Gigi1977

It’s really a port thing. The cruise port and the air port. If the ship is quickly cleared and you walk off with your luggage, get to the train station immediately and get to the airport…. Then there is the security at Schiphol which can be nightmare inducing…. Personally, I wouldn’t do it. But you might make it.

Call Jim Picicci.

Our PCC was wonderful and we had been with him for years. He left HAL for a year and in that year we had THREE different PCC - like a revolving door. I discovered that Jim Picicci had returned! Called had to speak to a couple of people and got reassigned to Jim. He immediately called me thanking me for seeking him out. I highly recommend him.

1. It depends… our early booking included Drink Package, WiFi, ShoreExc credit, OBC, Specialty Dining and Tips for 3 cruises but on another it included Shore Exc Credit, Specialty Dining, Drink Package. 2. For that sailing we had an Aft facing cabin and absolutely loved it. We could see the bridge and opera house from our balcony. 3. Absolutely. If you are flying that far, see more!

I am allergic to peanuts. They are fantastic about all allergies in the MDR. I would caution you to be very careful when dining in the Lido and in speciality restaurants. Let the manager know in the Lido every time. And if you go to a speciality restaurant tell everybody. Onetime the info wasn’t passed on to the kitchen and I got peanuts. Not pretty.

No catch. You do have to pay port fees. They go fast.

We have used flight ease many times - almost all international with the flex fare only. We have never had the cost go up and paid at final payment with our cruise fare. The only bad experiences we have had were in London Heathrow and our British Air flight was cancelled due to air controller strike in France. We got ZERO help from HAL’s flight ease. No one answered the ‘emergency’ 24 hour numbers except for a recording giving ‘office hours’ and to call back then. Fortunately, we had AA status and were in the British Air coshare lounge and a very nice gentleman named Kevin helped us rebook. The second time we were late arriving in London so our seats were cancelled on our booked flights - I completely bypassed HAL and rebooked in the lounge. Flight ease pricing can be great - just don’t count on their ‘support’.

They usually have happy hour everyday except embarkation day. Generally between 4 - 5 pm in several bars which will be listed in the daily program and sometimes one of the bars will have a late happy hour around 9 pm and again will be listed in the program on board.

Sadly it has not been available after our TA’s on Rotterdam for the last few years. I thought it might be because of customs but it was not available in FLL even when we went through customs in NYC first. We were really hoping it would be as we love luggage direct and use it whenever available!

We had it on Noordam last year. It was delicious but very messy. The berry dessert was just ok but I was extremely full. No lobster. Salmon, clams, shrimp and crab with potatoes in broth. I don’t think there was corn or if there was, it was not on the cob but maybe in the broth? It was a nice change from MDR.

Volendam is one of HAL’s oldest ships. It is not going to have the most up to date stabilizers. I would not book a long trip on it before ‘trying’ the ship on a short cruise. We prefer at smallest the vista class ships - Noordam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam and Oosterdam but even those do not have the advanced systems that the signature and the newest pinnacle class ships do.

We have taken the HAL bus from Canada Place to SeaTac. I do not recommend it for a same day flight. We almost missed ours. As long as you are not flying, it will work fine. Several people on our bus were from Seattle or the surrounding area and just had friends/family picking them up or Uber/cab home.

Since it is Rotterdam you are considering- you can look on several site and compare the veranda, and vista. The bed is beside the balcony in the Vista and in the veranda, the bed is closer to the bathroom with the sofa being next to the balcony. A Vista suite is not really a ‘suite’ - just a bit larger than a regular veranda and comes with a few ‘perks’ including double cruise credits but generally at a much larger price. (It can be nice if you are chasing Mariner status but don’t want to pay for a Signature, Neptune or Pinnacle ‘suite’. Check out Cruise Deck Plans or HAL facts to see pictures of both.

The last time we bought it was pre shutdown, so just like everything else, I’m sure it is significantly higher now. We paid $39.pp and I don’t think they started bar service until 10 or 10:30. . . Someone else will likely have more recent experience that has been cruising Caribbean and been to HMC.

Where would it be advertised @POA1? Would it be in the daily newsletter or maybe a flyer put in the room? Just ask a bartender onboard- they will be glad to sell it to you…. Plus I think it gets them ‘a bonus’.

It still is a pull out sofa bed. A bit bigger than the ones in the veranda rooms.

We generally get it back within 24 hours and sometimes same day …..EXCEPT on our most recent cruise on N Statendam where it was minimum of 2 days and generally 3 and once 4. We were onboard for 22 days and were stunned. We had packed light because of the fabulous laundry on all other cruises(25+) …In April, I’ll be packing a few more things - especially undies for our 30 day Japan cruise on Westerdam….just in case…

Almost the entire lower dinning were given pagers rather than seated at the reserved time.

We had plenty of ‘Guests’ boarding in NYC on the 150th voyage in 2022 including some overnighters…. So many that they kicked us out of the dining room. But they were Gus’ guests. I doubt common folk, like us, like us paying passengers are allowed guests.

My PCC was able and willing to help me when I did this. He was able to ‘preserve’ my existing flight and add the additional flight. I have a GREAT PCC.

I did it. Got confirmation (and printed it ) BUT a month later - it still does not show on my OBC line sent by my travel guy. So guess I will have to deal with it onboard. I don’t like it one bit. But glad I printed my confirmation.

You do not need CO if you are in a Neptune Suite. The HIA package includes various things…. Drink package, Excursion $, OBC, Crew Gratuity (sometimes), Dining Package for speciality restaurants, - it depends on the HIA when you book. You have CO with Neptune along with free laundry and you have added drink package. You could pre purchase WiFi, book specialty dining and prepay tips….

We took a taxi. It was easy. Traffic was light that day… might have been Saturday or Sunday. Traffic can be awful per my son who travels there frequently- so we booked a 1:30 flight to be on safe side.

We had to meet in world stage and were escorted off until the ship was zeroed. We had a long, unfortunate wait because two ’ privileged’ passengers didn’t think they had to get off in spite of letter in cabin, multiple announcements etc. They showed up in bathrobes hours late. 😳. Don’t be that guy. The faster the ship zeros, the faster you get to reboard.

My experience- no. You get the prepaid discount OR purchase onboard at a higher price and get the Mariner discount. This was N Statendam in August. Different ships/guest services might handle it differently. The prepaid discount was better than the Mariner discount in my case.