QuattroRomeo

Forgot to mention that the tour company was with Frontier Excursions & Adventures in Skagway. According to our guide, the owner is quite an accomplished rafter, doing Level 5 rapids. Connor went with him on a level 5, first time he ever went over level 4, and couldn't believe how difficult it was! I know zippo about rafting rapids , but it was a good story... At any rate they do have a more subdued rafting tour as well if anyone is interested in that and their schedule works out.

When we got back to Skagway everyone got off in town rather than at the port, to wander around a bit. Bought a few trinkets. We went into a small convenience / grocery store and looked at the prices out of curiosity. It is expensive to live in the north! I recall a pack of 3 bell peppers for $9.. The owner was a bit of a redneck; DH asked jokingly if they took Canadian dollars, and he barks back "i don't want your damn Canadian money". Alrighty then...

We caught a blue shuttle bus back to the port ($5 Cdn, $3 US. Less for a round trip. I think it was cash only). 

I do have some photos of the scenic drive; once I figure out how to upload them from my regular camera and not just the tablet I will add a few!

Skagway continued.

At the  Caribou Crossing lunch stop, we of course had to have a look at the sled dogs and puppies. The poor pups must have been tuckered from the heat, snoozing splat on the ground. Who doesn't like a puppy picture? The adult dogs were barking away and there was cool water dripping on them from above:

1 hour ago, IPB4IGO said:

Was there an espresso bar in the Explorers Lounge?

 

We sailed the Noordam from Vancouver to Whittier then, a week later, the Nieuw Amsterdam for the return trip. The Noordam had a nice quiet espresso bar in the Explorers Lounge but the only espresso on the Nieuw Amsterdam was in the Exploration Cafe up in the Crow's Nests.

The specialty coffees were indeed in the Crow's Nest Exploration Cafe, Fwd deck 12, but also at the Grand Dutch Cafe, midship deck 3. Probably not as quiet a spot as you would like, but there is a seating area behind the cafe that is sort of sectioned off and faces the Promenade deck.

3 minutes ago, gwenmarie said:

So did it appear the balconies were larger than yours in the same category?

Yes, they are deeper. You can see it on the deck plan for 4043 & 4044.

Just now, gwenmarie said:

We were on this ship in Mexico last October in an aft balcony cabin. We prefer these as the Lani is usually larger. Not so on this ship but we found out from another passenger they had a huge deck on the 4th deck down from us. Go figure , if your balcony was larger could you tell me room number area or category you booked?

We were in 4043, which is literally around the corner from the Forward elevators/stairs. Wasn't noisy. Deck 4 Aft rooms were blocked off in both hallways as quarantine cabins, so I don't think aft balconies would be an option on deck 4, but of course there are other decks. Our room is the last one in the indented section of the ship and the next cabin forward from us was on the jutted out part. So our balcony was sort of triangular between the 2 beside us.

Skagway

Another beautiful warrm day! We booked a private tour - 6.5 hour Yukon Discovery. The tour company sign was easy to spot at the dock. We had a small group of 10; ( again, unmasked except for us). We were the only HAL passengers; the others were from Princess. The owner came by the van to thank us for supporting them; it had been a rough couple of years. Connor was our driver/guide. He was very personable and provided lots of commentary, with frequent photo stops. He had been with the company for 8 summers, and does winter tours in Colorado. He did a bit of a tour around Skagway, and then gave us a bio-break before heading out. The drive would take 1.5 hrs and there would only be one toilet (read outhouse) along the way! There was hardly any traffic along the way, so it was great to pull over at the scenic spots and take it all in. We saw a bear and several dall sheep along the way. Apparently bears like to eat dandelions, and at several stops we saw dandelions and bear skat, so we had to watch ourselves and the surroundings. The sun was shining and the lake waters were so calm that the mountain reflections in the water were just gorgeous. We stopped at the Carcross desert, a strange landscape to see there in the Yukon, along with Emerald Lake. Had a lunch stop at Caribou Crossing Trading Post, where there are sled dogs (you could buy a ride on the spot), puppies, a natural history museum and a really good shop. 

Juneau( continued)

We did a bit of shopping upon our return, but it was mainly the typical tourist souvenir shops and jewellery stores so we didn't bother with anything. There was a nice boardwalk and some seating in the dock area so we sat there for awhile. A police officer was cycling nearby. DH said hello and he stopped and talked with us for awhile. Interesting man. DH asked  if we tourists caused much trouble. He said no, the tourists don't cause problems, but there is a drug problem in Juneau that is the main source of crime.

Just now, Florida_gal_50 said:

They should have been able to see your tour booking from your cruise card.  I know I had my "ticket" ready to show on the navigator app and the tour operator insisted on doing it from my cruise card which was odd.  Sounds like the tours where a mess.  Glad you were able to get your door fixed.  I wonder how they think it's acceptable to not be able to go in and out of your room for 12 hours.  That is crazy!

I think they should have had better training for the  HAL excursion sign holders. Instead of remaining on the dock holding a tour sign,  waiting for people to assemble and then leading them to the correct bus, they seemed to move down to the parking lot with the masses.

As far as the door lock goes, yes we were rather shocked that it was okay for  passengers to be locked out of their room, rather than perhaps pay overtime to a locksmith? I don't know what the rationale was. Can't imagine putting up with it at a land hotel.

