DesertPesce7751

So where should we post for now, until a decision has been made?

I wanted to just quickly post to thank everyone for their help after we booked an aft balcony on the Westerdam for the cruise we took a few weeks back. We were worried about smoke and being unable to use the balcony but ended up being fine.

I wanted to also ask a new question because we're going to be on the Statendam for a month. While we have a window cabin now, we were trying to decide whether to splurge for a balcony if the prices were to drop. We can't stand smoke but love being outside. Does the demographic or itinerary impact how many smokers there are? What about on balconies vs the promenade deck? If we want to take a jog or stroll, will we be out of luck?

Yes, I know how to use the search bar. Yes, I've read the past posts. No, I'm not on a soapbox asking for a policy change. Yes, I'm expecting some " :roll eyes: " from those who don't like using the forums as a venue for answering questions and helping people make the most of their cruises...thanks in advance for your help!

We have one day there still on the ship then another 2 days in a hotel. Can't wait as have never been to South America before. I gather you enjoyed your trip to South America!

You'll LOVE it. We were glued to the windows and decks the whole way down the Chilean coast. Most amazing fjords I've ever seen. And the baby penguins! Definitely want to go back.

That's brilliant. Did you use a tour guide for the Jewish tour ?

We did, but it was in 2008 and I don't have the name anymore. I'd think they would all be pretty good--the Jewish community there is very close-knit.

It's surprising, there are signs of Jewish life everywhere. We actually went horseback riding at a ranch before the day we flew home and passed several Jewish cemetaries in the countryside. You could see Hebrew lettering and Stars of David clearly from the road.

How many days are you in BA after your cruise?

Thanks, have booked it. Did any of you do a Jewish tour in Buenos aires?

Yes, we stayed 3 days after our cruise ended and it was a great time. The highlight was our trip to the Immigration Museum, which is a lot like Ellis Island but features the old immigrant housing and families' quarters.

I should tell you, though: even if you don't do the Jewish tour, you'll likely come across signs of Jewish culture everywhere. There was someone selling handmade mezuzzot (with kosher prayer inserts) at the farmers market and we came across an antique shop with tons of beautiful, Jewish old world relics. Most people spoke some English, but there were a few who only had Yiddish and Spanish--but we understood each other well enough.

I hope you have a great time!

We stopped there in December 2011. We did an excursion going to a small town away from the port, then back to the port and to a museum. It was good, but Manta doesn't offer a lot compared to Lima. I don't think it is a place to get too far from the port on your own.

The one that looks the most appealing is a birding tour. We might do that if there's nothing easy to put together privately. What is the area like near the ship?

We're going to be in Manta, Ecuador on HAL's Staatendam in November. Want to do something special for my birthday, but the ship's choices seem a bit limited. Anyone have any suggestions? We enjoy nature, seafood, archaeology…not so much into shopping, Spanish history, churches. Any suggestions appreciated!

We did it a few years back and it was fantastic. Don't miss it!

She would have time to mail the card the stamps you can buy in the gift shop & the post box is right near the shop ..sorry cannot remember the price

 

There is not a lot at the North Cape we had time for a coffee there as well as looking around outside & stop for obligatory photo :)

Thanks! That was very helpful. I hope she takes plenty of pictures--it looks like a beautiful cruise!

This is going to sound really silly, but please humor me!

I told my friend's little boy that Santa has to go to Norway to mail letters and that's why he's never gotten a response from our favorite wintertime icon. I think he'd really get a kick out of getting a postcard from "Santa" from North Cape.

If I were going, I'd absolutely send it. I'm not, though, but one of my favorite friends is going, with her husband, on a cruise that stops in North Cape. I know there's supposed to be a small tourist shop up there that sells (rather pricey) stamps for people to send letters from "the top of the world."

I'd like to ask my friend to drop it in the mail for me when she's there, but I think they might only have an hour up there before the bus takes them back to the pier. Does anyone know how inconvenient it would be for her to mail this? What about just how much the stamp costs?

