Padraic

2012 HAL Grand Asia & Australia ... 75 days. Seattle to San Diego !

Took the 2007 version of this HAL cruise for 63 days. However, I think my ideal cruise was on the HAL Prinsendam. 46 days from Lisbon, down the west coast of Africa hitting ports in Morroco, Senegal, Ghana, etc. to South Africa. Then across the Atlantic to Brazil, down the Amazon and then on home to Ft. Lauderdale.

I still like HAL the best.

I also still like HAL the best. However, I do not hesitate to cruise on other lines if I like the itinerary and/or price.

On our recent Equinox sailing, we noticed a huge increase in the amount of junk mail delivered to our stateroom. These were envelopes addressed to my DW advertising various special sales onboard. Is there a way to "opt-out" of this? It was starting to get tedious.

On my recent cruise on the Infinity I noticed the same. They were addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Eagan. I disturbed me as Mrs. Eagan passed away nine months ago.

REALLY. Cannot believe anyone would need or want such a thing, what is the world coming to, technology gone mad!

If this is not your 'cup of tea' then do not use it.

Our last two times on the Prinsendam we booked a GTY balcony cabin and were given SY. The last time we were offered an 'upsell' to a SY through our travel agent. After we told her that we would take it she found that it was too late. The following week we got the 'upgrade.'

64 days in the Pacific.

Although I generally cruise on HAL and have been twice on the Eurodam, I have cruised on Celebrity. In fact, I will be doing a transatlantic cruise on Celebrity next month. Overall I would give HAL and particularly the Eurodam just a notch above Celebrity. I have found the service on HAL superior to Celebrity. As to food I would call it a draw. Keep in mind this is my opinion and my tastes may be different than yours. Having to pick a cruise and the choices were HAL and Celebrity I would opt for HAL. Seeing an itinerary that I like and it is with Celebrity I would not hesitate to book the Celebrity cruise.

Counter clockwise, just like a race track in the states.

I don't know what it is but regardless of the length of the cruise I gain 4 pounds. Be it a 7 day cruise or a 64 day cruise, I gain 4 pounds and I takes me two months to lose it. Go figure.

Weather is weather and sometimes it is very nice and warm and other times it isn't. My wife and I have taken 10 transatlantic cruises and probably 4 were going east to west. It has always been nice. As to the Gulf Stream, if you were sailing from the Azores to Fort Lauderdale you were not following the Gulf Stream which tracks up the east coast of the US and Canada and then heads for Ireland. It was warmer on the port side of a east to west cruise because the sun is on that side.

I took a seven days cruise on the Divina in April. It was my first solo cruise since losing my wife. Neither my wife nor I were very keen on Caribbean cruises as we had done a number of them when we were working. We generally did much longer cruises such as transatlantic cruises. I would say that on the whole the cruise was fine with the exception of the food. There I was very disappointed. When one of my daughters asked how the food was I responded with one word, "Mediocre." Then why did I take the MSC cruise? The price was right! I should mention that I am 75 but a young 75.

Laundry only.

I always fill that portion out even though I'm sure it doesn't make any difference. For my October cruise from Harwich on the 13th I am flying to London on the 9th. Make that a maybe. My daughter is a flight attendant so I fly stand-by.

I put the pants and jacket on a hanger and put a plastic dry cleaner bag over it, fold it and put it on the top of the suitcase. Works fine for me.

EasyCruise - part of the EasyJet company - did this in the Caribbean for a couple of years as it did in the Med. EasyCruise is no longer in business.

Until I had more information considering the "suit" I would question the truth of the comments of the Cruise Director.

My wife and I had taken nine transatlantic cruises in both Spring and Fall and we have loved all of them. One of those was similar to what you plan in 2010. We cruised on HAL from Ft. Lauderdale to Amsterdam and took a combination plane and train to Florence where we spent two weeks at a villa between Florence and Pisa with some of our children and grandchildren. We think we get by fairly well as early 70 year elders.

Two that I would like very much to hit again: Sydney, Australia and Cape Town, South Africa.

I took a cruise on the Divina a month or so ago because the price was great. I am not keen on large ships but it was fine. As to food, my daughter asked how it was and my response was, "Mediocre." I certainly would not write home about it.

My luggage was "lost" a couple of weeks ago when I was taking a cruise from Boston to Montreal. Cruise started on Saturday and my luggage caught up with me on Monday afternoon in Halifax. The cruise line gave my underwear, pair of shorts and couple of shirts. Unfortunately, although the size of the shorts and shirts was 'large' it was woman's large. My 17 year old grandson was with me and he said, "Don't worry grandpa you can wear some of my pants." I asked him what his waist size was and he told me 32. I told him that I had not had a 32 inch waist since high school! It all worked out but was a pain in the butt for a few days.

I guess I am one of the luckiest cruiser in the world. I live in south Florida and am 20 some miles north of Port Everglades and 45 miles north of Miami. In addition, one of my daughters is a flight attendant for a major airline so I fly international fairly cheap.

Where in Europe? I have traveled to any number of European, Asian, South American countries and in the US. I have found some rude persons every place. I have also found persons with courtesy in the same places.

Padraic which cruise line are you taking in Oct ? I am in the process of booking a TA on NCL Jade or land tour to Eastern Europe... Have a great cruise to all

I am taking the Celebrity Infinity from Harwich to Ft. Lauderdale. I plan to fly over probably four days or so before the cruise as I want to spend a day in Winchester and possibly taking a train to Hastings for a day.

I love the transatlantic cruises. I just look up my travel records and to my surprise my wife and I had taken eleven TA cruises and loved every one of them. Since she passed away I plan to continue them and have booked one in October from Harwich to Ft. Lauderdale. We had done them on Princess, RCI, Celebrity and mostly Holland America. Was never bored on any of them.

I took my first-ever cruise to Alaska last month. 'Never cruised before' date=' nor had I ever been to Alaska, and I went solo! It was the most fun I'd had in years. Met so many delightful people. The helicopter flight over the glaciers was one of the most awe inspiring events of my life.

I am HOOKED![/quote']

 

That's what happened when we started taking fairly long cruises after we were both retired - we were hooked. Prior it was generally a Caribbean cruise in either Spring break or the Summer as my wife was a school teacher. We have been to some very exciting places and I plan to continue doing that.