Also Mostly Live from the NA 4th Sailing

[AncientWanderer]

5 hours ago, canadianbear said:

@zgscl Regarding HAL excursions-you used to be able to go on the website & post a review, especially when something is not handicap friendly.   A lot don’t do reviews but I have used this tool in the past reading them and posting my own.  Just a suggestion as I’m not sure if it’s even available any more at this time.

 

Not very many seem to be available on the HAL site anymore.  It's really hit or miss.

Lately, though, I've been finding that if I just do a google search of the name of the excursion, there will be reviews on other travel review sites.  Some are even reviews posted by people who did the excursion off a ship.  That has been very helpful lately.

[luvteaching]

Just to add to the Icy Strait Point experience. DH uses a mobility scooter and we have no issues at ISP. We walked/scootered in and through the welcome center. We were able to go on the gondola and he could ride the scooter on! That was cool!! That area is a bit rocky and there was some mud since it had been raining but in a very short distance (to us) we were on the boardwalk and it was fine all the way to the cannery. It's rock and mud to get ot the doughnut stand and the shuttle but DH didn't have any problem with the scooter. Just another perspective. 

 

Karen

[canadianbear]

54 minutes ago, zgscl said:

That is what I thought too. I’ll have to log back in and see if I can find somewhere. There is still a review section but most of the tours has no reviews 

I wonder if they purged a lot.  I looked for our South Pacific cruise & see some from 2018.

[zgscl]

11 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

I wonder if they purged a lot.  I looked for our South Pacific cruise & see some from 2018.

That is possible they only keep a year or two worth. You would think they would want positive reviews of their tours up for people to see

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, zgscl said:

We got the mariner discount for the specialty restaurants and on any ups Ella there. We did not get one on the MDR indulge options. Interestingly when we got the breakfast indulge in Pinnacle we got the same Pinnacle grill discount. 

Good that they are consistent…….not 😛.  Thank you.

[Florida_gal_50]

57 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

Not very many seem to be available on the HAL site anymore.  It's really hit or miss.

Lately, though, I've been finding that if I just do a google search of the name of the excursion, there will be reviews on other travel review sites.  Some are even reviews posted by people who did the excursion off a ship.  That has been very helpful lately.

I do that as well.  You have not been able to post reviews on the hal site since they “upgraded” their website maybe 4 ? years ago.

[zgscl]

2 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Good that they are consistent…….not 😛.  Thank you.

As much as we love HAL and they are a great fit for us, they are consistently inconsistent. 

[zgscl]

Just now, Florida_gal_50 said:

I do that as well.  You have not been able to post reviews on the hal site since they “upgraded” their website maybe 4 ? years ago.

Thank goodness we have cruise critic to share experiences!

[chefestelle]

11 minutes ago, zgscl said:

Thank goodness we have cruise critic to share experiences!

I go to Viator (which Cruise Critic partners with) and TripAdvisor. They have shore excursion and non-shore excursion reviews. Very helpful!

 

[rkacruiser]

16 hours ago, zgscl said:

the Swedish Crepes 

 

 

Cost cutting!  This is a much smaller serving than what I experienced on Volendam 2019/2020 and Eurodam 2020.  

[canadianbear]

31 minutes ago, chefestelle said:

I go to Viator (which Cruise Critic partners with) and TripAdvisor. They have shore excursion and non-shore excursion reviews. Very helpful!

 

There are lots of venues to look up excursion reviews.  It just bothers me that if HAL is offering an excursion people should be able to review it & see it when signed in.  

[rkacruiser]

15 hours ago, zgscl said:

To get to anything else you must walk an extremely long bridge to get from the ship to land

 

When I visited Icy Point Strait was on the Amsterdam during a 14 day Alaska cruise.  I have been surprised at the pictures, including yours, at the length of the bridge to get from the ship to the shore.  When I was there, yes, it was a "walk", but I don't remember it being as long as it now is.  My memory wrong?  Or, have they made it longer?

 

16 hours ago, zgscl said:

For a main course mom had the Cioppino with no muscles/clams

 

That does not resemble anything like the Cioppino that I was served in the PG!  

