SWeaster

On 5/5/2019 at 12:41 PM, bestmamabird said:

Yikes!  Someone once once took a piece of my luggage, as well. I was frantic. And then suddenly it reappeared. Thankfully, the absconder discovered their mistake before they left the terminal.

Since just about everyone's luggage is black we place silver duct take with our initial in five sides of each piece of luggage.  It makes it a lot easier to spot ours on the luggage conveyor.

One time I caught someone grabbing one of our bags off the gate check cart and had to chase him down on the way to the jetway.  Unless he had the same last initial and a matching bag with a blue Holland America luggage tag holder it was obviously not his.

On 5/5/2019 at 2:29 PM, Moriah said:

 

O.M.G.  I am sitting here with my mouth hanging open. Are you serious? This kind of thing makes me embarrassed to be human.  I am just flabbergasted. 

You would think that they would call the Front Desk to report the luggage that wasn't theirs.  How would these people feel if they were on the receiving end of misplaced bags?

4 hours ago, ski ww said:

I guess it's time for a major up date to this as we now have  two Signature & one Pinnacle class ship and that Prinsendam, Maasdam, Veendam, Statendam, Ryndam, Rotterdam and Amsterdam have been sold. Wonder what cruising will look like in the next couple of years. Until we all meet again on another 'dam ship.

We are a bit concerned with what we read online today about the sale of the remaining S-Class and R-Class ships.  It looks like the Veendam that we had booked for a British Isles cruise in June 2021 will no longer be in the fleet.  We spent a week on the Veendam on a Bermuda cruise and docked across Front Street from Hamilton the last year that she sailed there.  We have also sailed on the S-Class Ryndam in the Caribbean two weeks before she got transferred to P&O Australia.  Have we managed to jinx these two ships?

We got a super fare and a ton of perks by booking this 14 day Veendam cruse onboard the Zuiderdam in February/March 2020.  If they substitute a different ship and/or itinerary I'd hope that HAL would honor us with the same arrangement.

On 10/13/2019 at 4:05 PM, canadianbear said:

As well as not many Signature suites.  We absolutely loved our Signature suite on the Koningsdam for our 21 day cruise a couple years ago.  The Neptune suite was way too high priced for that cruise but the Signature suite was very spacious and we didn’t need the Neptune perks.  I saw a Neptune on the Kongingsdam and preferred our Signature one.

We have booked everything from outside cabins on Statendam-class ships, verandas and Signature Suites on Vista and Signature-class ships as well as a Vista Suite on the Konigsdam.  Our cabin choices are entirely to ensure that we have a 120 volt outlet located where an extension cord doesn't need to be run across the floor to a CPAP.  Our past experience with Veranda cabins was that the only 120 volt outlet was on the other side of the cabin from the night stands.  On one occasion, over 15 years ago, we were upgraded at no cost to a Neptune Suite.  Other than the glass shower stall in our Vista suite, we weren't very enamored with the Konigsdam compared to any of the other HAL ships that we've sailed on.

It appears that the newer 2600 passenger ships pared back their Signature Suites in favor of having 1.5 times as many Vistas.  They also have about 600 more passengers with two fewer elevators than the Vista and Signature class vessels.  For those paying extra for Club Orange here they at least had a dedicated venue in the former America's Test Kitchen.  This is simply a roped-off area in the main dining room on the other ships.  Still, I balk at paying $70 per couple per day for what little Club Orange offers.

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 1:54 PM, VennDiagram said:

" Private dining venue for breakfast and dinner with expanded menu, Premium inroom
dining breakfast menu, "

 

Oh I like the sound of that!  Well worth the small upcharge.

Twenty five dollars per person per day doesn't seem like a "small" upcharge.  With double occupancy this adds $350 to a one week cruise.  A last minute cabin upgrade might be a better deal.

We left Fort Lauderdale about 4-1/2 hours late. They ran pretty much wide open all night and the following day to get to Amber Cove on time. Between the headwind and the ship's speed it was nearly impossible to open the door to the Observation Deck above the Crow's Nest.

If you don't want to haul around a gallon of distilled water as well as the cpap ( I know my cpap in its case is heavy enough!) ,the tap water on the HAL ships is quite fine and doesn't cost $4. I have done it both ways.

Our grocery store carries CPAP water in two sizes. One gallon (3.78 liters) and one liter. The one liter size fits nicely in a carryon bag with the extra protection of a large Ziploc. Rather than fiddle with an extra bag, even though as medically necessary it is permitted on an airplane, we stick the CPAP case inside one of our carryon bags.

Don't forget you can pre order distilled water from HAL and for $4 a large bottle will be waiting in your cabin.

Due to the outrageous airfares out of Knoxville we drive to Florida cruse ports more often than flying. This involves two days down and two days back with a total of four overnight stays in hotels. A one liter bottle of CPAP water from the grocery store is adequate. We have also carried a factory sealed bottle of this water on airplanes with no problem since it falls under the category of medically required liquids.

My wife's CPAP carry case always contains a 12 foot two-prong extension cord and a three-prong cube tap. The extension cord is needed in some hotel rooms and cruise ship cabins. A cube tap allows leaving the CPAP plugged in and a provides a place to plug in a curling iron. We have not needed the extension cord in HAL's Signature Suites but it was required in an outside cabin on the Ryndam and in several hotel rooms.

Most travelers whether by plane or ship will strongly advise against placing your meds or CPAP in checked bags. Our CPAP case fits nicely in a wheeled carryon bag taking up roughly one-fourth of the bag's capacity. This leaves plenty of room for two weeks of medications, a couple changes of underwear and the liter of distilled water in a large Ziploc bag.