Alder

Hi there,

We picked up a car from Avis - they have a location about 50yds from the ferry terminal. Easy to drive round the island - there's a fantastic picture perfect public beach past the Hilton around the NE of the island.

By the way Avis also set up a booth at the point cruise ships tender passengers ashore on the other side of the island.

Hi there,

For what it's worth we took a HI Express Hotel package that included a nights accommodation and mini-bus transfers to and from the airport - no problem on the way out, but about an hours wait on the way back - quite chaotic as two ships were unloading at the same time.

The reason for posting is that we got to the terminal (HAL) quite early so we walked back into the city - there's a nice flat well marked pathway around Elliot Bay managed as a Country Park - took about an hours walk to reach the tourist area by the aquarium. To our surprise we saw a few people (crew?) walking to the ship with all their luggage in tow - it's a long walk - but with wheeled luggage and a nice day some folk do it that way! I watch the pennies but even for me this would be an economy too far!!

Before we did the walk we checked in our luggage with no problems - one tip is you need photo id and proof of a cruise to get back into the port complex. There's two exits from the port of foot - one up to the raised roadway (where I think you can catch the local bus) the second exists at ground level onto the bay footpath/cycle route.

Hi there,

We sailed out out of Seattle last year (late June) and sorry to say no whales as we passed the islands. They seem to be most famous for Orcas, with several resident and transient pods - and indeed we stayed for a few days in Anacortes after the cruise where we saw plenty - but only off a whale watching boat that knew where they would be.

If you're keen on looking for whales you'd be better off spending your time at the front or back of the ship so you can watch all round....

By contrast later in the cruise we saw plenty of humpback whales in Alaskan waters - but generally only spouting at a distance - but there were loads of them!

We did take a whale watching trip from Icy SP where we got very close to the humpbacks as they were feeding off Point Adolphus - seems they are pretty much guarenteed.

Have a great time!!

Hi there – we were on a HAL cruise last year with a full and fantastic day in Juneau. We hired a car from Avis who have a proper counter inside the Goldbelt Hotel. Assuming you’re docked at the same place we were, just turn left as you get off the ship and it’s a few minutes walk – easy to find.

We’d pre-booked and pre-paid and it took no time to collect the keys – car parked outside – no attempt at any upsell.

There’s not a lot of roads to choose from(!) – we drove north west past the airport along the Glacier Highway stopping when we wanted to. Very pleasant hour at St Theresa’s Shrine where there’s some nice gentle paths from the car park to the Church on the coast. Great views out to sea - told by some friendly locals that sometimes you can see whales, but not while we were there. Drove on to the end of the road and stopped off at a couple of State Parks on the coast – again nice paths.

Headed back towards Juneau and took the loop road to Mendenhall Glacier – the car parks are fairly close to the visitors centre, but there’s a footpath along the stream so you can completely avoid walking along the road.

Went back to Juneau and used an overflow carpark owned by Avis next to the ship to pop back for a bite to eat.

As the ship only left around 10pm we went out again for the evening. There’s a Walmart back towards Mendenhall (emergency camera memory card!) before we drove across the bridge onto Douglas Island to explore the ruins of Treadwell Gold Mine - it’s pretty much on the shore opposite the cruise ship. Nothing spectacular but there’s some interesting interpretation boards and lots of ruins – it’s managed as public open space so lots of dog walkers and the like.

Dropped the car off at the hotel car park and the keys into the Avis box. Then wandered back through town to the ship.

Nothing against other car hire companies (and I’ve happily used Rent-a-Wreck/Ugly Duckling etc elsewhere) but Avis were flawless.

Hi there,

We were in Juneau in June on a great 14 day trip with HAL. As mentioned already Avis has an outlet in the local hotel - they even have an overspill parking area close to the ship if you want to pop back for anything.

We drove along the shore to the very end of the Glacier Highway stopping at a number of view points and parks including St Theresa's Shrine. Went to the glacier en route back to the ship - easy to park.

After dinner we drove across the bridge and explored the old Treadwell Gold Mine - now a country park - practically opposite the ship.

Well worth a car - no problem dopping off after the Avis desk closed.

Enjoy!

Hi there,

We were in ISP during summer on a fantastic 14 day HAL cruise.

Landing is by tender to the pier serving the old cannery. The whole area has been beautifully renovated, with the wooden cannery at the top of the pier now a series of small local owned shops, local food outlets and displays about the history of the area.

Off to the left of the cannery there's a nice easy self-guide nature walk through the woodland and along the coast - about a 20 minute loop.

