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Alaska/Hawaii on the Eurodam with Bill & Mary Ann 9-23-17 to 10-17-17


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Report #1 Flying toSeattle/Embarkation Day September 23,2017 Saturday Partly cloudy & 70 degrees

 

Well, here we are again……..heading off into the friendlyskies on another HAL adventure. Thistime, we are doing a 7 day Alaskan cruise, followed by a 17 day trip toHawaii. A little bit of cold or rain,and hopefully, some warm, tropical breezes. Always a welcome way to start the autumn season.

 

This will be a switch for us, because our fall trips havebeen on the Amsterdam, and similar type ships in the line. Because the Amsterdam has gone back to doingthe Asia/Pacific Grand Voyage, we booked this trip on the Eurodam. Although we have sailed larger ships in thepast such as the Star Princess, this will be a size in between. Hope we like it. It will be fun comparing it to theAmsterdam’s experience.

 

This summer has flown by at a rapid pace. In July, we went on a 14 day trip to Alaska, aspecial reunion cruise with our travel agency. So it seems like we just got back, and here we go again. Catching up with necessary chores around thehouse and garden has kept us totally busy. It is no wonder that so many folks down-size to accommodate thetraveling. We’re not quite ready to gothat extreme, but the day is coming…..

 

We were ready to roll this morning around 5am, when ourdriver was scheduled to pick us up. Themain road repairs due to a slide last winter are still in progress. In fact, the job has been extended for onemonth, because of unforeseen problems. And perhaps because the detour is a bit hairy, our driver decided totake the “one-laner” road to take us to the SF airport, by way of the San MateoBridge. Sure it looks good on the GPSscreen, but it does not reveal that the road is full of ruts, hairpin turns,and unpassable in sections due to its narrowness. And heaven help us if for any reason, we brokedown.

 

It turned out to be OK, but the ride ended up taking anextra 45 minutes, which we remembered from our last drive over the top back 20plus years ago. We never saw one vehiclethe whole way, but we did spot a cottontail rabbit and a few stray deer. It did remind us of days past, when one of ustraveled to Colorado to visit family in Colorado. My dad was always theadventurer, who trusted that the little crooked line on the map could save ushours in driving. Most times, that was wrong, and mom was right. No more short-cuts!

 

Good thing we had added an extra hour to get to theairport. And since it was a Saturday,traffic was light. SFO is alwaysbustling no matter when you go there, so weekends are no exception. And it seems that every time we flysomewhere, the airlines have changed their check-in process. Recall the days when you stood in a longline, and the agents did most everything for you? Now, you have to navigate most all of it onyour own. Lucky for us, a friendly agentwas there to help us with the kiosk. Yes, we had already gotten to the point where the luggage tags werebeing printed. Looking confused as tothe instructions to peel off the backing, the agent swiftly did the peeling,then adhered the little tracker tags to each bag. What one of us missed was that she wasputting the extra tag on one of the backings. Handing it back, one of us did not notice the three tracking tags on theslip, and efficiently threw what was thought to be trash in the debrisbin. This was not noticed until after wewent through the security check, which by the way, we both got the TSA-precheck. No way were we going back to “dumpsterdive” for the numbers. So we hoped ourluggage would end up in Seattle without getting lost. Surely there are ways to track the bags ifthey go astray, right?

 

The flight was so fast, that we barely seemed to getcomfortable, and we were landing. Orcould it be that we might have slept through most of it? Prior to leaving yesterday, we confirmed ourflight details on the old-fashioned phone, only to discover that our seats hadbeen switched. We were no longer sittingtogether. Guess the agent detected a hintof surprise upon finding that out, especially when we booked the flight lastMay. So we were upgraded to economyplus, free of charge. True, there wasmore leg room, but not any difference with the width of the seats. Turned out OK, since the fellow in the windowseat, curled up and slept the whole way. Oddly, the beverage cart had passed by our entire row, and they failedto provide our snacks and drinks. Shedid bring our juices and delicious Dutch waffle cookie when we asked later,apologizing profusely.

