OlsSalt

I expect banquet food on cruise ships, and HAL offers often very good banquet food. I think it is unrealistic to expect much more, even in the specialty restaurants for the price. Agree, thousands of meals three times a day in less than ideal facilities, with limited fresh food sources, and even rocky seas. 24/7 How do they do it as well as they do? I get fed, I get a clean comfortable room, I get a travel experience and it does not break my budget. I am happy. And I only unpacked once. But I would be even happier if they brought back the libraries and turned off the G.D. piped in music, so I can truly feel the full magnificence of being at sea with all the sounds including the hum of the engines and the breaking waves.

That really does describe the two primary orientations found among fellow cruisers. One I failed to understand for years, when a lot cruise talk would just buzz past me - "our last ship had an ice rink with fully staged ice show -we loved it, this is a terrible ship" vs. isn't the Volendam a wonderful cruise ship going to all those swell places"? (1) Using a ship for a convenient travel adventure with fairly basic amenities, or (2) using a cruise ship for an on-board high activity and variety experiences. And of course a third - hybrid - the have it all cruiser - unique travel experience and high onboard entertainment. But for us, HAL for the longest time was the smaller, basic ships with high travel adventure to very unique collections of ports. Often the only ship in port too. And yes, we were in bed by 9pm. We recently found the Konigsdam much too large for our own traditional HAL tastes, but saw plenty of people really did enjoy the variety of options that could not exist on the smaller, more modest ships. So for us, the cruise market moved away from us. And the smaller cruise lines moved out of our travel budget. Economic realities for both options today are appreciated. So we appreciate even more how lucky we were able have those glorious cruise travel adventures on the past fleet of smaller HAL ships, taking us all over the world for modest prices. What a gift, what a window of time, when we were lucky to get the total cruise travel package that we liked the best. Thank you, HAL.

Looking for smaller ships, non-luxury? Remember a certain unnamed cruise line did buy the former Hal Rotterdam and Amsterdam. HAL, you lost two grand ladies who were still welcomed into smaller ports.

Interesting, I believe Icy Straights, AK is also a privately owned pier operation - Hoonan. ???? On a visit to Key West (Veendam Cuba cruise), I was shocked to see the overall cruise ship impact on what was a small, quirky and delightful little town. Quite frankly it was awful. Don't blame them for wanting their little town back again.

Agree, Pan Pacific is a good choice and the Metro is practically door to door from the airport to the cruise ship departure plaza next to the Pan Pacific, but you will need to cross a busy street with your luggage to get to the hotel. The Fairmont is the other major hotel that is closer to the Metro stop but does not have the wonderful close up view of the HAL ship and harbor. We paid extra to get a harbor view at the Fairmont, only to see the Coral Princess come in, and not the Hal Zuiderdam that year which was on the other side and out of hotel view. Boo. Carefully plan your course on the Metro map, since there are many exits out of the underground station in this area. Pick the one that will be closest to the Hotel Best part of the Pan Pacific if you don't get a harbor view room is having breakfast at their terrace cafe and looking right directly into the ship's decks, knowing this will be your snug new home in just a few more hours. If rolling luggage is a problem, agree then some other form of transportation to the hotel other than the Metro is the right choice.

The new electronic key cards cannot be punched, alas. People were wearing them on lanyards with a plastic pouch that held the intact card. I always used to wear the older "punched card" on a wrist coil. No more, if they are the newer ship cards. Does this hold for the older ships now too?

Congratulations. Your enthusiasm about a first cruise is contagious You probably won't be seeing Northern Lights in July, but you will see The Midnight Sun. One tip is to bring clothes pin if you want to seal the curtains shut and block out the long daylight hours that time of the year. Easy rising and late setting sun has its own special light, and makes each cruise day feel a lot longer to be about and active than in the Lower 48. Door decorations are discouraged- fire hazards, but simply flat ones are usually ignored. Hope you do get treated with on-board flower arrangements since they do a beautiful job with fresh flowers on HAL ships. They can be ordered online ahead of time and waiting in your cabin when you sail away, or reserved to be delivered your special day. They are so pretty and do last, so I'd personally recommend getting them for the start of your cruise. Volendam is one of our favorite HAL ships with a lovely main dining rooms and nice sized cabins. Much easier to navigate and not get lost, or always the rookie mistake get totally turned around when trying to find your way back to your cabin. We still do this so have some good laughs if you feel turned upside down for the first few day until you get the feel of the ship and where the clues are to turn right or left. We always pick out some asymmetric visual feature in the various elevator lobbies, so we know which corridor to use to get to our cabin. Right or left, stairs up or stairs down, , odd or even cabin numbers, forward or aft, port or starboard. Studying the deck plan ahead of time always pays off. Smaller, older and fairly low key if you have looked at too many lavish cruise ship ads. This is one of Hal's more traditional ships. But Alaska itself is the star performer. One of our favorite areas for repeat cruising - we nerf tire of the sheer awesomeness of the scenery, fresh air and accessible ports.

