Oosterdam 5/27 Alaskan Explorer

[Scrumpy]

Sorry, this is very long - and a bit late! The short version is that I think I gave our cruise a 7 on my comment card...

We flew in on Friday, had a driver pick us up, and had our first night in Seattle at Residence Inn Lake Union. Very nice with wonderful views of Lake Union, lovely breakfast and the bed was HEAVEN. We were several floors up and enjoyed just looking out the windows since we arrived late and tired with no desire to wander around; it took over 30 minutes to get our luggage at SeaTac, so I think it was after 9pm before we got to the hotel. Andy had a good run all the way around Lake Union on Saturday morning. Gone over an hour, IIRC. It was a longer run than he'd thought, but he enjoyed it. Time did get a bit tight, but we'd woken up early and the driver wasn't coming until about 11AM. DH had given me some birthday presents while I was still half-asleep and then skedaddled off to run, so it was a relaxing, quiet morning. Our animals sent me presents; it’s nice of Dad to shop for them. It will come up again, so I will mention one of the presents – a small stuffed dog that pants and barks. I never liked stuffed animals as a child; I must have regressed when I hit 30 and have a lot of them now. We had a big breakfast before we left the hotel and the trip to the terminal was very fast.

The driver was a few minutes late, but it was quiet at the terminal. The porters were not pan-handling and it was nowhere near as intimidating as FLL. Almost no line at check-in. Immediately had a problem as we'd gotten an unwanted upgrade to 6068 (IIRC) that we had to address on board at the front office - where they told us there was nothing they could do except ask the people who'd gotten our balcony if they wanted to switch. (That SS cabin was nice; we had the same type on Zui and I loved the room itself. The balcony on 6068 still had dirty drink glasses and a dirty ashtray from the previous occupants which caused a little concern). These other folks had been upgraded to OUR aft veranda, 5180. For some reason, the other folks got to view our cabin, then decide if they wanted it; didn't seem at all fair to me since we'd booked a specific cabin by number and now were at THEIR mercy. Luckily, since our upgraded cabin was a mini-suite, they were willing to trade (but said they wouldn't have wanted to do that in the Caribbean - gee, whatever happened to "dibs"?:mad: ) After lifeboat drill, we got organized, then switched cabins; this meant another trip to the front office to exchange keys and make sure everything was settled properly. They got an extra 100 s.f. or so and we got the aft balcony and smaller cabin (VA category). We were happy with the balcony but could only use it for limited amounts of time because of the weather. We'd go out several times a day, though, and got a good amount of use out of it, so it was a sound decision to choose it in the first place and to switch back to it instead of keeping the upgrade. (And, YES, there was debris and/or ash on the aft balcony daily. Perhaps it was just this specific location and/or cruise, but you had to be careful or you’d get dirty from sitting on the furniture out there). It was worth it for taking photos; not sure if I'd do it again since the bathroom, especially, is so much better in the SS category - and the TV is bigger and has the DVD/CD player (or whatever it is; I’m low-tech but DH noticed we didn’t have it in the VA). For the Caribbean, we'd definitely prefer to go back to an SS; we're not sun worshippers, so the uncovered aft balcony would not be as useful. Had shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers, and champagne for sailaway (which was already underway by the time the cabin switch was complete). Life was good :) We had a short period of relaxation, but there were things we usually do that we did not do and it took a while to figure out why things still seemed out of kilter and realize what we had missed doing that first afternoon, including getting our unpacking done as soon as bags arrived. We were behind and we felt we needed to rush to get to the point we needed to be. We may have had the option for help during the cabin switch, but we were not offered any and moved things ourselves, including champagne, flowers, etc. We ended up with a second bouquet of flowers the second or third day, probably because things got mixed up. DH had gotten me a monogrammed HAL robe that arrived without the monogram, so he took it to the front desk and they had it back to me in the correct cabin within 48 hours; he dealt with this when we were still in 6068. He had filled out a form for the monogram when he ordered it; otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth mentioning and it was a very minor thing.

During the cabin switch confusion, we'd immediately sought solace in the Ocean Bar, where we had a nice chat with Warly the bartender. Yes, we were drinking by noon, LOL!!! A very nice man and we sought him out several more times over the week. His cheerful demeanor and willingness to while away some time with us made a big difference in our attitudes. :D It was very relaxing. We had a couple glasses of wine and chilled there while we waited for the front office to contact the people in 5180; I was in a decent mood by lifeboat drill, then positively beaming by sailaway. DH nipped down to the shop and got me another little present - a bobble-head Husky that resembled one of our dogs, Uta. We spent the week posing dogs and taking photos. It was probably the most fun we had on ship or on land, honestly. For some reason, we laughed our heads off while we were taking stuffed animal photos. Eventually, we added a third stuffed dog to the collection; picked the last one up in Ketchikan and it's a Husky in an Igloo. Very cute! Have some pics of the dogs with the towel animals our cabin steward made. Also feasting on steak, smelling flowers, and trying various drinks. (Yes, we are turning into “those” people). The first dinner was a bit tense, but eventually we fell into the groove with our tablemates and spent the evening with them in Victoria. We had a CC meeting the first night and that was very pleasant. The CC people were friendly and it was nice to meet James Deering. I didn’t chat with him much myself, but he seemed like a good guy. A day or two into the cruise, we got a bottle of champagne which was a sweet gesture and much-appreciated.