 

The network at the airport for all of the cruise linesworked well. The luggage was late inarriving, but arrive…. it did. All threepieces popped out on the turnstile, so now the worry of lost bags was over. One handle, which was on the verge ofbreaking, finally did. And since it wasa long walk to the bus area, we got a cart to push all of it. Since we just did this last July, it was easyto go up one elevator, go across the road, then go down another elevator to thefirst floor of the garage. HAL/Princess agents were placed along the way,giving directions. An NCL ship, theJewel, was also in Seattle today, adding to the traffic.

 

By 1pm, we were being loaded into the buses for the ½ hourride to the pier. The drivers in Seattleare the best, as they make the ride entertaining. Since we are sailing the last cruise for theseason, our driver mentioned that he will be going home to Sitka, and will bedriving the HAL buses from that pier to downtown Sritka. He promised to look for us. We shall see…..

 

The Ruby Princess, one of the big ones, was docked acrossfrom the Eurodam, which is big enough for us. That probably put around 6000 people going through the cruise terminaltoday. And that was just the onesboarding. As long as you have your IDand boarding passes to show security, the process went smoothly, despite thecrowds. Lots of help here.

 

We got the royal reception when we showed our papers to thegreeter, who directed us to the priority lane. We are not aware that there are any other President Club members on thiscruise, but this sure triggered a response. Checking in was a breeze, then we were escorted by a staff member toboard the vessel. A large group ofvisitors (100 or more) were exiting the ship as we climbed the gangway. They were part of a group called the Bablou’s,we think, a club headed by Orlando Ashford, the President of HAL.

 

On the ship, we were escorted to the fancy atrium elevatorsby the Guest Relations gal, Christine, who brought us to our veranda room ondeck five. Eventually, we were greetedby the head housekeeper and our room stewardess, Ayu, making sure all was toour liking. What is there not tolike? We’ll get into room and shipdetails later.

 

A nice touch was getting a daily newsletter handed to usupon embarking. Taking that a stepfurther, all the info we needed was in our room. Such as how to log onto the internet, makesdining reservations (with costs included), and tiny details you normally have tosearch for elsewhere. We do appreciatethe little things that help make your trip seamless.

 

Since the ship was scheduled to leave at 4pm, the musterdrill was held at 3:15pm. This is whenwe realized how many people were on this ship. Lots, compared to the Amsterdam. Thereare 2104 passengers, with 876 crew members on this ship. It is 86,273 gross tons with 8 restaurantsand cafes. There are 12 lounges andbars, and was launched in 2008. We understandthe ship is completely sold out. By theway, the drill was short and sweet with all attending. Only the captain spoke. His name is Werner Timmers, who we have nothad the pleasure of meeting yet.

 

We had been reminded by our Seattle coach drive to make surewe all eat every two hours while onboard. It is a mandatory hint to keep up the energy for cruising. Yeah, sure. Good idea………look for lunch, which by now, we had missed in the dining room. No wait….there was no lunch there today. This forced us to find the Lido and moreimportant, the New York Pizza station. Wewere in heaven after we ordered their version of the Margherita pizza. In less than 15 minutes, we had the wholepizza cooked perfectly. Not individualdried-up slices of leftover pizza. Thiswill be our favorite spot for sure.

 

We did a little exploring on our way back to the room. By now all three pieces of luggage hadarrived. Discovered that one had beensearched at SFO. It was not the one withthe plug strip and extension cord as we thought it might be. There was one advantage to last minutepacking………nothing was wrinkled.

 

This veranda room is smaller than the balcony rooms on theAmsterdam. More boxy-looking, it has ashorter desk (no drawers), and three closets. Ample enough for a 3 week cruise, it would be difficult on a longervoyage. Nice touches include a newerlarge flatscreen TV on the wall at the foot of the bed. On demand movies and documentaries will bemost appreciated this trip. The 2 drawer nightstands have USB ports, butno plugs. More ports are in the deskarea, as well as three more plugs. Didn’treally need the plug strip this time. After an hour, all of our stuff was stashed away with room to spare.

 

Dinnertime for us was at 8pm, fixed with a table for two onthe deck three railing. Several waitersstopped by, welcoming us back to a DAM ship. All of them had worked on the Amsterdam at one time or another. Wonderful to see familiar faces. Despite being totally exhausted, we enjoyed adinner with soup, salad, appetizers and good entrees. Of course, we had to try the desserts. There was no real show, but a preview of theentertainment for the next 7 days. Itwas over by the time we finished dinner. The show lounge was huge and built on three levels. Steep enough for all to see without anybarriers.

