hummingbird_206

We had lunch today in the main dining room. Usually I'm not a fan of the MDR lunch as the hot food always seems to arrive cold. However today the appetizers (Potstickers) and Main (Seafood Jambalaya) were nice and hot and tasty! The Strawberry shortcake was short on strawberries and long on whipped cream, but still pretty good. We walked the Promenade outside for 2 miles this morning. I'm glad we got some time in because it now appears the Promenade is closed due to the wind and rough seas. We did see a few Laysan Albatross zooming around. According to the weather on the room TV, the winds are 29.5 mph.

Went to afternoon tea at 3 p.m. today in the MDR. First time we've been and thought it was very well done. Afternoon Tea will be offered every sea day. Today's was 'Victorian Tea'. Not sure what the different themes will be, but looking forward to finding out.

Wrong thread

We tendered in this morning and the weather was great (for Dutch Harbor!) No rain, no wind, and comfortable temperatures. We saw river otters and sea otters in the marina. Also saw the "Northwestern" crab boat of Deadliest Catch fame. We got 2 new birds to add to our life list, Rock Sandpipers and Horned Puffins. Lots of Bald Eagles and Black-legged kittiwakes are around. We walked about a mile from the marina to a gift shop and I picked up a Horned Puffin magnet. We didn't try the shuttle vans but talked to some who did and it seemed they were happy with the service. Tendered back to the ship about 1 p.m. and the fog rolled in. I'm so glad we made this port stop. I can't imagine I will ever be back here, so very happy to have had the chance to visit and enjoyed the good weather while it lasted.

Crosspost from roll call thread ATTN Birders As of noon today, we've seen several birds from the Promenade Deck including Laysan albatross, Black-footed Albatross, Flesh-footed Shearwater and Puffins (not sure if Horned or Tufted).

I don't think we've had any such special nights yet on this cruise. There have been CO offerings every night so far, they just don't always show up on the electronic versions of the menus for whatever reason.

There has been a Club Orange special on our MDR menu every evening. I have no idea why the item doesn't always show up on the electronic version of the menu in the Navigator app.

I love live threads! Thanks for starting this one. Who/where did you check with about your table assignment? Sounds like you didn't get impacted by the Port of Seattle SeaTac internet hacking snafu, so that's good. It probably contributed to the mess you noted at the airport. Have a wonderful trip!

Is there any advantage or discount for pre-paying gratuities? We did not get them included during booking nor with our HIA pkg, so just wondering at this point whether to pre-pay?

What's Rudi's?

Beverages covered by the HIA package are not free from room service.

I think the negatives were for people other than Patrick...at least that's how I read the post.

That sounds awesome! Do you get a hard copy of the menu from somewhere, if so, where?

Thanks. As I said in my post, the change hadn't happened as of earlier this year. I'm looking for more recent info though.

Looking for things that aren't listed by HAL that people have discovered staying in a Neptune Suite. For example, I've read on here that you can ask the Neptune concierge to exchange the sparkling wine you get the first day for a different bottle of wine. Is this correct? What are the other wine options? Anything else that will help us noobs get the most out of a Neptune suite that you've learned from experience?

HAL Excursions question We were on a cruise earlier this year and for all of our HAL excursions we went to the World Stage, stood in line to check in, received a numbered sticker, and waited for our number to be called to head off of the ship. A friend recalls that he read somewhere (doesn't remember where) that this process has changed, that we don't check in at the World Stage, and now notifications to head off the ship are given via the Navigator app. Is this the process now?

We were there in Feb and I got very chilled after snorkeling and the sun went behind some clouds. I would have loved to have had a hot tub to hop into to warm up!

Could you post more details on the external antenna you used (a link if you have one would be appreciated)?

According to deck plans for Noordam on the HAL website, there are SY and SZ on deck 8. SS are on deck 6 https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/ships/at-a-glance/hal-all-deck-plans.pdf

It is confusing, but as @Crew Newssays you can only upgrade within the category you book. You can book an SZ Signature Suite and use CO to upgrade to an SY or SS Signature Suite. If you book a Verandah of any category you cannot upgrade to Signature using CO.

We like both the Lido and MDR. Speed is not the main thing but when it is we go to the Lido. I'm just asking for help getting out of the MDR in under an hour.

Fixed dining wasn't an option for us. We were assigned Open Seating.

I have definitely been underwhelmed by the desserts.

I can definitely do without the dessert most nights. Thanks for the tip!

Ordering the meal when they are there for the drink order is a good tip, thanks. We do usually order a glass of wine and that probably does slow things down. My BF does get restless, too, probably like your 7 yo!