OlsSalt

US State Department offers the STEP signup for their current status about various countries: Safe Traveler Enrollment Program. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/step.html Goes in more depth than just a warning, often with specific locations and nature of any threats. Most countries do not want to lose their tourism business, so they do go out of their way to protect those areas even if they are helpless against other criminal and dangerous activities. .

Our hope is just the opposite - more smaller ships which can still get into more out of the way port and away from the Big Ship port competition with other cruise lines. The bigger ships also get consigned more to industrial ports out of town, while the smaller ones can still find spots in the older in-town docking spots. Poor HAL, is always asked to be the Gold-locks cruise line - just right, somewhere in between the luxury prices small ships and the mega behemoths.

Some of the older ships have a 220v EU style plug by the lighted mirror desk area where the ship hair dryer is also located. If you have a 200v EU plug adaptor, and your appliance is dual voltage, be sure to bring it. Or else use one of the standard US outlets elsewhere in the cabin. However, the one plug in the bathroom does say "razors only" and that one would probably blow out if you used your own hair dryer in that location. This will probably not be a problem on the newer ships which have multiple types of outlets, but still the "razor only" warning is present for the bathroom outlet. The cabin steward can also help you once onboard.

A few years ago Mexico was going through another high-publicity drug cartel crime wave and one of the Crystal ships was due to pass through this area at the same time. I believe it was a nigh club murder in PV - Chapo's son and clearly a drug turf war hit. Apparently Crystal had a very high number of cancellations for this Mexican cruise, so they offered it at fire sale prices, since the had to get their ship from point to point anyway -empty or full. It was a great travel bargain, so we jumped at it and the ship eventually sailed half full. Even though some onboard passenger were still muttering Crystal never should have offered this leg of the cruise in the first place. It as a Sea of Cortex- Mexican Riviera cruise and continued on without incidence. While the specifically targeted drug cartel crime continued unabated in Mexico too, sad to report.

Cruise Critic evaluates 2023 Antarctic cruise options: https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseto/cruiseitineraries.cfm?port=54

This artist also looks like the source for some of the quirky tile work art found on the afterdeck pools on some of these smaller ships. Instead of me asking .."what were they thinking" after seeing the cows, and people as benches .... now we know! A well loved Dutch contemporary artist - who has fun with whimsy. Thank you HAL for giving him this unique showcase.

The opening scenes of TopGun:Maverick are easily a 10, and lots of fun references to the first film slyly snuck in. If the Navy and naval aviation ever needed a recruiting film, those few moments of the opening scenes on deck had it all- mission, action, team work, critical technical skills, discipline ...it was all there. Zero tolerance for error captured in those thrilling first moments. What worked after seeing it several times was picking up those fun reference and finally sorting out all the new characters, who come by more in a blur on the first showing. But each of them get warmly known after seeing it again. The re-introduction of Iceman was just one of many peak nostalgia scenes. Poignant.

Brava, Deeni, You win a gold HAL keychain! Great find. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Snoeck

Some one also said there was a lot of activity at the Truckee-Tahoe, CA airport too, for perhaps some of the snow scenes? Anyone else voting that Hangman was just the cutest guy ever. DH approves of this message, since he gets to keep watching this movie again and again. While I get to swoon over Hangman. DH was a flight surgeon on an aircraft carrier (Vietnam) so it takes little arm-twisting to see the movie again. Those opening scenes and the precision team work getting planes on and off carriers was 100% authentic for him.

Saw that website too - but this artist is in Montana, not Holland. And the style does not look the same. But what a coincidence - animals and what sounds like the same name. Such a brief discussion of the artist on the Art Talk but sounded like this was a well known artist, but in Holland? Hope someone from the Netherlands can offer us some more insight and others listen to the tape at the 20 minute mark to see if they can get a clearing read on the artists name because this very work was clearly discussed on the tour - Deck 8 - Lido Deck, poolside by the bar.

