Live from Holland Oosterdam May 25, Vancouver-Anchorage-Denali 21night Alaska trip

[aerospace]

OK so fair warning I'm at the Juneau library and wifi test showed 38kb/s so I may not get as much done as hoped. I will upload tomorrow in Skagway but have no idea what kind of internet speed I'll find.

 

Question: Does anyone know what kind of video site I can post here? I saw a baby bear today I took a 20sec video, would like to post.

 

^Some housekeeping; had a request for wifi and laundry prices on board.

 

Beds are 2 separate twins made into a queen and the separation is very noticeable. Annoying but otherwise comfortable.

 

Ice bucket was not filled...

 

^Took some photos on this blue sky day. Watched the lumberjack show. Basically the guy who owns the lumberjack show in Ketchikan wanted cheap transportation back for the season and if he gave a 30min talk they took him for free. Lighthearted, lots of photos in slideshow, worth a half hour show. 6 time world champion and now his son is competing to take the all around title this year, family business :)

[aerospace]

 

 

 

^Kitchen Tour- SKIP IT! On most cruise lines they put you in the dining room and the head chef and many of his underlings come and talk to you about what they do, what it takes, how they got the job etc. Then you get a free glass of champagne and they take you on a tour of the kitchen where they prepared fruit carvings, ice carvings, people are cake decorating, etc. Here...none of that :( Waste of time, if you want to see the stainless steel dishwasher then come on this tour. There was one guy making bread figures, at the end you get a cookie and an egg roll. Boring! At least it was quick and didn't take up a lot of my time.

[aerospace]

 

 

^Culinary demo; shrimp in white sauce, creme brulee, crab cakes. Metal folding chairs very uncomfortable. Passed out mini ramekins of creme brulee to 1/3 of the room, I sat in the front row and didn't get one! :[ Started late but worth an hour if you don't have anything planned.

 

Solo Lunch table for 10, youngest was 50+, got choice of free champagne or mimosa.

 

^Shrimp Louise; good flavor, spicy cocktail sauce 7

 

Mac and cheese; crispy top, creamy soft noodles, served with toasted garlic bread 7.5 (looked too good and got eaten without taking photo :P

[aerospace]

Photo workshop; mostly for those who have never used a camera but I picked a up a tip or 2. Gets really full due to the small room. 100 people in a room with 25 chairs, people were standing or sitting on the floor so come 30mins early and line up if you want to come. Afterwards there is an hour Q&A so if you have one or two questions only come for that instead. No questions were answered in the first hour, she was kind of rude about it, but it's her last day. New guy comes on board in Ketchikan.

 

Lido lunch seems to end early with no good options between 2-dinner. Went to Explorations and case was empty, lido had a very disappointing Tres leche chocolate cake. Was so bad I didn't bother to take a pic or review it. 0

 

Guitarist was scheduled 5-6:30 in Crows Nest but when I showed up at 6:07 they were doing trivia. They had scheduled both at the same time so no music....argh! After a bit I went to listen to Adagio the Violin/Piano Duo and had a Mango Margarita. It was good but not amazing. Unless a drink looks special I won't bother to photograph it, most look boring.

 

Again a disappointing show though some people liked it. I guess the small theater and no budget means they can't put on impressive shows. Other ships have aerialists or ice skating, big shows with large props, gowns etc. Seems they like to make fun of themselves(think ******* entertainment, its not funny in it's own right so let's add a few kicks to the groin that should make it ok). Song was The man with the Midas touch which segway to Put a Ring on It, really?! ..second show I walked out and I do like them when it's good. Tomorrow is comedy so I will be happier.

 

MDR Lunch and dinner is so far very tasty, lido selection is fair at best.

 

Formal Night: I dressed up in a black vest, red long sleeve shirt, black slacks and some slick shoes. Man did I feel out of place, most people hadn't dressed up a bit. I almost thought I had gotten formal night wrong. If your suitcase is getting full feel free to leave the formal wear at home, 90% were in normal clothes.