 

15 hours ago, zgscl said:

Solely for the benefit of folks on Cruise Critic I decided to "indulge" and have the steak and eggs. They served a very generous size steak although it is a fairly thin cut and came out much closer to medium well than medium rare. I would suggest ordering on the rarer side than what you actually want. 

 

 

Looks good and I notice that the "McDonald's Hash Brown Patty" is served.  Another poster said that he had freshly prepared Hash Browns.  There is a disconnect in experiences here.  

[Florida_gal_50]

3 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

When I visited Icy Point Strait was on the Amsterdam during a 14 day Alaska cruise.  I have been surprised at the pictures, including yours, at the length of the bridge to get from the ship to the shore.  When I was there, yes, it was a "walk", but I don't remember it being as long as it now is.  My memory wrong?  Or, have they made it longer?

 

 

That does not resemble anything like the Cioppino that I was served in the PG!  

 

 

Looks good and I notice that the "McDonald's Hash Brown Patty" is served.  Another poster said that he had freshly prepared Hash Browns.  There is a disconnect in experiences here.  

They probably hadn’t unpacked the groceries yet so they had to use a potato 😉

[zgscl]

4 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yup for sure.  I’m a tell it like it is person and I’ve been told I should go elsewhere if I don’t like hal.  Clearly the good outweighs the bad or I’d be gone.  Everything doesn’t need to be sugar coated n my mind.  I like hearing the good and bad.

Totally agree! And I think it is better for all to report accurately so we all know what to expect. 

[HAL4NOW]

@zgscl Thanks for all of the great information and descriptions.

I apologize if you already mentioned it and I missed it, but my question is: do they still have a fruit basket in the room that they will refill with fresh fruit upon request?

[aliaschief]

5 hours ago, HAL4NOW said:

@zgscl Thanks for all of the great information and descriptions.

I apologize if you already mentioned it and I missed it, but my question is: do they still have a fruit basket in the room that they will refill with fresh fruit upon request?

On our cruise two weeks ago they did not. Sounded more of cost saving and prevent waste than supply issue.

[zgscl]

On 8/23/2021 at 11:26 PM, HAL4NOW said:

@zgscl Thanks for all of the great information and descriptions.

I apologize if you already mentioned it and I missed it, but my question is: do they still have a fruit basket in the room that they will refill with fresh fruit upon request?

I did not see a fruit basket in our room and didn't think to ask! 

[zgscl]

Thursday - Ketchikan 

A very misty day in Ketchikan. I really debated doing the Misty Fjords cruise but have read mixed reviews and decided I did not want to be up and going at 7:30. Instead we started our day with breakfast in the Pinnacle - complete with my least favorite hash browns (just kidding!). My mom is partial to the Classic Eggs Benedict & I decided to try the Breakfast Skillet along with the pancakes. I actually really liked the skillet and it has a nice potato base and a mild Southwest flair. 

 

After going back and forth between the Saxman Native Village and the Lumberjack Show we finally settled on the Lumberjack Show. It is a lot of fun (though it is probably a once in a lifetime event). Quite impressive to see them chopping, climbing and balancing on logs. 

 

After the show we enjoyed a nice walk through Ketchikan. About two blocks from the pier along the water there is a cafe called Sweet Mermaids. They have a decent menu that includes very good milkshakes and pastries and have a nice wifi connection. 

 

Ketchikan is a very walkable town and I had no difficulty pushing my mom's wheelchair around the downtown area. The gangway is quite steep but the crew generally will push the chair up and down. 

[zgscl]

Thursday Afternoon

Back onboard we had lunch in the Lido. Nachos were good as was the lamb, salmon and beef. The soup is a Thai Shrimp soup which was quite spicy. As usual the salad with tuna was excellent. 

 

We enjoyed a beautiful sail away from Ketchikan, it was quite comfortable to sit out on the deck without a jacket on and it was really peaceful watching the city fade off into the distance. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by zgscl

[zgscl]

As I mentioned upthread we had a medical disembarkation about two hours outside of Ketchikan. The USCG came and took the passenger back into port which saved quite a bit of time getting them to the hospital. We were very lucky they were able to get to us so quickly. 

 

 

At this time we also received our disembarkation packet including luggage tags and disembarkation information for suite guests along with our special Lime 1 luggage tags. 