 

We had so much more to do, but it could wait untiltomorrow. Bedtime was never so sweet. So was trying our best to watch some of theon demand BBC series. Excellent. We need to remind our room stewardess that wedon’t need the towel animals. It doessave some time for them, and we have seen them all more than once.

 

Until tomorrow,

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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Hi there!

 

Thanks for taking us along once again. Looking forward to your take on a larger ship. It all sounds pretty good right now!

 

Happy all your bags arrived with you. You should have seen us checking in to fly to Mexico earlier this year. You had to put your passports in the kiosk. It was all too weird. LOL

 

Enjoy!

Denise and Howie too

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I'll be boarding when you return to Seattle for the Hawaii segment and I shall be honored to be sailing with you. Like you, this will be my first time on an enormodam. I'm an S-class/R-class gal. Always enjoy reading your "live-froms".

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So glad I found your posting. I look forward to "joining" you on your cruise. We have been on the Eurodam, and just love the ship. We have also done a Vancouver to Hawaii cruise, and are also booked on the circle Hawaii on the Westrdam next April, so look forward to your opinions and reading your very interesting stories.

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We did the Hawaii/Alaska cruise years ago and loved it. I'm envious. I cried when it was time to get off. It was on this cruise that my husband and I realized that we loved long cruises. Enjoy your adventure.

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Report # 2 Day atSea September 24, 2017 Sunday Partly cloudy, rain & 57 degrees

 

Our first day at sea began rather smoothly, cool, anddrizzly. As the day progressed,conditions continued to deteriorate. Enoughso, that at his PM talk, the Captain advised all to be careful walking aroundthe ship, as the swells may cause some problems. This ship has eleven decks, so of course, thehigher you go, the more the sway. Ourroom is located on deck five, so the movement is not so bad. But while we explored the Crow’s Nest, thelibrary, and the Explorations Café on deck 11, we did notice the difference inmotion. This whole area is huge comparedto the Amsterdam. There is a barsection, but we did not see any dance floor. Tables, chairs, and over-sized lounge chairs fill the spacesinstead. Having the Explorations Café uphere perks up the place, although some folks were trying to read, others wereenjoying the specialty coffees, while many were already whooping it up at thelarge bar.

 

Going back to yesterday, we forgot to mention the perks wefound in our room. There were two flowerarrangements, the larger vase coming from the Mariner Society. Two bottles of champagne (one was sparklingwine) were on ice. We did manage topolish off the best bottle that was gifted from Orlando A. Don’t know if our timing was good, since wedrank this before the muster drill. Going down two flights of stairs was a little dicey. Several tiny envelopes held more messages forvarious shipboard credits applied to our account. Will have to figure this all out tomorrow,as it was too much info, especially after the champagne. We think there were a couple of invites forwine tasting and a future American Test Kitchen demo where we had prioritysign-up privileges.

 

Last evening, we did receive one Alaska tote bag….only oneagain. Don’t get the reasoning for that,since there are two of us. This seems tobe consistent on all of the HAL ships. Our room stewardess had left the towel animal on the bed as always. We will remind her today that she does notneed to do this daily. We have seen themall, and if this saves her some time, it is fine with us.

 

One thing we noticed about the room, is that we could heardoors banging loudly at all hours. Ithad to be coming from either the verandas or the hallway doors. Woke one of us up from a sound sleep. We are always aware of the veranda door, sotry to hold it from slamming. Funny, weblame the “Explore4” program for the excess noise. Fifteen drinks per person per day is a bitmuch, we think. And it appears that manyfolks are imbibing while on their balconies.

 

OK, it was difficult getting up this morning, since the bedwas so comfortable. But we did want tomake it to the dining room, which opened at 8am. We were greeted by name by Mega, a headdining room manager we just saw while on the Amsterdam. That makes about 8 fellows that we have recognizedso far. Nice to know they remembered us,and by name no less. Breakfast wasperfect and the service right on. Thedining room is really pretty with darker colors than the Amsterdam. We saw little wear-and-tear with thefurnishings and carpets. But then, thisship is only 11 years old, and has obviously been well-maintained. What ruined the scenery this morning was thelady who appeared in the dining room dressed in the ship’s bathrobe. Boy, did she get some stares from the guests. By the way, we did wear our jeans (notstressed ones) to dinner last night. Wewere still dressed more acceptable compared to the group that came wearingshorts and t-shirts. They were notturned away either.

