Volendam 8/23 to 8/30 Inside Passage Live

[gregma60]

Afternoon all, I hope to give you liveish updates on our first cruise! We are in a neptune suite. 

 

We stayed at the pan pacific for two days pre-cruise but won't include those.  We met the HA representative at 8:30am on our cruise day where we checked in and told them how many bags we had.  She gave us instructions on how to get to the embarkation area and back to the room we went to relax.  At 9am a bell hop came and grabbed our checked in bags and that was it. 

 

At 10:15am, we all headed to the embarkation area as directed and breezed through check-in, security, customs and we're sitting in the priority boarding area by 11:15am (that includes about 35 minutes of just walking ftom one end to the other then back.)

 

We sat waiting for the ship to be ready and at 12:30 boarding began.  We went right to the ship, our boarding passes scanned and took our first steps on our first cruise ship! 

 

We followed the line of people and were asked our cabin number.  After telling one person we were herded into a VERY cramped elevator and told we were going to the lido.

 

Once off the elevator we asked to go to MDR and were again told we were going to the lido. 

 

We dragged our carryons and were able to find a table, got a bit of food and sat down.  About 20 minutes later our friends who were cruising with us texted to say how nice their room was (they were in a signature suite) and how ours was.  We let them know we were told to go to the lido and listen for announcements. 

 

They finished unpacking and met us in the lido about 30 minutes later.  At that point after they ate, we decided to just head to our suite. 

 

Yes it was ready.  Omg! It was HUGE!! Such a beautiful room, and massive balcony. 

 

One word of warning, the bathroom is about 5 or so inches above the cabin floor.  My wife almost took a header getting out twice! Just be careful.

 

We met our steward and he filled us in on everything.  We headed to the MDR for a second lunch which was ok.  Tomato bisque wasn't the greatest and Luke warm at the best.  Calamari was outstanding though! 

 

We walked around the ship, then to our 5pm dinning.  Food was awesome! I had the salmon which was cooked quite well, although tiny.  Wife had the rockfish which was the star of the dinner.  Cooked perfectly!  I had cauliflower for appetizer.  We all looked at it...  Take a flourette cut it into fourths and that was the portion size.  Lol. All four pieces was one mouthful. 

 

Dessert was lemon tart which was awesome! Wife had a chocolate Sunday (only gluten free dessert) which was really just a milkshake by the time we got it. 

 

After trivia, we headed to the theater to watch the origins presentation whice was awesome!! 

 

Then, after more than 6 miles walked, we collapsed in our turned down bed and we're fast asleep! 

 

Overall, an outstanding day! 

 

-gregma

[*Miss G*]

Wow.  I am SHOCKED at you being herded to the Lido Market and at such a late embarkation time.  That is shameful and unheard of, especially as you’re in a Neptune Suite.  At the very least you should have been allowed to enter the Neptune Lounge.  Was there not a reception in the lounge this evening?  You could have brought it up to one of the concierge attendants.

 

At any rate, welcome to Holland America and your first cruise!  I look forward to your posts.

[oakridger]

@gregma60I'm going to love reading your thoughts about your first cruise!  Remember that you can always ask for more in the MDR (or anywhere actually) if you want.  They are making the portions smaller now to cut down on food waste so don't be shy!  Ask and you shall receive.  Another comment, you don't need to accept a melted ice cream sundae or any other item that isn't up to snuff.  Just nicely tell the waiter you would like a new one that is cold/hot/cooked as asked, etc.  They should happily comply.

 

Lastly, I never order dessert at the beginning of the meal when the waiter asks (bad policy in my opinion!).  I just tell them that I will decide after I eat if I want to have dessert.  I have never had any pushback at all from waiters on this.

 

Now......go enjoy your cruise!!

 

~Nancy

[gregma60]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

Wow.  I am SHOCKED at you being herded to the Lido Market and at such a late embarkation time.  That is shameful and unheard of, especially as you’re in a Neptune Suite.  At the very least you should have been allowed to enter the Neptune Lounge.  Was there not a reception in the lounge this evening?  You could have brought it up to one of the concierge attendants.

