rwmiller

Interesting, we were also in a Neptune Suite and didn’t get the form  delivered. Glad you were able to still get it done - Benefits of the concierge.   
 

Bob

@HappyCamper49 Thanks! You too. 
 

Bob

FYI, we didn’t get the Port Valet form delivered to our stateroom so keep an eye open so you meet the Wed noon deadline. We were able to get squeezed in on Thursday but I would rather have turned it in on time. It was a great service on our Delta flight allowing us to skip the long baggage check in lines. 
 

Bob

I hope that they make it permanent but good for those sailing soon. We sail NS in May 2022. 
 

Bob

For information, as of today on the Know Before You Go page:

“Due to the current health and safety protocols in our continuing effort to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19, smoking will be temporarily prohibited in all casinos on the Volendam, Zaandam, Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam until further notice.”

Bob

I know. Felt very lucky to get such a good deal. 9 months in advance may have helped. We also used it for our flight up to Seattle last week and we ended up paying a bit more than we could have gotten online. Rather win the big ones and lose the little ones. 😀😀

Bob

We were on the first NA sailing and, since we had an early transfer, we’re onboard quickly. After dropping off our carry-on bag, we headed to Lido Market where we were the first up there. I was concerned that it wasn’t open yet but we were able to get whatever we wanted and had a leisurely lunch. 
 

Bob

I am so sad. Remember those planes flying all around last week. 😪

Bob

I just wanted to share that, after booking our next HAL cruise sailing in Europe, we priced out flights. We ended up going with Flight Ease as their price for business class seats for two was $2,500 less than we could find on our own. Great way to start the cruise. The flights are well timed with only one stop between San Francisco and Athens on the way out and Barcelona and San Francisco on the way back. Saving money always makes the vacation better. 😊😊😊

Bob

Today we just booked a follow-up cruise to our fantastic 7/24 Alaska cruise. We were eligible for a casino discount from that trip and tried as hard as we could to run it through a TA. In the end, we ended up booking direct since HAL wouldn’t transfer the booking. I hope that is just a short term issue due to the restart as I see from my fellow CC members how much help a TA can be. 
 

Bob

We took the early Birds, Bears and Barnacles tour that left at 8:30 and I picked us up at the pier but only had NA passengers on board. 
 

Bob

@idiebabe agree 100%. Everything about it was great - weather, excursions, ship, meals, entertainment, crew, passengers.

@zelker You are correct that we went with Alaska Hummer Adventures. We had 5 people on the boat (capacity 6) and I too was worried that they would cancel as we were the only guests from the ship but they found a family that was visiting Ketchikan to help fill the boat. I posted about the excursion on the Roll Call hoping to get someone else to go but was not successful; you may have better luck based on my posting here. Another option is to pay for one additional fare if you really want to go. We disembarked right at 7am when they opened the gangway and met the tour team right there at Pier 4. They brought the boat over to the pier and we were on it around 7:30. We ended up getting back to Ketchikan around 12:15. This gave us about 2.5 hours at the viewing platform after you take out the 1 hour transits each way. As long as the bears cooperate, that is enough time as the bugs start to get to you.

@jhsocal I don't think but that is second hand information from others; we are new to HAL.

Bob

@Sharon in AZ You are welcome. It is my pleasure to provide a little bit of information for those lucky enough to cruise to Alaska this year. Enjoy your trip!

Bob

Trip Report Continued:

7/28: Sitka

Arrived to a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60's. We ate breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill then headed out for our excursion that we booked using the Have it All benefit. We chose the tour to the Raptor Center, Fortress of the Bear and the local salmon hatchery via bus as all our other excursions involved heading out on the water. The tour guide was a lifelong Sitka native and she was very personable and interesting as she told stories the entire tour. As others have noted, it was wonderful seeing how the injured eagles, owls, etc are cared for and the close up viewing was amazing. Fortress of the bear also allowed us to see both brown and black bears close up and hear how these orphaned animals are cared for. The hatchery was interesting but nothing special. After the tour dropped us off in downtown Sitka, we walked around to check out the sites. We went to a nearby restaurant to eat lunch but, despite it looking completely empty, we were told it was a 45 minute wait - go figure??? We decided to head back to the ship via the shuttle and eat at the Dine-In; a delicious treat! We later enjoyed afternoon tea in the main dining room. After the ship left Sitka, we dined at Rudi's Sel De Mer and feasted on the delicious meal - booked in advance of the cruise. We then enjoyed our usual evening entertainment including the magic show in the Main Stage as well as the B.B. King All Stars.