The other way is the road into town - a turning circle at the entrance to ISP (where you meet independent tours - see later) very, very little traffic, but a paved walkway next to the road anyway. About a half hour easy walk into town, past the ferry terminal (nice toilets - next ferry in two days) then past a few small local stores to the dock area - all very quite. Interesting seeing the local houses and the laid back way of life. Watched lots and lots of bald eagles across the bay, then back to the terminal. We were there in June and ICP were using local school buses for trips along logging roads looking for bears - none seen and folk didn't seem to have enjoyed the trip much.

In the afternoon we'd pre-booked a whale watching trip with Hoonah Travel Adventure (see Trip Advisor for our review). Fantastic!

Note there seemed no-one selling trips for anything on the day, apart from things arranged by ISP - so if you want to do anything not via the ship or ISP then you must pre-book.

In summary - interesting small town, very nice terminal, but half day at most. You do need to book a whale watching trip to make the most of your visit - expensive but Point Adolphus has a number of currents meaning humpback whales are very likely and we also had the bonus of watching a young brown bear searching for food along the shore...

Hope that helps!

We love cruising because you can visit such a variety of places on one trip – a floating hotel where (very often), you wake up in a different place each day. We don’t mind the odd sea day, but our holiday is not about the ship, but about the itinerary. If the trip looked great, we’d book even if we didn’t care for the cruise line or the ship and indeed, we have done that in the past. Ideally, we’d prefer no more than one sea day per week, or 3 (4 at a push) over a 2 week period and we would never consider a trip containing a large amount of days at sea. So, just curious what others think. If you had to choose, which is more important to you, the cruise ship or the itinerary?

Hiya Lemur,

Yes, we did eat in the MDR, but to be honest, we must be one of the few couples for whom food on a cruise isn't important. On our first day, they did let us take the Veggie/vegan menu and keep it in our cabin for the duration of the cruise, but we preferred the casual self-service option. We spend every moment possible on shore, disembarking as soon as possible, getting back just in time to re-board. We travel on foot, public transport or hire a self-drive car and see as much as we can when on land. Having such a busy days, we just eat to re-fuel, which means a quick shower and then more often than not, head to the self service restaurants on any cruise line we're on. We tend to be up early (5am some days on our last cruise), have a very busy active day, eat then find a quiet corner to read, then early to bed.

It's safe to say, we never starve and I'm vegan and my husband is veggie and there's always a great selection if you’re not fussy - vegetables, fries, salad, bread, fruit, sorbet etc. Even without the selection of veggie/vegan foods we have at home, we still managed to gain weight!

Best Wishes

VEGETARIAN/VEGAN MENU

Select one option from each section to be served the following evening.

Appetizers

Lemon and Spinach Ricotta Dip

Vegetarian Mezza Plate (vegan) - Baba Ghanousch, hummus, tabbouleh

Vegetable Terrine - broccoli, carrot, zucchini, tarragon sour cream

Strawberry and Bucatini Bruschetta

Vegetarian Sushi Roll (vegan) - avocado, cucumber, red pimento

Portabello Mushroom and Chipotle Quesadilla

Vietnamese Vegetable Spring Roll (vegan)

Curried Vegetable Empanadas

Soups

Asian Noodle Soup (vegan)

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (vegan)

Pasta Fagioli (vegan)

Salads

Tossed Fresh Garden Greens (vegan)

Spicy Lentil and Garbanzo Salad (vegan)

Entrees

Baked Cheese Polenta with Mushrooms Artichoke Hearts

Asparagus, Carrot and Zucchini Tart

Baked Vegetable Lasagna

Vegetable and Bean Chili - with sour cream

Pad Thai Noodles (vegan)

Vegetable Jambalaya (vegan)

Spinach Palak Curry

Sweet and Sour Vegetable Tempura (vegan)

Grilled Vegetable and Tofo Kabob (vegan)

Whoops, how do I edit my post? Spelling error - *calving instead of carving*!! I'm a touch typist and sometimes, my fingers type faster than my brain can work! :-)

We were on the Amsterdam for a two week Alaska cruise a couple of weeks ago – one strict vegan and one less strict vegetarian. We hate the formality of a cruise – the itinerary is everything to us – so you’ll certainly find us in the buffet on formal nights…

HAL have a separate vegetarian/vegan menu in the Main Dining Room.