 

We had some work to do, such as making a visit to the frontdesk, and inquiring about our shipboard account. What exactly was use-or-lose credits, andwhat was cashable. Most of the credithad to be spent onboard, we discovered and had expected to hear. However, if we don’t use it all, it shouldcarry over to the following trip. Butwait, the girl behind the desk was not entirely sure how the back-to-backcruises work. Also, we added our name totheir list for a newspaper delivery to our room daily. She said consider it done…..no problem. Once again, we shall see if it works tomorrowmorning.

 

Then we went to find the shops onboard. They are located on deck three, and it lookedlike coming into a department store. Instead of separate little shops, all of the areas are incorporated intoone open area. Since we had credit toburn, one of us found a silk jacket suitable for gala evenings. And because this is the final run to Alaska,most everything was on sale. We suspectthat all of their merchandise has to be sold now, and when the next cruisebegins, the shops will fill up with new stuff suitable to that area. So that will work in our favor, except thatwe may have to purchase an extra suitcase to haul it home.

 

To use up some of that credit, we booked one tour in Juneautomorrow. It is the shorter whale questfor 4 hours. The only bus involved is aride to the 100 person two deck viewing boat. Hopefully it won’t be raining too bad, since this was a fun tour thefirst time we did it several years ago.

 

It was too damp to do much walking outside on the promenadedeck. There were some teak lounges setup under the lifeboats, but no takers today. There was a mix of blankets and dark blue towels available to use. Come to think of it, we did not find the newblue and white striped beach towels in our room. Perhaps these will appear for the Hawaii run.

 

The daily “When & Where’ newsletter was full ofactivities today to fill in for the day at sea. Church services, exercise, card games, and team trivia werehappening. Sales and promotions were offeredin the Shops and Casino, while ship services had talks on their treatments. The Digital Workshop and America’s TestKitchen offered classes. To differentmovies were shown: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Lies and Going InStyle. No need to be bored here, even ifit was too cold for swimming or sunbathing.

 

Lunch for us was in the dining room, but with the smallest ½order of burgers. With a littledessert. We had a window seat at theaft, and found that it may be hopeful for some dolphin sightings. It did happen later when we were sitting onour veranda. Many groups of the smallerdal porpoise barely broke the surface while spouting along the way. No whales yet, although we did hear a coupletalking about seeing the blows in the distance this morning.

 

We did attend the complimentary wine tasting at 2pm. It was well presented and well attended. The serious sippers pilfered filled wineglasses at the empty seats. Guess theywere thirsty? Not necessarily winedrinkers, we did enjoy the presentation, and are always open to learning aboutthe culture of such a popular pastime.

 

The remainder of the afternoon was spent exploring thepublic spaces of the ship. We really hadto go out of our way to find the Crow’s Nest, library, and Explorations Café.Like we stated, the ship’s motion was pronounced up that high. We also found out that the TamarindRestaurant was not accessible from the Crow’s Nest. You can only get there by going up thecentral set of elevators. So on our wayto go there, we were side-tracked at the Ocean Bar where a gal by the name ofKelly was playing the piano and also singing some good tunes. This spot is labeled the Postmodern Jukebox,a new concept for us. Apparently itbegan in 2009 as a weekly video, and has morphed into a mix of current andthrowback pop music. We enjoyed theperformance so much, we forgot to seek out Tamarind. We will find it tomorrow, since we havedinner reservations there.

 

While relaxing across from the atrium ceilingstructure, we remembered our friend Bobhad sked us to check it out. He questionwas for us to give him our interpretation of what it is. OK…..here is our take. The fixture is lie a stalagtite columnin cave, consisting of opaque roundflowers that resemble poppies. Lightsunder the glass change colors subtly, giving us the impression of the AuroraBorealis. Guessing it could be Muranoglass, it probably cost a small fortune.