7/29: Ketchikan

The ship arrived in more typical Alaska weather; cool and drizzling. We had booked the Expedition Black Bear excursion independently and were met on the pier by the tour company. The boat picked us up right there on the pier and we headed to Margaret's Creek. The ride took about an hour on a very quick boat - besides us, there was a family of 3 who were staying in Ketchikan. After arriving at the Margaret's Creek pier, we had a short van ride then walk to the bear viewing platform over the creek. With 10 minutes our first bear appeared and started feasting on salmon. What a great place to view this amazing display of nature. Of course, we also had a bald eagle sitting nearby to add to the atmosphere. Over the course of our two hour visit, we saw several more bears and eagles soaring through the forest. Quite the amazing adventure and highly recommended. Photos below. After the ride back to Ketchikan, we were dropped off in downtown and ate lunch at a local restaurant. We then ambled down Creek Street and downtown heading back to the ship - why they dock at the farthest pier is beyond me. With only one ship in town, everything was very quiet. We also noticed that many stores / restaurants were closed; hopefully just temporarily. This was gala night so we dressed up and, after deciding we didn't like the MDR menu, got a reservation at Canaletto where we enjoyed the meal very much despite getting charged twice (another visit to the concierge to correct required). While checking with concierge, I found out we had not gotten our Luggage Valet forms earlier in the cruise - he retrieved some for us and other suite passengers and we were able to fill it out and submit late but everything worked out. Something I should have checked on earlier.

7/30 Sea Day

Slept in a bit although we had the time shift back to PDT. Spent the day relaxing and visiting the casino once more to chat with our new friends and the great casino staff. Of course, everyone's worst time onboard arrived - we had to pack and put our luggage out for pickup. The Luggage Valet tags were applied and away they went! We had our first lunch and dinner in the MDR; very enjoyable and the Club Orange line made it quick to get in. 

7/31: Disembarkation

Our Luggage Valet group was C (8:15) so we headed down to the Pinnacle Grill for our last breakfast taking our carry-on bags with us. We enjoyed a leisurely meal but could not really hear any announcements so, after finishing, moved to the Pinnacle Bar to wait for our group to be called. Within a few minutes, we heard an announcement and we quickly were able to leave the ship via the Deck 2 gangway. The walk through the terminal and customs check went very quick and we were soon on our bus to head to the airport. All very smooth and easy. 

All in all, this was a fantastic cruise and we are now true HAL fans. Can't wait until we can cruise again.

Bob

Here are some photos from the Tracy Arm Glacier Excursion. One item I forgot to mention was that, due to the time change the night before we arrived in Juneau, the times for the excursions on the tickets in the Navigator App were 1 hour late. This issue was finally announced during the port arrival brief but it could have led some people to not disembark on time. A hard restart to the application brought the ticket times to the correct time. Something to watch for with all electronic ticketing.

Bob

Not trying to outdo the outstanding reports from @LAFFNVEGAS and @idiebabe, I wanted to post my own shorter trip report on the first cruise of 2021 from my wife's and my perspective. I hope to add a little bit of information to help all of you who are anxious to be sailing again. 

7/24 - Embarkation Day

We arrived at SEATAC Airport at around 9:15 am and, after gathering our bags, were met by a HAL representative at our baggage carrousel. He provided us with directions and a transfer pass card and we headed off to meet the bus. Directions were great and there were representatives positioned along the route to let you know you were heading in the right direction. Once we reached the bus waiting area, we dropped off our luggage and took a seat with about 100 other guests. We were provided a colored dot for our boarding card to indicate which bus to take. The buses arrived around 10am and we boarded the second bus with no fuss - of course all masked up. After a nice ride to Pier 91 we arrived a bit before 11am and had to wait while the HAL executives had their ribbon cutting ceremony. We then were released to go through the health check, security check and check in process as described already. As Group A boarders, we took a seat in the waiting area for about 15 minutes then were released to board. As others have described, seeing the HAL team with the Welcome Back sign and hearing their chants brought a lump to our throats. It is great to be back!

We boarded easily and headed up to our stateroom to drop off our carry-on bag then to the Lido Market for lunch. We were so quick that we were the first guests at the market so it was a very relaxing lunch. After lunch we did a tour of the ship to get our bearings as this was our first HAL cruise. I also upgraded to the Elite Beverage Package thinking I would use the benefits - probably a waste of money to me. It did result in many visits to the Neptune Concierge to fix the double charge we saw for the package but he finally was able to fix it. After our tour, we found our bags at the stateroom so we unpacked and sat out on our verandah to watch the sail away and enjoy our bottle of sparkling wine. As we were on the starboard side, we could wave to the team on the pier and watch the fireboat celebrate our departure. Again, a great moment. 

