OlsSalt

Not much help here because I don't know the answer either. But I assumed naturally they would take passport photos since that is such a critical travel service when they are on a cruise ship. Lost passport, necessary for a visa, and such a routine procedure. For passengers, staff, crew as well. Good thing to check on when I am on board next month - I am due for a passport renewal.

Leaving San Diego over the holidays on the Konigsdam, they showed TopGun:Maverick in the showroom during the day, since it was topical to San Diego. Showroom was packed. Great idea- use the Main Stage for movies during the day - topical to where one is traveling. Not sure how much rehearsal time needs to be reserved for the live productions, as well as possible sound issues in the adjoining cabins. And it does take extra crew time to clean up all the free popcorn.

We experienced "cavitation" on the NA leaving one port - really loud and shaking. Apparently a phenomenon of the propellers, air bubbles, currents and the newer aft ducktail designs - can happen, but it is temporary. Was on another smaller ship on another line that was plagued with the same sounds, but it went on all night - like the beating of an uneven load in the washer on spin cycle.

I am reminded of my days being a hostess at a local steak house, where Frank Sinatra was piped into the background music, while people dined and socialized at the same time. I pinched myself - I was getting paid and got to listen to Frank Sinatra at the same time. Heaven, and picked up enough tip money to buy a bag of BBQ potato chips on the way home.

You are going on a very large ship, best not let someone who wants to drink and gamble set the tone for everything else this large ship can offer. Food shortages? Maybe they were out of pineapple and substituted mango instead. Hard to know what that even means. There are plenty of other options for dining all over the ship, though some menu items might be unavailable.

Better suggestion is to monitor how many people avoid venues because they are too loud and/or the canned music is too irritating. We had a heck of time getting away from the intrusive canned music on the Konigsdam. Finally found only two venues that were quiet - one side room area in the Crows Nest, and the Ocean Bar during the daytime. It was even blasting in the quiet, extra cost Retreat Cabana area, but at least we got them to turn it down (to the cheers of other passengers.) Ahhhh, for the sounds of silence being at sea .......

Let's see if this link will work to see the flower arrangements - buying gifts for guests, but they want it linked to the booked passenger and the sail date: https://book2.hollandamerica.com/secondaryFlow/gifts/flowers I also see the $29 birthday flower arrangement is available for anyone as well.

Yes, there are various vases offered among the menu of flower choices. You can view them under the "gifts" selection when you are booked. Not sure if you can view the choices, if you do not have a reservation already. Part of the choices are the different shapes of an arrangement - thinking about where you will place the vase in your stateroom - tall and narrow, flat and spreading, etc.

When I saw my upcoming Spa Pass online listed on my itinerary, it had a notation "Duration 15 minutes". Much like shore excursions include a "duration" time period - but three houses, four hours, etc. Was that intended to be a warning to not immerse oneself in the hot spas for more than 15 minutes? Because certainly one can spend more than 15 minutes in the various other Spa amenities. We witnessed a very serious medical incident in one of the outdoor hot tubs on the Konigsdam over the holidays. People around us were saying they probably were in more than 15 minutes - easy to lose track when at sea. It may have even been a fatality. So I wonder if HAL legal is now adding this "15 minute Duration" notation to the Spa Passes. Shall ask when on board.

On the Konigsdam, BB Kings was so loud no one was visiting the shops on the passageway above the BB Kings Lounge - shops remained empty as people scurried away from the noise.

Insides start a $499 for seven days - Oct 1 - little glitch between the actual itinerary now, and the old marketing blurb - Wine Country and Pacific Northwest: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/find-a-cruise/l3o07d/n365-7-day-wine-country-pacific-northwest

Which is why you need an intimate setting for chamber music.

They are still a lot of cabins on the seven day Oct 1, 2023 HAL Noordam "Coastal California - Vancouver to San Diego since they recently took away two attractive ports and added San Pedro and Catalina in place of Monterey and Santa Barbara. Still 7 days at sea on a HAL ship - I imagine they will be happy to fire-sale these remaining cabins the closer it gets to departure. And SF and Victoria BC. Roll call is coming up with some good options in LA and Catalina just is, so it is easy to just spend some time there. Glass bottom boat still gets good reports.

