TableGirl

I asked my travel agent to check on the cabanas on Westerdam. It took some research but she found out they were repaired after they suffered damage sometime last year. Hopefully they stay that way until and throughout our 28-day cruise!@

That looks more like it. Wow - you must be an architect. Nice map. Thanks so much!

I've never seen that chart - can I ask where you found it or was it sent to you? I have used the cabanas on the Rotterdam and the Nieuw Statendam a number of times and there are 22 of them so I'm not sure of the accuracy of the maps - unless maybe things have changed in the last year. The last time I was on the Rotterdam (or maybe the Nieuw Statendam) there were designers/engineers on board looking around the ship and I asked what they were looking at. They said they were looking at how they could make improvements and upgrades around the ship - the cabanas included.

I have a cabana reserved for the 28-day Alaska Summer Solstice cruise. Almost half the cruise is ‘scenic’ cruising and the cabana will help one of our traveling party who can’t stand for long periods. Nor do I want to fight for bow space. HAL hasn’t refunded my money so I hope they aren’t holding it only to tell me 2 weeks before the trip that the cabanas aren’t useable. I will be calling about it soon to double check.

I’ve booked the Northern Lights on Viking in March 2025 because I want to see the aurora borealis and I’ve read that March is the best month to see it. AND I’ve heard there’s something “astronomically” happening in 2025 to make for excellent opportunities to see the Northern Lights. I thought about rough seas but I think the ship stays fairly close to shore throughout the main part of the trip. To be safe though I think I’ll be more prepared for seasickness with wrist bands - just in case. This will be my first Viking cruise and I’m very excited about it.

DrKoob - I was on the Oceania Montreal to Miami cruise with you. It was my first Oceania cruise, I have usually sailed with Holland America. I prefer HAL’s larger ships for the specialty restaurants but I hate the large size because even at “just” 2,500 passengers most ports are totally overwhelmed. I thought HAL made a huge mistake getting rid of their older smaller ships but I digress. I have now reserved my first cruise with Viking in March 2025 to see the Northern Lights. I am not pleased about the PIF date because a lot can happen between then and the cruise that insurance won’t cover. PIF is end of May 2024 but it is what it is. Viking is the only good cruise line I found that has a Northern Lights cruise. I thought your observations were mostly spot on with regard to the Oceania cruise. The ship is mostly beautiful but the layout was irritating and inefficient and the elevators were abominable, I found myself sitting in Baristas often so I could get daylight and eat chocolate croissants. I hadn’t realized why until you noted you can’t see the ocean from anywhere below deck 12. I was always drawn upward from the 7th deck where I had an unusually large verandah but it was too cold to be outside for most of our trip. I also loved that Oceania has self serve laundry and told them to get a bigger ironing board as one leg of the pants was on the floor while I ironed the other. I’m 4 star on HAL so I get free laundry but I prefer to do my own laundry. The one thing I disagree with you on is the food - at least on our cruise. I will say I did not eat in the Aquamar Kitchen - clearly should have tried it. I had high expectations since Oceania touts the best food at sea. But I was disappointed in 80% of my meals. I loved the chocolate croissants and the sorbets - they were consistently delicious but one cannot live on chocolate croissants and sorbet, though I tried. I made the mistake of eating a pizza the night before we were to stop in Martha’s Vineyard when seas were getting rough. I’ve never been seasick on 20 odd cruises but I sure was that night and I am sure the pizza -which was on the greasy side- is what caused me to be so sick. I didn’t love the specialty restaurants either. I loved the Polo Grill but could never get a 2nd reservation. Toscana was good but heavy on pasta and I thought Red Ginger was only okay. I was really disappointed in Ember. Everything I ate in the Waves Grill and Terrace Cafe was pretty awful. Another thing I didn’t like was that we rarely heard from the Captain. And when we did, you couldn’t hear him he was so soft spoken. I found that really irritating. The best part of the cruise for me was afternoon trivia with Ray Carr (sp?) the cruise director. He was such fun. It took me 3 hours to do my mid-cruise review/comments because of how they sent it out and how you had to reply. HAL has an excellent app that you can use to send comments and requests all day long - and they’re typically very responsive. I thought the new Starlink provided decent internet access but seriously Oceania - get an app! That was one of my biggest beefs with them. NCL is a big enough company to afford to have an app developed. I have a future deposit on cruise yet to be decided but it is fully refundable and I’m not sure I’ll take another Oceania cruise. I’ve yet to find an itinerary I want to go on. With only 6 or 7 ships in the fleet there isn’t a lot of choice. Now I set my high hopes on Viking.

