Cruizer Bill

Yes they do and they are as good as ever!!!!

Ship is all tied up and it looks like liquid sunshine is falling......

We were on Zaandam on the South America/Antartica 22 day cruise from late December 2019 to mid January 2020.  We cruised from Buenos Aires to San Antonia (Santiago).  After our cruise, the ship made an identical cruise in reverse and it was successful.  After that, the ship left Buenos Aires again and that is when the COVID outbreak hit and the ship was not allowed to dock anywhere - Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador or Panama.  They had to sail all the way to Fort Lauderdale to disembark passengers!  We were so lucky on our cruise!

We absolutely love the Zaandam and hope it stays with HAL for many years to come.  We were very disappointed to see HAL sell off Amsterdam, the old Rotterdam, the Maasdam and even the Statendam.  We love the smaller ships!  

 I will watch it arrive today, thanks!  

Thanks for the updates!

41 minutes ago, kazu said:

Not sure why people are surprised.  Hawaii doesn’t want visitors right now.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/24/hawaii-travel-covid-hospitals-ige/

We are booked on the 2/2/22 to 2/20/22 Hawaii cruise on the Koningsdam along with a LOT of other Cruise Critic "Regulars".  Sure hope it happens!  We were previously booked on a November 2020 cruise on Koningsdam, identical to the new cruise we are booked for. 

12 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

Bill that does look interesting, however with a circumnavigation of Australia in December we are pretty booked up for 2022. I am glad to see that you have managed to avoid flying thru NL,  many CC’ers don’t like us at the moment! They all seem to (conveniently) forget that Europeans  are not allowed to visit USA either, hope that gets sorted before July.

We also managed to snag a cabin for 2023 to replace the cancelled cruise for 2022 Singapore to Dubai, unbelievable but everything above ocean view is now waitlisted.

No takers for the Copenhagen Boston ? If you have some more time/$ you can also add a 10 days earlier Baltic cruise.

We ended up cancelling our revised September cruise after hearing about the compulsory mask wearing however now we are having second thoughts.
We are at the stage that any cruise will be ok so might be jumping on a last minute NCL one, its a great big ship but the price is right and it gets us out of the house!

Happy planning

Rosalyn

Hi Rosalyn!

I did not fully realize that Europeans are excluded from entering the USA for travel.  I don't blame EU members from reacting to this over-reach!  I wish we were all acting together, it would make much more sense.  Diana and I are not happy with the way the CDC and Fed Government are. handling this pandemic!

We have a lot of cruises planned in the next 8 or 9 months!  We are cruising back to back on the Azamara Quest from Civitavecchia to Trieste (was Venice ) and back on October 9th and 19th.  Then we board the Quest again (if they let us) for a 14 day Caribbean cruise out of Miami on November 26th.

After that, we cruise on the Koningsdam out of San Diego to Hawaii and back for 18 days February 2 to 20.  Then, we are on the American Queen paddlewheeler from Memphis to New Orleans with a Square Dancing group in March.  

And finally, we are doing Back to Back cruises on the Volendam out of Amsterdam May 15 to June 12 going all the way up the west coast of Norway and back and then a loop around the United Kingdom and Ireland, these are two 14 days cruises B2B.  That is the last cruise we have planned so far.  We will see how much we like Azamara and if we do we are looking at doing two more of their cruises B2B September 6, 2022 and September 17, 2022 called "France Intensive", and "Spain Intensive".  Then there is the Windstar cruise we REALLY want to do in November 2022 or Jan/Feb 2023.

Portia - I wanted to let you know what has changed on your upcoming HAL cruise.  We just got off the Nieuw Amsterdam on a 7 day Alaska trip out of Seattle.  The good things about it were the ship was in fantastic shape, the crew was super happy to see us, the ship was only half full so we could go anywhere on the ship and not wait in lines.  That included walking into the Showroom and finding empty seats and no lines in any dining venue.  Also, the piano players at Billboard Onboard were excellent, as was the BB King All Stars.  

