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She is fantastic, isn't she! I will say hi!

We actually have 2 of the midship elevators down completely and 1 aft also. Definitely not ideal on port days, and much worse on embarkation/disembarkation when they take the elevators for luggage. After 2 Celebrity cruises I noticed they did not do this at all. Not sure if anyone has experience on other lines, but I would be curious.

For dinner I went to the Pinnacle Grill. The food and service were great. The sauce for the lobster mac & cheese was perfect as was the lobster but I found the pasta itself was a bit undercooked which was not the case two weeks ago.

As I boarded on the later side I had my favorite burger from Dive In (the Cannonball) served in my cabana along with an orange smoothie. Such a beautiful day to sail away from Seattle! Main Dining Room dinner menu - Saturday

Embarkation day daily program Lido cabana - this will be my first time with a lido cabana. Definitely less private than the retreat ones, but much more usable with the unpredictable Alaska weather.

That is exactly the error I got for over a week. Tried on 2 phones and an ipad. No dice. One day it just started working again. Thank you! Looking forward to doing absolutely nothing for the next week 🙂

I would suggest calling (or have your TA call). They should be able to add HIA to both rooms if you want.

The Navigator app has ben really iffy this past week or so. I sailed 2 weeks ago and had absolutely no issues, worked perfectly. After disembarking it would not update to my next voyage so I tried logging out and then back in. I was locked out for multiple days - when it finally let me in. I had trouble uploading my photo for this sailing. For my departure today I couldn't access my Nav Pass at all until well after getting onboard and dining reservations are not working. Mobile ordering seems to be up for dive in but not NY Pizza. Kind of makes me wonder if they are tinkering with it in the background.

I normally book an SB aft wrap on HAL, but they were all sold out. This was a last minute booking after a whole debacle with the NCL Encore booking I should have been on last week after work came out with a mandatory conference less than 2 months out. I was going to do an SC guarantee but ended up switching to SA - room 7052 right across from the Neptune lounge. I thought it would be nice to try being very close again as I have been far away on all of my recent voyages. The room is nice - standard Neptune configuration, and the door is directly across from the Neptune. You really can't get closer. This was very convenient when I couldn't make lunch reservations for the Pinnacle Grill and they got me taken care of in about 2 seconds.

After two short weeks I am very glad to be back on Eurodam for my annual Alaska trip (actually this year I am going twice). This will be my third year in a row on the same itinerary - and weather is looking good, much warmer than last July. You never really know with Alaska. Embarkation was extremely easy. I arrived at the pier at 1:22 and was onboard in no more than 15 minutes. Handed my bags to the porter and headed into the terminal. I had 1 person in front of me at the initial screening, maybe 5 people at security and then walked straight up to registration and onto the ship. We are docked next to Royal Princess which is clearly a much larger ship. They had a big line outside for people to check luggage in. They had a big line before the initial check, and a huge line at security that went back and forth multiple times. I couldn't see their check in area. Very glad the HAL side did not have nearly so many folks. They seem to have elevator issues today (more than normal for an embarkation day). None of the midship elevators were available for anyone other than embarking guests and several were out of order. The forward bank had only 1 elevator. Haven't checked the aft bank but I heard many grumbles about the elevator situation. The Navigator app has been a little iffy also. I was not able to pull my Nav pass up at all for boarding (fortunately I had a printed copy), and the reservation system for restaurants isn't working at the moment either. With the elevator issue I decided to head straight to my muster station to check in before going to my room. I took a guess and used my paper boarding pass to check in with no issue. around 1:45 or so they announced there were over 1,000 people who still needed to go to their station - the ship definitely feels full but will try to get the passenger count at some point.

I do it every single sea day. A lovely experience and a great menu.

I did pre-book the Pinnacle but there were definitely some spots available onboard as I changed my time and they had a few options open.

I decided to enjoy a quiet evening in my room which was delightful, plus I will be back in 2 weeks. Another beautiful day in Seattle. I went to the Pinnacle Grill at 8:40 as the letter indicated they would be open until 9. Apparently that was not the case and I was sent away. Breakfast in the Lido was fine. You can definitely tell that the ship was full. Much longer lines than I recall from my cruises over the pandemic. Disembarkation was very easy. I walked off at 9:15 or so. As we cleared immigration and customs in Vancouver there was no inspection in Seattle which made disembarkation the easiest that I have ever done. I walked straight through the terminal and out the front doors. If you are somewhat local I definitely recommend the 1 night cruise. You can get onboard for less than the cost of a hotel and it is a fun quick trip. The October one fits perfectly on a weekend with a Saturday departure out of Seattle and Sunday arrival into Vancouver.