Highlight was definitely the helicopter and dog sledding on the glacier in Juneau. Would do that again - over and over and over!!! I got so distracted by the scenery while I was "driving" that I tipped over the sled and DH ended up facedown in the snow - with the video/audio still running. It is hilarious to watch and hear my "oops"! That was a blast. The Otter and Wildlife boat trip in Sitka was awesome, too. Tons and tons of otters - so dang cute! Lots of photos and video of those. Only a few whales and no really good photos, but we did get to SEE them and that was the main thing. Even saw an Orca come ALL the way out of the water like a dolphin at Sea World from our balcony one day - saw a lot of whales from the ship itself; one pod of Orca must have had about a dozen whales. Very cool! Seals and sea lions and eagles, too, on the Otter & Wildlife cruise in Sitka. Great excursion. We also visited the Raptor Center in Sitka and St. Michaels’s on our own; it was a long walk to the Raptor Center – or maybe it just seemed that way. The Raptor Center was very good, though and we’d do it again. The disappointment was the floatplane in Ketchikan. Best parts were take-off and landing; wouldn't do that again except as a means of transportation. Other people rave about this excursion, so maybe we missed something. Loved Victoria. Went on a pub crawl with our tablemates and had a lot of laughs. I left my favorite new hat (which is dorky and easily replaced) at an Irish pub, but no big deal. Since we got home, we’ve discussed a few things and I think, overall, we preferred the itinerary we had on Maasdam in ’03 with Skagway and Glacier Bay. We were glad to do this one because now we have also gotten to visit Sitka and Hubbard, so there were no regrets over the itinerary we chose this time. I’ll try to answer questions about the excursions if there are any. We booked everything through HAL this time and they all went well. No regrets about that either. Possibly, it’d have been less expensive to do it ourselves, but the whole point was to try to make this trip as stress-free as possible and we didn’t want to expend the effort or take the time to contact individual vendors. Everything seemed to go smoothly and it was a one-stop shop, so we were pleased both beforehand and with the excursions themselves. The only thing we wish had been more clear was that they did not want ANYTHING with straps/cases on the helicopter, including camera cases (not big camera bags, even little cases that simply cover the camera itself).

We ate lunch at Pinnacle at Hubbard Glacier. Mine was very nice, but DH's was just okay and the service was not that great. We have not been terribly impressed either time we've eaten at Pinnacle and I'm not sure we'll bother with it again. I didn't want to give up a night in the dining room and the Pinnacle was part of the Celebration package Andy got for my birthday, so I'm glad we chose lunch. They have a special that included a glass of wine; I believe it was $30 for two for lunch and we may (or may not) have ended up with a credit for the difference between lunch and dinner. Weren’t too worried about that, honestly. Got to see some fabulous calving at Hubbard while we were eating and took some pics. Okay, we took over 700 digital pics on this trip...we took a LOT of pics. I took another 80 or so with my film camera...