 

At any rate, welcome to Holland America and your first cruise!  I look forward to your posts.

We did have the reception, but I was so relaxed at that point, I never really thought about it! 

 

-gregma 

[MisterMatthew]

17 hours ago, oakridger said:

@gregma60I'm going to love reading your thoughts about your first cruise!  Remember that you can always ask for more in the MDR (or anywhere actually) if you want.  They are making the portions smaller now to cut down on food waste so don't be shy!  Ask and you shall receive.  Another comment, you don't need to accept a melted ice cream sundae or any other item that isn't up to snuff.  Just nicely tell the waiter you would like a new one that is cold/hot/cooked as asked, etc.  They should happily comply.

 

Lastly, I never order dessert at the beginning of the meal when the waiter asks (bad policy in my opinion!).  I just tell them that I will decide after I eat if I want to have dessert.  I have never had any pushback at all from waiters on this.

 

Now......go enjoy your cruise!!

 

~Nancy

Nancy, i am with you!

 

I do not even know if i will be hungry enough for a dessert.  And, possibly, my entree turns out SOOO YUMMY that i want a 2nd one.  And, just skip the sweets.   :)

 

--Matthew

[gregma60]

19 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

Wow.  I am SHOCKED at you being herded to the Lido Market and at such a late embarkation time.  That is shameful and unheard of, especially as you’re in a Neptune Suite.  At the very least you should have been allowed to enter the Neptune Lounge.  Was there not a reception in the lounge this evening?  You could have brought it up to one of the concierge attendants.

 

At any rate, welcome to Holland America and your first cruise!  I look forward to your posts.

We did have the reception, but I was so relaxed at that point, I never really thought about it! 

 

-gregma 

[SilvertoGold]

This is going to be a GREAT thread!  Thanks for starting, please continue. Love your writing style.  Have a lovely FIRST cruise - how exciting!

Edited August 25, 2023 by SilvertoGold

[DaveOKC]

There are no Signature Suites on the Volendam.  Just Vista and then Neptune (and a huge difference in these, about twice the size).

 

[quilty964]

Enjoy Alaska and your cruise!

[gregma60]

Good morning all! Day two is over.  Overall kind of a hit and miss for the day.  It was a sea day, so I thought it would be relaxing.  Not so much.  There is something to do every minute of the day until 9pm.  Whew. 

 

Breakfast started out in the pinnacle grill at 8am.  Since my wife is gluten intolerant, she ordered an eggs Benedict with a slice of tomato instead of the English muffin.  Normally when she orders this they just cut a slice of raw tomatoe.  Here they lightly grilled the tomatoe giving it a much better flavor! She loved it.  Myself, I ordered the "dungeness" eggs Benedict.  Being from WA state, I of course thought it would be covered in crab.  I was sooooo disappointed! Luckily I looked close and realized it was just what they called one with no meat and only asparagus... Lol! 

 

After breakfast, all of us headed for the shops and browsed until lunch. 

 

Next we lined up for lunch in the mdr at 11:30am.  Boy did the line get long! By noon it was way past the elevators.  Maybe 100 odd people? This was when there was a rather disappointing thing happened.  We were the second group to be escorted to a table.  The gal took off like a shot and was halfway across the mdr before she realized with my cane I couldn't sprint to keep up.  We did manage to get close enough for me to request the same table we had for our second lunch the day before, the waiters were awesome! She turned around laughed at me, said "no", then turned back and rushed us to a table at the very back.  I wasn't too pleased at being laughed at or being dismissed like that, but we did enjoy our lunch and left.  While my wife was looking at the shops, I brought up the navigator app and sent a comment about the experience with the name and time. I really expected nothing, but at least I let them know. 

 

After lunch, my wife headed right to her painting class which she had sooooo much fun and friends of ours and I went to the crows nest to hang out until tea.  So very relaxing, not many people, just enjoyed the water and watching three cruise ships passing us on the way back.  

