Catlover54

I had previously read on the HAL forum that the 18% is pooled (and somehow distributed ), but if you tip an individual server *in cash*, he can keep it for himself. I have no way of knowing if that is accurate, however in some cases (e.g., where one server is repeatedly very good and the other quite poor, though this is not common), it gave me an incentive to give cash to individuals.

Seabourn "luxury" cruise line (also mostly owned by Carnival, just like HAL), is oddly worse than HAL, i.e., definitely there is no luxury pre-cruise and administrative service. I use an ipad for most of my travel planning, and though my experience with HAL website is limited, it has been better than on tiny SB (where customer complaints about the website are ignored). It is ironic that Carnival/HAL/Seabourn etc are based in Seattle, which is one of two key centers for high tech manpower (the other being silicon valley), and yet for years, Carnival has been unable (or more likely unwilling) to pay for IT contractors to do a decent job to set up a website with a great, reliable customer interface. Silversea, another "luxury" line, (co-owned by Royal Caribbean) is marginally better (though only recently), but not that long ago their website was completely down for several weeks, and pax could do no manipulations at all on their booked cruises (TAs couldn't do much more except sit on the phone for hours instead of pax sitting on the phone). Despite bad website service, it's amazing what inconveniences customers will still put up with to give large cruise corporations their hard-earned money: they have us hooked on cruising, and all the lines pretty much do the same thing, with minor variations. So unless pax vote with their feet and refuse to cruise, or go elsewhere (where unfortunately there is a similar race to the bottom), the cruise lines have a captive audience of people still cruise rebounding from Covid, and they can continue to get away with suboptimal websites. Cruise stock prices have increased recently , perhaps due to higher profits due to not keeping up with increased service needs the higher demand has created. I often use a TA, but when I'm making a quick decision for something with limited availability, she is not always quickly available (works 9-5 M-F and is often away on cruises herself, and has many other clients) so then I prefer having control over things myself to make sure it gets correctly done so I don't lose an opportunity (at least as much as the cruiseline website will allow). Often I read about new developments relating to my cruises on CC (like port changes and/or even disembarkation day changes made a few weeks before a cruise), days before my TA notifies me, when time is of the essence, and that has helped me make timely changes before everyone else starts thinking about doing the same (e.g., get an upgraded airline seat or excursion based on the new port routing) . Otherwise, she is a good TA so I still book through her on less urgent and more complicated trips that might require a lot of phone work if something went wrong (as it did when we were on a cruise when Covid hit, and also for travel on 3rd world continents or where visas are required). She also provides a small amount of OBC, which is nice. I will have to use her more, if website quality and service further deteriorates, because I'm already at the point where I dread talking to *any* customer service agent, be it for a cruise or an airline, because they are usually so bad on difficult questions, take forever to get back to you, put you on hold for unacceptable periods of time, and/or give wrong or robotic style information because they are undertrained and inexperienced.

It is good to know for many pax that it is a lot cheaper than regular water (especially if one is on a very long cruise, e.g., one is rinsing sinuses twice a day, and cleaning CPAP once a day). My DH is likely heading for CPAP soon, so I'm planning ahead.

What I like about having screenshots of my boarding passes is that I don't need internet, and can still call them up (same goes for airline boarding passes -- got burned on this too many times). And of course I still try and pre-print passes but that is often inconvenient if I don't get them until late (e.g., I'm often already on the go when they are issued, and/or the hotel business lounge printer may be broken or inconvenient to access, etc.). I also make sure DH and I have the same electronic sets for both of us , in case one of our phones goes out for whatever reason. Plus we carry an extra little power source to jumpcharge an iphone in a pinch (one of many reasons we cannot travel just with carry-ons ). Anxious cruisers often turn out to have more than one screenshot of their boarding passes (I was cleaning out my iphone photo file this morning and realized I had made 4 sets of boarding passes , at different times) . Yeah, I'm one of those overpreparers who never flies into the disembarkation port just the day of or even the day before the cruise -- I've had too many trip-spoilers over the years, learned the hard way.