 

One other thing we went in search of were flowerarrangements we are used to seeing in the public areas on the Amsterdam. We found none. What we did see were sculptures made frompainted twigs, filled with caladmium leaves and a few orchids in littleindividual water holders. The onlybouquets of flowers happen to be in our room.

 

Later on, we cleared up the confusion about our complimentarysoda delivery for President’s Club. Wanting to utilize some more shipboard credit, we ordered 12 bottles ofvitamin water from room service. Itarrived personally delivered by one of the beverage department heads. They are certainly taking good care of us.

 

As we were just about to get ready for our first galadinner, there was a knock on the door by the assistant head housekeeper. He was double-checking to see if all is wellwith us. Yep, life is good, we told him.

 

There was a welcome toast given by the Captain in theMainstage show lounge at 7:45pm. However, due to so many visitors, we missed it. Dinner was good at our table for two on theupper railing. Most interesting waswatching some guests arrive in way less formalwear, like jeans and t-shirts. The majority of guests looked terrific,dressed in sparkles and suits or tuxes. The gentleman sitting next to us congratulated us on our outfits, andadded that perhaps we are a dying breed. Hate to admit it, but he is correct. Hate to see these traditions bite the dust. Right before our meal wasserved, the Hotel Director stopped by and introduced himself. His name escapes us, but for certain, he isDutch. Again, he offered to make sureour trip was perfect. Seems to be a nicefellow.

 

Dinner was good, and we were finished by 9:30pm. We are liking the simplicity of quiet diningfor this shorter cruise with a table for two. Our waiters have been so attentive. One nice thing we noticed is the fact that the coffee served has been bythe cup. Just like the French-pressedcoffee you get in the Pinnacle Grill. Every cup is consistently flavorful and very hot. Just the way we like it.

 

The show was Off The Charts, performed by the ship’ssingers. The tunes were Elvis to Beyoncehits. Every seat in the lounge had aclear view for a change. A larger stageand more performers, this venue gets a higher grade in our humble opinion.

 

Tomorrow, we will be in Juneau, and that means a timechange(one hour back) this evening. Thereminder card left from the turn down service has been reduced to a businesscard size. Almost did not see it.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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Report # 3 Juneau,Alaska September 25, 2017 Monday Partly cloudy & 57 degrees Part #1 Of 2 63 Pictures

 

The Eurodam is due to arrive to the capital of Alaska,Juneau, at 1pm. On past cruises, we havebegun the day here at 8am. Since this isour first port on the seven day cruise, it took us this long to get here. All aboard is 9:30pm, so we will have plentyof time to do both a tour and explore the town. Normally we would go to lunch in town, but since we are on a tour until5:30pm, lunch is out.

 

After a very good night’s sleep. We woke up to find we didindeed have a newspaper in our mail slot. That was easy. At least half adozen flyers with advertisements have been appearing daily too. The usual things like art auctions, shop andspa specials. And if that is not enough,there is always shopping in ports, with the help of Brendan, the Port ShoppingAmbassador onboard. He will guide anyoneto the Diamonds International, Effy’s, and Blue Diamonds for example in everystop in Alaska.

 

Breakfast was first on the activity list. We noticed that is much busier on this shipcompared to the Amsterdam. And whynot? The service is excellent as is thefood. As we seldom, if ever, make it tothe Lido for breakfast, we have no idea how crowded it is up there.

 

The weather was a mixed bag this morning. There was promise of seeing the sun, and norain in sight. There was fog, however, thickenough for the foghorn to go off every few minutes. Since our newsletter stated partly cloudy, wehope it is correct. One good thing isthat we have swung closer to land and the hundreds of little islands weremember from our previous adventures in this area. The seas calmed down, which is perfect.

 

Before we got to Juneau, we stopped by the Future CruiseConsultant’s desk to put deposits down on a few cruises next fall. Joanne, the consultant, had the cruiseslocated and was able to link them easily. The deposits are refundable, so it is a no-brainer.

 

Around noontime, the ship was entering into the shelteredbay where Juneau is located. As we mentioned,it is the capital of Alaska, moved here due to the fact that this city isaccessible year round, even if only by air and sea. The winters are cold, but never so severethat it is cut off from communications with the rest of the state. Over 30,000 people live here.