The Pinnacle/DR food was not bad, but it wasn’t as good as we remembered in the DR. Had a couple of really nice steaks/tenderloins and yummy, gorgeous salmon. (I love salmon; had it 2 or 3 times). It is the appetizers, soups and salads that are not great. Not much selection and sometimes not too tasty either. I don't think I had an entree that wasn't at least good if not better than good. DH LOVED the escargot and, as always, we both loved getting the shrimp cocktail via room service almost every day and when available, I had it in the dining room, too. I had a quick taco in Lido one day and that was very greasy and not nice at all. That was the only time I ate at Lido, so I have no idea how it was otherwise. DH had a deli sandwich once and ate some pasta once. I think the sandwich was fine, but the pasta wasn't great. He also could not find any juice at Lido. I'm not sure what time of day it was when he looked for it, but he mentioned it on his comment card at the end of the cruise. It was the only hand-written comment that he had about anything. And, he gave out NO nines for anything - only 8's, but mostly 6's and 7's. He’s not a complainer or high maintenance, but he is brutally honest on the comment cards. We had room service breakfast every day. One morning they left off part of the order and we didn’t pursue it or get upset. It wasn’t like we were starving or anything, LOL!!! Hot foods were hot and cold foods were cold and it always arrived within the first few minutes of the time frame we’d chosen. Breakfast is one of my absolute favorite parts of a cruise and I was never disappointed. I loved it every morning and thought it was all well-prepared. We also had room service for shrimp cocktail and cheese and crackers several times in the afternoons. I rarely eat any lunch, but would get hungry by about 3-4pm and our dining time was 8-9pm. We prefer a fixed dining time and if we hadn’t had such great tablemates, there could have been some problems when we were not on the same courses at the same time. They always ordered multiples of dishes, so it wasn’t hard to catch up. Sadly, this habit caught on with us and I overate several times. Since I wasn’t keen on many of the appetizers/soups/salads, when two choices I liked appeared, I ended up ordering them both and also had two entrees a few times. The desserts were not as appealing this time, so I guess I could have been even more of a pig than I was. We were seated at Table 114 and it is a pretty bad location – poor acoustics, vibrations and awkward seating. You had to speak loudly to be heard. It’s a table for 6, but three are on a sofa/bench and the other three are chairs. If the third couple had shown up, it could’ve been strange deciding who sat where. The only night they did show up was the night the man from early seating came to our seating and refused to leave the table. An odd duck, definitely… DR service was very good. Muhamed and his assistant were a little busy but prompt and pleasant. Our wine steward, Cesar, was a real hoot, too. And, YES, there were jeans in the dining room. Every night we were there... I don’t know about the night in Victoria because we didn’t eat in the DR that night, but there were nights when it seemed half the folks were wearing jeans. I noted it, but it didn’t make much impact on me. The night of the Dessert Extravaganza we went down to Lido and there were only a few of us that were dressed up. Since the DR had not been empty and there were obviously compliance issues, I don’t think the majority of the people down there had changed clothes or skipped dinner. We dressed up every night and I think DH looked dang spiffy! I suffered from wearing heels and may be a bit more casual or in flats on future casual nights. We were over-dressed most of the time anyway and I can do without the painful calves/shins next time around!

I didn’t go to any of the shows this time. I even missed Joel Mason. I fell asleep early that night and I reckon I needed the nap, so it was okay. The sofa was pretty comfortable for an unintended nap, LOL! DH said it was the same show we saw last year. Our tablemates said he’d made an inappropriate joke about relations with a llama. That piqued my curiosity, but I never found out what exactly he said. We did two trivia quizzes and bingo; they were a lot of fun. There was controversy over a trivia answer (not something we challenged) and that was interesting. Some folks are pretty serious about that stuff. We did pretty well the first game without winning, but not so hot the second time around. We struck out all around at bingo.

We had a minor plumbing issue in our cabin that first day that was addressed immediately. Our toilet wouldn’t flush. Then, later, it would flush on its own – like Casper was in our cabin. I'm quick on the comment cards, so I'd written one up about the cabin confusion and also mentioned the plumbing issue and given some compliments to staff members I especially appreciated. We'd met the HM, Deering, late on the first night when our CC group gathered; he was very nice and I think he'd already mentioned the plumbing issue as someone fixed it the next day. It started again the last two days of the cruise. It was an intermittent problem and I didn’t want to complain again, so I didn’t mention it. It was not a major issue.

We also had to have to the mix cartridge replaced in our shower; the water got very, very hot – so hot I couldn’t stay under it, even when I turned it to all cold. DH takes hot showers; I like the water more warm than actually hot. The first time it happened, I blamed it on showering at a peak time. When it was still happening at a time that wouldn’t normally be busy, I called the front office. They sent someone to take care of it and we didn’t have any more trouble. They do try to solve problems immediately when it is within their power. (We had an issue on Zui last year with the whirlpool tub spitting out black stuff; they tried to fix it twice, but it was never completely resolved. They did TRY and that was the main thing. I couldn’t fault anyone’s responsiveness and I think sometime gunk just builds up in the lines or spigots if the jets aren’t used regularly).

We were not impressed with the new bedding on Oosterdam. (Should have asked for an egg crate like we did on Zui last year; hindsight is 20/20). We were tired the whole trip and never felt like we slept well. I woke up during the night and was restless in my sleep; I couldn’t get comfortable. The last two nights we slept the most, possibly out of sheer exhaustion. Thursday night, I’d gone to the alpha capsule, then had the acupuncture/massage (110 minutes of treatment) AND taken a muscle relaxer. I managed almost seven hours that night. I had very sore calves/shins from wearing high heels every night and that's why I tried the acupuncture/massage combo and it was very helpful (37 needles!) - my first time trying acupuncture and I’d do it again. Also, the curtains weren't that great – just not thick enough - and the duct tape fixed the gaps, but there is so much light in Alaska for so much of the time that I woke up very early every morning. Somewhere, I have eye shades; I may dig them out before the next cruise - just in case…

