MisterMatthew

Silver-to-Gold, hello my friend. That's especially nice of you to say. Hopefully, folks won't skip reading my post -- once they see the first couple of posts! Yikes. I've never been one to jump on the Cobb Salad, but, yes have had the Club. I will get organized shortly --- and start posting in the next couple of hours. By, the way, this voyage had a supply chain issue. Well, perhaps more than one. It became ACUTE, SYSTEMIC, and a LETDOWN! Well, okay.. maybe not that bad. But, I'll talk about it as we go!! ----Matthew

LabMom -- How are you! It is a good itinerary. Plenty to fill the lens of a camera, and that magical place in your heart! I will post more, soon. Are you a Lab Technician, or you own a pet or two? Just asking. Or, maybe it is none of those. :) ---Matthew

Nancy, hello there. Very nice of you to say. Sometimes I don't post as much as I should. My neighbor across the hall... well, she stood in the threshold of her doorway for probably an hour straight. She kept a keen eye out for her stuff! Me, I'd rather eat, or nap, or drink. Lol. From what I could see... bags were brought down the corridor in a couple of ways... a cart with bags atop it being wheeled. And, then sometimes just an individual bag was dropped at a stateroom's door. What I noticed is: 1) Knock once. 2) Wait about 7 seconds. 3) If no answer leave the bag adjacent to the stateroom door. I did not really see any attendants entering a stateroom with their key-card. ----MisterMatthew 3) walk away

Haljo... hi there! Yep, it's a "thing" that takes all of us to make our floating "village" enjoyable. And, even if there is no luggage at all --- and, it is just two persons passing one another, you "skinny-up" & pass. I like to add a smile and a G'morning as I go by! ----Matthew

Thank you so much! I will post more, most likely tomorrow. Sorry for delay, I am also trying to recover some photos! ---- Matthew

Okay. I re-posted my first 3 posts (but now in the Default font). Hope they are readable now? I'm very very sorry. ---- Matthew

I begin to see more and more people. And, the pool area.. the uncovered one was really hopping. Many people with a drink in their hand, and some groovy music playing. I could see the Space Needle in the distance. I did take a photo of the needle, but cannot locate it now. I'm sure most of you have seen it -- one way or the udder! Alright, sail-away was getting somewhat closer. I'm hungry. The lido, was closing things down for lunch. A reliable Plan B is room service. It's "okay" food. Not, gourmet. And, it's not bad either. I placed my order... and waited patiently. I heard the "thump" of suitcases (etc.) being dropped off. Took a look, nope.. not mine yet. Well, I perused the TV stations. Just the same as I experienced on Zuidy... about 13 stations & Bow Cam & Aft Cam. Went to each of the closets and cleared out all of the wooden hangers. (Brought my own, lol.) Oh yeah.. the safe. Forgot about that. I called down to Guest Services. They answered the phone within a few seconds. That is impressive for embarkation day. I was told they would send someone to my stateroom "shortly". Okay, food arrived pretty quick.. got the quesadilla, and a couple of soda-pops to go along with it. One to drink instamatically. One to put in the fridge. Now, the quesadilla was fine. The tortilla did have a strange orange-ish color to it. But, it did the trick. About an hour of relaxing, and digesting went by. No sign of the SAFE "help". I was pretty tired, actually, as I had been up for 923 hours now. But, have to press on! Time to get up on deck for the sail-away. I met with some crew-members, and talked about stuff... 1st time to AK, how long have you been with HAL, where are you from, you know, you know. I had no idea that Puget Sound was so expansive.. the ship was moving slowly, but steadily. Fun to see all of the inlets -- I guess you would call them. When I got back to the room, two things occurred. First, I called Guest Services and made an inquiry if someone could open the safe for me. Was told "yes, we will send someone to your room". Second, I heard a slight bit of commotion in my hallway. And, opened the door to see what was going on. And, also to see if any of my luggage has arrived. I was sort of surprised, it had not... as we were ALREADY sailing. So, just a bit nervous. The commotion was this.. this poor fella was trying to navigate his way down the hall in a wheelchair, and I could see there were a few obstacles ... pieces of luggage! So, I told him I would try to clear a path. I pushed a few pieces up against the hallway wall. Then, two of them.. were just TOO BIG to get out of his way. Those, I hoisted up to my chin level... and let him pass. Whew::::

