Cheekyrn1

I haven't been on either but have you checked out the reviews for these excursions on the Holland America site?

 

Go to the site, click on Destinations then Ports & Excursions. Choose South America then Callao (for LIma) to see the Machu Picchu reviews. I'm not sure what port the Ankar Wat trip would be out of but it would be the same process.

 

Good luck!

Thanks. I did read reviews but doesn't mention price

We are debating between 2 cruises that have excursions to 2 of our bucket lists. Angkor wat in Cambodia and Macchu Pichu in Peru. They are both overnight excursions and I have been told are incredibly expensive. Has anyone gone on either excursion and price? Thank you so much

I am considering booking the Maasdam for Feb 2018 which is a r/t San Diego cruise going to South America (28 days). My question is since this could be the final sailing of the Maasdam as some have mentioned here on CC will the ship be in complete disrepair and everything be below normal standards for Holland America. I have read reviews from other cruise lines in the past if it was the final sailing of a ship the cruise could be horrible and since this is a long cruise I don't want to be stuck in the middle of a nightmare cruise.

 

Thanks

Linda S

Hi Linda. I'm also a Linda and we did book this cruise but we are only doing the first half...as far as I know this is not the final cruise...we are really looking forward to this

A couple days ago I booked a SB guarantee on the Maasdam

Did you book an SB or SA (or some other category). Most of the times SB cabins are only sold as guarantees.

SB suite.

I'm curious now because if the Maasdam has been sold why are there sailings available on her for 2018?? We just booked a cruise for feb 2018 but our suite is listed as a guarantee...would that mean there is a possibility that we will be on a different ship?

Which cruise have you booked?

 

I see that Maasdam is booked at Port Chalmers (Dunedin) January 10th and 25th 2018, and for 29th December 2018, also for 10th and 25th January 2019.

 

Maybe HAL will send a different ship to us "down under", if the Maasdam leaves the fleet before then.

 

I note that the Noordam also has reservations until 2019.

The inca empires feb 25, 2018

We just booked a cruise for February 2018 on the Maasdam and our suite and dining times are on guarantee. The rumors are that the Maasdam has been sold and will not be in use for our scheduled sailing and they don't have a new ship yet?? Any one know of any details?? Thanks

We did this flight last year IAH to Istanbul. It was a good flight...service and food better than the US airlines I'm sorry to say...the flight got in early also. Just under 10 hours...I did read other reviews re: AC or lack thereof and dressed in layers so actually we were quite comfortable in sleeveless tops casual skirts

We are doing the frozen land of penguins January 2017 and flight not included but the overnight hotel in Ushuaia is

Thanks for the responses. Yes things have changed. The round trip flight to Ushuaia is no longer included. I'm contemplating a noon flight from Ushuaia arriving EZE at 17:30 connecting to a Houston flight at 22:00... If things go smoothly then this would be ideal leaving us almost the entire weekend to recoup at home before Monday morning back to work...

Thank you for your review...we take this cruise in January 2017. My question for you is what was the earliest time you were able to disembark on final day ?? I'm researching our flight options and I really would like to go straight to the airport. Thanks so much

Just a little review. This is our first river cruise..we have been on numerous ocean cruises....the staff have been wonderful..very attentive and most pleasant....food has been good...my negative impressions are several unfortunately...the dinner dining experience is frustrating...it is a sit down dining experience at a set time 7-9pm...service is nice but very slow. We usually finish dinner about 9:30... I want to eat and get out of the dining room. It is a claustrophobic area for me with low ceilings and window shades are usually closed...and the dining room is the only option for dinner. There is nothing else. If you are tired and do not want a 2-3 hour dining experience too bad....also I am really frustrated with the excursions...we pay thousands of dollars to visit some of these cities along the Rhine and we are only given 2 hours to explore because there is a schedule for the locks...a few times when they provide shuttle service to the towns it is not available during meal times so a couple of hours are wasted just sitting around doing nothing!!! Very annoying when you walk past a beautiful church and the guide states the name but also states can't go in because no time...the cabins are nice. Beds very comfortable...my personal taste though is I do not appreciate all the kuma sartre naked picture artwork in the room or the length of the hallway...will not be doing a river cruise again...