I did three sessions in the alpha capsule and I think that helped with the fatigue. However, the capsule is in a lousy location out in the open in the fitness center. It greatly detracts from the relaxation aspect when you can hear the equipment squeaking and clanging, people’s conversations, and the television. A spa employee told me that she agreed it should be moved and had already recommended it; I believe it was her first week on the ship, so I don’t think it was a matter of anyone dallying about or ignoring her suggestion; they hadn’t really had time to address it. Maasdam and Zuiderdam both had more quiet, private locations for their capsule. Hopefully, it will be out from center stage soon. I love it, so I did it anyway, but kept hoping it would be re-located during our cruise. A spa staff member warned us people were chair-hogging with the T-pool package - sitting there reading all day - so we didn't do that, but I still want to try it. I noticed that by late the last afternoon there were only a few people in there. By then, it was almost time to get ready to go ashore in Victoria and I didn’t want to go there for a few minutes, then rush to get off the ship. Maybe next time… DH enjoyed the sauna several times and had a run or two on the treadmill. Mostly, he runs in port because he finds that more enjoyable. He ran up Mt. Roberts and I met him at the top. They have an eagle up there and what struck me was that a few folks ignored the signs about no flash photos. Some made no attempt at all to turn off the flash on their camera and I felt very sorry for that poor bird having lights flash in her face all day. The attendant was not there when I saw the eagle. Perhaps they do try to enforce it when someone is on-duty. Also, the donation boxes were overflowing and it seemed an invitation to petty theft. I felt weird having to stick my hand IN the box and push other bills down to make a donation. It was still cool being so close to an eagle.

We went to the Mariner’s reception which was during the day. I arrived a little late and it was then that I saw that they had someone else as HM. Later, Richard told us Deering had left the ship in Ketchikan. (Thanks Richard!) I was a little disappointed in the reception as it was very brief and there wasn’t much to it. We missed the one on Zui last year when we were in quarantine, so this was our first one. I thought I’d read about there being nibbles served and drinks, but I wasn’t offered a drink and didn’t see any food. Andy had a drink, but even when he got there (before me), they were not providing good beverage service and his was orange juice or a mimosa off a prepared tray. It was all over in perhaps 30 minutes. Reading another thread, I saw someone recommend a “State of the Cruise Line” type message and I would have enjoyed that a lot.

We weren't thrilled with the photographers - it wasn't so much that they were too intrusive because it was usually easy to dodge them. We weren't pleased with the way we were posed - and the fact that our desire in that regard was unimportant to the photographer who put us in the position he wanted. We had looked forward to the formal night photos (yes, we're weird that way) and I knew that one pose he insisted upon would not be flattering. It wasn't, so we didn't buy those. Some think it's throwing money away to buy photos, but since we rarely get photos of the two of us together, I don't mind buying them on the ship. Next time, we may arrange a private sitting. Live and learn.

The last night, and this pretty much was the theme of the cruise, we went down for one last drink at Northern Lights after we packed and put out our bags. We'd missed last call by less than five minutes.:( And, that was that... But, our last room service breakfast was great and we were off the ship quickly - in fact, they called our group before we were ready. No big deal; we just went down later and were NOT the last ones off the ship by any stretch of the imagination. Someday, I'd like to be!!! Got a taxi fairly quickly and were at the Marriott before 10AM; they let us check in early and I took about a 2-3 hour nap! Again, the bed was terrific, but I almost think the one at the Residence Inn was a little better. I woke up to a bouquet of flowers from DH, which was very sweet. The weird thing that happened when we disembarked was that the wheel on one piece of luggage was somehow broken. DH had to literally drag the bag and left a trail of black behind him. It wasn’t a particularly old or worn-out piece of luggage, so it was kind of annoying. We replaced the bag in Seattle. Macy’s (I think) had Delsey half-off, so that was nice.

