Can you take another Statendam review?

[chiccruiser]

We just returned this morning, so am still pooped and will try and do this in sections.

 

We did the northbound Cruisetour #19 and left Vancouver on June 17th.

 

We had a free night in Vancouver, so flew up a day early. We arrived in Vancouver about 10:30 am and with baggage pick up and the transfer to the hotel (Fairmount Vancouver), we arrived at the hotel about noon, but couldn't check-in until 3:30 pm. They stored our bags, so we took off on a little walking tour of the vicinity. Vancouver is an amazing city. So much culture.

 

We had lunch at one of the little restaurants not far from the hotel and it was quite good, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the restaurant.

 

We had dinner at the hotel and it was excellent--breakfast was a tad pricy so we went round the corner to a little restaurant and the breakfast was very good. It was next to a little coffee shop in the same block as the hotel. Very yummy pancakes.

 

The Fairmount Vancouver is a very old hotel, but well taken care of and very, very comfortable. The rooms were well-appointed. And of all things they have a dog in the lobby that guests can "check-out" and take for a walk. Beau was "on-duty" the day we were there. Cute pooch and they supply the leash, puppy snacks and the pooper picker-upper bags. We didn't opt to take him for a walk, because most of the time when we saw him he was very engrossed in his siesta.

 

Sunday the HAL rep met us in the hotel and advised us that the bus was on its way to pick us up and then she totally disappeared. No telling where she went, but everyone made it on the bus and we had our mini-tour of Vancouver. We did the harbor, Chinatown, Gastown and Stanley Park and he was in the process of taking us to some additional places, because he was told not to bring us to the ship until 2:00 but several folks on the bus insisted that their paperwork said we would arrive at the ship at 1:00, so they basically twisted his arm to cut the tour short. Don't really understand that unless they were just hungry, because it wasn't like the ship was leaving or anything. Anyway there was a light drizzle on Vancouver that morning, but nothing to diminish the city tour.

 

TADA- we arrived at Canada Place and began the embarkation process, stand in line, move up a bit, stand in line, shuffle forward a bit.. Finally made it through customs and to the HAL desk, got our boarding stuff and headed for the ship. Our room was ready and NO CODE RED!! Thank you Lord. I was so worried that it would be.

 

The poor crew was swamped with luggage. There was luggage literally pouring out of every aft elevator.

 

Our cabin was 177 on the Verandah deck--on the starboard side of the ship. Very nice!

 

To be continued.....

[Krazy Kruizers]

Can't wait to read more.

[chiccruiser]

Okay, I remembered the name of the restaurant in Vancouver is Bellagio--yep like the place in Vegas, only no slot machines.

 

Our verandah cabin was excellent. After getting on the ship and checking out our cabin, we headed to the Lido for lunch. The food is excellent. I highly recommend the turkey tenderloin. It was yummy! Actually all the food was.

 

One disappointment was that we were scheduled for the last seating for dinner at 8:15 and honestly we just can't eat that late, so I stood in line to talk to the the person who was handling all the people who wanted different dinner reservations. When it came my time, they had a the life boat drill, so had he had to leave to go prepare for that..and I had to go get drilled on exiting the ship. He said he would return at 5, and gave me a number so that I would be first up when he got back. However, I was there at 5 and he wasn't. People, again started lining up, and jockeying for position. He finally showed up about 5:30 (had a meeting or something) and told me he would work on things that evening and would I keep my scheduled time at 8:15 and he would send me a not the next day to let me know if he had been able to re-schedule our time. We got the note the next day and he was not able to change our time.

 

However, after our cruise I talked to several people who had earlier dining times and many tables were half empty and not just for one night...for the entire cruise. I don't believe in being the squeaky wheel, but it appears that sometimes the squeaky wheel gets what they want. Several people that were in line with me got their times changed and one of them wasn't even on the waitlist before they boarded the ship. We were on the wait list from the get-go. Anyway, that's just a beef I had and it certainly did not spoil the cruise by any stretch.

 

Our first day was a sea day and it was lovely sailing. Toured the ship, sat on deck, sat on our balcony, ate tons of food, even went to the gym and worked out.

 

Our second day, we arrived in Ketchikan. It was a misty day, a little chilly, but not enough to "dampen" our spirits. We did the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Watch tour. On the whale tour, we saw several whales, but only from a distance. The glacier tour was good. Mosquitos were out in the droves, so be sure and take your repellent along. The mist stopped early in the day and when we returned to town we took a little tour of the shops and purchased lots of goodies for the folks back home.

 

One of the highlights of our cruise was the ship's crew. Our greeter for breakfast and lunch in the Lido was Charles. He was so friendly and went out of his way to ask how our day was going, if we were enjoying ourselves, etc. Just a very pleasant fellow. Our dining room steward was Putu. He was also very nice, a fantastic waiter and always had a smile on his face. His assistant was Bobby and they worked so well together. Our service was superior, and I highly encourage you to please tip these folks extra. They work very, very hard to make our trips enjoyable and are away from their families. I know they sign on to do this, but for some it is the only way to make a good living for their families, so please tip them well and whatever you do, please don't deduct from the auto tip that is added to your bill. They work very long hours and I never saw a grumpy one in the group.

