From King Crab to Poi-almost live from Koningsdam Alaska to Hawaii and back

[Clay Clayton]

Taking a cue from @WCB and I am going to try to post about our upcoming adventure that will (like them) take us from Glaciers to Palm Trees 

but unlike Bill and MaryAnn we won’t be aboard quite as long and we aren’t 84 Star Mariners😂 Additionally, since we won’t spring for Internet aboard there will be some days with nada, followed by days with multiple posts(when we have cell data from T-Mobile) documenting what we did while away from the innerwebs. 
 

Presuming Hurricane Ian doesn’t affect us tomorrow morning, we should be leaving Raleigh, NC at 7am  headed to Vancouver (via Phoenix & Seattle) for an overnight prior to boarding Koningsdam on October 1, 2022 for the first of our b2b cruises. We start with a 7 night cruise to Alaska and then stay aboard on October 8 and sail to Hawaii returning to Vancouver on October 24, 2022. 

 

A little about us-we are longtime cruisers, but this will only be our second time aboard Holland America Line. Our previous cruise was a Caribbean on board Veendam in 2019. 

 

My husband Mike and I have been together almost 33 years and in December will celebrate our 8th anniversary of being married legally. We retired early in February 2018 (I will be able to join Medicare next year and Mike is 5 years behind me-you can do the math!) spent the first two years living nomadically. Prior to retirement most of our cruising had been on Norwegian Cruise Lines with a couple of Celebrity and a Princess voyage along the way.  For our retirement celebration (and to have a comfortable ride to Europe where we spent most of our first year of unemployment), we ended up booking a Viking Transatlantic (after discovering that for repositioning cruises their apples to apples pricing was comparable to NCL.) We have been Viking loyalists ever since. So part of this thread will likely do some compare & contrasts between the two.
 

We were originally scheduled to be cruising on Viking Orion from Hong Kong to Bangkok at the end of October, but presumably because of Japan’s issues with receiving visitors (they just announced  this week that they are reopening) and Visa confusions in Vietnam, Viking canceled the segments between Tokyo and Bangkok of their repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Sydney. When we mentioned the cancellation to long time friends, they suggested joining them on their Alaska cruise onboard Koningsdam. Since we first visited Alaska with them in 2003 (aboard Celebrity Summit), we decided it would be fun to do it again.  But since (unlike them) we aren’t constrained by having to return to work and we hated the idea of flying cross country for just 7 nights, we elected to stay aboard and go to Hawaii. This will be my first visit and Mike’s second but his last was almost 40 years ago. 

 

So tag along if you like and join us as we go from Glaciers to Palm ….ahem, King Crab to Poi!

 

[Hygge!]

Fun that you are doing this! Crossing fingers we can also leave tomorrow morning from Charlotte.  See you aboard. 

[Clay Clayton]

We are checking the AA travel alerts hoping they will put in waivers which would allow us to fly today. Would relieve our worry about the storm AND missing our separate ticket connection in Seattle.

 

Safe Travels!

[Hogladyrider]

Signed up and following along!  Safe travels to Vancouver, long travel day for sure!

[SandyIsRetired]

So glad to see this thread on CC.  We'll definitely be following you on your trip.  BON VOYAGE!!

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Hi Clay and MIke! Looking forward to following your "Crab to Poi" adventure!  Thanks for taking us along!😊

[Kaiabean]

Enjoy your trip!  I’ll be following along.

[aungrl]

Thanks for doing the CC updates, in addition to Instagram, Clay.  Really looking forward to hearing how it goes.  Good luck with the travel!

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, Hogladyrider said:

Signed up and following along!  Safe travels to Vancouver, long travel day for sure!

 

26 minutes ago, SandyIsRetired said:

So glad to see this thread on CC.  We'll definitely be following you on your trip.  BON VOYAGE!!

 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Sleep7 said:

Hi Clay and MIke! Looking forward to following your "Crab to Poi" adventure!  Thanks for taking us along!😊

 

24 minutes ago, Kaiabean said:

Enjoy your trip!  I’ll be following along.

Thanks! It will be a long day. 4:15 am alarm😳. 
 