 

Normally, we don’t book tours anymore. But since we have credit to use or lose, wedid want to take a whale watching excursion again. It was at least ten years ago we did onehere, and it was memorable. And sincethe weather looked like it would cooperate, this could be our best bet.

 

So at 1:20pm, we were in place shore side to find our tourgroup. Two gangways had been set up….onein the center, and one in the front. Thesecret was to find the one least busy, which was in the front. The ship docked in the same place we did inJuly, with the Nieuw Amsterdam behind us, and the Ruby Princess behind them. That would put whole lot of people in towntoday. We are among the last of the shipsto visit here, so it was no surprise to find some stores had already closed forthe season.

 

Two buses were loaded to go to the whale watching andwildlife quest. We chose the 4 hourversion without the salmon meal or Mendenhall Glacier stop. Been there, done that. It took about ½ hour to reach Auke Bay, wherethe water jet-propelled vessels took on 100 passengers each. We did get a glimpse of the glacier and the icefield on the way.

 

The boat had two decks with seating inside, and outsidedecks in the back. When the driver spottedany wildlife, he had the crew open up a viewing deck on deck three, and alsothe bow, with limited space. We went straightto the back of deck two, and stayed there the entire time. Our first sighting was a surprise to us, aswe did not expect to see orcas. But herethey were, three of them, doing shallow dives in the bay about 20 minutes fromthe pier. We were not alone for theviewing, however, as eventually there were eight vessels of various sizegathered near the killer whales. Actually they are in the dolphin family, and are the most aggressivehunters. By the way the boats spedtowards the group, we felt like this was not whale watching, but whale harassing. The boats seemed to trap them, perhaps makingthem feel threatened. When they hadenough, the largest one lunged and made a run for it. Don’t know what the rules are here, but itsure reminded us of safaris in India, where the drivers race to see the tigers. Few regulations there. When our guide was sure everyone got to seethese killer whales blowing, diving, and feeding, we left the scene. There was constant narration by one of thenaturalists, but the speakers outside were fairly distorted.

 

Besides the whales, we did see a few bald eagles, sea birds,sea lions, porpoise, and eventually the humpback whales. In fact, we were guaranteed to see at leastone whale, or we would receive a cash refund of $100 per person if we did notsee any. And we did see at least four ofthem not far from the orcas. At onepoint, we were surrounded by them as they gently glided over the surface beforediving deep, revealing their massive tails. It was so impressive, that everyone on the boat went silent. Pretty cool.

 

During the 3 hour ride, complimentary coffee and hotchocolate was served on the lowest deck. Along with that, donut hole rolled in chocolate were offered. Later on, crackers with a tad of smokedsalmon were sparingly passed around to the folks that were sitting inside. Naturally, the pricey salmon was being soldby the pound at the snack counter, as well as some wildlife souvenirs.

 

Back to the pier in Auke Bay, we loaded up on buses onceagain and took a road back that was under construction. We did spot some eagles on the light posts aswe neared the town’s center. It wasalready beginning to get dark by the time we got back to the ship around 6pm. Theoperators of the tour seemed to be quite happy when they informed us that thiswas the very last run of the season.

 

All aboard time was 9:30pm, so we decided to check out theshops in town before going back. Acouple of the larger souvenir stores were offering some deep discounts, likenice t-shirts for $5.00. If you couldfind the correct size, you were lucky. Obviously many people took advantage of these sales, because they werecoming out with the huge red bags stuffed with treasures. Bet they don’t charge you for the bags likewe get nicked at home.

 

What surprised us was finding that the Twisted Fish Restauranthad already closed for the season. Hadwe not done a tour, that would have been our destination for lunch today,although we are not certain exactly when it closed. In fact, we never ate lunch,mainly because we had reservations in the Tamarind Restaurant at 8pm tonight,and preferred to be hungry for a special meal. So not wanting to go backempty-handed, we purchased two bags of flavored popcorn at a kiosk in town. Neverknow when we might need some munchies in our room. The last sale of the day,the vendor was happy to make a deal, even though we did not ask for it. He will probably be shutting up shop, andgoing south for the rest of the year as well.

