lhsail

We did two nights at McKinley and were so glad, but we lucked out and the mountain was out the entire full day there. We started the day early with coffee on their large deck, took a musher tour for the sake of our then 12 year old son, then we're still on the deck at 11:00 that night with a glass of wine. I amazed myself with how enthralled I was with that mountain.

We also had a disappointing tour of Denali, hardly saw any wildlife. As you can see, there are many different possible experiences. I also thought the McKinley lodge was much nicer, although the rooms weren't anything overly special.

On our 10 day repo cruise on the Caribbean Princess in October the laundry was closed the last two days due to "water restrictions". I was not happy as we were not going to have access to laundry for a few days after we got off the ship and was counting in getting a few loads done before we got off. We talked to several people including crew ow had never heard of that happening before.

Any word in when this will be available on the Caribbean Princess?

You ask a simple question.....

To bad some have to turn this into a dress code thread. :(

Have to agree. To the OP, there will be some people dressed up as well. My husband always takes his tux and I wear at least a cocktail dress. Maybe we are showing our age. Do what will make you feel good about yourself and will allow you to enjoy the evening.

Thanks for sharing from a different perspective...I do alot of Jazz charters...open seating is the norm because so many guests are friends from previous charters so will want to sit with different friends....the "rhythm" of a ship is different on a music charter because it is driven by the music schedule...savy Jazz cruisers, depending on the artists they want to see, will skip the MDR and dine on the lido deck on any given evening

 

Your cabin location would be impacted by the performances on the lido deck & in in the public lounges ...most long time Jazz cruisers spend so little time in their cabins and don't return to their cabins until the music stops (0200 am) that the noise does not bother them...we do however, sleep in later in the morning, so the ship is usually very quiet if you are an early riser

 

As long as the music and artists are great and accesible to guests, concerts start on time and the water is smooth, other aspects that would be important on a regular cruise are less important on a Jazz cruise....however, I hope you partaked in all the incredible music related activities that would never be offered on a regular cruise

 

Who was your favorite artist or performance..

We did enjoy the entertainment, Brian Culbertson was probably my favorite, loved his energy. Just a bit too much scheduled activity for us. We found ourselves needing a little more balance later in the week and skipped some of the late night activities in favor of a little more sleep.

Good to know that wasn't a typical dining experience. We booked the charter fairly late (9 months out, the 2015 was sold out before the 2014 cruise ended) so we were very limited in our cabin choices. Lesson learned.

We got off the Eurodam a week ago and wanted to share some observations. I'll start by clarifying that this was a charter cruise, so some of our experiences may have been related to that. I will also clarify that our last HAL cruise was two years ago and we said after that one we wouldn't go back on HAL for a while, however we really wanted to do this entertainment charter, so we booked it. I'd like to think we went into it with an open mind as before the cruise two years ago our experience with HAL had been excellent.

I love the size of HAL's verandah cabins and who can argue with the bathrooms. However, we were in a Cat. VQ on Deck 10, one of the Spa cabins. If I had been an a regular cruise and had paid a premium for this cabin I would have been very upset. The 'perks' don't begin to offset the premium charge; I found the water feature simply took up precious space on the vanity/desk. Also, we were in cabin 10013, which other than it's convenience to the Lido deck and fitness center, was a horrible cabin in my opinion. There was a lot of vibration, to the extent it effected our sleep. In addition, you could hear the bass beat from the nightclub every night. It also had the smaller balcony, but with only two of us that really wasn't an issue.

We had excellent dinners in both Tamarind and the Pinnacle Grill. The food in the main dining room was disappointing with the exception of the Surf and Turf on formal night. The lamb shanks the last night weren't too bad, but overall unimaginitive menus and poor execution. We didn't have real service issues as others have mentioned on recent cruises, but the dining room wasn't full most nights, many people opting for the Lido due to all the entertainment on board.

There was no true open seating, as everyone ate in the dining room at either 6:00 or 8:30 due to the nightly shows. However, there were assigned tables and open seating areas for both dinner times. We had open seating, which didn't bother us as we usually make that choice any more. We were surprised when we showed up and were simply told to find a seat. Personally we found this very unprofessional for a dinner setting. Maybe being picky, but really, the Head Waiters can't monitor the flow into the dining room and escort you to a table? I really hope this was only due to the charter and that it's handled better on a regular cruise.

We like to eat our breakfast outside on the back of the ship whenever possible. We had been on Princess about two months prior and always found silverware on the table and they were there promptly with coffee and juice. On the Eurodam we usually had to run down the silverware and always had to fetch our own coffee and juice.

The Eurodam is a beautiful ship. There were many very nice lounges which were underutilized on this trip, again due to the specific entertainment venues each night. We loved the elegance and quiet of the Silk Den.

One thing we really came to enjoy on our last Princess cruise was cappuccino in the International Cafe. We enthusiastically went to the Explorer's Cafe one morning on the Eurodam to find no table service and cappuccino in paper cups. Also missed the option to purchase a coffee card, the only option being complete beverage packages.

Overall we had a good trip and have no regrets for having tried the charter option. We probably won't rush to do a charter again, and we won't rush back to HAL. Just feel like so many things that used to set them apart just aren't there anymore.

Appreciate the info.

We are sailing on the Eurodam in January, not our first HAL cruise but it's been a while. Are the balcony doors sliders on the Eurodam?

I am so bummed. We are on the Smooth Jazz Cruise on HAL sailing January 12th from Ft. Lauderdale. There's no way for us to tack one of these on either before or after. Looked into the Dec 14th sailing and taking our 20 year old son, but we'd have to pay for airfare and he would get the credit for his portion of the cruise even if we paid for it. Who doesn't love a free cruise and this would have put us one away from Elite.

The only way you are going to know for sure if it's right for you is to try it. We love cruising and often go more than once a year. Sometimes just my husband and I, sometimes with our 16-year old son, sometimes with friends. We are in our mid-50s, both with jobs with a great deal of responsibility. In addition, I have been the care taker for at least one older member of my family ongoing for several years. For us, vacations right now are all about R & R, and a cruise is perfect. I unpack once, and get waited on for a week. We often don't even get off the ship in at least one port and when we do it's usually for a little shopping and to find a beach. Also, if this was only your first cruise, you have a lot of ports and a lot of ships to explore. Good luck with your decision, but if you're so inclinded, I'd say give it a try.