Her date for booking reservations are about a month after mine...

Yes, it swivels both to the bed and to the loveseat.

I'd love to see the different suites on the Vista - are we organizing a Cabin Crawl on this trip?

I don't apologize for bringing 2 suitcases - you should think you're too choosy! You like what you like and we all have different priorities based on preference, price, convenience etc.... It's good to know what you want right?!

I wanted the concierge suite for access to the spa. Granted, this is a cooler weather cruise but you never know if there's a warm spell I will enjoy being outside on a lounger working on my tan. After a 29 year career in the Foreign Service I'm in rest and relaxation. I will do some excursions but did a similar cruise a few years ago so those are not my priority. My priority is to be on this gorgeous ship and enjoy every second!

No but the friend I am traveling with is. There was only 1 left when we booked. I’m not fond of sleeping in a twin bed. However, the solo cabin is a concierge level room. It looks to be 21 sq feet smaller than mine so I will be very interested to see it. She paid about $2,000 less than I did. But then I get to make restaurant reservations sooner.

HAL altered their Caesar Salad dressing after the re-opening. On my first HAL cruise after the re-opening it was the same. The cruise 4 months later it changed. It was awful. I asked the Maitre'd why it was changed and he went to the Pinnacle Grill to get me a 'small batch' Caesar Salad - same awful dressing. I wrote to the F&B manager. He found me at dinner the next night and said there were supply chain issues. Seriously? A shortage of anchovy paste maybe? I counted on their Caesar Salad to help me stay on my low carb plan. Maybe I'll bring some Chocolate Chip recipes and chocolate chips and send to the F&B manager and suggest they try making them from scratch. They may not appreciate that but wouldn't it better if they stopped making them at all if everyone takes one bite and leaves the rest?

I think Americans have high cookie expectations. I have rarely had a yummy 'cookie' overseas. Perhaps cookies are essentially American? It takes quality ingredients - butter, vanilla and perhaps chocolate to make a good cookie - and of course plenty of sugar. I'm glad to read your comment. Perhaps I can avoid the cookies on my first Oceania sailing 😀

I have been on 10 HAL cruises since 2015 and one Regent. Early on one each on Norwegian and Royal Caribbean (never again - way too big.) The friend who convinced me to go on Holland America has been working on me to go on Oceania so we are booked for a Canada/New England cruise this fall. It is on the Vista and I'm so excited. Since re-opening after the Pandemic I've been seriously disappointed in the food in the MDR and the Lido. If you're on a Pinnacle class ship you have nice options for specialty restaurants. Since I travel solo I pay double on HAL so I will likely continue to cruise on HAL with one friend to places like the Caribbean because I get a cabana so that makes it bearable. I do have a few other HAL cruises like the "Legendary 28-day Alaska" next year and likely on an Antarctica cruise. There is a lot about HAL to love - the itineraries and the staff - but not so much the food or the large ships. I thought getting rid of the smaller ships was a mistake. But that's just me - thus I suspect that I too will have a hard time going back after my Vista Concierge cabin. My travel agent assures me that Oceania is 'good value.'