Local one-issue activists (zealots) do belie any reputation Californians are laid-back.🙃 Hypocrisy also be grows in those vast new hydroponic "green houses", which are taking over the formerly bucolic Central Coast. Picking my own environmental assaults, I wish our new local industry would go back up North and let us just deal with the occasional cruise ships; not 24/7 skunk odor.

We have used two different cruise ports for Lisbon - one right in town and a great location; the other at the far end of town in a more industrial setting - quite a walk to the public transit from that location - looked dicey but it worked out okay. This port location choice may depend on size of ship, number of other ships in port at the same time, and any number of other reasons. So be prepared for one or the other. Hope you get the downtown one and that you can confirm this ahead of time - the walks up the hill into an historic section and port wine/ fado establishments by this older port (also near the train station) are wonderful.

We divert traffic on one lane of the four lane ocean front boulevard, in order to accommodate the larger tour busses picking up the tender passengers. But after the first few hours of the morning, things pretty much shut down in the arrival area. There are smaller shuttles that take people into the main downtown area which is about 10 blocks away from the tender drop off, so they run continuously. Agree with the other poster, the smaller ship "crowds" do get spread out and do not create any overwhelming impact when ships are in port. But local environmental activists operate in zero tolerance mode only. I personally like seeing HAL passengers in town and will often greet them, when I see them sporting HAL bags or logo. At this time I think we have found a reasonable accommodation being an occasional cruise port.

We settle for "necessary level" staffing - safety and basics. Not sure what qualifies as an "acceptable level" of staffing, since that is so variable. We like have a great itinerary, a clean place to sleep, a tidy ship, administrative support staff, shore excursion personnel, and adequate food while on board. Anything beyond that are "frills" for us. HAL smiles are always a very welcome bonus for us. Enrichment related to where we are traveling is the one plus we also like.

Port fees contribute significantly to our small tender port budget in Coastal California, on the shoulder-season stop for some cruise lines. Per passenger fee provides more revenue than any other similar revenue raiser for this primarily recreational boating harbor. Because we only get smaller ships 3000 or so, or well under, and only during the two shoulder seasons, we have an uneasy truce being a cruise port. But the protests howl, every time one anchors a few miles offshore for their tender day in port.

Neptune suites on the Oosterdam are smaller than the one on your prior Ryndam, but not to a material degree. Just know it will not be the exact same cabin as you remember. We love Neptunes too. But the newer the ship, the more they make all the cabins a little more compact. Oosterdam is now still one of the "older" HAL ships (Vista class) so it remains one of the more generous ones Keep in mind also any aft-deck location Neptune suite will be a distance away from the Neptune Lounge, depending on the deck location. As I recall, the Ryndam Neptune Lounge was quite close to the Neptune Suites, where both lounge and suites were all clustered on one deck only. Recent photo of Oosterdam Neptune suite - not an aft NS. https://halfacts.com/vista-class/7080-oosterdam/

Neptune suites on the Oosterdam are smaller than the one on your prior Ryndam, but not to a material degree. Just know it will not be the exact same cabin as you remember. We love Neptunes too. But the newer the ship, the more they make all the cabins a little more compact. Oosterdam is now still one of the "older" HAL ships (Vista class) so it remains one of the more generous ones Keep in mind also any aft-deck location Neptune suite will be a distance away from the Neptune Lounge, depending on the deck location. As I recall, the Ryndam Neptune Lounge was quite close to the Neptune Suites, where both lounge and suites were all clustered on one deck only.

