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A source onboard indicated to me that there are issues with BBK bands and their ability to provide musicians. The transition to Rolling Stone Lounge is more due to them already having the name but the music will still be a mix of music with musicians coming from somewhere else and that it is not intended to be replaced by the same concept/music found on the newer ships. I will be very interested to read live reports of what the actual onboard experience is on ships with this newer concept.

When & Where for Monday Lunch in the dining room is an express lunch due to the early arrival into Juneau. For dinner we wen to the Pinnacle Grill and had a wonderful meal. The lobster mac & cheese is not as good as the one on Koningsdam this spring, but miles ahead of the one on Zuiderdam.

Juneau was a full house. Eurodam & Koningsdam, plus Crown Princess, Celebrity Solstice all docked and Oceania's Regatta tendering from out in the harbor. We same did the luxury whale watching tour that we did last year and had an absolute blast. They take you out in an 8 passenger, 40 foot yacht to go searching for whales. When there is any activity they spin the boat so you can look from the back deck. There is always room for everyone to get a good view.While the excursion is on the high end of the price spectrum (~$350-400/person) it is well worth it. We had incredible luck and saw a whale breach and blow water from its spout about 40 feet from the boat. About the same distance we saw a sea lion come up and eat a salmon that was slightly too big for it so he had to struggle a bit to get it down. Absolutely amazing to watch the wildlife in their natural habitat.

Well I guess this will be a bit more of a review than a live thread given how busy we have been, but I will now photo dump the last week. Sunday we had our second Sail with Seth activity which was a morning coffee chat with him in the Crow's Nest (Explorations Central to be technically accurate, but it will always be the Crow's Nest to me). It was a lovely get together and Seth went over the excursions that he was doing if people wanted to join & he had held some spaces for last minute additions. Also he had previously sent out the list so you could pre-book to be on the same tour as him. He also did a giveaway which included a spot in the Icy Strait Point zip line, Tamarind dinner, PG dinner, pizza lunch, a stuffed moose, a journal or luggage tags. For our first Gala Night menu there were a few changes from the last one I recall most notably the chocolate soufflé has been moved to the second gala night. Also the crab and salmon dip was incredible. Forgot to take a picture but it was one of the best HAL dishes I have ever had. It was also dangerously hot so check the temperature before eating. Both the lamb and stuffed shells were very good.

Sunday For breakfast we had a crab Benedict which was delicious and the pancakes. Happy to report no signs of the McDonalds hash browns. For lunch we dined in the Pinnacle Grill where everything was excellent and the service was great. The Pinnacle Burger is always a good choice.

It appears we will be going to a crew only area on the bow of deck 4. General viewing is the bow area on deck 5. Should be up there in a couple hours.

Well I am off to bed, lots on the agenda for tomorrow. One final note and extremely privileged complaint - I absolutely hate the new W&W. My biggest issue is not everything is listed in the list of activities by time. All the major shows do not appear at all and you have to look on both the front and section on the third page to see when they all are. It was so much easier when there was just a list of times so if it was 2:30 you could go to 2:30 and see what was happening now and what was happening at 3. Another thing is that like 75% of what they list in the agenda are promoted events like the gift shop and spa stuff. They even say it is promoted. Also on the times for the major shows on the 3rd page the times are a bit unclear what goes with which topic. On the bright side I do like that it gives you an indication of how long the activity is and whether or not it is a hosted event or if they are just providing the space.

Tamarind Not at all crowded, we had one side of the restaurant all to ourselves except for one other couple that came in towards the end of our meal. Everything was very good. Wok Seared Lobster was not as crispy as it is on other ships but still very flavorful. After dinner we went to BB Kings. They did 3 sets that were 30 minutes long. Lounge was busy but there were still seats available. Have been advised there are 1,500 passengers so roughly 70% full. Navigator app is working for NY pizza.

Our first Sail with Seth event was a sail away party on deck 10 aft overlooking the Sea View Pool. Lots of fun meeting Seth and a good chance to meet some of our fellow travelers. Sparkling wine was served and Seth was great about meeting and chatting with everyone. MDR menu for tonight Our dinner tonight is in Tamarind, but we decided to stop by the MDR to see our table and meet our waiters. As it always is, our table is in a corner with absolutely no view of anything interesting. We have been upgraded from our last cruise with the view of the bus station to a view of a large pole. Will probably ask about switching tables tomorrow night. Club Orange main dish - Lemon Shrimp Fettuccini Excellent dish, shrimp were flavorful and the Alfredo sauce was good. Pasta served al dente.