So we just experienced our first long haul flight on Turkish...it was wonderful...service was excellent, food very good and plentiful...good entertainment system...flat beds and we actually slept for 4 hours...my only bit of advice is to either dress in layers or wear shorts...the plane does get warm...there is no individual climate control only central. We knew this so wore shorts and sleeveless tops....would definitely fly them again

Chairsin we have the exact same issue. We also will be on the flight IAH-IST in 3 weeks...my husband has 2J and my seat assignment does not show up. When I called TK they verified my seat and stated an issue with computers as to why my assignment didn't show up...the biggest nightmare we had was on our return flight. We have a short flight from Basel to Istanbul then onto Houston. The Basel flight kept disappearing from our itinerary ...we would have to call UA to put our flight back into the system so that TK could retrieve it...only explanation offered was computer issues...this happened at least 6 times...all is well...for now

We booked ours through our United Cruises travel agent. We are getting a lot of bonus miles which we will turn around and use for free air tickets

From what I understand the cruise line has changed their packages...starting for the 2016-2017 season the hopper flight into Ushuaia is no longer included in package and neither is the hotel so I have been told

cheekyrn1 - please let me know how you like the suite after your cruise? we're planning to go in march of 2016

Will do....

I am curious too...We have suite 214 booked for September...

We just returned from the Fram's Polar Circle Crossing (January 28 to February 11, 2015) and I thought I would post some information. We did not book through Hurtigruten, but everyone we talked to that did said they had the same experience - not getting any details until just before the trip.

 

This is fairly long and rambling - fair warning!!

 

First, let me say that the cruise was fantastic. Once we were on board, the staff and expedtion crew were the best we have had. I won't go into details about the landings here, since they are different on all the cruises, but there were a lot of questions that we had before we left that I thought I would address. Feel free to ask me anything else - I took photos of the cabin (309) and the boots, and anything else I could think of!

 

We booked a window "upspecified cabin" about 3 months before the cruise. We got our "documents" about a week before we left for Buenos Aires (we booked our flights independently, as well). The "documents" basically consisted of the "Travel Information" section from the website, but also gave the luggage limits for the BA to Ushuaia flights (1 checked bag for each person, not to exceed 23kg, and 1 piece hand luggage each, not to exceed 8kg). I am glad we had planned on packing lightly!! We didn't get our flight information until the day before - they had two flights, a reguarly scheduled LAN flight leaving at 4:40am, and a charter leaving at 8:20am. We were on the 4:40am, which required us leaving the hotel around 2:30. It seemed that if you had booked the National Park excursion in Ushuaia, you had a better chance of the later flight.

 

We booked (again independently) the Hotel Emperador, where our TA had said the Hurtigruten usually books their people. It was okay, but if I did it again, I would not book there. It is not really near anything. On our return, we booked the NH City Hotel and Tower, which is where we understood Hurtigruten booked their German speaking folks. It was very nice, and located a block from Plaza de Mayo, and an easy walk to San Telmo Market.

 

We didn't book the Hurtigruten transfer (USD$ 66/pp) to the local (AEP) airport. We took a taxi, and even with rounding up, it was 90 pesos for the outgoing trip, and 120 pesos for the return trip ($10/$14 USD).

 

The flight was an uneventful 3.5 hours to Ushuaia, and as we had not booked the excursion, we were on a bus that gave us an orientation and then dropped us off near the port. We were told to be back at the bus at 3:00pm (we left the bus around 9:40). In retrospect, I wish we would have taken the train trip, but we ended up walking around Ushuaia, stopping for a coffee early, and a beer later on. We went to the Maritime / Prison Museum and it was fairly interesting.

 

The bus drove us right up to the gangway of the Fram. One of the expedition staff came onto the bus and asked for our "Ebola Forms". We had received those, and once we gave them to her, we were allowed to embark. It was a very simple and quick process. The check-in was about 10 steps from the entrance, and as we were some of the first off the bus, we were checked in and got our cabin assignment in about 2 minutes.

 

Our cabin was on deck 3, which is where the gangway is, so quite simple. We then took our medical forms to reception on deck 4, and then wandered around the ship for 30 minutes. When we got back, our bags were outside the room. I want to mention that we did put a bottle of Scotch Whisky into our checked luggage, so we could enjoy a dram in the evenings. It made it with no problems. We bought the small Hurtigruten travel mugs and did take a dram into the hot tub after kayaking, but we shared with everybody!!