I am now on the ship, and ready to begin my Alaskan vacation! I decide to go to my stateroom, thinking it will probably be ready. I was in 6069, a "Large Inside" I think is the category, etc, etc. I walk up and down the hall, and notice that none of the staterooms have "that" little envelope with key-cards in the mailbox. None of them. That is fine. I start to walk back towards the elevators. But, after taking five steps I hear "May I help you, Sir?". I informed that I apologize... and "I am probably too early". He told me, not at all. And, said "I'll be right back". So, he returned quickly with around 40 envelopes & shuffled through them --- here you go, "Your room key, sir". He was not my room steward. But, a nice fella! I got into my room, and watched the Safety Video. And, had a soda pop from the fridge. I took room pictures. I guess some of the folks on here like those! So, after resting for a half an hour, I made my way to the mid-ship elevators. The glass ones, on the Starboard side.. okay, there are two of them. The one on the right was not in operation this day. There was the Red X on the display. Went to find my muster station, but, turns out they will not have muster key-card-scan until 1:00pm. Not a big deal. Head to the Lido. It was fairly crowded, but not crazy. OF NOTE: My cruise last year, the Zuidy was sailing at about 52 percent capacity. This would turn out to be, basically, a full ship. And, at times you CERTAINLY noticed! The television, has a swing arm. And, also, pivots left and right. So, basically anywhere in the stateroom you can see it. There is a safe. It was locked, oh well.. get it checked out later. At the lido, there was a medium line. And, that was for ALL stations. Difficult part, no tables available. So, went outside and got a rum drink. Ugg, cannot remember the name of it! It was good. I consumed it roughly one minute. He he he. I walked around, and sort of got a feel for the ship. I say that with a grin on my face, as the ship seemed pretty similar to the Zuidy. I wanted to check-out the Fitness Center. One of my goals was to do some treadmill, hopefully, each day. I will post some photos of it as we continue. I was thinking of posting a series of all of my muscles. But, that would be a short series. Alright, back to my stateroom after 75 minutes of exploring. I started to notice that some of the rooms were beginning to rec'v their luggage now. Mine, not yet. Okay, went to the Muster Station. Got scanned in. They have increased the amount of time you will spend at the station. It is now 80 seconds. Lol. I have only been on two cruises now... so, I say that with a smile. I'm somewhat new still & don't know if it has really "varied" much in the last ten years, etc, etc. When I was on Zuidy, they scanned my key card & did not really even speak. The crew member, this time, made mention of "listening for announcements in case of emergency" and such. Was a nice guy. (((( Continued, soon... ))))

