nw gardener

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...

@Haljo1935, thank you for your time posting about your cruise,  the good and not so good 🐕.  How do you feel about your first solo, and first inside cabin?  I'm thinking of doing a similar cruise in 2025 on the Koningsdam.

Looking forward to tagging along vicariously...I'm in the same position as canadianbear...

9 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Will be following along on here as I might end up cruising solo in 2025 as my husband seems to be tired of cruising.  
 

A huge thank you for taking us along with you on your vacation, and happy that things improved for you. 

I will have the gin and tonic, iceberg wedge salad, seared scallops and brut rose with my main, and key lime pie. 

Safe travels home.

Yeah!  let's get back to the important stuff on what's for dinner,  😋.  I'll have a lemon drop to start, shrimp cocktail,  duck breast and the rose wine with my main, chocolate lava cake.

And apologies,  I don't mean or want to hijack this thread!!

So I went back and looked further at the menu's on the app for my upcoming June Koningsdam cruise. The updated prices that haljo1935 posted are the same, but the following had surcharges.  Pinnacle grill lunch, 5 for extra app, 10 for extra entrée. Dinner 15 for extra entrée.  Canaletto, 10 for extra entrée. Rudi's, 15 for extra entrée. No similar extra charges found for Tamarind or Morimoto. 

So I know there have been extensive discussions previously about these extra charges..I'm fine with extra entrée charges. I've seen the obscene waste when a diner at a shared table ordered everything off the menu to "taste ".  Not ok with an extra app charge...and hopefully never do that for an extra dessert 😱.

I just looked on the app for my upcoming June cruise on the Koningsdam Pinnacle lunch menu and it does have the 5 dollar additional charge listed. ☹️

I'll start with a Brooklyn,  corn and salt fish fritter, Mahi Mahi Diablo,  and the chocolate caramel tart. 😋

Gin and tonic followed by sushi trio, halibut and a white wine with my main, raspberry tarte.  And I am so sorry to read about the CO struggles. I hope the rest of the cruise improves.

Thank you! This is so much more fun than leftover costco rotisserie chicken 😆...Wasabi cocktail please,  maybe x 2, cuz I can..satay sampler, crispy duck with crab fried rice as a side, cherry pie pinot noir with my main, yuzu cheesecake...

Yes,  that's the bus bays...not hard to find after getting through the customs line, plenty of port staff herding people along this past June.  There's always the chance of bus bay assignments changing by the time cruise season starts again.  This past June we got through customs and off the ship so fast we had to wait in a sitting area next to the doors leading out to the bus bays. Thanks Milhouse!