scandun

On my Antarctica cruise in Jan., the stabilizer was not functioning fully, and the ship rolled from left to right LIKE HELL ( the first two nights ).  Hope they had done something about it by now.    The pool could not be used unless the ship is not moving.  They said they will make a new one later.    

Food was not the best, and lack variety comparing to Europa 2.  But understandable due to the size of the ship.

The staff shine !    

Your advice highly appreciated. 

I bring a pair of sandals, does that work as crocs ? I visit Iguazu falls before the cruise and wear the sandals.

Rain pants = waterproof pants ?  I bring a Goretex pant, hope that works in Antarctica.

I will report when time and internet allows.  Not sure how much to pay for internet onboard.  That is important

for me.

I use a US agent.   But how many US agents really book for HL cruises ?  And the time difference between east coast, west coast and New Zealand where I live now......Anyway I hope to have a good time onboard to the white continent and South Georgia.

Sounds all good.  But at least they should give a response when being asked.  Otherwise guests might pay for own similar tours.  As you mentioned, they have been running Antarctic cruises longer than anyone else, something easy to tell.

16 hours ago, Jacqueline said:

We had a fantastic time on our Hapag Lloyd cruise to Antartica! They did a wonderful job.

We have the Inspiration on a wishlist for Kamchatka peninsula way out in the future!

I received the final cruise documents and ship card in the last minute, before departure.   It says in the document that after charter flight arrives at Ushuaia airport, we will take a tour to the immediate surroundings of Ushuaia before going to port

at around 4:30 pm.  Do you know where the tour goes for almost 6 hours ?   There is pre-cruise programme shown their website without detail and price.  When I asked to participate, I was told no more space.  While I was trying to organize my own tour in Ushuaia, comes this final document with the free tour.   All sounds not well organized.   I had actually asked what happens between flight landing and ship boarding by my agent, but no information.

I am taking the Jan. 19th Hanseatic Inspiration Antartica cruise.  Seems the one before mine is a chartered cruise.  

You make it sound as if Lobster was the only dish on offer.

 

My experience has been that the breadth of choice in the Yacht Club has been overwhelming.

 

If the choice in the Weltmeere is disappointing, one is always able to order off menu.

King crab feet and claw boiled for 13 nights. Mussel boiled for 13 nights. Same raw oyster for 13 nights. Boiled spicy prawn for 13 nights. That is easy job to do. Where is their creativity?

Wow! A dozen different breads and rolls each day and you wanted more variety? Four different Spanish and Italian hams each day with Black Forest ham thrown in. And high end cold seafood like lobster every day? Did they not offer different types of small chocolates every day?

I could go on, but food is certainly not the reason why we haven't booked another Europa 2 cruise so far. (itinerary) Your taste buds are obviously attuned to a different cuisine.

yes, maybe those breads and cold cuts are not to my taste, but I love all kinds of cuisines. Yes lobster every night for buffet, but that does not involve any cooking skills as it is only boiled to put on sauce by yourself. 13 nights of boiled lobster isn't it boring and usually I always look forward to my next meal on any cruiseline even Celebrity, but not this time, as I know what I will get before going there, so I feel that I hate to go for dinner. Sorry that was my true feeling.

I forgot to say many food were cooked very salty. We had 5 people going on this cruise together and we have all been on crystal cruises a few times and we all agree there is no comparison between the two on food. I think there is something wrong with chef, or maybe they are cutting cost.

Thank you for your very detailed cruise review of E2.

Internet is the best on our cruise from Hamburg to Lisbon, I had an unlimited plan, and it can be used on two devices at the same time, so I shared with my friend sometimes. One of the first two devices must log off before a 3rd one can log on.

In my opinion, food is the weak part on this ship ( of our cruise )

80% of the buffet items are the same every night. The same cheese, the same cold cut and seafood, the same bread, the same salad, the same ice cream and chocolate. The changing items are the warm dishes, but they are no better than school canteen food. The other changing items are desserts, but nothing to wow about.

Some different meat offered daily are okay, and one night we had paella, we thought that is the best dinner we had for the buffet.

The main dining room has very limited items for dinner. They present a seemingly complicated menu, but they are all the same items every day, with only one or two changing main course, one chaning dessert, one or two chaning appetizer. Service is very slow, each course takes half an hour. I had no patience to wait after two meals there.

The elements asian restaurant has the same items for lunch and dinner. One dish from one country, you don't know in which country you are in.

The french and italian restaurant, just so so in my opinion.

The sushi restaurant we visited two times. No meat, only 4-5 fish sushi or sashimi and some tempura items. I feel I am offered only part of the many japanese cuisines that you can enjoy in a typical japanese restaurant. I am not sure if we can order a bottle or two of wines for the unused beverage credit so the last night of the cruise I asked our servant in the Sakura restaurant, and she said she would ask her boss, however she just disappeared and never came back to the restaurant ?

