Shepsue

I go over having read the same warnings and being prepared to tell myself "stay on guard, stay on guard." The only place I actively saw pickpockets was in Strasbourg, right outside of the cathedral. They were dressed as gypsy types, usually with a baby in their arms. A stern NO as they approached would make them withdraw and look for an easier mark. Our guide made sure that we knew that they were part of an organized pack of beggars.

That said, we walked around with very little cash, left the expensive jewelry at home limiting our exposure if we were pickpocketed. Other than what I mentioned above, I never felt threatened or uncomfortable. Hope this helps!

Yes, ports are quite subjective. Of the "bigger towns" that we visited, Lucerne was far and away the most breathtaking while Zurich was very nice, but more of a typical busy city. I would go back to Lucerne in a heartbeat. Of the small villages, the two French villages, Strasbourg and Riquewehr, stole my heart. Both villages are picturesque in that special wood timber, Hansel and Gretel kind of way. The cathedral in Strasbourg is gorgeous.

The weather was problematic. It was cloudy and overcast most of the first half of the cruise. We spent the morning inside, while we were passing the castles on the Rhine. It was that nasty. I still got some amazing photos though. I would be prepared to layer should you encounter chilly weather. Hopefully by the time that you cruise, the bad stretch of weather will be past and you can enjoy the sun!!

Dinner dress was very casual, men wore khaki's and similar slacks. I did see a few blazers and sport coats during the Captain's Dinner, but that was the exception, not the rule. Women wore everything from slacks to dresses. Overall, a very comfortable, casual environment.

I did use the laundry service for underwear, tee-shirts and socks. My wife did not use it at all. I found the pricing to be reasonable for the prompt efficient service. As I remember it, the pricing was less than for similar services provided by Celebrity on ocean cruises. Two things of note; one) the laundry came back the same day and two) my tee-shirts came back on hangers. I thought that was a nice touch!!

As to the activity levels on excursions, my wife and I are both 58 and in reasonable shape, at least for walking purposes. I never found the pace to be grueling in any way. The only differences between the more gentle tours and the more active ones is that since you covered the same sights, only quicker, the more active tours, left you with more free time at the end to explore.

We did use Swiss Francs in Switzerland. I have heard anecdotally, that some places will accept Euros, but I do not know from personal experience.

Hope this helps. I'll be glad to provide any clarifications or answers to any other questions.

Shep

Just off the Amasonata and there were two groups of travel agents. The larger group was from Midlantic AAA and there were easily 35 of them traveling along with their guests.

I'm willing to answer any questions that anyone may have about this itinerary.

Shep

Anyone else on the April 22nd Amasonata Rhine River Cruise?

Shep

I'm asking this for my wife. Do the staterooms on Amawaterways come with a hair dryer or does she need to bring her own? Thank you for any help!

Wish I could help now but we aren't doing this trip until April 21. I'm bringing a jacket and cashmere sweaters to layer which will hopefully be warm enough for any chilly weather.

Mark T:

Good point on Uber. I will admit that never crossed my mind. Thank you

Good morning all:

Leaving for Amsterdam in a little more than a month and I'm beginning to have "middle of the night" trip questions that keep me from sleeping. I haven't been to Europe in 4 years and I don't know how things may have changed so if anyone could answer this simple question. Do Taxicabs in Amsterdam allow you to pay by credit card or do you have to pay in Euro's?

Many thanks,

Shep

Are we assigned times as to when we can board the ship and if so, how are you notified what your time is?

Thank you!!

I have to smile about the storage of bags under the bed. That said we've never been on a cruise since on four diffferent lines that didn't have storage room under the bed.

Randy, as I remember it, the Millennium class ships on Celebrity did not have high enough bed frames to allow suitcase storage under the beds. My memory could be wrong but....

28 days to go and getting excited.

We have been mostly Celebrity cruisers in the past and on it's Solstice class ships, there was room under the beds to store the empty suitcases.

Does anyone know if this is the same on Koningsdam?

Thank you

I was able to purchase the Ultimate Dining Package by calling the 800 number on the website. The only thing I could not do is make actual reservations at the specific restaurants which must be done once we board the ship.

Does anyone know if this package can be reserved before sailing? I haven't been able to determine the answer online

Thank you both! That doesn't seem to me like that big of a deal.

As I'm reading through member posts, I see the term rafting used. I'm used to cruising on large ocean vessels so I have no clue what rafting really means. Could someone please explain it to me? Many thanks for the river cruising education!

We will be on the Sonata for the April 22, 2017 sailing and my wife and i will be arriving in Amsterdam on the 21st. We are planning to book a walking tour of Amsterdam and visit the Anne Frank house on the 22nd before first boarding the ship.

