Sept 18 - Sept 24 Nieuw Amsterdam sailing Seattle/Alaska trip report

[1ANGELCAT]

I wonder if it will make the local news?

[madera1]

I hope now you are on the ship you have no further stress for the week.Bon voyage.

[erewhon]

Thanks for your live reports, but so much pre cruise stress, Hope the rest of the cruise is stress free.

Bon Voyage!

[Thorswife59]

Have a wonderful cruise!! We’ll be excitedly following along, we cruise on the NA next week! 💗

[Carouselrider]

On 9/18/2021 at 6:38 PM, StLouisCruisers said:

What were they thinking??🤷‍♀️

Simple, so please be kind.

We had been told that we would not need more than driver's license to board.  We were told, since we were not doing ports in Canada, we did not need passports.

Here were about 30+ people in the "holding" area in the same situation.

My brother destroyed a safe & found my daughter's.  Mine was, apparently, with my passport, in my wallet that disappeared awhile back.  Not everything got replaced in time.

We have rebooked for this sailing, paid the extra fees, & are praying that my birth certificate gets here in time.

[kazu]

33 minutes ago, Carouselrider said:

Simple, so please be kind.

We had been told that we would not need more than driver's license to board.  We were told, since we were not doing ports in Canada, we did not need passports.

Here were about 30+ people in the "holding" area in the same situation.

My brother destroyed a safe & found my daughter's.  Mine was, apparently, with my passport, in my wallet that disappeared awhile back.  Not everything got replaced in time.

We have rebooked for this sailing, paid the extra fees, & are praying that my birth certificate gets here in time.

 

I am surprised at that.  I’m Canadian so always have my passport but my understanding from reading numerous posts from CC member is that you need a Government ID and your birth certificate if a passport is not required.

 

Your birth certificate was in your wallet?  Wow!  

I hope your new one arrives in time for your next sailing 🤞

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

A curiosity question. If a married woman brings her birth certificate as proof of citizenship and it has her maiden name on it, must she also bring her marriage license to prove who she is?

[Thorswife59]

I am so sorry this happened to you.  I am curious though when you say you were told you only needed a drivers license, who told you that? 

[AKJonesy]

Monday, Sept 20 JUNEAU

Embarkation was pretty quick. Outside of the pier building I did notice scooter rentals...just an FYI. The bus picked us up from Coast Hotel and it was all a breeze. Once inside the pier we had our papers or device in hand for check in. We went thru 2 check points.. The second was to show and take photos even tho we uploaded to Navigator app. There is good wifi in the port building.. Our room was ready and very nice. We had nice weather at port then drizzle when sailing away. In Port Angeles, WA the pilot disembarked with the full moon behind. 

There was a lot of hustle and bustle on board as passengers re-acquainted themselves with being back on board. We headed to Pinnacle to make reservations and we could make them for all specialty dining. We did this on board to ensure we could apply to our large OBC. I am glad we did get reservations because they filled up fast so do this right away.

It is clear HAL is squeezing every inch they can into upgrades. Cabanas are on one side of the Lido pool not allow a lot of space to walk. Private cabanas are also available on deck 10 above the pool. Would I consider it? Probably if we did not have a balcony room.

Speaking of balcony, this is the first time we were in balcony room and they are smaller than the Oceanview which we normally had. But still, there is good space for everything.

Get ready for upselling when you sit down to eat in Lido.

When we reached the Pacific Ocean it became a little rough and got worse with 20' swells. I was on my back most of Sunday. Once we got back into the channels on Monday, it was smooth.

We saw lots of marine life...mostly in the morning.

In Juneau, a must see is the tram. If you go,walk up the trail about 100 feet or so to the overlook. Do this even if it is raining. Last stop was Red Dog Saloon and we were entertained with a guitarist there and a great vibe. The library has wifi. 

 

[Carouselrider]

2 minutes ago, Thorswife59 said:

I am so sorry this happened to you.  I am curious though when you say you were told you only needed a drivers license, who told you that? 

The travel agent, and was very surprised.  No one thought about international waters needing a passport.

[Carouselrider]

10 minutes ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

A curiosity question. If a married woman brings her birth certificate as proof of citizenship and it has her maiden name on it, must she also bring her marriage license to prove who she is?

After our experience, I would bring everything I have.

[AKJonesy]

[Carouselrider]

On 9/18/2021 at 6:12 PM, ger_77 said:

They're from Iowa; either they drove to the port or they flew - in which case they would have had to have produced some kind of ID . . . . am I missing something here?

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

We had our driver's licenses, so were able to fly. We were misinformed about needing more for cruising international waters.

