trk_koa

We had a future dam deposit for a Grand South America 2024 but it’s now showing on our account as this Grand Australia itinerary. I had requested a balcony at the time and they had me choose categories that are on compass dams. So I chose VB. I had assumed a GSA would be Volendam and asked for a CA cabin, but that wasn’t allowed. 
 

Anyhow. So now I have an actual booking number and it’s this Volendam cruise and shows a category A cabin on deck 6. I opened up the “Make a payment” to find out what they are charging. This midship Vista Suite is over $104K USD for two.  Holy smokes! That’s more than our Signature Suite for the 2023 GWV. 

Thank you, David. This is very helpful. 

We have booked a RT San Diego on Koningsdam followed by a RT on Zuiderdam. Koningsdam arrives on the morning of April 3 and Zuiderdam leaves at 5 pm that same day. 
 

We’ve heard that the first ship will aid us in getting our Covid test for the second one. Is there something we need to do to make sure HAL knows we are doing this before we embark on the first cruise? Or just inform guest services when we get on?

Does anyone have any details on how the transition to the other ship is handled? Do they do anything special to help? Like can we drop our bags for the Zuiderdam or do we need to hang onto them until our boarding time?

Any clarifying details would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Nancy

I believe the mariner cocktail is sparkling wine and elderflower. My sister had one on three occasions, two were from Ocean Bar and one from Crows Nest on Koningsdam and all three were made slightly differently and tasted different. So not sure of the exact recipe. 

Just boarded a Koningsdam on December 12 and, indeed, the slots are gone from the Ocean Bar. We had a nice drink there last evening before dinner. 

As soon as I completed a booking online last Saturday, I requested via email for a last minute cruise the next weekend. I got an almost immediate email response saying it was being processed. I didn’t hear anything by Thursday so I forwarded it back with a polite request for an update as we are sailing in three days. Friday morning, I got the confirmation email. I wasn’t sure if booking last minute would still work out, but it did and we are good to go with our OBC. 

Security check was the hold up for us when we boarded on November 14. We arrived about 5 minutes after our assigned time of 1:40. There was only one metal detector open and two baggage x-ray. By the time we got through the passport and vac check part (that wasn’t fast either as that line was snaked almost to the door) and we got in line for the security checkpoint, one x-ray became dedicated to crew returning to the ship. So now only one x-ray and shared the metal detector with the crew line. It took a very long time. Just as we got almost to our turn at the metal detector, they opened another one and things started moving better again. 
 

 Once we got past that, it was easy peasy. 

I haven’t been able to log in at all this morning. So their website is not currently stable IMO

I know, right? We were surprised.  We were asked to park on one of the top two levels and to make sure to have a printed copy of the parking reservation. We were able to print that at the lobby of our hotel before DH left to go park. 

We stayed at the Residence Inn Bayfront but their parking for cruise passengers was sold out. The valet there told us about www.airportparkingconnection.com that covers numerous options. We found that the Manchester Grand Hyatt had parking available in their garage for $6 per day. It was about a fifteen minute walk from the pier. Covered and secure. 
 

ETA we were going to park at the airport for $20 a day and just Uber, but were able to cancel that and book the Hyatt the day before our cruise. 

Check YouTube. There is a video for Oosterdam that literally says “don’t get this stateroom” about 8087 and lido noise.

2023 GWV on Zuiderdam dropped Bora Bora and added HuaHini.

1 hour ago, 12cruise2 said:

600 minutes of free internet for starters. . .for elite, liquor (or wine) set up in the room at the start of each cruise (or segment), hors d'oevres in your cabin every gala night--point is, they are actually giving you something without expecting you to buy anything in return--and this is for all categories of cabin bookings--what you get is based on your level.

Princess website no longer mentions any free Wi-Fi for elite. There’s a 50% off medallion net package starting at platinum level. This appears to be as of July 2021. The other stuff still seems to be there though. 

Had a conference call with our travel companions and we have all decided to cancel Alaska for September. So much uncertainty makes it no longer fun to anticipate the cruise. I might feel a little bit better about it if HAL were more forthcoming about the yellow status and what really is going on with positive cases. I’m letting our aft-facing balcony on deck six go ☹️
 

I guess we will keep our flights until the last minute. Maybe if six weeks from now, things are looking better, we could re-book. 

We recently saw an episode of Andrew Zimmern’s Delicious Destinations that featured Sitka. It first aired in January 2021, so I’m not sure when it was filmed. 
 

I took notes (disclaimer: we’ve never eaten at any of these places). Here’s the recommendations from the show:

Salmon: Ludwig’s Bistro

Halibut fish n chips: Baranof Fish Market

Dungeness crab: Halibut Point Crab n Chowder

Black cod tips: Ashmo’s

Let us know where you end up for lunch and if you’d recommend. We’ll be there in September. 

14 hours ago, jhoice said:

Question, about Juneau, what ship if any was there while you were in port?  We have a small group whale watching excursion booked thru COSTCO.  Hoping it will be just HAL folks?  

If you google “ships in port schedule”, there are sites that will tell you what other ships are in port the same day you are there. I looked up our Sitka date in September and it looks like NA will be the only cruise ship that day. 

7 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

When some one answers , ask if this   is the World Cruise department . SOMETIMES other  departments handle the over flow of calls.

M-F only 

Thank you both.

We are all set. I was able to use a couple of our bonus gift cards from a previous gift card promo for the placeholder deposit. Woohoo. 

3 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

When some one answers , ask if this   is the World Cruise department . SOMETIMES other  departments handle the over flow of calls.

M-F only 

Thank you both

Can someone tell me how to get in touch with the world cruise desk? I tried just calling the regular HAL toll free number and after being on hold for an hour, I gave up. Is there a special number to call that would be more direct?

We are booked for 2023 GWV and want to out down the deposit for 2024. 

On 6/16/2021 at 11:06 AM, TeaBag said:

I think you can ask cruise critic to change it by removing the underscore.

Thanks. I might do that. 

Mine’s the combination of the airport identifiers of two of my favorite places I used to live. TRK is Truckee, CA and KOA is Kona.

I do wish I hadn’t used the underscore. It’s a pain to type on an iPad. 

We cancelled this morning. The cost of our cruise protection package is deducted and forfeited according to the rep. We had the standard protection and are within the 50% fee timeframe. 
 

We received a cancellation receipt via email showing the Cancellation fee that was 10% of our base fare plus the cruise protection charges. She said it could take 10-14 days to process the FCC but that the FCC would only be for the percentage of the fare. Until we get the FCC email, I guess we won’t know for sure. 
 

I know. Clear as mud. 

We only have one AmEx card so I have added the offer to it. If I spend $500 twice, would it do the $100 credit twice?  
 

We’ve already paid for the cruise, but have excursions and cruise enhancements to buy yet. 

We got an up-sell email 4 weeks out to go from SS to Neptune for $539 USD per person. We declined. 

On 9/16/2019 at 9:53 AM, philliesgirl48 said:

Anyone who has cruised to Croatia, is it true that they don’t accept dollars, euros or credit cards. Will be going next month & wondering should I get kuna before I leave. 

The only thing we needed kuna for was public restrooms. They were not free but only took coins so we had to ask a local to change a bill to get the necessary coins.