kiefaber455

I have booked a Panoramic OceanView cabin in October and was worried about noise coming from deck 5 below. Our cabin is 6128 which is near the front bank of elevators. Maybe there are nosier places to be?

23 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

Did any of the red room shows fill to capacity and turn guests away?

21 hours ago, tde1969 said:

 

Was there a special line or reserved seats for Rockstars?  

Not sure anyone got turned away for shows in The Red Room, but they were turned away from shows in The Manor. What really created problems was that Scarlett Night was held in The Red Room instead of up at the pool because of weather concerns. It was way to crowded and noisy. 

I was under the impression that Rockstars had their own concierge entrance, so I can't answer that.

Just got off an 8 day Valiant Lady cruise...every show, except for a show the first night, people had to stand in line 30-40 minutes to get in, and then there was no guarantee that they would have enough seating

Just go off The Valiant Lady today. While I wasn't the oldest, I was up there, and I'm 75. There were walkers and scooters for older passengers and for the not so older passengers. I'm going to guess that the average age was between 45-55. I got to feeling old when we were at Bimini and music I've never even heard of is playing and everyone around me is singing along.

Because they canceled our March cruise, VV gave us a $600 OBC and a $600 bar tab. Pretty sure that VV would have to offer the same incentives again to get me to sail with them again.

There's a lot to really like about VV...the overall size and look of the ship, the hammocks, the crew. I found the entertainment to be good.  Oscar Ornelas was outstanding. The Diva and The Hostess were also good. The shows I didn't like had nothing to do with the quality of the entertainers, I just wasn't a fan of the shows themselves.

There are some shortcomings, however. Who wants to wait in line for 30-45 minutes to see a show. Sea Terrace rooms are adequate, the bathrooms are not. I was expecting the food quality to be much better than it was. The size of the pool is a joke. I was told by a crew member that Valiant Lady's itinerary is going to be the same for the next two years as will Resilient Lady's when she starts sailing out of San Juan. Personally, I like a cruise company that has choice on where to sail.

Glad we tried it.

I assume that the TA you are using is someone local to where you live. I  tend to shop around for TA's on online sites and see who can give me the best prices and most on board credit.

it has worked so far, but what I have found is that once you book a reservation, you very rarely speak with that TA again, if you have an questions or problems, someone else handles whatever issue you have. 

On 3/2/2024 at 11:14 AM, aqlollipop said:

And even if things DO end up sold out, keep checking back because they will add times, and people change their plans and cancel. I was disappointed when I looked at excursions like 3 days after they opened and a few that we were interested in were sold out, but I checked again like a month later and they were back! So I cancelled my back up plan and rebooked.

Assume once you embark, you can check with guest services to see if any excursions have opened up because of cancellations?

Is the only  real reason for purchasing a bar tab from Virgin because of the "extra $ perk"? I assume  if you don't have a bar tab, any drink that is purchased is charged to your account.

Can sailor loot be used to pay for excursions?

Can parking reservations be made at POM parking garages prior to one's arrival or are they only made at off site parking areas like Premier Cruise Parking and Safe Cruise Parking?

Driving to Miami the day before departing on our cruise. Are there any hotels that offer free parking for the duration of one's cruise as long as you stay one night?

Does this have to be booked through the ship, or can it be purchased directly from Golden Eagle when you arrive on St. Marten?

Just got off the Oosterdam yesterday. 

Ship looks old, and really shows its age. Chairs and foot rests on our balcony and many chairs in the dining room and the Lido Grill have seen better days. They'd be hard pressed to sell any of those at a Goodwill store in the condition they are in.

Crew and staff were great. Visited the Gallery Bar for $5 martinis several days and were served by Dindo and Mark...two of the best bartenders I've ever come across.

Depending on your taste, you may not be blown away by their entertainment options. I'm not a big fan of what the Lincoln Center Stage offers, but their musicians were extremely talented. The Dueling Pianos at the Billboard Onboard were painful for me to listen to. The dancers and The Rolling Stone Lounge band, were excellent, however.

To me, food was average at best. Lido Grill and the main dining room served many of the same items each night which I found interesting. 

We booked the cruise because of the intinerary, not because of the ship. We are sailing on the Rotterdam in January...again, booked it because of the intinerary, not because of the ship. Expectations for that cruise are very high beause the Rotterdam is newer. Certainly would not hesitate to switch back to Celebrity again if I need be.

