Cruiz'nBaers

Call me skeptical, but what kind of service dog is put in a stroller?

We did in 2022, up to 2 devices. My husband and I each used our iPhones, we just had to make sure we weren’t on at the same time. Worked great for email and browsing the internet, even with the premium internet, it was not good enough to download books, that was before Starlink.

I read on one of the new bar menus that Grey Goose was $11, why charge $12 for the martini? Seems a bit greedy to me.

I’m just curious, can you choose to have your favorite mixed drink made with rail liquor to keep the cost at or below the the $11. I like lemon drop martinis and make them at home using Smirnoff vodka, they taste pretty good to me.

I know this has probably been asked many times before, but, please indulge me. I am trying to book a flight on our preferred airline for a return trip home after our cruise from San Diego. Is 10:25AM too early to comfortably catch? It is the only direct flight that would get us home before 11:30PM. Thanks for your help.

Much to my husband’s disappointment, escargot is not offered nightly on HAL. He loves this option on Celebrity. We cruise both of these lines frequently, so he manages to get his escargot quite often. If we are on HAL, I always order the escargot when it is on the menu, then give it to him, true love. The last Celebrity cruise we were on in February 2022, he ordered it every evening.

I agree with all that these small towns are quite walkable on your own, we do both. The guided walking tours give us a lot more information than we would gather on our own. Walking on our own after the tour gives us a bit more familiarity with the town and we are able to linger longer where we might want to. We always try to end our visits with a stop for some local flavor, usually a local beer and snack. The worst black flies we encountered last year were in Red Bay, Labrador.

I know that some drink prices have gone up, I am wondering if our favorite drinks are still covered by the SBP. Mine is a Lemon Drop martini and dh loves Espresso martinis. Thanks.

Not a fan of the new menu. We loved the seafood soup for a starter. The menu looks bit “meh” to me. And as far as supply chain issues, I’m really tired of hearing this excuse. I think it’s more of an order issue (as in not ordering enough of the items, my opinion).

I would be interested in either of these itineraries, but November is not very appealing to us.

We loved the Crow’s Nest on the Zaandam in the summer of 2022. It was our favorite place for before dinner and after show cocktails. It was quite a busy place. On the Nieuw Amsterdam in the fall of 2021, it was more coffee shop than bar, not the same fun place as before. If HAL would put just a little bit of entertainment up there, all of the Crow’s Nests would be hopping in the evenings. Oh well, chaulk up another change for the worse to corporate.

LAFFNVEGAS, thank you for this thoughtful review. We were on the 2022 VOV on the Zaandam and experienced many of the problems you mentioned. While we had a wonderful cruise, going to amazing destinations, we felt the onboard experience was less than stellar. We have been cruising HAL since 2003, 12 cruises and 4 star status. We also cruise other lines, so have firsthand knowledge of what is offered and provided by other companies. We ran into deep cuts in the quality of the food service and staff shortages. Beverage shortages were common at the bars. We heard the excuses of supply chain issues and being unable to hire the staff needed. We listened, but, were never convinced with the answers, we had our skepticism. We haven’t sworn off HAL, in fact, we are going on a 35 day Hawaii and Tahiti cruise this coming winter. That cruise may influence how much we sail with this line in the future. We love the longer itineraries to unique places, not offered on other lines. But, there are other options to see these same places. I have posted in the past the old adage “you have to spend money to make money”, HAL does not seem familiar with that concept. We are always blown away by our experience on Celebrity, but, have only cruised on them for 10-11 days in the Caribbean to get away from winter. We will probably branch out with them to do some European cruises. We do love the round trip from the US cruises that HAL offers, but will have low onboard expectations when doing one. Thank you, again, for your thoughtful and balanced post.

I think it all depends on the ship. We cruised with family several years ago on the Westerdam and needed a table for 8, it was not a problem. If I go as a group, I like to sit together at one table, if not, it still feels like 2 separate tables and groups, not as a single party. My experience and opinion.

We were on the Zaandam for the 35 day on the Voyage of the Vikings in 2022. While music may be finished by somewhere around 11, many nights we spent until well after midnight in the Crow’s Nest socializing with our new friends. The bartender and staff there were very friendly and accommodating. Other bars were also friendly and welcoming to passengers, we spent time there as well, but the Crow’s Nest was definitely our favorite. We also had nights when we were in bed by 11 due to early morning shore excursions. While at home, we are early to bed, 10pm most nights, but when on vacation we like to break out of the norm and experience it all. We are in our 70’s, so while not young, still young at heart. While there are many on HAL who are in their cabins by 10pm, there are still many out and about. Enjoy your cruise.