 

We headed back to the mdr for what I heard was the best high tea of all the cruise lines! We had gone to many in Victoria, Canada and Seattle, so were really looking forward to it.  We really sold our friends.  When we got there about 30 minutes the line was already past the elevators and growing!  We waited about 1/2 hour until we finally made it to the front and were seated at a table for 4.  There was one tray of stuff, so we waited a bit and when they came with the tea, I asked if we were going to get our own small tower of stuff. After all there were only two small bites of each type.  No, was the reply.  Only one to a table.  So a table for two got one, a table of four got one and I guess had to figure out who got what as if we split it, there wouldn't be a tiny mouthful of each type.  To be honest it was one of the worst we had.  Finger sandwiches had hardly any spread.  Imagine one sandwich cut into 6 slices.  That's the portion.  And if you got near the edge of the bread which we did there was only a hint of what was supposed to be on it.  What I think was supposed to be a scone was so dry, our friend tried dunking it in his tea and it was still too dry to eat.  So, our allotment of one cup of tea done and about 3/4 of the food and we got up so others can have a shot at it.  When we left, the line was twice as long!  We decided never again for high tea. 

 

After that, I went to the room to take a nap while the others went for a wildlife viewing event.  Not long after, they came back after being smoked out by a couple of smokers.  They did get to see some Orcas spouting though!! 

 

Next was our 5pm MDR dinner with our great waiters! They are so nice and jovial! About halfway through, the dining room supervisor came over and asked to speak to me.  I got up and we went to the side.  He said they got my comment and he was personally going to have a talk with the staff involved and get it straightened out.  I told him that I very much appreciated that and I hope it could be a teaching moment.  He again apologized and I returned to my table.  After dinner, another gentleman came up to me and introduced himself as the maitre de and wanted to apologize for what happened at lunch and assured me thats would never happen again.  Wow, they really do take the comments seriously!!  I was quite pleased! 

 

Next was the captains toast followed immediately by humanity.

 

Captains toast was really funny!!  The humanity show was very nice.  Not over the top, but had two really awesome dancers and four pretty good dancers.  It was well worth the time and I would recommend it completely! 

 

Right back to our cabin to lounge a bit on our balcony when started seeing spouts! There were two medium pods of Orcas alongside the ship, and at least one humpback about 300 yards away.  Got a great view of the tail once. Of course the camera was still packed so no pics.  The pods soon were left behind and we went back inside for a well deserved sleep! 

 

Overall there were several missteps and a couple of challenges, but nothing that would dampen what a great time we were having!!! 

 

Couple of side notes.  Later in the evening we went to the neptune club to enquire about a whale watching tour for the following day, and the lady there said the maitre d was looking for me to apologize for lunch.  I wondered if the entire ship staff knew! 

 

Also, despite what I've heard at least our cabin walls are not metal.  There are metal ribs about every 6 foot, but that's it.  Bathroom door and front door.  That's it.  So, all of our magnets are on the doors! Lol

 

-gregma

[gregma60]

8 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

There are no Signature Suites on the Volendam.  Just Vista and then Neptune (and a huge difference in these, about twice the size).

 

Oops!! You are of course totally correct, they have a vista on the navigator decjk! 

 

-gregma

[gregma60]

9 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

This is going to be a GREAT thread!  Thanks for starting, please continue. Love your writing style.  Have a lovely FIRST cruise - how exciting!

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate your huge compliment! 

 

-gregma 

[0106]

8 hours ago, gregma60 said:

I brought up the navigator app and sent a comment about the experience with the name and time. I really expected nothing, but at least I let them know. 

I am happy that the “let us know” section of the Navigator App was read and that you received an apology.  It has worked for me too.  Now, I leave a comment every night,  usually naming a crew member who has provided me with outstanding service.  The crew really appreciates the positive comments too.

 

Thank you for your well written trip report.