The biggest material difference will be the addition of "as you wish dining". They still have fixed dining, early (5:30) and main (8pm). But the lower main dining room is now drop in, lines, waiting, everyone eating different courses at different times, but with the option of also making a reservation for a particular time that best suits your own schedule. Formal nights with strict main dining room enforcement became gala night, then dressy night and are at total mile bag where the passenger makes the decision; no longer the ship as to what one wears those evenings. There is still a mix of special attire so if you like to dress up, these are the nights to make it sparkle. Otherwise, what one would wear to the Lido is no longer off limits on formal nights. Yes, there is still black tie for some. "As you wish attire" has also taken over the HAL formal dining scene. Soup and appetizer course got combined into a single first course, fresh bread is now made with frozen dough but still tasty. Lots of specialty diets now accommodated even on the main menu, with a good degree of creativity. But loss of the dinner salads and the cold soups are missed. No free espresso at dinner. Loss of libraries and the librarian is also mourned. But specialty coffee bars have been added. (fee) From our first HAL cruise in 2009, the garish mish-mash of decor and firesafe closeout choices of mismatching carpets is long gone - a lot more attention to overall feeling of design and color coordination is now part of the HAL brand. But the relatively fine art and traditional Dutch sailing heritage remains tucked here and there too, even on the newer ships. Which ship will you be on?

Some will depend on which ship you are taking - the now grand old ladies (which were newer when you last sailed the R class and Vista class) , the smaller more intimate HAL ships are pretty much the same but with a lot better decor. The newer, more modern HAL ships (Pinnacle class) are quite different a different experience but have a lot more variety, spaces but obviously with a lot more passengers but still well under the mega-class ships on other lines. But basically they still try to be a "HAL ship" -just a lot harder considering their size and busy-ness.

One other treat on this New Year's cruise after leaving San Diego was showing Top Gun:Maverick in the main stage- with, as always, the free HAL popcorn. Topical since much of it took place at Miramar, Naval Air Station, San Diego. 4th time for me, and it was just as great. Audience loved it. Of note, there are the movie snacks also available at the Dive In when they show movies on the large outdoor Lido pool screen.

We had this happen too on a long South Asia cruise - off the Vietnam coast, where apparently there were hundreds of small fishing boats. So all night long the fog horn went off, every few minutes. Quite a night for everyone, including the fishing boats.

Thanks so much for the Art Tour link - fun to listen do while doing some other chores. And there it was! Minute 20:00 on the MP3 Art Walk - Dutch artist "Jan Schnook" (?) - who is a woman, so that may need a spelling correction - four plates part of an 8 plate collection - she apparently does happy animals.

There used to be taped "art tours" for HAL ships - you could walk around the ship and learn about various installations. Maybe searching the historic articles about the Zaandam might reveal info about her onboard art? Each of these R class ships had a particular decorating theme at one time.

Don't overlook the fact sometimes the fog comes in and you can't see anything, anyway. Once our guide had to show us photos of surrounding fjord cliffs, all blocked from view. Another trip were we hiked up to the favorite tourism photo Pulpit Rock (Stavanger port) only to be also greeted by fog at the top with no views in any direction. Might as well have been on the flat ground at sea level. Just know this up front. Regardless, one of our favorite cruise destinations. Highly changeable weather - things come and go in just a few hours, or even minutes.

Please also consider a day trip to the island of Procida- a lot closer and easy to reach the ferry at the cruise port - it is only one hour away. Charming very small island, bus service from one end to the other, or even walkable. This is the island of lemons and home of limoncello. Its colorful fishing village has been used as a backdrop for "old Europe" in movies - the Talented Mr Ripley comes to mind. Great restaurants and The Pergola is one of our favorites - dining under an arbor of lemon trees. More residential feeling, than the intense tourism as found on Capri. https://www.procidainsider.com/en/c/la-pergola-2

Boo hoo...so many hours spent on this wonderful, intimate ship. Your photo brings back so many great memories, sitting in that very spot. Sorry, no idea who the plate artist or manufacturer was. Might be worth contacting hAL directly because art work and often very good ceramic art and tile work has been a HAL signature on their older ships.

