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Noise and sound are a huge factor for me.

Hoping it is true that the upstairs might be a bit quieter.

I will def. make a note to self!!!!

 

One of the things that I do not like about the K, and assuming the N.Statendam, is the one huge cavernous MDR.

Aren't most larger ships breaking up their dining areas now.

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My wife brings the real stuff. Where better to wear some of her nicer jewelry than on a cruise. She has a jewelry roll that is always with us in our carry on and never out of our sight or control when traveling. On the ship it goes into the safe. Off the ship in ports or on tours she wears very little jewelry and even goes with just a wedding band instead of her full set.

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(Sung to the tune of "Gilligan's Island" theme song):

'From Ketchikan in the wet southeast to Anchorage we docked, wildfires there showed us smoke and ash, yet to the town we flocked....yet to the town we flocked.'

Let's get this party started!: A quick visit to the front desk and we had our Unlimited Laundry package ordered ($98.00/cabin for 14 days - best bargain on the ship!), and had retrieved a power cord for use of my CPAP machine and all our electronic gear - cell phones, Ipad, cameras, etc. Our Explore4 beverage card and our HAL excursion tickets were in the cabin and ready for our use.

After unpacking, we refamiliarized ourselves with the ship and ordered our first drinks. As the Seattle skyline grew smaller and smaller, we took up residence on our 'porch' to enjoy the views and the long hours of daylight as we headed north. Seas were truly smooth as glass - actually remained that way for almost the entire trip.

Days onboard for us were lazy and enjoyable - a great deal of time spent enjoying the scenery and looking for whales on our porch, on the secret deck on the aft of Navigation deck, or 'on the dark side', which is what I lovingly dubbed the outdoor smoking area on the starboard side of the aft Lido deck. Met THE nicest people there and we became friendly with them throughout the trip and beyond. If you guys are reading this - big hugs to Scott and Rick, and Marianne and 'Dutch' (never did learn his real first name - they were from the Netherlands and we so enjoyed their accents).

Lots of whale sightings from the Lido while heading north those first few days and oh, what an event it was! People would flock to that side of the ship when the cry went up that a humpback had been spotted. It became a sport, one that we all hoped to excel in. You gotta spend the time on deck scanning the seas to get the kind of results you wanted - and Michelle and I were up for the challenge. Great fun!

Didn't participate in a whole lot of activities - other than "Name that Tune" in the Ocean Bar (at which, might I add, our team excelled and kicked butt - two first place showings and a tie or 2 if memory serves me correctly). Sure didn't hurt that we had our "ringers" Val and Roger from Britain on our team when Beatles Name that Tune was the order of the day!;) Thanx folks - couldn't have done it without you!:D

What was missing?: Two things we found lacking in the entertainment department included no "Marriage Game" (think Newlywed Game), and no "Amsterdam Superstar" (think American Idol). None. Nada. We always enjoy that silly type of entertainment, and sometimes you can find a gem of a voice among your fellow passengers when karaoke is on the agenda.

Full disclosure - Once - against my will I might add - DH and I actually participated in the Marriage Game. Ugh - lets just say, it was not our finest hour and I will never forgive Michelle, Silly Jilly, Mary and Kim for "volunteering" us to participate. (Did get a nice insulated HAL mug out of it though, so maybe it was worth the embarrassment?? Nah, it wasn't).

Come and Get it!: I'm a Lido girl myself, and I think I may have converted Michelle as well. We had our first dinner in the Lido and now that I think about it - only had two other meals in the MDR for the entire 14 day trip. One lunch on Kodiak day and one dinner with John and Donna.

We had received a free Pinnacle Grill meal w/the Explore4 package, and upon seeing the assigned time was unsatisfactory, we were easily able to change that reservation to a time of our choosing by visiting the dining kiosk located near the Lido buffet.

Breakfast each morning was either room service or the Lido where I enjoyed a custom made omelet most every day and deliciously crisp bacon to accompany it. During the cruise, we did experience some instances where the food served in the Lido was lukewarm and apparently there had been some complaints because a server clearing our table mentioned it. It certainly didn't happen often enough to impact our dining experience there, and we could usually find something on the menu that appealed to us.

About a week into the trip, both Michelle and I were tired of large 'fancy' meals, so she dialed Room Service and ordered up two Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches (grape jelly please!) and two glasses of milk. After a bit of back and forth on the phone, our sandwiches arrived as ordered, and oh my, were they good! Nice change of pace!

On the final formal night, we ordered room service from the MDR menu - three surfs each, no turf please - and it was delivered to our humble abode - hot and fresh and delicious.

Had burgers at the Dive In and yes, we enjoyed them (mine was minus the bun - too much dang bread for me). The fries were amazing both at the Dive In and at the Lido - everytime, crispy hot and delicious!

Visited the Explorations Cafe for specialty coffees and teas on a regular basis (thank you Explore4 - we got our money's worth there alone as, alas, we didn't come anywhere close to the 7 drinks per day in the alcohol beverage category). Be sure to say hi to Christian (or as we lovingly called him "Co-Captain") from Michelle and I. He's a gem, always smiling, always friendly, and always all-seeing and all-knowing when it came to what we were thirsty for.

What was missing?: Two things stand out that we found lacking in the food department - NO cinnamon ice cream and NO pizza. None. Nada.

Now I'm not a huge fan of HAL's pizza to begin with (the crust is too thick and not enough cheese), but after about a week there I was jonesing for pizza. Heck any kind of pizza would do!!! Fortuntely, we were able to remedy that by getting pizza at a Mexican restaurant (yes, you read that right!) in Sitka of all places. Delicious and tasty - mission accomplished!

As to the cinnamon ice cream, both Michelle and I are big fans and always look forward to it being served on our HAL Alaska cruises so we were majorly bummed that it never made an appearance. M. inquired several times to the ice cream bar server as to when we might expect it on the menu, but she was told that they had never had cinnamon ice cream. What?:eek: Finally, M. badgered the Lido manager, who promised to look into the matter and get back to us. Sadly, we never heard a thing and 14 days passed being cinnamon ice cream-less.:(

I had to console myself with make-your-own-sundaes in the Lido for dessert if I couldn't find something else that appealed to me.

Meet and Greet: As I said before, our active Roll Call was a lot of fun, so we looked forward to the M&G scheduled for 10AM in the Crows Nest on Monday, May 19th. Thanx to LVSue for all her hard work, she is a planner extraordinaire!Great turn out with the usual cookies and coffee/tea supplied by HAL. No HAL officers or staff in attendance that I saw, but made no difference. Everyone mingled, there was lots of chatting going on, and friendly smiles abounded. It was so wonderful to meet so many of you and to catch up with old friends I hadn't seen since 2010.

Special thanx to Clipper (aka: Alberta Quilter) for her hard work on the 'live from' thread she so brilliantly produced.

Next up: Land ho - Ketchikan here we come!

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