jc foster

The HH website states that you can rent a refrigerator on the Volendam for $2 per day.

6 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

Volendam is the sister to the Zaandam, so if you liked Zaandam you will also like Volendam. She’s had a very nice refurb/renovation in the last year or 2. We were just on her for 18 days and loved it, but I love a smaller classic ship.

Our stateroom (Vista) was in great shape, and the inside and outside rooms have also been redone all with nice new showers. Our stateroom on Celebrity’s Solstice last year looked very shabby in comparison. 

We were on a Hawaii cruise, and did notice as we got into hotter weather our room wouldn’t cool as much, but we weren’t uncomfortable. We’ve noticed this on other cruises into hot climates especially this summer on Princess to the Panama Canal. I honestly suspect that they change the settings so as not to over stress the AC and not allow people to try and cool their rooms to 60f. We were never uncomfortable. 
People we met were in an outside room and said their room wouldn’t cool lower than 71 while we were in Hawaii, which to me is fine. We noticed many of the Lanai cabins on the promenade leaving their doors open, and were also wondering if this was messing with the cooling system. 

We experienced no plumbing issues at all.

Food is subjective, but we enjoyed most meals in the MDR. I did find the food salty, but I usually do on cruises. We loved the lunch menu, but didn’t enjoy all the dinner menus as much. We felt the food we’ve had on Princess in the last couple of years to be better, but once again subjective. 
We avoid the lido except to grab tea or coffee or an afternoon snack, but be warned the hours are SHORT! Don’t get hungry between 10-11:30 am or 4-5:30 pm. There is NO food except Dive in burgers, or room service. We were wishing we could just grab some fruit, etc, so eventually preplanned better. I think the Lido also closed for Dinner at 8 pm which, so it would be very busy during the open hours.
Loved the ship overall and would sail on her again! Wish we were still on!

 

Thank you, we got off an Alaskan on the Solstice in September and it is showing its wear.

1 minute ago, luvteaching said:

Check out @richwmn's new blog on the boards about sailing on the Volendam for the next 134 days. As he goes along I'm pretty sure you'll get lots of information. 

1 minute ago, luvteaching said:

Check out @richwmn's new blog on the boards about sailing on the Volendam for the next 134 days. As he goes along I'm pretty sure you'll get lots of information. 

Thank you

        This morning I received an email from a big box travel agency regarding what looked like  a good deal on a 14 day cruise on the Volendam. I called and booked while doing zero research.  Yes, I know my bad. We sail primarily Princess and Celebrity and only have one prior Holland America cruise on the Zaandam about 15 years ago.  I began reading the reviews on this website and they are bad.  They include things like broke heat and air, non flushing toilets, and a host of maintenance issues.  Also poor food quality and of all things poor service which I thought was supposed to be a HAL strong point.  Has anyone here sailed this ship recently and if so whats your opinion?  Thanks

10 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

We will be on Solstice in Dec/Jan and am disappointed to read your post.  Fortunately it is a very Asia port intensive cruise so we at least have that.  Did you try Murano?

No we did not try Murano only Tuscan. One of the most disappointing things was the very limited food selection in the main dining room.  The ship itself is older but it is well maintained and we enjoyed the entertainment and service .  It was the food that let the Solstice down. 

   Just got off the Soltice yesterday.   I had read all of your reviews regarding the changes in menu selection and food quality and thought they were just more cruise critic BS. My apologies to all of you. The Dining Room menu consisted of a one starter and one main course section.  There were six or seven dishes section. Most of these dishes were repeated a few times during this seven day cruise.  The Dining room menu should be an embarassment to Celebrity and the tasty factor is also gone.  We tried the Tuscan Grill and it also seemed lacking.   This was our first post covid on Celebrity.   We only need a few cruises to be Elite Plus but if things dont change we will never see that.   Like most of you we sail other lines as well  and have sailed Princess twice post covid.   It has also changed but not nearly as badly as Celebrity.   We will try Azamara or Oceania again ,  I am not going to pay for " Golden Corral " quality food with poor selection.  , .  On the plus side the crew is hard working and we enjoyed the balcony cabin on the hump.

25 minutes ago, Meander Ingwa said:

Call a Lyft ride when you are at your pick up point unless you are talking about an advance booking for a site pick up like the port. Go to the Lyft web  site for directions to advance book

thank you

  We have never used LYFT . How soon before a ride from Pier 91 to Airport should we schedule a ride?   THANKS, this post is very informative.

