Rare JamieLogical Posted July 18 Author #26 Share Posted July 18 9 minutes ago, SusieKIslandGirl said: It doesn't hurt to ask. Either talk with your travel agent or call HAL to see if they can add it. I booked the initial booking through a HAL vacation planner (or whatever they call them at HAL) and she said she will check into the AARP onboard credit for me tomorrow. I emailed her about it right as her shift was ending today. I watched a couple of YouTube videos on the Rotterdam after I got off work today and will certainly be doing much more research, but I am excited about all the live music onboard. Live music (not in the main theater) is one of our favorite aspects of cruising, so I think I will really like that! I also watched La Lido Loca's take on seven sea days on a transatlantic on the Rotterdam and whether he was bored and he said he absolutely was not, so that was encouraging. I think he enjoys the same aspects of cruising that my husband and I do, so I really value his opinion. I am feel much more optimistic about this whole thing no, but I still have to pick between the two sailings. Would love anyone's thoughts as, aside from Bermuda, we have never been to any of the ports on either sailing. Here are the itineraries: Nieuw Statendam April 5 - FLL (embark) April 6-7 - Sea Days April 8 - Bermuda April 9-15 Sea Days April 16 - Falmouth, England April 17 - Portland, England April 18 - Le Havre, France April 19 - Dover (disembark) Rotterdam April 12 - FLL (embark) April 13-14 - Sea Days April 15 - Bermuda April 16-22 - Sea Days April 23 - Portland, England April 24 - Southampton, England April 25 - Zeebrugge, Belgium April 26 - Rotterdam, Netherlands Right now I am leaning towards the Nieuw Statendam sailing because I think it may a bit cheaper and easier to get home from London than from Amsterdam, the the Rotterdam cruise itself is slightly cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusieKIslandGirl Posted July 18 #27 Share Posted July 18 If you're at all interested in D-Day and the history surrounding it, the Nieuw Statendam will give you an opportunity to visit the beaches from Le Harve. That's on my bucket list. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare bajae Posted July 18 #28 Share Posted July 18 Zeebrugge is very close to Bruges which is an absolutely beautiful city. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare VMax1700 Posted July 18 #29 Share Posted July 18 Check out the transport from Dover to LHR. There is no direct connection. Options appear to be train (with taxi from port to train station) to London then change station for Heathrow Express. Perhaps if you are staying in London for a couple of days after the cruise it would work better or if HAL is offering a shuttle (but at what price??). Rotterdam to Amsterdam Schiphol is an easy transfer. For context, we were looking at a cruise next year with options to board in Dover or Amsterdam. Amsterdam won because the transport system is so much better in reliability and price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotjeknor Posted July 18 #30 Share Posted July 18 The HAL has a shuttle from the port in Rotterdam to Schiphol Airport. It’s in the travel planning section on the website. There are lots of direct flights with the major airlines to the US . I also saw cheap flights with JetBlue to NYC. We are going the other way, flying to FLL and then sailing back to Rotterdam on the Statendam and continuing on with the Canary Islands cruise. When in Rotterdam , go to our house , check the snailmail and back to the ship 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred321 Posted July 18 #31 Share Posted July 18 Think I would pick the Rotterdam trip. We have been on 3 cruises that were supposed to stop in Le Havre and only made it there once based on the weather in the Bay of Biscay. Also, if you have the chance, Rotterdam is one of our favorite cities to spend a day or two. Getting from there to Amsterdam is easy. Zeebrugge will get you to Bruges which is a beautiful place that you should see at least once but when we were there even early in the season it was mobbed with tourists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir PMP Posted July 18 #32 Share Posted July 18 Yes, a TA is pretty boring: 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kad56 Posted July 18 #33 Share Posted July 18 I'm a similar age to the OP. I've been on one 12-day HAL cruise in the offseason. 7 kids on-board. I was the youngest person in most groups. I made a bunch of friends on board who were ~20 years older than me. I loved both the trip and the ship (Rotterdam), and I'm booked on another trip on the same ship. I expect to be on the younger end again, but I find that's true for me on premium lines in general. I don't like noise or crowds, but I do appreciate HALs enrichment program and excellent food (sushi everyday in the buffet!!!). That's the trip that got me hooked on cruising, and HAL is my favorite line - thought I can't always fit their trips in my budget. You should have a great time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray4Fun Posted July 18 #34 Share Posted July 18 From your description. Yes you would be some of the youngest onboard. As for the activity list for 6 days at sea? It is what you make of it. The Pinnical class ships pool deck , On Sea days, have an afternoon movie playing. The pool deck has a great Hamburger/Hotdog, Pizza / Salad / Sandwich lunch options. The Bars are open. The Crows Neck, either Day or Night is a great location. In the Evening B Kings is our go to place. Excellent Jazz. Rolling Stone's and the Piano's are great as well. This sort of round robin entertainment is what we enjoy. We have done TA' and Trans Pacific cruises (If I said TP's I would have laughed). We have never been without something to do, or not do. You make the journey, the journey does not make you. Heck if you have nothing to do go talk to a crew member, they are always interesting. Enjoy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare luv2kroooz Posted July 18 #35 Share Posted July 18 20 hours ago, JamieLogical said: Thank you for this! It looks like I would get $200 of OBC for being an AARP member for one of these transatlantic. Unfortunately, it only applies to new bookings and I already paid the $2 deposit on both sailings. It says I need to wait 2-3 days before booking for the member benefit now that I have verified my membership. I suppose I can wait until the weekend and if pricing is the same, cancel and rebook to get the benefit, but the $1 deposits promo is supposed to end today. I will just have to see what the situation is if I were to rebook in a few days. I can share that we had a similar situation. We were able to get the aarp credit. We booked the cruise and paid our deposit to the TA. We applied for the AARP the next day and got our sheer id confirmation which