Glaciers & Volcanoes with Bill & Mary Ann - 25 days on the Eurodam

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just got back to the pictures.

 

Love the sunsets.

[Stratheden]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

 

 

For once I am not having trouble reading most posts.

KK I am not sure if you know but it is very hard to read your posts on a tablet.  I have attached a screen shot for you. 

[WCB]

Report # 26   Day at Sea   October 16, 2018   Tuesday   Partly cloudy & 72 degrees         Part 1 of 1                 48  Pictures

 

Our final day at sea turned out to be a clear, sunny one with a stiff, fresh breeze.  If you looked hard enough, there was at least one spot on the promenade deck with a sunny lounge with blocked wind.  There were a few of these on the starboard side.  Located on the port, we won’t see any traces of sun on our veranda until 4pm if we are lucky.  All-in-all, the seas and the weather have been fairly decent on all of the sea days going to and coming from Hawaii this time of year. 

 

The gifted internet minutes, which converted to megabytes, was sufficient to last for 25 days for us.  We basically did emailing and a little bit of updating.  Doing all of the updates suggested would have used all of our megabytes, so we did not do it.  So we were not using any of their plans, which were available from the beginning of each cruise, or pay-by-the-day packages.

 

While we were emailing in the atrium, one of us checked out our final statement, and we were delighted to find we had more refunds on Hawaiian port charges.  Not a whole lot, but a little over $10 each.  Only that amount would be added to our card, but not the remaining shipboard credit we had left. At least, the refunded port charges were cashable.  But, we still need to find something small for $35, something that weighs almost nothing.  Spending most of the morning packing, we are about at the limit on each suitcase.  By the way, there is a digital scale for all to use near the front desk. 

 

Last chance for a dining room lunch, we went around 12:30pm.  No need to stop at the kiosk, the head waiters simply give us the go-ahead to seat ourselves.  That has worked out nicely for this 25 day trip for breakfast and lunch.  There seems to be rotating waiters daily at these meals, so we have gotten the chance to visit with some familiar waiters as well as new ones. 

 

The closer we got to the land, the colder it got.  Few people were outside without being covered up with hats and jackets.  Better time for snowball bingo, team trivia, and party bridge, which seems to be a full house most every day. 

 

Happy hour continued at 4pm in the Billboard Onboard and Ocean Bars, as well as the 9pm Crow’s Nest.  We only strolled through the Crow’s Nest once, but did notice that there was a limited library there.  We overheard two ladies talking in the elevator about the lack of good reading material on this ship.  Makes sense, because most people don’t want to overload their suitcases with that extra weight.  Of course, e-books on a Kindle will eventually replace real books someday, sadly. 

 

While finishing up the last of the packing, we took the time to film the sunset…the final one of this cruise.  But there was a bonus to be seen…..whales, at least 4 of them, appeared quite a distance from the ship, but unmistakable with their blows.  So we did get some good shots of them with the sun setting and a couple of birds thrown in for good measure.  Great way to end the final sea day as the trip comes to an end.

 

Dinner for us was originally planned in the Pinnacle Grill, but we changed our minds for two reasons.  There were a few good items on the dining room menu we had not had as of yet, and also, we intended to wear our going home clothes.  That meant jeans and collared shirts, not that it really matters anymore, since the general population wears almost anything these days.  We always hold the thought that once we sit down, no one can spot the Levi’s. 

 

Before our meal service began, the dining room manager and his boss came by for a chat.  Asking where and when our next cruise will be, we told him the grand voyage in January of next year.  Both of them said they would love to do a world voyage, but are holding out for the 2020.  Reynold, the dining room manager said he has never been to South America or Antarctica.  And if his “boss” would allow it, he might put a request in for it.  His boss?  Turns out it is his wife.  Anyway, the head staff members have been more than thoughtful, checking up on us throughout these past 25 days.

 

Expecting to see a movie in the Mainstage, we were surprised to see a combination of the past three entertainers doing two shows.  The show lounge on this ship is tiered on three decks and has no blockages with pillars that we could see.  Also, we did not see any side screens like on the Amsterdam.

