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It only gave a notification maybe 1/4 of the time for me earlier this month. It seemed to only work right if the app was open on my phone at the time a message arrived; then I got a notification. Otherwise, nothing.

The one a couple weeks ago on the Koningsdam has free Dutch appetizers/desserts (I saw three different trays going around) and orange cocktails for sale.

They didn't have my dad's photo even after we boarded. They just told us to go to guest services at some point and get his photo taken. It took no time at all.

I've gotten free stateroom offers from: hollandamerica@em.hollandamerica.com They always mention "Free Stateroom" somewhere in the subject line. I started getting the offers once I had a HAL cruise booked (my previous HAL cruise was 6 years ago).

My mom was able to log in last night, but it wouldn't show the cruise she has booked with me. When I logged in to my account on my computer, everything was fine. It is definitely not the most consistent website.

We were tempted but at $100 per person per night, it seemed a bit steep considering there were three of us. The regular room we got was fine enough though with some problems (broken window latch, missing towel).

On the Koningsdam last Friday, they had a special craft beer in the MDR for dinner that we didn't see anywhere else on the cruise. Definitely not on any bar menus. It was a scotch ale out of Seattle. Nice beer.

There were only a handful of chairs inside, but they did indeed have a lovely view outside and looked comfortable. I plan to test them out my next cruise!

General observations: The Westmark hotels were all decent, but some had problems too (broken shampoo dispenser, missing towels and toilet paper, broken window latch on a ground floor room, broken air system). The Dawson one was the only one I would consider a nice hotel. The continuous early mornings were rough, very rough. I can't think of a solution to this, but it made the land portion hard on us. It was a bit more jam-packed than we prefer in general, so we're very glad we did land first and could then relax on the ship after. Our boarding passes in Navigator never worked. There was an error every time, seemingly because we were boarding the ship halfway through its itinerary. It would have been nice if HAL told us we wouldn't need them instead of just getting a confusing error. We basically found we had to ignore most of the emails HAL sent about preparing for the trip because they just didn't apply to us. I highly recommend wearing a mask, at least on the buses where there's very little ventilation. By the end of the land portion a lot of the group was coughing and sniffling. There is a high, and frankly we found absurd, expectation for tipping during the land portion. Every single shuttle driver and everyone else you deal with asks for tips, and HAL recommends very high tips for everyone. We found this unusual, especially for people who aren't waitstaff or performing a personal service. We still tipped most everyone, but it felt increasingly money-grubbing. Koningsdam observations: We were happy to find that it really wasn't too crowded. We asked and were told that there were over 2600 people on board, but people felt pretty spaced out. The Lido was not bad at breakfast around 8 or 9am but very busy at lunch around noon. Yet even when packed the station lines were short and we could still find seating. The Crows Nest was crowded for Glacier Bay but not overwhelming so. Grand Dutch Cafe was busy occasionally but not most of the time we walked by. We could make a 5pm MDR dinner reservation with no problem on dressy night. That night, I only noticed a few people in line without reservations when we were seated, and the dining room didn't fill. We also didn't notice short staffing. Tables were cleared quickly, and the wait for beverages was short, except for at happy hour but it wasn't horrendous. The World Stage was truly packed, but it was a 7pm Step One show so I wasn't surprised. Food was very good to excellent overall. Rudi's was outstanding. The pea soup was wonderful. Some of the Lido selections were impressively good. The bread pudding was a disappointment though, too eggy. Desserts overall were a bit hit or miss, but some were very good. Most were rather light flavors but tasty. Nothing too overwhelmingly sweet either. Dressy night at the MDR was very good, with some dishes better than others. There's a problem in the Lido with food signs, particularly at the dessert station. Only a few things have labels and they're frequently wrong. I gave up on getting unsweetened yogurt, as no matter what the labels said, it was sweetened vanilla (I know the unsweetened exists because my parfait had it). The dessert signs were so messed up one evening that we took 1 of each dish just to test which was which. The handwash machines at the Lido were great. Like a spa for your hands. Not many people used them though, but I did see more using hand sanitizer. The signature suite is a very nice cabin. I especially liked the murphy bed and that there was a dividing wall between that and the main bed. The settee sofa was also super comfortable. The casino didn't smell too smoky, but that seemed to be because almost no one was ever in it. It still smelled pretty terrible though, as they spray perfume to combat the smoke, so it smelled like fake flowers and ashtray. We had no interest in gambling as a result, although we likely would have if it wasn't so gross. We received towel animals on dressy night and the final day. Chocolates were on dressy night. And we got our first tiles on the last day!