also said wait 2-3 days to book, but it didnt matter, we received the credit. We are also under 50 and just joined AARP to get the credit and then bought $2,500 of Holland gift cards for $2,300. So, our $12 aarp has paid for itself quickly....nice opportunity to save some money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamieLogical Posted July 18 Author #36 Share Posted July 18 (edited) 3 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said: I can share that we had a similar situation. We were able to get the aarp credit. We booked the cruise and paid our deposit to the TA. We applied for the AARP the next day and got our sheer id confirmation which also said wait 2-3 days to book, but it didnt matter, we received the credit. We are also under 50 and just joined AARP to get the credit and then bought $2,500 of Holland gift cards for $2,300. So, our $12 aarp has paid for itself quickly....nice opportunity to save some money. Yeah, I have been using AARP gift cards for our Princess sailings after joining earlier this year and the amount of money saved has been insane. Not only can I use them for the cruise fare, but on Princess at least I can use them to purchase OBC, which I can then use in the casino, so all my gambling is at an 8% discount. Does anyone know if the same can be done on HAL? Edited July 18 by JamieLogical Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare boards Posted July 18 #37 Share Posted July 18 I have been looking for a cruise, but when I try to do a booking it comes up asking if I want a quote. We are 4-star cruisers, but haven't been on one for 5 years, due to health problems, but when in the past I looked for a cruise we could come up with at least some idea of the cost without having to ask for a quote. Am I not doing it right or is this now the only way you can get a price without asking for a "quote" Thank you in advance for any help we may get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare luv2kroooz Posted July 18 #38 Share Posted July 18 22 minutes ago, boards said: I have been looking for a cruise, but when I try to do a booking it comes up asking if I want a quote. We are 4-star cruisers, but haven't been on one for 5 years, due to health problems, but when in the past I looked for a cruise we could come up with at least some idea of the cost without having to ask for a quote. Am I not doing it right or is this now the only way you can get a price without asking for a "quote" Thank you in advance for any help we may get. Hope your health is doing better. I have found the search engine cruiseplum.com to be a useful tool. It is not a travel agent, but a search engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalspin Posted July 18 #39 Share Posted July 18 1 hour ago, boards said: I have been looking for a cruise, but when I try to do a booking it comes up asking if I want a quote. This is what I see after choosing a cruise, on the view itinerary page: So it does have a "Request a Quote" option, but if I click CONTINUE, it advances to other pages, including those with prices. I wasn't even logged in, but it is the same logged in. You might try using an incognito window -- HAL's IT is cranky. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Haljo1935 Posted July 18 #40 Share Posted July 18 1 hour ago, crystalspin said: This is what I see after choosing a cruise, on the view itinerary page: So it does have a "Request a Quote" option, but if I click CONTINUE, it advances to other pages, including those with prices. I wasn't even logged in, but it is the same logged in. You might try using an incognito window -- HAL's IT is cranky. @boards my experience matches what @crystalspin posted - it's not you, it's them - just click CONTINUE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare VMax1700 Posted July 18 #41 Share Posted July 18 Possibly a 'sold out' cruise. I have seen that happen previously on a sold out one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare boards Posted July 18 #42 Share Posted July 18 Thank you everyone for your responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare boards Posted July 18 #43 Share Posted July 18 2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said: @boards my experience matches what @crystalspin posted - it's not you, it's them - just click CONTINUE. Thank you I just tried this and didn't log in, but it give me the information I was looking for. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maraena Posted July 19 #44 Share Posted July 19 On 7/18/2024 at 1:38 PM, JamieLogical said: Yeah, I have been using AARP gift cards for our Princess sailings after joining earlier this year and the amount of money saved has been insane. Not only can I use them for the cruise fare, but on Princess at least I can use them to purchase OBC, which I can then use in the casino, so all my gambling is at an 8% discount. Does anyone know if the same can be done on HAL? I saw someone loading AARP gift cards onto their onboard accounts on our last cruise so I do think it's possible. We'll be loading the remainder of one AARP gift card this fall just to try to clear that gift card. HAL does work a bit different from Princess with their onboard accounts. HAL's OBC seems to be at the stateroom level rather than the individual level like Princess. So, if you get the $150 Shareholder OBC with HAL, it goes towards all the stateroom's expenses. Princess attaches the $150 Shareholder credit to one of the people in the cabin (typically the one who registered with Sheer ID) and only their spend can be used to reduce it. I find Princess's method really annoying but it might work well if there were two non-related people sharing a cabin. Also, leftover HAL refundable OBC is refunded back to the credit card on file (I've also heard gift cards) whereas Princess sends a check in the mail when their accounting system doesn't do cartwheels to keep the OBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maraena Posted July 19 #45 Share Posted July 19 On 7/17/2024 at 8:43 PM, JamieLogical said: Right now I am leaning towards the Nieuw Statendam sailing because I think it may a bit cheaper and easier to get home from London than from Amsterdam, the the Rotterdam cruise itself is slightly cheaper. It's a really quick train ride from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, probably easier than as the transport from Dover. We've got an upcoming cruise leaving from Rotterdam and there are multiple direct trains from Amsterdam Centraal and Schipol Airport. I think you'll find quite a few flights from either AMS or LHR to your location so that might be a toss up. I don't find either airport that easy to use, though, and you'll want to allow for A LOT of time to just check in and get through both places' security. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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