 

At least twice this cruise, we have turned in the Let Us Know cards to give praise where we think it  is due.  When we drop off the cards at the front desk, they hurriedly open them up and read them.  Nice to see the smiles on their faces, especially when we include them in the compliment department.  In our opinion, these folks deserve the medals!

 

One last stop in the shop, and we used the last of the credit.  Then it was off to the room to pull out the luggage for pick up.  Hope we see it in the terminal tomorrow.

 

We shall follow up with our final thoughts on this Alaskan and Hawaiian trip once we get home and settled.  In the meantime, it has been a pleasure sharing our adventure with you all!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

[WCB]

Report # 27   October 17, 2018   Wednesday   Sunny & 72 degrees   Part 1 of 1               25  Pictures

 

A dear friend of ours recently said if you want God to laugh, make plans.  She could not have been more right, although in the beginning of the day, most of those plans went just fine.  More about that later.

 

After a less-than-peaceful night onboard the ship, we began our day around 5am.  Due to the luggage being carted down the hallway, it was quite noisy, especially when the cart tripped up on a threshold, and his luggage crashed against our wall.  More than once too.  This was about 11:30pm, towards the end of their time for the last pick-up.

 

Breakfast for us was in the dining room, beginning at 6:30am.  Only, they were using one side of the dining room, and our usual table was not available.  We did get a table for two, but squeezed in between other tables very close.  Guess we were lucky to have had such a nice table upstairs on the railing for dinner.  It was by request, since we dined there last year.  Service was a bit slow, because we learned that 17 waiters were going home today, and they were off duty.  Sure made a difference.

 

Our time for departure was 8:15 to 8:30am, so we had time to try to finish the rest of our megabytes that we had left.  It was so slow, we gave up.  Perhaps all of the folks that paid for plans were doing the same thing, choking the system.  Hope it works better on the Amsterdam’s world cruise. 

 

Fudging it a little, we ended behind the color tags right before pink # 1.  Not a problem, since we had the perk of getting off any time we wished.  The only drawback to that is the luggage might not be there yet in the terminal.  As it turned out we were within seconds of the staff opening up that color-coded row of suitcase that all look alike.  Ours have to be the most traveled (beat up), so they were easy to locate.

 

The crew working this debarkation process have it down pat.  We were lined up, then eventually led to a waiting bus for the Vancouver airport, a 40 minute ride away.  There are no freeways to whisk you there, but only downtown streets, which were full of commuters on this Wednesday morning. 

 

Once at the airport, the driver let out the folks who were flying international, along with their suitcases.  The nice thing here is that the luggage carts are free, so we took advantage of that to lug everything to a waiting kiosk to check in.  That would have worked fine if we had picked one that the sun did not interfere with reading the passports.  An agent saw our dilemma, and came to assist.  She had no luck either, so we went directly to the counter, where the Westjet agent did all of the work.  Our bags were all under the limit of 50#, and they were tagged and put back on our cart.  Then we took them to a belt where they went into oblivion, where we hope to see them again in SFO.  So far so good.

 

Even though we both got the pre-check TSA OK, it meant nothing here in Canada.  We assume since we are US citizens, we are required to empty out our stuff and take the shoes off.  Drats!  Now we recall that same scenario happened last year on our way back home.  At least, the camera bag did not have to be screened closer, like they did in SF.

 

Finally, we went through the US Customs area, where we scanned our passports at a kiosk, had photos taken, answered several questions, then proceeded with our printed receipt to the agent.  The process was easy with good directions, and we passed, so to speak.

 

The last set of doors dropped us right into a myriad of duty-free shops in hopes we still had the desire to part with more money before we left the country.  We have to add that Vancouver’s airport is modern, clean, and offers free wifi.  We were able to download all of the required security stuff within minutes….really fast compared to the ship’s speed.  So nothing has really changed there.