After leaving port, we relaxed and then headed down to our 7:30 dinner reservations at the Pinnacle Grill. The food was outstanding and the service was excellent. 

7/25 - Sea Day

Today we went to breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill then did some relaxing. With the casino open, we decided to try our luck. The Casino team was extremely friendly and we loved our time their interacting with them. This was the first of many visits during our cruise. 

7/26 - Juneau

Today they shifted to Alaska time so we got an extra hour of sleep. We again ate breakfast at the Pinnacle Grill then headed to the Casino. We had booked the Tracy Arm Fjord Glacier Explorer excursion with HAL and so we disembarked as soon as we docked. The excursion was a long day (about 8 hours) but it was fantastic. We walked to the boat that was about a 1/4 mile away from the ship and soon were on our way. The ride to the fjord was scenic and our onboard guide was very informative. But the actual visit to the South Sawyer and North Sawyer Glaciers was incredible. We saw many calving events as well as ice bergs with seals relaxing on them. This is a must do excursion if you are on this cruise and want a true Alaskan experience. 

7/27 - Glacier Bay / Icy Straight Point

We were up early and had breakfast delivered by in room dining. Only issue - the toast was cold and the continental breakfast very skimpy (only two small croissants). We spent the morning on our verandah enjoying the fantastic views of the glaciers while listening to the ranger commentary. We booked the whale watching tour for our time in Icy Straight. Interesting that the first boat left half full as @idiebabe noted as ours was totally full and had to leave some people on the pier as we were full. We did see some whales but not as close as we would like - spoiled from our visits to Maui. It was nice the boats boarded from the same pier as the ship as it was easy on and easy off. After the excursion we had to wait to eat in the Lido Marketplace as it didn't open until 10:30. Second night we had this problem as our Juneau excursion also ended late and the in-room dining wait time as about 45 minutes. Another night in the casino having lots of fun intermixed with listening to the singers at Billboard Onboard and the band at B.B. King's. All in all, a fantastic day.

More to follow in the next post.

Bob

Check your statement after you upgrade. We ended up getting charged double and it took several visits to get it fixed. 
 

Bob

We are onboard also and it is fantastic day. The crew is so happy to have us on board. 
 

Bob

I booked a boat tour to Traitor’s Cove for our 7/24 Holland America cruise. I believe the tour us run by AKHummers. You can check them out as they are operating this year. 
 

Bob

My wife and I cruised Alaska on the Grand Princess in the same suite you are looking at so I can provide some insight. The balcony on this room is very big with table, 4 chairs and 2 lounge chairs. Lots of room to get outside and enjoy the view and it is half open / half covered so you can go outside even in the rain. The room itself is also good sized and there is a privacy curtain separating the bed area from the living area (with the fold out bed).

The Princess website has a good listing of all the suite perks - although you do get a mini bar setup at the start of the cruise, you can trade it in for non-alcoholic beverages if you would like. We particularly enjoyed Club Class dining, the ability to order off the main dining room menu for room service and the daily suite-holders breakfast in the Crown Grill (some ships do it in Sabatini's).

Hope this helps,

Happy Cruising.

Bob

I noted your comment "Then asked her which MDR was open for lunch and she said none were, only the buffet. We turned around, walked passed the piazza and directly into the Davinci room, which was most definately open for lunch. She downright lied to us."

This is exactly what happened to us also on our Alaska cruise in September. Incredible that they lie like that when the dining room is right there. We even made a comment on it during our post-cruise survey - they obviously did not take action on our comment.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Bob

On our cruise in September on the Grand Princess the steward left two bottles every day even if we didn’t drink the others.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I join the rest of you in giving a thumbs down to the canapes. We got the plate delivered for our first night in the suite and, after looking at them and wondering how long they had been sitting there, decided to not have any. Never ordered them again.

We did, however, use the P/E/S lounge as mentioned above to satiate our hunger when we were planning a late dinner. Another option passengers staying in a suite have is to get afternoon tea (or coffee) delivered to your stateroom. The sandwiches were okay but the scones and other pastries were very tasty.

Bob

Cruisin' Rabbit,

I think I was there when you were talking with the host on the ship. Quite the small world.

We also were in a suite so did not need to visit Club Class for every meal. Our experience was that they usually filled the tables with early arrivals and arriving after 7 the tables were opening up. Didn't always get a prime table - they have a few 2 tops that are right next to others where you feel like you have to talk to the other diners. But, we always got a table without waiting after that second night. I think they needed to have a few more tables dedicated to Club Class with more staff, we also had times where we waited longer than we liked for our waiter.

Happy Sailing,

Bob