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HAL is using Whittier now which is disappointing as we love Seward. I think this info posted by a shoreside employee who stated HAL wanted to streamline the shoreside help.

We sailed Amsterdam just once for a 14 day Alaska in 2010. We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and decided to combine it with our family vacation so our 14 year old daughter came along with us. Well, what could go wrong with a 14 year old hormonal girl on a 14 day cruise with few children on board? Needless to say I played peacemaker the entire time and both she and my husband made it home alive. The ports were great and we took some great excursions including Taku Lodge from Juneau but it certainly was not the relaxing time I had expected. The day after getting home I booked a “do over” cruise on Westerdam for the last sailing of the Alaska season without our daughter, now that was relaxing and drama free.

We are booked on the December 5th sailing although it had been booked well before the virus appeared. We won’t cancel since we are using a FCC that we’ll lose but if HAL cancels no big deal and we can use the airfare credit to go to Las Vegas instead.

Well, we couldn’t quite stay at home. After three weeks at home we got a text from our son in law in Idaho that our daughter was going to deliver their baby via C-section that day due to our daughters health. We were fortunate that our short term rental was available early so we hightailed it out if California. Our daughter spent a few days in the hospital and recovered nicely and our first grandchild (Emma) was released after just 10 days in the NICU which was amazing since she was six weeks early. So we continue the same routine at home, biking and walking, limiting store visits, masking up (fortunately not many cases here). Two more weeks and we head home and hope that our tomatoes didn’t die due to the heatwave there and my cherries remain on the tree. Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you, I’ll keep an eye out. Off topic but your dog looks like our Phoebe (sans sunglasses, lol), I’ll try to post a small picture. Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Did you book directly with HAL? We also have a December cruise but did not receive the offer although we booked with VTG and my cruise consultant appears to be furloughed or laid off. With the company operating with a severely reduced staff I wonder if I’d ever get the offer (if it was offered) We do not owe much anyway since we had a FCC to use due to a wonky Hawaii cruise (not HAL’s fault).

I agree! Can’t wait to read more, thank you!

They posted on Tuesday about 1pm from LAX as they were awaiting their flight to SFO. It’s post #47 on the returning Amsterdam passenger topic, sorry I cannot post the link from my iPad. Hope you connect with them through their blog.

Captain Ricky and Writer on Deck- I have enjoyed your WC blogs, many thanks for sharing your adventure. Hope your travels home go off without a hitch.

Hi Jo Anne, It’s down to $12.59 now...what a steal. I would get the 100 shares now and enjoy your OBC when the ships are sailing again. We bought at a much higher rate but have had so far over $1000 in SBC plus dividends.

For some reason I cannot comment on your blog site, but the birds in Townsville, OMG are they beautiful! And your pink friend you sweet talked, the pictures say it all.

Kainoa was the port lecturer on our Incan Empire cruise and ambassador on our Hawaiian cruise. He thought he was great speaker/presenter and we never missed his talks. I’ve never been compelled in writing one of the “tell us how we’re doing” cards or whatever they’re called, but I did turn in a card letting HAL know how much we enjoyed him and what an asset he is to their company.

We took four of our favorites to Hobby lobby and had them mounted in a shadowbox which we display in our half bath. It wasn’t cheap but the “hole” we needed to fill the size was perfect. As other stated they are smaller than normal tiles so you cannot frame them with tile frames nor are they all the same size.

Here is the link to the Roll Call for your sailing, you’ll probably find others who just recently booked and are looking for private tours. Enjoy your trip, we looked at that cruise for the longest time but our daughter is pregnant and now we are afraid to go far, lol.

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION: We are closely monitoring the Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) situation and wish to reassure you that the risk to our guests and crew is low and our medical experts are coordinating closely with global health authorities. As a precautionary measure, any guest who has traveled from or through mainland China within 14 days of the beginning of this cruise will be denied boarding. This does not apply to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. If this applies to you or your client, please contact us at 1-800-577-1729 (North America) or your country?s office to provide proof of such travel and we will process a full refund of all amounts paid to Holland America Line for this voyage. In addition, all guests will be subject to pre-boarding health reporting and screening at cruise check-in, in addition to other precautions being taken. The above is subject to change based on the interests of health and safety of our guests and crew and any other requirements imposed by local authorities. (I copied and pasted HAL's email above since the full post will not pop up in the link)