 

The cabin was small, with the two single beds - one folded up against the wall, and the other a sofa during the day. On the desk was a card with our dinner seating assignments - there are two seatings (6:00pm and 8:00pm). They seem to arrange people by nationality, but as we only had 4 nights of non-buffet, it was not a problem, and by the last couple of nights, people had rearranged themselves to sit where they wanted. There was a storage area under the TV Shelf that fit our suitcases with no problem. The bathroom was a standard small cruise ship bathroom. There is a single dispenser for an all purpose soap/shampoo in the shower, and a dispenser of hand soap next to the sink. No bath mat, and no washcloths. We took nylon bath scrubbies with us, and shampoo and conditioner, so we only used the shower soap as a body wash. We took good magnets with us, so we could hang the daily schedules on the walls, and if we did it again, I would take some bigger magnetic, or removable stick-up hooks, for our Hurtigruten coats. The floor in the bathroom is heated (button outside the bathroom door with red light), which helped to dry socks and undies partway through the trip. We never got wet on landings or cruising.

 

After unpacking, we went up to the observation lounge and each had a glass of white wine (76NOK for two). Dinner was a buffet, and we purchased a wine package (12 bottles + 1 free bottle) for 2700NOK. The package includes a carafe of mineral water at lunch and at dinner. Since we drink wine every night, it seemed like a decent deal. If anyone is interested, I have a list of the packages that I can send you. We were pretty wiped out after being up at 0200, so we decided to go to bed around 9:00. At 9:20, they annouced that at 9:30, there would be a welcome in the observation lounge. It ended up being not just a welcome, but introduction to staff and an outline of the plan for the next two weeks. We would not have wanted to miss it. A little advance notice would have been nice!! We found that there would be some activity almost every night starting at 9:30 or 10:00. The announcements come over your TV if you have the navigation screen up. Most channels were in Spanish (we watched the SuperBowl in Spanish), so we didn't bother to watch anything other than the navigation.

 

The next morning, after breakfast, the boat groups were posted - your boat group (1-7) is the group you will go ashore with, and every activity is designated by boat group. They are assigned by language - I think there were 2 English speaking boat groups, and the rest were German speaking. About 24-28 people per boat group. They rotate the boat groups - Activity 1 (receiving your blue coat) started with Boat Group 1. Activity #2 (getting your boots) started with Boat Group 2. The first actual landing started with Boat Group #3, etc. We then had lectures, 1 about optional excursions (hiking, kayaking, camping, ice cruising). They are done by lottery, although they try to fit everyone in - we had 2 groups hiking, and I believe 6 ice cruising, 3 kayaking, and 2 camping, although due to weather, the second camping group did not get to camp. We hiked, camped and kayaked. Twice, when landings weren't possible, they did "ice cruising for everyone".

 

Our cruise had 207 people from 17 countries: 78 German7, 18 Norway, 34 UK, 20 US, 9 France, 7 Austria, 7 Denmark, 6 Sweden, 5 Canada, 5 Italy, 4 Estonia, 3 Mexico, 3 Switzerland, 2 Finland, 2 Netherlands, 1 Romania. It was great to get to know them.

 

The coats are nice quality Helly Hansen coats, but they are just wind proof - the offer no insulating at all. The boots are comfortable enough, and quite warm (I wore 1 pair lightweight wool ankle socks, and 1 pair calf height Smartwool Trekker socks and never had cold feet), but they are heavy, and during the 7km hike to above 360m, they got very heavy feeling!

 

For all landings, plan on wearing a couple of layers under your coat, and some warm leggings under your windproof/waterproof pants. We wore smartwool lightweight base layer, with a half-zip midweight smartwool shirt over it, and the blue jacket over that. On the bottom, we wore fleece pants and Marmot Precip water/windproof pants over them. We only wore wool long underwear under the fleece when kayaking. Expect to wear the waterproof pants every time you go ashore - you will have the penguin poop sprayed off the bottoms when you get back to the ship.

