RMLincoln

It is great to read all this info, Maureen! Five weeks from now I arrive in Norway, can't wait. Tell us more!

Not sure what you want to hear about..... we enjoyed a hot tub soak while docked in Kirkenes. We took a walk upon arrival, but only to the memorial to the Red Army liberators which is a ffew blocks from docking. The hot tub soak was lovely. I found towels in the sauna and we eack wore a shirt over our swim suits. We have flip flops for use later in our travels (aboard HAL Maasdam from Rome to Florida ) but could manage without. We used the rear elevator to the hot tub, less public. Upon exiting our soak we quickly toweled off, donned our shirts and wrapped the towel around lower half, made our way to our room. When i saw the room steward I requested extra towels, which we have now for next time.

sunrise today was 7.30, sunset 4pm as we travel south. Some folks saw northern lights last night but they were poor and later than we wanted to go out from bed.

Today the chef will demonstrate making gravlox and participants may make their own for 250 nok. We plan to walk around town in Hammerfest for maybe 90 mins. The day is only gray, no rain. We are getting used to it. I wear light jeans type pants with thin merino leggings underneath, although for north cape i added a polar tec long john pant layer and needed it against the wind. On top i wear a thin silk layer with thin sweater over it. Then a fleece jacket topped with a wind/rain jacket. For north cape i added a hooded long sleeve t-shirt and was reasonably comfortable. Thin double layer gloves have kept my hands warm enough and able to use my small camera. I have multiple options for my head: of course the hoods of t-hoodie, rain jacket or ear band or thin watch cap. Or all!

The ship temperature has been quite comfortable throughout, unlike many ships which are often cold.

The bathroom has two canisters of multi purpose hand, body, hair soap. I washed a few things out in the sink and they dried overnight. I went to the laundry but the instructions didn't seem to match the washers... 3 differt types of washers ... so i think i will manage just with sink washing. There is a chothesline cord in the shower.

Time to prepare for our walk in hammerfest. Ask your questions and i will ckeck back in later. So good to have the internet.

The reindeer dinner was quite excellent last night. Poached salmon tonight. M--

Our room is simple but comfortable. The temperature control seems to work quite well. There is a switch to run the bathroom floor heater but we keep it off preferring not to overheat the room. We have 2 beds perpendicular to each other; the bed under the Window folds into a sofa, the other bed fold up against the wall to give more floor space but even with the beds open there is plenty of space. We have a lighted mirror desk with chair and a small table. The beds each have shelves for night items and reading lights. The rooms have good lighting.

Our biggest issue has been noise at the ports. We are on deck 4 and it is probably quieter on higher decks. I use ear plugs and they have helped but mostlh i think i have needed to get used to the strange noises... last night was my best night's sleep yet!

We had a fairly spectacular display of northern lights 2 nights ago! It is too difficult to describe how it feels to stand under them with their light forming a dome around one. Photography may bring out their deeper hues but the flat pictures do not compare with the experience!

We are pulling into Vardo at 3.45pm and it is pitch dark.

Dinner tonight will be Sami reindeer! Last night was excellent beef sirloin, our second beef meal... earlierwas a braised beef meal,quite tasty. We have had lamb, char which was similar to salmon to us, excellent halibut cooked perfectly and first night was buffet. I am not losing any weight on this voyage!!

Internet has been great, let me know any questions and i will gladly tr y to provide. I must admit that internet helps not be wanting for personal entertainment. I did find an interesting book in the library but there is not a lot to choose from in English. I may have to fall back on the few i have on my mini tablet. m--

Just to share a few random thoughts from midpoint on our 11 night voyage. ..

midnarsol is quite a lovely ship with many lounges and comfortable places to sit.

We just left Kirkenes this afternoon and now at 2:30pm itis too dark to read my book in the Panorama lounge... we went back to standard time last night so we were expecting early sunset but with heavy overcast it is dark very early.

We had much rain the first few days and needed our rain jackets.. skipped a trek into Tromdhiem dou to heavy rain and hope to get out there on the southbound, albeit breakfast time.

