nw gardener

Ports:  Before leaving/packing for this cruise I saw the weather forecast was looking a tad bit wet for the week. Thankfully,  we saw more sun than forecast,  and even worked on our tan in Skagway lol.

First full day at sea, gray and raining.  Oh well, still enjoyed looking for whales, food and drinks,  Music walk that evening.

Juneau: Some light rain in the morning then partly cloudy,  and spotted humpbacks and a killer whale just after dropping off the Tracy Arm excursion.  We were in no rush getting off the ship when we reached Juneau since we only had the tram booked.

Skagway: Rain and wind in the morning then sun in the afternoon,  was able to enjoy the Seaview area later in the afternoon and watch the helicopters come and go. No tours, just wandered the town, used the city shuttle rather than the long walk into town.

Glacier Bay: Sadly a pretty wet day. We've enjoyed in the past beautiful weather and great views so felt bad for the folks who couldn't appreciate seeing the depth of the mountains there. Early in the morning just before picking up the rangers,  there was an announcement for a medical team at a cabin. About 2 hours after picking up the rangers we noticed we were suddenly slowing,  then turning around.  We knew immediately it was probably for a medical evacuation,  and 20 minutes later the captain announced just that.  The ship needed to get back to Bartlett cove to coordinate a medflight from Juneau.  After reaching there the patient was offloaded to a  ship tender (which we retrieved later in the afternoon when dropping off the rangers). Thankfully for everyone on-board,  we went back up into Glacier Bay even though at this point we were almost 5 hours behind schedule.  We didn't go by John Hopkins Glacier but did get to Marjorie,  although less time was spent there than normal.  Fuel bill probably a little higher this trip since the captain did make up the 5 hours and we got into Ketchikan on time. Glacier Bay still stunning in the rain,  but shocking at the retreat of Marjorie since we first cruised AK in 2006.

Ketchikan: Another partly sunny day, and another day when we took our time getting off. Met a friend who lives there and also did some shopping at Creek Street.

Last day: 😥. Beautiful weather for the inside passage.  Spent most of the afternoon on the balcony enjoying the awesome scenery.  Love the aft cabins for  Alaska as you are out of the wind.

Taking a break to do yard work catch up,  will finish my review this evening with thoughts and some pics.

@gizmodog. Our balcony cabin was fine for space for us. Bathroom had shower only with glass door, and only drawback is the toilets on this class ship are slightly on an angle to the shower and for taller/larger people...probably a tight spot. Plenty of outlets and storage.

Service:  I have nothing but kudos to the crew, we encountered great service and I've found you give a smile and you'll get one back.  I did use the app to give some positive comments to a few outstanding employees and they do appreciate them greatly.  Will do the same on my post cruise survey. 

Cabin:  We love an aft cabin and 8201 was great...we booked it again for next year 😀. Plenty of outlets and storage,  and DH wheelchair fit nicely in the corner.  Balcony had 2 chairs with footstools and a small table and it's fully covered. No soot or smoke issues from Seaview bar,  quiet.  Occasional chair scraping from above when setting up but that didn't bother us. Very easy to just pop up to the lido for a snack or more importantly,  a drink 🍸 . Apologies..no pics of the cabin.

Good morning and continuing where I left off about the ship. I've noticed that AK cruises from Vancouver are heavily marketed to tour groups in Commonwealth nations. I've had the pleasure over the years meeting some lovely folks from Australia,  Great Britain,  etc. There were 2 large tour groups on board this trip but caused only minor disruptions to venues (Ocean Bar and Crow's nest partially roped off for private function a couple of times). In general average age overall about 50 on-board,  a  few families with kids, and one "service dog" that appeared to be more pet than service.  

We enjoy several things on the Pinnacle class ships...full music walk, Grand Dutch Cafe, CO dining,  and NY Deli available for breakfast. This is the largest size ship we  want to cruise on anymore however.  As I've read on this board from others, we are not a fan of the small promenade walk, the funky chopped up layout of deck 10, and layout of the Crow's Nest.  Especially since the Koningsdam does AK and the Crow's Nest is heavily used, would love additional seating there by moving out the Excursion desks or the art rooms. The Crow's Nest is promoted for use in  Glacier Bay when the park rangers are on-board but so difficult to use it due to standing room only.