On a related issue, does anyone know if there are charges for *distilled* water (as is often needed for CPAP devices and for nasal sinus flushing), or is that exempted as a a medical cost (like some hotels won't charge for such water for medical issues)?

It is not just about boarding and disembarking. If you have trouble standing a long time and are cruising on a mainstream line where there are tender ports (e.g., where you have to take a little boat to get into either hard to access ports, or ports the cruise line didn't want to pay extra for to dock side by side, or where the ship is too big so they are at anchor), I strongly recommend having your own portable Rollator. Waits for tenders returning to the ship can be very long, and especially if it is very hot, it can be even dangerous for people who cannot stand a long time or are older (risk of falls, loss of conscioiusness, dehydration). I am a senior with some chronic health problems, though I don't usually need a cane unless I've had a recent injury on top of my other problems. On mainstream lines, when the ship is full or not many tenders are deployed, we have had to stand as long as 1.5 hours to get back on a tender boat to the ship (when the ship was full, so there are lots of people to move) . And on a recent mainstream medium sized ship (Holland America Rotterdam), in both of the two tender ports we had, my recent wait for tender return (admittedly in prime return time, i.e., after excursions and closer to time of departure) was 45-50 minutes (fortunately it was just in the cold wind, and not in the heat). Crew will assist those with special needs equipment and help move their equipment to get on and off tenders, even if you can walk on/off, and you may get a special special area to board the tenders. On my recent cruise, there were many dozens of pax with all kinds of equipment, many of whom could walk ok , but not stand for very long (I am almost there, often carry a collapsable cane to lean on just in case but a Rollator would be better on some days and on some ships).

Why are people buying plain water? Is it for the better taste, or is there simply no plain, unbottled water anywhere on board people in non-suites can drink without paying a charge and a gratuity fee (either at a restaurant, or from your tap)? I'm exclusively a sparkling water drinker so though I was on HAL recently, I had a drink package as part of HIA when I booked the suite, and am not very experienced on HAL in non-suites. So I never had to consider whether or not one can get plain water without a charge. I thought the problem of risks of drinking cruise ship water (other than taste issues) was solved years ago, and it has become safe to drink, brush teeth with, gargle, etc.

I just got off Rotterdam a few days ago, and yes, movies were shown on the Lido Deck in the afternoon several times so it is "a thing" (announced in the daily program the day before). Alternatively, they showed ongoing soccer matches. There were very comfortable looking lounge chairs lined up facing the screen during those movie times (if you could get one -- the ship was full, so plan ahead). But if you want to find out *now* what will be shown next month and when, when you're on, I don't know how or if you can reliably do that. What I didn't understand is how people could watch a movie while at the same time there is so much noise and other activity from hundreds of people at the Lido, which was also unpleasantly warm, unlike a real theatre (we preferred movies in our room).

We've had base bus excursions with well over 40 people packed in, but that trip was pre-Covid. In general I did not like Regent excursions as much as excursions on Silversea or even Seabourn. We're doing more private excursions in recent years, or non-included excursions, which tend to be better (life is short).

I am catching up on my reading (am just back this week from over five weeks overseas bouncing from cruise trip to little land trip to little land trip to another cruise) . It has been very clear and obvious for many years to anyone who cruises at all, that on all trips, ports are not uncommonly canceled, and expedition trips are primarily guided by weather, animal sightings, safety, and sudden illnesses, rather than a particular port agenda. That *general principle* is old, and has not changed. My original question specifically related to whether there is or is not a new *known* "don't sit down" rule because of bird flu, and others have kindly answered my question, so I and others know how to prepare if/when I go to Antarctica. But as an applied scientist, though recently retired, I still generally still like to as best possible try and understand how things work and why things are done a certain way, even when I plan pleasure traveling. Actually one of my favorite amusements when traveling is noting and observing what appear to be inconsistencies, contrasts, and absurdities, be they in history, wildlife behavior or modern culture and human endeavors, and then learning the rationale for the seemingly incongruent things I see. But when I read your comment "we Americans are not particularly good with flexibility and taking things as they come", I had to laugh. You may want to come out to California more to get a feel for how millions of diverse people 'take things as they come' as a life principle, rather than an exception. And for the opposite, spend some time on Hapag Lloyd (which caters to Germans, and has many years of experience and safety in Antarctica) if you want to see examples of some of the extremes of passengers 'demanding to know exactly what will happen, preferably in writing, and require that any rules or adjustments meet certain levels of justification.' And yet, they somehow still travel to all continents. 🙂