 

Not sure if my table mates didn't want to dress up but I was alone at a table for 6 on formal night. Decided to take advantage of the break and space and pig out, coming up 7 course dinner

 

^One lichee and a couple slices of Kiwi on a plate, not really a dish. No sauce, whip cream, bit of pepper? Nada. Ripe and sweet but hardly impressive 3

 

^Beef Carpachio; and extremely simple dish elevated. Paper thin beef, generous helping of rustic mustard(chunky), balsamic, parmesan, and radicchio. These strong flavors overwhelm the beef. Good effort but overdone on portion 7.5

 

^Asian consume; an asian style soup with flavored broth and minimal additions. Well rounded and perfect for a cold day 6.5

 

^Salmon salad; with apple with a bit of onion, good but could use more than a teaspoon dressing. Missing a strong flavor, like this topped with a piece of orange chicken would be great 5.5

 

^Lamb with polenta cake; served with a brown sauce and figs. Figs are just awful, taste as if they were braised in the sauce, just foul...Skip those and it's ok, not spectacular. Best part of the dish are the savory caramelized onion and sauce. Well cooked but bland 6.5

 

^Duck served over stuffing; inside was chard, corn, and cranberry bits. Reminds me of a thanksgiving plate with duck instead of turkey. Playful surprise but also served with fig, this one in a sweet sauce didn't fit. Figs are great on thier own don't try to fix them people... Duck was a tad overcooked but not tough. All cruises tend to lean bland, why? Offer a spicy sauce made from dried jalepino and red pepper and this would have been amazing 7.5

[aerospace]

^Fruit Crumble; raspberries topped with a cinnamon crumble and scoop of vanilla ice cream. Warm fruit, cold ice cream(not melted), sweet vanilla with savory cinnamon makes this a balanced an tasty desert a win in my book. Gave this a 7.5, which changed to 8 halfway through the dish and again to 8.5 while posting this review.

 

^This is Doodie...spelled Dudi

 

7 courses in 90mins. Finished everything except the stuffing, would like to keep near my 160 weight. With all the hiking I spent 30 days on the ship in AK last year and lost 3 pounds so not watching too closely.

 

Karaoke 9-10pm first guy is strangling a cat and for some reason he comes back later. Shoot me now haha. Met a cute girl though she is a bit young(21 ish). She asked me if I would be going to the Generation Next Meet for guests 18-25 :D. I would guess 95% of the ship is above 50, 3% 40-50 couples, leaving 2% for the 10 kids and the rest of the age possibilities.

 

Biggest annoyance is the lack of spacial awareness especially today in port. Stand in one spot, go slow fine could care less, but don't walk 2 wide on a sidewalk at a snails pace and not allow people room to pass. Standing on the stairs? Do you need a break between floors? There are 6 or more elevators...

 

Anyone ever tried adding a shoot of liquor to white wine? I did a sauvignon blanc and added a thick shot of Jose Cuervo, was really good. Deep flavor note also makes it less sweet and triples the alcohol level.

 

*End Day 2*

Edited May 29, 2014 by aerospace

[aerospace]

A few random shots that didn't fit anywhere.

 

 

 

^view from my dinner table

 

 

 

^first bald eagle of this trip. Not the best quality as it's really zoomed in to the max.

[aqua]

I'm a little confused about not using a beverage card during happy hour. When we booked, there were 2 promotions. We received a promotion that included up to 15 drinks per person per day at a max of $7 each. It was called Signature Beverage Package. There was also a promotion for a $50 beverage card that was offered for different sailings. Can we use the Signature Beverage Package card during happy hour? Thank you.

[POA1]

I'm a little confused about not using a beverage card during happy hour. When we booked, there were 2 promotions. We received a promotion that included up to 15 drinks per person per day at a max of $7 each. It was called Signature Beverage Package. There was also a promotion for a $50 beverage card that was offered for different sailings. Can we use the Signature Beverage Package card during happy hour? Thank you.

 

You can use the SBP at Happy Hour, but you can't an additional drink for a dollar. You can avoid the busy happy hour venues become there is no extra benefit to you.

[aqua]

Thank you for the reply!

[vbmom87]

VERY relaxed as in you might want to lighten the suitcase by skipping the formal wear. I dressed up and felt out of place all night.

 

Did the men have to have shirt and tie or jackets? I know HAL has always been lax on women, but sometimes particular with men. On our cruise in 2008, if you didn't have a tie or jacket you were turned away.

[Susie51]

Thank you for posting so many pics. I'm a US Lighthouse Society member and I enjoyed the picturesque photo of the red and white lighthouse. When cruising through the inside passage, I remember cruising by them.

[solocanadian]

Room First Impressions (Rm # 4061):

 

When I booked they offered an outside obstructed guarantee for the same price as an inside, but there was only one room left. I expected a 4X4' window and a beam blocking some of the view. Reality: It's a floor to ceiling window, at least 8X8 and my view is the lifeboat...strange but for the price of an inside I can see Ketchikan through the window this morning, see the weather, etc. Not bad it's actually a balcony but my door doesn't open just some equipment there instead of a lounge chair.