 

Our flight was on time and scheduled to leave at 12:45pm.  Up to now, everything had gone according to our plans.  The flight was mostly full, but quick and uneventful.  The complimentary soda, cookies, and pretzels were meager, but better than nothing.  In fact, one of us had squirreled some crackers and ship candies just in case we needed it.  We did, and it would do until we got home.

 

Now this is when things went awry.  After landing around 3pm, we found our luggage easily, loaded it up, and went to find our pre-arranged ride and driver.  This is when “God laughed”.  We had emailed a service we have used only twice this last year, and it was set up and confirmed just a week ago online.  We did not feel the need to re-confirm today.  In hindsight, that would have been wise.  Turns out, no one was waiting near the baggage pick-up, or anywhere near there. 

 

Calling at the courtesy airport phone, we discovered our reservation had slipped through the cracks.  This was not what we wanted to hear, although the boss said call him back in 10 minutes, and he will advise us if he has a driver in this area.  He apologized, and said a driver was on the way from Lafayette (in the east bay), and would arrive in about one hour.  That was better news, but with commute traffic, who knows? 

 

We hauled our stuff to one of those desks with a plug, where we could charge the computer while typing this report.  No free wifi here, unless we went through Starbucks, located right behind us.  Thinking we had to at least 5pm to wait for the driver, a nice young fellow showed up at 4:30pm.  This is when a cell phone would have been handy.  Other than having us paged, like we suggested, the driver was simply searching for two people, looking lost and desperate.  Took him 15 minutes to figure out we were the right ones, just keeping busy while waiting.

 

We don’t think this fellow works for the car service, but is a friend of the owner from Clayton.  Located in San Francisco, he was not familiar with where we lived, although he had a nifty GPS screen in his town car.  By the time we reached his vehicle in the parking garage, it was after 5pm, and right in the middle of the worst commute time.  Truthfully, this can occur from 2pm onwards, so nothing new to us.  What should take over one hour, took two hours, getting us home by 7pm.  Not bad considering we have been stuck for three hours on the last two trips back from SFO.  That can become torture with sore backs and knees, but better than having to over-night in town.  We were totally grateful to have a ride home, no matter what extra time it took.

 

So when we rolled into our driveway, it was a shock to find someone waiting in his car for us.  Turned out the owner came out to apology for the mix-up, and absolutely refused payment for the ride.  No matter how much we insisted, he said it was on him.  But Bill did chase down the driver and gave him a tip despite being told not to.  We had made use of the extra time at the airport while we waited, and chilled out thinking of the song, Don’t Worry…Be Happy.  A good stress reliever.  We told the owner that we would be customers for life.

 

Good to be home, even though we had to scrounge for something to eat.  Keeping it light for a few months now in preparation for the big one in January will be wise.

 

Once again, thanks for trekking along with us….and we will be back!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

PS  We shall be back with quick thoughts about what we liked, but also what we did not like….there were a few things along the way.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your wonderful reports.

 

I have enjoyed traveling along with you.

 

Now off to see the pictures.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 10/25/2018 at 5:45 PM, Stratheden said:

KK I am not sure if you know but it is very hard to read your posts on a tablet.  I have attached a screen shot for you. 

 

 

I can't read your tiny posts.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I actually got behind in pictures.

 

Love the sunsets and also the bird diving into the water.

[cunnorl]

Thank You for taking us along on your journey. Love the reports- always so much information!

Rest and enjoy your time at home. Will look forward to the next one!

Thanks again!

[WCB]

Report #  28  Eurodam's Alaska & Hawaii Cruises -  Our final thoughts.....   October 27, 2018   Saturday   Unbelievably warm weather in Clayton                                                                         

 

Dear fellow readers,

 

We have been blessed with such beautiful October weather, we have spent most of our time outside since we have been home from the cruise.  Even today, while sitting here contemplating where to start chores on a warm, sunny Saturday morning, we figured it was time to do our review of the two trips we did.  And besides, sitting and typing is a great way to dodge the fall planting, pruning, and leaf clean-up, right?

