WeRockChalkKU

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2410808

In case you haven't seen the thread, The link is to a current thread on this same HAL board about a new breakfast room service menu. Which breakfast room service menu is currently being used on your sailing? Thanks for any info.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hope it is your best one yet!

Happy Sailing!

What an amazing trip you've been on. it will be awesome for you to be able to unpack and enjoy living in one place for 28 glorious days. Very impressive that you did 8 weeks with one suitcase each.

Looking forward to your posts. We sail on Kdam in November and I bet you'll be getting lots of questions from a lot of folks, including me.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

Well here I am back on the board. I finally have booked a cruise after almost 4 years of not. My DH passed away a year ago and I finally decided that it would be ok. 21 night, back to back on the Ms. Koningsdam. Am looking forward to cruising on the newest of HAL fleet. Any suggestions?

I am always impressed anytime I see someone traveling or attending an activity "alone" for whatever reason. So, for you (or anyone) to do it after losing a spouse is such a credit to your strength and resilience. You asked if we had suggestions, it seems that we should be asking you for suggestions. Also, my comment about being "alone" is way off base. You will be on a Dam ship - back with your HAL family and friends. Yes, it is going to be different this cruise and maybe you are a bit worried about certain aspects. That is understandable but somehow I hope you feel comfortable interacting and participating in various activities. Have you looked for your sailings Roll Call yet? Posting your return here on the main board is great and maybe joining the roll call would be another way to continue on with your return to cruising.

So glad you are feeling ready and are looking forward to returning to cruising.

Enjoy!

We are on the 10 day Kdam starting November 13th. When I go to HAL site to make specialty dining reservations, there is not an option for Le Cirque. There is one night the Pinnacle Grill offers De Librije for $69. I had to pull up each night of the cruise to find which night De Librije was offered. It doesn't appear that Le Cirque is offered for our cruise. If you have booked a cruise and it is close enough to sailing that HAL has reservations open for dining, you might be able to look to see if Le Cirque is offered for your particular cruise.

Is it possible that you are mistaken about the dates? We're on the Koningsdam cruise and the date for HMC is the 11th., not the 13th. - she'll be back at Fort Lauderdale then. The following year, 2017, it's the 18th. when Koningsdam arrives at HMC.

Oops - sorry the 13th is the boarding date for our cruise in FLL as you said. . Both ships are there on the 14th.

Thanks

Nov 13th - K dam and N.A. dam are both at HMC for possible total of 4,754 - that's a lot

K dam is pretty full that cruise - I don't think NA is because those prices have dropped.

Lots of Mariners onboard so we'll see how that all goes and how many folks choose to just stay on board.

Off the 35 day Rotterdam last month, they no longer show ESPN channel. Do not know why, but I am done with HAL if this does not change.

Wow - I would think lots of folks wouldn't be happy with this. Not that we cruise to watch sports but it's nice to have that option.

Have other cruisers noticed this recently on HAL ships?

Thanks

Our first cruise was on Carnival Celebration in October 1990. Miami - St Thomas - St Martin - San Juan. The cruise director was Rand Woodbury (son of Woody Woodbury). Rand was amazing. He was/is so talented and was the best entertainer - Comedy and magic - he had full command of the ship. Been on 30 plus cruises since and Rand remains the best cruise director we've ever had.

We post this often....but will do it again. Forty+ years of cruising have left us puzzled as to why many folks want to end their cruise as early as possible, subject themselves to long frustrating lines, deal with the stress of a tight flight schedule, etc. Yes, we do understand that there are times when taking an early flight is necessary. But more often...folks simply choose to take an early flight when they have other options.

 

So we have long promoted what we like to call "stressless disembarkation" instead of "express disembarkation." So, while hundreds of folks (on large ships) are crammed into the atrium, waiting in line, trying to handle all their own luggage, working up a sweat as they worry about getting off the ship, etc......we are usually relaxing in a deck chair/lounger at the pool deck...sipping our coffee, reading our Kindles, and enjoying our time on the ship. Then, sometime around 9:30 - 10:00, when just about everyone is off the ship....we simply walk over to the elevator (no lines or waiting time), ride down to the appropriate deck, walk right off the ship (no lines), pick up our luggage (easy to find since most of the luggage is gone), walk outside, and grab a taxi (very short line). In Port Everglades or POM.....we usually try to book an early afternoon flight.

