Bimmer09

On 3/18/2024 at 4:24 PM, Bimmer09 said:

April rain in AK was a record 3.4 inches in 2017. In 2023 it was 2.0.

As I have a vested interest I will check the rain this April in Ketchikan and also Prince Rupert, rainiest place in BC.

It's always worth taking an umbrella of course-including in the toasty Caribbean.

I can easily cancel as it's 2 years away if it seems there's a high chance of rain as you feel.

I'll post the rain results on this thread between April 19 and 26.

Norris

Here is my weather record covering the cruise dates if they were occurring this year. I don't sail until 2026 so will record the same next year. I highlighted the ports on the days they will be visited. Dry =no rain. Rain=for some or all of the time we are docked.

The passage dmwnc1959 outlined has many expansive sections as I have found out by watching some YouTube videos this past week.  

For example

Norris

My introduction to cruising was flying from London to Miami to replace another drummer in one of the bands on Song of Norway in summer 1985. I returned for 32 more weeks in March 1986 when Labadee was added to the Western Caribbean run of Ocho Rios, George Town and Cozumel. SON was a boatload of fun. I used to play until 3 a.m in the Land of the Midnight Sun disco!

(posing on NCL Starward)

After working for RCCL I came ashore and married my American sweetheart. We did  Carnival cruises in 1990 and 91. One was on the Celebration (?) from San Juan to ABC islands and Venezuela. I was a child of the midnight buffet....

I only snapped one HAL ship back then...

Nieuw Amsterdam 1986

My favorite eye-candy SS Norway

Norris

57 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 We would recommend a couple of days before and after in Seattle unless you plan on doing a B2B with the 27 day South Pacific cruise on your ship .

 

Thanks Joe. We've visited Seattle twice before , each time for a week of attending the Opera there.

I've always had a rental car so we could visit Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier and Dungeness. Snowsqualmie Falls too. We'll just do a day or two either side of the cruise, I imagine without a car. The last time we were there was 2001 and the environs  were taking a downturn due to people sleeping rough. We always stay at the Inn at the Market hotel by Pike's Place Market.It has  a great deck with fire pits overlooking Puget Sound. Good eats nearby.

Chihuly gardens is a must. We always stay at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and Chihuly is part of the draw there .

We've done 3 Alaska cruises so far. One from Whittier to Vancouver and two from Vancouver to Whittier. We've never been tempted by a Seattle round-trip.We'll look forward to Ketchikan again in 2026 on Noordam and we'll do a cruisetour some year that will hit Skagway and Juneau too.

We've landed on a glacier in a helicopter, flown over Misty Fjords in a float plane, sailed Misty F in a fast boat, seen bears up close in Ketchikan, seen eagles from the Chilcoot river near Haines, enjoyed whale watching with Harv N Marv twice, sled dogged in Juneau, done the White Pass railroad in the luxury car  and regular cars. We've been to Butchart Gardens near Victoria. Alaska is our jam. I learned to ski on Grouse Mountain in Vancouver and spent a day on Whistler Mountain I'll never forget. I'm very British Columbia friendly and have friends there.

We are never tempted by Hawaii or the South Pacific-we're not beach lovers really. I would dream of Norway before I'd dream of Bora Bora.

We will next cruise the Caribbean-this Christmas on the Rotterdam which is our HAL tester. It will be much warmer than Chicago and the cruise will be as much about the ship as the islands.I have a good feeling about the prospect.

Thanks for the helpful links.

Norris

17 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

Any thoughts on what the cruise immediately following this one from Vancouver will be? Would love to do this as a B2B with another Alaska cruise. 

April 2026 Alaska cruises aren't listed yet on either HAL or Princess sites. B2B =great idea.

Norris

6 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

Hi, Norris,

We spent a week in Amsterdam in October 2023. If you need a hotel, dining or sightseeing tips, let me know.

Jim

Thanks Jim.

