chengkgoingalaska

Does anyone have the Oosterdam 2015 summer 7-day Alaska northbound day by day 'On Location' by HAL? Many thanks! Does Captain Michiel Willems have a personal email?

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IMO, yes if you are a fan of prime ribs ... however, I do not think you will be able to change your PG reservations until you are on board, but it is worth a call to find out ...

Thanks!

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Just got to know my PG dinner coming with the Explorer 4 would be on my very first night of my 7-day Alaska cruise. Should be very happy about this arrangement. However, having read comments about the prime ribs being good at the MDR on the first night, is it worthwhile to phone HAL to change that PG away from the first night?

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:( Only one entree allowed in the PG, but as much of anything else on the menu as you want. In the MDR, you can order as much as you want of anything on the menu

Thanks! That is great to know. After reading this thread, I bought for my family a $35 pp PG + Ca package for our next year cruise. I'm going to go through all details of this thread again to make good preparation for our food enjoyment.

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You are far more likely to find this if you ask on the HAL board, here:

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=171

Thank you!

I am going to do the HAL Noordam Alaska 7-day northbound cruise from Vancouver to Seward in the summer 2016. It is going to be my first cruise ever. I would like to learn about what will take place on that cruise as much as possible. It seems to me the same cruise was done by the Oosterdam in the summer 2015. Is there any chane that any CC members who sailed on the Oosterdam in Alaska earlier this year might happen to have copies of the day by day HAL "On Location" that can be shared? Thank you very much for any kind help!

I am going to do the HAL Noordam Alaska 7-day northbound cruise from Vancouver to Seward in the summer 2016. It is going to be my first cruise ever. I would like to learn about what will take place on that cruise as much as possible. It seems to me the same cruise was done by the Oosterdam in the summer 2015. Is there any chane that any CC members who sailed on the Oosterdam in Alaska earlier this year might happen to have copies of the day by day HAL "On Location" that can be shared? Thank you very much for any kind help!

I always order the same thing in the PG for dinner.

 

 

 

Lobster Bisque

 

Shrimp Cocktail

 

Steak Tartare

 

Lamb Chops

 

baked Alaska

 

 

 

Yep, I always leave completely stuffed and it's worth it!

 

 

 

Have never eaten at Canaletto

 

 

 

Diane

It is very interesting to read your picks at the PG dinner. I love most of your recommendation. I'm going to cruise HAL next summer. Am I right that I can order more than one main course at the PG dinner? Moreover, what about the MDR? Can I order more than one main course at the MDR dinner? Thanks!

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Hello all,

 

I’m doing another “Live From” blog, this time from MS Veendam on a 14-day round-trip cruise from Boston to Quebec and back.

 

Here is our itinerary:

- 3 Oct, sail from Boston at 4 p.m.;

- 4 Oct, Bar Harbor, 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.;

- 5 Oct, Halifax, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.;

- 6 Oct, Sydney, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.;

- 7 Oct, Charlottetown, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.;

- 8 Oct, cruising Gulf of St. Lawrence;

- 9 Oct, Quebec, arrive 8 a.m.;

- 10 Oct, Quebec;

- 11 Oct, Quebec, depart 4 p.m.;

- 12 Oct, cruising Gulf of St. Lawrence;

- 13 Oct, Charlottetown, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.;

- 14 Oct, Sydney, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.;

- 15 Oct, Halifax, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.;

- 16 Oct, Bar Harbor, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.;

- 17 Oct, return to Fort Boston at 7 a.m..

 

Here is a map of our itinerary:

 

 

 

We wanted to do a cruise to Canada and New England, especially during the time when we had higher odds of seeing fall colors in the trees. We chose Veendam over Maasdam because of the two nights stay in Quebec, which would give us lots of time to explore that city; Maasdam continues on to Montreal before heading back.

 

We have not been on Veendam since the late 1990s, well before her modifications. It will be interesting to see the changes.

 

I hope we do get to see some of the leaves in sunshine. It is looking less like this will be a “Travels with Jaoquin” blog, although Bermuda is now in the hurricane’s path which is hard on them. But, there is enough unsettled weather in New England and eastern Canada just from routine lows and nor’easters. We don’t really mind the wind and rain, but would prefer to have at least some sun on the trees now and then.

 

We are due to visit Bar Harbor tomorrow, and there is very little rain forcast. But, there is a bit of wind. Since that is a tender port, I hope the ship will be able to run tender operations safely. But, the nice thing about doing the round trip is that we have a second chance to visit on the way back if the first opportunity is missed.

 

When we made final payment, our PCC was able to get us the OBC for shore excursions, the Dine-Around package and some other bennies. She did explain that the OBC was available to be applied to any charge, since we had already booked most of our excursions; I will report on how that goes, but as others have posted that it applied to anything, I expect we will find the same thing. I have also read on CC how the dine-around works, so DW and I have discussed what nights won’t work, and I will go try to change if the reservations they give us are inconvenient. We have dinner reservations ashore in Quebec for Friday, so that night for example would be a non-starter.

 

This is a port-intensive itinerary, and while I intend to post at least once a day, I may get behind sometimes.

 

I will post this now, and check in again later.

 

More later,

Dave

Thank you very much for your most kind review. It is extremely helpful!

Yes sir. T-Mobile has great roaming rates all over the world, but their cruise ship rates blow chunks. (Totally bringing back an 80s phrase.)