Hello everyone.. well, I am home. Time to (finally post my trip report). It may be, slightly, a mish mosh of words, photos. But, here it is... Pre-cruise & Background: I have cruised (prior to this) just once in my entire life. That was last year on the Zuiderdam. It was to Sea of Cortez / Mexico. A solo cruise. Lot of fun. In January, 2023.. I rec'd an email from a casino where I live (Las Vegas, NV) awarding me a cruise. It listed quite a few that I may sail on. Two things -- physically get to the cruise port, and pay the taxes. That's really about it. Around early March, I booked my airline flight. Well, just one of the flights. Got SWA for $90 to Seattle. The return flight (at that time) back to LV, NV, was fairly high priced. So, I would check fairly often to see if the fare would lower. Mind you, the return flight will be during Memorial Day weekend. Anyhow, never saw a price drop, so I investigated Delta. And, booked the one-way back home. I have never flown Delta before. So, I was going to get what they call "comfort-plus".. but, learned that it req'd a fee of $30 per checked bag. So, I got a first class ticket for only slightly higher. Bags are free in 1st class. Plus, the leg-room was fine. More like mighty fine. May 19, the night before my flight (as well, as embarkation day), I began to pack. I had a checklist as well. So, two bags. One carry-on. I went to sleep early, as my flight was going to be at 5:45am. Well, I woke up at 10pm, 1145pm, and 2am. My alarm was set for 3am. Oh well, not much sleep at all. Got an Uber, and made the 8 minute trip to the airport. Back in March, I signed up for PreCheck. Check-in took 40 seconds. And, got through T.S.A. in 44 seconds. Go to the gate. Flight left on-time. And, it arrived in Seattle 23 minutes early!! I don't know how they do it. Lol. I arrive in Sea (OKAY, OKAY, I'LL GET TO THE CRUISE SOON!!)... I arrive in Seattle, and make my way to baggage claim. The airport in Seattle is much bigger than ours in LV, NV. Grabbed my bags at the carousel.. and, spotted one of the HAL shuttle reps quickly. She said, "please go to the podium over there". Only one other person in line. So, a fella said "how many bags, & may I have your name please". Well, he looks at his clipboard with a printed sheet atop. And, says my name is not on the list. "May I see your paperwork, please?". Huh? Umm? What paperwork? When I booked the shuttle reservation with my cruise consultant -- he basically told me "it is all digital, you don't need any sort of paper". Well, I was gold to take "the blue elevator to level 1, and you will signs that say Cruise Ship Shuttles". Okay, did so. There were tons of people. But, they kept stuff moving. A lady at "that" podium was very nice and gave me a shuttle "pass". She said.. "the guys at baggage don't have a Master List, like I do". Umm, okay. Well, just fifteen minutes later I was able to board a shuttle. One of the reps yelled out "is there a single?". I responded with a nod & got aboard. Very very little traffic to the cruise port. Maybe 25 minute ride. Now, I was unaware of certain procedures. But, they made it clear -- once you give your bags to a shuttle rep -- you will not see them again until you're in your stateroom (or, next to the door of your stateroom). Sorry, I'm sure many of you are "regulars" and pro's. This was a new experience for me. In the cruise terminal, it was very crowded. But, organized!!! There were two ships that share the terminal, kind of Jack N Jill style. I put my carry-on through the x-ray, and done. The first check-in podium was if you DO have a passport. I don't. Not required for this cruise, obviously. The second check-in area, was for those that just have a birth certificate. Process took only one minute. Proceed to a table & obtain your boarding card. Okay, I was the first person to get a card in Group 3. The terminal has plastic chairs, bathrooms, cookies, ice-water, etc. I did not see any charging stations. No biggie. At this time it was about 10:25am. Just to give you an idea, the passenger waiting area is back-to-back with another cruise line... and, only separated by plastic rope things. An announce was made that boarding for "Group 1 was going to happen around 11 or 11:15". Your assigned boarding time did not matter in the least. Okay, it's now 10:50am... Group 1 was called. Okay, it's now 10:58am... Group 2 was called. Okay, it's now 11:10am... Group 3 was called. (Yay!) So, I looked around behind me... and there was a scattering of Group 4's... and, most of the chairs were now available. Like my last cruise, I took a deep sigh of relief as I began to make my way to the ship. The last few days and hours that LEAD UP TO MY CRUISE... I think of 27 things that could "go wrong". The photographer snaps the photos, and you walk the plank. Or, "those" criss-cross metal ramps. In 30 seconds, I will be on the Eurodam!! ((( Will continue my report, shortly, as I am composing at the keyboard. Plus, trying to remember if we are allowed to attach videos also on here. )))

Ugg.. trying to find out how to edit my post. Hmm, looking.

Oh gosh, is it the size of the font. Or the font-style?

