

 

I'm saving regular snapshots of the Agua Clara webcam, assuming they don't block me I will turn it into a timelapse video like I did for the Zaandam and Rotterdam

 

I'm in a timezone 13 hours ahead of Panama, so if it's a night transit I'll be able to watch it live.

 

 

I woke up just in time to see Koningsdam depart Cocoli. 

Sad I missed most of it, but fortunately my little program was saving snapshots while I slept.

Timelapse videos of Koningsdam transiting

Agua Clara Locks:  https://imgur.com/LeHOwFU

and Cocoli Locks:  https://imgur.com/vCtM8Yl

1 hour ago, ON cruiser said:

sorry, I am just not that good at using al the tech, including quoting.

You can either highlight the words you want to respond to and hit the "Quote selection" that pops up, or press the "Quote" button at the bottom of the post you're responding to and delete what you're not responding to.

It makes the conversation much easier to follow!

1 hour ago, ON cruiser said:

The part of Copper's post (#32, prior page) with which I disagree was re his statement that we should in essence await the decision of the cruise lines to cancel, and have a plan "c" or beyond. Respectfully, however, in my view, for cruises which are currently impossible (for reasons as I discussed in my earlier post on the prior page), that time is now

Right, I'm with you now.  And yes I agree  that (as you say) Alaska cruises in May/June and similar itineraries should be cancelled and refunded now - I suspect the entire cruise industry is still shell-shocked about their entire global fleet being shut down at once, and nobody can make a safe bet when they might be able to resume. 

Not that this excuses them in my view!

8 hours ago, ON cruiser said:

I have the utmost respect for Copper 10-8, for his voice of reason and solid information on this board, and especially for how he came to the rescue of those elderly passengers at LAX (who were from the Amsterdam). Yet I must disagree with his post # 32, above.

It might help if you quote the specific part of his post you disagree with, because I don't understand.

8 hours ago, ON cruiser said:

All the cruise lines must bite the bullet for certain cruises that they clearly know have no hope of going, and take the decision to cancel them

I agree with you, but my understanding of Copper's post is "don't blame the phone reps" for a decision way above their pay grade.

16 hours ago, catl331 said:

  I doubt I'll be up to watch, so rjbean4 if you do, please try to get a screen shot of what they do with the tenders/lifeboats! 

I'm saving regular snapshots of the Agua Clara webcam, assuming they don't block me I will turn it into a timelapse video like I did for the Zaandam and Rotterdam

I'm in a timezone 13 hours ahead of Panama, so if it's a night transit I'll be able to watch it live.

12 minutes ago, put me on a ship said:

it says destination for Zaandam is San Antonio. Can anyone confirm?

Yeah it says San Antonio in Chile, which means the bridge crew hasn't updated it yet - otherwise they've made a mistake crossing the canal 😃

If you use the filters in MarineTraffic  to show passenger vessels only you can see them both.

Zaandam at the top of this image, Rotterdam at the bottom.

2 hours ago, SedNabokos said:

I made a short animation of Rotterdam being lifted in the Cocoli Locks

 

https://imgur.com/sTJEPDa

And Zaandam descending the first two locks at Agua Clara:

https://imgur.com/9N4OnTR