It would be a real treat for my friend's son to get such a fun postcard in the mail, but I don't want to inconvenience the friend who's making the trek up there.

Thanks!

We've been feeling a little bit "nickel and dimed" lately on some of the larger cruise lines. Examples include the high prices for spa facility use, getting cash out at the casino (5%???), very expensive drinks, extremely high internet fees, and rising fees for specialty dining. We tried one "luxury lite" line and weren't impressed at all but it could have been largely because of our very noisy cabin location (right under the main entertainment venue).

Who here has been on both the mass market lines and the luxury lines (several times on each) and can share an opinion on just how different the total price ends up being? We noticed that Seabourn and Crystal have many inclusive amenities that may even make a trip less expensive than a suite on a mass market line if you include the extras. Internet, for example, is a fraction of the cost on Seabourn as on Celebrity.

Will the goodie bags include cigarettes?

"Here. These are for you! To enjoy upstairs!" :eek:

My gut says that wouldn't go over well...

Maybe just little 1-2 oz cordials and some candy? :D

Oh dear. I want to appologize to everyone on "both" sides of what this has turned into. I was only asking about whether the air would be uncomfortable in the aft cabin my mother reserved and, if we couldn't move to a different room, how to maybe break bread with any smokers above/below us to see if we could work around it--ie: by finding out their dining (or bridge game or gym) schedule and knowing we could use the veranda then.

My thought is this: 95% of people, smokers and nonsmokers alike, are mindful of the preferences of those around them and would be amenable to friendly dialgue, even if they don't ultimately find a solution that meets everyone's needs. The problem is the 5% of people (the passive aggressive non-smokers who would actually think that misting lysol through the verandah divider is okay AND the smokers who see their morning/evening cigarette and coffee/wine as Custer's Last (proverbial) Stand) make everyone else afraid to remain rational and see each other's humanity.

Perhaps we should wrap this up. I'm going to look at the deck plans and call tomorrow to try and get us moved to a low and forward verandah as the only other cabins left are insides and I'd really love not to miss the beautiful scenery or fauna that we all love so much. Also, we're going to bring a fan, not to "blow the smoke back" at anyone, but to blow it out to the sea just in case we can't work it out. I was also inspired by a family on a recent flight who gave candies and ear plugs to everyone seated near them to placate in case their todler got loud. Perhaps some goodie bags will help bridge the gap if any smokers seem friendly/amenable enough to hear our concerns.

What do you guys think?

Where's the Santa Maria?

Thank you all for being so helpful! I'm not as worried as I was before about it in general but we're for sure moving to a non-aft cabin! This was a unique and important question and you've helped us out a ton with information we, with certainty, weren't able to find with the search feature.

Best,

Halina

Bed bug check.

Before unpacking. Fill a large ziplock bag with Hot water.

Put under the covers for a half hour or so.

The heat will draw them out if they are there.

I was told to use a saucer of club soda, as they are drawn to carbon dioxide (ie: what their victims give off)

There's a half marathon in the area I've been considering that would bring me back there if I do it. I'd rather postpone until then than risk having little to no time because of a delay in docking or disembarking. Give it the time it deserves. :)

That's the way to do it! You want plenty of time at the gardens which might not happen on a cruise. Plus, when you book independently, it's less expensive and the crowds are smaller.

This just reinforces my decision to not book an excursion for Victoria but hang loose and play it by ear.

 

 

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We never book anything for Victoria because the street performers by the pier and the night/evening life of the city are beautiful on their own. There's a fun little tapas bar in town, sandwiched between some very cute shops as well. Alternatively, the pubs are all super friendly. The drive to Buchardt Gardens is really long and cuts half your port time anyway, so don't feel like you're missing anything that huge. :-)

I don't think there was any need for the sarcasm. Fact is that a simple search of this forum would have answered every question that you have regarding smoking on HAL ships. All users are encouraged to search before they post.