 

Its another way of doing things...and perhaps this is one reason why we love to travel (more then 6 months a year) and find the experience relaxing....and generally not full of stress.

 

Hank

Glad that you have found what works for you. That's why there are various ways to disembark. Not everyone is stressed or worried when they use self debarkation. Some of us just prefer to handle our own bags or have great reasons to "end their cruise as early as possible".

Is there a bar that has tvs with sports on them? ESPN especially? Or can you get ESPN on the tv in your cabin?

There's a college basketball game on during our cruise that I'd prefer not to miss - if at all possible. We'll be sailing in the Caribbean and on other ships I've been able to watch some games on ESPN before.

I agreed to go on this cruise thinking I could tolerate missing some of my teams games. Now that roundball season is getting closer, I'm struggling with having to miss them. Then if the ship does gets the broadcast, I'll have to find a way to sneak away from Hubby so I can watch the game.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.....other than I should just suck it up and miss the game.

It was open till midnight. It's open for Breakfast too with all kinds of breakfast bagels (with eggs,etc)

Thanks - nice to know we have options like this.

The NY Deli/pizza also serves movie munchies at night, popcorn, big pretzels and some other items.

Good to know about the deli/pizza place. Do you happen to know/remember what hours it is open? I don't think it's a 24 hour place?

Thanks

I found older posts about self debarkation but thought I'd see if it is still an option.

We've used it a long time ago when it didn't seem to be too popular. Do many folks use it currently?

Thanks for any info.

So then, the poolside movies are only at night?

Do they serve popcorn like other HAL ships?

When I was onboard it alternated every day but It is never busy so you could always book and then change your bookings once you have the menu Rita confirmed onboard ...

Good to know. Thank you.

Why do you think it hasn't been busy there? I would think that it would be popular. The price of $39 includes wine - correct? Do you know if there is a reduced price if someone does not want wine with their meal?

Thanks again

We've been with Renee and she is very knowledgeable. At that time she gave us the choice to snorkel for fish or to look at reefs. We chose fish and our 2 stops were right off shore just a short distance from town. She only does very small groups - I think only 4. After Hubby and I booked she said that she wouldn't schedule anyone else to go with us - so we had a private tour.

We just emailed ours yesterday and got confirmation that it was applied within a few hours. They also said that further requests needed to be made via fax or snail mail. This was due to the email not being on a secured line.

I added this question to a previous thread but it has since gone further down the line without a response, so I thought I'd start a new thread to see if anyone might know the answer.

Thank everyone so much for all information - it really helps make one's cruise that much better.

We just booked a 10 day on the K-dam and would like to go ahead and make our CAC dinner reservations. I see that they rotate menus. Does anyone have any idea as to how many days they run each one? We want to try both menus and so if anyone knows or can tell me where I can find that info, I would appreciate it. In the past the Mariners desk hasn't been able to help us with specialty dining questions and so I have not tried to call them.

Thanks again - you all are so helpful

Thank everyone so much for all information - it really helps make one's cruise that much better.

We just booked a 10 day on the K-dam and would like to go ahead and make our CAC dinner reservations. I see that they rotate menus. Does anyone have any idea as to how many days they run each one? We want to try both menus and so if anyone knows or can tell me where I can find that info, I would appreciate it. In the past the Mariners desk hasn't been able to help us with specialty dining questions and so I have not tried to call them.

Thanks again - you all are so helpful

We too set up our own excursions on ocean cruises, but I have to say - after our first river cruise this summer - that this is a totally different experience.

 

First, you don't even know where you will be docked in many cities and even if it is along a single quay close to downtown it might be a mile long without anywhere for local guides to set up. Secondly the river cruise companies - especially in the high season - seem to have a monopoly on guides. On our cruise, one of our scheduled guides was hospitalized 2 hours before she was due to meet us. It took our cruise director 14 calls to find another available.

 

As others have recommended, you might have better luck pre-arranging private tours using internet recommendations (start on this forum and cruise critic's Europe Port of Call forum and with trip advisor), especially in large cities. I know a couple who did that in Budapest and Vienna but many of our stops (Budapest to Amsterdam) were relatively small cities and towns.