 

To be continued....

[Love Cruises]

chiccruiser ... I'm really enjoying your summary of your cruise on the msSTATENDAM. Keep them coming!

[chiccruiser]

Just realized I mixed up my tours in Ketchikan. Sorry. We took the Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer. It was the Mendenhall in Juneau. And the Misty Fjords was great--they were misty because it was drizzling. I would still recommended the excursion. The scenery was lovely. And the mosquitos were in Juneau at Mendenhall--they were lethal.

 

More later....

[SharonN]

I'm enjoying your review to see what happened the week after I got off. Sounds like we left it in pretty good shape for you! Though you had a different captain and Cruise Director since the others got off when we did. We thought the crew was great especially in the Dining Room and Lido. Can't wait to see how the rest of your trip went!

[chiccruiser]

Sharon

 

You left her in great shape. No code red, thank goodness! We had Peter Bos (is that the correct spelling) as captain and our Cruise director was Bruce. I didn't see much of him, but his worker bees, Glenn and Matt were a hoot. I loved playing bingo with them. B7 where all the good bees go. B8 if you fall overboard you might as well B8. And who can forget Matt's sexy legs of bingo B11 or his aging ex-girlfriend O73. I didn't win a "dam" thing, but still had fun and contributed my share so others could win. They gave out a Caribbean cruise or maybe two, I can't remember and lots of money. One lady won $1600 on the jackpot bingo, plus numerous people won little amounts in the one hundreds. One lady one twice and then her husband won. Call it luck.

 

I think we left her in pretty good shape for the next group.

[super_grover]

I've also noticed half empty tables in the dining room. I think what happens is that people decide they just aren't going to eat in the dining room but never tell anyone "officially" so their spots still get held for them on the off chance that they show up one night and want their table.

 

On longer cruises perhaps they should consider if someone misses the first 2 days slipping them a note asking them to let the front desk know if they intend to keep their seating time or if they would prefer a different time or whatever...that would at least help some people out.

 

Love the review, I hope to do an alaska cruise sometime soon!

[chiccruiser]

The Juneau Day was extraordinary. I already told you about the Mendenhall Glacier/Whale Tour. Bring your skeeter stuff for Mendenhall, but the glacier is awesome. I just can't even imagine the forces of nature and the fact that they are retreating is so sad. Sure makes me rethink the things I do to contribute to the decline of our earth.

 

The weather in Juneau was wonderful. Once we returned from the tour, we spent some time in town. The shopkeepers were all exclaiming on how lucky we were. The day was sunny and about 74 degrees. Like they say, dress like an onion, so you can peel off the layers. We were down to short sleeves by the time we boarded the ship. But about 30 minutes after we returned to the ship, the sky clouded up and the rains poured down. So you just never know. For the entire trip we never once had to don rain gear. The few misty days we had, all we wore were light jackets with hoods and never got wet. Maybe it was because my husband couldn't keep me out of the stores.

 

Another note on ship life -- do it all. Don't sit around in your cabin. Get out and meet the other folks on the ship and be sure and talk to the ship's crew. There are some really interesting folks out there with interesting stories to tell.

 

I do have to say that this was about the day that we noticed a slight sewer odor in the hallway a few doors from our cabin, but I no sooner noticed it then there were guys out there working on it and the matter was resolved in a matter of hours.

 

Also wanted to mention the lovely towel creatures our room steward made. I think they started appearing on the second day. I had a crab, a lobster, an elephant, a puppy, a ray and a monkey. The last day, I was a little disappointed ( it was my birthday) and I walked in the room and no towel animal on the bed, but I no sooner got in an turned around and there was a monkey hanging from a clothes hanger on the wall. It just made my day, the monkey was the one I wanted to see most of all.

 

And they brought a lovely basket of goodies for my birthday that contained cookies and candy. My husband's birthday was two days before and he received one also. HAL really does treat you special.

 

Tomorrow.....Skagway and the Yukon and White Pass Railroad.

[SharonN]

Sharon

 

You left her in great shape. No code red, thank goodness! We had Peter Bos (is that the correct spelling) as captain and our Cruise director was Bruce. I didn't see much of him, but his worker bees, Glenn and Matt were a hoot. I loved playing bingo with them. B7 where all the good bees go. B8 if you fall overboard you might as well B8. And who can forget Matt's sexy legs of bingo B11 or his aging ex-girlfriend O73. I didn't win a "dam" thing, but still had fun and contributed my share so others could win. They gave out a Caribbean cruise or maybe two, I can't remember and lots of money. One lady won $1600 on the jackpot bingo, plus numerous people won little amounts in the one hundreds. One lady one twice and then her husband won. Call it luck.

 

I think we left her in pretty good shape for the next group.