I begin to see more and more people. And, the pool area.. the uncovered one was really hopping. Many people with a drink in their hand, and some groovy music playing. I could see the Space Needle in the distance. I did take a photo of the needle, but cannot locate it now. I'm sure most of you have seen it -- one way or the udder! Alright, sail-away was getting somewhat closer. I'm hungry. The lido, was closing things down for lunch. A reliable Plan B is room service. It's "okay" food. Not, gourmet. And, it's not bad either. I placed my order... and waited patiently. I heard the "thump" of suitcases (etc.) being dropped off. Took a look, nope.. not mine yet. Well, I perused the TV stations. Just the same as I experienced on Zuidy... about 13 stations & Bow Cam & Aft Cam. Went to each of the closets and cleared out all of the wooden hangers. (Brought my own, lol.) Oh yeah.. the safe. Forgot about that. I called down to Guest Services. They answered the phone within a few seconds. That is impressive for embarkation day. I was told they would send someone to my stateroom "shortly". Okay, food arrived pretty quick.. got the quesadilla, and a couple of soda-pops to go along with it. One to drink instamatically. One to put in the fridge. Now, the quesadilla was fine. The tortilla did have a strange orange-ish color to it. But, it did the trick. About an hour of relaxing, and digesting went by. No sign of the SAFE "help". I was pretty tired, actually, as I had been up for 923 hours now. But, have to press on! Time to get up on deck for the sail-away. I met with some crew-members, and talked about stuff... 1st time to AK, how long have you been with HAL, where are you from, you know, you know. I had no idea that Puget Sound was so expansive.. the ship was moving slowly, but steadily. Fun to see all of the inlets -- I guess you would call them. When I got back to the room, two things occurred. First, I called Guest Services and made an inquiry if someone could open the safe for me. Was told "yes, we will send someone to your room". Second, I heard a slight bit of commotion in my hallway. And, opened the door to see what was going on. And, also to see if any of my luggage has arrived. I was sort of surprised, it had not... as we were ALREADY sailing. So, just a bit nervous. The commotion was this.. this poor fella was trying to navigate his way down the hall in a wheelchair, and I could see there were a few obstacles ... pieces of luggage! So, I told him I would try to clear a path. I pushed a few pieces up against the hallway wall. Then, two of them.. were just TOO BIG to get out of his way. Those, I hoisted up to my chin level... and let him pass. Whew:::: ((( continued soon... MisterMatthew, is out of the office! ))) ----MisterMatthew

I am now on the ship, and ready to begin my Alaskan vacation! I decide to go to my stateroom, thinking it will probably be ready. I was in 6069, a "Large Inside" I think is the category, etc, etc. I walk up and down the hall, and notice that none of the staterooms have "that" little envelope with key-cards in the mailbox. None of them. That is fine. I start to walk back towards the elevators. But, after taking five steps I hear "May I help you, Sir?". I informed that I apologize... and "I am probably too early". He told me, not at all. And, said "I'll be right back". So, he returned quickly with around 40 envelopes & shuffled through them --- here you go, "Your room key, sir". He was not my room steward. But, a nice fella! I got into my room, and watched the Safety Video. And, had a soda pop from the fridge. I took room pictures. I guess some of the folks on here like those! So, after resting for a half an hour, I made my way to the mid-ship elevators. The glass ones, on the Starboard side.. okay, there are two of them. The one on the right was not in operation this day. There was the Red X on the display. Went to find my muster station, but, turns out they will not have muster key-card-scan until 1:00pm. Not a big deal. Head to the Lido. It was fairly crowded, but not crazy. OF NOTE: My cruise last year, the Zuidy was sailing at about 52 percent capacity. This would turn out to be, basically, a full ship. And, at times you CERTAINLY noticed! The television, has a swing arm. And, also, pivots left and right. So, basically anywhere in the stateroom you can see it. There is a safe. It was locked, oh well.. get it checked out later. At the lido, there was a medium line. And, that was for ALL stations. Difficult part, no tables available. So, went outside and got a rum drink. Ugg, cannot remember the name of it! It was good. I consumed it roughly one minute. He he he. I walked around, and sort of got a feel for the ship. I say that with a grin on my face, as the ship seemed pretty similar to the Zuidy. I wanted to check-out the Fitness Center. One of my goals was to do some treadmill, hopefully, each day. I will post some photos of it as we continue. I was thinking of posting a series of all of my muscles. But, that would be a short series. Alright, back to my stateroom after 75 minutes of exploring. I started to notice that some of the rooms were beginning to rec'v their luggage now. Mine, not yet. Okay, went to the Muster Station. Got scanned in. They have increased the amount of time you will spend at the station. It is now 80 seconds. Lol. I have only been on two cruises now... so, I say that with a smile. I'm somewhat new still & don't know if it has really "varied" much in the last ten years, etc, etc. When I was on Zuidy, they scanned my key card & did not really even speak. The crew member, this time, made mention of "listening for announcements in case of emergency" and such. Was a nice guy. (((( Continued, soon... )))) --- MisterMatthew