Seattle was okay; we had some very aggressive, in-your-face street people who made me nervous and I must have handed out half a pack of cigarettes the first night. Having lived and partied in Dallas (including Deep Ellum before it became a trendy, yuppified area), I am not normally upset by people asking for things, but these folks were OTT and kinda scared me. So, if we go back, we'll cab it at night. Mostly, we really liked it there, so it was a shame that it got iffy, especially at night. I got a great new hat at Pike Market and we looked for one of the two restaurants the concierge recommended as a good place to watch the basketball play-offs, one of which was not in the location he gave us and the other was far from being a sports bar. We had dinner at Metropolitan Grill (in the bar where you could see the game). Even in the bar, we had to wait about half an hour for a table; it was very busy and reservations are apparently recommended. My steak was melt-in-your-mouth fantastic, but Andy's dinner wasn't as good. Had the reverse experience the next night when his was awesome and mine was so-so at Fish Club. We were staying at the Marriott Waterfront (awesome views - corner room - just loved the location), and I was exhausted from being hassled on the street, so we ate at Fish Club since it's part of the hotel. After Metropolitan Grill, we stopped at Fado Irish pub and that was nice. Sat outside and people-watched, but had passers-by hassling me for smokes again (ugh!). Then, we went down to Cutter's Bayfront and had a drink (or two?) and their crab/artichoke dip - YUMMY!!! Got hassled again out front by a scary guy, so really regretted forgetting my patches. (Bought nicotine patches to take with me, but walked out and left them on our kitchen table). I have never seen such aggressive people in any other US city and it was a real issue when we couldn’t walk a block without being approached – or even sit outside and have any chance at peace and quiet. We had brunch at the Space Needle on Sunday and it was better than we expected. Andy loved the meal and the views. Didn't do the ducks or the Aquarium - and we always do ducks and aquariums, so if we go back, we will definitely do it. We should know better than to break routine. The Aquarium was right across from the hotel and I wish now I’d had more energy on Saturday and gone there instead of taking a nap. Just were so tired from not sleeping well on the ship that neither of us could get our heads straight and get organized. We made it to the International District but only visited one store and I had a tough time trying to buy souvenirs and presents – I’d had the same problem in Alaska, so I think I was simply not in shopping mode. We mostly wandered around, honestly. DH was being approached for money again and we called it a day early and went back to the hotel where we had dinner a few hours later. The last day we rented a car. Only used it about 4 hours, but since the cab ride was about $35 and the car rental was $45, it was worth it. We went to the locks, but the fish ladders were closed until June 8th; pretty park, but the locks themselves were not much to look at. Our flight was delayed, but we got to the airport on time anyway and had a bite to eat there. It was a good clam chowder/Caesar salad combo – very tasty and, by far, the least expensive meal we’d had in Seattle. We had a laugh over that. Flew first-class to and from Seattle, so that helped ease the travel pains and they had food I liked on the way home, so we were really pleased. Missed our first connection in Denver; had another less than an hour later, so that wasn't too bad.

Looking back, I would say that the first day was probably more stressful for me than it would be for most people. I need a home base before I can feel settled and the first 4-5 hours were hard on me. I try to roll with things and be flexible but I never dreamed they would give away an assigned cabin and the shock of that along with the feeling of rootlessness was something I didn’t recover from quickly. We will probably never get an upgrade again, which is a shame because anywhere else we would have been happy about it and grateful to get it.

People have asked about the ship and I didn’t observe any problems – all seemed in good shape and very clean. If there are issues, you must have to look for them. It was fine as far as we could see. The only passenger issue we had on board was that every day, sometimes several times a day, I would encounter non-smokers in smoking areas. Some seemed determined to make me uncomfortable and I started to feel unwelcome outside our cabin, even though I was in designated smoking areas and those people had many other seating options. It was bizarre and as I was often completely on my own, I was intimidated by some of them. This has never happened to me before on a ship and I couldn’t believe it happened over and over again.

We realized this weekend that we hadn’t gotten our Oosterdam tiles. Unless someone has a different suggestion, I am going to email James Deering about that. Since he is on the ship, I reckon he’d be the quickest route to solving that oversight. I love those tiles!

I’ll be happy to try to answer any questions. I didn’t take a notebook, so I don’t have detailed notes, but will try to help if I can. Overall, we had a good time. Next time, we will make a concerted effort to relax and do less. Also, we have already decided our next cruise will be longer than 7 days because that just isn’t long enough!!! If you're still here, thanks for reading this and I understand that our experience is ours alone; please bear that in mind if you have unkind comments. We did enjoy the cruise and are hopeful that the next one will go a little more smoothly.

[HALOnlyCruiser]

Good job, Susan! I'm glad you had a memorable birthday! Did you get a cake in the DR?

Thanks for the effort you put into the review. Can't wait to see (all 780) pictures.:D

Welcome home!

Cindy

[Scrumpy]

Hey Cindy :D

It was a VERY memorable birthday. Mostly, in a good way and if I celebrate the next one this way, it'll suit me to the ground! Yes, I got cake :) Chocolate cake! We had a piece after dinner, but our tablemates weren't into a lot of sweets, so they passed. We took it back to our cabin afterwards, then we didn't finish it. I kept thinking I'd have some, but other things kept coming up and I'd forget :o It was pretty stale by the last night when I finally remembered to have some, so that was it for the poor cake. I do believe we took a pic of the dog "eating" cake, though. LOL!!!

 

Speaking of the dog, I forgot to say that we put a bow tie on him for the second formal night and took him to dinner. It was ridiculous. We laughed and laughed. Our tablemates helped pose him when we were in Victoria, too. They had done something similar when they "kidnapped" a mascot once. They had a lot of great photo ideas and played along at dinner and in Victoria; I think they enjoyed it as much as we did. Three cheers for happy, fun-loving tablemates!!!

 

I pulled a few of my pillow chocolates out this afternoon and ate them. I hoarded them the whole cruise :p Yummy, yummy - just like being back on the ship...well, almost.

