SweetP2

Hello HAL members. Seeking experienced opinion regarding a VC or VB room on DECK 4. We have never had a room on this deck. We have been on Deck 5, 7 and 8 previously. Looking at a 21 day Caribbean and seems more inventory on Deck 4 (AFT) and wondering the pros/cons of being on Deck 4. Prices are better on this deck versus Deck 5, 6 and 7. 

Segway! It was awesome.

Hello Dawn, I was very excited to see your brief post about a

Segway tour in Cartagena! We took a Segway tour in San Diego years ago, loved, loved, loved Segway!

How long was your ship in port? Which tour did you do?

Our ship is in port from 7am to 1pm. We are thinking about the 8am, 70 min tour and to get us back by 11am. But are concerned we only have limited time to spend in port.

Did you use the pre-arranged pick up service or your own taxi?

Any additional hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Sweetp.

We are on a 7 day Alaska cruise in a week (yay!) and I'm confused about the different nights. First, we are new to Holand America and second, we understand their dress code has just changed. We plan to eat in the MDR or Pinnacle Grill every night. What is the best choice for Gala, Smart Casual, and informal nights?

You cannot go wrong with Smart Casual...on HAL is what you are comfortable...just not jeans or shorts for dining in both venues.

There will be peeps in gala wear who are perfectly comfy and happy, and there will be the smart casual diners perfectly comfy and happy too! Master dining room is great, and the Pinnacle is more up scale...again, Smart Casual will work for both. You will still receive same service, same food wearing gala or smart casual. :D

Enjoy the fabulous service on HAL!

/sweet

My wife and I are transitioning from FLL thru Panama onto Vancouver (20 days).

Wondering if there will be other LGBT cruisers on same.

/sweetp

I have had no luck getting any steward to empty the fridge, and I have asked! I end up transferring it to the ottoman which I leave open at disembarkation so they know where it is.

We empty our own fridges...placing contents into the storage compartment in the round stool. We just inform the steward what we have done. And we put it back on last night.

/sweetp

We LOVE the AFT....it is our personal preference.

Watching the wake is like watching a campfire. We have seen so much from our AFT cabins...we will only book AFT, other than the Neptune Penthouse of course.:p

We are booked to do Panama re-positioning next april...and have booked 5th deck AFT this time. We had 8th floor 10 years ago, loved it. Only one issue, gentlemen above was banging his cane on the deck...he stopped immediately when our cruise mate popped upstairs.

We wanted 5th this time around to be a bit closer to the action thru the locks.

Sweetp.

Meant to add that the tour option sounds like a good choice because you get a better sense of the history from a guide like Dora who is proud to share her country's history with you.

We did receive a quote from Dora. It is slightly more than HAL...but off course less people which we would much prefer. Oh what to do, what to do...nice to have this dilemma for sure!

sweetp

You don't need a tour. Just grab a cab from port and go on your own. Old city is beautiful and safe.

Thank you Goldenbonny for your reply.

Really, our short stay in port (arrive 7am- depart 1pm) enough time to grab a cab, walk the old city, do the inquisition and grab another cab and be back by 11:30am?

I had heard the traffic can be nutz there...and there is only one road in/out to the port/city. Can you speak to that factually?

...and safe to walk the old city for two women on their own?

As you can tell, we prefer not to do a ship excursion in Cartagena. :p

/sweetp

Explore 4 is another package HAL offers with some regularity ,usually later in the year. It includes dinner for at The Pinnacle Grill, 2 of the Beverage Cards to allow up to 15 drinks per day for each cardholder, reduced deposits and shipboard credit...The credit you get depends on the room you have. Suite customers receive $300.00, I believe. I think I remembered correctly. I'm sure more experienced folks will chime in.

Thank you Dee2673 for info on Explore 4 package. It sounds interesting...will watch to see if HAL offers same for our cruise.

/sweetp

Thank you Cruiserbruce...splitting hairs indeed...we shall stay with 5192 thru the Panama! :D

Hey CC'rs. Looking for advice on choice for our 20 day Panama repo cruise next spring....which has the roomier and better for viewing the locks (up close and personal view) on Niew Amsterdam, 5192 or 4189?

4189 looks deeper. We are already booked in 5192...like a roomier balcony and also like to be up and personal to view the locks while transiting thru.

Advice to switch or stay with 5192?

Sweetp.

We booked with the Anniversary sale benefits. I kinda hope they offer the Explore 4 at the same price. I believe I'd jump on it

We picked up our cruise with the anniversary sale...but what is Explore 4?

/gail.

So exciting for the pending opening of the expanded Panama Canal!

We will be going thru next April...we did the same repositioning cruise 10 years ago. We saw the early stage of expansion back then... We will be on the AFT, 5th deck on the Nieuw Amsterdam. One of the most amazing sights and sounds that day back in 2007. I think we could do this same cruise over and over again.

Looking forward to watch the event on the TV...would be nice in person!

Thanks OP for this thread!

SweetP

We arranged a private tour with Dora - Cartagenatour.com. Dora was great to work with. Communications through email were prompt. Our tour guide was Victoria and we had a nice van with driver. Victoria was very knowledgeable and provided a lot of local information. We went to the Monastery at LaPopa Hill, the San Felipe de Barajas Fortress and more. We stopped at the Emerald Museum, which was very interesting. There was absolutely no pressure to buy anything. I would highly recommend Cartagenatours. Date of Tour: April 29, 2016.

