Thursday, May 12, 2011

Decisions, decisions......

I finally made a decision regarding my future voyages.... at least the first step.  I just cancelled my 3 weeks in Alaska, a 3 day coastal cruise and the 70 day Grand Asia.  Why?  The value just wasn't there for me.  Unless the price is a real bargain the itinerary has to sell me and this one didn't.  The first step?  I am still booked for 144 days starting December 5th...  Once the dust settles and I see what is on the table for price and amenities I may make further changes, I hope not....  This was a very, very difficult decision.  As everyone knows I love sailing with Holland America for very long voyages.  This just wasn't in the cards for me at this time.  Maybe I'll take a whole new direction and spend my time on land versus sailing all the time.  We'll see.....

4 comments:

John---Phuket said...

Good decision !

You have already visited so many of the World's ports--if not all and unless really exciting routing and FAIRLY priced an alternate experience sounds great

You have the WC yearly anyhow--probably will be even more enjoyable ,if you haven't taken too many other cruises-you know what they say about familiarity !

I have booked the Zaandam 30 days out of Sydney on 9 Dec -also many ports familiar-but always new things to see and nice way to spend the Holidays

Hasta luego

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you thought long and hard about your decision; but like you said, it has to be the right itinerary for the price you'll be paying. Nothing wrong with doing land vacations! You've always had adventurous trips and fantastic photos from land or by sea.

Enjoy your time and your next WC will be here relatively shortly!

Michelle

Jeff Farschman said...

Michelle,
I did think long and hard on my decision... The value just wasn't there for me. If the price had been a little better I probably would have gone. I also felt a little boxed in with the Amsterdam.... That is a ship that I love traveling on. It has a fabulous management team. The experience I had last fall on the Maasdam almost got me to leave HAL. Fortunately, I had a great experience subsequent to that on the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Amsterdam. The problem now is that when the Amsterdam doesn't look good to me for the 3-4 months before the World Voyage I am very reluctant to look at other ships as an alternative for that timeframe. Therefore, I will stay on land. Understand?

Jennie said...

I have just caught up with your wonderful blog after being away for 6 weeks. We too sailed across the Pacific but from Tahiti to Ft. Lauderdale via Pitcairn and Easter Island to Peru.

Unfortunately we missed Easter Island, as our Captain was not a caring for the passengers as your one on the Amsterdam. The seas were very calm but he didn't even try putting a tender down.

Then to make matters worse we were late into San Martin and we missed our NAZCA flight. The two reasons why we booked this particular itinerary.

Still, we had a great cruise with good friends and that is what makes for a memorable experience.

Thanks Jeff, I will keep looking to see what you decide to do in the months before the next World Adventure.

Jennie