[Carouselrider]

20 minutes ago, AKJonesy said:

Monday, Sept 20 JUNEAU

Embarkation was pretty quick. Outside of the pier building I did notice scooter rentals...just an FYI. The bus picked us up from Coast Hotel and it was all a breeze. Once inside the pier we had our papers or device in hand for check in. We went thru 2 check points.. The second was to show and take photos even tho we uploaded to Navigator app. There is good wifi in the port building.. Our room was ready and very nice. We had nice weather at port then drizzle when sailing away. In Port Angeles, WA the pilot disembarked with the full moon behind. 

There was a lot of hustle and bustle on board as passengers re-acquainted themselves with being back on board. We headed to Pinnacle to make reservations and we could make them for all specialty dining. We did this on board to ensure we could apply to our large OBC. I am glad we did get reservations because they filled up fast so do this right away.

It is clear HAL is squeezing every inch they can into upgrades. Cabanas are on one side of the Lido pool not allow a lot of space to walk. Private cabanas are also available on deck 10 above the pool. Would I consider it? Probably if we did not have a balcony room.

Speaking of balcony, this is the first time we were in balcony room and they are smaller than the Oceanview which we normally had. But still, there is good space for everything.

Get ready for upselling when you sit down to eat in Lido.

When we reached the Pacific Ocean it became a little rough and got worse with 20' swells. I was on my back most of Sunday. Once we got back into the channels on Monday, it was smooth.

We saw lots of marine life...mostly in the morning.

In Juneau, a must see is the tram. If you go,walk up the trail about 100 feet or so to the overlook. Do this even if it is raining. Last stop was Red Dog Saloon and we were entertained with a guitarist there and a great vibe. The library has wifi. 

 

How did "we" do at trivia ?

[dchip]

44 minutes ago, Carouselrider said:

The travel agent, and was very surprised.  No one thought about international waters needing a passport.

Oh my goodness, that is really surprising. A travel agent definitely should have known what documentation you needed. I am so sorry that you had to deal with such disappointment. I, also, want to congratulate you on how you are handling the whole debacle. Good for you. May your cruise be more wonderful than you could ever imagine. 
Cheers, Denise

[Thorswife59]

Can someone tell me how late lunch is served on embarkation day? Our boarding time is 2:00 pm. When we arrived on our last Cunard cruise we were starving and stunned to find there was no food available at all until dinner. I haven’t sailed HAL in about 6 years and don’t remember what they offered or for how long.  Thanks! 

[luvteaching]

The dining room won't be open but the Lido will (at least one side)as well as the Dive-In. The Dive-In has wonderful fries and good burgers. 

 

Karen

[Thorswife59]

18 minutes ago, luvteaching said:

The dining room won't be open but the Lido will (at least one side)as well as the Dive-In. The Dive-In has wonderful fries and good burgers. 

 

Karen

Thank you! I remember the amazing hot dogs at the Dive In! 

[jlnprt]

13 hours ago, Carouselrider said:

We had our driver's licenses, so were able to fly. We were misinformed about needing more for cruising international waters.

I'm so sorry that happened to you. What an awful disappointment!

 

[kazu]

13 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

A curiosity question. If a married woman brings her birth certificate as proof of citizenship and it has her maiden name on it, must she also bring her marriage license to prove who she is?

 

I believe so.  A passport solves all of that 😉 

[SightCRR]

N/A in ISP 9/21/21

[Jajmd]

9 minutes ago, SightCRR said:

N/A in ISP 9/21/21

Beautiful!  

[AKJonesy]

Tuesday, Sept 21

ISP was awesome.. wish we had more time here.. Hoonah  not available to walk in due to covid outbreak last few days.. NPS and Tlinket talks fantastic.. captain announced we will not goto Sitka due to even higher winds and waves from when we came up so we are staying in around the islands until morning when we have to pop out to Pacific for three hours then we will be heading up to Ketchikan.  Food has been very good. Pinnacle lunch is a bargain at 15 each plus we get Mariner discount on top. I will say the Pinnacle food is extremely rich so go hungry. Tomorrow night we are going to Tamarind.  Glacier Bay was beautiful and we got some peaks of sun. Already got our disembarkation paper work. Navigator is awesome with loads of info.

[HAL4NOW]

Thanks, @AKJonesy for the information and the pictures. I am going to add a few from today. Missing Sitka is a disappointment, but passenger safety and comfort is important.

 

Icy Strait Point:

Glacier Bay; Marjorie Glacier

 

Glacier Bay; Lamplugh Glacier

 

Glacier Bay; random 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Thank you for sharing your cruise and photos with us . We regret having to cancel this cruise and are sorry that you have to miss the Port of Sitka . We also missed it on our previous cruise due to high winds and waves and had really hoped to see it through your eyes .