 

Wow, I had no idea that I was changing font colors when I posted. Hmmm, wonder how I did that. Guess it's from copying and pasting from other posts here and from Word. Interesting...

 

Thanks for reading; I know I have a little editing problem.

Cheers!

[richcrow]

Susan,

 

Enjoyed your review. Thought it was a very honest summary of your cruise. You know until you mentioned in your review, I had forgotten that we had the same problems with finding a dirty ashtray on the verandah and some cleaning rags in the tray underneath the sink in the bathroom. We also didn't have any fruit in our stateroom until the second afternoon. I guess they were honest mistakes by our steward, because all in all he was a very good steward.

 

Hope you get your tiles.

 

Richard

[Scrumpy]

Thanks Richard,

You know - now that you mention it, we didn't have fruit until the second or third day either. I had not even thought about it. Seems like with the cooler weather, we didn't think about eating fruit nearly as much this time. I couldn't fault the steward for anything because I know that things were hectic with us initially and it probably threw everyone slightly out of their routine. I really liked our cabin steward a lot. I forget the name of the one for the first cabin; I remember recognizing it from CC and wondering if we'd have one that was as good when we switched rooms. The one we had where we stayed was Arie and he was such a nice young man. I felt really bad one day because we thought we had stuff out of his way and returned to the cabin to find things neatly folded and stacked - and MORE out of his way. Felt guilty about it. He really went above and beyond, I thought! And, I loved the towel animals and the way he saw we were playing with our stuffed animal and incorporated it his arrangements. Thought it was a nice personal touch.:)

 

Another thing I should have mentioned and read in your review was about the laundry/pressing. Andrew had to send out three shirts, but only needed one of them done "express". He got all three back the next day, which I thought was nice. Only got the extra charge for the one shirt, so that was really great; could tell they were on top of things.

Susan

[6Arabianhorses]

Great Review! We are on the O in a little over 3 weeks. Given that I am STILL fretting, sorting, trying on and deciding what all to pack, my big questions are: What did you wear on the excursions? Will tennis shoes be fine, or should I still take my LL Bean boots? What did you take that you never used? How would you have dressed differently in the Dining Room? I too had thought that I would dress up every night, complete with heels.............but now, I'm re-thinking that, since I am WAY more comfortable out of heels! :p What did you take that you are REALLY glad you did? What did you NOT wear? Etc., etc.,.........you know, all those packing questions that all of us first time newbie cruisers to Alaska have.

 

Our animals sent me presents; it’s nice of Dad to shop for them. Mine DH does the same thing!! :p

 

The driver was a few minutes late, but it was quiet at the terminal. What transportation did you use from your hotel to the pier?

 

Highlight was definitely the helicopter and dog sledding on the glacier in Juneau. YEAH! I am so glad to hear that, as it's the one we are really looking forward to. Did you take any doggie treats?

The Otter and Wildlife boat trip in Sitka was awesome, too. Did you get off on one of the islands and get to walk around?

We also visited the Raptor Center in Sitka and St. Michaels’s on our own; it was a long walk to the Raptor Center – or maybe it just seemed that way. Are there any taxis or shuttles that we could catch to avoid the long walk?

 

And, YES, there were jeans in the dining room. Every night we were there...We dressed up every night and I think DH looked dang spiffy! I suffered from wearing heels and may be a bit more casual or in flats on future casual nights. We were over-dressed most of the time anyway and I can do without the painful calves/shins next time around! How many nights were dressy and how many were casual? For DH, will a blazer and khakis be ok? We've also got him a tux rented for the formal nights.............for which he may take issue with if everyone else is in much more casual attire. :rolleyes:

 

We were tired the whole trip and never felt like we slept well. Were the beds too hard? Who would we request an egg crate from if we need one?

 

Thanks so much for all your info. It will greatly help as I continue to get us ready for our cruise! Bet you were glad to get home and see all the fur children though! ;)

[6Arabianhorses]

One more question...........are there CD/DVD players in the rooms?

[Scrumpy]

Great Review! We are on the O in a little over 3 weeks. Given that I am STILL fretting, sorting, trying on and deciding what all to pack, my big questions are: What did you wear on the excursions? Will tennis shoes be fine, or should I still take my LL Bean boots? What did you take that you never used? How would you have dressed differently in the Dining Room? I too had thought that I would dress up every night, complete with heels.............but now, I'm re-thinking that, since I am WAY more comfortable out of heels! :p What did you take that you are REALLY glad you did? What did you NOT wear? Etc., etc.,.........you know, all those packing questions that all of us first time newbie cruisers to Alaska have.

 

 

 

Thanks so much for all your info. It will greatly help as I continue to get us ready for our cruise! Bet you were glad to get home and see all the fur children though! ;)

Thanks!!! And, you're welcome :) Yes, I was very happy to get home to the fur kids and make sure all was well with them!