Thought I would share my experience/thoughts on our cruise we just completed. DH and I did this same cruise last year and we enjoyed our cruise this year just as much. This was DH's first time traveling with a wheelchair so I'll share that experience as well.  We booked an aft cabin (8201) last year under the HIA early booking, and also Club Orange. There was a price drop while the early booking was still in effect which HAL honored,  a very good savings on top of the CO upgrade. Last year DH was struggling with walking long distances,  so early this year he finally decided to get a folding power  travel wheelchair. We decided to keep our non handicapped aft cabin because we love the wake view. The wheelchair just barely fit through the cabin door and folded nicely so it was not in the way in the cabin.

Embarkation:  Some of our worst embarkation nightmares have been at Vancouver,  but not this year. Very smooth and painless.  We live just over the border in WA and have gotten to the port via several modes of transportation.  This year, we decided to go all in testing the travel wheelchair and took Flixbus which drops off at Pacific station (same as Amtrak) and a taxi to the port. Dropped off in the parking garage for luggage drop just after 11:30. Up to check in, no one in CO line. Main check in lines not long either.  Then off to security and US Customs,  both with very short lines, and then right onto the ship. Lots of walking but we just moved along continuously.  Got our key cards at cabin, ordered on the app for the Dive In, eating at 12:15. Elite beverage package broken in at 12:16.

Dining:  We did the Pinnacle Grill the first night and service was very good.  We both had the tenderloin with lobster dumplings....hmmmm very good steak.  The rest of our dinners/breakfasts were in CO dining and we never had to wait for a table at dinner.  There were waits for some folks there at peak dining times both breakfast and dinner. Service was quick and we enjoyed the smaller,  quieter venue.  We had lunches at NY Deli, Dutch Cafe, Dive in,  and lido once. Food being subjective...we enjoyed our meals and have no complaints, other than the pounds we must now lose.

Entertainment: Didn't do any shows or presentations at the main stage as we've seen several previously and we really enjoy the Music walk. The current BB Kings group is very good and the current Rolling Stone group is outstanding.  We enjoyed our evenings there and some nights it was hard to get a seat.

Ship:  I never found out the final passenger count but it was a FULL ship. Don't know how things were resolved for 2 couples, but there were very irate people at guest services the first day over both being booked into the same cabin. I was there ordering flowers for my cabin but didn't stick around to listen to the shouting.  Both appeared to have paperwork in hand.  Later DH spoke to a family (different) where the adult daughter booked a balcony , solo, next to parents,  was moved out of her cabin after boarding,   into an Oceanview,  then an inside a few days later. DH did not ask how she was compensated, but she told DH she didn't want to move from her balcony,  she may have been a victim of the double booking I saw. There were times where it was difficult to find seats at different venues,  crow's nest, lido, pool area, etc. You can find the  ebb and flow of the crowds and work around them we found.

Still playing catch up around the house of course,  I'll come back and try to finish this tomorrow and happy to answer questions.

A great sunset to end the cruise with,  and we're going to beat you to Vancouver

There you go @From Air to Sea!, fog gone!

Hello back, was wondering which Princess ship was pacing us! But now in this fog bank I can't return the favor with a pic. Yes, it's been a great cruise,  safe travels home.

Just boarded the Koningsdam,  surprisingly painless. Only one other ship today so that helped, Royal Princess.  No progressive check in,  and received email similar to @QuattroRomeo earlier this week.  Arrived via cab at 1130, dropped off in parking garage and handed luggage off to porters.  Up to check in, no lines, off to security and then customs.  Breezed through,  on board and in cabin at 1210. Lunch at dive in ordered on the app, now in crows nest for mariners reception and breaking in the beverage package.  Looking forward to a great week,  no matter the weather 😀

With just over 3 weeks to go before my Koningsdam cruise,  I thought I'd check the app to see if I could view the current daily menus.  It's been about a month with that not being available on the app and behold,  it's working!  Sad comparison from what I threw together for dinner and what I could have had in Club Orange tonight 😆  Makes the last few weeks of waiting a little more fun.