This is mostly very helpful and reassuring, as is Port Power's post #74. However, where you say "the zodiac dropped about 2 minutes and there I was swinging in the breeze", I hope you meant that the zodiac dropped 2 *feet* or 2 *meters* and not 2 minutes! Two minutes would be a long time to be swinging and have two guys holding you up by your arms ) 😳

I have seen quite a bit of Scotland from land and from ship excursions to land, but I want more of that gorgeous place, so I am also interested in such an expedition. Questions about logistics: 1. If a guest did not want to go into the Zodiak (due to either concerns about water being choppier than usual, and/or just wanting to avoid the rigamarole of putting on hot and heavy gear ), what would be your estimate as to how much value of the visit he would miss on your Arctic cruise (and if someone knows, on a Scotland/Faroe Island cruise)? I realize that could vary from location to location (e.g., some places you might see nothing but sea and a vague outline of some land from the ship unless you get off and into a Zodiak and then go around the other side to get closer to nature). In parts of Alaska and Norway , for example, one can still see and enjoy a lot from the ship just by sitting on top and/or walking the deck without getting off, whereas other places I imagine there would be little point in being there unless you get off the ship to get closer, e.g., to see hidden bird or other animal sites via Zodiak. 2. How does the ship handle the situation where a guest who only wants to do Zodiak visits intermittently, e.g., depending on how rough the water is and how confident the guest is she can get in and out of the Zodiak that day without injury ? For efficient use of resources, are there other guests or perhaps crew who are waiting on "standby" , e.g., to get an extra ride in case someone cancels short notice, e.g., chickens out after seeing the level of chop? Is there a formal process for this, i.e., alerting others that your spot will be available to others if you have more notice, or is the spot just left empty to avoid confusion? On your cruise, as far as you know did everyone participate in Zodiak excursions, or was there a substantial contingent of guests who never or rarely did (other than embarking and disembarking )? I learned in 2021 in Iceland that I am fine stepping down into Zodiaks when there is a "box" to step unto first before taking the final step down , when the seas are relatively quiet, and when crew pay attention and have a firm grip, preferably on each side (I'm not as strong as I appear on first glance). But when the Zodiak is bobbing up and down and crew seem short-staffed or distracted (e.g., there is only one guy instead of two), I worry more. I've read that when there are very rare injuries of cruisers related to Zodiaks it is not so much a problem of people falling into the water, as mchell810 worries about, as it is people just stumbling and falling when getting in or out, e.g., when the Zodiak or ship lurch, and then severely spraining or fracturing an extremity. This is not counting the two elderly guests who got killed on Quark when their Zodiak capsized on top of them close to shore a couple years ago when an unexpectedly strong wave hit, and they could not get out from under in time, or the Viking guest who got severely injured when the Zodiak burst undernearth her in Antarctica and sent her into the air and up, severely fracturing her leg and requiring the ship to try and rush back in a storm to get her care. I know that some people who are very fit had gone out on a Zodiak on the Silver Explorer a few years ago but then when an unanticipated storm started coming in, the crew had great difficulty getting them back onto the ship because the seas were so bouncy. It took a long time and required that they make several attempts and climb vertically up ropes to get back on. I realize Zodiaks are statistically overall *very* safe, (in part due to a lot of care and planning by crew and also self-selection, e.g., people avoiding them if they aren't fit enough ), but they are not risk free, of course. I hope to be able to be able to enjoy a lot of an expedition cruise without routinely doing twice a day Zodiak rides in full gear, and especially not when conditions are not so bad that Zodiak rides are canceled, but bad enough to require greater balance and fitness than the norm.

