Grenouille21

We had our first Alaskan bear sighting.

Welcome to Juneau!

What a nice looking ship! Think I'll take her out for a spin!

Ugh I just had a long post and lost it!

Juneau is only accessible by air or sea. You can't drive to Juneau. There is one "highway" but it ends at about 40 miles or so. Then you have to turn around and go back. Everything has to be shipped or flown to Juneau, which means prices are higher than elsewhere in Alaska.

Our plan was a combo of whale watching and going to Mendenhall Glacier. It was drizzling and foggy, and cold. Not really ideal weather for whale watching or glacier viewing, but what can you do?

As we approached Juneau I took some photos of the port area.

You can see the tram down low in the above photo. I bet the view is pretty nice from the top! I'm not sure how much you could see on a foggy day, though.

The fog did make it look kind of spooky and cool.

And there's Juneau!

Lots of different boats out there.

Cruise Day 3: Juneau

Today we were arriving in Juneau! We were arriving later in the day, so we slept in a little bit. We had pre-ordered breakfast to be delivered to the room. This was a complimentary service, and there were several options.

When we woke up, the boat for the Tracy Arm excursion was pulling up alongside our ship.

And off they go!

The kids decided to watch Thor Rangarok in the room while we ate and woke up. Actually I think they had started watching it the night before, and we were continuing it.

There were a lot of great movie choices available on the TV in the stateroom. We watched a few movies during our cruise, usually while getting dressed for dinner, while winding down at the end of the day, or while eating breakfast in the room and getting ready.

I believe the kids headed to their clubs and I went to the EXC Lounge for a latte and to relax until we arrived in Juneau. It was crowded once again, and seating was difficult to find.

It was cloudy and foggy, and I hoped it would clear up. The scenery was looking pretty cool, even in the fog.

We must have had lunch, and we approached Juneau. We saw some really cool homes!

Was anyone “brave” enough to try the escargot? It’s one of my favorites on board. Enjoying your report..❤️

NO!! We are super picky. We have pet snails, so we don't eat them! :eek::eek::)

Thanks for continuing your reports.

Thanks for reading!!!

The view from the Tamarind was nice, and it stayed fairly light until 10:15pm.

The Tamarind Bar closes early, and I wanted to check out what was going on downstairs. I stopped and checked in on BB Kings and the Dueling Pianos, but it wasn't really the atmosphere I wanted.

Then I found the Gallery Bar and I was in love. Can anyone tell me what this reminds them of?

I walked in and felt like I was in the Gryffindor Common Room! I actually texted DD that I had found the Gryffindor Common Room, and later I brought DS down here to see it as well.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, you haven't read or seen Harry Potter. To make a really long (7 long books or 8 long movies) short, the kids are in a sort of boarding school and sorted into "Houses" and there are lots of portraits on the wall all over the place. I suppose they aren't necessarily in the Common Room, but they are all outside the Common Room.

Also, in Harry Potter, the people in the portraits move around as though they are alive. So having TVs mixed in with the portraits made it feel even more Harry Potter-ish.

So this became my favorite place at night. I could still hear the music from both bars, plus the music on the speakers in the Gallery Bar, but it all sort of blended together into background noise so I could read. There were sports on the TVs, which I ignored because I am 0% interested in sports.

This bar also had my favorite drink, though I had to customize it a bit. This, my friends, is the Strawberries and Bubbles. It is supposed to have champagne, strawberries, and vodka. I had them leave out the vodka and it was divine. The counselors in Club HAL recommended it, and I thanked them profusely.

Oops, I just found the photos from dinner. Tonight was the first Gala Dinner night. There is a lot of talk about the dress code, and what one can or can't or should or shouldn't wear to Gala Night.

We hadn't brought fancy clothing. I had black pants, DS had khakis, and DD had nice jeans. I had told her to pack "nice pants" for dinner, and she packed ripped pants (stylishly ripped) and jeans. DD had brought a pair of wedge sandals, and the night before Gala Dinner they broke. These were MY old shoes from when I was in college, and the material that had made the wedge had crumbled. We went to Guest Services, because we were told they had Krazy Glue there, which they did... but it had dried up so we couldn't even try to fix the shoes.

