Live from the Volendam - New England & Canada (May 25 to June 1)

[Rubyfisch]

4 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I have seen some posts from Volendam passengers this summer complaining about the cigarette smoke from the casino chocking the areas near the casino. Did you notice the same thing?

It's not a great design - there is nothing to stop the smoke from wafting into the other areas. On this itinerary, because of the relatively long port calls, it was really only noticable very late at night and on the sea day. I much prefer a smoke free casino if it's going to be in the middle of ship.

[Gogoddess5]

Thanks for sharing your voyage.  It brought back memories of my recent sailing on the same ship/itinerary (May 11-18). Fortunately, we had lovely weather the entire sailing. I took a lot of the same photos 😁.

[Ellencruise]

On 5/26/2024 at 6:55 PM, Rubyfisch said:

I went to the Q&A about Halifax - it was beyond standing room only. I appreciated it as a quick overview, but I was a bit surprised that there was no mention of shore excursions or anything outside of the seaport area.

I am reserved for a non HAL tour in Bar Harbor next week. I know it is a tender port. Do you recall any issues with fellow cruisers getting to pier in time for tours?

[knittinggirl]

Once we arrived on land, we were told they had cancelled all ship tours due to weather.  We had trouble getting back once.   Once we had to transfer to another vessel, climb some stairs then step onto the ship.   We heard it was supposed to make the tender experience better, but it didn't for us.

 

Might be worth it.  Bar Harbor is beautiful!   Eat some popovers at Jordan Pond House.

[Rubyfisch]

28 minutes ago, Ellencruise said:

I am reserved for a non HAL tour in Bar Harbor next week. I know it is a tender port. Do you recall any issues with fellow cruisers getting to pier in time for tours?

I didn't talk to anyone who had specific issues, but we waited a long time for a tender - almost an hour - fairly late in the process when I would have thought things would have been faster.

[knittinggirl]

Usually passengers with ship tours go first.   But I think if you're a suite or a lot of stars, that may be different.    As a 4 star, I don't remember being told to report to a different place.   We don't take tenders often anymore.    I think passengers get the tender tickets at the passenger desk, then they announce them.  At some point, they announce no tender tickets needed.

 

Having gone on mostly ship tours, sometimes we've had a long wait.   This is all ports, not just Bar Harbor.

 

When we were in Greenland, the captain cancelled all tender rides.  That's after several tenders had gone out.  He managed to get them back.   He put extra crew on the boat to spot the icebergs.

 

Oops, I thought I was in the Canada/New England/Iceland thread.   Sorry.

Edited June 14 by knittinggirl

[Ellencruise]

Thanks for the replies. I’m hoping that if HAL cancels tenders that the reputable tour agencies will understand our need for a No Show and not charge us.

[knittinggirl]

18 hours ago, Ellencruise said:

Thanks for the replies. I’m hoping that if HAL cancels tenders that the reputable tour agencies will understand our need for a No Show and not charge us.

Greenland is much further north than Bar Harbor.   So, more ice flow.    The time they cancelled all ship tours was October.

[0106]

21 hours ago, Ellencruise said:

I’m hoping that if HAL cancels tenders that the reputable tour agencies will understand our need for a No Show and not charge us.

Different companies have different policies. Some do not refund if the ship doesn’t make the port.  Read the fine print.  I only book independent tours that state a refund will be given if the ship doesn’t make the port.

 

I prefer private tours but often book HAL tours in tender ports.