JP, thank you for all your work putting this together! I just spent a couple hours reviewing your blog and wonderful photos, from beginning to end. I greatly enjoyed reviewing the visuals and reading the stories, but know I wouldn't be able to tolerate the hot weather in the Kimberly, much less being active in the heat, so I will not be visiting. It was nice to be able to vicariously enjoy the area through your posts. Great job, and good luck to you both in your early retirement from the Albany VA!

On my recent Rotterdam cruise, crew came out with trays of paper cups with about 70cc of hot chocolate each, to hand to guests when they stood for long periods in the cold in line trying to get back on the ship. Guests fortunately did not have to take off their gloves and whip out their room cards to get a serving.

Thank you for this wonderful trip report, parts of which brought back some very nice memories of the Iceland cruise DH and I did in 2021 on the Crystal Endeavor (before it became Silver Endeavour). I love the mesmerizing photos. You were incredibly fortunate with the weather, and with the animal sightings, wonderful! Other than the pre-cruise hotel choice, in your opinion, were there things could have been improved? I have read that some guests on prior cruises have had concerns about the condition of the aging (though refurbished) Wind (e.g., issues in their suites). If the ship were full, do you think there would have been enough staff to have the same good service you had? Have you booked another SS expedition?

I was on Westerdam a few years ago and they offered pea soup at least once at the Lido, but I don't know if that is still ongoing or routine. The Lido and/or MDR also periodically offer other Dutch food items on select dates, (like the date of the Orange party and the day after) including some not offered at the DC. They are hearty and delicious. And if you want to make pea soup at home, to get you in the mood, here is the complicated recipe: https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/whats-new/dutch-pea-soup-recipe/

The Hapag Lloyd MS Bremen bear protection guards definitely saw a polar bear back in 2018, when the bear attacked one of the guards and then got shot dead by the other guard. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44996873 But the best way to see bears might be through a land-based tour. I have a friend who did a bear tour out of the Manitoba, Canada area this last winter, organized by a well-known "luxury" tour company. The tour was commercially described as below, and she said the actual experience lived up to the description and then some. "Two exciting excursions in polar bear country with a naturalist guide aboard a specially designed tundra vehicle. Private, exclusive after-hours reception and dinner at the Manitoba Museum, home to a replica of the historic 17th-century ship. Private charter flights between Churchill and Winnipeg; spend three nights at a lodge in the "Polar Bear Capital" . Dog sledding demonstration and a dog sled ride Visit to the Eskimo Museum in Churchill" From the "specially designed tundra vehicle", she said they saw "13 bears the first day, 30 bears the second day." Hard to beat that on a cruise! If I want to see polar bears, I will go by land on this tour (though there are never guarantees). Some of her land-based tour pictures :

Good to know. But there were a couple variables here -- not just that it was a warm weather cruise (which as suggested by Infi may have encouraged people to go outside), but that it sailed out of San Diego and not Rotterdam. My guess is that unlike on our recent sailing on the Rotterdam , out of Rotterdam and back to Rotterdam, you did not have a big majority of pax on board who were Dutch (I would love such an itinerary if I were Dutch -- no need for flying irritations!). I envy Europeans their ability to easily sail to many different and interesting European venues without having the expense and stress of airlines.

