Nancy&Frank

@The-Inside-Cabin we did Kariega on the 23 World Cruise.  It was magnificent ! Thanks for bringing back such wonderful memories 🦒🐘🦓🦏

@The-Inside-Cabin thanks Pete for your excellent reporting of Gus’s Q&A. 

Wishing you all the best in your recovery Diane.  Hope to meet you & John on the 25 World Cruise ❤️

@Scrapnana so glad to hear you are going to be cruising again.  God bless you ❤️🙏🏼

Sad we won’t be joining you on the 24’ WC but looking forward to coming along virtually.  Interested to see how it differs from our WC 23’ experience.

Happy Cruising Pete and Judy 🥳

@kazu Thank you for the update on Scrapnana 🫶🏻

Just wondering how Scrapnana is doing ?  Haven’t heard anything from her since January?
Hope she is doing well and back to cruising 🙏🏼🚢

On 10/29/2023 at 4:49 PM, TheOldBear said:

 

Check with the Trip Insurance Store - call and speak with them.

 

Steve at the Trip Insurance Store will definitely know the answer to this question.

On 10/25/2023 at 5:17 PM, seacruise9 said:

Hi,

 

I am booked on the Queen Anne’s first World Cruise (98 days from New York to Southamptom). It departs in January 2025.

I’m booked too from NY … can’t wait 😊

@rbslos18 I have been using Steve for years.  He is undoubtedly the best in the business.  So glad you will be able to recoup some of your $$$.

9 hours ago, jaypo63 said:

Hi Nancy & Frank,firstly,what a fabulous picture of you both ☺️

what type of cabin are you in on Cunard? 

hope you both have fun x

Thanks for your compliment.  We are traveling in an oceanview room so we will not get to experience the Grill amenities.  
Just glad and thankful to be able to go on this voyage.

8 minutes ago, NancyDrew1953 said:

I really envy your World Cruising…..it is my goal (someday).

I appreciate your perspective 🥰

On 8/7/2023 at 8:01 AM, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We are on the Nieuw Statendam , which is a full ship. Staff is friendly, We had dinner last night in Canaletto which was excellent.

Music Walk is hopping every evening.

I am impressed. 

Glad to hear this, we will be on her in February.  Anything in particular a must see or a must do ?

@ceilidh1

Is the menu that you show from the Britannia Restaurant ?

@NE John

I am looking forward to my first TA one the QM2😊

@NE John

The crew was fabulous !
I am a 4 star Mariner so I have a lot of HAL experience.

Food was mediocre at best.  Lots of repetition.  Portions very very small.

The main stage was dark once a week.  2-3 times a week they played B rate movies no one had ever heard of.  They had a man showing you his yo-yo skills as a main show.

HAL Singers and dancers had 15 shows for a 128 day cruise.   
No port talks except for the Cruise Director telling you of a few HAL sponsored places.

No lecturers speaking to any of the places we were to experience.

Virtually nothing to do during the day except Arts & Crafts on sea days that were only available to the first 200 people to sign up.  And, this was set up as 2 groups so was was really every other sea day.

No special set up in dining room for theme nights.  (The excuse was that all the decorations were left on the Amsterdam when sold & there was no place to store them on the Zuiderdam)

There was nothing GRAND about this Grand World Voyage.

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I used to think of HAL as "Cunard Lite," but HAL has slipped so badly, that it's less than "lite."

 

Expect much better entertainment and more variety than on HAL. More to do during the day, especially on a transatlantic. "Gala nights" really are gala, and most people dress better than on HAL gala nights. You don't have to wear formal clothes (gown and tux) but you won't be alone if you do. "Smart attire" on non-gala nights is smarter than a lot of what I've seen on HAL. 

 

Food depends on your dining room. More choices as you move up from Britannia to Club to the Grills. 

Doing the 25’ World Cruise on the Queen Anne and then the QM2 transatlantic back to NY.  
Was very disappointed in the HAL 23’ World Cruise.

We have done many cruises, mostly on Holland America.  How does Cunard differ ?

On 7/24/2023 at 7:04 PM, Cruise NH said:

Hmmm how can I put this…I haven’t read the ‘live from’ ones, which can be difficult to get through, but I have read a few blogs from seasoned world cruisers, they tend to be huge fans of hal and maybe just maybe wearing their rose colored glasses at times.  
 

I just want to know did they have good guest speakers, knowledgeable about the area being traveled through, did they have a variety of entertainment, things like that.  

 

 

As a 2023 World Cruiser, the short answer is “No”. There was only one guest lecturer that was worth going to see.  There were No guest speakers that spoke about areas that we were traveling through.  The CD did a few narrations during a few of the scenic travel days.  There were many B rate movies shown in place of entertainment at night.  Very underwhelming on a whole.  The craziest thing they had was a man demonstrating his yo-yo skills as the evenings entertainment 🤦‍♀️

Can’t find where on the HAL site to put in my AARP number, can someone point me in the right direction ?

Thanks in advance.

2 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Upgrade offers can be all over the board. I received an offer of $2,500pp from a ocean view to a verandah on the 128-day world cruise on Zuiderdam. $20pp/day. Still simply personal preference.

I got the same offer.  We passed on it 😊

I had no problem with vacation override from insurance.

@sailingdutchy See you on board 🥳

Awesome review of your cruise.  We were on the VoV and you took us down memory lane.

Thanks for all of your pictures.

We took many of the same ones 🥳😊

@VMax1700 Thank you so very much for your detailed blogging.

i feel as though I am totally ready for my Oosterdam cruise in September.