 

So, these two cruises were different experiences.  Alaska was wonderful, as we were lucky to have had agreeable temps and little rain.  With just a few sea days, and several ports in seven days, we were busy all of the time.  The nice thing is that we had ample shipboard credit, thanks to the onboard bookings we did last year.  HAL makes it easy to put a minimum deposit on future bookings, and during the month of October, the credits can be doubled.  Then we get to add our extra credits for being members of the President’s Club, and Carnival stock owners.

 

But now comes the sensitive part.  We had to police our shipboard account to make sure it was all there.  For no good reason, the individual credits are never itemized as they are on your statement from the travel agency.  They are posted as two lump sums, and if the total matches your total, then you are good to go.  That’s not always the case.  In the beginning of both cruises (booked separately with two booking numbers), we received notes that extra Captain’s gifts were being added to our account.  But when?  The nice thing is that we can track our account online, or on the interactive TV in our room.  Now it was not crucial that the money was added immediately, but if we chose to take tours, it would be nice to have the amount correct.  On our second cruise to Hawaii, the Captain’s gift of $200 was not added until two days before we returned to Vancouver.  Had we not been watching, it may have gone unnoticed, and we would have lost it.  So at that point in time, our only choice was to either buy more stuff in the shops, or drink it (which we prefer not to do).

 

Now we have a suggestion for using some of this “use it, or lose it” money.  Why not let us apply money from there to a future cruise booking, instead of using a credit card that is not on our account?  Or designate some extra tips in the form of a voucher for our room stewards and dining room waiters?  Other cruise lines do this, even some in the Carnival group.  We have even heard of a prominent cruise line that immediately posts all credits to your account, then allow you to use it to pay for booking tours before the cruise starts.

 

The internet was another story.  Everything has changed since we were on the Panama cruise heading home last May on the Amsterdam.  Perhaps each ship does the internet a different way, because we found that situation on the Eurodam.  Instead of minutes, we now have megabytes.  It sounded promising, but we ran into the same problems with this system, same as we did the previous one.  People are buying packages and also 24 hour service.  This means they can go online, and stay online for hours to use up their allotted time, over-loading the system.  Yes, we understand that at sea, things are far different than being based on land.  Put it this way, they have a long way to go to make people happy.  We were quite lucky to have had our complimentary minutes turned into megabytes last for the entire 25 days.  But then, we don’t do videos, movies, or social sites.  Just plain and simple internet.  One thing for sure, if you don’t have a hot spot right outside your room, forget trying to get online and stay on.  We had to take the computer to the front desk area to accomplish anything.

 

The Eurodam has a pretty dining room, 2 levels, but it is densely furnished.  There is little space to access the back of the room, without squeezing between the tables and the serving stations.  Most walkers and wheelchair-bound folks could not fit deep into the room.  The upper level was better for dinner, but the service was above excellent.  Even in the specialty restaurants, we were spoiled from day one with their over-the-top attention.  The only glitch we could find was the fact that the dining room lunch was not posted on the interactive TV every day.  The only way we could find the menu was to literally go to the dining room entrance and read the screen.  It was seldom posted until close to lunchtime also.  It would help us determine where and when we chose to eat lunch.  If the menu was not to our liking, we would have the choice of going to the Pinnacle, the Lido, get pizza or burgers, or indulge with room service.  We did point this out to one of the nicest head waiters, Thys from Holland, at our last lunch in there.  He was not aware that their ever-changing lunch menu was not available in several areas, and he promised to check into it.

 

A few other observations were concerning blockages in the hallways on passenger decks.  We had many walkers and wheelchairs left outside of cabins in the hallway, halfway blocking the access to elevators.  As for us, we could squeeze by, but not other folks also in wheelchairs or using walkers.  There should be rules concerning this practice, since if there was an emergency, that could be a big problem for everyone.  One lady had left her walker, complete with all of her meds in the seat, out in the hall the night of the luggage pick-up.  Of course, in the morning it was gone with her luggage.  She assumed that since she left it out every day, the stewards would know not to take it.  From the time we went to breakfast, and came back an hour later, she was still arguing with the head housekeeper, who she insisted find her buggy.  They did, and all was well, we assume, but she won’t do that again.

