465 Post-Its...

[MrsMuir]

...are covering our bathroom mirror and I'm happy again. I have a cruise to look forward to, a mere 465 days from now. We've booked an 18-day cruise on the Amsterdam, Athens to New York, leaving April 9, 2007. It's a segment of the World Cruise; in fact, two days after we disembark, the World Cruise ends in Ft. Lauderdale. Best of all, by booking early, we're #1 on the waitlist for a verandah stateroom.

 

My question to you veteran cruisers: Will we have any issues by joining the last leg of a world cruise? Will it be like crashing a party that's been going on for 87 days? I asked for some thoughts on booking this cruise, but received only one reply from the board. I know it's not important in the grand scheme of things, but if anyone has some experience with segment cruises, I would like to hear your story. For instance, what will it be like to cross the Atlantic in April? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Mrs Muir

[wander]

Having gone on segments of a World Cruise we had the following experiences.

 

1. We got any HAL goodies that they had for the full cruisers during our segment, except for the final "gift", which was only for full cruisers.

 

2. Passengers treated us just fine. That said, they did have their social groups established and did see many private parties, get togethers, cocktail hours, etc. that we were not invited to, nor did we expect to be. Must say that they did look like fun, though.

 

3. I never felt the crew treated us any differently, but of course they already knew the other folks and they were just getting to know us.

 

4. There were others getting on board when we did. We were seated with some of them and we formed our own social network. It was just fine.

 

5. As you are joining for the last segement, things might be different, depending on how many folks go only for that segment.

 

6. I would not hesitate to go again on segments of the World Cruise based on our experience.

 

7. When you see folks warmly greeting others and chatting about things while as a newbie you may only get a hello, remember they have been "friends" living closely together for awhile and it is like moving into a new neighborhood.

 

This were just our experiences.

 

There is a roll call thread for World 2007 on the Amsterdam section. You might want to go there, or maybe you already have, so that there might be at least a few folks who know when you will be boarding and hopefully greet you warmly.

[blue whale]

Dear Mrs. Muir, I add my welcome to Wander's. We are so glad you will be joining the world cruise. We will hold a welcome party for you, so come over to our roll call and get to know us all—a small group now, but we are growing! I just posted on another thread that deals with segments. Holland America pax are really great people. We have never met anyone on a HAL ship who was not friendly with us. Blue Whale