Day 13 - Vancouver We did self-disembarkation so we could leave at our leisure. My parents went to the Lido for breakfast and were disappointed. Food was cold or not cooked all the way, and beverage service was slow. I know this is a super busy day for the crew, but it wasn't the nicest last impression of HAL. I think next cruise, we'll do breakfast in the MDR the last day. Disembarkation was very easy, at a bit before 9am. No lines anywhere, and we just handed our customs forms to a customs officer at the port and were off. We're staying at the Blue Horizon and decided to walk there. It wasn't an easy walk towing suitcases up hill, but it only took about 20 min. We then spent most of the day at Granville Island, with its delightful market and little stores. Lunch was at the Vancouver Fish Company and was very good. We took a water taxi (always fun) back across to downtown and then walked back to the hotel, where we napped after all the walking. We had an outstanding dinner at Forage, a Pacific Northwest restaurant. Everything was excellent. We have one more day in Vancouver, and we may go check out the Capilano suspension bridge. There's a free shuttle there, and our hotel is one of the stops. Then we'll head for a hotel near the airport so we can leave very early the next morning

Day 12 - At Sea 1 hour time change, and it seems like it's thrown off a lot of people. We did breakfast at the Lido around 9, and it wasn't too busy. There's been a lot of ship movement since last night, and I wouldn't be surprised if some people weren't feeling well. We found nice seating at Billboard Onboard to sit and read for a while. I finished the book I brought but picked up a good one at the book exchange in the Crows Nest to read today. The new library is also open now, with its own book exchange and a fantastic selection of books. My next cruise I probably won't bother bringing a book and just check something out from the library. There're a few seats inside with nice ocean views. They also did a good job with the soundproofing considering it's right by Music Walk. We did lunch at the Lido around 1pm. As busy as we've seen it: no real lines at the stations, seating pretty full but no trouble finding a table. The Dive-in looked like it had a lot of people waiting around for their food. We finally had some sun for the first time since we boarded, so we walked along the promenade a bit. Then we did afternoon tea, which was pleasant. I can't have caffeine, but they brought me decaf black tea. We did dinner at the MDR with 5pm reservations (they only offered 5pm or 8pm). I'm glad we booked ahead, as there was a small walk-in line at 5 that just got longer, until it was around 10-15 deep when we left at 6. Dinner was nice with again some parts better than others. We checked out the Roadhouse event in the evening. They had performances at all the Music Walk venues, with the headline entertainers moving between them and performing with the bands. We watched the Major Fourth singers perform with the Rolling Stone band and the Billboard piano player. It was neat to see the musicians mix things up this way.

I just visited it yesterday! It's very nice.