One listens to recorded music. One feels live music. No matter the genre. Miked classical music on a cavernous stage with no natural acoustics is not even worth the price of finding a seat.

On HAL ships?

Maybe tell us what you are already expecting first? Small ship, traditional cruising, easy to get around, nice sized cabins, standard offerings - show lounge with limited productions, daytime lectures and some organized activities, a library and stocked with puzzles and board games two pools, sports courts, some youth programs, good food, free room service, very nice staff and crew members, traditional sit down dining, a few specialty extra charge restaurants for variety, HAL ships, esp the smaller ones work best for self-contained passengers who ware driven most by the itineraries offered and the low key quiet settings onboard. If one needs more onboard entertainments and activities, this might not work for your diverse age group. If one wants to spend some quality down time together, it could be perfect.

We were on the Zaandam Jan 2020 - no such zodiac excursion offered on our particular cruise. The Maasdam In-Depth cruises had Zodiacs on board, but they never got fully utilized, if ever before that program closed down.

Know before you go on an Antarctic Expedition zodiac landing cruise: WATERPROOF BOOTS Most Antarctic expedition companies also lend you boots, so do check before you pack your own. If they tell you to bring some, you’ll need good quality, insulated, waterproof ones that come up at least to mid-calf and ideally higher. You will almost certainly have to disembark the zodiac into the surf, and you don’t want to be walking around for hours with cold, wet feet! If you are bringing your own, avoid boots with a deep tread. You have to clean your boots before and after every landing, and you don’t want to be spending hours trying to get penguin guano out of every crack! One popular brand – and the ones that we were given – is Muck Boots.

On drive-by cruises, you also won't see the infamous "mud room", and you won't be scraping the bottom of your boots and pants legs with a toothbrush after every landing on a drive-by cruise. And you most likely won't see the rental bill for the extra gear you are required to have when making landings on the Zodiacs. And you won't see yourself up to your knees in ice water as you make wet landings to get ashore. We were signed up and paid for a Silver Sea Expedition cruise from Argentina to Cape Town via Tristan da Cunha, and it did get a little over-whelming when we saw how much necessary work we, as passengers, were required to do in order to rightfully protect the environment when we made any landings. So even for $18,000 each, it was not going to be luxury vacation even if we had our own personal "butler". "Covid" craziness put an end to that cruise for us - and Silver Sea gave us our money back right away. Props to them. So nothing against expedition cruising, but I just don't think it is fair to put down drive-by cruises as something to ignore or avoid. Both options have merits and demerits. And if one has only one chance to see Antartica only as a drive-by, nothing should discourage them.

What happens if your child loves cruising and demands to be taken again.... and again.... and again .....🥰

If you order the pink and white one with the baby's breath, Peruvian lilies and daisies (near the end of the list), I bet it will last you for at least a full two week cruise.

When we have ordered flowers for the cabin, they are very lovely and last forever. Much better deal than ordering flowers at home, so we have found they are worth their full price. Holland is a flower producing country, so this is just one more Dutch signature on HAL ships. However, you often do not get the arrangement shown in the picture, if they don't have these onboard - so best bet is to order the lowest price arrangement and you will probably like whatever you get just as well. Unless it is special for roses or some other single flower type arrangement. Then you should get exactly what you ordered. They did just offer a very special price ($29) for a "birthday" arrangement, apparently because they had my birthdate on file.

Here is a novel way of setting foot on Antarctica - a one-day flight from Cape Town, South Africa - $13K per person: https://white-desert.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/GreatestDay-201920-.pdf

Old saying in the very early days of "technology": high-tech will need only low (human) touch. Low tech still needs high (human) touch. Badly working "high tech" definitely needs a lot of back up human high touch. HAL used to have a very efficient, direct but clunky website. Then they drove many of us crazy going much more high-tech with whistles and bells that just got in the way -simply because they could. They tamed down those initial changes and certainly got us trained to understand the new system better, but it still never does what "I" want it to do and I am constantly having to move in and out and start over again. Even when you finally learn what you want to know upfront, the path is never a straight route.

Never too early to teach children how to deal with "boredom". Always fond of the saying allegedly ascribed to the Queen Mother in response to a child's complaint "I am bored". My dear, if you are bored then you are boring.