Hello everyone.. well, I am home. Time to (finally post my trip report). It may be, slightly, a mish mosh of words, photos. But, here it is... Pre-cruise & Background: I have cruised (prior to this) just once in my entire life. That was last year on the Zuiderdam. It was to Sea of Cortez / Mexico. A solo cruise. Lot of fun. In January, 2023.. I rec'd an email from a casino where I live (Las Vegas, NV) awarding me a cruise. It listed quite a few that I may sail on. Two things -- physically get to the cruise port, and pay the taxes. That's really about it. Around early March, I booked my airline flight. Well, just one of the flights. Got SWA for $90 to Seattle. The return flight (at that time) back to LV, NV, was fairly high priced. So, I would check fairly often to see if the fare would lower. Mind you, the return flight will be during Memorial Day weekend. Anyhow, never saw a price drop, so I investigated Delta. And, booked the one-way back home. I have never flown Delta before. So, I was going to get what they call "comfort-plus".. but, learned that it req'd a fee of $30 per checked bag. So, I got a first class ticket for only slightly higher. Bags are free in 1st class. Plus, the leg-room was fine. More like mighty fine. May 19, the night before my flight (as well, as embarkation day), I began to pack. I had a checklist as well. So, two bags. One carry-on. I went to sleep early, as my flight was going to be at 5:45am. Well, I woke up at 10pm, 1145pm, and 2am. My alarm was set for 3am. Oh well, not much sleep at all. Got an Uber, and made the 8 minute trip to the airport. Back in March, I signed up for PreCheck. Check-in took 40 seconds. And, got through T.S.A. in 44 seconds. Go to the gate. Flight left on-time. And, it arrived in Seattle 23 minutes early!! I don't know how they do it. Lol. I arrive in Sea (OKAY, OKAY, I'LL GET TO THE CRUISE SOON!!)... I arrive in Seattle, and make my way to baggage claim. The airport in Seattle is much bigger than ours in LV, NV. Grabbed my bags at the carousel.. and, spotted one of the HAL shuttle reps quickly. She said, "please go to the podium over there". Only one other person in line. So, a fella said "how many bags, & may I have your name please". Well, he looks at his clipboard with a printed sheet atop. And, says my name is not on the list. "May I see your paperwork, please?". Huh? Umm? What paperwork? When I booked the shuttle reservation with my cruise consultant -- he basically told me "it is all digital, you don't need any sort of paper". Well, I was gold to take "the blue elevator to level 1, and you will signs that say Cruise Ship Shuttles". Okay, did so. There were tons of people. But, they kept stuff moving. A lady at "that" podium was very nice and gave me a shuttle "pass". She said.. "the guys at baggage don't have a Master List, like I do". Umm, okay. Well, just fifteen minutes later I was able to board a shuttle. One of the reps yelled out "is there a single?". I responded with a nod & got aboard. Very very little traffic to the cruise port. Maybe 25 minute ride. Now, I was unaware of certain procedures. But, they made it clear -- once you give your bags to a shuttle rep -- you will not see them again until you're in your stateroom (or, next to the door of your stateroom). Sorry, I'm sure many of you are "regulars" and pro's. This was a new experience for me. In the cruise terminal, it was very crowded. But, organized!!! There were two ships that share the terminal, kind of Jack N Jill style. I put my carry-on through the x-ray, and done. The first check-in podium was if you DO have a passport. I don't. Not required for this cruise, obviously. The second check-in area, was for those that just have a birth certificate. Process took only one minute. Proceed to a table & obtain your boarding card. Okay, I was the first person to get a card in Group 3. The terminal has plastic chairs, bathrooms, cookies, ice-water, etc. I did not see any charging stations. No biggie. At this time it was about 10:25am. Just to give you an idea, the passenger waiting area is back-to-back with another cruise line... and, only separated by plastic rope things. An announce was made that boarding for "Group 1 was going to happen around 11 or 11:15". Your assigned boarding time did not matter in the least. Okay, it's now 10:50am... Group 1 was called. Okay, it's now 10:58am... Group 2 was called. Okay, it's now 11:10am... Group 3 was called. (Yay!) So, I looked around behind me... and there was a scattering of Group 4's... and, most of the chairs were now available. Like my last cruise, I took a deep sigh of relief as I began to make my way to the ship. The last few days and hours that LEAD UP TO MY CRUISE... I think of 27 things that could "go wrong". The photographer snaps the photos, and you walk the plank. Or, "those" criss-cross metal ramps. In 30 seconds, I will be on the Eurodam!! ((( Will continue my report, shortly, as I am composing at the keyboard. Plus, trying to remember if we are allowed to attach videos also on here. )))