Day 11 - Ketchikan Wonderful lazy morning as we didn't arrive in Ketchikan until after 10. We did room service breakfast, ordered the night before, and it was very nice. The yogurt parfait is delicious. We then left the ship to explore town. There's a free town shuttle that goes all over and runs frequently (although I thought it strange that when I asked the HAL excursions people about where to pick it up, they had no clue about it). We took it up to the Totum Heritage Center, which is a fantastic small museum. Then we took the shuttle back to Creek Street, the former red light district. Some of our favorite shops from 6 years ago are still there, including a wonderful rock shop where I bought amber. We had lunch at the Alaska Fish House, near dock 1 (the Eurodam was there earlier but must have left around noon). We had excellent fish and chips and grilled fish with rice. After, we went to a great local clothing and gift store, the Woodlands, featuring shirts designed by a graphic artist from here. It was near dock 3, where the Koningsdam was. We then reboarded and wandered the ship a bit. Not many people around, even with bad weather outside that we assumed would keep people on-board instead of out and about. We had dinner at the Dive-in (hotdogs) and NY Pizza and Deli (salads). Both were enjoyable. It was a bit of a wait for the hotdogs, even with few people around. We went through the Lido after (around 6) to grab some desserts and snacks for later. These were particularly good desserts today, possibly because they were Dutch (Bossche bol and tompouce). There weren't many people at the Lido at all. It's almost all-aboard time, so we're not sure where everyone is this evening, but the ship feels weirdly empty. We found a good sized crowd again when we went to the Orange Party. It was pretty packed in BB Kings, with lots of people dancing. There were Dutch treats going around: sausage rolls, bitterballen, and Bossche bol. We didn't stay long, but it was fun!

Day 10 - Glacier Bay We sent a laundry bag out at dinner time last night and it was back by 7 something this morning! Also they had our shower fixed by 9am. Pretty impressive! We did breakfast at the Lido. I like the English breakfast section because you can get tomatoes and mushrooms. Then we checked out the ranger tables at the Crows Nest. We stood in a slow moving line to buy stuff from the park store, where they had some great books, magnets, and other little gifts. We watched the glaciers from our verandah, which was amazing. We did wildlife watching from the promenade and saw a bear and a few dozen sea otters. They were everywhere. They handed out the delicious pea soup in places all over the ship. Lunch was at the Lido and was light yet satisfying. I saw some people eating what looked like lychees, and I went hunting for them but couldn't find them. We had gelato for a treat after, and it was very good. Yesterday when we arrived, we made reservations for tonight's dressy night in the MDR with no trouble. It was a nice meal. Nothing like Rudi's but still satisfying. My dad had the arctic char and thought it was excellent. My mom said the salmon was a little overcooked but still good. The duck was cooked to medium nicely. We went to the Step One dance performance after dinner. It was very crowded in the theater, with lots of people standing around the edges. It was an entertaining show and made good use of the screen behind the dancers with different kinds of graphics accompanying the them. We opted to watch a movie in our cabin instead of going to the chocolate surprise.

(We're in Vancouver and have good WiFi again!) Day 9 - Koningsdam in Skagway The leisurely morning after putting our bags out was nice. We got breakfast from Glacial Coffeehouse, which was the only decent breakfast option in town. Good food and coffee, but it's complete chaos inside, even without the cruise ship passengers being in town yet. We then gathered for the transfer and were given our cabin keycards and told we just needed our passports to board. It went pretty smoothly. One thing we found that is frankly rather offensive though is that suddenly everything for the cruise part is in my dad's name as lead person of our group. Things are even labeled: "[dad's name] and family." Even though I'm the primary on the booking and my dad was our 3rd person and never in contact with HAL at all. There are some pretty messed up assumptions there. We had lunch at the Grand Dutch Cafe (wonderful pea soup and berry crepes). Hardly anyone was there while the ship was in port. After lunch, we left the ship to do the hike to Yukutania Point, as recommended by @SightCRR. Being docked at the Ore Dock is super convenient to the trailhead. It's a pleasant . 5 mile hike to the end of the rocky point. Our signature suite is very nice, with plenty of room for 3 people and a large verandah. There were some bathroom problems they were working on when we embarked. Unfortunately after they left our shower didn't turn on at all, but we didn't notice until night time. The jetted tub was a nice alternative but wow is it narrow. I'm an average sized woman and it was the exact width of my shoulders. Our steward came by sometime in the evening to make up my murphy bed, which is surprisingly comfortable. We had happy hour drinks and listened to the rather entertaining trivia contest. Drinks were all 50% off. Dinner was at Rudi's and absolutely outstanding. Between us we had for appetizers: steak tartare, fried calamari, escargot, and hot smoked salmon. There was also a smoked salmon and cute fish bread amuse bouche and fresh bread with various accoutrements. For mains, we had: the Dover sole, grilled seafood platter, and fresh halibut. Everything was prepared perfectly, and we thought the portion sizes were fairly reasonable (though it was still a lot of food overall). I had the halibut fillet, and the texture was like eating cream. Although I chose one topping (lemon butter) it also came with two others, which was a nice surprise. We had the pureed cauliflower and green beans for sides. There was then a tree of chocolates and fruits. We did the beautiful Austrian berry souffle for dessert, which was perfect for 3 people. This was an outstanding meal, equal to very nice French restaurants I've been to on land. We ended the evening at BB Kings and Rolling Stone Rock Room. Both have fun bands. It would help if they had closed the doors between them though, as we noticed that people sitting at the edge of one could also hear the other. The doors were closed on another day so clearly that's an option.