Following as I am on in June.  @Crew News is on-board now...hoping he will be posting on his website!

We are also coming from Bham and hubby is using a folding power chair that is luggage size when folded, considerably easier to transport though. After a quote of over 400 CDN for Canada place parking for a week...we decided to go the route of Flixbus NB, and Quick Shuttle SB. Both take wheelchairs such as your husband uses on a limited basis, but you'd have to call them for availability.  I didn't check Amtrak this time but we've done that in the past. It ended up being one fourth the cost of parking not factoring in the  cab from Pacific station (Flixbus drops there) to Canada place. I couldn't sweet talk any relatives to drive us . 🤣

I've done all the normal (sadly it's only this app that gives me issues) things to try to see daily dinner menus in the MDR. Cleared data and cache,  uninstalled, etc. The rest of the app is ok, just can't load the new daily dinner menus for club orange and MDR anymore.  On the Koningsdam in 6 weeks...maybe it'll be working then?🤣

@dmacleod, Ferry watcher is correct,  we've always had separate mariner numbers. In creating a separate account with separate emails,  he was assigned a new number and I called the mariner society to get the new one squashed.  It was a easy and quick call to fix that.

@cruzingnut, I believe you will need separate emails as that is what fouled us up when DH did his own account. DH and I in the past for HAL used our shared email.  Did  the create account with his email,  however it also assigned him a new mariner number 😔...Luckily a quick call to the mariners society fixed that problem.

Thanks for taking us along on your cruise.  Great pics, great writing,  great tips passed along.  Safe travels home. Looking forward to your next one!

Some pics taken in late May from a mini bus tour.About 50 feet off the road, we stopped to watch for 15 minutes Still plenty of snow in May.Emerald lake.

I would recommend checking out Chilkoot charters.  Appears the train is sold out on their site too, but the 6.5 mini bus tour to the Yukon is nice. Still plenty of snow on the ride up, they make several stops, and the scenery is great. Probably see bears along the road eating the new grass, have done the trip 2x and saw several bears. You will need passports, and I'd book soon!

Thank you for taking your time to do this! Please add me to Koningsdam June 1, 2024, 7 day Alaska RT .

Pics from 2019

Eagle on iceberg

Seals on ice close in. Loved this excursion. The excursion is with Allen Marine which contracts with cruiselines for the Tracy Arm excursion,  if you want to Google their website to see what their boats are like. CO is very nice on the Koningsdam if you have it, but won't play a role on boarding for the excursion.

@rwethereyet1969.  You will get back to Juneau around 3:30 after your excursion normally. The excursion boat unloads you back onto the Koningsdam on the same platform that you started your tour with.  You  have to go through the ships security. and it's a nice time to refresh quickly if needed before going off to explore Juneau.   If the weather is clear, I second doing the tram which is easy, no advance tickets needed, and HAL is normally in a berth close by. We always enjoy grabbing a burger or fish and chips at The Hangar on the Wharf next to where all the seaplanes are.  But it can be hard to get a coveted outside table when the weather is nice. I  get on the Koningsdam when you get off, enjoy your cruise!

Follow-up to my previous post,  installed the app again and it is working fine. Frustration this morning with the update was just a good reminder to bring paper copies of boarding pass etc, as a backup to the app for my next cruise!

My (android) phone and tablet downloaded the newest version yesterday.  I hope it's still a work in progress as it's very slow and can no longer view any menus.  Hard to believe it could be worse than the previous version,  but HAL IT somehow accomplished that. I deleted all my data and cache, deleted and reinstalled the app, still horrible.

5 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Service dogs are so important; it's unfortunate some people don't respect that.

Agreed 💯,  its a shame that people game the system.  Happy to see previous doggo owner is banned from  HAL, kudos to everyone who spoke up about that!  Also sincerely doubt current doggo in stroller is a legit service dog. Sigh, people never cease to amaze me...