 

We had just enough time to change and find this restaurant. Located up on deck 11 midship, this newervenue was a delightful discovery for us. Perhaps it was because there were fewer diners on a late night port stopor not, we were treated like royalty. Informing our waitress that this was our veryfirst visit to the Tamarind, she was quite happy to explain the menu indetail. And also being aware that one ofus has a shellfish allergy, she recommended the safer items to order. Thanks to her advice, I did learn that one ofthe dips had oyster sauce in it, which I did not know. Since it does not take much to activate theside effects of my allergy, now I know why I felt ill after dipping springrolls in the sauce in the past.

 

At each place setting, there was a set of chopsticks (yes,regular cutlery was offered), a single orchid, and a tiny dish with whatappeared to be a round mint or something that looked odd. What do we do with that? Must be the first thing people ask on theirfirst visit, because our waitress advised us not to eat it. The little disk was really a compressednapkin, which expanded with hot water. It was a hand washcloth.

 

Following some suggestions from the manager as well, we bothordered a few items that we had tasted while on the world cruise thisyear. The Thai chicken soup wasdelicious, not too spicy, while the tempura shrimp was very tasty. Bill foundout he liked the pickled papaya, and after complimenting the chef, he wasbrought another generous serving. Forour main course, we both had the wasabi crusted tenderloin, one of the best wehave ever tasted anywhere. Had to beprime cut, and definitely not grass fed. A stack of tempura onion rings were on the side. We had added a bowl of brown rice andwok-cooked spring veggies. What awonderful change of pace. Now what givesthis venue a thumbs up, had to be the desserts. One of us had Thai mini donuts with three sweet sauces, and the otherordered the fortune cookie. What asurprise it was when this “little” fortune cookie showed up as large as a saladplate. Extremely thin and coated withslivered almonds, it was dipped in a thick chocolate fudge and served with atiny scoop of vanilla ice cream. Awinner, I will order that again the next time we go there. A cup of green tea was served throughoutdinner also. What was even nicer aboutthis visit, was that it was complimentary for our Mariner status.

 

There was a comedian by the name of Keith McGill on theMainstage at 9:30pm. We had missed halfof it, so we went back to our room to watch the sail out of the bay from ourveranda. The downtown area was justabout vacant, except for a few vagrants. Yes, they do have some colorful characters that live in this area, likeany other capital city in the USA. TheEurodam was the last to leave the port, after the Nieuw Amsterdam and the RubyPrincess pulled out. Sure was good toget back inside the room, because the temperature plummeted from earlier. Fall was in the air.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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By the way the boats spedtowards the group, we felt like this was not whale watching, but whale harassing.
I had the same feeling on safari in Kenya. When one of the guides came across a hunt he would alert the others and suddenly there would be a dozen small jeeps circling around the animals. It just felt weird.
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Report # 4 ScenicCruising Glacier Bay September 26,2017 Tuesday Partly cloudy, rain & 50 degrees Part #1 Of 2 68 Pictures

 

Day four of the cruise found us sailing towards Glacier Bayand the surrounding National Park and Preserve. This area alone consists of 3.2 million acres of forests, inlets,mountain peaks, and glaciers. The bayfeatures seven tidewater glaciers, or frozen rivers of ice that reach the sea. If we’re lucky, we could see a range ofwildlife such as eagles, otters, seals, and whales. With the help of binoculars, it is possibleto spot brown bear, moose, or mountain goat.

 

A small team of park rangers joined the ship to givenarration during our visit today. Theywere available at 7am in the Crow’s Nest , followed by a day of narration asthe ship entered Glacier Bay. Most ofthe transit north into the channel was foggy with a constant drizzle. So it was a good time to catch breakfast, andwatch out the window.

 

And just as promised, there were sightings of those mountaingoats. Glad we brought the goodbinoculars to spot them. They also camein handy when we saw otters and seals in the channels and fjords. The only animals we did not see were bear andmoose. What added to the scenery werethe many shades of trees turning yellow and orange for the autumn season.

 

The first glacier we saw was Margerie Glacier, probably themost photographed of tidewater glaciers in Alaska. Our other guess would have been Hubbard Glacier. As cold as it was, we were able to view thesight from the comfort of our veranda. Goodthing we brought the heavy duty waterproof down coats with hoods. And the waterproof boots also, or we wouldhave had to stay inside most of the time. The Captain slowly proceeded to the face of the glacier, then turned theship for all to see. Guess we stayedhere for 45 minutes or more. Time enoughto be treated to some massive calving of the face of the ice. It can be describedlike hearing an explosion and cracking of ice, then massive thunder as the iceboulders reach the water below. Fabulous.