Only 2 of us (out of 37) did it! But it was a nice, friendly group.

Day 8 - Skagway Bags out by 7:30, bus boarding at 9am. We went to a very nice French coffee shop and bakery, Baked, a block away that someone in our tour recommended. Then to Tim Hortons for donuts for later. Lots of tour people going to both places. I think people are tired of the expensive hotel buffe⁷t breakfasts. The bus ride was about 4 hours to Skagway but we gained an hour. We stopped at Emerald Lake scenic overlook (gorgeous!) and CarCross (shops and coffee). Plus a very brief stop at the 3200' summit at the Alaska border where it was snowing! In Skagway, we had lunch at Bonanza Bar & Grill. Great halibut fish & chips and beer. We then had a little time for shopping before boarding the White Pass & Yukon railroad for our 2pm excursion. It was as beautiful as my mom and I remembered from 6 years ago but definitely colder and with more snow now in May! Once back we checked into the Skagway Westmark. It has some charm but very small rooms and no wifi in rooms. We were supposed to have a cocktail party with our tour group but it was cancelled. We did dinner at Skagway Brewing. It was an excellent dinner with excellent beer. We wanted to check out Klondike Brewing after but they closed at 6 when most of the tourists left. Tomorrow, we have to have luggage out at 6:30am to get to our Koningsdam cabins. But we don't leave for the ship until 10:30 so should be a nice relaxing morning. We'll have a bus transfer taking us over as a group. Our instructions just say that we need our IDs to board so looks like no boarding passes for us. I'll try to do an update in Ketchikan if I can, but if not see you all when we get to Vancouver.

Day 7 - Bus to Whitehorse We had to have luggage out by 7 this morning and got on the bus around 8am for an 8-9 hour drive (including frequent breaks). We were a bit nervous about the road as it only became passable basically yesterday after a number of washouts were fixed. Even with it open there were still spots that got pretty rough, but our driver did a good job. We stopped every hour or so for scenic overlooks, shopping, and lunch. This was the only included lunch on the tour and was at a neat campground run by First Nations people. We also watched a very nice documentary on the bus about the Klondike gold rush. We arrived in Whitehorse at dinner time. The hotel here is the Sternwheeler. It seems the most basic of all the ones we've had and pretty small rooms, but no problems so far. Dinner at Tony's in the hotel was nice although busy with multiple tour groups.

Dawson City photos Now that we're in Whitehorse, we have real Internet again, so here are a bunch of photos from Dawson.

We were able to see it briefly when we drove by the airport coming in! I wouldn't have realized it was a weathervane. Very cool.