[*Miss G*]

With the exception of the afternoon tea, it sounds like you had a very enjoyable day.  I am disappointed to read of your experience, though.  When we first started going to the teas (my Mum, sister, daughter, and myself) they were very nice.  We eventually stopped going because it became less of an experience as the years went by.  I didn’t think it was possible but it sounds even worse now.  To be honest, I think if you’re going to go to all that trouble to put an afternoon tea together, do it right.  It’s better for it to be memorable in a good way than a bad one.  I’m glad that management were responsive to your comment but sad you had to send one.  Have a wonderful day today!

[Ellencruise]

I stopped going to the afternoon tea. The quality and quantity of the sandwiches and scones have been so poor since after the pandemic. So sad because it was so yummy.

[SilvertoGold]

10 hours ago, gregma60 said:

Good morning all! Day two is over.  Overall kind of a hit and miss for the day.  It was a sea day, so I thought it would be relaxing.  Not so much.  There is something to do every minute of the day until 9pm.  Whew. 

 

Breakfast started out in the pinnacle grill at 8am.  Since my wife is gluten intolerant, she ordered an eggs Benedict with a slice of tomato instead of the English muffin.  Normally when she orders this they just cut a slice of raw tomatoe.  Here they lightly grilled the tomatoe giving it a much better flavor! She loved it.  Myself, I ordered the "dungeness" eggs Benedict.  Being from WA state, I of course thought it would be covered in crab.  I was sooooo disappointed! Luckily I looked close and realized it was just what they called one with no meat and only asparagus... Lol! 

 

After breakfast, all of us headed for the shops and browsed until lunch. 

 

Next we lined up for lunch in the mdr at 11:30am.  Boy did the line get long! By noon it was way past the elevators.  Maybe 100 odd people? This was when there was a rather disappointing thing happened.  We were the second group to be escorted to a table.  The gal took off like a shot and was halfway across the mdr before she realized with my cane I couldn't sprint to keep up.  We did manage to get close enough for me to request the same table we had for our second lunch the day before, the waiters were awesome! She turned around laughed at me, said "no", then turned back and rushed us to a table at the very back.  I wasn't too pleased at being laughed at or being dismissed like that, but we did enjoy our lunch and left.  While my wife was looking at the shops, I brought up the navigator app and sent a comment about the experience with the name and time. I really expected nothing, but at least I let them know. 

 

After lunch, my wife headed right to her painting class which she had sooooo much fun and friends of ours and I went to the crows nest to hang out until tea.  So very relaxing, not many people, just enjoyed the water and watching three cruise ships passing us on the way back.  

 

We headed back to the mdr for what I heard was the best high tea of all the cruise lines! We had gone to many in Victoria, Canada and Seattle, so were really looking forward to it.  We really sold our friends.  When we got there about 30 minutes the line was already past the elevators and growing!  We waited about 1/2 hour until we finally made it to the front and were seated at a table for 4.  There was one tray of stuff, so we waited a bit and when they came with the tea, I asked if we were going to get our own small tower of stuff. After all there were only two small bites of each type.  No, was the reply.  Only one to a table.  So a table for two got one, a table of four got one and I guess had to figure out who got what as if we split it, there wouldn't be a tiny mouthful of each type.  To be honest it was one of the worst we had.  Finger sandwiches had hardly any spread.  Imagine one sandwich cut into 6 slices.  That's the portion.  And if you got near the edge of the bread which we did there was only a hint of what was supposed to be on it.  What I think was supposed to be a scone was so dry, our friend tried dunking it in his tea and it was still too dry to eat.  So, our allotment of one cup of tea done and about 3/4 of the food and we got up so others can have a shot at it.  When we left, the line was twice as long!  We decided never again for high tea. 

 

After that, I went to the room to take a nap while the others went for a wildlife viewing event.  Not long after, they came back after being smoked out by a couple of smokers.  They did get to see some Orcas spouting though!! 