 

It's $5.99 a minute on pretty much all HAL ships. Step off the boat in Canada or Mexico, and it's free with your plan - as is data.

 

Go here if you are a T-Mobile customer:

 

http://www.t-mobile.com/optional-services/roaming.html

 

Scroll down until you see the cruise ship search box.

Learnt a lot. Thanks!

What is your recommendations for the #1 best thing on the menu for dinner at the Pinnacle and Canaletto? We eat all meats; pork, lamb, beef, chicken, fish, etc. We like almost all vegetables and desserts are yummy. We have looked at the menus and would like some opinion since we have never eaten there. Thanks, Linda

This is a very interesting topic. I am learning a lot right here to help myself plan my first HAL cruise next year. Thanks!

One item I will not order on a ship anymore -- lobster tails -- they arrive at the table too chewy from sitting under the dome. Plus they use too much salt to cook them.

We just had wonderful cold lobster tails this past Saturday -- broiled.

Thanks for your kind advice!

looking at this old thread. today, October 2015, does HAL still allow balcony smoking. Never cruised with HAL yet. But will not consider if smoking is allowed on balconies. I'll stick to Princess.

I guess the two being in the same Group are arranged on purpose to carry out different policies on smoking on balcony. The Group as a whole probably is not ready to push the entire balcony smoking community away. Therefore, my guess is the balcony smoking on HAL will continue in place. The Group boss is happy to see the hate-balcony-smoking community on Princess.

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We are first time HAL cruisers doing a 24 day med cruise in May next year on the Eurodam.

Is there a similar link for photos of the Eurodam?

Thank you

Chris

 

 

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Here it is. Please enjoy.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2202080

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We are first time HAL cruisers doing a 24 day med cruise in May next year on the Eurodam.

Is there a similar link for photos of the Eurodam?

Thank you

Chris

 

 

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Oh, yes! There is one. You may click her name "Editor Colleen" on the above CC page so that you can view all her posts. she has done photos of many ships. There is one thread showing Eurodam. It is easy to find. Sorry not being able to link you to that thread directly from my phone.

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I am new to CC and expect to do my first ever cruise northbound Alaska next year on Noordam. I must give tons of thanks to many kind people in this forum who always share their interesting reviews in great details so that new cruiser like me may learn through those experiences what to expect and what to do in a step by step way. My biggest thanks go to Editor Colleen for her http://gallery.cruisecritic.com/ships/noordam-362/ which shows thousands of pictures of Noordam. So many and so clear and so vivid that I find Noordam, a ship I have never been on, familiar. I googled pictures of Noordam as well but the result from Google couldn't come half as good as Editor Colleen's systemized demostration of what life on Noordam might be. Thanks!!!

I'm always impressed by the collective knowledge of the posters here. And it got me thinking about all the clever tips I've learned. So what's the best/most helpful/most fun thing you learned about HAL because you read it on CC?

 

I think for me it's the Embarkation lunch, because this is the only place I've heard about it, even with 5 HAL cruises since they started doing it.

It is a huge pleasure to read your review. Have seen a lot and learnt a lot from your most detailed review and your excellent pictures! Wish my photography were half as good as yours.

Thank you very much for your beautiful pictures of the Tracy Arm. Have read on CC many good comments about it but truly see it through your pictures for the first time.

Thank you!! It's good to know people are reading my review!! Makes me want to post more!! Lucky you!! It's gonna be amazing!

Cannot wait to see more. Never cruised before but thinking about cruising Alaska in 2016 and the Med in 2017. Your itinerary looks exactly what I want for the Med therefore looking forward very much to your experience. Many thanks indeed!

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Thank you very much for kindly posting your Noordam activities. They are incredibly valuable to us as we are going to take our first ever cruise on Noordam next year. :):):)

This year on the Noordam out of Vancouver, Formal Nights were Sunday (enroute to Juneau) and Thursday (Ketchikan). This itinerary will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam next year.

 

Here are the daily activities (On Locations) we had in May 2015 that will be similar to the NA next year:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/travel-2/alaska-2015-noordam-on-location-daily-activities/

Thank you very much for kindly posting your compasses in your review. I am new to cruising and look forward to my first cruise next summer in Alaska. Your compasses give me a good idea about what to expect once on board. Extremely helpful.

Thank you. If you are planning on Anan, which was my original trip, you should contact them now. They have a lottery for who gets permits as they only allow 60 per day. I do not know if they do the same for Traitors Cove which is where we ended up.

Thank you for your kind advice. I will start to my research right away. Enjoying your wonderful review. Your pictures are truly great!

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Thank you very much for your brief but wonderful review of the Noordam cruise you did. May I ask a question about the internet on the Noordam? I am looking forward to doing a Noordam northbound Alaska cruise in 2016 and will be in need of internet service on board to stay in touch with people at home. I noticed that it took you quite some dollars to purchase the internet package but still without success in printing the documents you wanted. Was the internet speed very slow on board Noordam? Did Noordam have any solution to this problem? Many thanks for any kind advice that you may give!

Thank you very much for posting such an interesting review of your wonderful cruise. The Ketchikan bear watching looks great. I am planning to take my family to cruise Alaska in 2016 and will seriously consider to make Island Wings tour my choice at Ketchikan. Look forward to your future updates on your land DIY trip. Many THANKS from Kang, a reader from China!