Dobermangal

Here's a link to see what ships are in each port for the upcoming season

http://claalaska.com/?page_id=318

Just checked our already booked 14 day collector on the Zaandam and was pleasantly surprised at our good fortune.

It also includes the Seattle and Vancouver ports to check departure and arrival traffic issues :)

Carla

They are huge tenders so take quite a while to load but the trip itself is quick once you are underway.

Carla

I got a short windowed promo code email in November for 5 percent off shore excursions for our Thanksgiving 7 day cruise.

Called within minutes of it arriving and waited on hold for half an hour to talk to an agent since the site is so terrible on mobile devices.

The agent said the lines were inundated as soon as the email went out.

Have never seen one before or since other than the discounts tied to our upcoming booking for Alaska on ready set sail but haven't booked one of those yet as I haven't looked through the excursions yet.

Carla

We were on the Westerdam over Thanksgiving this past November. Younger demographic for sure and made even younger by the school break...lots of third and fourth passengers in cabins I think!

They had an amazing steel drummer on board then, her name is Opal and she really gave the midship pool deck area a festive happy atmosphere, far better (in my opinion) than daytime HALCat poolside concerts we've experienced on other itineraries :)

I like music without words when I'm chilling by the pool and trying to have the occasional conversation between chapters of a good book!

That said they did make the aft pool children free and kept the midship pool all ages...

Westerdam is a wonderful ship!

Carla

Dobermangal and her mom -

Zaandam May 17-24 and 24-31 B2B :)

Thank you!!

Thank you all! I remember walking past Tracy's in Juneau now. This is going to be great. We shall hit Annabelles too. You only live once!

Carla

Hi all, happy Monday!

Just got confirmation from the powers that be at my work that our planned 14 day B2B Alaska out of Vancouver on the Zaandam May 17-31 is a go :) (and I've just opened the roll calls too lol)

Now I was wondering if I could get some input on good crab eating opportunities in any or all of the following ... Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and Anchorage.

We were on an Alaska cruise four years ago and a few people we met were eagerly waiting to eat at a crab place in one of the ports but I can't remember where it was or the name. I'm hungry already!

Thanks for all and any replies!

Carla in Vancouver

Westerdam yes. On lido deck near the entrance to the spa. Not sure if there's more than one though.

Carla

I get the casino cage to break bills for me if there is a line at the front office.

Never a problem. They will even turn US coin into bills if you've got it :)

Carla

Another bit of info for your consideration... The Zaandam will be fresh out of dry dock for the start of the alaska season (April19-28)

Carla

What is url of webcam? Wanting to watch from vancouver!

I have to admit one of my greatest thrills on a cruise is watching the pilot boats lol silly huh

It was such fun and to see the people in the condos and on shore celebrating too was the best!!

Carla

Here's the festivities from on board November 22 :)

Carla

I have a feeling it doesn't do that well for some reasons that aren't the fault of the staff. For example my first hint of low volume was when ordered one of the three chocolate Martinis and the lady who served me had to refer to her sheets to make it. It was delicious I loved it and I wanted more. But...

1. It's not in a great spot.

2. Hours are short and inconvenient ...it was closed by 6 pm daily on our November cruise.

3. The chocolate products in the always locked display case have no price information on them to make you think they even want to sell them.

3. No promotions ever that I saw and the one I thought I could use I couldn't.

4. Hours are listed in the daily program but they don't mention anything about what CS really is.

5. It's competing with the explorations cafe for those morning and daytime hot drinks but doesn't serve coffee based beverages.

6. And once again it's in a strange spot without the proverbial dot on the ship map. The three Cardinal rules of business.. Location location location.

Based on the lack of action I saw I can't see HAL thinking about rolling it out anywhere else and it's sad because the concept is great as are the products (I bought the malt balls to take home... Decadent!)

Also it's not close to any other bars or venues really and walking with a full martini glass for any distance is not that fun :)

Just my two cents.

Carla

Yes chocolate seduction is only on the westerdam. I did try to use a second drink for 1.00 promo coupon on Black Friday at chocolate seduction and even though it stated valid at any lounge or bar they couldn't honor it because they didn't have a promo key on their register. I let HAL know on my online satisfaction that it was very disappointing.

If anyone knows if the SBP does apply to chocolate seduction I would appreciate it because I would buy it based on those amazing chocolate cocktails if I sailed on the westerdam again.

Carla

Great to hear!!

we will be on the seven day southbound with you doing the northbound before as well for a b2b as we live in Vancouver and it doesn't get any easier for us than that.

We spent 54 days on the Zaandam in three separate cruises in 2011/12. She is a wonderful ship and we can't wait to board her again :) marvelous crew too

Carla

We just got back recently from a Caribbean on the Westerdam.

Booked an alaska from home almost immediately on the ready set sail upgrade promo with one of the two future cruise deposits we've got prepaid and totally forgot about the ZPM code email until it arrived in my inbox several days later.

Had TA call HAL to see if they would honor it and happily the extra $$ are now ours.

Incidentally has anyone noticed that the FCD program has gotten more streamlined and the required deposits smaller ? The one we just used to book a 14 day cruise was 250 that we had "bought" last year. At that time there had been a whole bunch of different options going up in value depending on the length of the cruise you could use it on, you really needed to think about what you might be looking at which isn't always easy!

But this November on the Westerdam you could buy FCDs for 100 that would hold anything from 3-21 days and you would get back between 50 and 75 dollars in OBC.

Anyhow it was a very good deal for us because that 100 was canadian dollars and with the exchange the way it is now we will get it almost entirely back in USD shipboard credit.

Glad to have learned the best way to book the next trip is to buy that credit and use the ZPM code once we are home!

Carla

The late May HAL alaska sailings on the Zaandam (a very lovely ship) are selling at considerable discounts right now. Not a whole lot of room for those to go lower ... you might want to have a closer look at those.

Carla

We booked it on board our cruise at the end of via the disembarkation paperwork we were returning to the front office. As soon as the gal saw it she asked if we had an "alternate choice in case it was cancelled". I had a feeling she knew something we did not so we just chose airport transfers as a backup. Sure enough a couple of days later we got the notice that due to lack of bookings the operator had advised HAL to cancel.

I thought it would be great, but I would check with shore excursions desk on board to see if there's even a chance it's a go on your cruise seeing as it's been cancelled other times as well.

Wasn't a big deal to us and yes FLL offers luggage storage, I'm not super clear on the details but it's kind of daytime office hours I believe...

Carla

Is there any way to find out what group is booked on the Zaandam May 17 and/ or May 24 for Alaska? there's a large bit of set dining blocked off already for a group but that's all I know.

Thank you so much :)

Carla

In my opinion that flight choice is a bad idea. We always fly in one day ahead. Too much can go wrong fast.

Coming home from FLL this past Saturday we were on final approach

to Vancouver when we ended up being diverted back to Calgary due to a burst pipe at air traffic control that closed the Vancouver airport for a short time. The issue was resolved quickly but by the time we were back on track that little side trip delayed us two hours and caused a whole lot of missed connections.

It just reinforced to us to always always allow for some wiggle room even if it means paying for a fairly short sleep in a precruise hotel room...peace of mind is priceless.

Carla

For some really nice pictures leaving vancouver you go past Stanley park and under the stunning lions gate bridge so my first choice would be the aft deck :)

Carla

No you still do the checkin at the terminal with your ID and pass getting you to the desks where they take your picture and credit card info and issue your ship key card which is what you then board with :)