The only other shoes DD had were hiking shoes and gym shoes. Those were my only other options, too. There were no shoes to buy on board the ship. So we were left with a dilemma: Should DD wear jeans and gym shoes to dinner, or should we just go to the buffet? DD had pre-ordered her food, due to her allergies. We weren't 100% comfortable with the buffet (DD would only eat pasta), but we were 100% comfortable with the food that was being made for her in the MDR.

So I went to the hostess at the MDR and explained the situation and asked if it would be OK for DD to wear her gym shoes and jeans. She said it was absolutely fine, and that their main concern was that men wear a collared shirt. I figured that was good enough for me, and who was going to be looking at our feet when they are under the table anyway. And if some geezer wants to give me side eye or make snide comments about declining standards or respect because my daughter would rather eat safe food on "Gala Night" while wearing jeans and gym shoes, that's their problem. Her life is more important than a dress code. To me, its what's on the inside that matters most, not what's on the outside.

This is the nightly photo from the window at dinner:

Dinner was really good! I had the beef:

DS had the stuffed shells, and he wasn't thrilled with them.

I also ordered the truffle risotto because it sounded good.

When I dropped off DS in the club, the counselors recommended that I go to the Tamarind Bar upstairs, so I did! It was really nice up there, though it was dark which made it difficult to take photos.

The shops were open, and DS and I needed hats for Glacier Bay day since we had somehow left ours at home. I also picked up a few other souvenirs. The ship is cashless, so souvenirs are purchased with your room key card. Makes it super easy to shop any time!

I think DS was actually still in his club, so I stopped back up at the Lido Deck and had a beer.

I stopped and took a few more photos before getting ready for dinner.

I apparently did not take photos of dinner, but I did get dessert, which was soooooo good!

I think this was the photo out the window of the MDR this evening.

Cruise Day 1: Day at Sea

We woke up to grey skies today as we sailed the Inside Passage. It was foggy and we couldn't see a whole lot.

I went to the EXC Lounge for a latte and we went to the buffet for breakfast. I went to the omelette station and had a custom omelette made, with cheese, tomato, and avocado. It was good, not great.

The buffet closes at 10:30 and we learned that this is a hard stop. Things get very rushed and then they shut everything down. I get it, people would graze all day if they didn't close at some point. But it was frustrating because if you missed it, there weren't really many options left.

I think I also had waffles with berries, and that was good! The hash browns were also really good. I ended up with waffles, berries, and hash browns every day.

I took DS to his club, and went to the EXC Lounge where I was lucky to find a seat right at the windows. Now, the windows were nice, but the view was a bit limited as the windows came together right at eye level, which meant you had to look up or down, but couldn't look straight out.

But these were the most coveted seats in the place. People were stalking these chairs the whole week. I sat and read and enjoyed my latte, and then went to get DS from his club since he wasn't able to sign himself out. We returned to my seat, and soon one opened up for him. We read, and watched the scenery.

The skies had cleared up.

DS decided to go get his camera and binoculars. While I was sitting there, someone announced that a pod of orcas was right off the starboard side of the ship. DS heard it in the stateroom and was able to see it from the verandah. DD apparently also saw them from the teen club. I didn't get a photo because they were on the other side of the ship and I didn't want to abandon our seats to get a photo. Later in the week I would stop caring and leave my stuff on the seat to get a photo.

We also saw some cool ships.

Up in the EXC Lounge they had this map of the White Pass Railroad that we would be riding in Skagway. The map was a cool way of seeing the highlights of the train ride.

Once DD was out of the club, we went to eat lunch. I think the kids ate at the buffet, but I wasn't really interested in anything they were serving so I went to the Dive In. I ordered the chicken breast sandwich, which came with guacamole (have I mentioned how much I love avocado?). You can customize your order there, and have them omit or add things if you prefer.