 

I wore fleece-lined jeans or zip-off pants on the excursions. (I carried my rain pants around, too, like a dork; never had to wear them). Regular jeans would probably have been fine; it got a bit cold at the glacier toward the end, so I was glad to have the lined jeans that day. I wore my gloves part of the time at the glacier, too. Skipped the long underwear, though. We were actually over-dressed the first two stops, so had to take off a layer or two at some point. In Juneau, I ended up stripped down to a short-sleeve t-shirt for a while, then adding back again. We were just right in Ketchikan which was cooler and wetter.

 

I took one fleece too many - an XL that I could have worn if it had been extremely cold or windy. We tended to have difficulty gauging the weather by what we'd get on the balcony; it was fairly windy going in and out of port, so it would seem cooler than it was. I did not need my toque or scarf either, but I did wear the fleece socks. The tennis shoes will probably be fine; they give you glacier boots to go over your shoes for the dog sledding. I wore my (not LL) lined boots a lot, but they started to feel very heavy in Sitka when my calves/shins were killing me. (I absolutely never wear heels at home; my legs aren't used to them at all, but I was still very surprised that I got that sore).

 

I was very, very glad to have taken a little gardening hat that I subsequently lost in Victoria. I wore it all the time onshore. It was less than 10 bucks at Target and money well spent. I didn't get wet in the rain! I was also glad to have my regular fleece jacket and fleece vest. Part of the reason the vest was handy was that the pockets zipped, so I didn't have to worry about losing stuff.

 

I wish I had not fallen for marketing and bought a "Healthy Back"-type bag; wish I'd taken a small, normal backpack instead. I wish I'd left a whole bunch of hair stuff at home - bought 2 new curling irons and 6 different crystal/beaded/etc. hair clips/ornaments and took hair spray - used NONE of those things. DH prefers my hair down and I didn't feel like messing with it, so that was all wasted weight. I wish I had taken MORE Q-tips, though and a full-size tube of toothpaste instead of 2 travel sizes. Had to try to find my toothpaste in two different ports which was more difficult than I'd have thought. (A little obsessive with oral hygiene). We are moving into the realm of TMI, I think.

 

I wouldn't have dressed much differently, but I would've tried harder to find low-heeled dress sandals. There were 2 formal, 1 informal, and 4 casual nights. We didn't eat on the ship in Victoria, though, so I ended up with three outfits I didn't wear, along with a nice cocktail dress; took a few extra so I would have choices and to dress up in Seattle if we decided to do that. We didn't, but until Sunday afternoon DH had been talking about maybe putting on his tux and me wearing the cocktail dress. We ended up dining dressed casually that night, to my great relief. A blazer and khakis will be fine for your husband.

 

We used Seattle Best Limo (dot com). You can reserve online. They picked us up at SeaTac Friday night, too. The guy was very nice and helpful. I about fell over when he told us it would take 30 minutes for the luggage to make it baggage claim, but he was right! We had a Navigator, not a limo; don't know if you request what you want. It was a surprise from DH and I don't know all the details. They have those obnoxious stretch Hummers, too. (Got to see lots of limos in town; it was prom or graduation or something; lots of kids all dressed up and hanging out limo windows).

 

No, I did not take doggie treats. If I had, they most likely have have been in my bag which was NOT allowed on the helicopter. (If you remember them, put them in your pockets). As it turned out, I probably would have forgotten to give them to the dogs anyway; we didn't have a whole lot of time after the ride and they are far too excitable beforehand to socialize with us at all. They want to GO!!! Several of the dogs on our sled were in season. They had to break up 3 fights before we made it out of the camp and remove one of the dogs. They had to re-arrange them to minimize the aggression, but since there were intact males, it was not a simple procedure. Two of our dogs at home fight and have to be kept separated, so I was familiar with what can happen when they are over-stimulated. It's not fun, but luckily none of the dogs or people were injured and they broke up the fights as quickly as they could. Three men came to help our handler and remove the one dog. At a stop during the ride, one of the males did mount a female, but I don't think he was successful. Anyway, there was a lot going on! You'll love it. The dogs are on the lean side compared to ours at home. They are very enthusiastic and fit, though. One of ours had lead the Iditarod twice.

 

No, you don't get off the boat trip in Sitka - at least ours didn't stop at an island or anything. It was thru HAL - Allen Marine... We saw ONE taxi in Sitka, but I am sure there must be more. I am not sure about shuttles. We just started walking as soon as the boat tour ended , went to St. Michael's, then kept walking. I didn't time the walk, but I think it was a good thirty minutes. Bear in mind, I was not going fast and we may not have chosen the most direct route. Also, the Raptor Center is pretty small. Very cool and definitely worth a visit, but not a large facility. We had time for the wildlife cruise, St. Michael's (and the gift shop), the walk to and from the Raptor Center (and gift shop) and a stop in another store without any trouble.