 

 

Sounds like you had as good a time as we did. Our captain was Frans Consen and the CD was Dave Martin (he was called back from vacation a month early to help out before he went to the Maasdam as was his original assignment). I don't remember Glenn so he may have been new your week too. We had Jason doing Bingo and he didn't do any of the normal jokes but we had fun anyway. Matt was definitely a character and it was only his second week on the job. We really enjoyed him at the Trivia games. Did he get to sing in the Final Show your week? Someone told us he had auditioned to be in the Cast but didn't quite make it. However, he did sing at the final show on our cruise and has a very nice voice (he sang Bridge over Troubled Water). Looking forward to the rest of your reports.

[chiccruiser]

On to Skagway...

 

But a few notes about the ship first. Wierd thing happened the first day out, but I'm sure some of you experienced cruisers have had this happen. We no sooner left Vancouver than the captain starting turning the ship round and round and round. Said something about readjusting the compass. Couldn't hear him over the kids yelling in the pool. Anyway we must have done a full 4 revolutions. It was kind of wierd watching the same things spin around and around. And the NCL ship that was in dock with us caught up to and went ahead of us. Oh, I'm getting dizzy thinking about it.

 

In Skaqway--what a cute town--we boarded the bus for our trip to Cariboo crossing. Our driver was an excellent tour guide and a very pleasant fellow. Most of the HAL folks that we met on the land portions of the tour were great guides and very knowledgable. The bus trip to Cariboo Crossing was very scenic and relaxing.

 

We stopped at the Welcome to the Yukon sign for a photo op. Also stopped for the customs folks to stop and board the bus and check passports, so make sure you have yours before you leave the ship.

 

I've heard mixed reviews on Cariboo Crossing and so here's my two cents. The lunch was so-so. It was a quarter chicken (dark meat) bbq'd. No choice, just dark meat, a baked potatoe, and corn on the cob. But they had some little donuts that were good. Tea and coffee included, but if you wanted a soft drink, it was extra. There were so many mosquitos buzzing around it was hard to "enjoy" standing in line waiting for lunch. Everyone was oohing and aahing over the Dall Sheep up on the mountainside and taking pictures, but when we came out from lunch the same two Dall Sheep were in the same position and have never moved--statues.

 

We did get up close and personal with a malamute. One of the caretakers was brushing the dog. It's amazing the amound of hair that can come from a shedding dog.

 

The wildlife museum at Cariboo Crossing was good and no additional charge. There was also panning for gold, don't know if that was extra or not and you could do a dog sled ride for extra. There was also a goat petting pen for the little ones and they had two puppies (but they weren't in the petting pen). There were just little goats in the petting pen.

 

Honestly other than the museum and a pit stop, I could have skipped Cariboo Crossing. We then went to Carcross (a town) for the "best ice cream" in the area. Ha ha, probably only ice cream in the area. It was Nestle brand and it was good. We then made our way to the train station and boarded the train for the trip back to Skagway.

 

The train ride was very comfortable and the sights along the way made the trip well worth it. I am amazed that we just kept seeing one spectacular view after another. How they build those bridges between those canyons is beyond me? Another beautiful summer day in Alaska--not a cloud in the sky.

 

This was also chocolate night on the ship. Oh my gosh! I have never seen so much dessert in all my life--and I ate it all. Good thing I took my work out clothes. There was beautiful ice carvings, huge chocolate bears and mooses (not the pudding kind) and dessert was lined up and down three sides of the Lido pool. I can't even begin to tell you what they were, except every one was better than the next. And the little truffles were divine. The only thing that kept me from overdosing was the fact that it was 11:00 pm and if I had eaten more, I would have had to roll back to my room.

 

Speaking of the gym, the facilities on the ship were fine. I use a machine called Arc Trainer at home and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had one and no one ever used it, so I claimed if from day one. My husband sometimes had to cut his walk on the treadmill short because people lined up for it..but he could do the weights. So all was not lost. Two of the treadmills did poop out by mid-week so that didn't help. But the view from the fitness center can't be beat. And it's fun to watch people walk around the front of the ship sipping on the coffee and peeking in the windows watching us.

 

Oh, one neat thing is the rugs in the elevator are changed each day and show the day of the week. A cool way to keep up with the days of the week. It is so easy to let time just stand still. Great to have a reminder now and again. but I sure hated to see the rug that said Saturday cause I knew our cruise was coming to and end.

 

Tomorrow.....Glacier Bay

[GardenerGuy]

We are enjoying your Statendam review - our first cruise will be on her later this year. BTW, what is a "Code Red"?

[chiccruiser]

Code Red is when a certain number of passengers have reported gastro-intestinal discomfort or Norwalk Virus. I don't know how many passengers/crew it takes for the Code Red to be enforced, but the ship goes in to a cleaning frenzy. They do that anyway, constantly wiping down public areas with sanitizer and asking guests to sanitized hands before eating, before and after using public restrooms, at the elevators, etc. But in Code Red things like salt and pepper shakers are not on the table and you are given packets of salt and pepper. There are other things too. I think they close the hot tubs and some of the facilities are not available. I stressed myself worrying about this for no reason. And I have heard from folks that sailed on a Code Red ship that they still had fun, just were more cautious. Of course, there are always the poor souls that get sick and have to suffer through.

 

Just be diligent in your hand washing. If in doubt, wash it, then sanitize it.