It was ready really quickly, and it was really good! The fries were really good, too!

The kids went back to their clubs, and I grabbed a drink and went to our CC unofficial Meet and Greet in the EXC Lounge. I had been advised to look for people wearing hats. I had been looking around and did not see anyone with a hat, so I thought maybe no one had showed up. I finally walked around, into one of the areas that was sort of sectioned off as a place for classes/lectures and there they were!

We chatted for a bit, then moved back into the main room because I had left some of my belongings on a chair and I didn't want to just leave them there.

We talked for a while longer, and then I had to move on to get DS from his club. It was really fun talking to people from different parts of the world! I saw one or two of them the next day but I think they all disembarked the day after that.

I headed down to Deck 3 and walked around the promenade deck. I love a good aft view.

Thank you for continuing your reports and sharing your photos.

The fruit crisps are one of my favourite desserts.

It was good!

Thanks for posting, love your comments, reviews and photos. Hope for more.

Thanks so much! I am thrilled that people are following along!

I took the kids up to the club, and went down to Deck 2 to check out the music. The band at BB King was great! They had a great energy, and played a lot of really fun songs. However, I was bored and I left. Music just isn't my thing.

I'm not sure where I ended up, but eventually I went and signed DS out of the club when they closed and we headed back to the room where this guy was waiting for us.

Nieuw Amsterdam has a web page that you can use on the ship, even without the internet package. Just connect to the ship wifi (free) and open your browser. You'll be taken to the page automatically, where you can set up an itinerary and chat ID. Anyone over the age of 13 can use the chat. DS, who was still 12, was unable to use the chat feature, which really stank. DD was able to text me when she was coming back from the club, or I could text her to let her know where I was hanging out when the Teen Club closed during the day. It was really helpful being able to communicate with her on the ship.

DD eventually texted that the Teen Club had closed (midnight) and she headed back to the room.

That was the end of our boarding day! Now on to Sea Day 1!

DS got 2 desserts, I think, but again the portions were small enough that this seemed OK at least once.

We had the second seating for dinner, on the 3rd floor. I prefer second seating for several reasons, mainly because 5 is too early for dinner, and also because early dining would cut into our excursion time.

I had requested a private table near the window, and we were fortunate to have my request granted. Every night I took a photo out the window, just because.

Behold: The first night 8:15pm photo:

Our serving team was awesome. They learned what we liked and what we did not like, and served us food that we enjoyed and that was safe for DD's allergies.

Every night each of us had a Caesar Salad

After the first night they left off the anchovies.

DS had French Onion Soup every night. I tried it, and YUM!!

I ordered the Beef Short Rib Stroganoff, at Libra's recommendation. Something I learned from reading another review (Anita Latte's review of her family's Alaskan Cruise on the Celebrity Millennium) that you should always ask your Head Server for a recommendation, and go with it. So I did, and that was a good call! Sometimes there was something else I wanted to try, and so we would order that as well so we could all try it.

I really appreciated that HAL served NORMAL size portions of food, instead of jumbo Disney size portions of food. This allowed us to sample different dishes without feeling sick or wasting food.

I asked for a dessert recommendation and was told to get the banana crisp. I was intrigued, and wasn't sure, but it was really good! It was nice to try something different for a change.

Embarkation Day cont'd

So, this beer sign was everywhere, and they were really selling these Alaskan beers. At Sail Away the bar tenders were dressed in lumberjack style shirts, and there were drink stations everywhere with these beers and other drinks.

I have a 6 pack of the Husky here, and it is pretty good!

I had pre-ordered the Signature Beverage Package, and made good use of it trying different drinks. I'll share some of my favorites throughout the report. I know there are always questions about what is included in each package, so I thought I'd share this page they had out at a few different locations.

We walked through the casino and Billboard Lounge. In the evenings, there was a Dueling Piano style show in the area with the blue lights. The two pianists were great! I wasn't a fan of the evening bar scene. The music is nice, but sitting and watching a band isn't really interesting to me. I eventually found the perfect place for me, which I'll share later.

