Bryan Walton's HAL Oosterdam Alaska Cruise - July 24-31,
2004
Cast
of Characters
Me,
Bryan – 44
Elizabeth
– my wife
Kevin
– my son, age 15
Jeffrey
– my son, age 13
Day
One (and before) – Saturday, July 24, 2004
Anticipation
has been building for this cruise - our third overall
and our first on Holland America. Last Friday,
July 16, Beci, our travel agent, left a message on my
e-mail asking where she could get a hold of me because
she had news – I sent her the number at home and she
called shortly. The first news was that our itinerary
had changed slightly – we were to be a little longer
in Juneau. The better news was that the upgrade
fairy had smiled upon us – we were being upgraded from
a Cat B to a Category S deluxe verandah suite!
I was so excited and decided to keep it a surprise.
As it turned out, I couldn’t keep it a surprise
until we got to the room, because when we checked in
it was obvious it was into a suite. E, K &
J were so excited when they found out.
We
took a taxi from our home in Sammamish, a Seattle suburb,
at 10:30. The driver was a very nice Hungarian. We gave
our luggage to be checked-in ourselves, since the porters
didn’t seem to be interested in our business. There
was not a long wait at suite check-in and just a few
people waiting in the standard line for regular checkin.
In fact, we might have gone through faster in the other
line. The checkin agent took our pictures and
gave us all our documentation and ID cards and put a
gold sticker on us. I can’t remember if it said
“Holland America”
or “Oosterdam”. I wasn’t sure what the purpose
of the sticker was at the time. We then proceeded
to the security check and stopped by the table where
they were selling the unlimited drink cards. We
bought three, as I was planning on only drinking water.
I don’t think these charges ever showed up on our bill.
Then we headed to the gangway. HAL & Princess
share a common entrance to the gangway until you get
close to the ship where the gangway splits – left for
HAL and right for Princess. At this point it seemed
clear to me that the sticker was so that the agents
on the gangway could ensure that boarding passengers
headed toward the correct ship. The photographer
was there on the gangway just before we went on the
ship, to get boarding pictures. We saw the photographer
and videographer a lot during the cruise, but it didn’t
really bother us except once. After we passed
the onboard security check we were greeted by a white-gloved
crewman. The color of our card, a pale green,
signaled that we were to be escorted to the Neptune
Lounge. He took us up there, where we met Amber,
one of the concierges, who persuaded us to make reservations
at the Pinnacle grill, chose Dutch night (also
Sitka night) because that’s the
least interesting menu, from a lo-carb point of view.
We grabbed a few nummy appetizers while we were in the
lounge. There was always something good to eat in there.
All the little sandwiches were open faced. Amber
told us they used to be true sandwhiches with bread
on both sides but that many people like us ate the filling
and threw away the bread. So HAL decided it was easier
to leave the sandwhiches open faced. In the mornings
there was always cereal and fruit, plus coffee and juice
and at tea time there was appropriate fare, including
one day strawberries dipped in white or milk chocolate.
Speaking of strawberries, we thought it strange that
we didn’t see any until several days into the cruise.
We had hoped that there would be some at the buffet
for breakfast and lunch.
Since
it was too early to go to our suite, we ate lunch in
the Lido buffet. Since we were all
carrying our handheld luggage I staked out a table with
our affairs while the others went in search of food.
When Jeffrey came back, I took my turn to find something
to eat. I had ham & smoked turkey salad, tomato
& onion salad, roast beef with broccoli, and some
assorted cheese. We were sitting in the port side
of the Lido so I didn’t notice the little Chinese food station on the starboard side
where today’s offering was curry chicken.
I did partake later in the cruise, and fortunately at
this station they have a little bowl of hot pepper sauce
so you can spice up your food a little. If you
like your food more than bland, this is an important
consideration. We found the food during the cruise
to be mostly underseasoned.
We
toured the upper decks on our own but could not enter
the spa until 2pm. Since it was nearing 1:30 we
went to the stateroom – a beautiful suite with a welcome
bottle of champagne compliments of Captain Mercer and
the hotel Manager, Mr. Pells. There was a small
fruit basket, an Alaska-themed coffee/hot chocolate/tea
gift from Beci, an invitation to Suite reception in
the Neptune lounge, and, on the desk, another gift from
Beci (photo credit).
The
suite is beautiful. There is a large verandah with two
rattan chaises longues and a table with 4 rattan chairs.
The suite is bordered by a see-through railing.
Apparently the stateroom we were normally assigned (4155)
had a solid railing. I need to remember to ask
about then in future verandah bookings because it’s
so much pleasant when you can see the ocean while sitting
down. Inside there was a large sitting area with
long sofa and coffee table, a wonderful desk, plush
beds with deluxe linens and duvet. The coffee
table had a lovely little flower arrangement on it.
The bathroom had a vestibule\makeup table, and a separate
shower & bath. There were several closets
and lots of drawer space.
At
2pm we toured the spa, beautiful facilities, of course,
but expensive treatments – much more than on the Disney
Magic two years ago. I volunteered for the
float bed, presented by Simon, with seaweed wrap, float
& massage. There is a spacious forward-looking
gym with Cybex workout equipment, bikes, treadmill,
elliptical trainers, stair climbers, free weights and
so forth. I usually work out at 3:30 or 4 every
day, a time at which, an attendant informed me, the
spa is fortunately uncrowded. We’ll be able to
work out 4 or 5 days on the cruise, I think.
Darmawqn
is our steward (You can call me Darma). Since
we don’t drink, we offered him the champagne.
Unfortunately, kidney stones prevent him from indulging.
We
went to the crow’s nest at 3 to meet for a tour of the
ship. A young man from Portaland, OR was giving
the tour – his first. He wasn’t very good – didn’t
speak loud enough and gave no interesting information.
“This is the pool”, “This is the buffet”, “These
are the elevators”, etc. We went by the adults
only pool and there were several kids were in it. There
was a sign or two informing users that this was not
allowed but I understand Disney is the only one doing
a good job of enforcing these rules. We dropped
out of the tour halfway through after talking with a
German man and his wife from San Diego – San Diego has
gone downhill apparently. It’s very hot here today
(upper 90’s) and I think they brought the heat with
them. We went back down to the room, then to the
concierge lounge to get the list of suite amenities,
back to the room, where I read. Darma came by
and introduced himself. I asked him to separate
the beds, ensure there were more grapes in the daily
fruit bowl and that there should be ice morning and
evening. It wasn’t necessary for him to bring
any from 1:30 to 5, when he’s off, even though he asked
if he should , and the grapes could start tomorrow,
today wasn’t necessary. Very nice and pleasant,
in addition to the automatic tip, I slipped him 4 or
5 dollars to start and gave him a 5 to 10 dollars every
time I saw him. This in addition to the automatic
tip. We called room service to see if they had
any grapes, but they were unable to oblige
The
luggage was all delivered by 3:45.
We
prepared for the life boat drill at 4:15. By now the sun was
shining onto the promenade at station B10 and it felt
more like a drill in Florida than in Seattle (did I
mention that is was record heat today?), sail away party
at 4:30, sailaway at 5pm. We went to the top deck
on the starboard side for the sail away. The Diamond
Princess, our companion vessel for much of the cruise,
had already slipped away. Nevertheless, by next
morning we had passed her. The same thing happened
on the race from Ketchikan to Victoria. Captain
Mercer informed us that he liked to beat her to port,
even when she left before us, so that we could get our
1900 passengers of the ship before Diamond’s 3200 created
a lot of long lines. The breeze was nice as we
started northward until we passed Seattle and got in
the middle of Puget Sound where the temperature seemed
to suddenly drop by 20 degrees. We stayed out
just a little more, visiting with other passengers and
then decided it was time to go inside.
I
forgot my walking shoes and Alaska guidebook. We went
to the shops – very nice, with a large selection of
high quality items of all kinds, including all kinds
of clothing for those who forgot stuff for formal night.
No shoes for men, though, but I did buy a guidebook
to replace the one I left at home. I went back
to cabin to shower and shave. We then went to
the Captain’s reception at the Neptune lounge, had some
tasty appetizers and met the hotel manager and Captain
Mercer
Went
to dinner through the photo studio – found our boarding
picture already – and while we were there the steward
came through with the chimes announcing that dinner
was ready, so made our way to the lovely dining room
where we soon met our tablemates - two couples from
New York, one of them very opinionated about France.
He started talking politics right away, a dangerous
thing to do if you don’t know who you’re with and started
ragging on France and the French, how he would never
visit there or buy any French products, etc. My
wife informed him that she was French (from Marseille)
and his wife started telling him to shut up, kicking
him in the legs, etc. Still, the rest of the meal
went pleasantly. Every night there were so-called
lo-carb options on the menu – I Ate Cilantro cured salmon
with avocado and Pico de gallo salsa, baby spinach with
white mushrooms, oven-roasted tomato, crisp bacon bits
& blue cheese crumbles, Chicken Cordon bleu with
arugula, red radish and broccoli salad. All very
tasty and reasonable portions. However, I don’t
know what HAL’s definition of lo-carb was because on
several evenings there were decidedly non-lo-carb stuff
in those options, including rice, carrots, beets, etc.
We
went back to the cabin to relax before going to the
Welcome Aboard show. Neither of the boys decided
to go to the Club HAL introduction. We went to
the Vista Lounge where Jason, the assistant cruise director,
introduced the staff. The Oosterdam dancers put
on a lively and well performed show on a very sophisticated
stage. Sam Powers, an illusionist/magician, performed
a few effective tricks but had a hard time getting the
audience aroused. I met him in the gym on the
last day or two of the cruise where I told him the crowd
didn’t seem to appreciate his efforts. He said
“You were at the late show, weren’t you. It’s
always that way after second seating.” We were
sleepy by this time and went to bed after.
Day
Two – Sunday, July25 - At Sea
I
arose at 6:30 – all the others were still sleeping so
I got dressed, and being unsure of the weather I wore
jeans, but I think as long as I’m not topside, I’ll
be OK in shorts. I went up to the Lido with my novel. Out of the bay windows in the Lido
I saw Diamond Princess at our port aft quarter, Oosterdam
having overtaken and passed her during the night.
I chatted for a while with a couple from Oklahoma here
with a group from their Southern Baptist Church, and
had some bacon and scrambled eggs because I was hungry.
After I finished that I went through the Lido pool area,
up the circular staircase and on to the observation
deck where it was cold and windy, to the Crow’s Nest,
perched myself in a recliner at the bow and read.
That was quite pleasant, relaxing in the recliner, reading
and watching the sea. At 8 I went to the cabin
to wake the gang, stopping by Neptune Lounge to request
laundry bags as I couldn’t find any in the suite.
The concierge said she would send some right over –
we intend to take full advantage of the free laundry.
At the stateroom, Elizabeth was already up and I opened
the curtains to wake the boys as breakfast will be arriving
soon. We had ordered a full breakfast from the
room service menu last night for delivery between 8:15
and 8:30. I sat down to a second (lo-carb) breakfast
of ham & cheese omelet, sausage and bacon.
I had a headache since before I got up so I took
some Tylenol.
After
breakfast we walked 3 times around the promenade deck
(1 mile), which was very nice – the rear of the promenade
deck is open to the aft of ship, unlike on the Disney
Magic. There are water fountains arranged along
the promenade but several of them don’t work.
Then Elizabeth and I went to the Ocean Bar to read,
laying on a sofa. The starboard Ocean Bar
has smokers in it, which bothered us and we didn’t realize
that the port bar on the other side of the atrium is
non-smoking. I ordered a club soda and then decided
I would get the soft drink card after all, since even
though I would rarely be ordering Diet Cokes and didn’t
want sugary drinks, I could order club sodas, which
would be a change from ordinary water. I stopped
drinking diet sodas a few weeks ago since I was on a
plateau in the Atkins diet and realized the aspartame
was preventing me from losing more weight. As
soon as I stopped the diet sodas, I started losing again
so in the month before the cruise I lost 10 more pounds
(down 45 so far and feeling great!). At 10
when we toured the Pinnacle Grille and the Galley.
While we were in the galley, the videographer had us
wave at her camera. She caught us three or four
more times on the cruise and sure enough, all of the
takes ended up in the souvenir video.
After the tour we looked at the menu at the Vista Dining
Room for lunch on the way out then went back to the
Ocean Bar to read. Jeffrey went to the Club HAL
Ping Pong activity at 11 but there was no one there
close to his age so he came back. At 12:15 we
went to the photo shop to see our pictures, gave back
the ones in the life jackets (no good – I’m sure every
one looks their best in a life jacket) then headed up
to the Lido buffet. The selection was good enough that we stayed. It was fairly
hard to find a table. I had beef rouladen, green
beans, cantaloupe, mango and cheese, and cheese crab
chowder. Jeffrey came back with only pasta and
then went out again but the lines were too long.
After lunch we attempted to attend the naturalist’s
talk on Alaskan wildlife in the Queen’s lounge but the
sight lines are so bad that we wouldn’t have been able
to see any of the slides so we left. I went back
to the room to work on the trip report and to relax
and read. I went out on the verandah with a couple
of blankets to enjoy the sea air. A small cabinet
next to the verandah door contained 5 or 6 of the red
plaid blankets you see all over the ship on the
Alaska cruise and they
sure come in handy. I assume that all staterooms
with verandahs must need these.
After a while I came back inside and did push ups, sit
ups and stretching prior to a 3 mile run on the promenade
deck with Kevin, who kept up all the way and Jeffrey,
who tried valiantly to do so. Then we swung by
the suite to get Elizabeth and headed to the spa, where
we had a good workout on the Cybex equipment.
After our workout we came back to the suite to get ready
for formal night. I think I’ll miss the
full wrap-around promenade on the Mercury next February.
We have second seating, which I prefer because our afternoon
was not rushed for an early dinner and we had time to
enjoy the gym when it was uncrowded.
I
had rented tuxes for me & Kevin, so this is
Kevin’s first tuxedo. I helped him put it on as he was
unsure what to do with the cummerbund, the studs, the
cufflinks and the bow tie. We went to have formal
portraits taken and dropped by the art gallery to enquire
about a painting we were interested in by Tomasz Rut
– but it comes in at 2140 plus 15% - maybe next time,
LOL A kind woman took our picture on the circular
stair in the atrium with the Waterford crystal globe
as background. We saw her taking a lot of other
folks’ pictures, too. Then it was time to head
to the Vista Dining Room for dinner – our table mates
were no shows – maybe it’s because Elizabeth is French.
I ordered the foie gras, lobster bisque (2 servings
– love that bisque!), House salad, chateaubriand and
sugar free jello with strawberries. Our server
tracked down some heavy cream for me to put on the dessert.
I made sure I tipped the servers extra a couple of times
during the cruise.
After
dinner, we dropped by the room to drop off cameras and
stuff before heading to the show. It’s this cast’s
last week before their contract is up. Found a
HAL tote bag on the bed plus info for tomorrow, including
a notice that the clocks will all be turned back tonight.
Incidentally, I don’t know if I already mentioned that
each morning that evening’s dinner and dessert menu
is left at the suite.
In
the Vista Lounge we saw “Rockin’ Road” by the Oosterdam
Singers and Dancers. It was their last performance
of this show as they are at the end of their contract
and will all be going their separate ways at the end
of this week. There was a lot of energy both from
them and from the audience and they really gave a fantastic
show – excellent dancing, wonderful singing and a great
show. At the end they were crying and Fred, one
of the male dancers, was crying so much he couldn’t
sing.
I
have one complaint about the Vista Lounge – the seating
in there, especially the red bench seating with the
tall backs, seems very uncomfortable to me, although
the staff I spoke with about said they had had no complaints.
I prefer the Walt Disney Theater on the Magic.
Day
Three – Monday, July 26, 2004 – Juneau
Even
with the time change (you gain an hour going into Alaska)
I woke up at 6:30 and rose ahead of everyone else.
I forgot to get up at 5:30 to watch the whale pod that
the captain announced yesterday we’d be passing through.
After I was ready, I went up through the Lido pool area
to deck 11 by the spiral staircase. First, though I
swung by the buffet and swiped some cold cuts to tide
me over until breakfast. The buffet was already
bustling. Then I headed topsides. It was cold
up there and I chatted with a lady who suggested that
I would be sorry if I had not brought warm clothing,
and that I should dress in layers. We did bring
such clothing, especially because we’re going to be
out on the water today on our wildlife excursion.
I went to the Crow’s Nest to read but ended up spending
the time chatting with a nice lady from Houston about
this and that, including about what we should see in
Galveston when we go through there on our Holiday cruise on the Galaxy in December 2005. Her sister arrived
at about 7:45
and invited me to join them for breakfast, but I thanked
them and declined. I felt I had better go down
and awaken the family so we could have breakfast, and
pack up the laundry for cleaning today. At the
suite, they were all sleeping so I opened the curtains
wide. I prepared the laundry and gave it to Darma
then we went up to the Lido, had breakfast and ate it by the
Lido pool. For the most part, they have the same thing everyday in the
Lido for breakfast. At one
station the sign says “Fried and Scrambled Eggs”
but I heard one woman ask for fried eggs and she was
told they couldn’t make any for her. We
went back down to the room to prepare for our day.
The boys and I went out to the verandah to watch the
docking procedure. We heard something that sounded
like a gun shot and it turned out to be when they
shot the first guy rope for the moorage ropes and watched
the ship sidle up to the dock and the dock workers attach
the ship. All the rest of the big ropes in the
front were attached by strings to the first rope, so
there was no more shooting. In fact, although
we observed them tying up the ship both in Ketchikan
and Victoria, this was the only time they used the pneumatic
gun.
There
was a huge line to disembark the ship and all were leaving
by the midship hatch. Finally a crewman guided
some of us another way to the aft hatch so we could
disembark sooner. We stepped out into the cool
Juneau air and there were numerous people holding signs
for various shore excursions. We showed one of
them our tickets and they pointed us to the bus we should
board. We took the bus on a long ride through
town to Allen Marine, and boarded the St Nicholas for
a 3-hour tour (shades of Gilligan’s Island). Binoculars
were provided but we brought our own so we wouldn’t
have to share. The whole thing was done in a very professional
manor with a naturalist providing narration, and background
information and helping us to spot the animals.
Snacks and drinks were provided. There were lots of
hunchback whales surfacing spouting, showing flukes,
etc. We must have seen nine or ten pods.
Several times saw the rare bubble-net hunting technique
of the whales. The naturalist told us that only
about 10% of viewers get to see that. We also
saw a bald eagle in a tree feeding its young in its
huge nest and saw sea lions on a buoy.
At
last, the boat returned and we boarded the bus for the
Mendenhall Glacier. When we arrived we walked
the main trail and toured the Visitors Center but didn’t see the film. It was a good day to see the glacier
since it was overcast. Apparently on days like
this the blues stand out more. The lake in front
of the glacier was full of floating blue and white ice,
apparently from calving. At the appointed
time we waited in the area where the bus was supposed
to pick us up, but it was late due to the excessive
crowding. We boarded the bus for an uneventful
ride back to the dock. On the way back several
folks asked the driver if he could drop us off in town,
but no dice. The bus returned us to the dock where
Jeffrey boarded the ship and the rest of us took a shuttle
($2) back to Juneau.
It was a short ride to the bottom of the Mount Roberts
Tramway where we got off and looked for something to
eat, since we had no lunch (it’s almost 5). The
Zaadam, Diamond Princess and Radiance of the seas towered
over the town and were docked very conveniently so that
no additional transport was required.
The
tour was originally scheduled for 1:30 or so but the ship’s schedule
changed and we got in around 10, so no lunch.
We found a litte restaurant called Pizza Verona.
Good service, good food, generous portions. I had chicken
Caesar salad, E had greek salad, K had a Britain Burger.
We stopped at a store which had post cards @ 6/$1 and
then looked around. We were tired and most of
the stores had the same thing as every other port of
call (Columbian Emeralds, Little Switzerland, Diamonds
International, Del Sol T-Shirts, etc) or as Seattle
(Northwestern Native American art) so we walked back
to the tramway and boarded the shuttle for the ship.
I
scanned the menus and the New York Times Summary that
are delivered daily each morning and then prepared for
dinner, although we had just eaten. It was casual
night. I ordered:
Sweet Tomato with Fresh Mozzarella
Calironian Gourmet Greens with garlic herbed courotns,
toasted nuts and orange segments
Double Venison Loin with Gooseberry Confit
Vanilla Crème de Pot with strawberry compot
Our
table mates were again no shows. Was it something
we said?
The
ship left port just as we started dinner.
I gave Davis (pronounced “Dah-fees”) and Alit a cash
tip to continue to encourage their excellent service.
On the way out after dinner I succumbed to the charms
of the YumYum guy and tried a candied ginger.
Yummy! This was to become a habit for the rest
of the cruise.
We
stopped by the photographer, bought the formal night
portraits, and threw away the embarkation photos because
my face was half hidden.
E
stayed in cabin to read while we went to see Lee Bayless
– he was funny but I couldn’t stay awake due to the
time change. Also, we stayed after for the Indonesian
Crew Show, which was good but I was sleepy since the
show started at 11:30. I apologize to them
because I dozed off a couple of times during this show
as well. These poor guys did a good job but it
must have been a sacrifice for them since they work
such long hours. Still, they are happy to share
their culture and are pleased by the interest of the
passengers who come to the show. Apparently, they
perform every other week. The other times, it’s
the Pilipino crew show.
Tuesday,
27 July 2004 – Cruising Yakutat Bay & Hubbard Glacier
The
seas are rough today – the ship’s been rocking for hours
but fortunately I’ve got my sea legs. I was up
at around 8:30 – I have to get up to put laundry out
before 9am. The gray and foggy weather this morning
is bad for wildlife viewing and the verandah is wet
near the edges because it’s been raining.
We
decided to eat in the Vista dining room for breakfast – I ordered corned beef hash with a poached
egg and tomato sauce and also eggs benedict but didn’t
eat the English muffins. I nibbled just a little
on the forbidden pastries (muffins and a donut).
We headed back to the room to take our vitamins and
brush our teeth before going topsides to look at the
scenery. Too bad it’s both foggy and raining,
because it’s almost impossible to see anything.
We passed an RCI ship going the other way.
We
went up to Lido Pool but too much rain and fog to see
much. The viewing windows are all fogged over
and we stole a blue napkin from one of the tables to
wipe the window. There were so many water droplets
on the other side of the window, though, that visibility
was still poor. They were serving pea soup here,
but no one offered me any. I tried to get the
eye of a waiter but the ones coming by only had empty
bowls. As I saw we were now approaching the glacier,
I went back down to the room to get the umbrella, binoculars
and camera and went out on the bow. Lots of people
were there but fewer and fewer stayed over time, perhaps
due to the rain. Big umbrellas were often blocking the
blocking view, even borne by people wearing hats or
hoods, who technically didn’t need their umbrellas in
the light rain. We saw a little calving at first,
then more and more bigger ones, including ones as large
as great buildings. One particular one we wanted
to fall was just huge, perhaps 30 or 40 stories, from
top to bottom with a great crevasse behind it.
Finally ice shot out of the crevasse a couple of times
and then the whole thing, hundreds of feet wide and
high fell outward and down into the water and created
such a wave that it rocked the ship. The videographer
was there and took my picture once again, as did the
ship’s photographer. Right about now, the pea
soup would be pretty good. This was the highlight of
the cruise for me – so wild and remote, with the 5-mile-wide,
300-500 ft tall glacier before, creaking and groaning,
the occasional gunshot ringing out and small to enormous
pieces of ice falling into the sea.
I
ran into an old friend, Brad Christensen from Novell,
while glacier watching on the bow. I recognized
his voice but didn’t ask if it was him until someone
called his name. Back at the Neptune lounge I
asked the concierge to look him up and connect us. I
talked to him and he said he and his wife Kim would
meet us for lunch around the Lido pool. We caught up
to to date and then invited them down to our suite,
of which they were extremely jealous After they
left I did my push ups and sit ups and was going to
go out and run but when we got down to the promenade
deck there was pouring down rain and wind that knocked
over all the art when I tried to open the outside doors.
So we went to the gym instead and did 50 minutes on
the treadmill, visiting with a woman from Florida, Judy,
who works for Remax and does Disney timeshare resales.
So does her husband, and their kids are in real estate,
too. It’s hard to stay on the treadmill
when the ships moving and I had to have my hands out
to steady myself and grab the handles when the ships
motion was trying to throw me off. Then I worked
out on all the cybex machines, returned to the cabin,
showered, read and dressed for dinner. Our laundry
hadn’t returned so I called the concierge, Darma came
by and then checked the laundry and came back and told
us it wasn’t ready. I told him I needed the pants for
informal night, so he went back and brought back what
was ready. They can’t find some underwear but everything
else was ready.
On
and off during the cruise, Pete, the Bingo Dingo (one
of the assistant cruise directors) made ship-wide bingo
announcements. I found this very annoying.
E
& I went to the captains’ reception for suites in
the Northern Lights Disco, visited with the head of
housekeeping and some folks from Bothell, WA (close
to where we live), one of which is an 83 year old man
who’s going to do the India to Africa section of the
Prinsendam around-the-world-cruise. We headed for dinner
via the Photo shop where we saw my bow glacier watching
picture, which was pretty good. At dinner our
tablemates were again no shows. I had carpaccio
of beef, Ketchikan smoked salmon chowder (quite good),
sweet tomato, red onion and basil chiffonade salad,
and a little osso bucco and Indian spiced lamb loin
chops. I tasted Kevin’s watermelon sorbet (yummy)
and the Yukon sourdough bread pudding. I’m doing
some cheating on this cruise, but I take CarbBlockers
when I do. The net result is that I lost two pounds
on the cruise.
After
dinner we stopped at the Yum Yum guy. Earlier,
Elizabeth had to stop exercising because the rocking
of the ship was making her sick, so she went down an
took some Bonine. After dinner the Ym Yum guy’s
candied ginger made her feel a lot better. The
boys, who met us at the Vista Dining Room, were present
at its opening tonight and told us they like the chimes
that call you to dinner.
We
returned to the suite to update this report and then
went to see male a cappella group “The Mikes”. They
were great and have been performing on the O for several
months now. They are all from New Brunswick and
the lead, “Tony” proposed to his girlfriend during last
week’s performance. Jeffrey bought their CD for sale
in the lobby. We kept on running into them, especially
Brett, throughout the cruise, where they explained they’re
going to renew their contract. They love this
cruise life, are treated as passengers (they have regular
cabins and the run of the ship) and only have to perform
once or twice a week. Sweet!
Wednesday,
28 July 2004 – Sitka
We
were at anchor early. We got up around 8 and went
to breakfast in the Lido. After breakfast we got
ready and went to tender around 9 or 9:30. Since
we were suite passengers we didn’t need to pick up tender
tickets in the Queen’s Lounge. We just got in
line. We tendered in to the O’Connell bridge and
did our own walking tour of this quaint and picturesque
little town. The shopping was more interesting
and laid back here than in Juneau – not so many “port-of-call”
stores – so we actually bought something here, including
shirts for the boys, plus a lacquered Russian box and
a small bottle of birch syrup for our neighbors.
Plus, of course, we bought post cards at 5 for a dollar.
We saw the Alaska Pioneers Home and garden (very well
maintained and pretty), the fortress (nice views), and
walked to the raptor center, which was a huge disappointment
at $12 each, although the walk through town, across
the waterfront and the park was pretty. I guess
you get the guided tour only if you come on a ship excursion.
We got back to the ship around 1:30 for
lunch in the Lido then the boys went to play ping pong
and Elizabeth and I went for a drink and to read in
the Ocean Bar – this time on the non-smoking side.
The waitress remembered us from before. We were
there for a good 90 minutes. We decided we liked having
a little time to ourselves so we changed the Pinnacle
Grill reservation to just the two of us. Then we went
back up and changed for exercise. Kevin &
I ran three miles on the promenade deck while Elizabeth
used the bikes in the gym, then we went up to
the gym to do abs and check out the stair climbers.
We told the boys they were on their own for dinner –
they didn’t seem too disappointed and took it well.
Then the boys and I went out to the verandah and watched
them bring in the tenders. One of the tenders
was hoisted up right under the verandah, so we got a
close up view.
The boys ended up not eating together – Kevin went to the Lido
and Jeffrey went by himself to the Vista Dining Room because he
didn’t want to miss Dutch night and wanted to see what the hats
were all about. He sat all by himself at our big table but
Davis and Alit took good care of him and kept him entertained. Elizabeth
and I ate at the Pinnacle Grill – I had chicken Thai soup and duck,
filet mignon with béarnaise sauce, asparagus with béarnaise sauce,
grilled mushrooms, and we shared chocolate volcano cake and vanilla,
coffee and chocolate crème brulee. The service was very nice.
I dressed up a little and wore my sport coat, even though it was
casual night. We went by the room afterwards to change into something
more casual before heading to Sam Powers’ magician act.
It was the best saw-a-woman-in-half act I’ve seen and some other
amazing illusions. However, the audience didn’t seem to rise
to the occasion, which Sam told me is typical for second seating.
Thursday,
29 July 2004 – Ketchikan and Sea Day
We
got up early this morning, around 6 so we could eat
before the rush to get offshore for our shore excursion
to see the Great Alaska Lumberjack Show at 8:30.
The Diamond Princess is next to us on the dock and the
Coral Princess is off our starboard side, tendering
in. We ate in the Lido and then disembarked around 7:45.
As you disembark the ship, there’s a nice store off
to the left, so we looked around in there a little.
Then we asked one of the guides hanging around outside
where we were to meet for the excursion. She explained
that we should just walk there, and showed us the way
on the map. Ketchikan is a pretty town, but full
of the typical shops. We walked over to the Great
Alaska Lumberjack show, just a little ways from the
ship, next to the water and on the way to Creek Street,
our next destination. This is a great and fun
show and the mistress of ceremonies really got the crowd
worked into a frenzy. We were on the American
side (Timber Beasts, Spruce Mill) and Brad Christensen’s
(the friend I ran into while glacier watching – did
I mention his parents bought the cruise for him and
all his brothers and sisters and their spouses – 14
in all?) family was on the Canadian’s Dawson Creek (Wood
Bulls). We won most of the competitions but they
won the match because of the 3 point relay at the end.
For the relay they pick one volunteer from each
viewing section. On our side, an old man named
Mike, really hammed it up on the way down to the front,
using a cane and pretending to need a walker.
Then he got up and threw an ax right into the bull’s
eye!
After
the show we look around the adjacent shop, lots of cute
stuff and then walked to Creek Street and toured Molly’s
House and bought some copper bracelets and a very sturdy
ice cream paddle. Molly’s House is a former brothel.
The hostesses hang around out front in their slink turn
of the century dresses and garters, looking like ‘working
girls’ from a hundred years ago. Creek Street
is quite charming and the shops there are more interesting
than those in town. We walked back through the
town, peeking into various shops, mailing some postcards
and gawking at the enormous cruise ships towering over
the little buildings. We arrived back at the ship
around 11:30 to beat the rush for boarding and lunch.
For once we got a windowside view table in the Lido
– then E & I went to read in the Ocean Bar. While
we were in the bar, the ship set sail for Victoria and
another HAL ship was right behind us to take our place.
An RCI ship passed us to take the place of the Diamond
Princess, which had left just a few moments before.
I
decided I wanted a HAL fleece so we went to the ship’s
shopping arcade to see if we could find one. I didn’t
find exactly what I wanted so we just bought an Alaska
Calendar for E’s parents. At 3 K & I went
running on the promenade 3 miles plus 1 mile walk to
cool down then headed up the gym to do upper body workout
on the Cybex and abdominals. I love taking
advantage of the gym. Brent, from the Mikes was
in the gym and told us there would be a bonus show tomorrow
at 2:30. Showtime is early tonight, before dinner,
since we lose an hour going back to Pacific time.
We saw “Escape” which was a lot of fun, with good singing
and dancing, beautiful sets and lavish costumes.
We visited with companions Bill & Adam from Fort
Lauderdale and San Diego, who cruise 4 or 5 times a
year and seem to be groupies of the show performers,
especially of “The Mikes”. Bill doesn’t like the
Vista class ships as much as the smaller ones, think the food and service
and entertainment are not as good and says that the
O is the biggest money maker for HAL, especially from
the bars and casino. I ran into Jason, the Cruise
Directory, after the show, and told him I didn’t think
they needed to move up the show, but he assured me that
on this night, because of the time change, if they didn’t,
they’d only have 35 people in the audience for the late
show.
Since
the show got out at 7:15 we hung out in the piano bar
and had hors d’oeuvres and nuts listening to the pianist
while waiting for dinner time. At dinner, our
new table mates showed up – we didn’t know we had any.
It turns out after the New Yorkers left to get their
own table, this family was assigned to join us but ate
in the buffet all week because of their kids.
We’re sorry they didn’t join us earlier because we got
along really well with them and would have enjoyed their
company. They’re both from Houston but she was
originally from Mexico City and he from Lebanon.
They had an 11 year old girl and 14 year old son who
were both polite and interesting. He wants to
hire me as a freelance programmer to do his website
for his diamond business and invited us to see them
in Houston after our Holiday cruise out of Galveston
next year. We failed, however, to exchange numbers
or e-mail.
I
ate “melon medley” sprinkled with port wine (couldn’t
taste the wine) and escargots bourguignons, cream of
green asparagus soup, two lobster tails (and they will
plate stuff up on demand – no rice as I asked and two
tails instead of filet mignon and tail). No dessert.
Went
to the shop and bought a nice HAL logo sweatshirt at
½ price and Jeffrey bought a stuffed moose which he
named Chocolate. E bought some silver jewelry,
also half price. We then spent a few minutes listening
to the ensemble in the Ocean Bar. Set clocks forward
1 hour tonight. In our mail slot we found an invitation
to a suite brunch with Captain Mercer and the Hotel
Manager Pells in the Crow’s Nest at 12:30 tomorrow.
Friday,
July 30, 2004 – Sea Day and Victoria
We
woke up around 8 to a bright and sunny morning, the
first such weather in days. We got ready, got
the laundry ready, then I read yesterday’s USA
Today and my novel on the verandah for a while until
all were ready for breakfast. We ate breakfast
by the Lido pool again, then bought some half-price logo shirts at the sale by the
Lido pool before coming down to work on my trip report. The ship news
said the sale would begin at 9am
but they only just started setting up at 9. The
sunshine has disappeared as we turn into the straits
and it’s now overcast and foggy. At 10:30
E & I went to the debarkation talk and crew farewell.
After that we went to the Ocean Bar to read. While
we were there they conducted the trivia contest, which,
had I entered I would have done pretty well on, but
not won. At 12:30 we went up to the Crow’s Nest
for the suite brunch, stopping at the suite to drop
off our books. The suite brunch was very nicely
done. I had some caviar, surprisingly good (just
tasted like salt, really, plus all the stuff you eat
with it helps, such as onion, egg yolk, sour cream,
etc.) and lots of other good food, well served, with
a lovely ice sculpture of a swan in the center.
After that we headed down to the Vista Lounge for the
behind the scenes tour and to meet the cast. However,
they didn’t really demonstrate the capabilities of the
stage because they had to put up the Rockin’ Road sets
because tomorrow morning early the new Oosterdam cast
is coming aboard to rehearse for their first real show.
The stage technicians each talked about themselves
and their jobs and some of the Oosterdam crew did the
same and then answered questions. Around 2pm I
went up to get the boys while E saved seats for the
2:30 “The Mikes” encore. The Mikes were wonderful
and Jeffrey got them all to sign his CD that he had
bought after their first performance the other night
Then all four of us went to work out. K &
I walked 1 mile and ran three on the promenade then
went to the Ocean Spa to work out our legs on the Cybex
machine and do abs. Sam Powers, the magician,
was there with an assistant he was training in dance
moves and Chris, one of the Oosterdam Cast lead singers
was there with headphones running through his dance
moves. He’s staying on board to work with the new cast.
We were very close to Victoria now and when we came
back to the room, the ship was docking. We watched
that process and then I took a shower and got dressed
for dinner. We’ve been here before so we’re probably
not going to disembark.
They
have a lovely greeting for the ship here. At the
bottom of the gangway there is a Victorian streetlamp
with flower baskets hanging from it and several men
and women dressed in Victorian garb passing out tourist
literature and greeting visitors. From the verandah
we could see a line of surreys and flower-bedecked horse
drawn trolleys waiting to take visitors across Stanley
Park and into town. Captain
Mercer made sure that we arrived ahead of the Diamond
Princess’ 3000 passengers so that those who desired
could get through Canadian Customs without a huge line.
Sure enough, soon after the Diamond docked, there was
a long line backing out of the customs building in the
port. I read my novel on the verandah for a while
then got ready for dinner. In Victoria, 1st
& 2nd seating is moved up to 5pm and 3rd & 4th
seating to 7pm so we had an “early” dinner. I
had Portabella and Ricotta Crostini w\ smoked chicken
breast, Crab & Artichoke dip with foccacia, cream
of white mushroom soup and Mustard and Onion Grilled
Chicken breast. The chicken with its accompanying
polenta was tasteless. IMHO, much of the food
on this cruise is fairly bland and underseasoned.
I finished with Linzer Torte with whipped cream, one
of the “no sugar added” options. The Indonesian
Servers all gathered on the stairs in the dining room
to sing a traditional Indonesian song of farewell.
It was quite charming. Our new tables mates did
not show up, but we knew that they had wanted to get
off the ship, so were not surprised.
We
made one last stop to see the Yum Yum Guy and then E
& I went to the Crow’s Nest to listen to music and
read, and watch the sunset, and then down to the Explorer’s
Lounge to listen to the pianist, who was quiet good.
So many people have gotten off in Victoria that the
ship is fairly quiet. We ordered breakfast room
service to be delivered tomorrow morning between 7:45
and 8 so we could avoid the rush in the Lido and then read in bed until about
11:30. Darma had already picked up the rental tuxes when we got back.
We did not put out our luggage since it was small roll
away luggage that we could easily take off the ship
ourselves. That made life so much simpler.
Saturday,
July 31, 2004 – Debarkation
We
are not in any hurry to get off the ship this morning
as we live near Seattle, so I got up about 6:30, cleaned
myself up and went out on the verandah to read until
7:30. Of course, we are already
in port. I woke up the gang at 7:30 and breakfast, still warm,
was delivered promptly at 7:45. While packing
up I checked the drawer beside my bed and found socks
and underwear belong to previous passengers – I took
them to Darma. Then we just packed up in a leisurely
fashion until all was ready, carefully checking everywhere
to make sure that we left nothing behind. From
time to time Jason made announcements over the intercom
and channel 39 about which priority numbers or letters
were being let off the ship. Ours, ‘S’, was first,
which really meant that we could get off any time.
This disembarkation is much better than on Disney.
Everyone is assigned a number, unless you’re in the
suites, in which case you’re assigned S and may disembark
at any time. You may stay in your stateroom until
your number is called. Around 10 or so we were
finished and schlepped our belongings down to deck 2
(I think, or is it 4?) and off the ship.
The longest wait was to get through immigration, where
we breezed through, and then through customs, no problems
there. Of course, we avoided the whole luggage
pick up area. In front of the building we found
a taxi, who was surprised to take us home, instead of
to the airport. This driver seemed rather familiar
though, like Mr. New York, going on and on about
politics with people he didn’t even know. We listened
politely, even though we didn’t agree with him about
some of the positions he was taking.
Summary
This
was a wonderful cruise. Of course, the suite upgrade
was fantastic, the suite large and nicely furnished,
the service excellent. The free laundry was a
nice perk and we made good use of it. I’m
not sure I could afford a suite again, but I’d sure
like to try!
The
food was abundant and there was quite a variety but
it was mostly underseasoned, to my taste, and sometimes
served not as hot as it could be. The portions
were small, which I like, since it discourages overeating
and waste and you can always order more if you’re hungry.
The dining room servers and sommelier were attentive
and friendly. We had a window seat in the dining
room which was nice, since we could look out and see
the ocean.
The
kids never used the pool or Club HAL but did make some
use of the video arcade on deck 10. There is also
an arcade on deck 1 at the entrance to the Vista Lounge
but when we found it there was some creepy guy in there
who looked at us like “What do you want?” I didn’t
feel good sending my kids down there since I felt that
it was remote and out of the way and something nasty
could happen. Still, they had a good time and
enjoyed the shows and the cruise over all.
The
entertainment was varied, somewhat typical (comedian,
illusionist, production show) but well-done I think.
The Mikes were unique and we enjoyed them the most.
We liked the shows, but others might disagree.
Holland America has invested a lot in the Vista Lounge,
in any case. I found the seating spread out, which
was nice, but somewhat uncomfortable.
The
ports were interesting. Obviously we would do
different things the next time. Elizabeth and
I would like to come back on our own and do some of
the pricier excursions, such as the glacier helicopter
flights or Misty Ford Flightseeing. I’d like a
cruise that combines Skagway, which wasn’t on this itinerary,
with the Hubbard Glacier again.
The
ship was beautiful and well maintained. Of course,
there was a little wear and tear, but that’s to be expected.
The colors are more harmonious than on the Zuiderdam
and there is lots of different art displayed everywhere.
It didn’t take me long to find my way around the ship.
We’d like to try the Amsterdam next time, though, to
experience the classic HAL cruise.
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