We were booked on the dine as you please option, but didn’t bother with the MDR until day three. We went to the main dining room during breakfast to inquire about the special menu – they happily went and found a copy and we were invited to order off it for that night – they also invited us to keep the menu in our cabin for the whole of the two weeks. The menu consisted of a comprehensive list of veggie & vegan meals - plenty of choice for everyone.

That evening the food arrived with no problem and we were invited to order off the menu for the following night. However we declined this offer preferring to use the informal Lido buffet. It did strike me that ordering in the morning (rather than the previous evening) may be a better option as you could easily check what the veggie option is on the main menu as an alternative?

Lido Buffet. With the exception of the night discussed above this is the venue we used. On the positive side there are lots of options, but a couple of things could be improved?

For the first 48 hours of the cruise everything on the buffet was served by staff as a way to minimise the novo virus risk – so no problem – they said this is standard on all HAL ships.

However once self-service was opened, the main course was still served by staff. The central part of this was a meat carving station – only after you had chosen meat were you then offered veggies. This meant you had to queue with the meat eaters even if all you wanted was some of the vegetables. While the queues were never too long, it was still annoying to be delayed by having to queue with the meat eaters (calving can be a slow process!) – as well as noting a number of occasions when meat serving implements were used to serve other items as well. They really need to decouple the carvery from the rest of the buffet which could be made self-service (like the rest of the buffet) – this would speed everyone through. There was also some confusion over which items had butter, egg or milk as an ingredient and I’m not sure we always got the correct answer!

In general the buffet served the same meals as the main dining room, but the vegetarian option was often not obvious to see. The buffet is laid out so that each item has ‘name plaque’ somewhere nearby – so it’s a little cluttered – roast chicken next to the actual roast chicken is a bit overstated and means you don’t look at the name plaques. Because the veggie option is normally stored out of sight you have to ask for it - the only reason you know it’s there is if you notice the name plaque mixed in with all the others.

We had a free meal at one of the additional restaurants (Canaletto)but when we asked about a vegan option with the receptionist we got a puzzled and confused response – not being overly-concerned we simply cancelled the reservation. In one of those over and above customer service issues the food service manager tracked us down in the buffet (I guess by checking where we had just bought a drink?) to ask if everything was OK and why we had cancelled the reservation!

On the positive side they had good quality soya/almond milk in the buffet, also at the speciality coffee bar but you had to ask (try a soya latte with an almond liquor shot!) – as well as a vegan sorbet as an ice cream alternative. Also the Dive-In burger bar (by the covered pool) does a grilled mushroom burger. The first time I ordered it, they brought it to my table, the 2nd time I watched them cook it on the griddle alongside the burgers, so wouldn’t eat it. There are fries and salad at the Dive-in bar though.

We never asked, but I wonder if you could order from the MDR for collection in the buffet? I’d guess not, because any confusion at the buffet tying up a staff member would risk the whole thing grinding to a halt… Also wonder if they had vegan cheese at the sandwich making station – also I think I saw reference to an egg substitute somewhere connected with breakfast – but we never asked…

All in all a great trip and very impressed with the general space on the ship and the quality of the staff – but the over-riding priority for us is still the itinerary and not too many sea days.

I'm presuming it was the Pinnacle Grill, they do have a vegetarian choice, which is very good.

May I suggest that you post your review on this board as a new thread because I know there will be many Hal cruisers interested in your report.:)

Sorry, I should've said, it was the Cannaletto restaurant and they couldn't offer a vegan option, so we decided not to go. Not a problem for us though as we are probably one of the few couples for whom food on a cruise is not overly important. For us, it's all about the ports of call and good service. HAL were excellent on both of those areas and we hardly starved! :D:p Will repost on the main HAL message board as you suggested.

Hi, We were on the Amsterdam for a two week Alaska cruise a couple of weeks ago – one strict vegan and one less strict vegetarian. We hate the formality of a cruise – the itinerary is everything to us – so you’ll certainly find us in the buffet on formal nights…

As others have said HAL have a separate vegetarian/vegan menu identical to the ones copied by others above.

We were booked on the dine as you please option, but didn’t bother with the main dining room till day three. We went to the main dining room during breakfast to inquire about the special menu (as per the one you posted, so it’s not changed) – they happily went and found a copy and we were invited to order off it for that night – they also invited us to keep the menu in our cabin for the whole of the two weeks.

That evening the food arrived with no problem and we were invited to order off the menu for the following night. However we declined this offer preferring to use the informal Lido buffet (see below). It did strike me that ordering in the morning (rather than the previous evening) may be a better option as you could easily check what the veggie option is on the main menu as an alternative?