We elected to fly AA via Phoenix to Seattle where we have (if everything is on time) to change on a separate ticket on Air Canada to Vancouver. We are doing this less than perfect routing as prices to fly on a single ticket to Vancouver was about twice as expensive and still involved a stop either in Seattle or Toronto. We considered AA’s and Alaska’s nonstop to Seattle but the timings weren’t great AND those tickets in Economy were about the same price as what we bought but we are flying in First.  At 6’-7” tall (and sorta fluffy) I can’t fly more than an hour or so in economy so this routing became a no brainer especially after we realized that Mike’s now almost useless “Thank You” points would pay for all but $185 worth of the tickets.   We looked at taking the bus from SEA to Vancouver but it would have meant arriving at the hotel about 9 pm (midnight our time) so decided to spend an extra $100 total and fly so we can hopefully be at the hotel by 6 pm instead. 
 

We are hoping that AA gets us to Seattle as scheduled.  We have a Plan B, C, and D if they don’t but would be nice to have a stress less travel day 🤞

[Dunmore2]

That sounds like a fun trip. I’m looking forward to reading about your experiences. Thanks in advance for sharing your journey with us. Hopefully you can find out about the elusive Indian menu.

[TayanaLorna]

15 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

 

 

 

Thanks! It will be a long day. 4:15 am alarm😳. 
 

We elected to fly AA via Phoenix to Seattle where we have (if everything is on time) to change on a separate ticket on Air Canada to Vancouver. We are doing this less than perfect routing as prices to fly on a single ticket to Vancouver was about twice as expensive and still involved a stop either in Seattle or Toronto. We considered AA’s and Alaska’s nonstop to Seattle but the timings weren’t great AND those tickets in Economy were about the same price as what we bought but we are flying in First.  At 6’-7” tall (and sorta fluffy) I can’t fly more than an hour or so in economy so this routing became a no brainer especially after we realized that Mike’s now almost useless “Thank You” points would pay for all but $185 worth of the tickets.   We looked at taking the bus from SEA to Vancouver but it would have meant arriving at the hotel about 9 pm (midnight our time) so decided to spend an extra $100 total and fly so we can hopefully be at the hotel by 6 pm instead. 
 

We are hoping that AA gets us to Seattle as scheduled.  We have a Plan B, C, and D if they don’t but would be nice to have a stress less travel day 🤞

Hope you get out of the Carolinas on time!  

[Clay Clayton]

5 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Hope you get out of the Carolinas on time!  

Same here.  How are things in PR and at your house?

[Clay Clayton]

20 minutes ago, Dunmore2 said:

That sounds like a fun trip. I’m looking forward to reading about your experiences. Thanks in advance for sharing your journey with us. Hopefully you can find out about the elusive Indian menu.

I hope to…may wait until the Hawaiian cruise as our traveling companions aren’t big on Indian food. 

[TayanaLorna]

6 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Same here.  How are things in PR and at your house?

Still no power but given our location not surprised.  Other then that, all is well in our area.  South coast and some central mountain areas devastated by the extreme rainfall.

[Double D Cruisers]

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Taking a cue from @WCB and I am going to try to post about our upcoming adventure that will (like them) take us from Glaciers to Palm Trees 

but unlike Bill and MaryAnn we won’t be aboard quite as long and we aren’t 84 Star Mariners😂 Additionally, since we won’t spring for Internet aboard there will be some days with nada, followed by days with multiple posts(when we have cell data from T-Mobile) documenting what we did while away from the innerwebs. 
 

Presuming Hurricane Ian doesn’t affect us tomorrow morning, we should be leaving Raleigh, NC at 7am  headed to Vancouver (via Phoenix & Seattle) for an overnight prior to boarding Koningsdam on October 1, 2022 for the first of our b2b cruises. We start with a 7 night cruise to Alaska and then stay aboard on October 8 and sail to Hawaii returning to Vancouver on October 24, 2022. 

 

A little about us-we are longtime cruisers, but this will only be our second time aboard Holland America Line. Our previous cruise was a Caribbean on board Veendam in 2019. 