I did not bother to send back the questionare form in the end of the cruise. I had very high expectations before this cruise, but very disappointed about the food in the end. Not even comparable with the food on our Azamara cruise 2 months earlier, when we even did not go to any of Azamara's specialty restaurant.

Going to the US, no table side prep of anything could be offered, even in the evening. Also, the Yakult disappeared from breakfast buffet ( could not guarantee temp below 5C) and there could be no polishing of cutlery or glassware.

 

 

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Going from Hamburg to Lisbon, no table side prep of anything was offered, because they say they need to PREPARE for going to the US. Oh, nothing to write home about of the beef tartar anyhow from the kitchen.

i am about to disembark. Honestly now I agree with most of Tango17's opinion, with the exception of our room being cleaned promptly, and yes, later we have had two room attendants, a new one joined as told by the first.

Food is repetitive, but I am happy I have reduced weight a bit. I probably go back to Crystal, if the itinerary fits.

We have just one room attendant. After 10:00 pm there is another in case you need something. Service has been very good, all staff very friendly. Once or twice a bit slow in the main restaurant. The exception is that it seems the Indonesian tender staff never has a mind about time, and the tender always leaves before scheduled time. That is irony on a German ship.

I would say our room gets cleaned promptly. Sometimes it is ourselves that are slow. Our room attendant is new on Europa 2. She worked several years on Asuka 2 ( Japanese cruise ship similar to Crystal Symphony ? ) before coming to Europa 2.

Tomorrow they gonna provide free shuttle boat service Tilbury-Greenwich-Westminster pier as well, with 3 return services.

that must be a disappointment :Tilbury is horrible and linked to tides as well

i cannot judge the circumstances - maybe the Thames is dangerous with heavy winds - i never sailed until Greenwich or the center of London so far.

 

a few weeks ago the rather small Silver Wind was unable to enter Zeebrugge and remained in Antwerp for overnight.

and the night before entering the Kiel canal last weekend on Europa 2 is was 7-8 with a small period reaching force 9

 

i hope hapag lloyd did provide some shuttles

Yes free shuttle is provided from shipside to Greenwich and back, till 3:00 am the next morning.

Thank you! Any other first hand observations (especially of changes) would I'm certain be welcomed by all the Europa 2-philes.

 

Your lovely long itinerary with 3 full seas days to explore the ship looks quite nice.

 

Enjoy the discovery and have a great cruise!

I find the two mattresses are still placed on a bedframe that cannot be separated, so obviously they did not do anything for the bed during dry dock. And the nightstands are still fixed to the wall.

While we left Hamburg, I saw Europa in dry dock, not sure if they will do anything about the bed on that ship.

We are now heading towards Tilbury, a bit of disappointment, to replace Greenwich due to wind conditions.

Thanks so much for posting.

Collins looks so different from Herrenzimmer.

 

I would request confirmation from upcoming sailors that the beds were made to be separated as had been predicted.

I will let you know on Monday.

I am also confused what is the difference between kreuzfahrten(German) and cruises(English) for the so-called rename ? Last month I paid our cruise fare and the company is still called H-L kreuzfahrten on the bank account.

We had to collect our luggage after the flight but then handed them over to the representative at the airport.

 

We've had friends on board in Dublin. They have to provide paperwork (passport details) and you have to pay for their meals. But pretty easy process.

May I ask you experienced HL cruisers:

1) we received cruise documents saying we can leave luggage somewhere at Hamburg central station from 10:00am of boarding day for free, but not able to do so directly at Hamburg airport, although they arrange free transfer to ship from both locations ?

2) if we want to invite friends to have meals onboard when the ship have a overnight stay in port, is this possible ?

Thanks in advance.

We have always purchased independent insurance policy for years, from different insurance companies in China, and nobody has refused to accept customers 70+

Our friends have been on other cruise lines booked in China with departure in China port and there is no such requirement for a hospital statement.

Personally, I would be surprized if this was a X policy, the only way to get around this is to book outside The People's Republic of China to avoid this troubling request, if one can.

 

bon voyage

That was what I did, and the X Contract clearly has no requirement for such a document. But I feel disgusting about X for they do in China.

There is no such Chinese government policy. It has nothing to do with the health form to sign before boarding by some cruislines. It is a hospital/doctor's statement that Celebrity asks for. When I asked what if a foreigner books through china office, they were reluctant to reply.

Now I have not been on that many cruise lines, but a few. Never ever have I heard from any of them that seniors 70+ needs to show a hospital statement for health fitness before boarding. Yet this is true with Celebrity in China. I could not believe it so I called Celebrity office in Shanghai to verify it and they said yes, for bookings through China office. I wonder if bookings from the rest of the world also fall under this policy ? Tell me that Celebrity is not playing racial discrimination !