 

Next was our 5pm MDR dinner with our great waiters! They are so nice and jovial! About halfway through, the dining room supervisor came over and asked to speak to me.  I got up and we went to the side.  He said they got my comment and he was personally going to have a talk with the staff involved and get it straightened out.  I told him that I very much appreciated that and I hope it could be a teaching moment.  He again apologized and I returned to my table.  After dinner, another gentleman came up to me and introduced himself as the maitre de and wanted to apologize for what happened at lunch and assured me thats would never happen again.  Wow, they really do take the comments seriously!!  I was quite pleased! 

 

Next was the captains toast followed immediately by humanity.

 

Captains toast was really funny!!  The humanity show was very nice.  Not over the top, but had two really awesome dancers and four pretty good dancers.  It was well worth the time and I would recommend it completely! 

 

Right back to our cabin to lounge a bit on our balcony when started seeing spouts! There were two medium pods of Orcas alongside the ship, and at least one humpback about 300 yards away.  Got a great view of the tail once. Of course the camera was still packed so no pics.  The pods soon were left behind and we went back inside for a well deserved sleep! 

 

Overall there were several missteps and a couple of challenges, but nothing that would dampen what a great time we were having!!! 

 

Couple of side notes.  Later in the evening we went to the neptune club to enquire about a whale watching tour for the following day, and the lady there said the maitre d was looking for me to apologize for lunch.  I wondered if the entire ship staff knew! 

 

Also, despite what I've heard at least our cabin walls are not metal.  There are metal ribs about every 6 foot, but that's it.  Bathroom door and front door.  That's it.  So, all of our magnets are on the doors! Lol

 

-gregma

My God! What a day.  The ladies at the podium in the MDR are usually so good.  This was horrible. As a very long-time HAL cruiser I am unhappy to hear this.  Glad you spoke up and glad the two Managers acted as I would have expected them to.: I know they would be mortified. Possibly that lady was put on the podium too soon, with not enough training.

And shall we talk about Afternoon Tea?  Ugh! Cost-savings gone way too far.  Last time we did Tea they had the most excellent choolate brownies (small, but super).  We asked for 2 more and got a plate of 4.  Sorry about your experience!

[SilvertoGold]

36 minutes ago, Ellencruise said:

I stopped going to the afternoon tea. The quality and quantity of the sandwiches and scones have been so poor since after the pandemic. So sad because it was so yummy.

Maybe your attitude, which I agree with totally,  is what HAL wants, an excuse to discontinue Tea since no one shows up? It sure sounds as if Tea is just an afterthought now.

Edited August 26, 2023 by SilvertoGold

[whogo]

 

11 hours ago, gregma60 said:

Only one to a table.

I never thought I would see the day when a cruise line would refuse to bring more food to a guest.

[canadianbear]

22 minutes ago, whogo said:

 

I never thought I would see the day when a cruise line would refuse to bring more food to a guest.

So strange isn’t it.  We used to love going to the afternoon tea.  We will try when we go on the Eurodam later this year & see what happens.  I’d certainly be submitting a comment on the Navigator App about it and hope they do. 

[gregma60]

9 hours ago, canadianbear said:

So strange isn’t it.  We used to love going to the afternoon tea.  We will try when we go on the Eurodam later this year & see what happens.  I’d certainly be submitting a comment on the Navigator App about it and hope they do. 

To be honest, after sharing small bites between the four of us, we wouldn't have wanted a second.  We didn't finish what we had.  

 

-gregma 

[canadianbear]

18 minutes ago, gregma60 said:

To be honest, after sharing small bites between the four of us, we wouldn't have wanted a second.  We didn't finish what we had.  

 

-gregma 

I’m married to a fellow who is 6’4” and in the past was satisfied with the afternoon tea and sandwiches etc.  We haven’t been on since December 2019 but will find out in November when we cruise again.  We always know there’s the Lido or room service if needed.  
 

I think it’s a matter of the cruise line trying to avoid waste but if someone asks for more it should be allowed. 

