14 Day Alaska Maasdam Cruise - Here we come!

[JimAOk1945]

I can hear the sail away horn already! I just printed out our boarding passes and express docs today. Can you tell I'm excited? :D

 

I noticed on our boarding passes there is a notation that this cruise has 3 Gala Nights. Does anyone know which nights will be the Gala Nights?

 

I'll post the itinerary below.

 

Date Port

01 Aug Seattle, Washington – Point of Departure

02 Aug Scenic cruising Vancouver Island

03 Aug Ketchikan, Alaska

04 Aug Scenic Cruising Tracy Arm

05 Aug Juneau, Alaska

06 Aug Icy Strait Point, Alaska

07 Aug At Sea

08 Aug Anchorage, Alaska

09 Aug Homer, Alaska

10 Aug Kodiak, Alaska

11 Aug Scenic cruising Hubbard Glacier

12 Aug Sitka, Alaska

13 Aug At Sea

14 Aug Victoria, BC, Canada

Aug 15 Seattle, Washington – Leave ship and fly home

 

Thanks

Edited June 15, 2016 by JimAOk1945

[TheSecondSister]

 

I noticed on our boarding passes there is a notation that this cruise has 3 Gala Nights. Does anyone know which nights will be the Gala Nights?

 

 

On the May 23 Maasdam sailing, Gala nights were on the first Tuesday, the first Sunday, and the last Saturday. (Per Towhee's post near the end of that roll call).

[JimAOk1945]

TheSecondSister,

 

Thanks for your quick reply. This information really helps to plan ahead. I enjoyed looking through your blog. Your pictures and descriptions are great!

Edited June 15, 2016 by JimAOk1945

[Scrapnana]

Be sure to wave to the webcam in Juneau!

[JimAOk1945]

Be sure to wave to the webcam in Juneau!

 

This sounds like fun! Where is it? I want to be sure to look in the right direction.

[Chocolate Rose]

I hope you keep posting!! We'll be doing this exact same itinerary next May on the Amsterdam!!

[JimAOk1945]

I will keep posting as long as I keep getting replies. I really appreciate the Cruise Critic HAL board. People here are very helpful.

[erewhon]

Hope you have a fabulous cruise.

[kftw]

I will keep posting as long as I keep getting replies. I really appreciate the Cruise Critic HAL board. People here are very helpful.

 

I'll be watching for your posts!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hope you have done your doc dance.

I'll be watching for your Live reports.

[EbayCruiser]

We will be getting on when you are getting off!! Time will be here before you know it. We can't wait.

 

Please post live reports if you can and most important, have a GREAT TRIP!

[Alberta Quilter]

Wow, I remember when you were waiting for the itinerary to come available for booking, and now it's almost time to leave!! I hope you and your wife have a wonderful trip! If you can report in on occasion, that would be fabulous.

[StartrainDD]

We did this cruise on the Statendam last year. Fantastic itinerary and a wonderful time. So nice being in the Alaska ports as the only ship (or at least not five - seven ships!).

 

Is the pier finished at Icy Strait Point? Had my best view of whales right from the beach in Icy Strait, they were not 20 yards off-shore.

 

ENJOY and Bon Voyage!

[JimAOk1945]

Hi Everyone!

 

It's great to see so many people leaving posts for me. I'm not sure how to do a live post. I'm not very tech saavy. I just recently upgraded my cell phone to a smart phone. I had one of those old flip phones. Remember those? The ones that look like the Star Trek communicators. :D

 

Does anyone know if it's possible to do a live posting using a smart phone? I have a Samsung Galaxy 5 Note. I'm willing to give it a try if someone can tell me how to do it. Any tips will be appreciated.

Edited June 15, 2016 by JimAOk1945

[JimAOk1945]

We did this cruise on the Statendam last year. Fantastic itinerary and a wonderful time. So nice being in the Alaska ports as the only ship (or at least not five - seven ships!).

 

Is the pier finished at Icy Strait Point? Had my best view of whales right from the beach in Icy Strait, they were not 20 yards off-shore.

 

ENJOY and Bon Voyage!

 

From what I read on another thread, the pier at Icy Strait is finished. My wife and I actually enjoy tender rides as long as the water is smooth, but it will be nice to walk off the ship onto the pier.

 

I remember seeing the whale right off shore there at ISP the last time we were there. My wife is hoping to capture a good picture of it this time around.

 

Thanks for your good wishes!

[JimAOk1945]

Hope you have a fabulous cruise.

 

Thanks! We are really looking forward to it! :D

[JimAOk1945]

Hope you have done your doc dance.

I'll be watching for your Live reports.

