Trip Report Oosterdam Alaska Cruise – July 24-31, 2004 Day 1 of 8 (part one)

[bryanwal]

HAL Oosterdam Alaska Cruise – July 24-31, 2004

 

Cast of Characters

Me, Bryan – 44

Elizabeth – my wife

Kevin – my son, age 15

Jeffrey – my son, age 13

 

Day One (and before) – Saturday, July 24, 2004

Anticipation has been building for this cruise - our third overall and our first on Holland America. Last Friday, July 16, Beci, our travel agent, left a message on my e-mail asking where she could get a hold of me because she had news – I sent her the number at home and she called shortly. The first news was that our itinerary had changed slightly – we were to be a little longer in Juneau. The better news was that the upgrade fairy had smiled upon us – we were being upgraded from a Cat B to a Category S deluxe verandah suite! I was so excited and decided to keep it a surprise. As it turned out, I couldn’t keep it a surprise until we got to the room, because when we checked in it was obvious it was into a suite. E, K & J were so excited when they found out.

 

We took a taxi from our home in Sammamish, a Seattle suburb, at 10:30. The driver was a very nice Hungarian. We gave our luggage to be checked-in ourselves, since the porters didn’t seem to be interested in our business. There was not a long wait at suite check-in and just a few people waiting in the standard line for regular checkin. In fact, we might have gone through faster in the other line. The checkin agent took our pictures and gave us all our documentation and ID cards and put a gold sticker on us. I can’t remember if it said “Holland America” or “Oosterdam”. I wasn’t sure what the purpose of the sticker was at the time. We then proceeded to the security check and stopped by the table where they were selling the unlimited drink cards. We bought three, as I was planning on only drinking water. I don’t think these charges ever showed up on our bill. Then we headed to the gangway. HAL & Princess share a common entrance to the gangway until you get close to the ship where the gangway splits – left for HAL and right for Princess. At this point it seemed clear to me that the sticker was so that the agents on the gangway could ensure that boarding passengers headed toward the correct ship. The photographer was there on the gangway just before we went on the ship, to get boarding pictures. We saw the photographer and videographer a lot during the cruise, but it didn’t really bother us except once. After we passed the onboard security check we were greeted by a white-gloved crewman. The color of our card, a pale green, signaled that we were to be escorted to the Neptune Lounge. He took us up there, where we met Amber, one of the concierges, who persuaded us to make reservations at the Pinnacle grill, chose Dutch night (also Sitka night) because that’s the least interesting menu, from a lo-carb point of view. We grabbed a few nummy appetizers while we were in the lounge. There was always something good to eat in there. All the little sandwiches were open faced. Amber told us they used to be true sandwhiches with bread on both sides but that many people like us ate the filling and threw away the bread. So HAL decided it was easier to leave the sandwhiches open faced. In the mornings there was always cereal and fruit, plus coffee and juice and at tea time there was appropriate fare, including one day strawberries dipped in white or milk chocolate. Speaking of strawberries, we thought it strange that we didn’t see any until several days into the cruise. We had hoped that there would be some at the buffet for breakfast and lunch.

 

Since it was too early to go to our suite, we ate lunch in the Lido buffet. Since we were all carrying our handheld luggage I staked out a table with our affairs while the others went in search of food. When Jeffrey came back, I took my turn to find something to eat. I had ham & smoked turkey salad, tomato & onion salad, roast beef with broccoli, and some assorted cheese. We were sitting in the port side of the Lido so I didn’t notice the little Chinese food station on the starboard side where today’s offering was curry chicken. I did partake later in the cruise, and fortunately at this station they have a little bowl of hot pepper sauce so you can spice up your food a little. If you like your food more than bland, this is an important consideration. We found the food during the cruise to be mostly underseasoned.

 

to be continued ...

 

Bryan

[TedC]

The first time I got a gold star or gold sticker was on HAL. I don't recall ever receiving one in school. I thought they were for good behavior, but HAL hardly knew me!

 

Turned out the gold stickers were for those lucky pax living the "Suite Life."

 

PS: Good review, you deserve a gold star.

[bryanwal]

So, they're only for suite passengers? I thought it was the ID card that gave us away. I can't remember at what point we took them off - I felt a little silly wearing it. Thanks for the kudos!