Eileen G

When we took the shuttle 5 years ago the buses left on the hour, 12-4, so they would be in time for the tunnel. So if you plan on the one oclock bus make sure you are there a little early as they leave right on time.

2 minutes ago, masterdrago said:

If I were a gambling man, DW will be totally underwhelmed by the Bore Tide and will give me a hard time for eating up gas and time😟

Yes she probably will. You should really consider spending the first night in Wasilla and the second day exploring the area around Palmer, Matanuska Glacier and Independence Mine. There are just so many wonderful places to see and the Bore tide is just OK if you happen to be in the area at the right time. You are spending too much time backtracking. I don't think you have a good grasp on how long it takes to get between places.

Just want to be clear on a few things. On day one you arrive in Anchorage and stay at Lakefront. Are you going to drive all the way to Wasilla just for dinner and then back to Anchorage? Also on day two you are going to Bird Point to see the boar tide which is in the opposite direction from the rest of the day. I've seen a bore tide and it's not worth that much backtracking especially when you will be driving right past Bird point when you go to Alyeska. Bird point is definitely worth a stop though.

Having sailed most main stream cruise lines I have observed that HAL is usually docked an hour early and passengers are off about half an hour before arrival time. RCCL and Princess are usually pulling into the dock at the arrival time which means you need to allow time to get tied off and cleared. If it was me I would watch approach and docking then go have a nice lunch on the ship then depart after the majority of the passengers had disembarked. Other wise I'm afraid you will spend your afternoon doing 'Hurry up and wait'.

WOW that is so fantastic. We did our first cruise to Alaska

15 years ago for our 25th anniversary. In two weeks we will be on the Coral northbound for our 40th. You got an amazing deal. Because of all the outside viewing on the Coral we booked an obstructed ocean view. Two weeks ago we were able to upgrade to a balcony at no extra charge. We sailed on the Coral 5 years ago to Alaska and it was a wonderful trip.

We are those people who always do DIY but I can tell you it's not for everyone. I always believe that everyone has a different way to travel and guided tours are great for those who prefer to have everything taken care of. I have even been tempted by the Princess Connoisseur tour it really seems to be the best tour. I will be doing a trip report when we get home or I might even do a live on board. I'll see how things go.  

Yes I went on my personalizer yesterday and after 13 Princess cruisers in a queen it was marked twin. I just checked queen and changed it. I don't know how it was changed to twin.  

41 minutes ago, GuardCruisers said:

It has been years since we sailed on Holland, but back then, Holland, IMHO, had both better food and better shows.  The Holland cruises were also a tad more expensive.  For us though, it came down to the vibe on the two lines.  Loved the refined, better food and wonderful Broadway type shows on Holland, but it is an older crowd.  For us, Princess fits our fun-loving lifestyle better and just seems "funner".

We just went on a HAL cruise ( 7th cruise on HAL) and the entertainment has all been subcontracted out. No more Broadway production shows. Most of the music was too loud to enjoy. The food was OK but nothing memorable in the MDR.

Hubby says no more HAL for us. We do prefer Princess (14 cruises on Princess) because of entertainment, better past customer perks (free WIFI) and more food options. Their ships also have more WOW factor. 

Here is a link to the Juneau cruise schedule which shows where each ship will dock.

http://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Juneau-–-JNU-2019.pdf

If your ship is at the AJ dock which is dock A in the link above you will have quite a walk into town. However the Avis rent a car office is right near there. Princess usually uses the Franklin St. dock which is dock B on the map. It is about a 5-7 minute walk to the tram. Holland America always gets the best dock so they will be at D or E. If a ship has to tender they tender near E so they will be close to downtown.

Seward would be my choice also. I've often thought of spending the whole summer in Seward getting a part time job when the cruise ships are in and spending the rest of the time exploring. I love the ambiance of the town. It's surrounded by mountains with a beautiful harbor. I love the old buildings with the murals and all the neat shops. There is so much to do in the area.

42 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

 Could you give more info on what ships and where they are stopping? There may be some ships doing Vancouver to Hawaii runs, but don't know any stopping in Alaska yet.

The Emerald Princess was in Vancouver last week but that was just to drop off passengers. She is going into dry dock in Victoria. She will then pick up passengers in Vancouver and head to LA, Fort Lauderdale and The Med. So she is not doing Alaska at all.