Looking forward to responses. Docking in Trieste on July 16th and have a flight to Philadelphia that is scheduled to leave Venice at 12.15 pm. We've been told by HAL that we should be able to make the flight with no problems.

Does anyone know if there is a site I might be able to access Oosterdam's Daily Activitiy sheet...

you know, the one they put in your cabin each night? 

Sailing from July 2 thru July 16, and would like to make dinner reservations that coincide with showtimes,

or other activities.

Hi, I am also on the 7/2-7/16 cruise. Looking to be proactive and possibly booking excursions thru www.viator.com. Many of their excursions can be booked now and cancelled later should HAL update their offerings.

Of all the ports we were looking forward to going to on our Sunsets and Adriatic Gems cruise, Santorini was #1 on the list.

For some reason, HAL has removed it and replaced it with Nafplion. Has anyone ever been there?

Really disappointed.

On 4/12/2022 at 11:25 AM, gailellen12 said:

What time is your departure flight?  Trying to gauge if my 12:15 flight out of Venice will be doable despite only adding in Trieste that same morning at 6 am. I guess time will tell by some of the earlier cruises. Hope those folks make out ok too

When we were originally scheduled to arrive in Venice, we wanted to book a 12:15 from Venice to Philadelphia on July 16. We were told 2 months ago that there was no guarantee that they could get us to the airport in time. Can't imagine that with disembarking in Trieste anyone is going to be able to get a flight much before 2pm 

On 4/11/2022 at 6:18 PM, Torquer said:

It is now April 11.  Did anybody get any info about transfers from Venice from/to Trieste?  We never even got the original email that the OP posted to this thread so I doubt HAL will be sending us info now.

 

We need to reschedule our flights for our cruise this summer, since it is highly unlikely HAL will be able to get us to the Venice airport for a 12:40 flight, so we need to know what the options are for Trieste.  Looking at flights for return to US from Trieste, is not looking good; there are very few options and none of them are really good.  So we will probably fly home from Venice, but we need to get there from Trieste at a time that works.

 

I just pity the people that are on a cruise in early May that have to deal with these last minute changes.  At least we have more time for our August cruise.

Our cruise was supposed to end in Venice July 16th. We wanted a flight back to the states that left Venice at 12:15. We were told by HAL that  there was almost no chance of getting to the airport in time to get that flight, so I doubt that anyone will get to Venice from Trieste for a 12:40 flight, even if we get off the ship at 6:00 am like they are reporting.

I spoke to my travel agent on Good Friday, and HAL will be rebooking for quite awhile.

The reason to go east for us, is because we'd like to tour Europe after disembarkation and figure the weather would be better in May to do that.

My wife and I are hoping to do a Transatlantic cruise in April of 2018. We have cruised many times but have never done this itinerary. Our choices are Serenade of the Seas, or Zuiderdam, which I understand is getting a makeover in October.

Both begin in Fort Lauderdale and end in Copenhagen, a couple of extra port days on the Zuiderdam, cost is comparable.

We did a Baltic trip two years ago on HAL, but it has been many years since we've sailed on RCCL. Would appreciate to hear from anyone who has been on either of these cruises.

I know that they have done it with their other ships, but I can't believe that in a 12 day span of time, they are able to complete their renovations.

We booked our air thru Viking leaving from Ft. Myers Fl. on 10/4. There are 6 of us traveling as a group and we all paid the $50 extra fee. We fly from here to Chicago and then Chicago to Amsterdam. We can live with that, because we figured we were going to have to leave from Atlanta, NY or some other place on the east coast. Chicago to Amsterdam is a little over 8 hrs, so that's not terrible.

The nightmare is our return flight. Budapest to Frankfort, okay. But then we fly from Frankfort to Houston, 11 1/2 hrs. We by pass every hub on the east coast. Hope my sleeping pills work

I was just told today by someone at Insuremytrip.com that your destination should be the last port you are in before returning to the US.

Anyone know how long it takes to get from the port in Amsterdam to the airport there and then the port in Copenhagen to the airport there. Looking at two Scandinavia and Russian cruise, one on the Constellation and the other on the Eurodam.

Thanks for any info.