We were in Amsterdam early June 2023 to join the Celebrity Apex to Iceland. We had 4 great days of being tourists and dining around the clock. went to the Opera, Rijksmuseum, Rembrandt Square, Flower Market etc.

We stayed in the Centrum district on a canal. In a Radisson.

We'll do 4 more days split around our NS sailing June 15 2025. We've already picked out a different hotel which overlooks our favorite eatery seen above (called De Jaren cafe). It's next to Hotel de L'Europe which you must have seen on your visit.

Thanks for the consideration!

Norris

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

  . One was on the water where the fishing boats come in named Zeerover . No menu , fresh off the boats tell them what you want and how to cook it . One we picked was Kammi's Kitchen . She had never eaten there but they had curried Goat for Pat and curried Conch for me and homemade coconut ice cream . Tell us if you want Esther's contact info .

Thanks Joe but I'll give Esther the day off. I'm aware of Zeerover but it's not our cup of tea. We'll take our customary walk to West Deck for lunch and enjoy the view and atmosphere.

Norris

5 hours ago, Khlela said:

I honestly think there will be a high chance of rain in April as well as October. HAL didn't even used to sail to Alaska then. I remember when I first went back in 2009 the earliest sailing was in May and the latest in September. In 2017 we went in April, it was the first time they had a sailing so early. The weather was TERRIBLE! We couldn't enjoy the balcony. Sitka was cancelled and we had to take the inside passage back.
 

April rain in AK was a record 3.4 inches in 2017. In 2023 it was 2.0.

As I have a vested interest I will check the rain this April in Ketchikan and also Prince Rupert, rainiest place in BC.

It's always worth taking an umbrella of course-including in the toasty Caribbean.

I can easily cancel as it's 2 years away if it seems there's a high chance of rain as you feel.

I'll post the rain results on this thread between April 19 and 26.

Norris

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 There were several reasons for the purchase , 4 K is one but my pocket Sony has 4 K and a quieter zoom . The old 6 D is heavy and 9 years old + the mode dial cover and eye piece kept falling off . The mode dial piece I crazy glued but it got stuck in the auto function .

 The D 90 is lighter , touch screen , 32 .5 mp , shoots sports @ 10 fps , 45 point auto focus and has a joy stick and a better sensor .

 I know that you have seen our Nieuw Statendam review but you may want to review it again . We really liked the spa and had a Vista suite on that one too .

 

 

 

 Where and when is the Artic cruise to ? Our next HAL is a family cruise on Thanksgiving this year on the NA .

Yes I see I have read that NS review. What a bout your AFT Vista on the previous NS? Do you have a link to that one?

Understood re the 6D MK1 issues. My 6D MKII is still in tip top shape after 7 years of heavy use.

I bought a separate camcorder SONY 53 for our Panama Canal cruise.

Norris

2 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 There were several reasons for the purchase , 4 K is one but my pocket Sony has 4 K and a quieter zoom . The old 6 D is heavy and 9 years old + the mode dial cover and eye piece kept falling off . The mode dial piece I crazy glued but it got stuck in the auto function .

 The D 90 is lighter , touch screen , 32 .5 mp , shoots sports @ 10 fps , 45 point auto focus and has a joy stick and a better sensor .

 I know that you have seen our Nieuw Statendam review but you may want to review it again . We really liked the spa and had a Vista suite on that one too .

 

 

 

 Where and when is the Artic cruise to ? Our next HAL is a family cruise on Thanksgiving this year on the NA .

Joe, Arctic on the NS (deck 7 aft Vista) is June 15, 2025 from Rotterdam (14 day sail). We have Club Orange for that one and will get to spend 4 days in Amsterdam.

Norris

On 1/1/2023 at 9:28 AM, scubacruiserx2 said:

We feel like  the best way to get to know our guides better is having a meal together . We don't think that Esther had been to West Deck so we asked her to make reservations . We wanted to try a number of local dishes so we ordered and ate family style .

