SuzWillCruise

We had the two week version booked, and Flam was already part of our itinerary. Geraingerfjord was our main reason for booking, so we’re strongly considering canceling.

There are whale watching excursions in Icy Point, but those all got cancelled that evening due weather … they said the swells at the whale viewing area were 8 feet.

Thanks everyone for responding. We’ve book laundry for the duration, and the spa for the 1st 7 days. We’ll mention to the spa when we get our 1st sticker that we would like the spa for the entire trip, and then find out from them if we must visit on turnaround day. We’re looking at a kayaking shore excursion in Fläm (Thursday of week 2), so we’re really wanting the hydrotherapy pool for the whole cruise!

We would love to. But work frowns on vacations over two weeks long, and HAL’s Wi-Fi is definitely not sufficient for working remotely.

Eurodam was burgundy…it matched my luggage! 🙂

As someone who grew up in a small town with a tourist season, I can see the logic on limiting the commercial enterprises. The parks and forests are for all of us to enjoy, not just a money making venture for private businesses. Nothing against private business, but the public bus is way cheaper. (Just a lot less convenient with the additional walk.) The swimming hole that I went to in my youth is now over run with kayak rental places and somehow they’re the only ones who get to use the dock. We used a non-blue shuttle bus last month, and the trails were crowded, and the visitor center was a scrum. Our original Glacier Paddle and Trek tour was canceled and after a lovely 20 person max whale watching tour last year, we didn’t want to signup for the higher capacity tour we learned about on the deck, hence the knock-off shuttle. I do feel bad for the shuttle company employees, but it’s unfortunate that the companies ignored the limits. It’s so hard to balance limited resources. For anyone looking for things to do in Juneau, maybe there are food tours? Or you can do your own … there’s a lot of stuff in walking distance.

We were on this same cruise! Following along. Re the fire alarm: did you see a lot of kids? We were staying at the airport Embassy Suites, and they handed out a flyer about a bunch of “don’t do’s”. Seriously, it was a whole page! We noted to each other that “there must be a story related to this” and the front desk person said they’d had issues with kids pulling the fire alarm and the fire dept has to come out before people can come back inside, and then they said that there was a soccer tournament nearby. Most of the kids were fine, but a few of them could have remembered to use their indoor voices, and some of them were taking unnecessary trips up and down the elevator. With only 2 out of three elevators, that was annoying. But nobody pulled the fire alarm! We also ate at Pinnacle on the 1st day, and you’re absolutely right about the bacon and the ribeye. We started our meal at 5, though, because that was 8pm at home. I just realized after seeing your pictures that we didn’t have a single towel animal the entire trip! Huh. It was our first HAL sailing, so we thought it wasn’t a thing. It’s fine. (Unless you post later with a picture of a towel animal whale. Then I will be super jealous, and will have to request a towel animal whale on our next Alaska sailing!) We were disappointed by the Wildlife expert, too. The cruise director lady was good, though.

On our recent Eurodam cruise they had raw sugar at the explorer’s cafe on deck 11. For a moment I thought they also had it on the lido, but when I looked closer it appeared to be brown sugar! I used regular granulated sugar while on the lido and it was fine. At home I drink my coffee black, but cruise ship coffee needs some doctoring to be palatable. (And calories don’t count on vacation.)

On our cruise two weeks ago we had fixed early and were in the upper. (We were at a table for two surrounded by large tables, some of which had small children who weren’t really ready for prime time yet. It was not what we really wanted to celebrate our anniversary. I think we need to pick a non “school is out” date to celebrate in the future!)

We just disembarked from the Eurodam about two weeks ago. We absolutely loved her, but it was our first cruise with HAL. Our points of reference are Carnival (my spouse is almost diamond status and I’m just shy of platinum) and NCL, which we were NOT happy about at all. Our sailing was to Alaska and there was fresh oj included on the Alaska Brunch day. (I’m pretty sure it was. However, I did also get a Bloody Mary and a cappuccino so it may have counted against my HIA pkg? ) The fresh oj was better, but the regular oj was pretty good, too. I had read so many threads here on CC about the food quality going downhill that we were a little worried, but we really liked most of the food we had. (I agree that Pinnacle was disappointing. Not bad by any means, but our gala night food in the MDR was better. Tamarind appetizers and desserts were great, but I’m still trying to find a wow main dish there.) We want another cruise on the Eurodam. We had hopes for Alaska 2025, but it looks like it’s doing the exact same itinerary we just completed. I did say I’d be happy to do that same cruise again, but we were hoping for some new ports this time around, and save a repeat for 26 or 27. (2024 is not an option.. there’s only so much vacation time and we have a two week cruise to Norway plus an RV trip for the total solar eclipse that will possibly take two weeks as well.) Oh, someone mentioned loving the Eurodam but had only 500 people on their restart. That ship is fantastic. If you do the math on gross tonnage per passenger, it’s one of the highest for HAL at 41 gross tons per passenger , tied with another ship that I don’t recall. Our sailing was full, per the “no upgrades” sign at the customer service desk, and the only times it felt crowded or I had to wait were: 1. long slow lines at customer service on embarkation day and next day, no surprise 2. long lines, not sure how fast they moved, for Wi-Fi help. (The Wi-Fi is pretty sucky) 3. Glass elevator midship seemed to be two of 4 working the whole cruise, so those waits were sort of long. Knee issues meant I needed to wait, plus didn’t want to prep the buttons for all three options, so your mileage may vary) 4. embarkation day one of the front elevators was persnickety if there were too many people, and it seemed to define “too many” as more than five or six. But embarkation day is always bad for elevators so what can you do. 5. The chocolate surprise event, held outside BB King. Who thought it was a good idea to hold that at a choke point? It wasn’t worth the effort in my opinion. 6. There WERE lines at the exploration cafe on Glacier Bay day, but they had extra people and it moved super fast. Most times I was up there I only had 2 or 3 people in front of me, and often none or one. Seriously, we loved the Eurodam. Maybe it’s just that we’re comparing it to Carnival, but I think a lot of it is the ton per passenger ratio. On Carnival we like the Spirit class best for the same reason. I don’t need a shopping mall or go karts on my cruises!