We purchased 3 excursions after we boarded while we waited for rooms to be ready, which happened about 5:30PM. We enjoyed the fjord excursion of day 2, very pleasant and scenic. Our next excursion was yesterday, day 6, to north cape. I'm glad we did it although the wind was fairly brutal and the walking on ice and packed snow required much care. If i were planning for winter conditions i would want slip-on-your-boot type ice cleats, such as Yax. The 3 days previous to our arrival for north cape the tour was canceled due to unsafe conditions, so wd were fortunate. The stop includes a good film and small museum of excellent dioramas. In winter they send a plow out daily to help keep the road open.

our next excursion will be late tomorrow night, the midnight concert in Tromso.

On board we have had 3 presentations of locals: a duo from the Grieg school in Bergen; a duo of muscic and dance and a Sami singer this morning. All were quite enjoyable.

Our meals have been good to excellent for us. Breakfast is buffet and open seating. Choices may be somewhat unusual for us but we find plenty to eat... cereals, fruits, yogurts, vegetables, breads, meats, cheeses, fish, hard and soft boiled eggs, maybe trays of fried or scrambled, maybe not.

Lunch is also buffet, open seating. Times fluctuate according to the needs of the excursion schedule, so some lunches were exceptionally early. Soup is part of lunch, several hot dishes, many trays of cold meats, luscious cheeses, always fish, always a vegetarian dish and many salads. Desserts include puddings, cakes with pitchers of sauces and ice cream. Lunch is the meal with the most selection.

Dinner is at 7, assigned table and set menu. The menu is out at lunch time on the tables. So far we have enjoyed all the dinners as presented and have not asked for an alternative meal-- which must be done at lunchtime.

So to spread the word... water at dinner in the dining room is, as previously reported, 25nok per 0.5 liter bottle, about 4 bucks US. There is a plan at 495nok that gives one bottle for each lunch and each dinner, 11 night cruise. So that's a bit of a discount, maybe 10%. But at breakfast one can get coffee, juice, water from the juice machine, tea water or water for instant decaf. Similarly at lunch but no juice machine, so only hot water and coffee, tea, instant decaf.

The coffee deal does not include bottled water, nor hot chocolate, and decaf is instant only; tea is included.

Wine varies but can be had for 70-100nok per glass, so $10US and up. Many people can be seen with their tiny coffee deal mugs, like a demitasse. But with free coffee/tea available breakfast hours, lunch hours, and upstairs after dinner I was not inclined to spend the extra $55 to have it 24/7. One can enter the dining room anytime during serving hours, even just for a coffee, assuming you are on the full board plan.

m--

Yes, after a brief interlude not blogging (I was rear-ended by a driver who thought there was no stop sign and used my vehicle to slow him down), I've added several new posts in the past couple of days.

 

These cover the various dining venues on the Viking Atla, along with lots of "real world" photos of meals, The Restaurant, the Aquavit Terrace and PDFs of the dinner menus in The Restaurant for most of the Amsterdam>Budapest itinerary we enjoyed.

 

Tonight's post is about the possibilities of exercising while cruising--and perhaps how to avoid (ha!) gaining too much weight while cruising...

Loved following you and your mom, every day, every word. Thanks so very much for your great gift of sharing your cruise, before during and after.

We are leaving tomorrow to begin our two month trek from New Mexico to NY, RI then Iceland, Norway- Hurtigruten coastal cruise, Amstedam where we pick up Viking Embla to Budapest, then to Rome and HAL Maasdam back to FL, then home for us! It's a lot to prepare for but you helped a lot.

Sincerely hope you are on track to full recovery. I feel like we are family now and will be so much more so after we experience the Grand European tour ourselves. Blessings, m--

Thank you RMLincoln. Those are a a lot of allergies your grand daughter has to deal with. NIce to hear that they did such a great job.

 

Based on the responses here, we are holding a cabin on a holiday sailing of the Eurodam. Will give my PCC a call tomorrow. If all goes well with that cruise, we plan on doing a special family cruise next year on the Veendam - one that may wife and I have wanted to do ever since we have been married.

