kazu

Final thoughts & my subjective review of the cruise: Entertainment - a huge surprise. There were some pretty dam good entertainers on this ship. i am not a big show room person, but what i did see was very enjoyable and reports i heard from others were very good. Some got thrown off by an entertainer unable to board due to passport issues but overall, it was surprisingly good. 7 pm show required arriving at least 45 minutes in advance. 9 pm show had more room but it too was pretty packed with few seats as the cruise progressed. MDR food - good to very good. The only real disappointments were the escargot and crème brûlée. while we did have some Club Orange main courses, we also had regular MDR offerings and all were quite edible 😃 Lido food - quite good and some very good - especially the Asian Chinese area, salad, sushi, etc. They did have sandwiches made to order but the same meat was offered every day and finding someone to serve you at times could be a struggle or a wait. We did not eat dinner there. pinnacle Grill - definitely a good PG. We had breakfast, dinner and 2 lunches there and all was quite good. My tenderloin was cooked to perfection and very tender. Canaletto - food was ok - good. I can’t put my finger on it but for some reason it didn’t thrill me. nothing was wrong. not sure if it was the service or what. Cabin steward - mediocre. Yes he cleaned the room but there were days certain things weren’t done and no towel animals worthy of speaking of. A big contrast from my Oosterdam cruise in 2022 (my last Neptune Suite ). My bear was posed with towel animals all the time. And they were3 terrific. Neputne Lounge Concierge - fantastic. There are no words for how good Jennika was. i did a LUK and mentioned her on my survey. Neptune Suite itself - nice - lovely space but HAl has dumbed down the suites IMO - no bath salts, no lip balm, none of the Elemis products we used to get. Hors d’hoeuvres are still offered but choices are limited, somewhat repetitive and I didn’t find the quality as good as they used to be. the saving grace for this ship is the concierge and Neptune lounge. Jennica just makes life so wonderful. one of the best concierges I have encountered - I would rate her up there with those DD DH and i had on the Prinsendam and that’s saying something. One of the things that bothered me was that there were no little shampoos and conditioner, etc for those taking a bath. you would have to stand up in the bathtub to get it as it was set high for showers unless y9u got inventive (i did0. Very dangerous iMO. Entertainment in the Mix was good overall. Different opinions on the piano man but he was entertaining IMO. The band and singer was really good. Wonderful voice. Classical music and nice to listen to music was performed every night by the instrumentalists. MDR service - once we got our table changed, our waiters Oka and Adi were fabulous. there is nothing like good service and they sure provided it. Weather was a bummer with the Arctic polar wind following us but that is not under anyone’s control. We still had fun. I think that mostly covers it? If anyone has any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

this cruise I had a last hurrah with a Neptune Suite. they are especially nice on the smaller ships as the Neptune Lounge and concierge is service is much more personalized IMO. Everything in the rooms has been updated with the exception of the bathroom and additional plugs. At least, I don’t think additional plugs have been put in. The two of us managed quite well with what we had though and we did have several items that needed to be charged - 2 cell phones, 2 IPads and a keyboard. here are some pics of the cabin that have to go to HAL facts in case anyone is interested.

Today is Europe Day, Home Front Heroes Day, and National Moscato There is just one life for each of us: our own. - Euripides Meal Suggestion for today - Spinach & Feta Quiche Drink of the Day - Cosmopolitan Wine of the Day - C R Sandidge 2020 Caris Destination of the Day - Flam, Norway Today in History: 1941 British intelligence at Bletchley Park breaks German spy codes after capturing Enigma machines aboard the weather ship Muenchen Ship Locations Eurodam Ketchikan, Revillagigedo Island Alaska 07:00 - 13:00 Koningsdam Ketchikan, Revillagigedo Island Alaska 11:00 - 19:00 Nieuw Amsterdam Anchorage AK, Alaska, Denali NP 11:00 - 20:00 Nieuw Statendam Aarhus, Denmark 11:00 - 19:00 Noordam Glacier Bay, Alaska 07:00 - 16:00 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Ashdod, Jerusalem-Bethlehem, Israel eta 05-10 Rotterdam Bergen, Norway 08:00 - 17:00 Volendam Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada 08:00 - 16:00 Westerdam Ketchikan, Revillagigedo Island Alaska 10:00 - 18:00 Zaandam At Sea Destination Juneau, Alaska eta 05-10 Zuiderdam At Sea Destination Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Florida eta 05-11

It was. I didn’t even see it. Hopefully people knew what I meant LOL.

Nice that the wine was offered at a wine tasting. I discovered it at a Cellar Master dinner and when I saw it was in package #3, I had to order that package. 🙂 We did try a few others but this was became our wine du sour in the MDR. 🙂

You are indeed very late to the game - I’m sorry but the May 11th Bon Voyage thread was done last Saturday. I’m happy to add your June 1st sailing though 🙂 I hope you enjoy your two first solo and longer cruises 🙂

Aww - how kind of you. ❤️. I didn’t mean to make extra work for you. 😢 Thank you SO very much for your help over the years with the FCL. 💜

The escargots ( I spoke to the chef about them when she cae around to the tables on the last Gala night and made suggestions ) and the crème brûlée (scorched and undercooked). Hard to understand when so much of the food was really very good.

Today is International Thalassaemia Day, National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day, and National Cruelty Free Day There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.--Linda Grayson Meal Suggestion for today - Spinach Salad with Bacon and Eggs Drink of the Day - Grape Pucker Frappe Wine of the Day - Chandon Brut Sparkling Destination of the Day - Da Nang (Hue), Vietnam Today in History: 1945 V-E Day: World War II ends in Europe after Germany signs an unconditional surrender Ship Locations Eurodam Sitka, Baranof Island Alaska 08:00 - 16:00 Koningsdam Glacier Bay, Alaska 07:00 - 16:00 Nieuw Amsterdam Kodiak Island, Alaska 11:00 - 19:00 Nieuw Statendam Oslo, Norway 10:00 - 17:00 Noordam Skagway, Alaska 07:00 - 20:00 Oosterdam Kusadasi, Ephesus, Turkey 08:00 - 16:00 Rotterdam Geiranger, Norway 07:00 - 16:00 Volendam Sydney NS, Nova Scotia Canada 08:00 - 17:00 Westerdam Icy Strait Point, Hoonah, Alaska 08:00 - 16:00 Zaandam Vancouver, Canada d1600 Zuiderdam San Juan, Puerto Rico 15:00 - 23:00

We got something similar on a longer cruise. Did not receive it on our 13 day nor the previous 15 day, I think RuthC is correct in the longer ones.

I posted his info and company a bit ago. Gilbert Garcia, he owns the company and he is the only one that does this. I did a lot of research. I highly recommend him. tout was $135 for 3 hours for the 2 of us and we both thought it was well worth it. you ride and he pedals.

I could buy the good curd in Ontario too. the curd here is refrigerated, not fresh and not squeaky, sadly. The curd I got in Quebec was not as good as the Riverview curd IMO but it was a lot better than what I can get here, I’m fussy 😉

Our final dinner. soring rolls , sweet and sour shrimp I had the banan custard and Deb her first baked Alaska and our staff said good bye to an Indonesian song and for the record, our favourite eine

Our tout also included a visit to the market. Beautiful cheese shop (I got my curd), pastries, smoked meat, cider, flowers, etc and delectable sweets. Leaving Quebec taken from the sea view pool.

this church is massive and so beautiful, sadly the congregation has declined and cannot afford the maintenance so it sits empty, 😔 circuses have bought some of the churches and practice and perform in them. anotmher original house except the garage of course. loved this mural telling the story of Samuel de Champlain.