 

When your group is called for a landing, you go down to Deck 2, and put on your boots (they are stored on a rack there), a life vest, and then go to the launch area to be checked out - they scan your room key as you leave, and again as you return. The launch area is very well set up, and there are always friendly folks ready to help you into or out of the Polar Cirkle boats. When you get to the landing site, you are helped off by the staff (usually a rock or a small set of stairs), and directed to an expedition person that tells you where you can and can't go, and how long you have. I think the shortest was 30 minutes, and the longest was 2 hours.

 

During the time between landings (once at the peninsula, we attempted 2 a day), there were lectures, movies, and time to talk to your fellow explorers. Since ours was a crossing the circle cruise, we went a lot further south than usual, and for the first time ever, Fram was allowed to visit the UK Rothera research base.

 

The staff did a great job of getting you to shore, and you never felt like you were being rushed. Our group went further than the other group on our hike, and when we got back to landing, the staff still let those of us that wanted to swim, swim! Even though it was obvious everybody else was back on the ship, about 8 of us put on swimsuits and jumped into the water - talk about taking your breath away!!!

 

We had one evening and night of very rough seas - a channel toward Marguerite Bay was clogged with ice, so we had to go around Adelaide Island in the open ocean. They could not put the stabilizers out due to ice in the water, so Fram danced a lot! Luckily it was not a buffet night - we had wine bottles falling over at dinner, and everything at the reception desk was on the floor. In bed, it felt like you were standing up one minute, and standing on your head the next! The next morning, the Captain said we had 10 meter seas, and 66 mph winds.

 

Once comment on being on deck 3 - we were the 5th cabin from the front, and we could hear the anchor chain being brought up or let down (loud enough not to hear announcements on the TV), and when going through the ice, you hear it scraping down the side.

 

There were two landings we could not do because of ice blocking the landing sites. The expedition team was ready with extra lectures, and on one, we did ice cruising - each boat group got about 30 minutes of cruising around through the ice - it was great being down at the ice level!

 

We found the meals to be quite good - standard breakfast things, along with a lot of fish in sauces for breakfast, lunch always has a soup, a good salad selection, a pasta and a couple of main dishes - lamb, reindeer, beef, and always a fish.

 

The ship itself was quite comfortable, and the dress is very casual. The documents from Hurtigruten suggest a jacket for the first and last dinners, but we only saw a few people that did that - there was a group with the high-end suites that all dressed nicer for dinner. 95% of us wore what we had worn during the day. The observation room gets quite warm during the day, and we never had to wear a sweater anywhere on the ship. We packed very lightweight down jackets (MontBell UL) and would carry them with us for the quick run onto deck to see whales!

 

If you have any questions about anything, let me know!

Thank you for your review...we go January 2017... Long wait...I also would prefer to not stay at hotel emperador...I'm curious if they grant a credit if you make your own arrangements? I would also like to make my own flight arrangements to Ushuaia

I went ahead and booked our reward tickets on Turkish. Business class for only 22$ and 115,000 miles. Too good to pass up. Will spend the night in the Marriott and have a relaxing evening recovering from jet lag then will be fresh for cruise the next day...now to hunt for the return ticket

I did it...booked our reward business class seats for only 115,000. Too good to pass up...and with the 17 hour layover we will have a relaxing evening in the hotel and get over jet lag before the cruise has even begun...

What's to debate....you get two great cities (PRG and IST) in one trip. In fact, you might also check as to the possibility of "stopover" at the same rate.

 

"Stopover" is more than 24 hours on international itinerary, "Connection" is under 24 hours. "Layover" is a colloquialism that gets conflated with either of the above and is not a term of art.

 

On a long connect like yours, you get either the free hotel or the free tour. Not the Four Seasons, but it's a nice little perk.

So they pay for the overnight in instanbu? I did not know that

Depending what day you're leaving, on some dates in September there's a somewhat inconvenient business class flight on Turkish Airlines from Houston to Istanbul (17 hour layover - go see the city quick?) and then on to Prague. That's only 57,500 miles right now - a steal! If you're using the award search on United.com, it's the last one in the list on the days it's available (even though the calendar at the top only indicates economy is available).

I saw that. Really tempted...there's a nice Marriott 5 minutes away with shuttle service. Can walk a little bit, get over jet lag and be fresh upon arrival into prague...just unsure about Turkish airlines

really debating about them...fantastic reward ticket available right now IAH to prague with 17 hour layover in Istanbul...