Lido Buffet. With the exception of the night discussed above this is the venue we used. On the positive side there are lots of options, but a couple of things could be improved?

For the first 48 hours of the cruise everything on the buffet was served by staff as a way to minimise the novo virus risk – so no problem – they said this is standard on all HAL ships.

However once self-service was opened, the main course was still served by staff. The central part of this was a meat carving station – only after you had chosen meat were you then offered veggies. This meant you had to queue with the meat eaters even if all you wanted was some of the vegetables. While the queues were never too long, it was still annoying to be delayed by having to queue with the meat eaters – as well as noting a number of occasions when meat serving implements were used to serve other items as well. They really need to decouple the carvery from the rest of the buffet which could be made self-service (like the rest of the buffet) – this would speed everyone through. There was also some confusion over which items had butter, egg or milk as an ingredient and I’m not sure we always got the correct answer!

In general the buffet served the same meals as the main dining room, but the vegetarian option was often not obvious to see. The buffet is laid out so that each item has ‘name plaque’ somewhere nearby – so it’s a little cluttered – roast chicken next to the actual roast chicken is a bit overstated and means you don’t look at the name plaques. Because the veggie option is normally stored out of sight you have to ask for it - the only reason you know it’s there is if you notice the name plaque mixed in with all the others.

We had a free meal at one of the additional charged restaurants but when we asked about a vegan option with the receptionist we got a puzzled and confused response – not being overly-concerned we simply cancelled the reservation. In one of those over and above customer service issues the food service manager tracked us down in the buffet (I guess by checking where we had just bought a drink?) to ask if everything was OK and why we had cancelled the reservation!

On the positive side they had good quality soya/almond milk in the buffet (also at the speciality coffee bar) but you had to ask – as well as a vegan sorbet as an ice cream alternative. Also the Dive-In burger bar (by the covered pool) does a grilled mushroom burger. The first time I ordered it, they brought it to my table, the 2nd time I watched them cook it on the griddle alongside the burgers, so wouldn’t eat it. There are fries and salad at the Dive-in bar though.

We never asked, but I wonder if you could order from the MDR for collection in the buffet? I’d guess not, because any confusion at the buffet tying up a staff member would risk the whole thing grinding to a halt… Also wonder if they had vegan cheese at the sandwich making station – also I think I saw reference to an egg substitute somewhere connected with breakfast – but we never asked…

All in all a great trip and very impressed with the general space on the ship and the quality of the staff – but the over-riding priority for us is still the itinerary and not too many sea days. Enjoy your trip!

Hi there -we used the local shared mini-buses from MoBay to Falmouth a few years ago - a couple of dollars each way - from the bus station in MoBay, but just flagged one down in Falmouth to get back.

They don't waste time once they set off - but it was a while before they filled up to leave....

Hi there - we walked from the port about 5 years ago - any excuse to offset the damage from the never ending food!

For part of the way there's a walkway just below the road, but it's not well looked after (or wasn't then) and it disappears after a while so you end up on a narrow country road with quite fast traffic, but it's not that bad.... As others say there's a number of shacks in the bush around the road and were were invited to visit on a number of occasions - interesting smells drifting around... We politely said no and had no trouble.

The road passes over a bridge that crosses the river close to where it reachs the sea after coming down Dunns River Falls and we paid to get in there to use the private beach and get away from the groups of kids trying to sell us anything they could - pretty much the same anywhere there are tourists here or in MoBay.

The actual River Falls walk was far to organised for us and too 'jolly' - but the beach was good (it's all in the same complex and you need to pay to get in) and avoided the hawkers.

So you can walk, but it's not that good and I wouldn't take anything valuable!

Hope that helps....

Hi all. We were there a few years ago on Ocean Village and from what Geezer says it's not changed even down to the queues for the BBQ! Large beach but felt crowded and not very good snorkling.

We followed the only road across the island - it goes up through the tiny village on the top of the island and drops down to a small sheltered yacht anchourage on the other side - say 40 minute (hilly and hot) walk each way - no risk of getting lost! Quite windswept away from shelter but good fun and a good way to stretch your legs.... If you don't want to stay on the beach/do a ship trip there's nothing else. Unlike other stops there's no locals trying to sell you trips when you land - just a few kids with shells and the like to sell.

However when OV were visiting it was very common for the stop to be missed due to high winds - I think the three planned visited before ours were skipped and swapped to an extra sea day.

Have fun!