According to the documents that we received, we will be touring the city with our shipmates on the 23rd and I wanted to get feedback from anyone who has departed from Amsterdam as to what kind of tour experience they had with the ship's tour guides, specifically, was it a walking tour, a bus or tram based tour and whether they felt the tour covered enough of the city that would essentially then be a duplicate of the the private walking tour that I had hoped to arrange independently. If it is, then we can spend our time elsewhere (museums, shopping etc.).

Thank you for any feedback!

Enjoy!

Shep

Good morning all:

After being long time Celebrity cruisers, my wife and I will be sailing Koningsdam in December for our annual cruise. On Celebrity, you can get discounted prices for the various specialty restaurants, usually by reserving them as a package on the first day of the cruise or if specialty restaurant bookings are lagging, the Maitre D' sometimes offers daily discounts to fill the empty tables.

Does HA offer something like either of these? Thank you.

Good morning all:

My wife and I have been Celebrity Cruise loyalists, but we're ready to try something new so we are booked on the Koningsdam in December. It's been quite a while since we've been on a HAL ship so we have to start thinking about HAL's way of cruising again. Celebrity has done away with the concept of formal nights completely, but in all honesty, over the last 5 years or so, passengers gradually largely did away with it in their own, even before the corporate policy changed. One policy that did exist in past years was that if it was Formal Night in the MDR, you could dress more informally at the Specialty Restaurants on those nights

My question is this. On HAL, if it is a Formal Night, does that apply to the required dress in the specialty restaurants as well?

Thank you,

Shep

Has anyone heard if Koningsdam will offer Cabanas for rental?

We have been very loyal Celebrity Cruisers, but the food and service cutbacks that we experienced on our recently ended Eclipse Christmas cruise has me searching for alternatives like the Konigsdam when it comes on line. I know nothing stays the same in life and that applies to cruising as well and I can accept that, but don't tell or try to sell me on Celebrity becoming an even more "premiere high end" mass market line, when the product is so obviously being cheapened at the same time that daily cruise rates are increasing significantly.

Since 2008, we have cruised mostly on HAL over Christmas. We looked at the Celebrity Eclipse this year as we were less than impressed with our last two HAL cruise. We could have taken the Oosterdam for an almost identical itinerary with an extra day for a little less money. But we thought the value we got with 1-2-3 promotion on Celebrity was better (drink package, pre-paid tips, and OBC) and were we also eager to try Celebrity. The perks we received with our Diamond status from Royal Caribbean were also very nice. As a 3-star on HAL, you do not get free internet minutes, special check-in line, drink coupons, and free laundry coupons as compared to the perks we received with the cross company status between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

 

For the biggest thing I liked about Celebrity over HAL was the ship was alive and had a great vibe. From the music to the activities to the vibe on the ship, the ship had life. The Eclipse, in my humble opinion, is much nicer than the HAL ships as it had more entertainment and bar options then the Vista style ships. I also thought the entertainment on Celebrity was of higher quality. One great addition was they had a speaker on the sea days. His name was Jim Kennedy, former director of the NASA Kennedy Space Center. He was a great speaker and was a great addition to the cruise experience. This type of speaker was not offered on any of the HAL cruises I have been on.

 

Dining room service was excellent from a waiter, he did not seem to be overloaded like HAL has done recently to the wait staff. The food is pretty comparable, but on Celebrity we had the option from the menu for shrimp cocktails and escargot each night. The meat seemed to be higher quality as the prime rib we had two nights was fantastic. Bar service was better than we had on HAL the last couple of cruises, especially in the show lounge and the dining room.

 

Our room was pretty similar to HAL, but with a better 3rd bed. The pullout out sofa we have had on the last HAL cruises was almost unusable with out extra pillows to keep the bars from digging into ones back. The technology through the TV to check our account and see our pictures was also a nice feature.

 

I am not sure how HAL is going to attract the generations of cruisers when the ships are not set-up for a younger crowd. In addition, why would one want to go on the new Koningsdam when it holds the same number of people as the Celebrity Solstice class ships, yet it is going to be 20% smaller? Not sure what HAL is thinking here...

 

I am not sure HAL is for me anymore. With the changes they have made and direction they are heading, I would choose Celebrity next time even if the HAL cruise was cheaper. I would rather pay extra for a better cruise vacation.

 

Again, these are my thought from someone who almost 50 years old. Maybe I am too young to be happy on HAL, but I would think HAL would want to attract cruisers my age to build loyalty in the years to come.

Thank you

Help a cruiser out...I'm lost, what is MUTS and what is BOGO?