En route to Victoria BC at the moment. Captain said (a little bit ago) we will likely arrive 45 min early! ---Matthew

Well, it is not bad. I am not an avid drinker, but does the trick. I had a small shake up, up on deck 11 at the Coffee Bar. I will go into that with my report later! --Matthew

Yes, it is offered. I did not select it. But, CAN see where it would ease some nerves. ---Matthew

Hiya, Boatdrill.. to be honest the sound level has been minimal. That is good. The music choices have been mellow. There has not been any "hip hop". That is AWESOME! ---- Matthew (in Ketchikan, all aboard is in 6 min)

K T B .. will do!

Thank you v v much!

This was on the way to Juneau. It was taken with a cell phone. A phone that is a Samsung which is aging, and could probably be found in a thrift store for the sum of $4.00. But, enough bout that. I like the lido at at an EARLY hour. Before a large amount of guests and staff. Calming. Relaxing. ----Matthew 20230522_053941.mp4

Hi all. It is WED here in Alaska. We will be at Sitka in about an hour. Light rain. To be honest, my cell carrier has only had service in Juneau. And, now again as we prepare to arrive. My cruise, thus far, has been enjoyable. In addition, there has been a few twists and turns. A nice bevy of pleasant events. A scoop of controversey. And, a slight shake-up. When i return home to LV, Nevada.. i will go in-depth with a report on my trip. I will furnish photos. And of course have the posession of better internet! ---Matthew

My guess is... you're?? at Victoria BC now (or heading there)? Hope things are well, ZGSCL. Quick question, are the Main Dining Room menus (and, Lido menus) for the Eurodam to ALASKA basically "set" for the summer. Or, ??? I only ask because, I have logged onto the Navigator APP (here in Las Vegas, lol) and I am able to see the menus even though I am not yet on the ship. Sorry, if my question is too wordy! Thanks. :) ----- Matthew

Suzanne, kindly save a bit of that weather for me! Everyone, thanks for the responses.

Hello all. I am a sailing HAL (for the 2nd time). Sailing to Alaska (out of Seattle). I am on the Eurodam. I used the Verifly APP last year when I was on the Zuiderdam out of S.D. Calif. Now, mind you.. the ship was sailing at about 55% capacity. From what I remember, the check-in rep just shrugged their shoulders when I made mention that I had the Verifly APP and said "oh, that's not required". So, can someone (that was on a recent embarkation) tell me if the Verifly APP provides any sort of a smoother / quicker boarding? At this point, I can see my boarding pass on the Navigator APP. At this point, I have my birth certificate. At this point, I have my drivers license. And, since this is a closed-loop cruise, no passport or visa is required AT ALL. Correct me if I'm wrong... are these basic "things" really all that I need? Sorry, if my question is wordy! -----Matthew