 

My husband Mike and I have been together almost 33 years and in December will celebrate our 8th anniversary of being married legally. We retired early in February 2018 (I will be able to join Medicare next year and Mike is 5 years behind me-you can do the math!) spent the first two years living nomadically. Prior to retirement most of our cruising had been on Norwegian Cruise Lines with a couple of Celebrity and a Princess voyage along the way.  For our retirement celebration (and to have a comfortable ride to Europe where we spent most of our first year of unemployment), we ended up booking a Viking Transatlantic (after discovering that for repositioning cruises their apples to apples pricing was comparable to NCL.) We have been Viking loyalists ever since. So part of this thread will likely do some compare & contrasts between the two.
 

We were originally scheduled to be cruising on Viking Orion from Hong Kong to Bangkok at the end of October, but presumably because of Japan’s issues with receiving visitors (they just announced  this week that they are reopening) and Visa confusions in Vietnam, Viking canceled the segments between Tokyo and Bangkok of their repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Sydney. When we mentioned the cancellation to long time friends, they suggested joining them on their Alaska cruise onboard Koningsdam. Since we first visited Alaska with them in 2003 (aboard Celebrity Summit), we decided it would be fun to do it again.  But since (unlike them) we aren’t constrained by having to return to work and we hated the idea of flying cross country for just 7 nights, we elected to stay aboard and go to Hawaii. This will be my first visit and Mike’s second but his last was almost 40 years ago. 

 

So tag along if you like and join us as we go from Glaciers to Palm ….ahem, King Crab to Poi!

 

We, Debbie & Dave, will ‘literally’ be tagging along with you on the King Crab to Poi cruises 😃 Cheers!  It looks like Bernie needs a drink 😂 Have a safe, non stressful flight!  Debbie

[Clay Clayton]

2 minutes ago, Double D Cruisers said:

We, Debbie & Dave, will ‘literally’ be tagging along with you on the King Crab to Poi cruises 😃 Cheers!  It looks like Bernie needs a drink 😂 Have a safe, non stressful flight!  Debbie

See you onboard!  Was wondering if anyone would notice Senator B😂

Edited September 29, 2022 by Clay Clayton

[quilty964]

Safe travels!  Thanks for taking us along!

[JM0115]

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Taking a cue from @WCB and I am going to try to post about our upcoming adventure that will (like them) take us from Glaciers to Palm Trees 

but unlike Bill and MaryAnn we won’t be aboard quite as long and we aren’t 84 Star Mariners😂 Additionally, since we won’t spring for Internet aboard there will be some days with nada, followed by days with multiple posts(when we have cell data from T-Mobile) documenting what we did while away from the innerwebs. 
 

Presuming Hurricane Ian doesn’t affect us tomorrow morning, we should be leaving Raleigh, NC at 7am  headed to Vancouver (via Phoenix & Seattle) for an overnight prior to boarding Koningsdam on October 1, 2022 for the first of our b2b cruises. We start with a 7 night cruise to Alaska and then stay aboard on October 8 and sail to Hawaii returning to Vancouver on October 24, 2022. 

 

A little about us-we are longtime cruisers, but this will only be our second time aboard Holland America Line. Our previous cruise was a Caribbean on board Veendam in 2019. 

 

My husband Mike and I have been together almost 33 years and in December will celebrate our 8th anniversary of being married legally. We retired early in February 2018 (I will be able to join Medicare next year and Mike is 5 years behind me-you can do the math!) spent the first two years living nomadically. Prior to retirement most of our cruising had been on Norwegian Cruise Lines with a couple of Celebrity and a Princess voyage along the way.  For our retirement celebration (and to have a comfortable ride to Europe where we spent most of our first year of unemployment), we ended up booking a Viking Transatlantic (after discovering that for repositioning cruises their apples to apples pricing was comparable to NCL.) We have been Viking loyalists ever since. So part of this thread will likely do some compare & contrasts between the two.
 