Bathroom has a tub; also unexpected. It's about foot shorter than a normal tub. Likely wont use it, will go to a hot tub instead but nice. Have mini-fridge, I'd also read that many rooms don't have one so neat. Holland Promo was a free $50 Beverage card per person, it's on my bed waiting. My pre-ordered Jose Cuervo($38 per liter), is also on the counter ready. Bottles start at $33 for vodka and go up from there. Not a bad deal if you compare to $7+tip per drink at the bar.

Room has couch, small oval table, flat screen about 19" I'd guess, dvd player(800 movies available from front desk, list is in the room), overall pretty good for a ship room that was $349pp when I booked. Had to pay 100% supplement so $698+tax) but still good. Many people on board say their cruises were $1000+ each for insides and a bit mad when they asked what I paid. Sorry you got screwed, next time watch the prices and get OBC or upgrades.

Left my room steward a note to leave the bathmat on the floor and not to bother washing it everyday(go green), to leave me 2 "on location" each night, and that I like towel animals to make sure I get some good ones...along with a $5 bill(cant hurt to grease the wheel right?)

Free Holland Pen; first thought feels made of cardboard. It kinda is lol! It's made from recycled materials and is biodegradable-nice touch Holland. My second thought, what if this gets wet does it turn to much? Lost it on day 2 so I can't tell you the results :P

Anyway off to Mariners lunch(12-1:30pm only, in MDR)

If you have been on any of Carnivals sister lines(Carnival, Costa, Princess, Holland, ???, ???, ???) you can call or email and get upgraded to 1 star Mariner prior to your trip...which I did.

 

^Broccoli Soup; a good puree with a few pieces left in 6.5/10

 

Note on my food ratings: any food I find inedible would be like a zero. A 2 would be edible but tasteless, 4 a roll from the supermarket, 6 ok but not remarkable, 8 very good I'd order it again, 9 amazing, to get 10 it would need to be my new favorite food in the world.

 

^Salmon tartar mixed with cubed white potato, bland boring tasteless 2.5

 

^Burger with bacon, avocado 8

 

No water refill until desert comes, step it up waiter...

 

^Biscotti Icecream; vanilla ice cream with actual vanilla bean bits in it, biscotti chopped and added to the ice cream along with some sort of nut. Topped with a flaky cookie. Not too sweet and an almost savory note, Wow. 9 (actually tried to order it the next night at dinner but it had been put away in storage? ok then...)

Ship tour is 1:30 or 3pm

First 48 hours on all ships is no self serve in Lido says the sign. Guess it's a policy now.

Happy hour is printed in "on location", changes location daily. Buy a drink get second for $1(can not use Beverage card for promo) Time on embarkation day is 10:30-11:30pm, on other days there is also a 4-5 hour. Embarkation day also has a Happy hour beer special on lido all day but only certain beers. They have a table setup to show you your choices, about 10 total.

Mustard drill was disorganized, you don't need to bring life jacket. Announcement was to go to our staterooms when the tone sounded and we would be directed from there. Instead staff directed everyone outside to the mustard station, not a lounge like on most lines I've been on. Cabin numbers are being called one at a time instead of just having you check in on arrival. Showed my card to a guy and he told me to stand in the wrong place, had to move 5 mins later to my right mustard point. Captain comes on announcement and talks 3-4mins, cabins numbers repeated for those not here. Stops mid-sentance and says if you have been called you can go. Half the people are leaving the other half waiting until she goes through the 100 cabins again since 75% of the numbers she called out no one said "here!" Not a good sign if the ship goes down, luckily if it does my room is near a lifeboat...outside my window :)

Are you Serious???Muster - not Mustard.:rolleyes:

[solocanadian]

VERY relaxed as in you might want to lighten the suitcase by skipping the formal wear. I dressed up and felt out of place all night.

 

Too bad you felt that way. However, I must admit a lot of slobs take this cruise. Thank heaven they are not allowed in the dining room looking like they do all day. I do not mind dressing up on formal nights and am disappointed when people don't.

[aerospace]

Did the men have to have shirt and tie or jackets? I know HAL has always been lax on women, but sometimes particular with men. On our cruise in 2008, if you didn't have a tie or jacket you were turned away.

 

Dress code was very lax, no tie, no jacket, most didn't dress up at all.

[aerospace]

Are you Serious???Muster - not Mustard.:rolleyes:

 

^^I was being funny, guess you lost your funny bone on the last trip huh? :P

[aerospace]

Update on laundry; I forgot to post about the 3 packages.

 

1. Unlimited Pressing $28

2. Unlimited Laundry $49

3. $20 for all you can stuff into one bag, about 16X20 paper bag.

