cranethie

2 hours ago, Cruisingthepast said:

$59 Australian or US Dollars. Uber is $37 Australian Dollars

Yes but you'd need a van (maybe even a BIG' van) for the amount of luggage they often take on a World Cruise.

Maybe the bus transfer is part of the 'self isolating' deal - no private transfers

.

It's always fun travelling from the southern hemisphere up to the northern one - even for us seasoned Aussies.

We arrive the day we left and lose/miss a day coming home 🙂 

Here's hoping all those travelling north in the next few days arrive safe and sound, maybe a touch weary but smiling just the same.  There's going to be some stories to tell in the next few days/weeks. 

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Still in Sydney Roy? Btw, what's flight time between Perth and Syd? Five hrs?

Four if you're lucky and have a tail wind - more like 4.5 hrs - could even stretch to 5.

Getting from Sydney domestic to international is not easy - requires a bus trip round the tarmac.

Avoid it if you can 🙂 

You've got to get to Honolulu first.

Sydney - Honolulu flying time is over 10hrs

Melbourne to Honolulu  over 11hrs

Unfortunately no direct flights from Perth to Honolulu - flying time is over 14hrs.

Yes it's a long way to anywhere from down here 😊

 They've got a big job on their hands but I'm sure HAL will make the journeys home safe secure and comfortable.

You don't have to go to Sydney for Vancouver flights. 

 Air Canada has direct flights to Vancouver from Melbourne.  Melbourne is closer to Perth than Sydney.

 I have taken that flight myself so know it will be a long14hrs for some oldies but maybe an 'easier' one on a 'familiar airline' with staff with familiar voices.

Just something else to consider if you are able to have any input into their travel arrangement.

4 hours ago, erewhon said:

Thanks for your reports.

What time are the set dining times in the Main Dining Room for the early dining and the late seating?

We are boarding the Maasdam on the 23rd (Holiday cruise), our TA said ......like most of HAL's dining rooms there are 2 levels.  Level 1 is 'anytime dining' 5.15pm onwards, level 2 is fixed 5.45pm and 8pm.

We're not fans of fixed (particularly main/late as we have been given) so I'll be making the reservations desk my first port of call after boarding 😊

9 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Thank you for all the excellent comments .... 

Sorry about not doing the search for this as my search function is somehow dead in the water for this site.  I'm not sure if it is the site itself or my computer / wifi connection but keep seeing the little circle go round and round and round ... until I just give up!  

 

I am so tempted to purchase this.  My PVP has offered it for $25  a day pp ... so an additional $350.  It sounds like it might be worth it to us as we have little status with HAL and have an inside cabin booked.  We mostly sail on Princess and it sounds a lot like Club Class to me, but, without the extra expense of booking a higher category cabin.  I would gobble this offer up in a heartbeat if it could be done for $15 a day pp.  

 

On 20 November 2019 at 10:35 AM, LouTheGlue said:

We are taking our first Holland America cruise this month. 14 day on Nieuw Statendam. Yesterday I was offered Club Orange for $15 per person/per day and for me I thought it was worth a try. I don't think I would ever pay more than $15 for it.

 

 I don't normally comment on things like this and I'm not one to begrudge another a bargain but......When I think it took us 10years and more plus an awful lot of money to become a 4* mariner can you wonder a lot of us are ropeable

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sounds like you had a memorable time. We had an old white truck driver from Victoria who doubled as the driver and tour guide and told us he no clue why the Japanese cemetery was there. He also shared his personal somewhat negative views about the aboriginal people in the area which continued to also make our tour a memorial one, just not in a positive way. 

Sounds like you got taken for a ride Ken......in more ways than one 😊

20 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

An interesting thing about Komodo Island is in order to go ashore, you had to either be on a HAL excursion or a private excursion which had to be verified before you were allowed to even leave the ship. No one was allowed to just walk around the park unescorted or simply hangout on the beach. 

It's been that way for a long time Ken. 

Bon Voyage everyone!  

And if your cruise is anything like the one another great group of CC fans took on the Westerdam this time in 2016 you will definitely have one to remember!

Merry Christmas everyone 🎄🎄

Yes it was a great day here in Melbourne yesterday - 32c/ nearly 90f. Hope all the Maasdam passengers managed to keep cool.  

Cooler today but still beach weather😎.  

We'll be enjoying the new wheels we got from Santa instead of a cruise so will have to wait until 2020 to enjoy our new 4* benefits !

13 hours ago, kazu said:

 

We had those on the P'dam in May-June this year, Brian.