And another stop to check out this scene:

And then we were headed to dinner! BTW I promise this will become more interesting again. Right now its kind of boring since this is just me touring the ship and taking photos.

We were in Whistler in Aug. and did walk out on the Suspension Bridge which had just opened in July. Thought maybe you'd like a photo of the bridge to see what you missed. It was pretty cool and did sway a little when a bunch of people were on it. :eek:

That looks terrifying!

:eek:

We headed outside to the promenade.

And then up to Deck 9 and above because we were finally sailing away!!!

About 10 minutes before I took this photo my kids left to get sweatshirts. Or that's what they said, anyway. They disappeared for SO LONG and I still have no idea what happened. I didn't want to stand in one place and wait for them any more, so I left and walked up to higher decks to try and get good photos of us going under the bridge.

I was not the only person who had this idea.

As you can see, there is glass all around this deck, so my photos were kind of crappy. Later in the cruise (like, on the last full Sea Day) I found the perfect deck for viewing everything. Could I tell you how to get there now? Probably not. I have photos from that deck, though, so maybe it will come back to me when I get to that part.

For now, I present my glass-shaded view of the bridge.

Looking back at the bridge

And quite a bit later, looking back from the Sea View pool

I also really liked these glass elevators. We tried to take these whenever possible.

Apparently we made our way down to Deck 3, so I could take this photograph:

The shops were closed, but I did peek in and take a photo.

Then we stopped in the Main Dining Room. I didn't know it at the time, but our table was in this photo, next to the window. I had requested a window table when I made the reservation, and I was so glad we got our wish!

The menu was posted outside the dining room each day.

Special Cabana pricing and beverage packages for Glacier Bay:

I like flavored lattes, and they had a lot of choices:

There were a lot of games available, and DD and DS enjoyed several of them. They played Apples to Apples, Connect Four, and chess. DS and the friend he made in Club HAL came here a few times to play chess or Connect Four.

There were also books available to read.

Then there were these giant, interactive tablets with tons of information about our sailing and the destinations. I know I have photos of the screens that showed how fast we were going, when we would arrive at our next port, etc. This one was mostly about each of our ports.

We must have walked through the Lido Deck because this is the next photo I have. I really liked these bar stools.

Enjoying your review, great photos, thank you.

When we have stayed at the Pan Pacific we would get up to watch from the windows to see "our" ship arrive.

Vancouver is a beautiful city.

Thank you! The view is definitely one of the best perks of that hotel!

We were getting close to sail away time, and I wanted to be out on deck. We still had a little bit of time to explore so we walked outside on Deck 10. I stopped to take a photo of the Retreat Cabanas:

And then we headed in to the EXC Lounge. This area had recently been redone, and apparently there are some mixed feelings. Not knowing what this area was like before, I really enjoyed it in its current state. It has a multipurpose feel, and a comfortable vibe, at least in my opinion.

There is a lot of seating, but on Sea Days this space was full. People staked out the seats at the window, and if anyone stood up there was almost a rush of people asking if the seat was now available.

The cafe was open at 6:30 in the morning, and they served coffee drinks as well as sodas and alcohol (maybe not at 6:30am, but who knows!). They also had chocolate chip cookies that were complimentary and sooooooo good!

Some pricing, in case anyone is interested:

Now that we had shed our backpacks and unpacked, it was time to check out the Tween and Teen Clubs.

The Loft is the Teen Club on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Teens can come and go as they please during the club's hours. There are breaks throughout the day, and the hours are posted outside the door. While the club had programming scheduled, they didn't always follow the planned program. It seemed like there were usually a few kids playing Foosball or playing video games, and a few kids talking and/or playing card games.

The tween Club was next door, and had an inner door that could open between the clubs. Both the tween and teen club had motion sensors that would trigger a flashing light (think police or ambulance flashing light) when you approached the doorway. I liked this, because it meant no one could sneak in or out of the clubs. DS liked it because it became a challenge to walk past the sensor without triggering it (when he was with me, going in or out of the club).

