Cruise NH

Does anyone know how I can print out the shore excursion choices for our voyage. For HAL you can convert to PDF and print if you want but I can't seem to find that option on Cunard's site. I don't mean shore excursions we've already chosen and paid for. I can't get DH to spend time in front of the computer to look at the choices, he wants it in print.🙄 Thanks!

We were on a 16 day Panama Canal cruise on the Zaandam, then went on the Koningsdam for an 18 day Hawaiian cruise. We would take the Zaandam anywhere while we hope to never sail on the Koningsdam again. The 'Z' is older for sure but it felt more relaxed and can I use the word...cozy...we loved it. We were in a balcony room, termed a vista suite by HAL. We did hear carts being rolled above us in the lido but it was infrequent and didn't disturb us. If we had watched the floor plan above us more closely we could have avoided even that. I wouldn't worry about taking the Z it's fine.

Just after I posted I remembered we did a post cruise excursion with Cunard too while on the QV. It was the same deal, luggage went onto the bus from the ship, we took our tour and then we went directly to the airport.

We recently did a post cruise excursion - with HAL - but I’m sure it’s the same with Cunard…the luggage was kept on the bus the entire time. It was so convenient to get off the ship, have our luggage placed on the bus and then go do something fun rather than sit around the airport. Most airlines won’t even let you check your luggage in that early so we would have had to hold onto our bags for several hours if it wasn’t for the excursion. Definitely a plus!

Agreeing with all the others, don't worry about the bed configuration in advance, just ask your steward on the first day, that's the way we do it all the time. I always go to the dollar store or the like and get a small pack of 'thank you' cards before we leave, they don't take any room and it's nice to leave a note with your extra tip.

We go to Canada fairly frequently and I’ve never run into a place that would take USD, why would they. Just go to an ATM at the first port and get about 100 Canadian (approx $74 usd) and use your card for anything bigger.

As always it’s a good idea to make sure you have the latest update to your browser too.

I don't know about Edge, but just now at 5:57 PM EST I tried to book an excursion on Chrome and got no where. I went over to Firefox and was able to complete the transaction. As I said above I had to click on the credit card field once, got no reaction, did it again and the little notice saying you have 15 minutes to complete the transaction came up and I was able to input my credit card.

I had this problem too. I was using Chrome and then tried Firefox. I was able to complete the transaction on Firefox. So my advice is to try another browser. I did find I had to click on the credit card field once (got no response) then I clicked again and only then was able to enter my card number. I didn’t have another excursion to book so I couldn’t try that in Chrome but it might be worth a try.

Ugh the music walk, that was awful. I ate in the Club Orange dining room and when we walked out of there we were accosted by LOUD music and it was never really well done. Yes, I hope Cunard does not follow HAL's lead on a number of things!

Someone mentioned the Koningsdam in an earlier post, is the QA the same class ship? We were just on the Koningsdam for an 18 day Hawaii trip and vowed to never sail it again. There is a promenade deck but no chairs because it's too narrow. In some places narrow enough that two people walking in opposite directions have to move a bit to avoid each other. The theater could probably hold about a 1/3 of the total passengers (are trip was full) so many folks sat on the stairs. As one of my fellow passengers said, 'this ship may have enough beds for 2600 people, but it doesn't have enough room for them'. I think it actually holds a little more then 2600, not sure but it sure wasn't our cup of tea!

No you can’t reserve and yes there sometimes is a wait. They’ll try to get you in as soon as possible of course. People were showing up and filling up the place soon after opening on our last cruise, if you showed up a little after that then you have a wait. On the two occasions this happened to us we just went to the nearby main dining room. Since they ask for your room number they can see you are CO. Both times we were seated right away (table for two) at a great location, usually near the window.

If this happens to any future CO person nicely ask to speak to the person in charge. The first person my husband spoke to at the port didn’t know what he was talking about but the lady in charge overheard and gave the first person a mini training lesson.

We just did Club Orange on the Koningsdam in February so your experience should be similar. Priority Embarkation - your boarding pass will say 'Priority' but won't indicate club orange. Just tell the HAL people controlling the lines your club orange and you walk through. Our boarding pass said 1:30 embarkation (but with priority on it) but we walked on before 11:30. Tendering - just join the line showing your key card (it will have orange coloring). We just joined at the last stairs going down to A deck. No problems. Concierge - there is a number to call -95- for the club orange concierge, you'll get a notice about it in your room when you first arrive. If you do want to go up to the desk there is a separate line for Club Orange. Just FYI - at the shore excursion desk there wasn't a roped off line but there was a club orange sign, I just stood there and was helped as soon as someone was available however I did get stares from folks in the regular line who probably never heard of CO.