 

 

 

 

And with the orders in there was time to take a couple pics

 

 

 

 

LOL Joe- we eat at West Deck when in Aruba. Next visit December 25 2024 on Rotterdam!

Norris

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 No worries . 9 of our past cruises have been HAL and 1 Princess and 1 NCL all suites except the Neiuw Statendam . So if you have any HAL questions , fire away . PS got a new Canon to learn the D 90 . Good call on the aft corner suites , our favorite was on the Zuiderdam a sister to the Noordam . The largest covered balcony .

 

 

 

Joe, I see that I already followed the Nieuw Amsterdam. I'm reading it again. I see they moved you from the deck 5 Neptune to 7132 on your second week. I booked the equivalent on Noordam which is 7142 and on this December's Rotterdam have 7130 Aft Wrap Neptune. The only non-Neptune I've booked is the Arctic Nieuw Statendam as we have a Vista instead- didn't think we'd spend much balcony time there.

Rudi Sodamin has been moved to Princess to help rescue their food-that's the reason we didn't book another Princess cruise after our past 2 Christmas sailings. 

It was the food vlogging videos that got me interested in trying HAL Pinnacle Class.

Did you buy the Canon D90 for the 4K video?

Norris

26 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Joe (and Pam) thanks for the video links!

Looks like i'm going to be busy reading  today!

 

Cheers,

Norris

Oops- Joe and Pat!!

Norris

Joe (and Pam) thanks for the video links!

Looks like i'm going to be busy reading  today!

Cheers,

Norris

49 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

I don’t want to throw a wet towel on anyone’s excitement as I don’t know what HAL is planning in the way of excursions but we are on the 36 day transpacific previous to the April 2026 sailing.  Let’s put it this way…you’d have to pay me to stay on for the next seven days.  

We're all different. We couldn't do 36 days on any ship going anywhere-because we have cats at home and to date our longest trip has been 16 days. If no cats then we could be more flexible- but one of us has a company to run.

We canceled 14 days on the Nieuw Statendam going to Turkey, Egypt and Greece, September  this year because we were excited to have a musical reason to go to Europe 6 weeks before that cruise and once to Europe is enough per year. Airfares are brutal. The Great Bear cruise couldn't hold a candle to that nor to our Iceland cruise or our Cuba cruise, nor any of our Med cruises . However it doesn't need us to fly to Europe. It gets us cruising in April which is a first, it gets us back to Seattle where we used to fly to the Opera and drive up Mt St. Helens and Rainier. It gets us on another HAL ship but only if we enjoy the first one this Christmas (Rotterdam.) We like Victoria for the gardens, enjoyed Ketchikan for Misty Fjords and the bears/eagles. We've liked the Inside Passage scenery from Ketchikan to Vancouver. We also have two friends we seldom see in B.C. who might come to Nanaimo or Victoria to see us.

My partner runs a company that writes financial reports on many businesses and Carnival is one such and it was she who found out about this new itinerary in a press release. My mail found out from HAL a couple of days after I had booked our sailing at her urging

. 

The weather won't factor much for us. We've done Norway, Iceland and have Nieuw Statendam to the Arctic Circle in June 2025.

Where do your 36 days begin and on which ship? I've enjoyed reading your reviews.

Norris

7 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

Does anyone think it could be raining every day of this cruise? I was thinking of booking the trip for April 2026 but I want some sun!

I Googled a couple of ports for average rainfall...

Victoria 3 inches of rain in April, 8 inches October

Prince Rupert 8 inches in April, 16 inches October (wettest town in Canada)

I've done 3 Alaskan cruises. The first from Anchorage to Vancouver had 5 days of rain and fog then 2 days (Ketchikan to Vancouver 70F zero rain) That was mid August 2011.

Following year same time 7 days of sunshine/cloudy no rain Vancouver to Anchorage.

It's a different itinerary with only 2 sailings and weather isn't guaranteed.

I'm looking forward to it!