As was mentioned above (in this very thread), the cruise line management/leadership read all of these and so posting about it helps to continue keeping the issue in the forefront of their minds. If the board admins would like us to stop posting about anything they find redundant, they could, as they have with many other subjects, make a "sticky" about it. The fact is that, while many of us have read about smoking issues here in the past, many of us are also continuing to hope the situation will improve. It is fully appropriate and reasonable to continue inquiring about it. This is completely logical and appropriate etiquette and protocol.

Does bringing a large spray can of air deodorizer work?

 

Ira

LOL!

I don't know if smokers would appreciate being lightly misted with Febreeze.

Random... Are you on the medical ethics cruise on the 26th? I'm on that one with the Great Alaskan Running Cruise group. :) I'm also not a huge fan of smoke, but did end up booking a balcony, asking the travel agent in charge of our group for "as far forward as possible" as I really like the motion you can get forward. As it turns out, there will only be 3 cabins in front of me, so I'm crossing my fingers I'll get lucky. :)

That's the one! I might have to talk to you onboard! I'm trying to get back into running and already love to hike. I'm betting you've looked into the trails at the ports? We're not booking excursions so there's probably going to be time for some trail exploration. I posted to the role call, too.

We're going to try for farther forward as well. How big is your group?

I normally avoid smoking threads because as you pointed out...on HAL smoking is allowed on balconies, we all know that when we choose to book a cruise (or not).

We have been thrilled twice to have aft balconies and contrary to popular belief that "the smoke will blow straight out", it doesn't. The ship acts as a wind block and we found that smoke from beside you or especially below you is worse than a side balcony.

No whining or arguing here...we simply have made other choices. I love HAL and lurk here waiting to see if there is any official change, but the only change was to the wine policy.

Thanks for the insight! We're going to see if a side cabin is available as your advice makes a lot of sense.

As you can see from my signature, we're going on a continuing education cruise. I don't know if you have licensure in your profession, but for those of us who do (lawyers, doctors, psychologists, etc.), they have yearly or bi-yearly requirements for a certain number of contact hours in the specific profession (professional ethics, new research, best practices, professional liability guidelines). They're a pain to fit in but some are actually very good seminars. The workshop offered this summer is only offered on this ship so we didn't really have a choice. As I said, though, we do enjoy HAL. If it weren't for the smoking policy, we'd likely enjoy it more often. ;)

Our Oceania experience was a total nightmare. Never have I been more elated to disembark. The silver lining? Now we know we aren't missing anything by sticking with our favorites. Never have I seen such a lack of attention to detail as I did on Oceania.

Hi all. My mother and I typically cruise with Celebrity and really enjoy their broad non-smoking policy. As asthmatics, it's so nice to be able to enjoy all of the common areas of the ship without fear of health concerns being an issue. The only things we really can't do on Celebrity (because of smoke) are play table tennis or otherwise relax on the port-side smoking areas.

We enjoy HAL as well, mostly for the onboard traditions (panama rolls in Panama, split pea soup in Glacier Bay, the Indonesian crew show) and because it was my grandparents' favorite line. However, the amount of cigarette smoke has made it hard to chose to book with them. One of my favorite things to do on board is enjoy nature off of my balcony over a hot cocoa, coffee, or tea and I've been forced to skip it in the past because neighbors are out there smoking all the time.

Has it gotten any better? We're tentatively in an aft cabin off the back of the ship (Westerdam) for July and I'm getting worried that it might not be the best choice. The thought was that, since we're sandwiched between suites, we'd have less smoke. Anyone have any advice?

Also, smokers, please don't be offended. Everyone should be able to enjoy whatever substance they want as long as they're not hurting anyone else. As such, if you have any suggestions on how to politely approach a smoking neighbor about sharing the balcony time so there's at least a little smoke-free time a day, we'd be really grateful for your thoughts.

Wait, did someone say they'll draw your bubble bath for you? So after a long day's excursion, it can be ready with some planning ahead? You're speaking my language...

Yes, having dinner in your cabin is a perk for the entire ship, if you have a balcony they will serve you on the balcony.

No, I know that any room on the whole ship can get dinner in the room. What I meant was the "butler-served" style in which linens are presented and the meal is served course by course...