Ineke

Thank you again, that's reassuring. I have indicated that I need assistance and it is noted on my boarding pass. Our daughter will be providing drop off/pick-up service for us, so it should be a matter of getting to the drop-off location to deliver both the parents and their luggage to the right spot. We plan to arrive a bit ahead of our 11:20 designated time, in case of traffic issues because of the Marathon. I’m sure it will all work out. Sure looking forward to it!

Lovely! Thanks so much! Hartelijk bedankt!

Thanks for the updates, John. I must say I’m not looking forward to next Sunday’s repeat of today, considering we’ll be in that crazy crowd waiting to board, since standing for any length of time is virtually impossible. And I’m guessing the requested wheelchair assistance is absent?

Sorry, no pictures. But our favourite HAL cruises were 1. Eastern Meditteranean Noordam 2. Southern Caribbean - 14 days - Eurodam 3. Inca Empires and South America - 35 days - Amsterdam

We got a notice today stating “ Speed things up at your embarkation”, and telling me to download the Verifly app and complete it before embarkation. We already have completed our Check-In with the exception of the photograph to be used for facial recognition, which we are not having much luck with. I’m not sure what it is talking about. Can someone clarify? We’re not flying, just driving down.

Great news about the library as well as all the entertainment venues, and not pulling up the sidewalk at 9 p.m. Sure looking forward to it.

We are boarding the Nieuw Amsterdam on Sunday, May 7, returning Sunday May 21, and our daughter will be dropping us off. We live in the Fraser Valley just outside of Vancouver, but certainly don’t usually drive downtown. On the 7th is the Marathon, and I belueve 2 other cruise ships in town; on the 21st is the long weekend and again, 2 other cruise ships at Canada Place. Does anyone have any helpful hints about getting to where we need to be?

Great news! The library looks wonderful! And the cooking demos are happy news as well. Can’t wait -10 more days..

I guess we’ll just miss each other - we’ll be getting on as you get off the ship on the 7th. Goeie reis!

Our best cruise was the Eastern Mediterranean on the then brand-new Noordam. Magical. But none of our 20+ cruises have been horrible 😊

I was just about to ask the same about Canadians.

We’ve cruised to Alaska 3 times so far. The first time Princess 7 day Southbound to Vancouver; second time Celebrity 7 day Vancouver return; third time Holland America 14 day return from Seattle. The 14 day one was by far the best one with a great itinerary, and we enjoyed both the ship and the cruise immensely. We are not all that able physically, so spent most of our port days just exploring the town - taking HoHo buses or a local bus when we could, but the cruise experience was wonderful. We didn’t expect to do it again, but here we are, scheduled on HAL for a 14 day return from Vancouver, in May. We probably won’t do any more than before, but sure looking forward to it. It will be at least 2 months earlier than previously, so I expect things may look (and feel) quite different weather wise, but that’s OK.

Oh, the memories! My first cruise was as a 13 year old, traveling with my family as immigrants to Canada, im 1959. We sailed on De Groote Beer, a former WW II troop ship. It was amazing for us kids, and set us up as cruise-lovers for life. My husband, in the other hand, was sea-sick the entire voyage when he came over, and it took till 1995 to persuade him to give cruising a chance. After our Southern Caribbean cruise on the Ryndam, he too was hooked. And now after 3+ years of no cruising, we’re booked to get back to it in May. Yay! We’ll miss: croquettes at what was then the Dive-In. The yum-yum man! Does that mean I have to bring my own ginger for after dinner? The Crows Nest evening fun - drinks, dancing, live band, great atmosphere. nightly chocolates the document wallets - yes, we still use our old ones. the poolside barbecues tours of the bridge, kitchen, engine room live music in the dining room the evening productions wine stewards the rijsttafel lunch i don’t miss the hutspot, I make that myself, but there used to be many dutch items in the Lido, which made it very special. But I wouldn’t give up cruising on HAL, regardless!