OlsSalt

We had to trek all over the Konigsdam looking for a quiet space (no piped in music mainly) and finally found one part of the Upper Deck Crows Nest, but I think it got taken over now by an art class lab.  

So the larger HAL ships remain one and done for us. But as other observe, lots of people were enjoying the far more noisy fun on these ships. 

Great answers folks,  and thanks so much for the photos POA1 - will send this info back to our Roll Call. 

1 hour ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Has anyone ever taken a small humidifier? On our last cruise I got some weird sinus attack, and the dry air made it worse day by day. Since humidifiers use much less electricity than kettles, irons, etc., I would think they'd be okay. I might try and see what happens.

ChengKP, the former ship's engineer who responded to technical issues in the past recommended  frequent use of nasal saline sprays, or perhaps even the glycerin type nasal coating products like Ayrs, to help ward off dry nasal passages that he associated with getting bouts of "cruise crud".

Drier air in these closed ventilation systems can be a problem. But probably also necessary for protection of soft goods as well -  upholstered furniture, bedding, carpeting, drapes etc. 

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

That wasn't the way it worked, but that doesn't matter any longer. The extra charge for being a solo is no longer! It's all the same per person charge now. 

Yes, that is the other way to look at this. Just like the discount you get if you don't choose your cabin, instead of the premium charge if you do.  🤭

What exactly do you mean by "dated"?

Colors, bathroom finishings, carpets, furniture design, wall coverings and pictures,  overall design and layout - do they look battered? B eing less than super "trendy", I always feel HAL is saving the passenger some money.

If the cabin is functional and goes where I want to go for a good price, I am good with the overall look of a ship. Have found HAL cabins to work very well for us. The HAL service never lets us down. Makes me overlook any unfashionable HAL decor missteps. 

1 hour ago, ScottC4746 said:

We were on Holland Eurodam April 2019 coming from RCCL.  We found many of the events and activities poorly attended, which was a plus for us.  The buffet we felt was crowded and what seemed to be "first time buffet users".  In the evenings the lounges were very quiet as far as crowd.

 

I was 54 and DH was 47 at the time.  While we had nothing but great things to say about HAL, we felt we were just a tad young by a few years.  It seemed like on our cruise, people turned in by 9 PM.

 

Season also comes into play with school holidays and seasons.  I am sure if we took it in the summer, things would have been different than.

HAL is known to be a more quiet cruise line. In a few years (decades?) this may well appeal to you. Probably not now. Though HAL's four newer and larger ships are very different - far more active.

The smaller HAL ships are chosen more for their travel itineraries and access to so many more unusual ports. A value cruise line for travelers primarily. 

10 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

They usually unplug stuff so they can plug in their vacuum cleaner.....

I think smiling "Henry" might just run off the 220v plug?

We have ordered off the Nami menu when dining at Tamarind.

12 minutes ago, love4trvl said:

We disembarked Nieuw Amsterdam on Saturday the 17th at 7:30 am. When we left the ship we passed a table with a lot of irons, kettles, and heating pads waiting to be picked up from their owners.  

 

Count me among one of the scofflaws on our very first HAL cruise in 2009 - my little travel iron was confiscated. And the very kind note told me it was being held by the steward, who will be very happy to return it to me at then of the cruise.  Lesson learned, first hand.

Plus later hearing about the seriousness of any sort of fire on ships. If the ship has rules for the safety of all passengers, Including keeping balcony doors closed in order to maintain essential parts of a  smoke suppression ventilation systems, just do it.  (As explained by chengkp a few years back.)

Seemed trivial at the time on our first cruise, since in those days I never traveled anywhere without a small iron.  I also learned to choose far more packable clothes, that don't need ironing. 

RE: your shrine photos. Reminded me of American spoof website that recently did a funny take on the now ubiquitous "Waving Kitty".

We even carry one for our cabin - a small solar power model picked up on a prior Japan cruise.  https://babylonbee.com/news/chinese-restaurants-authenticity-questioned-after-customer-notices-it-doesnt-have-one-of-those-weird-lucky-waving-cat-statues

I swear I can hear it meowing in Japanese: Fair winds and following seas.

6 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

I guess. But on the GWV, that we got off of ten days ago, the ship gave every passenger a power bank. We were, I'm sure, not alone in bringing two with us, so this meant we had four. The Zuiderdam is something of an old ship (2002), but I guess they were not worried about lithium batteries, as they handed out a thousand or so.

When done with the ship's permission, what is the problem? 

Our Sept 1, 2024 -53 day Majestic Japan Westerdam roll call is now discussing forming a small book club. We have a lot of sea days on that cruise - a double trans-pacific RT from Seattle/Vancouver 

So I am asking  if anyone on an upcoming Westerdam cruise could please check to see if the library carries multiple copies of some titles.  In the recent past on other HAL ships, I have seen  maybe five or six copies of the same titles assuming they were intended for a book club to use.   Wonderful if anyone could check this out and report back. Thanks in advance.

Also anyone know how frequently they change the library inventories? 

I think they offer a discount when two people in the same cabin sign up at the same time - a family or couples fee? At least that is what they did in the past.  But each person who uses the spa must have their own paid fee. The card cannot be traded around. 

My only addition is to take a comfortable "cover up" and easy slip-in shoes to go to and from the spa, if you don't want to change everything in the dressing rooms themselves. And then when done,  change back into your "street clothes".

Hate to raise the wearing the HAL bathrobe in public issues again, but that may not be the preferred cover-up choices for this public journey to and from the spa. 