SHORE TRIPS

Juneau

We booked a trip through HAL here, the Historical Gold Panning Adventure. There was no assembly point on board for each tour, just outside on the dock. What a nightmare that was. All the buses were together and a mass of people, mostly unmasked, trying to find which bus to board. Of course there were no paper vouchers. We are old school, but it really would have been much quicker to hand over a slip of paper, rather than put up with the tedious checking of all of the Navigator apps. I am glad I took screen shots of the Navigator online trip voucher, as Navigator didn't work offline. Surely that must be difficult and  confusing for some other folks who don't live on their cellphones? We may be dinosaurs but HAL used to cater a lot more to older folks. There needed to be much better organization there.

The tour itself was pretty good. Only about 12 people ( all but us were unmasked). So we got out of the parking  lot more quickly than the big buses. The guide was fun and informative, and we enjoyed the tour, taking home our teeny tiny cache of gold flakes! There was another similar tour with a salmon bake that apparently sold out. 

Wow, it sure looks like non-direct flights are a major problem these days for luggage. We were lucky to need only a short direct flight from Calgary to Vancouver and back  on Air Canada for our cruise last week. Returning home, our bags were among the first ones sliding down the carousel, even though we checked them in very early. Our driver in Calgary was impressed- he said it has been really slow to offload luggage for WestJet passengers. I noticed that too about 2 months ago when picking up my sister at the airport who used WestJet for a direct flight from Halifax. Took an hour before her bag came down. Every airport seems to have its own set of issues!

One evening we had an issue with our cabin door lock- the cards would not work. Our steward said to get new cards. Which we did. Guest Services lady tells me my cell phone might have affected them. ?. We don't carry cell phones..Back to the room- door will not open. Flagged down some officer who happened to be in the hallway..He called someone else; when she arrived, it was determined to be a dead battery in the lock itself. Have to call the locksmith. So, she says, they will let us into the room manually, and then we can wait until 8 am tomorrow for our lock to be fixed.What? No access to our room from 8 pm to 8 am? Well, DH was not going to settle for that and told them so.. If the locksmith was off shift, they would have to call him. Took about 20 minutes but somebody did arrive and changed the battery in the lock. Took him maybe 2 minutes.

We didn't really care for the layout of the ship. I guess we prefer the smaller ones. The route to the back deck or the aft end of the Lido would mean going through the casinos, bars, shops etc. on decks 2 or 3. Deck 10 was kind of a pain to walk through, going around all of the couches and loungers. The promenade deck was the fastest route.Love having a wraparound promenade deck! ( p.s. this one is 3 laps for a mile). But, the lifeboat placement obstructs the view greatly on this ship deck. I guess they want to keep you inside shopping.. My memory of HAL was that the promenade was a big deal. Now, I don't know what to think. 

1 minute ago, QuattroRomeo said:

They had quite a few to choose from and were listed by category - action, comedy, drama, fantasy etc. Fairly recent ones. Death on Orient Express with Kenneth Branagh for example. No charge.

My apologies to Agatha Christie- it is murder, not death!

15 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

A true story to show how useless the maps sometimes are.  

 

Funchal:  I was looking for the local market and was using the HAL provided map.  The market was not where it was marked.  I started to wonder around in that area thinking, "it's got to be here somewhere".  Well, I wondered into any area where I began becoming uncomfortable because of the inhabitants I was starting to see.  I made a 180 degree turn and retreated.  

Yikes, sounds a little nerve-wracking!

17 hours ago, Tango99 said:

Did you use the website in the 72 hours before arrival? I remember using the app to register and partially fill travel info, then in the last 72 hours before arrival we completed it and got the QR code. Not sure if it’s the same for the website. 

The traveller information you registered initially, such as passport and vaccine, stays there in ArriveCan's database from trip to trip. Then for each trip, I enter the destination details in the 72 hrs before arrival,  using the website.  Email comes right away, then I print it. 

7 hours ago, Xenni said:

What kind of movies on demand are available? How much are they (if they cost anything?)

They had quite a few to choose from and were listed by category - action, comedy, drama, fantasy etc. Fairly recent ones. Death on Orient Express with Kenneth Branagh for example. No charge.

9 hours ago, Dreamer115 said:

As I am travelling with my adult daughter how would the onboard account work?  Would there be two seperate ones or are we going to have to keep track and sort it out ourselves?  Also would there only be one bag or two or are they only for people who have travelled on HAL before?  

When you register online there is an opportunity to put in your credit card number for onboard purchases and you can put both on one card, or separate cards, by passenger.  The account screen in the stateroom shows purchases by person if you set it up that way.

As far as the shopping bag goes, it is one per stateroom. At least that is what we got and we are both past customers.

The tv offerings were pretty minimal for live shows, but there were several movies and travel shows.

We didn't much like the music channels, no jazz. The onboard account screen didn't always work. Kind of irritating when you no longer get any printouts, not even on the last night.

There was one big umbrella in our balcony cabin on Koningsdam. Hard to spot, but in there!

Some cabin photos.

Tile and shopping bag. 

Our cabin stewards provided twice daily service, with towel animals every night. The chocolates arrived only on the 2 dressy nights. Two voucher cards for a Mariner cocktail came early on ( some wine spritzer thing). The one drink area we thought to ask for one told us it was a specific drink and only at certain bars. Didn't bother after that. One night there were spa vouchers for $70. The ceramic tiles showed up another night. We are 2 star mariners so that was about it. Oh yes- I forgot the one shopping bag... hardly as nice as the canvas ones of old...! I did notice a Mariner reception on deck 2 on the last day. I believe it was for 4&5 star Mariners.

The last day was at sea, and it was gray, raining and cool. Inside the ship, it was a bit dark in the morning, so they had hallway floorlighting on- first time we have seen that during the daytime: