Live From Alaska Aboard Ms Nieuw Amsterdam - May 5-19, 2024

[0106]

7 hours ago, BaileyMJ said:

Just happen to run into Dominic our naturalist speaker at the petroglyphs beach.

How wonderful to have a naturalist onboard.  Has he been giving lectures?  Is it possibly blue to interact with him while on the ship?

 

How exciting that you were able to rent a car and explore Wrangall. Fabulous pictures and you seemed to have avoided the crowds that often come with the big HAL tours.  It’s a port I’ve never been to and now I want to go!

[BaileyMJ]

On 5/15/2024 at 7:09 PM, BaileyMJ said:

Fruit Crisp I have had

Peach

Mixed Berry

Rhubarb

Cherry

Peach

Banana 

 

I can add pear crisp but I must have jinxed myself - it was truly awful dry and inedible but the scoop of vanilla was yummy enough.

 

Last night the clear standout at our table - everyone agreed was the featured Alaskan Taste Starter: Corn & Crab Fritters

[BaileyMJ]

Good Morning from Ketchikan May 17

 

Free day since my HAL excursion Food & Wine tour Oyster Farm was canceled.  5 ships in town.

 

 

 

[SightCRR]

Nice webcam shots. KPU Ketchikan Webcam – Totally local. Simply better. (webcamketchikan.com). 

 

[QuattroRomeo]

3 hours ago, BaileyMJ said:

Free day since my HAL excursion Food & Wine tour Oyster Farm was canceled.  5 ships in town.

That's a shame; did they say why it was cancelled?

[talpostal]

I'm doing the Ketchikan oyster farm in June. Was hoping to hear some reviews! I wonder why it was canceled.

[ferretktf]

On 5/16/2024 at 4:09 AM, BaileyMJ said:

Fruit Crisp I have had

Peach

Mixed Berry

Rhubarb

Cherry

Peach

Banana 

 

Are there any nuts in the Fruit Crisp?

[BaileyMJ]

4 hours ago, QuattroRomeo said:

That's a shame; did they say why it was cancelled?

Got letter last night saying it was canceled by the operator due to technical reasons.

[BaileyMJ]

41 minutes ago, ferretktf said:

Are there any nuts in the Fruit Crisp?

I did not taste any nuts - crisp flour sugar and maybe oats.  They have been doing a good job labeling the items in the menus gluten sugar free nuts vegan etc

[BaileyMJ]

On 5/15/2024 at 6:01 PM, SilvertoGold said:

Any info about what edibles are available in this Explorations Cafe? I was asking Roger about brownies in particular.

Explorers/Crows Nest - its 3:25pm getting my caffeine fix here are the afternoon offerings.  Danny was just putting them out:

Mini Muffins

Raspberry 

Carrot Cake

and vanilla macarons 

Biscotti 

 

[BaileyMJ]

For any caffeine coffee lovers - Ketchikan has the best store - they sell online and I will do my Christmas shopping with them!

They had other things besides coffee but all local Alaska made!

 

 

 

[SilvertoGold]

15 minutes ago, BaileyMJ said:

Explorers/Crows Nest - its 3:25pm getting my caffeine fix here are the afternoon offerings.  Danny was just putting them out:

Mini Muffins

Raspberry 

Carrot Cake

and vanilla macarons 

Biscotti 

 

Delightful photo. We may need to make several visits. Thanks for posting!!

 

[oaktreerb]

On 5/9/2024 at 1:09 PM, Crew News said:

Day 04 Seward

An early excursion departure at 7:30 AM necessitated an early rising and Room Service breakfast. 

 

With the weather forecast of 39 degrees and rain couple with my intention of spending much of my time outside, all of my cold weather clothing found its way from my closet to my body.  Many passengers were already lined up awaiting boarding the excursions buses after walking through the Seward Cruise Terminal (large warehouse).  I watched as guests were loaded into buses without considering the number of seats.  At least one bus had passengers disembarking when seats were no longer available and waiting for the next bus to be positioned.  When the bus doors closed, the driver announced that the excursion boat was only a short walk away but buses were used so that guests would not "get lost" enroute.

 

My Kenai Fjords National Park excursion boat held 200 guests, all potential competitors for rail space to take photos.  I chose a seat closest to the door to enable a quick move to the door when photo ops were available. The next row of seat were for those with disabilities and provided great viewing next to a large window.  For the duration of the excursion, boat staff had to go outside to move photo takers from blocking the view of those unable to go outside.  The boat had three "heads" with finicky door locks that caused some surprises for their occupants who had not adequately secured the doors.

 

A whale was spotted just outside the harbor and my seat next to the door gave me an ideal location to take photos.  During the excursion, I captured photos of eagles, kittiwakes, sea lions, mountain goats, some very rugged scenery.  The chicken burrito lunch was a flop in my opinion but the chips with salsa were quite good.  A downside of the excursion was traveling in the Pacific Ocean and the very rough water.  Boat personnel moved throughout distributing vomit bags.  The return trip at 30 knots in rough ocean waters included hard bounces and jerks with more bags being distributed.  This six -hour excursion with a lot of ocean travel time is not near the top of my favorite excursions list.  Buses again transported most passengers the short walking distance back to the cruise terminal.  I rushed from the Seward terminal to the ship as a cold rain, with a hint of sleet, began.

 

 

Next stop Anchorage.

 

 

@Crew News  re: Kenai Fjords National Park. Your excursion description has me concerned about the vendor.  Major Marine Tours who is the best choice for the Kenai Fjord 6 hour tour serves deli sandwiches (not burritos) and has a nice mode of transportation (boat).   This excursion sounds like HAL used another vendor.  Can you find out the name of the vendor that HAL used for this Kenai Fjords tour?   For our cruise I booked the ship tour because I assumed it was Major Marine.  I may want to make a change.  

[Crew News]

26 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

@Crew News  re: Kenai Fjords National Park. Your excursion description has me concerned about the vendor.  Major Marine Tours who is the best choice for the Kenai Fjord 6 hour tour serves deli sandwiches (not burritos) and has a nice mode of transportation (boat).   This excursion sounds like HAL used another vendor.  Can you find out the name of the vendor that HAL used for this Kenai Fjords tour?   For our cruise I booked the ship tour because I assumed it was Major Marine.  I may want to make a change.  

I will see what I can discover.

[Crew News]

Day 12 Wrangell

The day began with cloudy overcast skies and ended in sunshine with blue skies.

 

On a port day, I was surprised at the lack of tables in the Lido Market at 9:30 AM. With the serving lines not crowded, I took the opportunity to talk with Joyce as she prepared my Lido Market omelette.  Joyce worked at the Sweet Spot and served my muesli nearly every day on this same cruise last year.  We both survived the 13-degree ship listing that lasted four hours and now have a kinship through that adversity.  Joyce smiles now but at the time she admitted her fear of impending doom then. Interestingly, I have found other crew members from that scary cruise on my last three cruises since then.

 

I took the opportunity to visit the Explorations Cafe to ask about brownies and discovered their chocolate "fix" attraction. It is certain that I will be a frequent "brownie seeker" in the future.

 

With only oatmeal and peanut butter cookies available, my daily cookie evaluation was limited.  Both cookies earned a B+ rating for their chew and breakability. 

 

With no scheduled shore excursions, I waited until the clouds parted late in the afternoon and the sun created better lighting conditions, to take Wrangell photos. 

 

From my window table in the Canaletto, I watched the sun set as its last rays streamed across the mirror-like water.  My short rib entree was truly fork tender and my standard two pistachio gelato servings a perfect ending to my meal.  I did note that the Canaletto Restaurant was only half filled. 

 

Internet speeds were:  119.7 Mbps and 19.9 Mbps with TV channels still freezing.

 

Next stop Ketchikan.

[Crew News]

Day 13 Ketchikan

The day began with overcast skies and ended in bright sunshine.

 

My 9:30 AM breakfast gave me another chance to talk with Joyce as she made me another breakfast omelette.  Our paths will cross again on a future cruise as I am always looking for members of the "13-degree Nieuw Amsterdam 2023 Listing Club.  With many guests ashore, finding a table was quick.

 

Prior to my 12:30 PM excursion, I performed my daily cookie evaluation of peanut butter, macadamia, and oatmeal cookies. All three earned a B+ grade and quite a change from those hard cookies after the first cruise day.

 

My totem and lighthouse excursion departed from Ward Cove, 20-minute bus ride, where NCL docks their ships.  The 20 passengers had plenty of viewing space inside and a large outer deck for taking photos.  Eagles, sea lions, and a whale were spotted as well as an amazing water view of Totem Bight Totem Park and long house. The hot beverages served to all aboard and then a plate of snacks later made this excursion a success.

 

My Dressy Night full course dinner service took only 37 minutes, a new standard that will be very difficult for any other MDR server team to top.  A menu was in my hand less than a minute after I took my seat, bread and butter two minutes later, and my order taken a minute later.  Only a few minutes elapsed from a plate being cleared and the next course placed in front of me.  It was obvious that the kudos I gave to another MDR server team was a challenge to my assigned-table servers and I was the beneficiary. 

 

After the "Italian Job" movie, it was time to write this report and ponder the last sea day aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam. Luggage to pack, crew members to thank, one last daily program to scan, one last MDR to scan, and one remaining souvenir calendar to deliver.

 

Clocks go forward tonight and all of mine have been reset.

 

More tomorrow.

Edited May 18 by Crew News

[SilvertoGold]

Roger or BaileyMJ: we love NY Pizza and are wondering if this ship actually has the kalamta olives the menu lists. In the past and even pre-Covid we have seen only regular black olives. No change in the sign to be true true to form, so it is always a question mark. If wither of you can find out, it would be much appreciated.  Thanks to both of you for the great photos and commentary.

[Crew News]

10 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

Roger or BaileyMJ: we love NY Pizza and are wondering if this ship actually has the kalamta olives the menu lists. In the past and even pre-Covid we have seen only regular black olives. No change in the sign to be true true to form, so it is always a question mark. If wither of you can find out, it would be much appreciated.  Thanks to both of you for the great photos and commentary.

I will inquire.

[BaileyMJ]

18 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

Roger or BaileyMJ: we love NY Pizza and are wondering if this ship actually has the kalamta olives the menu lists. In the past and even pre-Covid we have seen only regular black olives. No change in the sign to be true true to form, so it is always a question mark. If wither of you can find out, it would be much appreciated.  Thanks to both of you for the great photos and commentary.

I have had the pizza several times and on 1 occasion I did have black olives added and pretty sure I did not see Kalamata Olives.  Now the black olives that they did add were very good and not the small sliced ones that are in the lido salad station.  Sadly I did not take picture but below is a picture of a recent pizza which was very good but I have noted that they have been shrinking the pizzas.  I embarkation day pizza was my lunch and Zi ordered a whole pie - the Bronx because the slices available just were to sad looking - tiny square not appetizing.  I never saw on menu a size and got a pizza that filled the size of the metal tray - I would say 12/14 inch - that was repeated on my next 2 pizzas (sea days) but see below when next ordered it was much smaller however still very good! Fast forward to scenic cruising day - I ordered pizza and it was so small that instead of having it on the metal tray they had on a plate the crust was very thin - I did not request a skinny pie snd it was really over done and it reminded more of the sad slices.  
 

I know food is subjective but I think reasonable to say that something may have changed on this cruise with the oven settings or prep.

 

 

[BaileyMJ]

1 hour ago, SilvertoGold said:

Roger or BaileyMJ: we love NY Pizza and are wondering if this ship actually has the kalamta olives the menu lists. In the past and even pre-Covid we have seen only regular black olives. No change in the sign to be true true to form, so it is always a question mark. If wither of you can find out, it would be much appreciated.  Thanks to both of you for the great photos and commentary.

I stand corrected the black olives in NY Pizza are Kalamata

 

[BaileyMJ]

Today May 18 Scenic Cruising Inside Passage

 

Today 11:30am Cake Away - never either had it on my only previous HAL cruise ot I didn’t attend.  I came down early but already a crowd gathering - so I shot pictures through the screen.  

 

 

[0106]

4 minutes ago, BaileyMJ said:

I stand corrected the black olives in NY Pizza are Kalamata

I believe what @SilvertoGold wanted to know was were the olives actually Kalamata olives which are tastier (imo) and more than expensive than black olives because they remain on the tree until fully ripe and are processed salt, not lye.  On the NS in March, the pizza had black olives, not kalamata, regardless of what it said on the menu.

[Crew News]

3 minutes ago, 0106 said:

I believe what @SilvertoGold wanted to know was were the olives actually Kalamata olives which are tastier (imo) and more than expensive than black olives because they remain on the tree until fully ripe and are processed salt, not lye.  On the NS in March, the pizza had black olives, not kalamata, regardless of what it said on the menu.

As a four+ years resident of Athens, Greece, I will ask for an olive sample and give an authenticity estimate.

[BaileyMJ]

3 minutes ago, 0106 said:

I believe what @SilvertoGold wanted to know was were the olives actually Kalamata olives which are tastier (imo) and more than expensive than black olives because they remain on the tree until fully ripe and are processed salt, not lye.  On the NS in March, the pizza had black olives, not kalamata, regardless of what it said on the menu.

They were definitely better than the black olives available in salad bar that said I would say probably yes - there is obviously no one standard for a kalamata olive and these were definitely pitted and lost that elongated look of one with its pit they were black but did not have a pronounced olive oil coating but that may be due to the cooking or supplier.  They have had several dishes in MDR with Kalamata olives so I think you will not be disappointed.

[BaileyMJ]

Cake me away - got pictures- no did not have any cake.  Long lines and the question I heard was how many slices!