Jump to content

Crew News

Members
  • Posts

    12,082
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    New Mexico
  • Interests
    Writing, cooking, photography, and travel
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    HAL
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Alaska
  • If you have a personal or hobby CRUISE or TRAVEL BLOG, include the url here:
    www.rogerjett-photography.com

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Crew News's Achievements

  1. Welcome to Cruise Critic. With the exception of some staterooms on the smaller HAL ships, each stateroom has a minibar. Passengers are free to bring food back to their staterooms and that includes butter, fruit, and yogurt parfaits from breakfast to keep chilled in their minibar for later consumption. As posted above, my stateroom has a salad bowl of chips on my desk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table for snacking. Room Service chocolate chip cookies and milk before retiring for the evening adds a nice touch to a long cruise day. Feel free to ask lots of question to help in your planning.
  2. Lanyards? I thought they were for convenience and not a status symbol.
  3. Welcome to Cruise Critic and the HAL Forum. As you are learning, CC is a great opportunity to get answers to questions but also to learn a lot of insider tips to make your cruise experience a well-informed one. The Koningsdam provides food 24/7 unfortunately, it is my experience that none of the food is packaged to take off the ship. I pack granola bars in my checked luggage for every Alaska cruise for long excursions. In addition to those dining venues mentioned by others, the ship has a Late Lido Market Buffet Snack service at 10:30 PM each evening. Room Service is 24/7 with a few exceptions, at no charge: Room Service Menu Here is a link to the Room Service Breakfast card that you hang on your door handle when you retire for the evening: Breakfast Card Feel free to bring any food from the Lido Market Buffet back to your room for eating. Bring gallon-size Ziploc bags that will fit a Lido Market saucer with chilled snacks (cheese, fruit, etc.) to place in your minibar for later eating. Your Room Steward will remove the beverages from your minibar to make room for your personal items. For potato or nacho chips, ask the Lido Market Salad Bar staff for an empty salad bowl, take the bowl to the sandwich station, and ask for it to be filled with chips. The link in the lower right corner of my signature has the current beverage and dining menus. It is certain that you will not lack many options for eating. By the third cruise day, clothing may become tighter and some discretion might be necessary. In my case, I eat only half of everything, except gelato, and have not gained a pound. I am in Alaska aboard the Koningsdam next month and will be posting the current 7-Day daily programs and dining menus to help in your planning. Make sure that you join your roll call to meet others on your cruise. Feel free to ask lots of questions to help in your planning.
  4. On my first and last Spring Break time-frame cruise many years ago, I ran into the Hotel Manager and asked about unruly kids. His response, "We have around 300 kids aboard but the Carnival behind us has more than 900."
  5. An excellent review, goo photos, and a good preview for my November cruise aboard the Rotterdam. How was the internet speed? Grand Dutch Cafe? Entertainment?
  6. My second choice would be the Yukon Summit. The bus up makes several stops for photos and may make an extra stop if bears are noted on the side of the road eating dandelions (favorite treat) or mountain goats on the cliffs. Photos through the bus and train windows will not be the best of quality (glare and distortion). The Wild Adventure Yukon stop includes an excellent barbecue chicken lunch. The sled dogs are nice to see but the sled (looks like a VW chassis) on a dirt track does not appeal to me. The museum with the huge stuffed grizzly bear is very interesting. Note that the mountain goats on hillside are fake. FWIW the chains on the dogs keep them apart to avoid fights. When boarding the train to return to Skagway, sit on the right side as the left side will be passing a solid rock wall most of the journey. As soon as allowed, head for the platform between the cars to take photos. The train will drop you off in downtown Skagway (Alaska Fudge Company store is a must stop!!). There will be a bus back to the ship or just a 15 minute walk if you choose to spend time shopping. White Pass Summit is a round trip on the train with the same scenery. When leaving Skagway, all of the scenery will be on the left side and on the right side on the return trip. As I have stated earlier, I spend a lot of time on the outside platforms taking photos. The platforms are very jerky and small enough that there will be other passengers competing for good photos. You will not see any wildlife Liarsville includes a very campy show but is an interesting view of the gold rush camps. If gold panning is include, a tiny fleck of gold is pre-positioned in each pan. I was thrilled until I sneezed and it disappeared. Bus made a photo stop on the way to Wild Adventure Lunch stop Sled dogs Liarsville Liarsville
  7. I have been on all of your listed excursions except the suspension bridge. Definitely the Lake Bennett excursion through HAL. There is a private dining car that is usually only half filled with passengers. With much fewer passengers than a normal White Pass train car, there are fewer passengers competing for photo space on the platforms between the train cars. The included box lunch was always good . The photo opportunities from the platforms between train cars were excellent even in different seasons. Note that photos taken through the bus and train windows will be filled with glare. Enroute in the summer Enroute in early May HAL special Lake Bennett train car Lake Bennett
  8. Welcome to Cruise Critic. The bag dimensions are based on the available space on the buses, planes, and trains used on Alaska cruisetours. The overhead bins space on buses and the space under the seat in front of you will probably hold 6 inches rather than 4 inches. The seats on the trains have a lot of foot space and just a small space under the seat in front of you. I have not flown on any portion of my land tours so cannot comment. What does not fit overhead or under your seat must ride on your lap or at your feet on buses and trains. A backpack should only contain what you need during your ride (camera and lenses) with other gear sent in your luggage that will meet you at each destination. On all of my cruisetours, I have taken my Lowepro AW102 backpack with no issues and it fits on buses and by my feet on the train..
  9. For clarification: An onboard guest can only purchase a FCD for themselves or someone in their current stateroom. FCDs may not be purchased for someone who is not onboard. When booking a new cruise, FCDs in the booking guest's name may be used to pay the cruise deposit for someone on the same booking whose name is not on the FCD.
  10. I have asked about fruit crisps on my last three cruises and was told that i could order the evening before.
  11. Denali does not open until June to see caribou, moose, brown bears, wolves, etc. It is my experience that early May is the return of humpbacks with very frisky calves, hungry eagles before salmon season begins, curious Sitka deer fawns, newborn harbor seals in Glacier Bay, and hungry black bears just out of hibernation searching for dandelions. Opting for a Club Orange upgrade gets me an aft verandah for photos and Glacier Bays visitors
  12. Photos were taken first week of June. Tracy Arm has very large ice flows in the water in May which prevent large cruise ships from entering as they cannot maneuver around the big chunks. OTOH catamarans in May can maneuver quite well and can get very close to the house-size chunks of ice. August is much warmer than May but it is also wetter. August also features mosquitoes (unofficial state bird). May is the direst month but also the most scenic with snow on the higher peaks and a chill in the air in the morning.
  13. When the full bar menus were discontinued in 2022, I asked the bartender how to see how much each drink cost, I was told, "Just trust me."
  14. Welcome to Cruise Critic and the HAL Forum. It is my experience that all excursions in Alaska have a seat for everyone. Unlike the Caribbean, the catamarans in Alaska will be enclosed and venturing outside is by choice. As a hobby photographer, I rarely sit, rather I will be dressed warmly and at the railing at the back of the catamaran to get photos of the ice flows and wildlife. I will be on this excursion in May 2025.
  15. Two years ago, the Rotterdam hid the bread pudding with all of the bread offerings at lunch. It is my experience that most ships have the bread pudding on the counter behind the Sweet Spot.
×
×
  • Create New...