Thanks, besides not knowing where we dock, the agency hasn't given us our port times (despite asking many times). The agency is more than a bit SHADY as someone pointed out. So, I guess we'll just make the best of it all and maybe pay the higher price for each excursion we want since we aren't taking advantage of their "pre cruise discount" for excursions. I just hope others on this cruise understand that the company will not be giving refunds. It's just sad that we thought we were buying a great trip and now we find out that the agency is tricky and slippery, relying on fine print to make sure they make as much profit as possible.

Thanks for all the help with this.

so, the travel company is NOT refunding and I agree that it would probably be a hassle to try to get my travel insurance to refund any money for missed tours - especially if it's just because the travel company hasn't filled a bus and they don't want to eat the loss from empty seats - instead they cancel it because their disclaimer says they can and then they can pocket all the money us passengers paid to them.

This travel agency has had bad reviews before but I thought that they surely couldn't pull anything shady on a cruise but looks like they can.

Has anyone been able to set up a tour while in a port on the Danube? Having ocean cruised, we know it's very common but don't know if the same thing is possible on the river.

Thanks -

Here's the travel agencies reply to my concerns that they could cancel an excursion for no reason at all" (I placed XXXXX in where they put their name).

"I understand what you are saying, however, we pay the vendors for your excursions upfront and they are nonrefundable to us. So the same thinking applies for us. We cannot get back the money from the vendors. Things happen that are not XXXXXXXX fault as well. If you do not want to book through XXXXXXXXX, you have the option to wait and book them on the ship so you can make sure the tour is operating. Most all cruise lines, river ships and tours that use outside vendors for their tours, have this same policy. The only way to guarantee a refund is if you insure with trip insurance."

So, it doesn't appear folks think I'll be able to book something on my own when we get to a port?

Thanks for al the replies.

We are on a fully chartered Emerald Waterways cruise Budapest to Nuremburg and shores excursions are not included. The travel company just sent us a list of what they offer and said we have 2 days to decide which ones we want or wait and see if they have seats left but at a higher price if we wait. Then in another paragraph they say:

"What about insurance?

Your optional tours are an addition to your base travel package and are more than likely not insured. In the event of an emergency port cancellation, act of god, illness, or tour cancellation any tours will be non-refundable. Because of this it is very important you contact your Travel Insurance Provider about insuring any optional tour purchase. IMPORTANT - you must take action to insure ANY purchase not insured by your current policy. If you do not then your new purchase IS NOT covered.'

To me this means that there will be no refunds for any tours if a port is missed, if a bus driver is ill, or they decide to not take a tour and cancel it. So, I can see that if a tour only sells 25% of it's seats, the agency will cancel the tour and pocket our money. No refunds EVER.

So, my question is: how easy is it to find a tour after you get to a port? Budapest, Brastilava, Vienna, Melk-Durstein, Passau - Linz, Regensburg. Does anyone have recommendations of things that shouldn't be missed and things that can easily be skipped?

Thanks for any tips, info and advice.

Wanting to book least expensive cabins and given Promenade Stateroom and Virtual balcony cabins as options. I figured a regular inside cabin would be the cheapest. I read the descriptions and now wonder if anyone can tell me the pros and cons of each type of room. Makes one think there must be negatives to these since they were the first ones offered. Thanks for any help/input/thoughts.

Wow......that's so civilised! Instead of being out of your cabin, without room service at an early hour........I'm sure it must make that last morning less chaotic. I don't know how they do it..........but 'hats off to them'.

 

Beachdreaming........the snorkel trip in Bonaire sounds wonderful......do you have a website or an email address. We do love to snorkel and understand that Bonaire is THE place to do it. We went snorkelling last year in the Red Sea (Egypt) and thought that was amazing, but Bonaire is supposed to be even better.

 

Another question....sorry.....do they sell a carafe of wine or do you have to buy a bottle?

 

I'm sure, as a newbie, I'll be back with plenty of questions.

 

Thanks to all who've answered my queries.

 

Mal

 

PS Any recommendations for a hotel in Fort Lauderdale? Or info about Amtrak? Hotel in Philadelphia?

I'm not sure if I can post the website for Bonaire snorkeling but you can search internet under her name - Renee and then Bonaire Snorkel trips and you'll get to her. She's great about responding to emails.

I haven't seen carafes of wine. You can also take 2 bottles of wine on board with you.