In the library on the Zaandam and up at the crows nest on the Koningsdam this past Jan/Feb.

We had to fly from Australia to the US (Boston) after the 2020 cruise ended. If you can get bulkhead seats, that really helped us. We also got aisle seats across from each other. My advice, don't watch your watch! Pick out some movies to watch and you'll get through it. The cabin crew will try to simulate the different times of the day with the lighting. Prior to this flight home I hadn't flown in about 20 years. If I can do it, anyone can.

Regarding 'double occupancy' and 'solo supplement'...I recently came across this video on youtube. This guy is spending a year on cruise ships solo, he's retired Navy. In this video he talks about how these terms can be confused and how to work it all out to get the best deal and understand pricing. I thought it was pretty good. If you want to start it where he starts talking about cost per day and traveling as a solo then skip to 1:57.

Luggage Direct will service any port or airport so that's not a problem. We did run into one thing with them. We told them we were self disembarking from the QM2 in Brooklyn and wanted to make sure they would be there at 7:30. The answer I got back was...'we are aware of the disembarkation time and one of our representatives will be there'. I wasn't convinced and with good reason. We got off the ship and waited, we had an early train and had scheduled a car service. We waited and waited. We got talking to a friendly HAL person there and she told us the guy doesn't usually show up until 8:15! Luckily we (with this ladies help) were able to convince the people at the terminal front desk to hold onto our luggage until he arrived and took the luggage. I know 8:15 seems like a perfectly reasonable time, but they should have communicated that to us. This may be a totally different situation down in Florida, maybe they do get there early enough for self disembarkation...I'd like to hear that from someone who as experienced it though.

Wow that's late. I can only tell you what we would do...which is arrive when we felt like it. The worse that can happen is that they make you wait but at least you're there and will probably get in earlier then that time as the crowds will lighten considerably by 2ish.

The trouble with asking if the conditions are 'rough' is that it's totally subjective. We were recently on a cruise back from Hawaii and we had a couple of days where some folks were talking about the 'rough' seas, we didn't think it was rough at all compared to other cruises we've been on. So you would have two people on the exact same cruise one describing it rough and the other saying it wasn't. Cruise lines do a very good job of avoiding the rough stuff if they can. They can go slightly to the south, north, east or west and make a world of difference. If anyone is concerned about the seas bring dramamine (though it will be on sale on the ship) and have confidence that the captain will do all they can to make you comfortable.

We were just in Honolulu with the Koningsdam and took a taxi to Pearl Harbor. There are plenty of taxis outside the building with signs to direct you. With tip it cost us $60 to get to PH , it was further than we thought. Our driver gave us his card when he dropped us off and said he would give us a discount for the trip back, just call him 30 minutes before we wanted to leave. We decided to take the bus back. The ranger at the entrance told us where it picked up ( main road in front of the entrance). I don’t know what the actual price was, the smallest bill I had was a five and that covered us both. We decided to take it to the mall downtown and simply asked the driver if he went there. If you go to the port talk on the ship they’ll tell you all about what bus numbers to take or you can go on the bus company website.

We were just on the Zaandam and Koningsdam, the laundry was fantastic. I separate the cold water wash from normal wash and send them in separately. We never had a problem. On the form, after checking off what’s in the bag, I write in big letters ‘Cold Water wash- low dryer heat’. I never experienced any problems. (I was going to say shrinkage but Seinfeld fans might take that wrong)

This is so sad. I remember him so well. We were on the 2017 WC, our first one. He set up a little meeting with all those on board who were new. He wanted to make sure we felt comfortable because so many people took them every year and had established relationships, he wanted to make sure we didn't feel left out. I'll never forget that kindness. Rest in peace.

They may have held on to one or two to loan to passengers but I don’t know how they would be plugged into the wall mounted tvs. I couldn’t get my hand back there. I think the tvs in ocean view and inside cabins are free standing however and it might be possible.

We were on the Zaandam last month. All the old tvs were replaced and there no more dvd players. There are plenty of on demand movies available on the new system.