cruiseaholic78

Here is an example, KLM used to offer Economy, Economy Comfort and Business. With an introduction to newer seating they now also offer Premium Comfort this is a totally different experience than Economy comfort which only offered a little extra legroom and recline. It is really an offer which is also pricewise and comfort somewhere in the middle of the two. Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand among others also offer a similar product and to us all of these are a really good alternative if business is not in your budget. As others have said check on F.E. what you would like to book and see on the airline what they are really offering. https://www.klm.co.uk/information/travel-class-extra-options/premium-comfort-class-seats

Same here our Caribbean/part Panama cruise from Boston, October, Zuiderdam has a completely different itinerary for the second part of our cruise. We don’t mind that much as we have done a complete Panama in the past however quite a lot of people are canceling. Because of cancellations I was able to change to my favorite cabin so I am happy.

This is a great website for worldwide cruise ship calendars/port info/excursion info etc. I use it all the time. https://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruises-from-fort-lauderdale-florida.html Happy planning

The MDR was not open for lunch on the Westerdam in October, after being told to go to the Lido I even went to check myself. Taking above comments into consideration it seems that embarkation lunch is not handled the same on all the ships.

I just saw the title was just looking for a plan not looking for tips, maybe you will change your mind to anytime dining.

If you decide to stay on this amazing cruise please join ua on the rollcall. Rosalyn

On the Westerdam in October and we were seated once on the upper level which is (usually) for fixed dining. I think this was on an extremely late stay so they decided to send some people upstairs to keep all the waiters busy! We didn’t like it at all, we were seated at a table for six, just the two of us, right in a corner and we found it much noisier than the lower level. Rosalyn

Our partial Canal for next October roundtrip Boston has just been revised and the ports afterwards all changed. Many are canceling as they had booked to see the Canal and had already visited many of the Islands on the new itinerary. As we have already been through the P.C. previously and not visited some of the new ports we are not that bothered. We also got a great price reduction the day before the announcement so I did wonder if this was going to happen.

So this does actually happen, I have seen it in quite a few films but thought it was exaggerated as they have about twenty Christmas trees and a container full of decorations in each house.

I have not yet received this from HAL but someone posted the changes on our roll call. If I go to manage my booking the map has not changed but the itinerary has. I booked my flights on Friday and in The Netherlands our rules regarding changes/cancellations are not as easy, I could change to another cruise but the shorter/cheaper flights were also an incentive to book this one. That said when I saw the prices had changed I had a suspicion that we might lose the Panama partial but as I was able to reprice I was not too sad. You might want to check your price as well I lost the premium part of the HIA but the $200 OBC each is more than enough to compensate. Rosalyn

Well I managed to book my flights today Amsterdam JFK and Boston to Amsterdam Mint seats direct flights at about half the price of KLM. This is for travel October November 2024. I am pleased with this result, so no problems taking off/landing at Schiphol next year.

We are booked on the previous cruise which does a round trip Boston and visits the Caribbean, Panama canal partial and Port Canaveral. As we have just returned from Westerdam we know what to expect. For us an added bonus was shorter and cheaper flights from Amsterdam.

We have actually done this on Oceania, it was in Bangkok a few years ago, to be absolutely sure before booking flights we contacted Oceania and got written confirmation it was allowed. We disembarked the afternoon on our arrival day. By the way when/if taking a taxi to the airport discuss the fare first. We were on the highway to the airport when our driver took a turning went through loads of backstreets before finally arriving there. Needless to say our fare was way more than it should have been. Rosalyn

Great thanks, yeah I remember that now live in The Netherlands but grew up in the UK, thought it could be Nami Sushi but to be honest never went there or looked at it. Judging by your fotos will definitely give it a try.

That looks amazing but I can’t work out where you had this, it looks totally Tamarind (scoofy? I have no idea please enlighten me) but you had dinner in C.O. Love review and looking forward to try some of your ideas and cocktails, luckily we will have two weeks for this!

On our Westerdam cruise last month we had fruit/rhubarb/apple/mango/berry crisp ( crumble) nearly every day in the MDR. (always on the menu) DH always had it with ice cream but I always ordered it with vanilla sauce which was not on the menu but they always managed to get it for me. I never saw any in the Lido but they always seemed to have some sort of bread and butter pudding. Just checked on Navigator and Strawberry crisp is actually shown on the dinner menu !

There’s always someone willing to take their Elliott with them! https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350114728/cruising-cat-whisked-custody-after-being-smuggled-ship

To me it seems as though each ship doe nit have the same offers, we just returned from the Westerdam and had a “Brunch” for everyone, no embarkation lunch in the MDR and tiles. There was also a Mariners reception.

We are following the Jet Blue Schiphol story as we are really hoping to be able to book flights roundtrip Amsterdam Boston October/November 2024. They fly direct and are a lot cheaper than KLM/Delta/Air France who have had the monopoly until now. I thought it had been settled when J B threatened legal action in US but it looks as though it might still be difficult. https://nltimes.nl/2023/11/15/jetblue-may-still-lose-schiphol-airport-slots-despite-halt-downsizing-plans Still hoping it will be possible but return flights are (still) only bookable until 30th October!

The Zuiderdam does two one round trip Caribbean in October and one from Boston to Fort Lauderdale in November on the Zuiderdam.

Just off the Westerdam, some cruises to Asia include some meals in the “Tamarind” which is really a partitioned part of the Lido restaurant in disguise. We booked our (fHIA) Canaletto reservations and it was the first time we have eaten there. We found it is lacking in ambiance/atmosphere and the menu didn’t appeal that much they no longer have alternating specials. We definitely wouldn’t chose this again unless Tamarind was offered as part of the HIA because their menu would be worth it to us. (despite the atmosphere) We felt that the Pinnacle restaurant was really in a different class not only with the actual restaurant but also with the staff.

We are just off the Westerdam and we also had a cabin with shower only, this was one of the reasons for choosing this cabin as we hate stepping into a bath. The cabins/showers are not as luxury as on the Pinnacle ships but I imagine itinerary is more important than the ship. You can check some more info on HAL facts website which is a fantastic source of information. Happy planning https://halfacts.com/4172-noordam/

Just returned from the Westerdam and paid $100 for 28 days, DH said it was much quicker. The only problem we had was in Hong Kong where apparently there is a some sort of blocker by guess who. As we were already on board it didn’t matter but for those embarking there was a huge line at the service counter until they posted the “problem” on Navigator.

Any crisp/crumble in the MDR except banana. I always ask for vanilla sauce instead of ice cream.

On the Westerdam last week, was there for tea (really) and it looked as though they were just setting this up. They all looked great.