I was on the Nieuw Statendam last August and November (2022). I thought it was in great shape. The future cruise consultant verified it was going into dry dock and while I was on my cruise in November there were people around the ship measuring things. I asked them about it and they said they were looking at possible changes and improvements to the ship. For example - in November the old computer room where they taught classes still had desks in the room - no computers. The Cruise Director said they would be putting a library in that space like the Rotterdam has. It isn't the wonderful library they used to have on the Prinsendam but they had recent release books and several copies of each. That was either on deck 2 I think - can't remember but it was forward near the elevators. My traveling buddies read lots of the books from the library on the Rotterdam in November 2021. I think the dry dock will be a improvement of what is there. I found the artwork on the NS to be a bit odd - not as nice as the Rotterdam.... But I'm sure it will be a wonderful trip!

The Rotterdam as the most interesting and IMO the most beautiful artwork. I hope you love it when you sail on her! Haven't seen the Green Bunny - only sailed on the Kongingsdam shortly after she was launched in 2016.

Having one on the cold weather cruises is so you don't have to fight for bow space during the scenic cruising. It was great last August when we were cruising through Prince Christian Sound. I'm short and wouldn't have seen anything if I hadn't have been up on the Retreat level. It was cold but the sky was clear and the sun was out. I laid on a lounger to listen to the guide talk over the PA about what we were seeing and the cabana steward kept coming by to check on me and when I got cold he would bring another blanket and tuck it around me. We have a cabana for our upcoming Antarctica trip - they are sold out. There are 4 days of cruising in Antarctica and another 4 or 5 days of scenic cruising through out the trip. I have a friend who is mobility challenged so with a cabana she won't have to worry about standing for long periods at the bow to see everything.

Oh - that's too bad. There is on the Rotterdam and the Nieuw Statendam. Thanks for clarifying for the Koningsdam. I'll also note that while on the NS last November there were folks all over the Retreat taking measurements and whatnot. I asked what they were doing. They said when she goes into drydock this spring they were planning to spruce up the Retreat! The Nieuw Statendam isn't my favorite ship but I'm all for a spruced up Retreat!

The retreat that is above the pool is private - no pool through. There are cabana stewards - they used to be called 'beverage runners' but I think they have renamed or retitled them. They will bring you breakfast and lunch. They will also bring chocolate covered strawberries and sparkling wine in the afternoon if you are on a Caribbean cruise or if you are on a cold weather cruise they'll bring pea soup and hot cocoa and tuck blankets around you. On the Pinnacle class ships there is a lovely hot tub in the Retreat. I won't cruise on a HAL ship without booking a cabana in the Retreat.

I am not typically wild about Asian food - I like Thai and Japanese hibachi - but I love the Tamarind. They will make food mild or spicy or medium. The wasabi steak is excellent, the shrimp tempura is my all time favorite for an appetizer - but I could make a meal out of just their appetizers. I find the Pinnacle isn't as good as it used to be. They changed the dressing on their Cesar salad which was excellent but now, not so much. I hope you can convince her to try it! It really is excellent!

I would pre-book too - The Tamarind is my favorite specialty restaurant (I think it's better than the Pinnacle). I have eaten there probably a dozen times in the past 14 months. It's worth booking now and trying to reverse the charges to use OBC once you are on board - IMO.

I don't know how many boarding assignment letters there are. However, I took 3 HAL cruises in 2022. Never did they turn me away for arriving early. I used the VeriFLY app every time (it may not be relevant now since they aren't requiring as much Covid testing) and I sailed through check in. If you arrive too early, you will wait simply because they're still trying to '0' out the ship. Only once of the 3 cruises was there an issue and it was because the ship had to participate in a US Coast Guard drill so it threw everything off and we waited in line 3 hours to board. I find they generally can move people through fairly quickly depending on the port you are boarding in - e.g. Fort Lauderdale has it down like clockwork. That doesn't mean everything works perfect every time though...... Good luck!

The juices and smoothies at the Gelato bar were included in the HIA package when I was on the NS on a Caribbean cruise last November. I didn't have any veggies in my smoothies but the fruit smoothies were yummy. I told my cabana steward exactly what I wanted in it and it came back perfect!

I think the chat feature is a great idea - however - I will say it didn't always 'send' immediately - so you might want to be aware of that and test it the first day or so of your trip. My friend and I both had internet so we mostly used texting.