Norris

1 hour ago, JDinWA said:

I hadn't heard about this new cruise but it's great to see a new offering, especially one to an area I'm unfamiliar with. It's nice to get a full day in Victoria instead of the usual few evening hours. We've booked the Oct 2025 sailing, thanks for getting the word out!

I'm glad others are interested in this itinerary. Ten hours in Victoria give us ample time to reacquaint ourselves with Butchart Gardens. We took a very expensive seaplane flight there after of our Anchorage to Vancouver Princess cruise in 2011. Got a taxi in Victoria and had him wait for a couple of hours at the gardens. Despite the cost it proved worth the spend in terms of life experiences. No seaplane this time.

Carol has since grown her own garden and is a learned green-thumber. Her garden now is flower pots high above the streets of Chicago. We will walk through Butchart on air...

New Canadian ports are welcome. Off the beaten track.

It's odd to have 3 HAL cruises booked. Usually we try one cruise with a new to us line before booking another. The itineraries have made us commit, backed up with reviews and YouTube videos from HAL ships, principally Pinnacle class.

Only the night-time entertainment looks like a big step-down from Princess and Celebrity. Still it's 9 months until our first sail and maybe HAL can replace Lincoln Center and whatever other room it is currently dialing back. We will likely linger over dinners. A bonus on our Noordam sailing is breakfast in Pinnacle Grill which is a beautiful room. We have Club Orange on our Pinnacle class sailings.

I'll be watching the board in October 2025!

Cheers!

Norris

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

Doesn’t the cruise leave from Seattle?  How is Ketchikan the foreign port? 

LOL! Good catch. 

Norris

7 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

I’m happy to see HAL coming up with some unique itineraries for the Pacific Northwest!  If I lived in Seattle I’d be booking this, too.  We sailed the southern part of this itinerary on a Canadian Ferry, from Prince Rupert to Nanaimo.  Loved sailing past Bella Bella and between the scenic islands in the inside passage.  Your cruise will be much more leisurely.  Twice we have looked for bears in the Great Bear Rainforest, once we were successful.  Enjoy the journey!

Thanks for the good wishes! 

I imagine Ketchikan is a requirement (foreign port) but although we have been there 3 times prior we are happy to visit again. It's a picturesque little town and I'm always armed to the teeth with cameras.

I saw some bears on one of our visits there...we visited the rainforest and I had my camcorder with me. I took 3 videos with bears.

I can never remember- did the guide say we should "keep quiet and don't move" or was it "run at them while shouting!" I guess I'll find out April 2026.

Haven't been in Ketchikan since 2016. We were on the Star Princess.

Norris

38 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

You will love HAL, I think.

 

Jim 

Jim, I imagine we will. We will get to find out on our Christmas cruise this year on the Rotterdam. If we like that we'll continue with our Arctic and Scotland cruise June 2025 on Nieuw Statendam.  Christmas 2025 finds us at the Panama Canal via Celebrity Ascent. After that we'll be on Noordam as described.

The good word of mouth via YouTube and this board on the HAL food and amenities impressed me to make the case for trying HAL to She Who Matters. I was right about Princess in 2011. Right about Celebrity in 2016. Right about Azamara in 2019. We have 20 happy cruises under our belts. So I'm feeling lucky!

Thanks for your endorsement Jim!

I was surprised to be the first to mention this new cruise itinerary. Happy to get my pick of Neptunes though. There are apparently only 2 sailings scheduled.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/find-a-cruise/l6p07a/n621

That's our itinerary....

Norris

I got an email this morning offering up some new Pacific Coast/Mexico HAL cruises and was instructed to book one pronto. Neither DeckChairQueen nor I have sailed HAL before and yet now I find we have 3 bookings. The cruises show on the HAL website so I didn't bother getting in touch with our PCC. Snagged an aft-wrap Neptune with HIA and booked online.

Ketchikan and Victoria are the only ports we are familiar with from our Princess sailings.

Anyone else get the email and book? We are on the 7 day Noordam April 19 2026. She also has a sailing in October 2025.