However, I do wish they had a bathing suit "spin machine" in the dressing rooms to help speed its drying if you use the dressing rooms to change, instead going "wet" back to your own cabin. 

Makes complaining about "dated pink tile" in the bathrooms feel a little trivial when asking all HAL ships be up to current electrical wiring demands after being in mothballs earring no money for two years. 

Anyone sailing HAL ships for a while can remember when people first started adding Kindle readers to their electronic cameras when plugging chargers into their cabin's two outlets, and one was 220.  Now people need at least five lithium battery plug-ins, all going at the same time?

This does scare a number of us. Who are equally concerned about the numbers of lithium battery plug we might forget to unplug before we leave home on the cruise - did we unplug the leaf blower charger, dear?

2019 California - 34 passengers killed instantly in an on-board dive boat fire.

WIKI: ............. and cameras had been plugged in to charge overnight. The designer of the vessel speculated the fire may have begun in the bunk area, possibly sparked by a lithium battery.^[17] 

Boats made at the time the Conception was built were not installed with electrical systems that could handle the number of rechargeable devices carried by current passengers, who often bring cell phones, cameras, and lighting systems for their dives. The sheer number of devices charging at once may have overloaded circuits, or the devices' lithium-ion batteries may have overloaded.^[71]

 In October 2018, two passengers aboard the sister ship Vision saw a battery and charger catch on fire in the aft portion of the salon; one unplugged it and dunked it in a bin of rinse water, and the other emptied a fire extinguisher onto the aft bookcase where it had been plugged in.^[72][73]

The NTSB planned to take remnants of any devices charging in the boat to their headquarters near Washington, D.C. for further examination.^[12] 

On September 10, the Coast Guard issued Marine Safety Information Bulletin (MSIB) 008–19, immediately advising owners, operators, and masters of passenger vessels to limit "the unsupervised charging of lithium-ion batteries and extensive use of power strips and extension cords".......................

We won't be traveling with a phone, so any tips about how and where to get an actual SUICA card or any other Japan Smart Card as soon as we arrive in our first port?  TIA.

Celebrity Eye and the Westerdam are apples to oranges - two vastly different on board experiences that will go well beyond just  lounge chairs and entertainment seating. Good you are looking into this upfront before you make your final decision.

Getting out of the new port facility in Puerto Vallarta is now an intentionally complicated maze -a labyrinth of treks through confusing walkways, buildings, ........ and shops. Be prepared. 

Keep your eyes looking upwards to hopefully find direction signs to the exit or to the ship - or else abandon all hope, all ye who are forced  enter here. If you are lucky, you might be at the far dock and can sneak out a side fence and avoid this new port facility entirely.

Please may I have your permission to link your thread to our upcoming Westerdam  Sept 1 Roll Call - Majestic Japan?  (53 days Seattle to Seattle - via Alaska and Midway/Hawaii) - the rest circling Japan)

You offer so many good, practical tips of many of the ports we will also be visiting. Thanks for coming back with these wonderful reports and photos.

We always enjoyed running a black marking pen through the parts of the NYT onboard daily, when they crossed the line between news and highly biased opinion. More fun than Suduko, and often left us with a totally redacted pages. Glad to see it go. It was a very poor choice for general readership.

36 minutes ago, Loreto said:

I have been doing this for several years...I cross out the lox, and they seem to understand that I want a bagel and cream cheese.

My to-go breakfast sandwich when we have an early hour tour departure. Send your lox down to my cabin!

Agree, the bagels made on board naturally cannot be the real deal, but there are plenty of other rolls at the Lido buffet that can work just as well for a very nice "sandwich" with the lox plate fixings.  (slices of tomato, onion and capers)

You can follow one of the crew members to the port "Seamans Society" store, where one can find many toiletries and small items. Apparently anyone can purchase at these small retail shops as we have occasionally done in the past, which also provide important support services for crew members far from home. 

One area that rarely feels crowded on HAL ships are the elevators.  More often than not, one does not even need to share an elevator, except when coming back to the ship after a port stop. But during most daily activities, rarely a wait and never (never say never)  a crowd.  

Learn where the other elevator banks are on the ship, so you can avoid a crowd  the elevator bank directly located next to the showroom when an event lets out. Crowds usually build at the start of early dining in the main dining room, or the first hour for breakfast or lunch at the Lido buffet. Wait a while, and things are much more accessible.

You can also order bagels, lox and cream cheese on the free room service breakfast menu. 

We always thought a lower deck oceanview cabin near the open aft decks was one of  the best kept secret on this class of  HAL ships -a few steps out the open back deck where there are loungers to view the sea.  Particularly for long cruises when upfront cost-cutting becomes more critical

We spent over 50 days in a similar cabin on a former sister ship (old Rotterdam - lots of storage in those cabins) next to a central  "gray area"  and had no issues at all. There was an occasional "electoral" odor in the exterior hallway -so we assumed there was some sort of equipment in that area. But there was never any noise or any disturbances in our cabin. 

Our own feeling about obstructed views when booking a lower priced cabin is anything that lets in daylight in the morning  is good enough for us when cruise price is a major consideration and we don't want to book an inside.

Views from this level are not as critical as higher up.  Others say they love just being able to look out at the sea close by their more "water level" view and see birds and fishes, rather than sweeping vistas into the horizon from higher up. Enjoy and don't forget to take advantage of the aft -deck at the rear end of your hallway.