[gregma60]

Day 3.  Well, our day sure did start out with a surprise! Clocks were to be set back an hour, so an extra hours sleep! Or so we thought...  

 

Late that night were were both awakened to a loud clacking.  Not quite sure how to describe the sound, but my wife just suggested (imagine someone shuffling a large deck of metal cards.) I jumped out of bed, turned on all the lights to see what was broken.  Looked towards the head and noticed the wall clock (yup, our stateroom has a wall clock) speeding head 11 hours to reset an hour earlier.  We both watched in amazement as it happened.  And each minute gave a noticeable loud click.  About a minute or so later, the clock was at 1am!  Unfortunately, we were both wide awake, so we watched some TV to relax before my wife fell back asleep.  I tried, but was fixated now on that click every minute (never noticed it before that event.)  so much for getting an extra hours sleep! Lol

 

7am came way too fast and we got dressed to eat breakfast at the pinnacle.  My wife had the veggie fritatta with a side of bacon and I have corned beef hash with poached eggs.  The fritatta was all egg white and delicious! The corned beef hash was ok.  

 

After breakfast we retired to our rooms and lounged on the verandah to whale spot.  Water wasn't like glass as we sped along at 19 knots making good time.  I soon spotted a coast guard cutter paralleling us which we easily overtook.  I then noticed our engines idle down and wondered whatever was up.  As we silently drifted along I saw the medium sized tour boat come into view.  Our cabin is port side.  It was then I remembered the Tracy Arm Fjord tour.  That's what was going to come alongside to pick up the tour passengers.  We watched it slide beside us and make contact.  About half an hour later the filled to capacity boat separated from us as our engines came to life and we started our way to Juneau. 

 

Around 11 we headed to the lido for a light lunch before debarkation for our mine tour at 1:30.  We were able to find a great table for four right next to the windows.  Around 11:30 they opened up a few sections and we grabbed some meat and cheeses.  Oh my how yummy!!  Great blue cheese for sure.  About 11:45 they opened the rest of the buffet stations and all of a sudden there had to be huge lines that suddenly appeared! Debarkation was supposed to be 1pm, but we had finished docking at noon, so we headed down to deck 2 to see if it was ready yet. 

 

Not quite so we lined up and 5 minutes later were given the all clear.  A short walk up the ramp and we stepped our first steps on Alaska land! I know Alaska is beautiful, but we live in the pacific northwest and to be completely honest, there is really little difference.  No offense to Alaskans!   We had about 45 minutes before our tour bus was to pick us up, so we looked down the main Juneau street...  OMG! Jewelry store next to jewelry store next to jewelry store.  As far as you could see!  

 

Soon we were aboard our mini bus heading to the largest mine in Alaska! 

 

We had an amazing day walking deep into the inactive mine shaft, watched them actually drill the hole for dynamite.  Our tour guide had worked the mine years ago and had been mining for over 35 years.  What a great character! We then "panned" for gold found our gold flecks, and headed back to town. 

Once in town, we walked the jewelry gauntlet being asked over and over to come in for our free charm, or free pendant.  My wife's went into a few of them, and got the freebies, but it was a very hard push to upgrade it, or hey, you really need a beautiful ring to go along with it, etc.  I was reminder of being in a Jamaica market. 

 

We found a very nice local gift store that was owned by locals and got our obligatory fridge magnet and Christmas ornament!  Then it was time to head back to the ship for our 5pm dinner.  It was a challenge getting back for sure! Lol

 

Dinner was just terrific! We both started with delicious seafood deviled eggs, and I also had a wonderful French onion soup. I had a perfectly cooked salmon and my wife had a tender and awesome gluten free veal cutlet! Dessert was mixed fruit crisp and I had a chocolate torte.  Yummy to both and another great dinner! 

 

Not much happening after dinner.  Wife soaked in the tub for an hour and I relaxed on the balcony writing yesterday's review and enjoying the scenery! 

 

What a wonderful day.  Lots of activity and learning in the day, lots of relaxing and nature in the evening. 

