Pathfinder1964

Not in bed, but there is an afternoon (3:00?) tea almost every day. The Indonesian one is my favorite.

We went to afternoon tea @ 3PM several times on our Westerdam cruise last week. Loved the little scones, cupcakes and mini bagels with brie and veggies on them.

I can only speak about the Westerdam because we just finished an Alaska cruise, June 20-29. It's a beautiful ship with an wonderful crew, food and entertainment. A $500 savings by sailing on this ship would buy a lot of extras on the ship....specialty restaurants or a day at the spa.

For how much airlines charge for bags it might be cheaper and easier to use USPS or UPS to ship a box of goodies.

Very true. My bag weighed "49" lbs. flying from Atl to SeaTac and coming home it was "67" lbs!

Yep, Delta got a $100 bill from me for overweight luggage. If I knew the flat over the limit fee (any amount over 52 lbs) was going to be that much, I would have kept shopping.....:D

Oh and btw, it was so obvious that my luggage got a good going thru somewhere.....probably a drug sniffing dog smelled the smoked salmon....lol.

So did you run into Newt Gingrich on your cruise? When we were getting ready to get on the Westerdam for our cruise (yes, the one with the tragic plane crash), he was spotted waiting for his pickup ride. My daughter jumped out and asked if she could have her picture taken with him and he said, "Yes, if you hurry."

My family and I were passengers on the Westerdam when this tragedy happened. We had been considering taking a flying excursion (grandson is working on his small plane pilot's license) but the weather was not good, to say the least. It was windy, rainy and foggy when we docked and we decided to just shop and enjoy walking all around Ketchikan instead. So glad we did.

I must also say how wonderful HAL was during the unraveling of this tragedy. When it was obvious we weren't leaving as planned, we thought it was late arrivals back to the ship (one lady actually was as we saw her walking up the gangway and being escorted by an officer....family member??). The PA announced a few names and asked them to call the front desk immediately at first but soon that stopped and we heard nothing more for awhile. The next announcement came from the Captain and he informed us about a scenic plane excursion having gone down and that "the Coast Guard has located the wreckage and is enroute". At first I thought that meant it crashed into the water and I was hopeful for survivors. The next announcement he made was that the plane had crashed into a cliff but no further information was available and that he would keep us informed as more information was made available. Then I thought chances are all have been lost, which unfortunately was true and our Captain made that announcement later.

The mood of the ship was so sad and somber after the announcement, even the normally happy and smiling crew were putting on a brave face for all but they too were hurting. The Captain announced that the phone lines and Internet would all be free that night so we could notify our loved ones that we were OK and he encouraged us to call them.

A beautiful Memorial Service was held the next morning at 10AM in the Vista Lounge for all who were lost. Standing room only, upstairs and downstairs! It was led by the Chaplain who explained that Holland America is the only cruise line who has a Chaplain onboard all of their ships during cruises and we were so glad that he was there to offer his comforting words. One of the cast singers sang 2 beautiful and moving songs, "How Great Thou Art" and "Amazing Grace". Many wept.

As tragic and unexpected as this event was, strangely, for the rest of our cruise people seemed more friendly and caring towards each other. You could feel it. You could see it.

We arrived home late last night after a long 5 hour flight from Seattle and a couple hour drive from the Atlanta airport. I am still thinking about it all and I still hurt for all 8 of our fellow passengers and also the pilot and all of their families having to deal with their losses.

Hug and love your families every chance you get!

Thanks RuthC and Roz for the info. I'm sure that things will just be fine on our cruise and that I'm worrying needlessly. They are so excited about going to Alaska for the first time that I don't think they will miss out on any fun things to do onboard. Thanks again for your encouraging words!

We will be cruising with my 3 teenage grandkids (and parents) to Alaska on the Westerdam in June, 2015. These kids have been on several cruises on CCL to the Caribbean before so you know where I'm coming from with teenagers (ages 14, 16 and 18) and the possibility of being bored...lol.

My question is, will the age dynamics on HAL cruiselines be so great that there will be nothing of interest for them to do onboard? It seems that they are between the age of group activities for younger kids only and not old enough for lounges with live music. They love being with their parents and me but I'm hoping that they won't get bored with that and want to be with kids their own age.