Lido lunch was great. Beef/London Broil was not as good as it has been on previous embarkation days. Salmon tacos were surprisingly good. Shrimp chips were fantastic. Bread pudding exactly as I remember it. Pad Thai noodles were very good as well. We made our way up to the cabana as we had perfect cabana weather. Around 75 degrees and sunny. The family cabana is huge and I love that you have both an open air part and the plexiglass wall. Since there are only 2 of us we will have to see about rearranging the furniture a bit.

We are staying in 8162, same cabin we had last year on Nieuw Amsterdam. Absolutely fabulous aft wrap. The only downside is there is some lost closet space due to the connecting rooms. One update I noticed is that if you have the have it all, they now indicate it on your room card. Great idea as this should help a lot with the billing issues couples have when everyone's drinks go onto one card. We have handed over two cards and they have always taken/swiped both. When & Where for Seattle with yet another new format.

Good Evening from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Vancouver Island! Embarkation was a breeze, thank goodness for VeriFLY. Seems they have learned from previous weeks and they had someone at the front of the line checking that you had received your green ready to board screen before they let you in the line at all. If you did not have it or if you had a red/orange needs verification they sent you to the general screening line. A bit of a clog to get in the line but once you were there it moved extremely quickly. At the front they verified the photo matched the traveler, and that we had our Arrive CAN. There were 15 or 20 people ahead of us and we moved through in less than 5 minutes. Very efficient. The general line for health screening was much longer. I highly recommend using VeriFLY!! After health screening we went up an escalator to security where there was absolutely no wait, and then the facial recognition check in kiosks which were again operated by someone. All we had to do was smile and show our passport. Again there was no line here. We arrived at the port around 11:10 and were through everything by 11:20. After check in we went to a large seating area to wait for boarding to start. Around 11:30 or 40 they brought through wheelchairs and then allowed all of us with group A on. Fantastic boarding altogether and extremely painless. We had a nice lunch in the Lido and then headed up to our cabana to settle in. Muster drill was very easy, same three steps - watch the video in your cabin, check in at your station & listen to the Captain's announcement. Welcome letter for the Sail with Seth - appears glacier bay viewing may very well be on the bow as it indicates it is a restricted crew only area and we are meeting deck 4 forward.

Ha! Perhaps that is the secret to daily chocolates 🤣

Well we are all packed and ready to head off to Alaska! Can't wait to being back on the Eurodam for another trip to Alaska. Itinerary was adjusted a bit with less time in port and an earlier departure from Seattle. During the pandemic I really enjoyed living vicariously through Seth Wayne's live videos while we were all waiting for things to restart. Through a happy coincidence we switched to this sailing and discovered that it was a Sail with Seth. Very much looking forward to meeting Seth in person and seeing what the experience is like. We were able to complete VeriFLY without any issues. For anyone who did the Binax Now test, you cannot scan the QR code - you must take a picture of the test result report and upload it. They will review and approve it. Both my mom and I got ours back within 5 minutes or so. We have boarding group A and will head over to the port around 11 (12 boarding time). Pre-cruise Seth sent us several emails and there was a Zoom call that we were not able to attend. There was supposed to be a pre-cruise gathering at a restaurant but that was cancelled. Our first event will be a sail away party at 3 PM located at The Retreat. Looking forward to another great HAL cruise! Sail with Seth: $50 per person About the Excursion Holland America Line’s Brand Ambassador, Seth Wayne will be onboard Eurodam for the 7 Day Alaskan Explorer. Be part of the fun and participate in the exclusive events! Join Seth on this unique, one time a year event! Virtual Events leading up to the cruise Pre-Cruise Event at one of Ethan Stowell’s Seattle Restaurants A Welcome Aboard Lanyard Two Complimentary Drink Parties Private Glacier Bay Viewing Party with Hot Chocolate, Cookies, and Dutch Pea Soup Photo during Glacier Bay visit taken by Onboard Photographers (one per stateroom) Chance to win dinner for two at Pinnacle Grill, Tamarind, Canaletto and Rudi’s Sel de Mer “Pop-up” with Seth. (Raffle at Welcome Cocktail Party) Turndown Gifts More Surprises! Notes: Space is limited. Registration for this event is on a first come, first serve basis, so please book quickly. Events pre-cruise and onboard are subject to change or cancellation.