Norris

6 minutes ago, MaryBethV said:

Those cruises sound amazing! Enjoy that wrap-around Neptune Suite!

We have taken Christmas cruises each of the past 2 years (photo reviews in my signature). We had booked a 14 day Nieuw Statendam Med cruise (Turkey, Egypt, Greece) for Sept 21 this year but meantime were offered tickets to our favorite opera festival in Bayreuth, Germany in August  which takes precedence over everything. I had to cancel NS and decided to extend our run of Santa Cruises. Rotterdam fit the bill. 2025 Christmas is Panama Canal on Celebrity Ascent.

Carol (DeckChairQueen) is usually a Princess Sanctuary dweller but the Aft Neptune balcony has one advantage over that...no wind back there. We always book aft cabins/suites.

The Arctic cruise on NS gets us back to Amsterdam (sail from Rotterdam) and gets us to some less-visited Norwegian and Scottish ports. Photo opportunities all the way! ( I carry 19 pounds of camera gear and feel I have to use it.)

Our first trip of 2024 though is a road trip up to Mission Peninsula at Traverse City.Wine Country. It's a 350 mile scenic drive from Chicago through Michigan where for 16 years we used to have a second home. We drive up Lake Michigan then head East at Sleeping Bear Dunes. We've been making the same trip for years.

We of course load up on fudge in Sutton's Bay which I've seen reference to in your review.

DeckChairQueen planning the fudge flavors she will get

Norris

On 3/11/2024 at 8:47 PM, MaryBethV said:

What a perfect way to end our last night of this lovely cruise.

Thank you if you have followed along this far! Next up: Disembarkation & some final thoughts.

Yes that amazing dinner in Pinnacle Grill was  a perfect ending! Great photos of what looks like delicious food.

I've enjoyed following along as Rotterdam will be my first HAL ship. I usually sail Princess, Celebrity and Azamara. Myself and DeckChairQueen are sailing the 9 day Christmas Cruise to Aruba etc December 20 this year in an aft wrap-around Neptune suite. If we like it as much as I think we will

we'll keep our Nieuw Statendam 14 day Arctic mid June 2025 booking. If it's awful then we can cancel and try elsewhere. I already have my thermal undies and Icelandic sweater ready for the NS so you can see which way I'm leaning!

Norris

We took a Princess cruise in December and I took some pictures of the handsome HAL ships....

 (for better definition click on the pic to see the Flickr source)

Dec 19 Zaandam

Dec 20 Eurodam 5.30 a.m

Dec 20 3.30 pm Eurodam

Dec 30 5.30 a.m Nieuw Amsterdam

Dec 30 Nieuw Amsterdam 3.30 pm ish

We have never sailed HAL but have our first-Rotterdam Christmas cruise December 20-29 this year followed by Nieuw Statendam June 2025 Arctic Circle/Scotland.

Much anticipating!

Norris

1 hour ago, Trish Traveler said:

I should be doing a cruise review after the cruise, as usual. I don't ever report live from the ship.  Hope you're feeling better soon.  

Trish I will look forward to your review.

I'm not one for writing "live" reviews.

I like to enjoy the cruise, and focus on doing so when I am onboard.  I can talk about it later which is always within a couple of days after I get off.

The photos I take are mainly on a DSLR camera and I shoot in RAW which are big unedited files 30mb and above so they need work that cameras otherwise take care of when shooting JPEG (3 mb) so part of my day is spent relaxing while I work on my photos.  That allows me to start each review with an Itinerary of photos which a live can't do. 

I avoid having to go to see if Ernesto is still serving in Vines or if Luigi is going to still be the Maitre 'd in 3 weeks on someone else's behalf. What does it matter? You'll find out when you are on the ship yourself.

Carol is fully recovered. According to her searching the Mayo Clinic website I have Long Covid so am still not feeling well. Life goes on.

Thanks for your good wishes!

Norris