Jump to content

Cruisepucks

Members
  • Posts

    348
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Cruisepucks's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. DH and I dined in Rudi’s for the first time this past May on the Nieuw Statendam as we had OBC to use up. One and done for us. In the first hour we’d only received a glass of water and one glass of wine each. All told, it took 2 1/2 hrs to complete our meal. Our server had only one other table for 2 so he wasn’t overly busy. I was so looking forward to the Dover Sole as I’d frequently read on cc about how good it was. It was ok but the fish dishes served in the mdr were far superior on this voyage. DH had the seafood grill. The scallops were raw in the centre and had a strong fishy taste to them. We did report our issues on the Navigator. The next day, while having lunch in the pg, the manager approached us to discuss our experience and did offer a complimentary dinner at Rudi’s that evening, the last night of the voyage. We declined as we like to dine in the mdr on the last night to thank our wonderful servers.
  2. Good day, We have a couple cruises coming up, the first being 14 days on the Nieuw Statendam. During that cruise, I'll visit the Grand Dutch Cafe and Explorations Cafe for coffee/tea/hot chocolate probably 30-36 times. In the past, I have always got my drink in a take-away cup with a lid. This cruise, I'm considering bringing a travel style coffee mug in the hope that the cafe staff will make my hot brews in that and eliminate the use of 3 dozen single use coffee cups and lids. Does anyone know if the cafe staff is allowed to make drinks for, or will allow passengers to bring their own reusable cups/mugs for their hot drinks? I know that HAL has been using no plastic in the take away cups and lids; that's a plus, of course. But if passengers can use their own cups, not only will the help with the reduction of waste, they also reduce the cost for HAL. Thanks to anyone who has experience with this question. Keep well. Happy cruising.
  3. Good afternoon, Glad to read that so many people are taking advantage of this benefit and getting their educator OBCs approved. I just applied today and also got approved. We are hoping this gets automatically applied to our existing booking. 1. Could anyone let us know, please, if we have to go through the application/verification process for every future cruise, or does the verification stay in the HAL system? 2. If HAL does keep this information on file, do we need to ask (or have our TA ask) for the OBC to be applied each time we book a cruise? Thanks in advance for your help with this. Travel safely.
  4. We boarded the Koningsdam in Vancouver in April. Both DH and I used our electronic Ontario issued QR code that we'd saved to our phones. No problems at all. There was no need for a printed copy although we had brought one just in case.
  5. Good day, We, too, did a similar cruise with Uniworld in early 2019. Our cruise itinerary was actually 1 week from Luxor to Aswan to Luxor. This was preceded and followed by a couple days in Cairo. Cairo to Luxor and back were via short flights. Very good hotel in Cairo - Four Seasons on the Nile R. We were supposed to be on the Sphinx, but the fire delayed her launch, so we were put on the Tosca, which was very good. The staff was great for service. Food and accommodation was very good. The wifi was spotty some days requiring multiple logons, but that was a minor annoyance. Our guide was very good - an educated Egyptologist who gave just the right amount of information and never hesitated to respond to questions. Our larger group was divided into smaller day tour groups; ours was 22. We took both optional excursions, one to Abu Simbel and the dawn hot air balloon trip over the Valley of the Kings and close by sites. Both were well worth the time and expense. One of our group asked the chef what camel tasted like; the next day, the chef went to a local market and acquired a camel roast which he cooked for us. We had also added the pre-extension to Jordan. Also, an excellent choice. During our trip, I was able to post daily on our blog. Here is the link, if you think the information might be useful for you. Warning - the blog is photo heavy. https://canucksinegypt.blogspot.com/ (Use the menu icon, top left, to see the earlier posts) Enjoy your trip. Salaam
  6. Greetings from the Koningsdam heading for Vancouver. After final payment, the itinerary was changed by HAL dropping a visit at the port of Victoria. No other port was substituted. In the past, when a port stop was cancelled, we have always received a refund for the port fee/tax we paid. We asked about this at the desk and were told no refund would be issued which seemed strange and a change of normal practice. Does anyone have any knowledge of the policy on refunding port fees/taxes in this type of situation? Thanks
  7. We'll have quite a number of Canadians on the Koningsdam departing Vancouver for Hawaii next month. Yesterday, while announcing a major itinerary change, HAL also sent the following to passengers embarking in Vancouver on April 10: All guests must register with Hawaii Safe Travels (travel.hawaii.gov) prior to your cruise. Fill in your personal information, enter your cruise in the "Trips" section and upload your proof of vaccination in the "Apply for Exemption/Exception from Quarantine" section. Please print or save the QR code you receive to your mobile device as you will be required to present it at cruise check-in. For assistance, visit https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/faqs/. Seems to be reasonable until one goes to the Gov of Hawaii travel website and gets this posted message in a banner atop the page: Hawaii Safe Travels restrictions will end on 03/25/2022 at 11:59pm (HST). Travelers arriving on 03/26/2022 and beyond will no longer be required to complete a Safe Travels application to enter Hawaii.For more information, visit https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/ or https://ets.hawaii.gov/travelhelp/ . Has anyone any idea of why HAL would ask for everyone to fill out this information for a cruise that does not arrive in Hawaii until April 17, more than 3 weeks after the Hawaii government is ending the covid-related travel procedures? Thanks for any information you can provide.
  8. If plans work out as we hope, we will be on a HAL ship this year on Easter Sunday. (It will be a port day for us.) Would those of you who have HAL Easter experience please let us know if HAL does anything special for Easter? While we've been on a dozen or so HAL cruises, we've never been on board for any of the traditional holiday festivities. Thanks for passing along any information about Easter on HAL ships. We are so looking forward to dusting off the passports and getting on a ship again. Enjoy the weekend.
×
×
  • Create New...