Those blue covers do get around - they were also used on the Noordam TP Sept - Oct of this year.  Lovely to look at but a pain to remove 😕

17 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Excellent tip POA1.  thank you kindly 😄 

 

And a big thank from me also 😎

Cathy

And if you were to unscramble Cranethie you would discover my name is Catherine :)

And I'm going to echo everyone else's sentiments and wish you all a great big 'GRAND BON VOYAGE '. Hope you enjoy every minute of it!

I have on hold cabin 274 on Prinsendam.

 

The cabin I have on hold is on the Promenade deck which dh loves and it has a shower only which dh needs. The only down side is it has an obstructed view

Anyone stay in this cabin and can give me some insight?

 

ete.

Hello there - I'm the one who had a good time in 274 :). We'd never been on Prinsendam before so didn't know what to expect. So as Kazu has mentioned I shared some photos on that other site.

With regard to being obstructed (I bolded your words) you know I certainly don't remember it being so. I've asked my husband and he says (from what he remembers) it wasn't that far down the deck/ close to the bow to be near the metal frame work to be obstructed (if you know what he means :))

I will say (at that time Oct 2014) the sliding bathroom door was heavy - and 'could' be a problem for some cruisers .......maybe they've put a bit of grease on it now so it slides more easily :p.

Also the floor space in there was small - I mean I don't need a ballroom but there was no way both of us could have been in there together. No combing your hair while the other cleans their teeth!

I'd be back on her in a flash if I could - old advertising slogan here in Australia 'you'll never never know if you never never go' so go and enjoy this lovely ship (and that cabin lol) ~ Cathy

Thanks for all your well wishes. It seems like it's taken forever to arrive at this date and now it's almost here.

Flying out to HK on Monday, a couple of days there and then onto the beautiful Amsterdam.

You've got to love itineraries that have overnights because we then get another night and day in Honkers before sailaway on November 2nd!

As well as 23 days of blissful pampering we have a couple of days in Singapore (one of my favourite cities) - plus a trip to see Borobudur which has been worth waiting for. Then home in time for tea :cool::D ~ Cathy

Bolding is mine.

 

Easy embarkation in San Diego? Obviously not one of my posts. Worst embarkation ever - from having to wait to find a stevedore for the luggage, snaking lineup to check in, snaking lineup to get on the ship. Two hours + from arrival to when we got on the ship :(

 

And reported on my live thread at the time.

 

I hope it is easy for you. It sure wasn't for us.

Not for us either! What a way to start a cruise - needed the 30 days to get over it. :)

But, 82 days? That is extraordinary for a cruise itinerary of that type, I think.

Not really - It's a 'Grand Voyage'. This year's is 80 days in length.

OlsSalt - we have boarded twice in San Diego.

2012 for the Panama Canal on the Amsterdam. No problems - lines just kept moving.

2016 for Hawaii Tahiti and other places on the Westerdam. Oh my what a schmozzle. I know Kazu and others have written in great depth about it. Started outside the terminal and continued all way onboard. It wasnt until the security chap scanned my key card and said 'Welcome aboard - Welcome back' did I relax. Well, if the truth be told I didn't actually give a sigh of relief until I saw our luggage waiting for us in our stateroom :)

Thanks for all your answers - I thought it couldn't have been as difficult as I imagined. Just me making a mountain over a molehill and overthinking :)

Hello there

We are cruising a segment of The Grand Asia voyage on the Amsterdam this coming November. We board ( mid cruise) in Hong Kong which is an overnight stop - board on November 1st, sail November 2nd. Sydney bound :)

This is a first for us - every other cruise we've boarded on day 1 of a cruise - so I have a couple of questions that hopefully someone who has been in this situation will answer for me.

1. I assume we clear customs/emigration during the boarding process so what happens when we want to go ashore? Do we have to go through immigration/emigration again?

2. As new passengers our muster drill be on day 2 just before departure won't it?

We will be in Hong Kong for a couple of days prior but I am hoping there'll be some more onshore time available during these 2 extra days.

Looking forward to your answers and any other information you may have.

Cathy

Is the 90 days final payment also true of the Grand voyages?

We are booked on a segment of Grand Asia 2017 boarding Hong Kong November 1.

Final payment for us is next week (June 23) - about 130 days before we cruise.

Roger, with regard to the international adaptors our ' Australian plugs' are completely different to North American, European and British ones - and as we do land based travel before and after cruises we tend to travel with adaptors allowing us to use all kinds of sockets.

I'm sure with USB ports available we would be able to manage and given you were allowed to keep your European ones (which would provide us with the 220/240 current we need for our appliances) I'm wondering if there were North American ones in our carry ons would they be confiscated.

I know - your guess is as good as mine - but could you hazard one at all :) :)

If it's any help to you - we are on a segment of this year's Grand Asia (Hong Kong to Sydney) and paid our first deposit in June of last year.

Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for an answer.