For those of you have booked, or been able to see itineraries, what have you seen? I found some info on a cruise booking site that I used to book a river cruise back in 2016, but I don’t know if they have access to all of the HAL cruises. All I can find are 7 day cruises that are identical or practically identical to the cruise we just did two weeks ago, and then two 14 day cruises, one starting May 4th 2025 and the other September 15th 2025. (Both out of Vancouver, which does NOT seem to be a preferred launch port for people here on CC.) We were hoping to find an itinerary that includes Juneau plus Sitka, and then some ports we haven’t visited yet, but no joy so far.

So, we booked a 14 day cruise to Norway in May of 24, and realized later that it’s also 2 seven day cruises. We’ll have the same cabin obviously, but what should we expect on the turn around day? So far, we’re tripping over the fact that we can’t seem to book the spa for the full 14 days. I’d rather book it for the entire cruise now, and not waste part of my vacation trying to figure out the exact right window to book days 8-14. I’m guessing we’ll need to leave the ship at some point, which is fine, and we’ll find something to do in Rotterdam, but we shouldn’t need new keys, right?

In the Elite plan, the non-alcoholic drinks are covered, and do not count towards your 15 drink per day limit. Drinks costing up to $15 are covered. If amount is higher, you pay the difference. Not covered: mini bar, room service alcohol or specialty beverages, whiskey/cocktail classes. (I think. We haven’t actually cruised with HAL yet, but we’ve been reading the boards for months.) We’re about to cruise with the signature package. Our non-alcoholic drinks DO count against our 15 drink limit, and we pay the difference for items over $11. Same non-coverage for classes and room service.

Is smoking allowed in the casino now? Restricted to active gamblers, or open to all? As non-smokers we were happy to read about some casino smoking restrictions on the Eurodam several months ago, but I don’t recall what they were or if they were Covid related. (On Carnival the smoke definitely travels beyond the casino, and impacts how we traverse the ship and where we can eat.)

This thread has clinched it for me … I’m going to bring a “Great Plate” on our cruise. If I don’t use it, it’s not that heavy.

Is there a place to change or are you putting the gear on in front of the whole tour? We just watched a video (but it was older so we don’t know if it was the same company), and one young lady stripped down to her string bikini bottoms in the parking lot before putting on a warm under layer. We might not have much time to visit Sitka before/ after our tour, so I need to plan ahead to balance comfort vs modesty! Thanks!

We’re doing some of the same research that you are! We didn’t get enough hits on YouTube to answer all of our questions, but we did see a video about dry diving and there are two different types of dry suits. One is made of neoprene, so yes … it looks like a wet suit. Those are generally sturdier per the man in the video, so it makes sense that it would be the preferred choice of a shore excursion company (the suits are also expensive.)

I like Keens. Last year I reluctantly tossed a pair (I needed the weight in my suitcase), that were super old. I wore those things for more than 10 years on hikes in the Caribbean, around town, and countless miles at Disney. I just bought two new pair today, and barely flinched at the lack of a good sale, because I know I will get my money’s worth. Definitely try them on first! I had purchased some that I ended up never wearing because I didn’t like how they felt. I tried some on today, still not great. But then I tried some men’s Keens, and those fit more how I like. (Thinking now my 1st pair were men’s, too.) The Keens I have cover the toes, and many active shore excursions require closed toe shoes … these have always qualified for us.

Meeting an excursion usually happens on the ship or near the ship. I think what you really want to know is “how can we avoid excursions with long bus rides?” Identify excursions you think you might want to do, and then read as many reviews as you can find. I skip over lots of excursions because of long bus rides … busses are very prone to triggering motion sickness for me, and that’s never a fun part of my day.