8 minutes ago, jc foster said:

          Yesterday I logged onto the Celebrity website to view an upcoming Alaska voyage.  A message appeared on my screen stating that X amount of dollars would be deposited onto my credit card in 3 to 5 business days.  I knew this amount was the same as I had paid for the Celebrity Vacation Protection Plan and I knew I had not cancelled anything. I checked and sure enough my insurance had mysteriously just disappeared. I called Celebrity and after a 50 minute wait I talked to a very nice lady who basically told me sometimes it (the computer) just does this.  She was very nice placed the insurance back on my account and sent a receipt. Also while we had the lady on the line my wife talked to her about a problem with the check in app.on her Iphone . The app would show her checked in and then suddenly the Travel Info. section would just go blank.   My wife had spent  over an hour on the phone two days prior and was told to call back because they were having an IT problem.  Our final answer from Celebrity is dont worry about what it says on your phone App your good on our end and ready to board.  My question is whats the purpose of the phone app if it doesnt work ?

          Yesterday I logged onto the Celebrity website to view an upcoming Alaska voyage.  A message appeared on my screen stating that X amount of dollars would be deposited onto my credit card in 3 to 5 business days.  I knew this amount was the same as I had paid for the Celebrity Vacation Protection Plan and I knew I had not cancelled anything. I checked and sure enough my insurance had mysteriously just disappeared. I called Celebrity and after a 50 minute wait I talked to a very nice lady who basically told me sometimes it (the computer) just does this.  She was very nice placed the insurance back on my account and sent a receipt. Also while we had the lady on the line my wife talked to her about a problem with the check in app.on her Iphone . The app would show her checked in and then suddenly the Travel Info. section would just go blank.   My wife had spent  over an hour on the phone two days prior and was told to call back because they were having an IT problem.  Our final answer from Celebrity is dont worry about what it says on your phone App your good on our end and ready to board.  My question is whats the purpose of the phone app if it doesnt work ?

1 hour ago, psuboater said:

Doing a quick Uber fare estimate--

 

Airport to Olive 8 - $65-75 USD with tip, depending on time of day

Olive 8 to Pier 91 - $25-35 USD  with tip, depending on time of day

Pier 91 to Airport -- $75-95 USD with tip, depending on time of day

Thank You

         Does this look O.K. ? Take Taxi for three people from airport to Hyatt Olive 8 hotel. l think some posted fare with tip about 80 USD.     Take Taxi  for three  from hotel to Pier 91.( approximate cost 70 USD.    Take Taxi for from Pier91 ( ship arrival time is 6am) to Airport for 2:30pm flight ( approximate cost 80 USD.   THANKS

On 3/15/2023 at 4:35 PM, 3red7s said:

Hello CC folks,  We are setting sail to Alaska on 9/8-9/15 on the Solstice. 

Alaska Airlines offers a NS to Cleveland Oh, departing at 10:00 am.  

Question?  We would need to be at the airport by 8-8:30am.  We self carry and are TSA approved & this appears to be the slow season. (no children/spring breakers)

Our ship is small & hopefully unloads quickly.

Has anyone taken an early flight such as this? Any issues? Do you think it is too close or risky?

Thanks to all 

         Howdy, my family consisting of myself, my wife, my sister in law, my daughter, my granddaughter and my son in law will be joining you on this cruise.  We have yet to book airfare.   Looking forward to seeing you onboard.  Personally we never book a flight before noon and by the way the last time we sailed on the Soltice was in May 2010 out of Fort Lauderdale.  There was some type of computer problem with immigration and the first passengers did not disembark until 12: 30pm.

4 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Thanks much for posting. I'm on the 19 March cruise and I am tracking this sort of feedback. Please update here is your condition changes....and I hope it doesn't!

 

 Doug

  We got off this ship two weeks ago. Its older but well maintained.  We were in a balcony on deck 10 and you will see come rust on the outside but not too bad.  My only recommendation would be to carry a couple of bars of bar soap and quality hair care products.  Yall have a nice cruise.

We have sailed a one way from Vancouver to Anchorage on the Coral and a roundtrip from Seattle on the Crown.  Both were good cruises but on the one way we sailed the College Fjords which were very scenic .   On the downside the trip from Anchorage made for a very long flight home.

15 hours ago, texbecca said:

I just went to the Princess website and pretended book a new cruise to see how many suites were still available on my cruise. (Ruby Princess departing Feb 26) It said the cruise was no longer available to book. Does this mean the cruise is completely sold out or do they cut off online sales once it gets this close to the cruise?