 

Then it was to another inlet, namely Johns Hopkins. Our guide informed us that this leg is onlyopened after September 1st for cruise ships to transit, due to thefact that seals come up here to have their pups in the spring and summer. And also there is a lot more ice blocking theopening. So it was a treat for us toview it today, as we were the last of the ships to do this in 2017. This glacier was not as large ,but we did seehundreds of seals on the thin ice at the face. At first, you would think it was logs spread out over the ice, until wegot closer to see the seals bathing in the daylight, warming up for the day. Interesting fact we learned from the rangerstoday: these seals come into this fjordto escape the orcas, their biggest predators. The theory is that the thunderous sound of theice cracking and calving confuses the orcas, giving the seals the opportunityto give birth to their pups safely. Furthermore, the effervesence from the melting bergie bits imitates thesound of bubbling, creating more of a sound barrier for the orcas. Also swimming among the bergie bits andgrowlers of ice were sea otters. On topof a large berg, a bald eagle perched to watch the ship go by.

 

We stayed long enough to see some more calving, then beganour ride back down towards Icy Strait to drop the ranger team off at theirlodge. They had done a fine job, but theoutside speakers were of little use to those of us on our verandas. The sound was echoing and distorted. Our other option was turning to TV to thecorrect station, and get the narration that way. One little problem, however, was that therewas a one second delay, making it difficult to understand clearly. If we kept the door shut, it was fine, butthen you missed half of the scenery. Ohwell, it worked OK if one stayed outside, and the other listened andinterpreted what was said.

 

Too bad we missed the pea soup that was served on alloutside decks at 10:30am. Perhaps we mayhave to ask for a special order of it during the upcoming cruise to Hawaii. Or wait and see if they will have Dutch Nightat dinnertime.

 

As we were making our way out toward open ocean, the Captaincame on the speakers and said due to very strong winds in the Gulf of Alaska,we would be speeding our way towards Sitka to avoid the worst of it. He intended to get us to Sitka at 1am,instead of 7am tomorrow.

 

We ordered our first room service lunch of a salad, soup, anda shared sandwich. Followed later by ashared pizza. There was only onecustomer at the counter, and two young couples in the spas back there……in thedrizzle. As long as you stayed in thewarm water, you’d be all right. Glad itwas them and not us.

 

The Port Shopper was handing out free charms at his desktoday, so we went to see what that was about. You had to get them before 6pm, so at 5pm, we joined the line of folksfor our freebie. They were the tinybears usually found at Diamonds International. He promised that if we went to his lecture on Ketchikan, we wouldreceive free whale tails. Se shall seehow long that line will be.

 

Back at our dining room table tonight, we had just finishedour delicious roasted ½ chicken entrees, when we had a visit from Jorn, theFood and Beverage Manager onboard. Hewas the third or fourth officer to find us here to introduce themselves. A very nice young man, we seemed to know a lotof the same staff members. He made uspromise to see him if we needed anything. He was more curious to get our take on the differences between theships. He recommended that we see theentertainment and the bar venues, as some of them are new to the fleet. In good time, we will make the rounds. Just not in 7 days…..it is far too short atime to do it all.

 

Tomorrow we will be in Sitka, a fun place to explore.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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:cool:WCB, So nice of you to take your time to do a "live".

Thanks for sharing Your amazing experience in Glacier Bay, the calving had to be spectacular.

Is there a puzzle set up, I presume in Crows Nest?.

Looking forward to seeing you Mon. at m&g.

It's nice to know you are taking good care of the ship.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise and hoping you have calm seas back to Seattle.

Mahalo & Aloha, Sandipalms

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Hi there!

 

The photos are wonderful. The eagle on the iceberg is very cool, lots of great whale tails and fall color. But we love, Love, Love the mountain goat and it’s baby!! What a fabulous image. Really very special.

 

Have fun! Wish we were there! It’s hot here again YUCK

 

Cheers,

Denise and Howie too

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