 

I started doing my doc dance yesterday and haven't stopped yet! :p

[JimAOk1945]

We will be getting on when you are getting off!! Time will be here before you know it. We can't wait.

 

Please post live reports if you can and most important, have a GREAT TRIP!

 

We are very excited to be trying HAL for the first time. I see you have been on the Maasdam in the past. It tells me a lot when someone likes a ship enough to sail on her again.

 

Happy sailing to you as well!

[JimAOk1945]

Wow, I remember when you were waiting for the itinerary to come available for booking, and now it's almost time to leave!! I hope you and your wife have a wonderful trip! If you can report in on occasion, that would be fabulous.

 

Yes, it's hard to realize that all the waiting is almost over! My wife is already starting to do some preliminary packing!

 

I'm still learning how to use my smart phone. If I can figure out how to do a live report from it, I will be happy to post something as we go along. My wife likes to tease me about my smart phone out-smarting me. :p

[baxley]

We are doing the same cruise in August and are VERY excited to hear everything about your trip, etc. This will be our first time with HAL and from what people have posted, we are sure it will be wonderful. Thanks.

[K&Wcruisin]

Hi Everyone!

 

It's great to see so many people leaving posts for me. I'm not sure how to do a live post. I'm not very tech saavy. I just recently upgraded my cell phone to a smart phone. I had one of those old flip phones. Remember those? The ones that look like the Star Trek communicators. :D

 

Does anyone know if it's possible to do a live posting using a smart phone? I have a Samsung Galaxy 5 Note. I'm willing to give it a try if someone can tell me how to do it. Any tips will be appreciated.

Jim - You will figure out your smart phone soon I am sure. When it all falls together it will be a piece of cake. Try to google your exact phone and you will find answers. We are going on the same cruise 7/18/16. Normally the dress up nights are on sea days. We all need time to "clean up". We love to cruise but seem to go on different cruise lines. The last time we were on HAL was 2010 on the Rotterdam.

[Alberta Quilter]

Sorry, duplicate post. See below.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Alberta Quilter

[Alberta Quilter]

Yes, it's hard to realize that all the waiting is almost over! My wife is already starting to do some preliminary packing!

 

I'm still learning how to use my smart phone. If I can figure out how to do a live report from it, I will be happy to post something as we go along. My wife likes to tease me about my smart phone out-smarting me. :p

 

I probably wouldn't do it on a smart phone but that's just me. (I use my iPad which is much easier to type on, particularly when one has an bluetooth keyboard.) Basically, all you need is wifi which you get through HAL, or use in each port where it's free (or under your phone plan). First type up your post offline (to save money and time). I can't help with a Samsung; I have an iPhone. There is a Notes app on the iPhone. I use that to create my daily reports. Once I log onto CC through the wifi, I copy and paste my report into my Live From thread (set it up before you leave home or the pre-cruise hotel). I do look at responses to my reports to clarify or answer additional questions. And then I log off because of the time/money. HAL wifi is not the best. I don't post pictures during the cruise because of the time it takes to load (and because I can't seem to get it to work, either, even after the cruise it seems).

 

While many of us love Live From threads, please do not take anything away from your enjoyment of your cruise to provide us with a vicarious cruise experience. Don't feel you have to be as long winded as I have been on my Live threads. Do as much or as little as you want to do. I do find that it's nice going back and reading my entries; it's like a journal of my cruise.

[scluvsrain]

I'll be on the same cruise and plan to start a live thread, probably the day before the cruise begins. After the thread is started, I plan to update and make posts by using my iPhone and the application Tapatalk. I find that works very well.

 

My cell phone plan gives me unlimited free data coverage in 160 countries so I don't have to rely on HAL's horrid and frustrating slow internet to make posts. I also keep a travel blog and I update that using my Notes function on my laptop, then copy/paste it and upload pictures using my laptop when I am in a port that has free or low cost wireless internet available. I have also sometimes bought a 24 hour period of internet on HAL if the ship has the newer internet plan, as was the case on my recent Westerdam cruise.

 

On your smart phone (I think you said you've got a Samsung Note), you can go to the app store and download Tapatalk. Then you can read and post to our cruise critic forums! It also will notify you when new posts are made to any of the threads you want to follow, or have posted on.

 

I can show you more thoroughly once we're on board too, if you'd like. If we have enough "takers", I'm going to set up a meet and greet for our first sea day, as I noted in our roll call posting a couple of days ago.

 

Cheers!

[maureencruiser]

Great! I hope you figure out how to keep posting. I'm doing the same itinerary in August and plan on doing a live report. My eyes are too bad for posting on a phone, though. I plan to bring my laptop and see how good (bad?) Maasdam's wifi really is. Does anyone know if there is easily walkable , free wifi in any of the ports, at a Starbucks, etc?