Air pollution was stated as one Norway concern - in these tight fjords. Same protests on the West Coast of California- which also add black water dumping, and harming the sea life. They do ignore cargo ships which are far more numerous, and there is a definite touch in class envy protesting cruise ships only, which they see as only a rich man's toy. That said, we have over time seen many towns with local charms totally ruined by frequent mega-ship cruise traffic. Mainly in the Caribbean, but even now on the Mexican Riviera - it is not a 100% happy relationships nor even rewarding for cruise travel exploration. A totally impossible situation - We like going to "untouched" locations, but realize by going we am touching them. The DelSol-Diamonds International acid test of cruise destinations. It they are there, it is too late.

We felt lucky to be even able to add the second cruise later after our first segment booking, since both segments were Holiday cruises and were pretty much fully booked, when we first started looking. We took what was available, as things did keep opening up until the last minute. Glad we did do both, since there were two very different moods onboard between the Christmas -heavily large family groups, and the New Years segment - more older couples. The actually quieter second segment was more "old Hal" for us, when we thought it might be younger and part- hearty. It was a very festive cruise, but still a good HAL traditional cruise. People really put on the glitter for NY Eve. Best part was the second cruise got us to the San Javier Mission outside Loreto which we had always wanted to visit. The slight transition day hassle due to our last minute bookings, was worth getting on this later added second segment.

Made sense to me - since booking a Collectors Cruise for the same amount of time - with a single booking number does not give the double benefits. So I assumed we might have to "work a little" to get the benefits for both our booked cruises. Funny how people can see the same thing but with different eyes. Thanks for offering your perspectives. Fair enough.

We honestly did not know in the situation of two separate bookings in two separate cabins, in order to retain our 5star perks for each booked cruise plus CCL stock ownership credit. Would we need to pack up and leave the ship as a departing passenger (fully checking out) for booked cruise #1? And then on the transition day, would we go back through a full regular embarkation on the same day and get our new cabin number ( fully checking in on the transition day for cruise #1). I assumed that might be the price we would have to pay, to get the full benefits applied to each cruise segment. Live and learn, we did not. The transition and transfer of our cabin items to the new cabin was as smooth as possible. There was protocol to follow, but overall it was treated as a "collectors B2B, but with the full credits applied to the second booked cruise.

We just finished a two separate booking number "B2B". Booked at two separate times. Was passing on what we did not know about them up front.

I believe "collector cruises" are hundred or so dollars cheaper than booking two separate cruises, covering the same time period. So what you lose in double Mariner perks booking a "collector cruise", is made up somewhat in the cheaper initial collector cruise price. The one good bonus at least is not having to fully check out and then fully check back in on your transition day between the two separate bookings - you do get treated as a "transit" passenger. You will get notice the night before what your mid-cruise process will require.

Agree with others, these airport connection tours have been great for us too - adding one more day to the total vacation experience. One warning however, we used one from Yokohama to the Tokyo airport with lots of touring in-between. We were hit by a heavy and sudden rain shower in the middle to the city tour, that left us drenching wet with rain puddle soaked shoes that even an umbrella would not protect. I knew my poor feet would not survive our upcoming long trans-pacific flight in wet shoes, so I scurried around and purchased some souvenir Tokyo flip flops to wear on the flight. Know your potential weather during that tour time, and prepare accordingly.

Sometimes more sections are offered if they are sold out and there is a good waiting list - when they get closer to port and arrangements can be made. Sometime, shuttle busses to downtown areas will be added later, in the event local taxis had previously protested. Again when they get closer, they find if they can work this out. New topics for shore excursions are far more unlikely, but it can happen particularly if there is a special event for that particular cruise timing. Considering how much ground transportation and staffing that needs to be coordinated for tours, these things do need to be scheduled and confirmed in advance which makes additions of very new items more unlikely. But you never know. However, many make their own arrangements for private operators if there is something you really want to do. We arranged a private company for a"Levada" hiking tour on Madeira once - incredible hiking route through their ancient mountainous water ways carved in stone When we finished the hike they delivered people back to their hotels, one by one. But when the bus headed to the harbor to take us back- everyone on the tour bus laughed and cheered when they saw our "hotel" was a HAL ship! It was a great trip and all worked out well.

Caution if you have too many tender ports - on the longer rides, things may get a little bumpy or wavy. Try to sit near the side openings and in the center too.

One reason a lot of people like the Lanai cabins on some of the older ships too - great for people watching from your dedicated lounger and chatting with those making their promenades around the 360 outside deck.

Sadly the last of the liveried "Chimes Masters" are a thing of the past now too - held out before "covid" but now missing in action - dates, mints, ginger, apricots - all nice sailing tradition digestive aids.