 

Thanks all.

Our cruise was on Volendam to Alaska. Note that they did not provide special foods for her; she had to pick from what was available. They offered gluten free pasta and bread but those are not safe for her due to the eggs, dairy and or legume flours. The Lido chef was always available (whenever the Lido is open) and we'd ask for him, out he'd come to answer any questions.

The grill cook (out by the pool) would go the kitchen and get a clean pan to cook her turkey burgers. I think they did well by providing us the information we needed to make our decisions. Better that way, I think, than relying on them to do what she needed, which was pretty complex. Our GD was mentally prepared to survive on "rice krispies" all week if she had to, but of course that wasn't necessary. She loved having different poultry, pheasant, duck, quail! She was 16 at the time and did a great job, making HAL's job easier.

I wish you well, and as you know, your mileage may vary. I'd think that if the allergies are limited to peanuts and tree nuts you should be able to do fine and have a grand vacation! m--

Had our grand-daughter on HAL with complex food issues including lethal peanut allergies. Also allergic/sensitive (meaning cannot eat) red meat, fish, legumes, eggs, dairy, soy, some fruits and vegetables, tree nuts. She found plenty to eat. The Lido Chef was our new best friend. He told us they did not use any peanut oil, so she could eat French fries and loved them.

She knew her issues very well and I helped navigate the system. We had OPEN dining and not an issue. We went to the MDR for every dinner but we showed up soon after opening so the staff was not overwhelmed. We did room service for a few breakfasts and it all worked, mostly because our GG knew what to order.

We requested a refrigerator in the room ($2/day) and had some of her special foods, rice milk etc. We had safe "butter" for her potatoes and her safe salad dressing. We took these to the MDR in a tote bag.

She selected dinner the night before, they would take her menu copy from her either in after dinner ro the next day, we would turn it in whenever it was convenient for us. She would circle her selections, poultry was safe, and wrote notes of "no sauce, no gravy, no stuffing etc. in the margin. It all worked quite smoothly. But they did not prepare special dishes, we had to choose from what was available and there was plenty to choose from She had a fabulous time. Wishing you the best.

m--

In addition to the many prizes already listed I got a set of golf balls once, with the HAL logo of course! Gave them away on the ship. My most useful prize has been a fold-up nylon tote bag in a snap-pouch that's about2.5 x 4". It comes with me a lot of places now, fit's in my pocket. Dam $s would be nice again, I have enough pins and have given most of them away.

Still fun though if you have the right mix of folks. I've made some lifelong friends from trivia and we've visited each other in our home countries, nice! If it's not fun, find another team that is! Life's too short to sweat the small stuff. And how much smaller can you get than trivia.... :) m--

If you choose to stuff the laundry bag for the per-bag rate, one proven method is to lay the bag flat on the bed then roll the clothes tightly and stuff them in horizontally. Helps keep the bag from breaking. Some have used duct tape to keep the stuffed bag closed but I've never tried that although it may be a good idea to keep for having things fall out and possibly getting lost. m--

We use Sea Bands and have found them very useful... BUT you have to put them in the correct location for the underside "button" to press on the acupressure point.

As an EMT we are allowed to use the acupressure point for any nausea and it is amazing how effective this is.

No drug interaction nor contraindications for existing conditions. There are several types and brand, some are adjustable and I would recommend those for larger people as the Sea Bands brand is not adjustable and may feel tight on some people. m--

We tried Caneletto once when it was not extra charge and I assume the old menu. The server knew nothing. The antipasto served around a table of 6 was laborious as each guest had to point to what they wished from a large platter held by the server. No info on what meats or cheeses etc. Each olive was delivered separately... it went on forever. I don't know if they have a diferent way of doing it now but that was poor IMO.

The lasagna was "mushy" according to my husband... I think he expected it to be more al dente and the layers better defined, but to me lasagna is lasagna. I think I had the veal or chicken piccata which was ok. I tried gelato for dessert but it was the same ice cream as in the Lido... I should have had the lemoncello custard-like dessert which others said was quite good.

