jolly_cruiser

Our firar cruise was back in 2004 on the Sapphire princess to Alaska ( third voyage on that ship i believe )  i had never considered a cruise before and my wife of 2 years at the time convinced me to try it. Have been on 10 since and plan to do a lot more. Cruising has become our preferred mode of a vacation now, even though we do several land vacations as well. Our daughter who is 12 now is addicted with cruising now as well which is a bonus.

Cheers.

We just got off the edge and there was only one on show on the last day. Not sure if the shows were different the other days!

2 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I recommend Blue Lagoon.  Your daughter will have fun walking around to see dolphins, stingrays, sea turtles were there 2 years ago.  It's a fun island.  You can explore the nature area as well as swim in the lagoon, float on inner tubes, other water toys and relax on lounge chairs all provided with your excursion and they serve lunch (may be included in your excursion).

If your sailing has stingray excursion that is usually the cheapest option to get on the ferry to get to the island.  

Thank you so much. This is what we have as out top options based on responses here and other research.

9 hours ago, lovrccl said:

On Edge with 1200 guests! So far so good.

We are on Edge next week. Looking forward to it. Enjoy your cruise. 

6 hours ago, mets123 said:

Try Adrasta Gardens with the flamingos marching in formation. See their web site for details.

Looks interesting. Thank you.

1 hour ago, twins_to_alaska said:

Not ship excursion but you might enjoy day pass to Margaritaville Beach Club with the beach, pools, and waterpark. resortpass has shorter cancellation (night before online or morning of email I believe) than resortforaday website. It doesn't include food/drink but can purchase $$ there or walk elsewhere. I verified with resort I can leave/return if I want to try fish fry for lunch.

Thank you. This is useful information.

We are going to be in Nassau next week for the first time. We are looking at shore excursion options and seems like there are only a few options. 

Does anybody have a recommendation based on the options below for first time visitors to Nassau?

For context we are open to doing anything and it is a family of 3 ( 2 adults in our 40's with our daughter who is 12 )

The main options seem to be - 

1. Atlantis Aquaventure

2. Blue Lagoon Island tours.

3. Nassau Tours

4. Any other options?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

On 2/14/2022 at 4:47 PM, misterkevin said:

My cruise is scheduled early March, and Celebrity just sent this email.

 

ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS
 
Dear Guest,

We look forward to welcoming you aboard for your upcoming Celebrity Cruises vacation. Before we set sail, we have some important information to share regarding our Health and Safety Protocols.

Vaccines
Celebrity Cruises will require guests 12 years of age and older, to be fully vaccinated with all initial doses administered at least 14 days prior to sailing. We highly recommend guests ages 5 to 11 are also vaccinated.

Guests with a mixed series of any two of the following vaccines taken within a minimum of 28 days between doses, will also be considered fully vaccinated: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sinopharm or Covaxin. Youths who have received one dose of a vaccine (other than Johnson & Johnson) will not be considered fully vaccinated. COVID-19 Booster Vaccine shots are not currently required to sail on Celebrity Cruises.

Pre-Cruise Testing
For sailings departing the U.S. through March 31, 2022, all vaccinated guests are required to present a negative COVID-19 test at the time of embarkation. This test may be taken as either as an Antigen or PCR test, conducted within two days of boarding the ship. Each guest is responsible for making their own arrangements with an accredited testing provider as well as covering all associated costs.

Unvaccinated children between the ages of two and eleven years old will be required to bring a negative PCR test conducted within three days of boarding. These guests will be provided an additional Antigen test at the terminal prior to embarkation as well as on the day before disembarkation. A registration link for required testing at the terminal will be sent separately. Please note, unvaccinated guests cannot be tested twice in one day as it may affect the accuracy of their test results, therefore the COVID-19 test required before arriving at the terminal cannot be taken on boarding day.

Convenient Testing Options
Monitored Self-Test Kit - Abbott BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card:
Approved Self-Test Kits are available for order pre-cruise for fully vaccinated guests. Complete your pre-cruise test kit at home or any place of your choosing with the help of live video supervision by a Certified Guide. Your results will be ready in 15 minutes. ORDER HERE

Concierge Testing Service:
In partnership with Bio-reference a concierge testing option is also available. Bio-reference will send a qualified medical technician to your home, office, hotel, or any place you choose, to perform the test. Your results will be ready in about 48 hours. RESERVE HERE

Guests arriving at the terminal without a negative COVID-19 test result may be denied boarding. For details on our current health and safety protocols please visit www.healthyatsea.com.

