ArgoNereus

On 3/12/2024 at 7:25 AM, Veenendaal6 said:

this is a printscreen of the Dutch HAL site

I can almost translate it.  My absolute favourite place on N Statendam.

We were onboard a Celebrity ship when a crew member jumped overboard and was not recovered.  Celebrity and the ship refused to say anything.  A friend at home gave us the details from a news report in Canada.

The advantage of following Cruise Critic is that there is always a member on board some ship to give us first hand information or at least an inkling of what happened.

It's very easy to state the Dam one I'm on now but the answer gives no indication of why you like a certain class of ship more or less than another.

In the last two years we have sailed on N Statendam for 10 weeks, Zaandam for two weeks, Zuiderdam for two weeks and are booked on Volendam in September.

We love the variety of the new Pinnacle Class but we found the quality of the entertainers/Musicians varied greatly.  If you have booked an inside cabin on N Statendam you have successfully downsized to  minimalized environment.  We loved the Crow's nest and the Dutch Cafe.  The smaller ships are wonderful for cruising in the traditional way.  The Zuiderdam was the biggest disappointment for the lack of activities for cruisers who enjoy life onboard.

I would vote for Pinnacle class for variety and thank HAL for not going the mega ship route.

On 3/18/2024 at 12:35 PM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I am lucky , it is 120 away , don’t want to live in the GTA 🤢

every time just passing through Toronto on the way to our cruises out of Quebec and Montreal we seem to waste an hour or two fighting Toronto traffic.  What a zoo.

22 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I like flying out of Toronto , never have a problem , and only 1-1/2 hr drive to get there 

You must live a mile and a half away.

15 hours ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

And the guy then rubs salt in the wound by saying "we see you booked over a year ago, if you had booked more recently then maybe we could have done something"!  Really???  it should be the other way around.

 

You must always remember that the "early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese."  Unless you really have to get a specific cabin waiting pays dividends.

We cruised for ten weeks on Constellation recently and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  There were some cutbacks from our previous experiences but irritants were minor.

We booked another ten weeks for next winter at prices that were quite affordable (i.e. not in a suite)

Hi Lois:

Over the winter we cruised on Constellation for 10 weeks.

The staff and service were fantastic as they have always been.

Food started off great but diminished in quality and choice after great holiday menus. 

Life in the retreat was great because it was seldom busy.

Pre covid we cruised on Eclipse a lot and love the ship, so much that we are booked for 10 weeks as our Celebrity Condo in November, January and February.

I would rather spend my food budget on the different specialty restaurants than on one chef's table.

The onboard experience is not as spectacular as in the "old" days but at the right price we love being onboard when the ship becomes the destination.

We are frequent cruisers (10X per year) and have used many different agents over the years.

We will not pay an agency for booking our cruise when that is the easiest part.

We expect to get OBC for using an agency.

The only time we actually had to get in touch with an agency (during Covid cancellations) the agent did not answer the phone nor responded to emails.

We have used US on line agencies because of better pricing or OBC.

We have used a Canadian franchise TA that gives travel points at 1% of the cruise price.

We have used the big box TA and received gift certificates.

While on board we have found that the cruise companies charge CDN cruiser at a higher exchange rate than charging the US price to a CDN credit card.

There is no easy answer.

15 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

Well in all honesty, I much prefer port Everglades to Port of Miami. The extra 22 minutes to get to Miami is kind of a drag. 😜

We've had traffic jams between FLL and MIA that have taken at least two hours.

16 hours ago, cachouonacruise said:

Being from the greater Montreal area, I would love to see more cruise offer departing from Montreal, especially during the summer time.
 

Sadly, Celebrity does not offer these options: Embarking in Montreal or Summer Canada/New England cruises. (Last I check, Celebrity cruises mostly sail on that itinerary in the fall, and don't embark in Montreal. ( ships may be too big). 
 

This said Holland America offers these itineraries. 
 

We're driving the 880 KM to cruise from Montreal.  Celebrity's ships are too large to fit under the bridge on the way to Quebec (city) so we cruise with HAL, Volendam this year.

We have sailed out of Bayonne many times for the Canada New England 14 itinerary.

Now we sail out of Montreal or Quebec City for a 14 day roundtrip to Boston and back.

The Boston Cruise terminal is a dilapidated warehouse where taxis and Ubers are not permitted to pick up passengers near the door.

The trip from the airport to the cruise terminal is always tedious because of construction delays.

Sailaway from NY is always special.

Hotels in Boston are more expensive than in Bayonne area.

Strangely it is easier for us to drive from our home (50mi from DTW to NJ than to Quebec.

On 2/27/2024 at 8:48 PM, coachmouchet said:

The Volendam is my all-time favorite cruise ship!!!!🚢 

Could you please tell me why.

We have sailed on the "old" Rotterdam, Ryndam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam, Zaandam, Maasdam, N. Statendam.  How is Volendam different?  (We just booked her for September B2B.)

On 2/22/2024 at 3:33 AM, hobgoblin said:

Have only ever cruised Celebrity so thought I would  try a  different ship this year as I'm becoming a bit disappointed in Celebrity overall .

 

Any feed back about comparisons with Celebrity would be great too.

 

We are frequent Celebrity cruisers but have also sailed on the Nieuw Statendam. (About 10 weeks in total)

The N Statendam, (this is OUR opinion) has a more traditional, and practical layout than Celebrity's Edge Class.  The Edge Class is visually stunning but if you want to get on a balcony, Celebrity has a new twist.  It's not a balcony but a cabin with a window that opens.  We love the Crow's Nest on N Statendam.  The observation lounge has been abandoned on Celebrity whereas HAL's Pinnacle Class makes this area the centre of life while onboard.

The crew on both lines are exceptional.  We liked the food better on HAL and prices for alcohol is lower.  Celebrity's loyalty program is better.  We're 4**** on HAL and Z on X.

On 2/24/2024 at 2:29 PM, NMTraveller said:

You mean E class 🤣

It seems like only yesterday..

The first days of a new ship launching, travel agents and writers are invited and gifted with stuff on promo sailings.

They don't pay for the experience and some have been known to strip the ship of stuff not nailed down.

On 2/2/2024 at 3:38 PM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

10 years ago they didn’t have foot stools on balconies 

If you go back far enough, they did not have balconies either.

8 hours ago, leafsnation said:

Best deserts are the cakes at the coffee shop! After the first show we stop there for coffee and desert!

Bob

I find all the deserts too dry for my taste.

14 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

That was our first cruise!  We were young back then also.

 

So was ours, March 1989.  

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I bet they already have made the plans for what they want to do 

Has anyone got the same kind email from RCL ? 

I opened my Celebrity App on Constellation recently and was surprised to see:

10 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

Did you click on the "more details?"  If so, what were the details?

Just about the Zenith program.

12 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Did you follow through?  Did you click on “more details”?

Yes, but there were no more details other than about Zenith.

Is this the future?

This is not a doctored image but an actual screenshot while opening my Celebrity APP on board.

On a recent voyage, I opened the Celebrity APP on board and I was greeted by this image.

Is this the future of the Captain's Club Program?

I asked the CC Concierge and the image was removed soon later, without a comment.

She's been scrapped.

4 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

You have misunderstood. It is not an upgrade to an aqua cabin. It is a one category upgrade, which goes as high as aqua cabins but no higher. And it is not a Zenith perk. It is a Captains Club perk.

 

 

.

I meant "up to" as opposed to anything up to a suite  I should have included a one category upgrade "up to" and not beyond.  (not the ship)