Now for the bad stuff, I don't put this up on the main HAL board or the "Cheerleaders" would immediately attack me!  

The food budget keeps getting cut back more and more.....   No lobster in the MDR without a big surcharge, Very few items to choose from at the MDR and the Lido.  Quality is down.  It's like they are forcing you into the specialized dining to get a decent meal.  Breakfast is excellent but other meals are not as good.

As you recall, HAL cut the size of the cocktails back in 2018.  They switched to smaller glasses at the same price.  The drinks became about 25 percent smaller.  It used to be that Happy Hour was 2 for 1, then they made it $1 for the second drink.  Well, not it is full price first drink and 75% price for the second drink.  Not such a great deal!  It does not stop there!  The price for drinks is much higher now.  Drinks used to cost about $7.  Well, now they are $10 plus the 15 recent tip added.  So, if you go to Billboard Onboard or BB King's a drink is $11.50 and it is smaller than back in 2018!  So, they are pushing people to sign up for the Drinks Package.  

Entertainment:  All they have now are the Lincoln Center quartet, the two piano players in Billboard Onboard and the BB King band.  No HALCATs and no House Band.  No singers!  No ballroom dancing.  That means no more musicians in the main Showroom - no more guest singers, guest guitar players, guest piano players or anything that requires a real band behind them.  Instead they just have the dancers and then when they do the BBC Nature film they have the Lincoln Center quartet playing with the movie.  Very sad, big cutbacks!!!

So, the age of cutbacks continues.  Sad to see it happen.  

All for now,

Bill

On 9/7/2021 at 5:10 PM, thecatservant said:

Actually I realized I put up the wrong dates. It’s 1/4/23 so it’s a long ways off!

Portia,

I have my eye on the Windstar Star Pride, sailing November 26, 2022 for 14 days out of San Juan.  Check it out, it goes to tiny ports and has its' own Marina in the back of the ship.  Plus, there are only 312 passengers and all cabins are suites!  

WOW!   The November 18th cruise to Hawaii was SOLD OUT !!!!  

WOW!   The November 18th cruise to Hawaii was SOLD OUT !!!!  

Now you see why we re-routed our flights to go straight from Atlanta to Rome.  We are vaccinated and will take COVID tests within three days of arriving in Rome.  We also have to fill out the EU Digital Passenger Locator Form in advance.  We will be staying in Rome 3 days pre-cruise and then they will test us again as we board the Azamara Quest.  

Thanks for today's update Rich.  I want to see more of HAL's ships put back into service and sailing again!  Wish we could see another ship entering service each week.

On 7/26/2021 at 11:44 AM, thecatservant said:

So we just booked 21 day Caribbean cruise for 1/23 on the Rotterdam. Anyone want to join us?

We would but we previously booked the Koningsdam 18-day Hawaii cruise out of San Diego Feb 2nd to 20th.  

You should be in Glacier Bay right now.  Last week it was dry but overcast.  We actually went through a dense cloud bank of almost zero visibility until 8:50 AM, and then we emerged from the cloud and could see quite well.  It was not a sunny day for us.  Let's hope your weather is better and you see some wildlife and calving glaciers.  

We are not taking any chances.  We just contacted Delta Airlines and moved our flights from Seattle to AMS to FCO over to Seattle to ATL to FCO, bypassing The Netherlands altogether.  They just do not want passengers from the USA right now!  We will be flying back to Amsterdam next May for a cruise on the Volendam but right now, our Azamara cruise from Civitavecchia we will be flying through Atlanta instead.  

I did read that page and it led me this quagmire:

https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/visiting-the-netherlands-from-abroad/checklist-transit-or-short-stay

Checklist transfer/transit in the Netherlands (changing planes)

1. EU entry ban for high-risk areas outside the EU/Schengen area

A European entry ban is in effect for some people, barring them from travelling from a high-risk area to the European Union or the Schengen area.