 

The final word about the rooms, we noticed that the verandas only got cleaned at the beginning of each cruise.  Years ago, the room stewards would at least clean the glass and the railing, keeping it clear of salt build up. This does not happen anymore.  Another crew comes in and hoses each and every veranda, including the chairs, tables, windows, floors and railings.  Other than that, we had to make sure that the plug to our computer was not left unplugged, as it happened often after the room was vacuumed.  A few times, the battery was low, and we discovered why.

 

One suggestion we had was to declare the traffic on the promenade deck “one way”, as many near accidents threatened to happen daily.  Counter-clockwise seems to be the accepted direction these days, and yes, the Amsterdam has arrows pointing that way.  As big as this ship is compared to the Amsterdam, there are some choke points where there is room for two people only.  As luck has it, that is where you are going to collide with the wrong-way folks.

 

Overall, we were most pleased with every other aspect of the cruises on the Eurodam.  Although this ship is bigger than we like, the itineraries at this time of year are what brought us here.  Would we go back?  Of course!

 

And now there are two rakes with our names on them to start with the fallen leaves!  Until next time………

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

[dchip]

Thanks for the wrap up on your two cruises, Bill and Mary Ann. As always, it was wonderful to be able to cruise along with you. Your descriptions and photos make the cruise come alive for those of us who are shore bound. 

 

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather, until next time....

 

Cheers, Denise and Howie too

[JamesEM]

Enjoyed following along on your latest adventure, thanks for your reports an photos.  As a side note, on our last cruise my wife needed to use a wheelchair, at times it was a challenge getting around. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to give us your final impressions.

 

Very few leaves have fallen so far this year in our area which is unusual.

[mkcurran]

Thank you for another wonderful report!

[haterain]

On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 7:42 AM, WCB said:

Report #  28  Eurodam's Alaska & Hawaii Cruises -  Our final thoughts.....   October 27, 2018   Saturday   Unbelievably warm weather in Clayton                                                                         

 

Dear fellow readers,

 

We have been blessed with such beautiful October weather, we have spent most of our time outside since we have been home from the cruise.  Even today, while sitting here contemplating where to start chores on a warm, sunny Saturday morning, we figured it was time to do our review of the two trips we did.  And besides, sitting and typing is a great way to dodge the fall planting, pruning, and leaf clean-up, right?

 

So, these two cruises were different experiences.  Alaska was wonderful, as we were lucky to have had agreeable temps and little rain.  With just a few sea days, and several ports in seven days, we were busy all of the time.  The nice thing is that we had ample shipboard credit, thanks to the onboard bookings we did last year.  HAL makes it easy to put a minimum deposit on future bookings, and during the month of October, the credits can be doubled.  Then we get to add our extra credits for being members of the President’s Club, and Carnival stock owners.

 

But now comes the sensitive part.  We had to police our shipboard account to make sure it was all there.  For no good reason, the individual credits are never itemized as they are on your statement from the travel agency.  They are posted as two lump sums, and if the total matches your total, then you are good to go.  That’s not always the case.  In the beginning of both cruises (booked separately with two booking numbers), we received notes that extra Captain’s gifts were being added to our account.  But when?  The nice thing is that we can track our account online, or on the interactive TV in our room.  Now it was not crucial that the money was added immediately, but if we chose to take tours, it would be nice to have the amount correct.  On our second cruise to Hawaii, the Captain’s gift of $200 was not added until two days before we returned to Vancouver.  Had we not been watching, it may have gone unnoticed, and we would have lost it.  So at that point in time, our only choice was to either buy more stuff in the shops, or drink it (which we prefer not to do).