The venue was fine, you don't realize you are in the Lido but I would have preferred the MDR for dinner and have not gone back again. I will check out the new menu and see if anything looks appealing. m--

SarniaLo, So happy that you reported in from Loften. Northern Lights two nights in a row, Excellent! Sounds like you are having a fun holiday.

And because you didn't mention the train I assume it was all good for you once again. We have our seats reserved in Komfort car. We had some difficulty with that, they double billed us but they refunded us and gave us new codes after I wrote to them so it seems all good now.

Thanks for the info on purchasing a bottle of water at dinner on Loften. We will probably do that also.

Enjoy all your trip and I will check here daily until we leave home the 10th and as I can along the way. We board Midnatsol 20 Oct... coming fast!

Maureen

One of the things I love about cruising is that the service is with a smile, not a hand waiting for a tip. All the servers share in the tips. Usually the servers in the MDR for breakfast and lunch are rotated to other positions including lido and other meals. They are all in the tip pool sharing in the Hotel Service Charge which can be adjusted up or down from the standard according to your desires. If guests want to tip extra per meal per server I think that would be unusual but I'm certainly not aware of everything that other people do.

If we want to tip extra we usually do it at the end of the cruise. Of course, others may do differently, I can only tell you what we do. m--

Glad you are riding the rough seas well. Loving your story as I begin packing for our trip in the opposite direction. Blessings, m--

My memory is that they had several types of non-dairy milks and I remember being impressed with that... but I'm sorry that I can't specifically say if they had Almond milk. Definitely had soy milk as I got it often. You can request through Ship Services to have Almond Milk or you might consider bringing your own.(not sure how long your cruise will be....). Hopefully other's can help more. m--

Someone told me a trick to work around that problem: bounce the remote signal off the ceiling. It works! :D

Aim for an area close to the TV, on the ceiling. Sometimes you have to work at it a bit to find the sweet spot.

Great suggestion! I will be able to try it on Maasdam in November.

As HAL moves their S class ships out of their fleet we will likely get to cruise on their Signature ships eventually, which I'm looking forward to! If they have couches in the outside rooms we will enjoy those :) I've only been on one Vista class ship, O'dam, and was very cramped in the inside (glad it was only a week) but apparently there are other insides with loveseats and I will pay more for more comforts next time. 3 Stars and still much to learn and more to cruise! m--

Having just been on the Westerdam after a few years of not cruising HAL, I have a pretty good insight.

.........

Better however is the stateroom quality. Beds are very comfortable and on the newer ships, everyone has a full tub and shower combo. Have you ever tried to fit into those little Celebrity showers? Flat screen TVs as well as DVD players are newer than 10 years ago.

 

We usually cruise in inside or outside rooms, rarely a balcony. The newer ships don't have couches in the insides and I miss that.

The DVD players are a nice addition and I've used them a couple of times but without a couch it's awkward to watch a movie.

I deal with the duvet by requesting a sheet under it, more work for the cabin steward, unfortunately.

The flat screen TVs that were put on the shelf designed for the old style CRT TVs are difficult to control unless you can get the remote high enough to beam over the shelf... a nuisance to me but a generation of ships will cure that.

I haven't had the opportunity to cruise on Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam but hope to even without a couch.

We will likely still cruise in the less expensive rooms so that we can cruise more and we enjoy what is available although we dearly miss the string quartets, as they were a heavy drawing card for us to return to cruising after our first cruise, and that was on Carnival no less!