While Onboard
Effective February 12, 2022 face masks will be optional on board for vaccinated guests unless attending activities in The Theatre or Casino.  Masks will continue to be required for unvaccinated guests, at all times indoors, except while eating or drinking. This policy will be re-evaluated on a continuous basis

Home Country Re-Entry Testing
All fully vaccinated guests requiring a COVID-19 test to return to their home country will be provided the opportunity to receive testing in the cruise port during disembarkation. Proof of return travel scheduled within 24 hours of disembarkation will be required. Details on testing registration will be provided onboard. Testing will be complimentary for guests with cruise reservations booked prior to November 16, 2021.  For new bookings made on or after November 16, 2021, testing will be available for a per person fee.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of these important guidelines. The health and safety of everyone onboard is our number one priority. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Celebrity Cruises at 1-844-418-6824 in North America or (316) 554-5961 worldwide.

Sincerely,
Celebrity Cruises 

Yes. Got the same one for our March 13th Cruise on the Edge. It appears we have to go through the stress of getting a negative result 🙂

23 hours ago, EMc&DrS said:

We're wanting to book our first European cruise for this summer and we've narrowed it down to two very different itineraries on two difference ships/cruise lines (Celebrity Reflection vs HAL Rotterdam VII). We've sailed the Reflection three times and loved it. The Rotterdam is brand new, but we've sailed on her sister ship, Koningsdam, and loved it, too. We'd probably book Aqua Class on Celebrity, and we have a regular balcony room on hold with a giant oversized balcony on Rotterdam. Other than the two embarkation cities, we have never been to any of the destinations on either itinerary. Reflection is an 11-day cruise while HAL is a B2B two-week cruise with all stops in Norway. We're curious if any of you who have cruised many of the routes in Europe will have strong opinions about one cruise vs the other. I'll post this same topic on the HAL board as well.

 

Reflection itinerary: Rome; Messina, Sicily; day at sea; Santorini; Mykonos; 26 hours in Istanbul; Kusadasi, Turkey; Athens; Day at Sea; Naples; Rome

 

Rotterdam itinerary: Amsterdam; Day at Sea; Oslofjord to Oslo; Kristiansand; Stavanger; Sognefjord to Flåm; Day at Sea; Amsterdam; Day at Sea; Hardangerfjord to Eidfjord; Alesund; Geiranger Fjord to Geiranger; Bergen; Day at Sea; Amsterdam

 

Like I said, two very different itineraries.  Price is about the same, so not really a factor. Any opinions are welcome!  Thanks in advance.

I have been on the Second Half of your proposed Rotterdam Itinerary on HAL as well. It is wonderful and would not hesitate to do it. Well worth it. I have not been on the first half of it but for me, the Norway itinerary is a lot more exciting than the Italy one. 

Love your writing style. Will follow this thread closely 🙂 We ( Wife, Daughter and myself ) will be on the March 13 the cruise ( COVID willing ). That will be our first cruise with Celebrity and Edge. Have done several previous cruises with HAL, Princess, CCL and RCCL. Thank you for taking the time to write this awesome review. Love it!

None. On the Bliss, the lifeboats are stowed inboard (vs. hanging over the side like other Breakaway-class ships). But, understanding that you may be assigned a room that noone else would pay for.

Great. Thanks You.

I don't believe there are obstructed view balcony's. All of the balcony rooms on deck 8 are forward of the lifeboat's.

Good to know.

Thanks.

Question

I was planning to go with the "Sail Away Balcony" on the Norwegian Bliss.

I understand that they can assign any balcony stateroom, but i am curious how many of you got a fully obstructed or partially obstructed view?

On the bliss is this only on Deck 8?

Thanks in Advance

Hi wbrumel,

 

Thanks for your impressions, I will be on Koningsdam at the end of next month.

 

Some questions:

-Did you dine in MDR? Were you satisfied with the menus and the quality of food?

-Did you get sorbet as "dish in between" the courses during the formal nights? Princess does so.

-Did they offer petit fours after dinner?

-Did you get small snacks to the drinks at the bars, at least during cocktail hours?

-Is the bow also accessible for passengers, or just crew?

 

Thanks in advance. :)

I was on the same cruise and can say a little about the MDR.

We ate in the the MDR several of the evening. We did anytime dining. if you don't have a reservation it could be up to a 30 minute wait. I will recommend getting a reservation beforehand if possible. Food was above average to good in my opinion. Dessert options were a bit lacking. Service was good but definitely understaffed at peak hours.

Thanks for the review. We are on the same cruise in 3 weeks.

The SBP now covers drinks up to $9 (the vast majority of cocktails come under this limit). If you do choose a drink that costs more than $9, you have to pay the entire cost, charged to your cabin account.

Good to know. Thank you.

We have the Signature Beverage package. I understand that it covers any drink up to $8 a day up to 15 drinks a day. How does it work if a drink is over $8? Do they just charge me the difference over $8?

Once you are on the ship, you can make reservations for OPEN SEATING.

The reservations can only be made for times between 5:15 - 6:15 and 7:30 - 9. You can reserve for any size of table and for 3 days at a time. On the Koningsdam you may be seated on either the lower or upper level.