We were originally scheduled to be cruising on Viking Orion from Hong Kong to Bangkok at the end of October, but presumably because of Japan’s issues with receiving visitors (they just announced  this week that they are reopening) and Visa confusions in Vietnam, Viking canceled the segments between Tokyo and Bangkok of their repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Sydney. When we mentioned the cancellation to long time friends, they suggested joining them on their Alaska cruise onboard Koningsdam. Since we first visited Alaska with them in 2003 (aboard Celebrity Summit), we decided it would be fun to do it again.  But since (unlike them) we aren’t constrained by having to return to work and we hated the idea of flying cross country for just 7 nights, we elected to stay aboard and go to Hawaii. This will be my first visit and Mike’s second but his last was almost 40 years ago. 

 

So tag along if you like and join us as we go from Glaciers to Palm ….ahem, King Crab to Poi!

 

Hope you have a wonderful time!

[JeriGail]

I'll be interested to hear what the weather is like in Alaska this late in the season.  We cruised Alaska in July and still had fairly cool weather.  Going to Hawaii right after Alaska will be quite a contrast!  Are you still packing carryon only? 😁

[Clay Clayton]

23 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

I'll be interested to hear what the weather is like in Alaska this late in the season.  We cruised Alaska in July and still had fairly cool weather.  Going to Hawaii right after Alaska will be quite a contrast!  Are you still packing carryon only? 😁

Our last trip was in late August/early September and it was HOT so I guess it’s just like weather everywhere 😂. We are more concerned it may be 7 days of rain😢

 

Yep, all packed in our rollaboard and the underseat bags Mike made for us.  We plan on having laundry done onboard. HAL has two options we are considering-one is an all you can eat version that costs $7.99 per cabin per day (which we might do on the Alaska leg) or a $30 fill the bag plan.  We figure before unpacking we will see how much we can get in the bag and decide which is the best “deal” for us. 
 

Here is a copy of my packing list as it stands at 11:15 am, Sep 29th. 
 

Overnight Bag:

sleeping shorts

Sleeping shirt

toiletries

✅polo 1

✅3 underwear 

✅2 pair socks 

✅Hiking sticks

✅Wrinkle release

✅Portugal day bag

✅Playing card

iPad 

✅Chargers

✅Snorkel and mask

✅Sunglasses

Passport &Vaccine cards

✅Extra long sleeve shirt

✅Watercolor set

✅Sketchpad

Waterpic

 

 

 

Roll aboard

✅8 underwear

✅6 socks

✅1 Jean

✅1 khaki

✅3 shorts

✅1 long sleeve

✅5 polo/short sleeves

✅1 T-shirt 

✅1 bathing suit 

✅Water shoes

✅Green shoes 

✅Jacket

✅Packable backpack

✅Insoles 

✅Blue tennis shoes

✅Pills & Vitamins

✅Extra COVID tests 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Clay Clayton

[dchip]

Safe travels and enjoy every minute of your cruise. I’ll be following along when I’m able. We will be boarding the Tales of the South Pacific in San Diego on Monday. I got a kick out of seeing my photo in your opening post. 
 

The laundry bag option is a good one. You can fit soooooooo much in those laundry bags. It became a game to see how much we could stuff. Our last cruise we were finally 4*, so we didn’t get to play the laundry bag game. 😂

 

Cheers, Denise

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, dchip said:

Safe travels and enjoy every minute of your cruise. I’ll be following along when I’m able. We will be boarding the Tales of the South Pacific in San Diego on Monday. I got a kick out of seeing my photo in your opening post. 
 

The laundry bag option is a good one. You can fit soooooooo much in those laundry bags. It became a game to see how much we could stuff. Our last cruise we were finally 4*, so we didn’t get to play the laundry bag game. 😂

 

Cheers, Denise

Hope you have a great cruise too!

[Blackduck59]

Cheers Clay. I'm looking forward to hearing about your HAL cruise.

Safe travels to the wet coast (that being said it hasn't been very wet here for months).

[Blackduck59]

I was just looking at your packing list and a Marino wool base layer would be a good addition...I know too late now.

[Clay Clayton]

58 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

I was just looking at your packing list and a Marino wool base layer would be a good addition...I know too late now.

Thanks but to find them in my size (3XLT) is tough and when I do, I figure for$105 I can be chilly for a few days.  Now if I was going on an Antarctic Expedition Cruise, it would be a different story!😂

Edited September 29, 2022 by Clay Clayton