Thank you for the review of Dora tour. May I ask how many hours was the tour? and how many hours were the ship in port?

I am flip/flopping to use Dora or do a ship's excursion. We are only in port from 7am to 1pm. Not a lot of time. We'd much prefer a private tour, but not sure if we schedule for 8am and return us back by 11:30 am is reasonable or risky. Your thoughts would be appreciated. :)

Sweetp.

This is great info. Does the unlimited laundry service exclude dry cleaning? or include?

/sweetp

rslandarch, thank you for sharing your experiences. We have found similar situations but that was about 5 years ago. We are happy to pay if we are asked to. If they don't pick up on our carry on when we return to the ship, we won't speak up.

After taste testing at home, we'll likely order lots of bon voyage, plus carry on additional bag of special wine in an easy carry bag. We'll gladly pay corkage. Purchasing the bon voyage balances out the costs...and we hope the Canadian dollar gets stronger by next april. Our next trip will be 20 days...and a girl has to have her wine selection!

Sweetp.

If you like it during initial "testing" you might want to run "Quality Assurance" testing next. ;):D

 

(At least that is what happens in our house when I make chocolate chip cookies.)

LOL - that is funny Peter. I happen to "test" for a living...so for me to conduct QA on the bon voyage wine at home...is a given! And sure, throw some chocolate cookies in there to...with the red bon voyage wine of course! :p

I don't see a good reason to stock up on the Bon Voyage wine... what if you don't like it? You can buy wine as you go along and you can even buy wine by the glass. You should be able t ofind similarly priced wine on the wine list, or if you like the Bon Voyage wine, just ask for more of it.

Hi Peter, so I guess I will have to do some taste testing from home. Blackstone sauvignon Blanc is listed as the white, and will check out red listing... Then make a decision. Love the testing part! Lol.

We will be going soon and this board has been very quiet, so your reccommendation is quite welcome!

 

Thank you! :D

Yes I agree, it has been a quiet board, thinking there should be cruises hitting this port this month. Thank you for this post and review.

How much time did you have in port versus on tour CaroleSS?

Ours will be a short stay unfortunately. Ship arrives 7am, we sail at 1pm. Really would like to have private tour for 3 hours...not sure if this short of tour is reasonable. Or should we just stick with HAL's excursions. We would be very happy to see old walled city, walk the streets, shop, drink coffee and people watch, plus a trip to the Inquisition.

ITraveltheworld, I look forward to seeing your own review of this port upon your return. :)

Hi Ruth. Here is an excerpt from HAL's site Gifts/Beverages which clearly states the SC is included.

Bon Voyage Red Wine

Delivered to your stateroom on embarkation day. A 15% service charge is included in the price of the item. You must be 21 years of age or older to order and receive alcoholic beverages. Bottle size is 750ml.Buy Now

Price $30.00

Sweetp.

No, corkage is included in the indulgences.

Hmm...so a $30 bon voyage white wine includes both 15% service charge and a corkage fee.

This would be our best option considering we wouldn't need to drag a case thru embarkation process. We can still carry a few extra bottles that are more expensive and for special nights including our two "free" bottles using our own liquor bags from Canada.

CC'rs ROCK! Thank you very much Dave for your quick reply to my post.

Sweetp.

First I have to say, I am Canadian and for any purchases on land or sea would add 30% for currency exchange. And I should also mention, am not a high-end wine drinker...but love my wine with dinner and in my room! We are booked for 20 day cruise.

I see there is a Bon Voyage White wine for pre-order from HAL Gift/Beverage list for $30 each which includes the 15% service charge.

Can I pre-order a dozen bottles of the Bon Voyage Wine? And if I do, are we charged the Corkage fee when we bring to MDR?

Thank you in advance,

Sweetp.

Do they still have the water taxi from the port terminal building to the old city? We were in Cartagena four years ago and took the water taxi, walked around the old city, got a cab to the fort, then tool a cab back to the ship. It was a wonderful day. We're going back in January and want to do a similar day. I have't read anything in these posts about a water taxi.

Oh taking a water taxi to the old city sounds perfect...I will watch for replies..and maybe jump onto google and do some research. Thanks RSF Cruiser for your post!

Sweetp2

Hello, thank you for posting how easy peasy it was doing Cartagena on your own.

We will be there next April on HAL. We are only in port from 7am-1pm. We would prefer to do this port on our how, customized...were thinking either booking directly a guide but your post sounds easypeasy.

We don't have a lot of time, we are nervous about doing a diy tour as we will be short on time, don't want to miss the ship. How long was the taxi ride to central walled city? We would like to do a walk about, plus the inquisition would be another point of interest as a must see. Trying to plan our diy for 3 hours so we get back to port in time to do the zoo. Is that too short of time to cab, walk the city streets, inquisition, cab back in 3 hours?

And do you think two women on their own walking the streets would be advisable?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts, info and advice,

Sweetp

Hi everyone, I am in Cartagena for two days in April. I was thinking of going on a 4 hour tour with Marelvny Pena-Hall on the first day then doing the 90 minute Segway tour the next day. Has anyone ever taken either of these tours? Thank you, Naomi

Hello Travelgeek. We will be there a year from this April and would be very interested in hearing your feedback of the Segway tour of Cartagena. I hope you post a review!