 

I found the beds a little hard and I also could easily feel the little divider where they make 2 twins into one bed. When we got an egg crate, we requested it from the cabin steward, I think. Either we asked him directly or we called Housekeeping. Part of the trouble is the light and, unless you're in an inside cabin, you're going to get some. It isn't a lot of very bright light, but it's enough when you're used to pitch-black like I am and already sleeping poorly. Most folks rave about the bedding, so you may love it and sleep very well.

 

In the VA cabin, there wasn't a CD/DVD player. In the SS and above, they have them - or something like them. Seems like we played movies on DVD in the SS on Zui. I don't remember them being videotape, but we did that while we were ill and I could be mistaken.

 

I hope that helps! If I missed anything, please let me know:)

[Scrumpy]

Hope you have an awesome cruise!!! You will love the dog sledding and the helicopter ride, too. That is a fantastic excursion!!!:D

[HALOnlyCruiser]

6ArabianHorses:

There are shuttles in Sitka provided by the local Tlingit clan labelled "Tribal Tours". They run a loop circuit around town and stop at all the sites. It's a flat rate for unlimited "Off/On". They are very prevalent at the tender docks. It's a white airporter-type van with Tribal Tours on it. It is a bit of a hike to the Raptor Center...there is a path that takes off in the National Historic Park, but it's not well marked. It's across the bridge over the Indian River, and the directional sign says "Russian Memorial." Instead of turning right after you cross the bridge, keep going straight, and you'll come out on Sawmill Creek Road, just about right across the road from the Raptor Center. Then you just have to walk up the hill to the Center:)! Much easier to take the shuttle, especially if it's drippy (and it well could be!)

We will be on the O in four weeks! Can't wait! Be sure to post your experiences when you return.

Cindy

[shonuf]

Sorry, this is very long - and a bit late! The short version is that I think I gave our cruise a 7 on my comment card...

 

We realized this weekend that we hadn’t gotten our Oosterdam tiles. Unless someone has a different suggestion, I am going to email James Deering about that. Since he is on the ship, I reckon he’d be the quickest route to solving that oversight. I love those tiles!

 

 

Scrumpy, glad you enjoyed the "O". We were on her in January and like you, we didn't receive our Mariner tiles. I didn't even notice until we got home and I was back on CC. I called customer service for HAL, got directed to a voice mail, left my info including my booking number and got a call back later in the day letting me know they were putting them in the mail. Got them a few days later. We really enjoyed spending time with Mr. Deering on our cruise.

[Scrumpy]

6ArabianHorses - Our excursion in Sitka was the Otter and Wildlife one. Are you on a different one? There are some that do stop on land. Have fun!:D

 

shonuf - Thank you; I'm glad the tiles won't be a problem! ***Also, but OT: my family is still in Lavon; we've lived in Dallas and Garland, but mostly Plano. Frisco was tiny when we moved to TX in 1979 and Plano wasn't much bigger. Have you been there long? (Sorry - When I read posts from N.Texas it's almost impossible to resist making a comment).

[6Arabianhorses]

6ArabianHorses - Our excursion in Sitka was the Otter and Wildlife one. Are you on a different one? There are some that do stop on land. Have fun!:D

 

I booked our independently with Capt. Davey and the Esther G, but I'm not sure if we stop on land. It is a 3 hour tour though.

Another question...........do the rooms have individual climate controls? I happen to like it very cold and am hoping that we can control our own A/C, as we would in a hotel room. Just wondering if I should take a small fan..............I know, I know, next it'll be the kitchen sink!..............but those "power surges" are a bugger!! :p

[HALOnlyCruiser]

Hi Debbi!

Boy do I hear you about the power surges! Mine have been going strong for about 12 years, and I've been through menopause for almost 6. I am like you on the cabin temperatures. And, yes, you can regulate the thermostat yourself. I really don't think you'll need a fan. You can make the room pretty chilly just with the thermostat. You only have two weeks to go! How exciting! I love getting ready for a trip. Just like the Expedia commercials say: "Enjoy getting ready!"

Cindy

[6Arabianhorses]

Hi Debbi!

Boy do I hear you about the power surges! Mine have been going strong for about 12 years, and I've been through menopause for almost 6. I am like you on the cabin temperatures. And, yes, you can regulate the thermostat yourself. I really don't think you'll need a fan. You can make the room pretty chilly just with the thermostat. You only have two weeks to go! How exciting! I love getting ready for a trip. Just like the Expedia commercials say: "Enjoy getting ready!"

Cindy

 

Hi Cindy! Whew!! I'm so glad to hear that I can get the room down to near freezing! LOL! DH has had to keep the electric blanket on (on his side) for a few years now and is used to me needing polar bear and penguin temps even during the height of summer. I just know I'm going to LOVE being at those glaciers!! :D Thanks so much for letting me know! Take care! Debbi