For dinner I went to the Pinnacle Grill. Everything was wonderful except the pork chop which was okay but not as good as it has been on other trips. It is nice to have a later sunset and the waters of the PNW make for some beautiful cruising. It seems rude, but we got our disembarkation letter on the same day as getting onboard. Not nice at all. As was the case on my previous one night cruise they put everyone in the self assisted luggage group.

Since I boarded a bit later I decided to do Dive In for lunch. I love being able to order on the app. We were so fortunate to have such a beautiful day to sail out of Vancouver.

When getting off the train there was a sign on the platform that pointed to Canada Place, basically walk in the direction the train came from (not past the front of the train). When leaving Canada Place turn left and walk up Howe Street on the left side and you will see the entrance. If you get to W Cordova street you have gone too far.

Honestly this is a super solid plan. Totally makes sense as long as you are comfortable with the fact that you could not be able to use the retreat at all. The service up there is great. I should also mention that it is only available from 9AM-5PM. Totally should work well for Glacier Bay or glacier viewing, etc. And to be honest you wouldn't really want to be on your balcony in the evening in Alaska anyway most of the time. You can definitely call in advance if you want to check availability on the cabana, they just won't be able to book until the room is confirmed. The Ship Services Department is open Monday-Friday 7AM-5PM PST. You can email them at ship_services@hollandamerica.com and I usually get pretty fast responses. They cannot book by email but can probably at least tell you of availability on the desired sailing. ABSOLUTELY you can book the family cabana, it gives you way more space. No issue at all as long as it is available which is usually the hurdle. If you are on a Pinnacle Class ship (Koningsdam, Rotterdam, Nieuw Statendam) I actually highly recommend it. On these ships the cabana space is two loungers with a small table between. There are no chairs. I usually travel solo and ask them to remove one lounger and replace with chairs as I often want to sit rather than lounge but for 2 people this may be more of an issue. The family cabana on these ships gives you both loungers and table/chairs. On the other vessels it is less of an issue because the cabanas are a bit larger and come with both chairs/loungers. But the family cabana is totally worth an extra $150. I would do it without a second thought. I agree with the side view particularly for Alaska (unless family which will be a corner and best of both worlds). I go into a lot of detail on cabanas on my two Koningsdam threads in my signature. The retreat area also does have shared tables/chairs and lounge chairs that can be used also. BB Kings is GREAT. The one word of warning - depending on the group they have had to abbreviate it on a lot of my sailings due to illness, etc. A few times the sets were down to 15 minutes. I haven't been on in a while so hopefully things have improved since my last sailing. Club orange is great - the food is the freshest and hottest I have had onboard. That being said it is the exact same menu and food as the MDR with a single extra main dish. Definitely no where near The Haven or Luminae or a proper suite restaurant. It is nice, but I only recommend paying if you can take advantage of the metacategory upgrade (book cheapest balcony and get upgraded to best available balcony; book cheapest Oceanview get upgraded to best available Oceanview). Also, the $35/day gets added to your cruise fare and if fares drop they may or may not let you price match. @Florida_gal_50 any recent experience with Club Orange and price drops? Have they let you price match to the latest? Koningsdam Standard Cabana They are great about swapping out furniture and I had them do a table/chairs instead since it was just me. This was an empty family cabana so it is a bit of a mess. But they have a big day bed and then a couple chairs and then a table/chairs. The older ships (everything but Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam & Rotterdam) have larger cabanas across the board. Eurodam Lido Cabana Eurodam Family Cabana Zuiderdam Retreat Cabana Zuiderdam Family Cabana

Sorry, they were probably getting my food! 🤣

They will be very happy to sell you a lanyard in the gift shop! But I would recommend bringing your own 🙂 They just give you the key card and depending on the ship there may or may not be a hole punched in the card, but a plastic holder might be worthwhile. I believe guest services can hole punch for you except on the newest ships they generally have RFID readers and do not punch a hole in the cards as it can disable the RFID technology.

Generally speaking the Lido is not too busy at dinner as most people are in either the MDR or specialty. The only exception is if you have a late night port call when all bets are off. Menu wise you see a lot of crossover on the menus. Of course the MDR is plated and served and the Lido is buffet (they will still plate for you).