1. What an awful stressful end to your great trip! At a minimum, since *HAL* lost the luggage and not you, HAL should have refunded you the cost of the bus fare, and since it was their fault, they should have agreed to pay costs of shipping the suitcase if it came to that. You might want to look into exploring if your travel insurance would pay for your $240 cab fare (with all the supporting paperwork and delays, of course, for the unexpected expense). Since DH and I are now both retired, we have decided to do our best to if possible, avoid the blood pressure surges and stresses of same-day flights home the days of disembarkation. The anxiety about all the things that can go wrong (and indeed does go wrong more often the last few years) is simply unhealthy. We had worked out it would made more sense for us to disembark late (up until 9:15 was allowed), and just take a quiet private taxi to the beautiful sound-insulated Hilton Schipol airport hotel (using points), get early check-in and an upgrade to an executive lounge floor for 45 euros, and just relax and work on sorting our photos and electronically catching up on getting back into the real world. The hotel also has a nice spa (massages are cheaper than on HAL) and gym. That night we had one last leisurely meal, and the next day with a lot of time to spare, we then rolled our luggage for about 15 minutes on a flat indoor surface, to the uncrowded United check-in three hours before the flight, then hung out in the assigned lounge, and thus flew home Sunday instead of Saturday. For various reasons related to United Airlines discounted business class 'seat buckets' I don't understand, leaving a day later also saved us about $2000, more than covering the cost of the points and the early check-in (and if luggage had been lost by HAL, would have allowed us more time to find it!). As you know, and for those reading and perhaps planning a future trip, the airport is only 20-30 minutes or so from most of the sights in Amsterdam by train (cheap) or Uber (less cheap), and not far from scenic windmills. So if we had been more frisky, we could even have done another half-day excursion of some kind in Amsterdam (on top of the ones we did pre-cruise) after dropping our luggage at the airport Hilton . The hotel concierge had some convenient excursions on offer, including a relaxing canal ride with Captain Jack I'd heard can be fun. But we were 'excursioned-out' so just took it easy. There is also a Sheraton at Schipol (five minutes less time rolling luggage to the terminal), as an alternative, though I have no experience with it. 2. As for that rocky circular walk in Portree, the app "All Trails" we often use to find suitable easier hikes when traveling had rated it "easy" , presumably based on the first section , which wasn't too bad , though even there having so many people going in both directions made it trickier, otherwise I wouldn't have tried it. And yes, I had to keep staring at the rocks to avoid a fall and hip fracture. The CD Nick had talked about that walk option in his port talk on the ship, but I think he should have alerted people to the precariousness of the seond part. There was a solo elderly lady who was stuck on one of the transitioning sections where she didn't have the thigh strength to step down 2-3 feet off a rock, so I gave her some support to help her get down (but I don't know how she did later). One can just do an in/out on the first part and still get a 2 mile scenic walk. And I think if people still want to do the whole thing, they should bring their hiking sticks, to help not only themselves, but others who may be stuck (I had foolishly left my stick in our suite, not realizing that would be the day I'd need it). Here is the view of Portree with my iphone, from the beginning of the walk:

Terry, do you have a link to your Mumbai/Singapore thread? I'd been away from reading CC in detail for a while doing other things, and would love to slowly see your photos and threads now that I have two months free without travel plans.

To me, SS is not priced appropriately, given the product offered today. All in, because we mostly ate in specialty restaurants on the Rotterdam (which I think are on average better than SS MDR), we aren't that interested in free hard liquor on SS, and we do more private excursions on HAL to avoid bus crowds, it actually costs us net *more* to sail on the Rotterdam *in a suite* than on SS in a base accomodation (which is about a 325 -350 square foot room they call a suite, smaller than a Neptune). But given the better available food, the better overall service (at least in a suite), and the greater variety of entertainment on HAL , HAL provides a nice alternative. Because we mix and match lines, DH and I are not part of the "in" crowds of loyalists on SS or Seabourn, e.g., people involved directly or indirectly in the travel industry and/or where I have seen that guests well-known to staff who tip extra on the side, or who have pushy personalities, quietly get more service than run of the mill customers (basically at the expense of other guests) even though it is allegedly a "gratuities included" and "all guests are treated equally" line. On HAL I have had way less service comedies than on SS and Seabourn ( I have many stories), at least in a HAL suite. Seabourn and SS loyalists will deny that there is favoritism independent of cruise fare paid , but I have sailed with them often enough to observe that there is. With HAL it is more straight-forward: you pay more, you get more, regardless of your cruise history. That, and more available food and entertainment variety, is an appeal, as long as you can tolerate the long return tender lines (and overly long Dutch cafe lines), and the inadequate seating in most entertainment venues with a full ship. There is less phoniness on HAL, less faux luxury (e.g., the caviar isn't "free and unlimited", but it is actually very good, unlike on recent SS and SB, and wine options are more numerous. The main real luxury I see most luxury lines providing is more physical public space per guest, which is nice visually, but I am more interested in my own suite space to retreat to , because the "in" groups have a way of loudly taking over the smaller public spaces anyway on luxury lines. Customer service pre-cruise has deteriorated, and food/included wines/entertainment has also cheapened. I remain very fond of luxury Hapag Lloyd food and most service, and entertainment (they offer a lot of classical music, and in appropriate venues without sound distortion), but they are appropriately more expensive per diem, and are not popular among non-German speakers. Plus their partial ownership by Royal Caribbean has started pulling even that stellar line down a bit (and DH doesn't like sailing on a primary German line, so I only go there when I go solo). It is nice to have a variety of choices and overall, though there is room for improvement on HAL in line management, I am pleased with my HAL experiences so far (only five cruises). I plan on more as long as food and service quality is maintained.