All in all, I maintain that, "It's hard to have a bad day on a cruise ship!"

m--

Thank you Bhl... If I recall correctly your trip is sometime after ours. I'll try to get something posted as possible, maybe from our time on the river cruise following the Norway cruise. It's our first time for that too... maybe our last with their seemingly very high rates (and I thought Hurtigruten was high....) But we're going to do it while we can :) :)

I hope you and your friend make your connections to meet up easily and enjoy it all! We'll find each other on the boards eventually and compare notes. m--

Pack for 10 days. Wash, rinse, repeat. :)

Seriously, we pack for about 10 days no matter how long our trip is but a lot depends on your style, if you are flying, taking tuxes and gowns etc. We bring light (meaning not too bulky) layers for cool times. It will be chilly crossing the Atlantic in December. Bring a rain jacket, a small umbrella, foot-wear that can get wet (last time toured Pompeii in hard rain and rain puddles) and go light on the tank-tops and shorts. For the ship pool and hot tubs and Half Moon Cay you'll want a swim suit and flip flops plus a cover shirt... no need for more beachwear than that.

We will be joining the ship in Rome having come through Iceland, an 11 day Norway costal cruise, a 14 day river cruise across Europe (these will all be chilly to cold) and then enjoy the warmth of the Med... so lots of climates.

See you aboard in Nov. Have a great cruise. m--

Thank you again Sarnia for your info, grim as it seems :(

Have yourself an inspiring voyage on Loften! We may be on our way by the time you get back (going to Iceland for a few days on the way, a night in Oslo too before the train to Bergen) but I will check in CC by wifi from time to time to look for your new information. Merci, merci et tres bon voyage pour vous. Maureen

I'm reading some recent Hurtigruten CC member reviews that talk about how strictly enforced the dining room/ restaurant guards are getting about bringing in a water bottle to dinner from your room. One review said that the greeters/hand sanitizer squirters were confiscating water bottles if they were other than those purchased on board. But folks seemed to be able to take in ship-purchased bottles that they had refilled themselves. Or I think I"ve heard one can purchase a caraf of water with one's meal... maybe that's cheaper.

A lot of bother to save (or make) a few Krones.... or is it a few? SO, how much are they charging for water in the dining room? Bottles? Carafs? For bottled water on the ship outside the dining room?

We'll be on board for 11 days... 2 people, lunch and dinner each day... (I understand one can at least get "free" tea at breakfast so I'm not counting those meals) so that's 44 bottles of water if we each buy one at each lunch and dinner. Is it $3 each, that's be $132; if it's $5 each that's $220. That's a nice shore excursion!

Is it cheaper to purchase a carafe of water for us to share and would they refill it?

OIY! I guess it's part of the price of travel but it seems absurd if one has gone the expensive fare for "full board". I'll put it in the same column as paying for toilets.... but I won't like it. :mad:

m--

Because DH is in a wheelchair and it takes time to get to our muster station, we always go 10 minutes early and wait.

With the new system, will we be able to do that?

 

I wish HAL would let pax in wheelchairs have a separate muster drill inside somewhere. One ship did that for the HC pax a few years ago, and it was so much easier.

Getting through the doors with the high thresholds is very tough for some people in chairs. Because we wait for the crowds to disperse, we can never find crew members to assist DH in getting back inside.

Oh my! I hope you could manage alone between the two of you in an emergency.

We took a grand daughter with a list of food issues longer than what she CAN eat... and we had Open Dining... it worked great. Her pre-selected dinners found her very easily.

They really didn't prepare anything special for her, she just had to find what was safe for her and order it without sauce, gravy, stuffing, etc.

The grill would make her lunch in a fresh pan to avoid contamination.

Just to show just you how complex it was: no meat other than poultry; no fish, eggs, dairy, wheat, legumes, tropical fruits, no soy and absolutely no peanuts or peanut oils or derivatives.

Open dining went fine. Room service went fine. Lido chef helped answer all our questions and was always available to help us.

Have a great cruise and Bon Appetite! m--

PS We did order a refrigerator for the room ($2/day) and brought some of her special foods - she took what she needed to dinner in a tote bag.

Glad to hear those high winds calmed down. Thanks for bringing us along. m--

In my experience HAL rooms have been better for us than rooms on our Princess cruises. Princess doesn't have a couch in a room until you get to a mini-suite.

But I like Princess's loyalty program benefits better than HAL's, especially the free internet minutes. m--