Chewbecca

On 7/17/2019 at 3:14 AM, tkwbear said:

ATK is not on the Maasdam. I just did 3 weeks in Alaska out of San Francisco.

 

The guest chef we had was very good. No more cooking classes.

Thanks TKWBear. I like the sound of the guest chef as an alternative so won’t miss ATK too much!

We’ve booked ship tours in Vladivostok and Korsakov (unusual for us) to avoid the visa issue. Some sites say you can just walk off but it seems to be ad hoc and not actually in line with the visa requirements so we decide not to risk not being able to visit those ports.

Thanks for the super fast response!

Ah, thanks for that, we always do Anytime so that’ll be why we missed him.

Following as we are joining for 2 weeks at Tokyo on 31 July. Can’t wait. Love all the things you’ve commented on so far.

Quick question if I may - is America’s Test Kitchen running?

Don’t be too cross with us but we are joining with our 15 year old cruise loving son so would also be great to know if any other teens are spotted. He only needs a couple of nerdy kids to have a great time! 

What’s the yum yum man? Something I have missed!

We like lots about HAL including the dive in by the pool, the ‘crisp’ desserts, the drinks package, the specialty dining, the calm, relaxing atmosphere, America’s Test Kitchen, the trivia. DS likes the sushi in the Lido.

Thanks all.

No, in the UK, we are locked into the price at the time of booking so tracking prices is key! Only option after that time is to totally cancel, lose your deposit and start all over again.

OBC is appreciated we will be up for booking on board if the price improves.

I know, I know, we shouldn’t have waited.

Got a price for a Jul 2020 cruise on Amsterdam which we were happy with. Took a while to book the time off work, finally agreed today. Price has gone up £2k and perks gone!

Please give me hope that they will go down again?!

We are sailing on Maasdam next month and also wondered if we might get a better price booking on board but am never quite sure if this is the case or not - does anyone know?

There was bingo on Zuiderdam every Sea day when we were on it in April this year.

Gosh, thanks. This is exactly the info I was seeking. At least we know in advance. We need a visit by the upgrade fairy I think. Not that she's ever visited us yet. (In the U.K. so not possible to just move rooms and pay the extra cost).

Hi, we have this room booked next year & are trying to work out where the additional beds are and can't seem to find this info online. (& it us our 1st cruise on Princess).

Is it a Pullman or a sofa bed (or both?). And if a a Pullman, does anyone know where in the room the Pullman is? We've seen occasional pictures of Pullmans over the double bed which wouldn't be good.

Finally, does this ship have a curtain within the cabin that separates the sofa bed (if there is one) & the main bed? We tend to take magnets and a shower curtain if not.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks all - it was on this site that a sale was mentioned but it was back in 2016, reported by the staff on the ship itself it seems.

Sounds like fake news which, on this occasion is good news!

hi all, we're close to booking a cruise to Japan next summer on the Maasdam, mainly for the itinerary but we do like the smaller ships too so that's a bonus.

However, I've read online that the ship has been sold and is being leased back to HAL. Does anyone know if this is a fact and do you anticipate any impact on the maintenance of the ship and/or the staffing? Or in fact if the possibility of cancellation is high? Wouldn't want to book flights (will be using airmiles so non refundable or changeable) and have no cruise to go to!

Any thoughts welcomed.

Just off Silhouette today & Qsine staff said it was their last cruise as Qsine & they were moving to LPC from today's sailing. They were practising during the last cruise.

We paid $50 for a full bag on X last summer and $20 for a similar sized bag on HAL at Easter. Extras are definitely more $$ on X. All works out in the end though.

The Cannelotto menu has changed recently so some of the dishes mentioned on this thread are not available any more.

To answer the original Q - we went with 3 and they were clear we should order what we wanted and they adjusted the portions accordingly.

We thought it was great. The veal and lamb main courses were our favourites. The desserts were the only weak spot so I recommend stopping at the main course!

We've not done that itinerary but got off the Zuiderdam just over a week ago. I just read the most recent review of the ship here on CC and recognise nothing of it, we found it to be a lovely ship in great condition, so, personally I wouldn't hesitate to sail on that ship.

Re: the itinerary, Copenhagen is a lovely port. We've spent a long weekend there as well as visiting last summer on a cruise. We did a food and walking tour last summer as a change and it was great. We've not visited Iceland but are going this summer, lots to do there, I have no experience of the other ports.

Our last 2 sailings (& next) were with X, but we just got off Zuiderdam. We'd happily sail both again.

Obviously we all have different likes/interests but these are the things we noticed

- easier to find a seat in a bar on Z, X's bars, especially on the bigger ships can be crowded

- better lounge music on X, HAL's was more of a performance to be listened to rather than great background music

- Z's on board prices generally a lot lower: excursions, drinks, speciality restaurants, laundry, even Bingo!

- less alcohol consumed on Z

- main shows and MDR food comparable

- cabins comparable, husband likes the bath on Z

- Liked America's Test Kitchen on Z

We just got off a 10 day Panama Canal Zuiderdam cruise with our 14yo.

There were 30 teens on board but unfortunately the teen club staff did not run any of the program that was published. Most of the children stopped turning up as nothing was going on. Our son made some friends and they entertained themselves but he does not want to sail with HAL again as he much prefers the teen club on celebrity where he can dip in and out of the activities that are running. We sailed HAL when he was younger and he enjoyed the club then.

We have no idea why the activities didn't run, the staff member(s) were in the room at the scheduled times but ran no activities & mostly read a book. We asked at the info desk if they could, as did other parents and the children themselves, but the staff member was essentially paid to do zero work for the past 10 days. Weird.

We got off Zuiderdam this Wednesday and spent our final dinner in PG.

We did it because it was our favourite food venue on the ship, and we tend to book our favourite to end on a high.

We were glad we had booked as the culinary council menu didn't appeal at all and it was definitely busier in PG than during our meals there earlier in the cruise.

We also find the MDR meals too rushed, the specialty restaurants' pace suited us better.

We're on Zuiderdam departing Fort Lauderdale on 1st April with our 14year old son - that cruise covers when most of the UK have their Easter holidays this year. I found it hard to work out when the US holidays were, seems to vary a lot so am not sure if it is a holiday cruise or not.

We haven't cruised HAL for a few years, we've been enjoying Celebrity lately but our last HAL cruise was a success for our family. A smaller group of teens works well for him, where everyone gets to know each other, they hang out in the teen club, eat pizza and have lots of banter, he's not that keen on slides and the wilder activities or huge groups so the smaller, more sedate ships suit us all better.

Oh, that is a shame. I wasn't at all attracted to the idea pre cruise but found I loved the show on Eclipse last summer, it ended up being a real highlight of our trip (along with the lounge duo Gilly & the Girl. And the great itinerary. And the speciality restaurants... :-))

We used a private guide via White Nights travel when we visited St P on Celebrity last summer & they arranged the visas for us with no difficulty. I understand it is v challenging to arrange your own visa. We were not able to visit the city outside the times specified on our itinerary.

We knew others who happily used SPB tours for small groups but we wanted an unusual, personalised itinerary.

It was a fab port, a real highlight for us.

Oh sorry, you meant another!!

11 April 2019, Diamond Princess. Thanks, that'd be interesting.

It is a Japanese cruise by the way, not out of Southampton.