Day 6 - Dawson City We slept in and then did laundry this morning. It's expensive here, $3 CAD for each washer or dryer load. I got a breakfast bagel sandwich and latte at the Riverwest Bistro while my parents did the Westmark buffet. I think I made the better choice. Our scheduled excursion on a paddlewheel boat on the Yukon River was cancelled due to the boat not being operational. Apparently HAL will credit us for it. None of the other available excursions sounded that appealing (although we heard good things about the Top of the Dome scenic overlook from others on our tour), so we decided to DIY it after the rain stopped around noon. We still wanted a boat tour and a chance to see more of the Yukon River so we walked down to the free ferry that connects the highway on the opposite bank. They have a nice spot for people walking on board to sit or stand at the railing (it even has a heat vent from the engine keeping it a bit warm for people). It's about a 6 minute ride across, and the ferry just goes back and forth carrying cars continuously. We rode it straight back after and got some lovely photos of the river and Dawson. One of the employees even came over and talked with us a bit about the area. We learned that everything hasn't quite started up for the season yet, including the nearby US-Canada boarder crossing which doesn't open until June 1st. We then did the walking path along the river on top of the dike. As we got to the other end of Dawson, we left the river behind and cut over to the Jack London cabin and museum, where we heard a very interesting presentation on his life. Donations of $5 are recommended. We had dinner at the Aurora Inn next to the Westmark. It was nice, a bit more upscale than the Westmark restaurant. Then my mom and I went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's to gamble a bit and watch one of the can-can shows. The slots were loose and the singing and dancing a lot of fun. I'm hoping to have a good enough connection tomorrow in Whitehorse that I can upload a bunch of photos. Neither cell reception or WiFi are very good in Dawson.

I'll admit I mostly did it for the bragging rights!

Day 5 - Dawson City We had to have our bags out by 5:30am this morning. Then made our way to the airport for our 10am flight to Dawson City, Yukon. We arrived around 12, Pacific time, having lost one hour. Both the Fairbanks and Dawson airports were smooth getting through, including Canadian customs. Regarding luggage, there was plenty of room in the airplane for backpacks and a personal item but I doubt any carry-on suitcase would have fit. The plane was a 737-500. It was a charter flight so just our 2 tour groups with plenty of room. The Westmark in Dawson is a fun series of buildings. Our room is in a renovated old schoolhouse! Wonderfully large room and so far nothing wrong with it! WiFi is limited to just the lobby and is very slow. We had lunch at Bonton & Co, a delightful restaurant and coffee shop featuring local Yukon ingredients and a rotating menu. Then we walked around town a bit, looking at the shops and old condemned leaning buildings (built directly on permafrost). Note that walking around is a bit difficult here as the roads aren't paved and the "sidewalk" is uneven wooden planks with a lot of stepping up and down. Also, if it rains like it has here today everything gets rather muddy. We then napped for a while. It's really nice to have a couple of relaxing days after the rather breakneck pace of the last few days. We did dinner at Belinda's in the Westmark. It was much better than expected given there was little info about it online. Then my dad and I went to the Sourdough Saloon so I could do the Sourtoe Cocktail. It was fun! And gross. I did it with Yukon Jack whiskey. Sorry no photos today, my connection isn't good enough to upload.

Update: the Westmark maintenance guy came by to fix the air problem in our room. Turns out they don't have ac, but just swamp coolers and ours was blocked up. He was able to clear it out though and now we're finally getting cool air blowing in our room. Phew, that was going to suck otherwise.

Day 4 - Fairbanks We wanted to do breakfast at Karsten's, but they only offered a buffet that didn't look appealing so we got lighter fare (yogurt) at their coffee shop. Only a 3 hour bus ride to Fairbanks, including a rest stop. However, we arrived a bit late so only had a very short window of time for lunch. We went to the Crepery, which was very good, with crepes featuring food from all over the world. We then went to our included excursion, at Gold Dredge #8. It was fun and involved information on the Alaskan oil pipeline, a train tour of the gold dredge site with explanations of how it all worked, and a chance for everyone to do some gold panning. The Fairbanks Westmark has wonderfully large suites but our room is very warm so we're trying to get a fan or something to help. The streets downtown are very close together so everything is just a short walk from the hotel. We had dinner at Soba, an exceptional Moldovan restaurant downtown. We've had very good food everywhere on this trip, but this was the first that was truly outstanding. We had meat dumplings, pierogi, and chicken schnitzel.