I prefer to get what I pay for, so I like to think I would have followed up with a written request for fixing the issue, or a refund, and then disputed the charge once back on land. And re some of the other rude behaviors mentioned on this thread …. I do admonish other people’s children. I don’t accept the premise that I must suffer to be polite. There’s nothing inherently polite about standing silently watching a child do something dangerous or destructive. Kids and parents get used to tuning each other out. Hearing “stop that!” from a stranger can be more effective. And chair hogs? Well, if there are zero chairs available and zero people in the pool or at the bar, I will wait to see if the owners return for about 10-15 minutes. Then I plan on combing stuff, or taking stuff to a crew member as lost. Rudeness shouldn’t be rewarded. I once walked around for 30 minutes at a Disney quick service restaurant looking for a table. There were many tables with one person sitting at the table, no food, holding the table. I finally had to go outside where it was cold and rainy, and my food was cold by then, too. My blood sugar must have dropped because I almost burst into tears. My spouse got a cast member to replace my cold items with fresh hot ones, and I was finally able to eat. Never again. If you are holding (wasting) a table while others in your party are in line, and tables are in short supply, be prepared to share. And I might not ask permission either. I will sit far from you (1 person at an 8-top makes it easy), and eat my food quickly. I’ll probably be done before your party arrives. If not, there’s sure to be another under-used table I can finish my meal at. And yes, I have offered to share our table, or finished a meal more quickly, to allow others to sit and enjoy their meal. So, chair and table hogs, y’all have been warned!

Ask the Maitres D (sp??). On our last cruise (Carnival, not HAL), we had a few specialty dinings and a later shore excursion. On 1st day we found out our table number before dinner, then went to dinner to meet our table mates, and let our servers know we wouldn’t be there past the appetizers. (We tried to let them know in advance when we would be gone so they wouldn’t wait for us, or have my MIL tell them.) One day’s excursion was going to have us out late but we wanted MDR instead of Lido, so we asked at the Maitres D podium the evening before if we should go to the anytime dining on the floor above. We were told “no, come here”. So the next night we went to podium and they sat us at a large table that had some others. I think we had our fastest service that night!

BIG Giant caveat - We did that excursion while sailing on the Carnival Spirt last August. I would guess that it’s the same excursion, but it might not be. 1. Guessing price is based on time of year? 2. No idea, sorry. 3. On our cruise there were two times. Both times had two large boats, with two decks. I’m not sure how many people the boats fit, but I attached a pic that I took from our balcony of the morning excursion. If you squint, you can see a person on the lower deck. They hold a good number of people. The top deck had two rows of benches if memory serves. 4. This sold out on our Carnival Spirit sailing.

*Miss G*, I saw some of your photos from Glacier Bay, and I think I’ll be happy! Here are pictures from the Tracey Arm Fjord excursion (North Sawyer Glacier and South Sawyer Glacier, and I’ll have to find my notes to remember which is which). I think the verdict is Alaska is gorgeous and it’s be visited multiple times!

I’ve never cruised on Princess, and I haven’t cruised on HAL (yet), but here’s why we picked HAL for our June 2023 Alaska cruise: it sails Saturday to Saturday (out of Seattle). Last August (2022) we sailed on Carnival to Alaska. We absolutely loved Alaska, but that 8 day cruise used up almost two weeks of vacation. It started on Wednesday and finished 8 days later on Thursday. We took off Tuesday to fly. I ended up also taking the day before off (Monday) because I didn’t want to risk getting Covid at work. (At the time I was going into the office one day per week, and Monday was my in-office day. ). So that was 8 days of time off, and then I was jet lagged and our return flight was delayed so I also missed part of Thursday. I think I used 76 hours of leave. Our trip this June with HAL will be one day less, but will use only 44 hours leave, and we’ll fly home on a Saturday and have Sunday to recover before work on Monday. Additionally, our itinerary includes Glacier Bay, which we didn’t see on our Carnival cruise. (I’m hoping it isn’t a let down. We did the excursion for Tracy Arm Fjord and that was amazing, and was part of the impetus for our coming home and immediately looking for and booking another cruise!) The Saturday to Saturday timeline might make the cruise more crowded, but the ship size isn’t crazy big so we hope we’ll happy. Our favorite ships so far have been the Spirit class ships on Carnival, because the gross tonnage to passenger ratio is pretty great. And, so far they don’t have tons of private access only areas that make the ship feel teensy if you aren’t in the special private areas. If vacation time isn’t a factor, a mid-week sailing could be preferable, because the passenger count could likely be lower. But if you have to watch the vacation days, the start and end days of a particular cruise can make a difference!

Our previous port will be Bergen Norway on Thursday, at sea Friday, and then Saturday is turnover day. (Is that the correct term? My only other 14 day cruise was 14 days for all passengers, a Journey cruise on Carnival in late 2019. )