 

For dinner tonight we tried the baked brie, beet salad and tortellini. It would not be a formal night without a classic surf and turf so I ended up "indulging" and trying the filet and lobster tail. Both were excellent. Be forewarned the steak seems to have a garlic butter on it - personally I like this but if you are not a fan of garlic you may want to ask them to leave it off. For desert the Almond and Orange cake was exceptionally good and served with a nice cream cheese icing. 

 

After dinner we made it into the comedy show in time to get a seat and enjoyed another great performance by the BB King's Allstars. They seemed to be having some minor technical difficulties and one of the musicians was missing. After about a 30 minute set they took a long break and came back regrouped and back on fire. I hope the missing musician is OK!

Early to bed tonight as the Captain has very rudely decided to take back the hour they gave us earlier this cruise. I think we should just keep sailing West and forget about returning to Seattle! 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by zgscl

[zgscl]

If you look closely at the stateroom TV map you can see where we doubled back for the medical evacuation. They really seemed to pickup speed when they were trying to get the passenger off but we slowed down again after he disembarked. The Captain said that this will not affect our Seattle arrival time. 

 

When and Where for our last sea day! Also they seem to have added the ability to order salads from NY Pizza which was not there before. Still no option to do a custom pizza. 

 

One other fun thing that I noticed tonight is in the hallway by the elevator lobby there is a ship pointing towards the front with a red or green arrow on the port/starboard side. This is really helpful in finding your way around (though the Pride of America did it best with little fish swimming along the carpet towards the bow on every deck). 

[zgscl]

Friday - Our last full day on the ship! It seems to happen every cruise and somehow no matter how long I have been onboard I am not ready for it! 

 

Breakfast today was the same as yesterday as we have now found our favorite things on the menu! 

 

Upon returning to our suite after breakfast we had the not so subtle reminder that our cruise is coming to an end with the dreaded luggage mats. One thing I noticed on this cruise is they did not stow or take out the suitcases at all and we had to both put them away and take them back out again. I seem to vaguely remember that the cabin stewards used to do this though my memory could be faulty. We also received our mariner tiles. 

 

[zgscl]

I have seen a number of folks ask about the privacy on the midship balcony cabins. I remembered to take a photo during an elevator ride and can confirm the entire balcony is not at all private on either side. Going just one room forward or aft will make an enormous difference in terms of your privacy. 

[zgscl]

For our final lunch onboard we decided to return to the Pinnacle Grill. I am glad that I booked it on the first day as they sold out by day 2 or 3 (and dinner was gone after the first night). If you want specialty dining make sure to book early when onboard or better yet online before getting to the ship. 

 

We did the same appetizers and deserts - both the crab cakes and shrimp bruschetta were excellent. This time my mom did the Beef Tenderloin with Oregon Blue Cheese after my rave review last time. I tried the Beef Tri-Tip with Caramelized Red Onions. I really enjoyed it though it was a little bit on the sweet side so if you do not like sweet BBQ sauce you probably would do better with another dish. 

 

For desert we repeated our previous choices but I forgot to take pictures until we were already finished. 

[zgscl]

For our final dinner we started with the egg roll and I decided to "indulge" and try the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail.

 

After a week of joking with our waiters about the Tomahawk steak we decided to try splitting one. Please note that it is a gigantic 36 ounce bone in steak and it will take 45 minutes or so to prepare. One of the dining room managers actually had mentioned this to me so I stopped in during afternoon tea and told him we were going to order it. He very graciously started it early so the timing for our dinner was perfect. The steak is definitely big enough to share between 2-4 people depending on your appetite. I was quite impressed it was grilled perfectly and was probably one of the best meals that we had onboard. 

 

For desert I had the pear strudel. I also had to try the ice cream which was described as "Red Cactus." I have never heard of such a thing and wanted to see what it was - turns out it is very sweet and tastes strongly of artificial flavoring. Oh well, it was worth a try! 

 

After dinner we went back to our cabin to pack and were greeted with our Holland America Line Journeys booklet. This seems to be replacing the log of the cruise and is sort of a passport that you can peel off the journey sticker and put in the book. I actually really like this - the only thing that would be an improvement is if they had a template you could download with your previous cruises. Oh well, perhaps we will have to make our own template.