48 minutes ago, expectGREATthings said:

Hello Eileen,

I really appreciate you taking the time from your vacation to capture and post these menus. I've read a lot of people complaining that food quality has gone down so much in recent years. I really don't see it. We first cruised with HAL in 1987 and I thought the food was excellent then and I still love it now. Yes things have changed. There used to be table side desserts and I really enjoyed Dutch night. There would be live music and sometimes local entertainment from the port we were visiting. However change is the only constant and we're seeing that here. We used to wear sport coats every night and tuxedos on formal nights but those days are gone as well. Back in 1987 the Noordam III was still quite new, and guess how many balcony cabins it had? None. Change can be good.

 So Eileen here's my question for you. How did you like the food and service? Did you have any favorites?

 

Once again thanks,

Michael

It has been 10 years since we last sailed HAL with many cruises on several different cruise lines in between them. It seem all the cruise lines have cut back on dining. There weren't really any memorable dishes but most things were good. The service was very good. We did anytime dining and only had to wait for a table on the second formal night. We always sat with other people and met some really nice people.  

7 hours ago, bateau4 said:

Looking ahead to our July Volendam cruise, are cheese plates still available at desser?

Yes I'm sure I saw them. I'm surprised they weren't on the TV menus. These will probably be a little bit different than what you will see on an Alaska cruise.

2 hours ago, beaming90 said:

I live on chicken, hamburgers, and peanut butter.  I am just sooooo picky that nothing really gets my attention as sounding good.

Sounds good but then the chimichurri sauce I have never tried and Risotto?  I just like potatoes and meat.  That's all. 

There is chicken and steak on the every night menu which they don't always show you. You can also request to leave off any of the strange items. You might be able to request a baked potato or french fries. The hamburgers in the Dine In were very good but there was usually a wait. You give your order then they give you a pager. However I believe it closes at 5 so it is only for lunch.

We did notice they didn't show the always available items every night. We did ask for french onion soup most nights and they brought it. My husband also asked for a small portion of the mushroom risotto (an entree) and was given a small plate of it. On the second gala night he asked for 2 lobsters and had two on his plate not a whole second meal. I don't think all waiters do this. 

Last night

Nights 5 and 6

Here are nights 3 and 4

I had a lot of trouble finding recent menus for our Oosterdam cruise so I copied the menus when we were on board last week. The first night we copied the actual menu but then we found it easier to copy the menus off the TV. These are first and second nights.  

I am on the Oosterdam and on Gala night my husband ordered a second entree. He wanted to try the mushroom risotto. Nothing was said about a $10 upcharge and there was nothing on the menu about it either. Tonight is the second Gala night and I know he will order two lobsters so we will see what the waiter says.

I had read that it was 10 days out and on my up coming Oosterdam cruise I got my cabin at 10 days. So hopefully you only have a few days left.

I think Princess and Holland America are the best cruise lines for Alaska. But more important is what type of cruise do you want. Round trip out of Seattle or Vancouver or a one way between Anchorage and Vancouver so you can add on days and see some of the interior of Alaska. Also the individual ship makes a difference. We are going  on the Coral Princess to Alaska for the second time, my 5th Alaska cruise over all, and while I love Princess I wouldn't go to Alaska on the Royal Princess due to the limited outdoor viewing areas. You have a lot of research ahead of you if you want the perfect Alaska cruise.

Be sure to read the Alaska board in the Port of Call section.

We did the loop around Denali, Fairbanks and Richardson Highway a few years ago with a RV. We went to Valdez for one night. The scenery is beautiful on the road to Valdez and it's not too far out of the way. It passes Worthington Glacier which is right off the road. This was after Labor Day so I'm not sure how crowded the road will be in the middle of summer.

When we took the Princess shuttle from the airport a few years ago they started running at 12 and left on the hour until 4. We had a wonderful morning in Anchorage stopped for lunch and when we were ready we returned our car at the airport and caught the 2 PM shuttle.

The bus and train pretty much take the same route. The views are amazing. If your bus arrives at the tunnel a bit early you will be able to get out and take some pictures of Portage lake and the tunnel.