 

-gregma 

 

[SilvertoGold]

Delightful post and most interesting about your spooky clock ;

[gregma60]

4th day.  Might actually get to post this on the same day!  Lol. 

 

The day started bright and early with room service breakfast arriving at precisely 6am.  We both kept it simple with an American breakfast, oj, v8 and coffee. We were finished by 6.30am, then right down to the 2nd deck to disembark.  No waiting, we were the 2nd couple off the ship.  It was a bright and crisp day with low hanging clouds, but the promise of nice weather to come. 

 

We walked the short distance to the train cars and waited to get scanned.  Unfortunately, they canceled our luxury car ride due to lack of passengers, so we were on the regular cars.  Cone to find out they needed 10 seats to be sold in order to run that car and only 4 seats were taken.  Poor luxury car made the trip empty. We decided to take the last car so my wife could take clear pictures out the back and it was a great idea!!  BTW... Bring bug repellent!!! And if you do, like we did... Don't leave it on the ship.    Before the train lady got there with some, we were both surrounded by clouds of bugs.  Literally hundreds!  She said they get really bad, and they do bite...   Once we were well sprayed down, it was much better. 

 

I can't speak highly enough for the train ride.  The seats were actually quite comfy and the scenery beautiful.  Still a low cloud bank, but that only added to the mystery of the surroundings.  One point we got to actually see part of the 1898 trail that thousands of potential millionaires used to lose everything they had if they even made it.  It was literally less than 3 feet wide! And it was bidirectional as well.  I could not even begin to imagine all those people with horses and mules along that narrow path! After we made it to the summit the train looped back and we were soon back into town.  I love trains, and this will without a doubt be the top of the memory stack for the rest of my time on earth! 

 

Walking through town things looked a lot like Juneau, jewelry store after jewelry store.  I really had no idea that the main reason people cruised to Alaska was to buy a hundred dollar pendant for three hundred dollars! Lol 

 

We got hungry with all the no thank yous given at each store entrance and settled at the Skagway Brewing company.  I just had to have some spruce pine tip beer that saved the lives of many prospectors.  My wife had a reindeer hotdog with chili and I had the fish and chips.  Everything was top notch!! In fact the fish was some of the best I ever had!! And the pine tip beer was surprisingly good! 4.5 out of 5 I rated it on untapped. 

 

We next took the Blue Line bus out to the cemetery for 10 bucks and spent time looking at all the grave sites, then a short hike up to Reids falls.  So beautiful and so peaceful.  Just like cherry falls back home.  We walked down, called the bus then back to town to finish walking around before heading back to the ship. 

 

Once back on board, it was up to the crows nest for some lemonade with glacier ice, a couple of mocha's and relaxation before heading back to the stateroom to get dressed for our anniversary dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. It was our 5th anniversary, and our friends 30th anniversary.  Best dinner of the cruise so far! Caviar was as good as I've ever had, filet mignon cooked perfectly, lobster cooked perfectly and buttery smooth. Yum, yum yum!! 

 

After dinner, we got changed into comfy clothes and the wife dragged me to music trivia... Yay... Lol. Actually, we were the only ones that got 32 points out of 32 and scored a couple of HA Alaska pins! 

 

It was pretty late, so a quick trip to pick up our first 5 dollar charms which cost 15 dollars (still not sure how my wife managed that, something about upgrades? LOL) Back to the stateroom, then right to bed.  Long day tomorrow at glacier bay! 

 

-gregma 

[oakridger]

I'm so happy to hear your anniversary dinner was wonderful!  Congratulations!

 

I've been on the Skagway train twice and would go again.....I love trains.

 

I stopped going to the afternoon tea on HAL many years before Covid happened.  It was just blah then and not worth the calories to me.  Other food onboard is much better for an afternoon snack and the ambiance was not "Tea Like" to me.

 

I thank you again for posting about your daily activities.  See you back here tomorrow @gregma60!

 

~Nancy