Is that new? I feel like I have seen that for a long time on Elite that there was a cap. Generally speaking I think the Elite is not worth it unless you have a very specific taste. I guess maybe unlimited non-alcoholic could be a slight plus, but I generally struggle to hit 15 a day of any type (but I am a big Iced Tea drinker and can generally get that in the lido or a pitcher from the cabana hosts and that will last me until mid afternoon).

FYI you will not go through the inside passage on the sea day to/from Seattle. Vancouver departures go on the inside of Vancouver Island, Seattle departures go on the outside. The first/last day onboard are very much a sea day for most of the day on all Seattle departures regardless of the cruise line. You will have time in the Inside Passage on both lines when you going in and out of the ports of call. I would definitely go with a Vancouver departure if this is important to you. Koningsdam is a great ship and one of my favorites. If you can get an itinerary with Glacier Bay this is generally considered the best as far as glacier viewings. This is a WIN for HAL on all of their ships. It just makes so much sense. If the weather is nice they open it, and if the weather is not nice then they close it. Brilliant. I love the Retreat Cabanas but would urge you to reconsider for Alaska. The weather is too unpredictable. We sailed in July last year and got one, weather was way too cold to use it at all. The two weeks before our cruise was in the 70s, then we had 50s and low 60s our week. Similar experience in August of 2021. You will not know until you get there and you cannot get it refunded if you find it unusable for the whole cruise. We used it on the day of departure and toughed it out for a few hours in Sitka. I get a retreat cabana on all of my other cruises but will never do so again in Alaska or other northern destinations. As far as booking goes you need to have your cruise booked and deposited first. Once the deposit is paid you will need to call Ship Services at 1-800-541-1576. Choose the option that says something like all other purchases or cruises departing within 4 days. It should be $399 for a Retreat Cabana for 7 days and I believe $549 if you want the larger Family Cabana. Definitely book early the retreat routinely does sell out even in Alaska. Details on Cabanas can be found here including a layout of cabanas. They will give you your assignment when you book it so I recommend calling rather than having your TA do it so you can choose based on what they have available. https://halfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HAL_2018_Cabanas.pdf If you are on Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam there is the option of a Lido Cabana - it is not on any other ship. This is similar to the Retreat but it is on the Lido deck next to the pool. Much less private as it is in the pool area, but they do have curtains that close it off for privacy. Otherwise you get the same service. The big plus here is that you are inside so if the weather sucks you can still use it every day. These are a bit less expensive because of the more public location and run at $199 due to the less private location. I have not yet been in one of these but am doing one in 2 weeks on my next Alaska cruise.

The daytime activity listings are very thin with a lot of the activities being sponsored Spa/shops, etc. There is stuff going on but absolutely no where close to something like RCI. I did a live thread on my Alaska cruise with HAL last year which is linked in my signature which has a lot of photos of programs, menus & food if you have some time to skim it will hopefully give you a better idea of life onboard. The EXC talks are very well done, and if you get an itinerary with Glacier Bay then there will be a ranger talk on that day as well. MDR food is fine, specialty food is of course better. HAL no longer includes lobster anywhere on a 7 night cruise in case that is important to you. It is available for purchase daily as an add on. Don't get me wrong - I love HAL and just finished my 16th cruise with them. But it is very laid back and a lot more self entertainment during the day. At night the music venues are good (and if you go on a Pinnacle Class Ship: Koningsdam, Rotterdam or Nieuw Statendam) they have an added venue. That being said HAL does do Alaska very well. They have done it longer than anyone else, get the best piers to dock in, they have more cruises to Glacier Bay than anyone. They also have very good shore excursions, but you will find pretty similar excursions with everyone. If the entertainment doesn't match what you want I would actually consider Princess or Celebrity. Way more in the way of onboard activities (I can't speak to Princess as I haven't been with them in about 20 years). But will include a program from one of the Celebrity cruises in case it is something you wanted to consider. They are pretty comparable to HAL otherwise. Here is the program from the one sea day. Note that Live from Lincoln Center is no more and has been replaced. Sea Day on Eurodam - July 2022 Sea Day on Solstice - Mexican Rivera, November 2022

I originally booked an SC guarantee for my cruise in 2 weeks, but decided to upgrade to an SA right next to the Neptune Lounge. We have done aft wraps for almost every cruise since the restart so I think it will be nice to try being close to the lounge again.

It really is! Sometimes I have to blink a couple times to make sure I am actually on a HAL ship...but the elevator floor mat telling me it's Friday always confirms it.