The Tween Club (Club HAL) was a little more structured than the Teen Club. They had Xbox hour, and aside from that there wasn't the opportunity to sit around and play video games all day, like they do on Disney Cruise Line. They had Just Dance videos on sometimes, they played games, they played cards, they talked, they did crafts, and on Glacier Bay day they had a native local come in and talk to the kids, and had a park ranger program so the kids could get their Junior Ranger badges.

Both of my kids LOVED their clubs. Whenever the clubs were open, if we were on the ship... my kids were in the club. When I picked them up, they asked when they could go back. They strongly recommend HAL for their kids clubs and unanimously agree that HAL clubs are better than Disney clubs. They like the smaller groups and personal attention they had, and appreciated the group activities and/or group conversations. I walked in when DS was playing with much younger kids (tween club is 7-12, I think), letting them "shoot" him, or climb all over him, or roughhouse (nothing dangerous). He even participated in a drawing contest to earn a prize, which is incredible because he hates coloring.

The counselors were so nice, so much fun, and so awesome. *I* wanted to hang out with them myself! They always had recommendations for drinks, places to go, things to see, things to eat, etc. They gave me very good and very specific advice about when we would be likely to see wildlife from the ship, where I should go to have a better opportunity to see wildlife, when I should make sure to be on deck in Glacier Bay, etc. Honestly they were the most helpful people on the ship. Kudos to Amanda, Allison (might not be the right spelling), and all of the other counselors who were awesome but whose names I have forgotten.

I'm going to post these a little bit out of order, but since I was posting stateroom photos, I'll throw these in. This was *after* I figured out the light situation.

There were three closets. One had robes in it, and one had a safe. The closets offered plenty of space for our clothing and shoes.

The bathroom was fine. Nothing to write home about. It was a bathroom with a shower/tub, sink, and toilet. There were shelves above the sink which held most of our belongings, and there was a shelf under the sink as well.

This was on the table in the stateroom. It was an overview of the week, and it was nice to see all of the big events in one place.

So glad you are enjoying the report! I apologize for how long it is taking me to get this done. I appreciate your patience :).

Cruise Boarding Day cont'd

Our stateroom had been ready for a while, so we headed there to drop off our backpacks. We were booked in a Verandah Stateroom, which has two twin beds that can be pushed together or separated, and a sofa that pulls out to a bed. When the bed was pulled out there was no space to walk out to the Verandah, but they only pulled out the sofa bed at night so it wasn't too big a deal. I was able to flip the bottom end of the sofa bed over when I needed to walk around or go out on the Verandah in the morning.

Word of advice: I couldn't get the lights to work. Either the previous guests or our Room Steward had left a card in the slot, but I couldn't get the lights to turn on. So these photos were taken in "the dark". Later, when I met our Room Steward, he shoved the card into the slot harder than I had been doing and like magic, the lights turned on. So if you slide a card into the light slot and nothing happens, push it in harder, and it will likely solve the problem. We kept the card in the slot until we left the stateroom.

I slept on the sofa bed each night. It was slightly wider than a twin bed, but slightly shorter, too (I think). I am short, so that was fine, but a tall person might not do well on the sofa bed. It wasn't the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on, but as sofa beds go, it was totally fine.

The basket on the table had a card in it that you could fill out to request fresh fruit. We didn't use that service, but it was nice to know it was an option.

Welcome to the Dive In. This is where I ate lunch, most of the time. DS also got most of his lunches here. This is complimentary, featuring burgers (including turkey burgers and veggie burgers), hot dogs, and chicken breast sandwiches. DS got many, many orders of cheese fries here as well. You can customize your burger/hot dog/sandwich/fries or order from the menu. Service was very quick, even on Sea Days and even for custom orders. I mention this because this was not the case for the other complimentary food station that was outside the buffet/MDR. One day there was a long line and I almost walked away, thinking I would return later. But I waited and the line actually moved very quickly.

Another view of the Lido Pool when no one was there yet. For the rest of the cruise this whole area was super busy. They did beer tastings and other events here on Sea Days.