Yours will be just a sail by with no landings. Those are special, smaller expedition ships that land and use Zodiacs- starting price around $18,000. The Zodiac landings and protocols actually are pretty cumbersome for the thrill of actually putting your boots on the ground, so not all is lost by not landing. Plus they requiring either rental or purchase of highly specific clothing items and boots. There will be plenty to see up close even from the ship, as you wind around narrow channels, including picking up members from one of the US Antarctic stations who come aboard to share their experiences. You will see plenty of wildlife and we had a very intense whale experience in one of the krill-filled bays, when the ship stayed still for a long period of time giving us very close up views of hundreds of whales bubbling around their prey. Easy to lose count of the various penguins we saw all over - land, sea and those fabulous tabletop icebergs. For the cost of this non-landing HAL Antarctic cruise, I think you will be very satisfied with what you can and will see ----IF, it is anything like our prior Zaandam 2020 Antarctic cruise.

Such a great cruise, Btimmer. And the joke was on those who overnighted on the island, when they watched the ship turn around and go back out to sea while they watched from the shore. Oh know, are we getting left behind??? Explained later- the airport in Easter Island made the Maasdam sail well out of of the incoming flight landing pattern since a flight from the mainland Chile was arriving that same evening. The airport was right up the hill from the tender port. How welcome it must have been, even to those scofflaws, to finally see the Maasdam coming back closer to port after the flight landed.

Easter Island can be a difficult port for docking (tender and anchoring) - high seas and winds. So it i best to plan two days, hoping one can get at least one day. But some ships have had to abandon this stop entirely, when the itinerary only had one shot at it. On our Maasdam cruise a storm came up and we had to delay our arrival to safely dock the next day, but the wonderful HAL captain juggled things around to give us an extra day and sped up to reach the next port, putting two very remote island sail-bys into just one day. The captain strongly warned NO overnights once we did anchor (tenders) because the weather was so changeable, he might have to leave and not be able to come back to pick up any overnight passengers staying ashore. They would then have to fly to Chile and arrange a later connection on their own. One more reason HAL earned our loyalty - flexible captains who make things work, when they can make things work - no chances and safety first, but if they can make passengers happy, that goes to the top of their lists too.

We did this between Papeete and Moorea, in French Polynesia. Ship had an overnight in Papeete. Once docked we we immediately left to take the ferry over to Moorea, where we had booked an over-the-water bungalow. Got permission from the ship ahead of time since it would be leaving Papeete without us. Best scene from our over-the water bungalow was watching the ship cruise by in the early morning hours to later dock in Moorea, where we then rejoined the ship. Another time was and overnight in Rotterdam, but that was just leaving the ship and coming back a day later in the same port. No permission needed, while we toured around Holland by train - out to Zutphen and overnight in Maastricht. Wonderful trip with perfect train service connections.

We dug in deep into pre-Columbian South American history before one of our trips - using The Great Courses video lecture series, and to watch the lectures twice to sort them all out. But what a wonder and so glad we did. Then watched the courses again when we got back. Just dazzling, considering our knowledge about this area was so very limited when we started out. We got hooked. Love hearing someone else feels the same way. Visited this area again on the very first Madam EXC In Depth cruise that went from Fort Lauderdale to Tahiti via Easter Island - what a dream trip. So sorry to see those EXC In-Depth cruises later abandoned. One of those three places in the world where civilization spontaneously emerged: Indus River Valley; Mesopotamia - Tigers and Euphrates and this Pacific coastal region South America with their river valleys. The first two I had known about, but was clueless about this South American site - the wonders of travel. Inca, yes. But the layers of grand civilizations that preceded the Inca, not a clue other than some vague fuss "mystery" about the Nazca Lines - and visitors from outer space!

From the HAL blog: caution - older post - hope phone number is still good. "We do our best to keep our guests with dietary needs in mind when planning our menus. Traveling should be an enjoyable way to experience the world, and we encourage our guests to feel empowered to have a carefree vacation with Holland America Line! If you have special dietary needs that require assistance, please contact Ship Services at least three weeks prior to your departure: 1–800–541–1576."