TourGypsy

12 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Should be non-Schengen. Personally, I would be wary of planning stays too close to the 90/180 day rule when cruising.

Sea days between two Schengen ports are included as stays in the Schengen area, while sea days before and after Schengen ports do not count.

According to the Schengen Borders Code, "The travel documents of third-country nationals shall be systematically stamped on entry and exit."  and “Checks on ships shall be carried out at the port of arrival or departure”.

When the ship actually 'stamps passports' may very well vary in relation to arrival / exit from the Schengen area.
 

 

OK, that gives a few more options.  I was thinking I was at 87, but considering the above, it would be 82.  Thank you.

This is my question.  I know that if I leave the Schengen area for however many days, that time in non-Schengen areas doesn't count.  But what about a sea day that is between a Schengen and a non-Schengen country.   ie: sailing from Spain to England.  Are the sea days Schengen or non-Schengen?

2 minutes ago, Reagan0712 said:

Yes it will. I am one of those booked on a 2022 Land-Sea in June and there was not an overabundance of cabins available when I booked my cruise several months ago.

I am as well - but in August.  And there weren't very many cabins on my cruise either.

1 minute ago, madera1 said:

I am glad they made the decision this far out. Ours is paid in full. Wonder if they will put us in same cabin if they have automatically moved our booking to a 2022 sailing?

They already have folks booked on the 2022 cruises, so it will be interesting to see how they do this.

Many of the taxis in HK are radio equipped, particularly those working the midnight shift. Ask your ship or the terminal staff to call one for you. Allow 15 minutes, there should always be someone to respond to the call and drive to the Terminal. The extra fee for a radio call order is HK$5, or about US$0.7. You need to pay the whole fare in HK$ cash. The entire trip will be about HK$300, including toll and luggage.

Thank you so much. That's so good to know.

I have an early morning flight on the SECOND day of my ship's stay in port. I think I will have to leave about 4am. Do you know if taxis are available at that time of morning?

Hi Venture;

 

AMDM:

Capt Jonathan Mercer

SC Thomas van Benthem

HD Henk Mensink

DRM Donny Dharmawan

PGM I Ketut de Ariya aka "Ari"

 

 

Will the crew change for the Grand Asia?

If I'm not mistaken I believe I'm the first review of the ship and I'm 3*

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Sorry. I didn't mean there were none. :) I appreciate the reviews of those who sail HAL a lot. Better able to compare the larger ship to those I know. Thanks.

I've already commented about our July adventures on the K'dam earlier in this thread, so I'm not going to rehash them again. However, I will say this, I am very sure you will have a great time on your upcoming K'dam cruise if you remember one thing. Don't pay any attention to anything anybody including me has complained about since the K'dam set sail back in April! This is by far the largest ship in HAL's fleet and they definitely have been dealing with some growing pains. However, I'm sure with every cruise, the officers have made small adjustments from the lessons learned from the previous cruises and over time will find what works best and eventually make the K'dam a truly wonderful cruise ship to sail on. Who knows, they may have already reached that point.

 

So, look forward to immensely enjoying your cruise and if I can make one suggestion, if you will be cruising 10 or more days on her, check out the unlimited laundry option. It's reality cheap on the larger scale of things and who wants to even think about doing laundry while on vacation anyway!

Thanks for your thoughts. Laundry isn't a issue - I'm 5*.

 

I would love to find reviews of the Koningsdam ONLY from dedicated HAL mariners - like 3* or above. Or even the ability to sort by past experience. It would give a better standard of comparison with the other ships. Anyone find one of those yet???

Awww, thanks :) :). Very kind of you.

 

You could always add the Rotterdam on March 30th next year to your list ;)

I'll keep that in mind. There might be some last minute sales. Would love to see you again.

Only 3 Judy??? NICE :). I'm happy to add those all for you :)

 

Pretty sure I know the years, but I'll do a double check ;)

 

Hope to see you on board sometime too, but the Grands are not yet on our agenda, sadly.

Sorry, Jacqui. Let me make this easier.

12/14/2016

10/1/2017

3/12/2018

Hi Jacqui. I haven't touched base in a long time. Hope you are well and cruising often.

I only have three booked cruises..... at least at this moment.

Koningsdam - 12/14 - 9-day Caribbean

Amsterdam - 10/1 - 80-day Grand Asia

Prinsendam - 3/12 - 54-day Grand Med & Africa

Hope to see you onboard somewhere.

 

Crew:

I was surprised how many crew members learned our names, especially given the size of the ship. Admittedly, we do have a VERY easy last name for them to remember, but they were also good with our first names too. There were several crew members who learned my daughter's name because they missed their little girls. I expected good service, but never in a million years would I have expected the guy at the omelet station to call us by name each morning.]

 

 

Any chance your omelet maker was Neal? I know he's on the ship and am looking forward to seeing him again. It is so nice to get that warm greeting each morning.

The mandatory 48 hours of touch-free dining has been gone on my last two cruises - and they were different HAL ships. I think they've discovered that it doesn't make any difference to the incidents of Norovirus.

Hi Jacqui. Just found this board. Great idea to keep track of folks.

Here are my booked cruises........ so far.

16 March 2015 14 Day Asian Adventure - Volendam

30 March 2015 45 Day Far East & North Pacific Crossing - Volendam

24 August 2015 11 Day Adriatic Dream - Zuiderdam

11 March 2016 55 Day Grand Mediterranean - Prinsendam

Hope to see you on a cruise soon.

Judy

I have a question. When you say promenade deck I thought you were referring to the fact that it won't go all the way around, but do you mean there will be NO deck to go out on and lean on the rail? Please say it isn't so....

From the photo, it looks like you can still walk around the deck but seeing anything out a sea while you do so will be difficult. They've blocked the view with the lifeboats. RCCL's Oasis of the Seas has done this and it's almost like walking on a closed-in deck. Won't be my favorite......

See blog @ tourgypsy.WordPress.com. I'm still traveling so access to CC is limited.

I just finished 5 weeks on Rickmer's Singapore, and what a fabulous trip. If you like peace and quiet, reading or puzzles, a chair on deck watching the seas.... well, you can't do better than booking a freighter trip. I'm now looking for a time to do more such travel.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.:D

The ship is now Rickmer's Singapore - but I'm finally going. :D

The Singapore arrives in Houston on Wednesday, July 2nd and I will be boarding the following afternoon. I don't even know what to anticipate which is a strange situation for me. But I'm excited to begin the journey. I will be onboard just short of 40 days, with expected docking in 6 intermediate ports.

Let the adventure begin. :cool:

Judy

I've never known them to do that for the mariners lunch but stranger things have happened. I don't think I'll bother with this lunch either on my upcoming Westerdam cruise even though I'll be getting my 300 day medal on this one.

They'll send it to your cabin anyway, but you'll miss your photo with the captain. :D

How nice of you to do that!:) It actually all looks good to me and made me feel hungry.

I may be mistaken, but this looks particularly "Caribbean" in focus. Could it be targeted to ships in that area? Although, I was on the Eurodam in the Caribbean last month and they had the old traditional menu at the Mariner Luncheon. :confused:

Can you post the menu or give highlights?

Enjoying your review.

The menu is on the website HALfacts.com.

I'm really enjoying your blog, Jacqui. Thanks for taking all this time to keep the "landbound" informed.

I'm intrigued by tuxedos at the Mariner luncheon. I've never experienced that before. Something new?? Was formal dress requested?

Judy

Open seating usually starts at 5:30. Not sure how late it runs.

On my last cruise, the final open seating was 8:30pm.