We love Celebrity, but have sailed HAL quite often. HAL is great for longer and more immersive itineraries, for example, the VOV we did last summer. On HAL you pretty much have to entertain yourself during the day. Food, atmosphere, entertainment and music on Celebrity are far superior in my opinion and experience, but again, Celebrity costs more. I can’t imagine what the price of the VOV would have been on Celebrity. We have a cruise booked on the Koningsdam in February to Hawaii and the South Pacific for 35 days and will go knowing what to expect and know that the destination is the key. On Celebrity, we cruise for shorter durations and enjoy the ship experience and the destinations. These are just my observations.

I always bring a traveling pharmacy along on all of our trips. Best to be prepared.

We were on the Zandamm last July and August for 35 days and found the good not so good, either. MDR service was slow and most meals were subpar in quality of ingredients, often overcooked or dried out, I had a steak from the available every night option and it was not at all edible. One night I ordered the extra cost steak and lobster, it was very good, but I believe I paid $30 for it. Lido was ok, but the selection was repetitive, dive in was ok, Caneletto and Pinnacle Grill were good. I, for one, agree with you.

We don’t expect to be fawned over. We have always used fresh towels and wash cloths at home, I expect to do the same on vacation. Bedding change every 5 days is fine. We always try to keep our cabin tidy so our room stewards have a simple time when servicing our room. We do not require nighttime turn down service, but like ice in the evening. We have never had a problem with this, and don’t think that we are expecting unreasonable service. We always have tipped over the hotel service charges, not because we feel obligated, but because we want to. As with everyone, we have had some great stewards, only one time did we have one that was a bit too lax.

My husband and I have been saying all along that we don’t buy the staff shortages being a result of availability of crew. We have felt that this has been HAL’s choice all along. We have been on 3 sailings since startup, 2 on HAL and 1 on Celebrity, Celebrity had plenty of staff. We did have long waits in the dining room, that had to do with having a poor head waiter, he did not get a glowing review from us. Pretty sure HAL has opted to remain short staffed by intent.

We sailed the Nieuw Amsterdam in October of 2021, it was a fine ship. If you have been on the Eurodam, she is a sister ship. We are sailing on the Koningsdam in February of 2024, it will be our first GDC ship. While we are looking forward to trying it out, we would not pick a cruise based on a ship having it, just an extra perk.

I always bring my own hair care products. I find Elemis shampoo very drying, leaving my hair feeling brittle. I don’t care for the conditioner either. The body lotion is not very creamy or moisturizing. This is my experience.

We have used the emed test several times pre cruise. We watched a couple of instructional videos on YouTube to help us figure it all out, I would recommend you do this as well.

I have finally caught up on the entire thread, and, my oh my how it has changed. (But then, they always do.). I have opinions on all things HAL. We cruised for the first time in 2003 on the Zuiderdam, when it was almost brand new, I remember well the Northern Lights Disco. We fell in love with cruising and HAL on one of those “7 day bus trips” to the Caribbean. We were still in our early 50’s and working, so 7 day itineraries worked well for us, we could fly into Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday and return home on a Saturday, allowing Sunday for laundry and getting ready to return to work. We were amazed at how wonderful a cruise vacation was. Marvelous food, served by attentive staff, pampering pool and bar personnel and fantastic entertainment, complete with singers and dancers in production shows and unique guests performers. Not one show was a HAL origin story (while interesting, more of a morning or afternoon talk) or a BBC Earth movie. We enjoyed ourselves, chatting with new found friends until after midnight (gasp) in the Crow’s Nest or the Piano Bar. Word of mouth is the best and cheapest advertisement any company can get, and boy, did we give HAL plenty of free advertisement. We still enjoy cruising on HAL, we tried Royal Caribbean and had a fun cruise, but it was not for us. We tried Celebrity and love it. But for longer cruises (since we’re now 69 and 71 and retired) we prefer HAL. However, we steal ourselves for the less than 2003 and 2004 experience we had in the beginning of our cruise journey. Our last cruise was the 2022 VOV for 35 days on the Zaandam. While overall the cruise was amazing, that had to do more with the amazing places we saw and the new friends we made, rather than the ship experience. We did have a bit of after midnight (gasp) fun in several of the bars, but the entertainment was lackluster. The guest speakers in the theater in the morning and early afternoon were very good, but aside from them, passengers were pretty much on their own in finding something to do on sea days. I know that food is subjective, but there again, a bit underwhelming. The dining staff was way overwhelmed, as were the bar staff. I often wondered about the “lack of availability” in hiring more workers, my cynical self thinks HAL, along with other lines, is purposely understaffing their ships, thinking we are all expecting it after the pandemic. All of the Philippine and Indonesian staff I spoke with have very strong work ethics. My thoughts are (and my husband was self employed) is that businesses have to spend money to make money. Their goal should be to have every passenger who leaves their ships to be raving about the experience they had to every friend and family member. As I said earlier, word of mouth is the cheapest and best advertising any company can get. My opinion only, take it or leave it. Thank you for reading,

We were very fortunate on the 2022 VOV, we were able to cruise through the sound both going over and returning. A most memorable cruise.

What about those of us that stay up a bit later?