Yes, "math" (or really just arithmetic) is the issue. It is a surcharge that at today's longer term CD rates is easily 5% (depending on terms), so one must realistically add 5% to the cruise cost if paid off in full over one year in advance. This also adds to the total amount one has to potentially fight to get returned if unusual events occur (e.g., as happened with Covid, where lines were offering FCC "within one year" instead of refunds), which might not be so unusual going forward. It is *a* factor to me, but not the controlling factor, if a line is so fantastic that one should jump at the chance of paying 5% more. And it is not as if Viking has the best reputation for customer service and easy refunds and compensation, e.g., when river cruises went south due to water level inadequacies or excesses, there was great resistance to compensation. On the CC forums, even luxury travelers (and Viking is not even technically classified as "luxury"), people fuss about saving even a few hundred dollars, so on a longer cruise well into 5 figures, it is not an insignificant amount. I totally understand some people psychologically like the idea of paying everything off ahead of time, but one is always free to do that even if it were not mandated by the line for a booking to be maintained. To me it is not a "no way" consideration, just a realistic assessment of the extra cost for Viking, compared with other arguably comparable cruises. It was not as much of an issue when secure interest rates were in the financial toilet. Some lines (e.g., Silverseas) offered/offer a discount in the total price for booking and paying off the cost early, which acknowledges (at least in part) the lost earned interest cost. On a similar note, I don't like that Scenic wants a 20% deposit which is non-refundable, no matter how long before the cruise is scheduled. What are they afraid of? Plus, they are very difficult to deal with on customer service. And I also don't like it when foreign lines like Hapag Lloyd (my favorite line) try to charge Americans in dollars and then provide unfavorable exchange rates, which can make a difference in net thousands of dollars, but if one is alert, one can avoid this by paying in Euros. These maneuvers seem to me to all just be ways of hiding the true higher charges of the cruise offered. If you're fine with them (and obviously many are), great. But if demand is as high as Viking claims it is , I have to ask why, if Viking has more bookings than they can handle and is doing customers a favor by offering cruises, Viking keeps sending out so many and such frequent advertisements to me and others to book their cruises. My luxury travel TA is also not fond of them in terms of customer service dealings, compared with other lines, but of course she may have other vested interests she may not be willing to discuss with me.

I am glad it was of use to you! Happy sailing, mixing and matching different lines.

Many first-time cruisers use a TA, who is supposed to alert you to key issues if they are worth their salt. Otherwise the information is online, though it may be obscure. Have a wonderful time on your first cruise, it is very exciting! Be sure and walk the ship top to bottom after you get on and have settled in, so you don't miss any potentially favorite spots. We also take a picture of the deck plan of the ship and carry it around on our iphones, and areas we are likely to use, (and look at the deck plans near elevators) so we know what's where, and keep track of the location and hours shown in the daily program on the app (and on physical paper if you prefer). When in doubt about anything, ask (don't assume that because no one mentioned something it isn't possible or available, sometimes it is possible). Bon voyage!

Below is a link to my review of our recent suite experience on the Rotterdam (RT Rotterdam-Rotterdam). We are infrequent HAL cruisers (we usually cruise so-called "luxury" lines), but had a very good time. With the right itinerary, we will return. Apologies for the many typos. If anyone has questions or comments, please chime in. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=716670