 

I'm in Skagway Library and wifi is unusable, couldn't load one webpage. You can sign up to go on their computers for 30mins at a time(they have 3). This is really fast but I can't upload from here...no SD slot. :( (they open 12-9pm btw)

 

There is a pay wifi service that is 6.95 for 24 hours in Skagway but I'm not sure if it's any good. I will go ask someone and if they say it's ok I'll use that to do photos today.

 

Ketchikan:

I will take a min to talk about free wifi in the other ports of call. In Ketchikan you can take the Funicular on Creek street up the mountain for $2(down is free), or walk it's about 5mins. At the top is Cape Fox Lodge and they have free wifi. I suggest you go upstairs in the lobby there are a couple of couches by the window with a nice view to sit in.

 

Juneau:

In Juneau you can go to the public library. If you dock in Berth 2 where we were you could literally throw a rock from the ship to hit the library building it's that close. Just look for a 5 story parking garage the top floor is the library. Walk up, hit the buzzer and they will let you in. Wifi isn't blazing but it works. (Open until 8pm most days)

 

Hope people are appreciative of my posts, I've been lugging my laptop on my hikes to have it in town and post lol.

 

Toodles and Happy Sailing,

Michael

[anniegb]

I am sailing the Oosterdam later this year and I appreciate all the info posted so far.

 

I sailed Alaska with HAL 2010 and I would say Formal Night Dress Code adherence was at best 20% - so no change there. I don't call people who choose not to tux up slobs - it is their vacation.

 

Am I correct in assuming the standard of food is higher in MDR than the Lido??

 

Will you be eating in either Canaletto or PG ??

 

Thanks

 

Annie

[Susie51]

Thank you so much for lugging your laptop around and letting us know about free wifi. I have a Kindle fire so I guess that will work well. On our next cruise DD will bring an ipad so that will probably be even better.

[Moriah]

Thank you so much for the info on wifi in port, Michael! I actually posted another thread asking about just that, and was directed to the public libraries. I felt sure there were other places, so I really appreciate your tips. Are you using the ship's wifi also? (Sorry if I missed that part of your thread!)

[jbhcw]

^^I was being funny, guess you lost your funny bone on the last trip huh? :P

 

And I laughed...thanks:):):) Everyone should know it's the mustard drill and cabin stewart:D

[Cruise_More_Often]

And I laughed...thanks:):):) Everyone should know it's the mustard drill and cabin stewart:D

. . . on Holland!

 

Michael, great review, wonderful photos. Thank you for all the work you've done. I'm excited to see what you have for Denali.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Cruise_More_Often

[cruisinjudy]

Update on laundry; I forgot to post about the 3 packages.

 

1. Unlimited Pressing $28

2. Unlimited Laundry $49

3. $20 for all you can stuff into one bag, about 16X20 paper bag.

Paper bag? We still had the cloth bag for laundry on Amsterdam this month.

[KroozFoolz]

Thanks so much!

I am really enjoying reading all the information you have posted and your pictures are great! Looking forward to more!

Edited May 30, 2014 by KroozFoolz

[aerospace]

I am sailing the Oosterdam later this year and I appreciate all the info posted so far.

 

I sailed Alaska with HAL 2010 and I would say Formal Night Dress Code adherence was at best 20% - so no change there. I don't call people who choose not to tux up slobs - it is their vacation.

 

Am I correct in assuming the standard of food is higher in MDR than the Lido??

 

Will you be eating in either Canaletto or PG ??

 

Thanks

 

Annie

 

There are a few items that are in lido that they also serve in MDR. I can't speak to the lido food taste as each time I check the selection doesn't interest me and I didn't eat there. MDR has been great, highlight of the cruise so far aside from ports.

 

Not sure on speciality yet, today is Le Crique(sp?) for $49 for food or $69 inc. wine pairings which tempts me we shall see.

[aerospace]

Thank you so much for the info on wifi in port, Michael! I actually posted another thread asking about just that, and was directed to the public libraries. I felt sure there were other places, so I really appreciate your tips. Are you using the ship's wifi also? (Sorry if I missed that part of your thread!)

 

Not going to bother, if it was just text with email you would be ok since I'm doing photos uploads I need some bandwidth. Will do way more posting and detail when I'm in anchorage and have real Internet.

 

I asked and the ship Salmon is Koho.

 

Someone asked about fruit on board, these are the ones I ran across and I went looking in the lido to answer your question.

 

Red apple

Green apple

Orange

Raspberries

Blueberries

Blackberries

Banana

Peach

Pineapple

Mango

Pear

Canaelope

Kiwi

Apricot

Strawberry

Cherry

Wintermelon-the white one

Melon-whatever the green one is called

Watermelon

Grape

Grapefruit

Cranberry

Lemon that's 23 will keep looking :p