You may only transit in the Netherlands if:

You are travelling from a safe country/region where the risk of contracting COVID-19 is low.

You will find the lists of safe areas/countries within and outside the EU/Schengen area in the  checklists for entering or returning to the Netherlands from abroad.

You have been fully vaccinated.

The purpose of your trip falls under one of the exemption categories:

 Traveling to a non-EU/Schengen Country - You must prove that you have a connecting flight to a country outside the Schengen area. The connecting flight must depart within 48 hours of your arrival in the Netherlands. You must not leave the airport’s international transit zone in this period. Please note: the United Kingdom (UK) is not part of the EU/Schengen area. 

You are travelling to an EU country/Schengen area country via the Netherlands. You must be able to show you have permission to enter the EU country/Schengen country in question. You can do this with a note verbale from that country’s embassy, for example, or another type of document that proves you can travel there. If you do not have such a document, the Dutch border authorities will determine whether you may travel via the Netherlands. Without a document showing you have permission to enter the EU country/Schengen country in question, you are advised to fly there directly and not via the Netherlands. If you will be making a short stop at a Dutch airport you may need an airport transit visa. Please note: the United Kingdom (UK) is not part of the EU/Schengen area. 

Read more about the EU entry ban and the exemption categories

We are traveling to Rome (Civitavecchia for an Azamara cruise), others on this board will be flying to Venice.  Italy is an EU/Schengen country and does not qualify for exepmption from quarantine unless you have the special visa.  The airport transit visa does not list leisure travel as a choice, only business travel.

So, where are we?  It is clear as mud and looking bad!!!!

I have been reading that Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is now requiring US passengers to quarantine even if they are vaccinated and have a negative COVID test.  This appears to be the case even if you are transiting to another airport such as Venice to catch the Eurodam on October 6th.  If true, this will ruin the travel plans of MANY of us!!!!

The streets and docks are all wet.  Hope it did not put a "damper" on your day!  

Last week we jumped on one of he shuttle buses to Mendenhall park.  Sine we have our National Parks Senior Pass we showed it to the ticket seller and he cut $10off our price from $45 to $35 each.  Once in the park we hiked the Nugget Trailand. I visited the Visitor’s Center.

3 hours ago, atexsix said:

Some quiet time.  The ambassador said we are at 60% but it doesn't feel crowded, I mean I'm actually enjoying the Crow's Nest at the moment.

 

60 percent is not crowded AT ALL!  That is probably what we had and I saw empty seats in some of the BB King concerts and never a line at any eating venue.  You have TONS of space per person, enjoy your good luck right now!  Hope the weather is good for you like it was for us.

It took us all of 10 minutes to check in last week.  Hope the same goes for you.  Have fun!  You will really like the BB King band and the Billboard Onboard piano players.  They are really good!  The crew is so happy to see you and you will have LOTS of room on board your ship.  I am guessing you will have 1400 passengers and 850 crew members.  Personalized service!!!

Today we visited Glacier Bay.  We drove dense cloud bank and then emerged into brilliant sunshine at 8:50 AM.  The mountains and glaciers were fantastic.  So was th Split Pea soup!  We are now on the way to ISP.  No crowds on the ship, we can stand anywhere we want.  Probably 1000 to 1200 pax on board.  It feels great to be on a dam ship again!

It was a beautiful, sunny day today! We went to Mendenhall and hiked the Nugget Falls trail.  Then we hit the Red Dog Saloon.  Bruce - we had an Alaskan Amber for you!  Fun day.  Ship is only half full, empty seats at BB Kings and 75 percent empty in MDR.

We board at 1:40 PM.  Hate to miss lunch!!!

 Thanks for the update Rich.

Today is sail away day for us to Alaska.  One of our friends did not get her test results (negative) back until last night.  We were getting pretty nervous!  Glad it worked out and we hit the seas under sunny skies today!