The time between 6:15 - 7:30 -- you just show up when you are ready to eat. You can request any size table you want.

If you ask for a large table, some of you may be eating while others arrive. HAL has no rules on this.

If you do find a time and size table you like, you can talk to the dining room manager and request the same table and waiters for each night of the cruise.

Thanks for the detailed response to my questions. It is very helpful to plan what we would like to do.

We were on the Zuiderdam in May 2016. We could make anytime dining reservations up to 3 days ahead, so we made 3 bookings the first day, then each day after we made another reservation for 3 days down the road. You can request any size table you like and once we found a waiter we liked, we asked for him each night when we arrived for dinner.

 

 

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This is very helpful. Thank you.

We are booked on our first HAL cruise on Koningsdam to the Norwegian Fjords later this month. We have been on several other cruises on Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. I had a few questions very specific to HAL that I hope can be answered by the HAL veterans on this board.

1. We have asked for "AnyTime Dining" for dinner. How does this work in HAL? Can we make specific time reservations once we get on the ship or do one on each day? I assume we will be seated at whatever table is available at that time. On other cruise lines we had the option to reserve times as soon as we got on the ship and were assigned to the same table every night even though it was Anytime Dining.

2. I have read these boards a bit and have had several good things to read about HAL and the Koningsdam in particular. What are the things that would be different on this line that would be different from say Princess, RCI or Carnival etc?

3. Is there anything about HAL that experienced HAL cruisers can share that would be helpful to a first time cruiser on HAL?

Thanks in Advance to all responses.

Maybe there's no reduced price to discourage people from ringing kids in and ruining the fine dining experience.

How Arrogant. Most kids I have seen at any fine dining restaurant have been well behaved. Certainly more so than some adults.

Responses like this certainly do not help the original poster and in my opinion ruins the experience of many people on this website.

We were on deck 11 last summer on the Koningsdam on a cruise to Norway. We experienced high winds on the return to Amsterdam (ship had to go to Rotterdam instead of through the canal) and we were bused to Amsterdam. Still we didn't notice movement. Our cabin was a huge ocean view facing forward this link has lots of photos and details of the cabin 11001

http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2016/07/25/a-look-inside-stateroom-11001-on-holland-americas-koningsdam-cruise-ship/

 

 

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This is very good information. Thanks. It looks like we will be ok on the 11th deck even in Windy conditions.

Jolly_cruiser, be very careful which cabin you choose. We were on the Koningsdam for 28 days last month on deck 10, at the end of the hall near the midship pool, near the outdoor movie screen. Here's my report: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2494003

 

I don't believe deck 11 has a door at the end of the hallway like we had, but I'm sure we got noise through the wall as well as through the door. I would think that as long as you don't pick one of deck 11's cabins that share a wall with the open midship pool area, you won't have a noise issue.

 

We did a transatlantic and I didn't find the ship's motion on deck 10 to be a problem at all, but I might not be a good one to ask since I'm accustomed to the motion of a sailboat.

Thank you so much for the feedback. I am not in a cabin that shares a wall with the pool area luckily.

Jolly Cruiser, I don't have an answer to your question but we will be in a deck 11 cabin on the Koningsdam in a little over two weeks, so I'll be able to give you an answer when we return the end of Aug. I have the same questions you do.

Hi, Can you let me know your experience with Deck 11 on the koningsdam?

That would be helpful. We will be onboard in 6 weeks.

We were in Amsterdam for six nights in August and stayed at the Banks. You can read my entire review by CLICKING HERE. There is quite a bit about the Banks which my bride and I agree is the best hotel we have ever stayed in and that includes some pretty impressive hotels around the world. There are photos as well. so now let me give you my opinion in answer to your questions:

 

1. Banks Mansion.

 

2. It's close to everything. Amsterdam is an immensely walkable city. A number of people on our Cruise Critic roll call stayed at the Movenpick near the port and complained that everywhere they wanted to go they had to take a cab. We stayed at the Banks and could walk everywhere. It's under a 20 minute walk from just about everything including all the museums, Anne Frank House, the harbor, the flower market and so many great restaurants (lots of recommendations in my review) your head will spin.

 

3. Banks Mansion

 

4. You will be able to. BTW: Did I mention that the Banks had the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in and that includes the very expensive bed I sleep in at home? It does. :)

 

5. If you go to the airport website and look for "Ground Transport" you can arrange a taxi to pick you up at the airport and take you right to the Banks. There is a link to the company we arranged ours through on the link I gave you above.

 

6. Walk. But yes, there is excellent transit (right outside the door of the Banks. If you get too tired, cabs and Uber are plentiful.

 

Can't tell you enough how much you will love Amsterdam.

 

Jim

Thank you for the detailed feedback and responses to all my questions. Your review was awesome :) Loved reading it. Will use your activity list as a base for my activities also.