 

Now we have a suggestion for using some of this “use it, or lose it” money.  Why not let us apply money from there to a future cruise booking, instead of using a credit card that is not on our account?  Or designate some extra tips in the form of a voucher for our room stewards and dining room waiters?  Other cruise lines do this, even some in the Carnival group.  We have even heard of a prominent cruise line that immediately posts all credits to your account, then allow you to use it to pay for booking tours before the cruise starts.

 

The internet was another story.  Everything has changed since we were on the Panama cruise heading home last May on the Amsterdam.  Perhaps each ship does the internet a different way, because we found that situation on the Eurodam.  Instead of minutes, we now have megabytes.  It sounded promising, but we ran into the same problems with this system, same as we did the previous one.  People are buying packages and also 24 hour service.  This means they can go online, and stay online for hours to use up their allotted time, over-loading the system.  Yes, we understand that at sea, things are far different than being based on land.  Put it this way, they have a long way to go to make people happy.  We were quite lucky to have had our complimentary minutes turned into megabytes last for the entire 25 days.  But then, we don’t do videos, movies, or social sites.  Just plain and simple internet.  One thing for sure, if you don’t have a hot spot right outside your room, forget trying to get online and stay on.  We had to take the computer to the front desk area to accomplish anything.

 

The Eurodam has a pretty dining room, 2 levels, but it is densely furnished.  There is little space to access the back of the room, without squeezing between the tables and the serving stations.  Most walkers and wheelchair-bound folks could not fit deep into the room.  The upper level was better for dinner, but the service was above excellent.  Even in the specialty restaurants, we were spoiled from day one with their over-the-top attention.  The only glitch we could find was the fact that the dining room lunch was not posted on the interactive TV every day.  The only way we could find the menu was to literally go to the dining room entrance and read the screen.  It was seldom posted until close to lunchtime also.  It would help us determine where and when we chose to eat lunch.  If the menu was not to our liking, we would have the choice of going to the Pinnacle, the Lido, get pizza or burgers, or indulge with room service.  We did point this out to one of the nicest head waiters, Thys from Holland, at our last lunch in there.  He was not aware that their ever-changing lunch menu was not available in several areas, and he promised to check into it.

 

A few other observations were concerning blockages in the hallways on passenger decks.  We had many walkers and wheelchairs left outside of cabins in the hallway, halfway blocking the access to elevators.  As for us, we could squeeze by, but not other folks also in wheelchairs or using walkers.  There should be rules concerning this practice, since if there was an emergency, that could be a big problem for everyone.  One lady had left her walker, complete with all of her meds in the seat, out in the hall the night of the luggage pick-up.  Of course, in the morning it was gone with her luggage.  She assumed that since she left it out every day, the stewards would know not to take it.  From the time we went to breakfast, and came back an hour later, she was still arguing with the head housekeeper, who she insisted find her buggy.  They did, and all was well, we assume, but she won’t do that again.

 

The final word about the rooms, we noticed that the verandas only got cleaned at the beginning of each cruise.  Years ago, the room stewards would at least clean the glass and the railing, keeping it clear of salt build up. This does not happen anymore.  Another crew comes in and hoses each and every veranda, including the chairs, tables, windows, floors and railings.  Other than that, we had to make sure that the plug to our computer was not left unplugged, as it happened often after the room was vacuumed.  A few times, the battery was low, and we discovered why.

 

One suggestion we had was to declare the traffic on the promenade deck “one way”, as many near accidents threatened to happen daily.  Counter-clockwise seems to be the accepted direction these days, and yes, the Amsterdam has arrows pointing that way.  As big as this ship is compared to the Amsterdam, there are some choke points where there is room for two people only.  As luck has it, that is where you are going to collide with the wrong-way folks.

 

Overall, we were most pleased with every other aspect of the cruises on the Eurodam.  Although this ship is bigger than we like, the itineraries at this time of year are what brought us here.  Would we go back?  Of course!

 

And now there are two rakes with our names on them to start with the fallen leaves!  Until next time………

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

 

[haterain]

I hope this gets to you.  I tried your e-mail that you gave me on Bos-Bos cruise, but you must have changed.  Jeff will not be on the WC., he is on a six months cruise right now.