Most likely yes. We sail on the Ruby in two days and she showed sold out starting a few days ago. We had a good bid on a mini suite and it was rejected yesterday , but dont give up hope something could open up.

          7 day western caribbean sails in 3 days. Minimum bid offered for upgrade from prem. balcony to mini suite was $75 pp.  but I bid $150 pp. .   I received rejection email this morning. I had previous won a similar bid on same categories for same prices on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise in November but that ship was not sailing full . This ship sailing Sunday is full. 

2 minutes ago, jc foster said:

     Same here but on the Princess Q&A section under Bidding it says they may notify us as late as one day before sailing.  In November I rec 

In November I received an upgrade and was notified 28 days before sailing.  Im still waiting with only 5 days before sailing this time.

5 minutes ago, Dreamer333 said:

I'm leaving in a few days and I still have not received a response letting me know if my upgrade bid was accepted or denied. (I did receive the initial email letting me know that they received my bid). 

 

I'm wondering if I should just assume that it was not accepted at this point (I need to print my luggage tags shortly) or is it possible that they'll tell me the status at embarkation check-in? 

     Same here but on the Princess Q&A section under Bidding it says they may notify us as late as one day before sailing.  In November I rec 

Like most folks on this forum we have had both the Noro and covid. It has been so long since I heard the Noro mentioned that I had almost forgotten about it. I guess its time to pack the Kleenexs.

21 minutes ago, lindatoo said:

why?

Because I suffered a foot injury and cant stand long on excursions.

  Can I bring a portable folding camping chair that fits in a bag onboard?  I do not see them listed as a prohibited item on the princess website.  Thanks 

On 12/22/2022 at 8:19 AM, oldfashioncruiser said:

Thanks so much for the reply denton.     I looked at the Hyatts but a comment said you had to go outside  and not real easy.  I will check again.  Thank you.

My wife and I stayed at the Hyatt  at  DFW at Thanksgiving. It really shows its age. Its not sleazy but kind of run down .  It was pricey. On the upside the shuttles run ever 20 minutes and you can walk out of the hotel door and catch a shuttle very quickly  .  It made our trip much easier while traveling over a Holiday period.

40 minutes ago, jinpasco said:

We are traveling for 2 weeks on the Emerald Princess and have a few questions for those on it recently or currently. 

Does the International Cafe have salads available ? Just off Caribbean Princess and surprised to see only sandwiches  ( tuna, egg salad,and cheese) and desserts . Cutbacks I guess.

Is the coffee in the buffet the syrup kind ?  We are staying with Princess standard with the new price increases and thinking of getting the coffee card.

Any other changes both good or bad we should be aware of. Thanks in advance.

Just off Emerald the day before yesterday.  Did not see any salads in the international cafe. We did see sandwiches . pastries, and gelato. Our cruise had only 1450 passengers on board. Service was excellent. Food was very good. I would bring a bar of soap . We did not like the liquid soap furnished by princess but this is a very minor thing. The ship has been refurbished and looked very nice inside. Also there were no signs of covid on board. Have a nice trip.  

6 hours ago, Coral said:

Usually I am one that notices those things as I had a parent who was disabled and blind (with dog) and I dragged on trips with me. Our tour was private - we had 7 on our tour and none of us had mobility issues. A friend I am traveling with declined to go as he had gone previously on a Princess tour years ago and now has some mobility issues.

 

I think my private tour would have been fine. Our guide took us to a certain point  which would not have been difficult for anyone with mobility challenges and then we all sort of deviated from there and met back. For example - at the beaches, some of us went farther than others. At the American Cemetery - I went to the chapel and others didn't.

 

My tour guide only guides out of Cherbourg and those who arrive from Paris via train. I almost wonder if you could find a private tour out of Le Havre and if you ask them up front if they could arrange a tour with less walking or slower paced. I am sure you could find someone on your roll call that would be glad to join you to share the cost. They may also benefit from a slower paced tour.

 

I really think it is important to go. This ranks as one of my all time memorable excursions.

 

My sister did the Princess tour out of Le Havre in August and I will ask her over Thanksgiving.

The D Day Tour was almost too overwhelming for me. I am a veteran who did a 13 month tour in Korea. I also had a tough job and dangerous job in a large city before I retired. I thought there was just about nothing that could bring me to tears but the sight of all of those perfectly aligned crosses did just that.