Binax Now tests do not scan for the QR code. You have to do the other option which lets you take a picture of your test results. They usually will accept it within a few minutes of when you upload the picture.

That is exactly what I was hoping to hear! Just got my negative test and have the arrive can & VeriFLY completed. Now I just need to pack. Hope you have a safe trip home!

We are going Saturday, curious how your VeriFLY experience was. Hope you are having a fabulous cruise! I wish they would send folks back around who had not completed VeriFLY. It should not be an easy way for people to cut the line if they have not actually completed the process.

I totally agree with Lisa here, it really depends on a lot. It also depends who paid for the reservation. If grandma paid for the whole family and you are just swapping out one person for another because her grandson has a new girlfriend that should be a relatively simple change. The reason additions are so simple is that you have already paid the single supplement so the only thing that needs to happen is to pay the additional port taxes and fees for the second person. If the second person needs to pay for part of the trip they would usually just pay the first person (rather than getting a refund of the supplement and then charging the 2 person fare). On the other hand, If this is a group of friends where everyone paid with their own credit card and someone cancelling wants a refund or to claim through insurance and now a different person needs to pay then this will be much more difficult to achieve within final payment (or even outside of final payment if you can't cancel and rebook at the same fare). Best to call HAL or your TA to get specific advice or information based on your particular situation. I also recommend finalizing everything sooner rather than later.

Do not feel bad for them! These corner rooms on deck 4 are all Neptune Suites and there is plenty of balcony to make up for any lost space. You get a full 270 degrees of sight lines from this balcony. I had this room on Koningsdam and really only took up a tiny fraction of the viewing space. While the balcony itself is much larger on this class of ship in terms of how far out it goes, the waterfront real estate is basically the same. All of the aft facing cabins have unobstructed views. The biggest difference on any deck on Eurodam is that deck 8 is shaded and has a bit of an overhang above you. I personally prefer this because we like the shade and it is more private. The balconies below go farther and farther out so a little bit is viewable from above. Mostly people can only see you when you are standing at the railing and you get a bit more sun. Some people have reported issues with noise on deck 8 from the lido above when they set up the deck chairs in the morning, has not bothered us but we are not particularly sensitive to noise. Deck 4 might be a tiny bit larger but as I recall they are all pretty much the same size on the Signature class ships. Deck 4 will have less shade than deck 5. While the balconies go out farther and farther as you go down the deck moves out farther and farther also so the balcony size doesn't change much or that noticeably. The big exception to this is Koningsdam/Rotterdam/Nieuw Statendam where deck 4 has almost twice as large of a balcony. This was our aft facing balcony on Nieuw Amsterdam last summer. This is a corner Neptune Suite but the distance from the wall to the railing should be identical. I always recommend checking halfacts.com for cabin photos of the exact cabins you are looking at. They have an enormous collection of HAL cabin photos and I have always been able to find a picture of the cabin I want on a sister ship or the same ship or one very close to it.

If the Navigator app is correct for my departure Saturday BB Kings is dark Mondays and Billboard Onboard is dark Tuesdays. Will confirm next week if this is accurate.

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Thank you all! Looking forward to being on another dam ship in just a couple days!

The violation is that the traveler is trying to take a foreign flagged cruise ship from Seattle to Los Angeles which can only be done if you stop in a distant foreign port. Traveling Seattle to Vancouver by foreign flagged vessel is completely legal. As is Victoria to Los Angeles. You could in fact change to another ship in Vancouver that was departing the same day for Los Angeles if there was one. The PSVA looks at the itinerary from embarkation to disembarkation only. If you get off and get on in a different port or on a different ship then you have completed your voyage and met the requirements of the PSVA.

It is definitely a trade off with the balcony. All depends on how you like to use the room, etc. When my great aunt was alive we always got one right across the hall from the lounge. She loved to go over in the morning and have a cup of coffee and pastries for breakfast. Walking was hard for her so it was so important to be right there. Now we prefer the extra balcony space and I especially prefer it if I am traveling solo since the smaller room is no issue for just one person.

Very normal. It will clear a few days after disembarkation. Just disappears like magic.