Suggestions or advice or am I just being a "worrywart" for nothing? :o

We also live in western N.C. (Canton)

And will be on the Westerdam June

20th 2015.

This will be our second trip to Alaska

(First was May of 07) but first for the

Kids. We wore light jackets for the

Most part. Except when visiting

Glacier bay .

 

 

 

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Wingman2014, we are neighbors! I live in Franklin! In fact, we were just in Canton last night and watched your Pisgah Bears beat our Franklin Panthers in basketball....lol. Ate at your local Pizza Hut too(great food).

My daughter and family, friends and I will be on the same cruise! Cool!

Also, a great big thank you to all who replied to my question. Lot's of wonderful information!:)

Thanks dateacher! Will do! :)

We are going on our first Alaska cruise on June 20, 2015. My question is, what kind of clothing do you experienced Alaska cruisers recommend?

I know it will be summertime when we go but summer in Alaska is quite different from a summer in the North Carolina mountains...:eek:

Thanks for all replies!

I just did the 14 day round-trip cruise out of Seattle on MS Amsterdam this past August. 3rd trip to Alaska and still found new things to enjoy.

 

I hope you have allowed time to see a bit of what Seattle has to offer. My overall favorite was the Chihuly exhibit and garden next to the Space Needle. See it at night if you can.

 

If your cruise visits Victoria, do visit Butchart Gardens. Just beautiful!

 

Whatever you do, enjoy the planning, the anticipation and the journey. You will want to do it again!

We are flying in to Seattle the day before our cruise and also staying an extra day after our cruise before flying home. I know one thing on our list is having a meal in the space needle.

Yep, it's a closed loop, and yes we are all US Citizens, born and bred...lol. I probably should go ahead and just get a passport since the day is coming where it will be a requirement.

I share in your excitement but we will cruise behind you in June. Cruise and flight to Seattle is all booked too. This will be our first cruise to Alaska and also our first on HAL (Westerdam). Have always gone to the Caribbean on CCL so we are pretty excited about this cruise. Congrats on your cruise, it will be here before we know it!

My family and I are going on an Alaska cruise next year on HAL. Some of them have passports, some of us don't. Since one of our port calls is in Canada, will we need a passport or can we still get by with our photo ID/birth certificate? Hate to spend the money on a passport if they are still not needed.

Thanks for any replies!

If there was no insurance by either party, and a cruise was in 2 weeks, there would be no refund anyway. If the cancelling person was being thoughtless and actually cancelled, yes, party #2 will need to fork over for the empty bed. If the person leaves his/her paid fare in place, then #2 is okay.

Let me make sure I've got this straight.......both parties have paid for their cruises in full, if one of them cancels (like due to an emergency or something serious like that), then the remaining person in the stateroom has to pay for the empty bed even though it's already been paid for once by the other cruiser? So it means.... if no insurance, then you are charged for the empty bed even though it was paid for in full and no one is asking for their money back. Carnival has already made their money off the no-show second cruiser so why would they penalize the first cruiser and charge them for the empty bed? They have already gotten their money....

:confused: Nevermind, I think cruiser #1 would only have to pay if cruiser#2 asked for a refund which is what you said in the first place RuthlessBoss..... :D

Funny you should say that because I'm cruising with my Assistant Manager (my Manager's wife)! See why I'm a bit nervous? :D

What if the other person has paid their fare in-full? Would that mean the solo cruiser, who's also already paid their fare in-full also, would have to pay for the empty bed? Especially, if no insurance has been purchased and will be sailing in just a couple of weeks? Just curious....

We are leaving on the Paradise on Jan. 30, 2014 and already I'm starting to wonder how our cruise will turn out. Never have sailed on this ship before and will be cruising with my friend who has never been on a cruise before. I sure hope it will be a good experience. :)

Oops, just found out why my cruise isn't going to GC, it's because I'm on a FOUR night cruise! :D My bad.

I have a cruise booked on the Paradise for the end of this month and the only port call will be Cozumel. I'm just curious...it looks like the Paradise recently used to go to Grand Cayman too, why did they drop it? It really doesn't matter to me, I've been to GC on another cruise.

btw, nice to meet you all! :)