jaspersmommy

We have cruised to Alaska in late May, early August and early September. We had a little more sunshine and definitely had warmer temps in both May and August. There was slightly more rain in September. To be honest though, there wasn’t a significant enough difference in weather on those cruises to make it the determining factor when booking a future cruise. Oddsare you will have more rain in September. However, when you are only there for a few days you could easily end up with weather that is different from the norm for that time of year. My timing preference for future Alaska cruises is late May to late June. The biggest reason is the amount of daylight. In September, it got dark early. It seemed that it was dark most of the time we were at sea (except for sea days). We were blown away by how much more scenic the May cruise was, because it stayed light until quite late. The August cruise also allowed us much more scenic cruising than did the September one. The increased daylight hours in May and August translated into more wildlife viewing too. We didn’t notice any differences in what was open in ports during those months. However, if you decide to go to Denali or on excursions that take you to higher elevations, there could still be snow if you go early in the season. I hope this helps! Good luck.

We were just on the Zuiderdam last week. It was our first time on HAL. We have sailed mostly with Celebrity (but not RCI or MSC) in the past and haven’t cruised since the pandemic started. So, I have no idea if we would find things still as good on Celebrity ships. The Zuiderdam is in great shape everywhere we went, inside and out. We stayed in a corner aft Neptune Suite and it looked almost brand new inside. The common areas of the ship and our stateroom were kept sparkling clean. We never waited for elevators which was really nice. The service around the ship was pretty good for the most part. I can’t say it differed from most other cruises we’ve taken. Our stateroom attendants were awesome. I was surprised at the number of kids on board, yet it was still the oldest crowd we’d seen on a cruise. Evening entertainment is definitely lacking, although not terribly important to us. We don’t like big production shows but we normally attend a couple of evening things during a one week cruise - e.g. a comedian or something along those lines. We missed that a little. Billboard Onboard was OK on occasion, depending on what was on. A couple of things at Lincoln Centre Stage were of interest but there honestly wasn’t much else. Stateroom TVs certainly won’t keep you entertained. Free choices were few. Most of the pay-per-view content wasn’t great either. That’s no different than other cruises we’ve taken. However, if a cruise line has made a deliberate decision not to compete in the entertainment department, then why not allow people to connect their mobile devices to the TV to watch their own preloaded content? I would even be happy to pay a fee to connect my device and have something to watch at night. This would be especially helpful with kids. Although I was a little bored at times, it wasn’t really a big issue overall. I’m usually happy to read a book or just sit out on the deck and watch the scenery. The big issue for us on this cruise was the food. Our MDR meals on Zuiderdam were abysmal. We ate dinner there four times. I left my dinner on the plate three times. I’ve never had that happen before on any cruise. The food was very low quality and one meal was also undercooked. The Lido Market was a sad place IMO. The first time we went there I was wondering where the rest of the food was. The selection isn’t great. The only good meals I had there were the cold foods - salads, sandwiches, meat/cheese, etc. and made-to-order breakfast items like omelettes. Desserts were awful. I was surprised to see a big portion of Lido serving stations shut down for long periods during the afternoon and evenings leaving very little food available. One of two drink machines in the Lido was out of commission frequently. Food at the extra-pay venues was quite good, despite comments I’d seen on this forum. Rudy’s especially was excellent. Unfortunately, on Zuiderdam, Canaletto is a partitioned section of the Lido. It is not a stand-alone restaurant. The location of the cafe was an issue for us. It’s great for views as it’s forward on Deck 10 in the observation lounge. However, if your cabin is aft it’s inconvenient. If you want a latte or cappucino when you get up in the morning, or when your feet hurt after walking around a port all day, it’s a 20-minute round trip. Marketing literature states “coffee and pastries” are available. There were tiny biscotti there sometimes but we never once saw anything else or anything remotely resembling pastries. The coffee there was OK. With three sea days on a seven day itinerary, the small number of dining options and the disappointing food quality really stood out. I would sail again with HAL, but likely only on a Pinnacle-class ship where there are more dining choices and more to do. I would only sail on a Signature-class ship again if the price was exceptionally good and it was a port-intensive cruise (plus I would book specialty dining for each night). For our next cruise, it’s back to Celebrity where it will be interesting to see how much cost-cutting affects our experience there.