EbayCruiser

I'm very happy to see this post today because we recently considered K548 on an upcoming cruise but I had some worries about noise problems due to its location. From your comments on Halfacts.com it seems you didn't experience any problems. From the deck plan I had noted this forward to aft inside had corridors on two sides, a white space (crew area?) on another side, and the dreaded forward staircase on the fourth side. The stairs worried me the most as I have heard people stomping up or down the stairs before. You really didn't hear staircase noise? They must have insulated the walls better than normal. Your cabin appears more spacious than the side to side ones. I'm glad it turned out to be a good choice for you.:)

We heard some noise during the day as the crew were moving around but nothing really bad. There would be some traffic at night with passengers returning from shows but we got used to it.

We usually travel on the aft so very little foot traffic.

Thanks for the information. Always good to see photos and very helpful ones, too.

 

How was your cruise?

Cruise was wonderful (although we both returned home with the flu).

It was a charter with Garrison Keillor A Prairie Home Companion. This was the 10th HAL cruise for APHC. He took over all of the entertainment and it was fantastic! Even the captain joined in one night (it was funny to see Garrison joking around with the captain, not sure if he knew how to take him). :)

Weather was just so-so. Rained in every port but Ketchikan where it was sunny but only in the 50's and windy.

We saw lots of wildlife. I Love Alaska!!!

Also, APHC announced their next charter for next year (everyone thought this one might be the last since he has retired from the radio show). It will be a two-week cruise on the Rotterdam to Norway 6/10/17 - 6/24/17. Not sure now if we will be able to do this one.

Anyone know the best inside rooms on the Rotterdam??

I have a good friend who always takes an inside room, despite being quite wealthy. His philosophy is that he spends most of the day outside his room and only goes there to sleep.

He loves to lay around poolside on at sea days, and when in port he is on land (usually laying around on some beach).

I am different, I spend a lot of time in our room. I love to sit on the balcony even when it is chilly. At sea days are usually spent on my balcony, sometimes only leaving the room to eat. I never lounge around in pool areas.

So, different lifestyles require different kinds of cabins.

We spend a lot of time in our stateroom too so we usually do book a balcony this cruise was almost twice as much as regular price because of the balcony, so we had to chose the inside. We did get to pick our choice and chose this stateroom because it was larger than most insides.

In our inside room on the Maasdam it was never complete darkness. We brought a night light and a flashlight but there is a light over the bed that when turned off slowly fades off. I was asleep before it went completely out.

We did leave the night light plugged in but there were also glow strips over the closets where the life jackets were stored (which was a nice touch in case of power failure).

This was our first time in an inside and we were pleasantly surprised.

For anyone interested, I just submitted photos & they are posted on Halfacts.com of the large inside stateroom K548 on the Maasdam.

I searched all over for pictures of these rooms before booking and could not find any so I vowed to take photos as soon as we could access the room and they are now on the net.

This was a charter cruise and rooms were quite expensive so we chose an inside for the first time. I have to honestly say that we really did not miss a balcony all that much since the weather was quite chilly to enjoy a balcony and we saved a lot of money with the inside.

Any questions, just ask!!

Just off the Maasdam 8/29 and there are self-service laundry facilities onboard.

We bought the unlimited laundry and used it every day with no problems but we did not send out our dress clothes.

I do not use Sanitizer often -- it kills everything even good bacteria --- I use essential oils --- Wild Orange as a sanitizer --- smells wonderful and only kills bad stuff --- diffuser in my room --

 

Won't blame a ship if I come home with something.

I don't blame the ship, but I of course being around so many people does increase your chances.

My pharmacy started giving flu shots this week. I chose to wait and get it at my doctor's office I prefer to get it in early/mid Oct.

The ER said they are already seeing several cases of the flu. We always wait until October to get our flu shots too. I think you should be okay to wait since you are not traveling. I think being in confined places and around so many people increases your chances.

When I told the receptionist in the ER I had been on a cruise, her eyes got really wide! I told her it was an Alaskan cruise and we had only been out of the country in Canada. My DH stayed on the ship in Victoria and I took the shuttle to do a little shopping.

You just need one "Typhoid Mary" on a cruise and you will get it if it is airborne.

 

Happened to us (cruise crud cough) on the P'dam.

 

If you have travel insurance submit your receipts and they will cover the medical costs on board.

 

Sorry to hear you arrived unwell and hope you feel better soon.

 

Sounds like you had a great cruise until. Since you reported to the medical centre, I am quite sure that the cabin will be sanitized (At least, I hope so).

 

Get well soon :)

We did have travel insurance but did not feel sick enough on the ship to visit the Dr., only a minor sore throat and the weather was chilly. Just thought I was maybe getting a cold. We did not feel really ill until we got home so the room was not sanitized.

I did hear some people talking about seeing a room being cleaned with men in suits, is this what they do when they sanitize? Maybe that was the first signs of Noro or Flu.

First of all we had a wonderful time! The ship was in good condition, in fact, better than the last time we were on her several years ago. No problems with air conditioning or plumbing.

I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold on Sunday, 8/28. Throat was a little sore and I just felt kinda off. I was feeling worse on Monday and coughing some on the flight back home. I really just thought it was a cold. All day Tuesday I stayed home and did nothing I was feeling so bad. We went to bed Tuesday night and I just tossed and turned and felt completely terrible (temp, chills, runny nose and feeling nauseous and told my husband we needed to go to the ER. By this time, he was starting to feel bad too.

They tested me for the flu and it was positive. I have never had the flu in my life and usually get a flu shot. They prescribed Tamiflu for me and DH $288.42.

We were very careful on the ship to wash our hands and not touch elevator buttons, rails, etc. Used the Purell everytime was came back on ship and in the Lido but saw plenty of others that did not. In fact, it was the norm to not use the Purell.

Dr. says we will feel bad for about seven days, so we are laying low and drinking lots of fluids. Hope whoever got our stateroom sanitized it carefully or they could get sick.

We just disembarked yesterday and had a wonderful time! Hope you do too!!

Great pictures. How did you like the tour with Memory Makers? We have reservations with them for our cruise.

Enjoying your pictures and review of Homer. I wish we were stopping there on our cruise but we are staying overnight in Anchorage (probably for Garrison to do a show). Staying overnight in Anchorage will be good too as we have a long excursion the first day.

Homer looks like a great place to visit, very quaint!

Both times we have been to Alaska the first night and day after leaving Seattle was the roughest. We are cruising the 14 day on the 15th. I take Bonine tablets (you can buy them at Walmart or any drug store) and I have never gotten seasick. I am very prone to motion sickness so I start taking them the morning I get on the airplane and take them every day of the cruise.

We are doing the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour in Ketchikan and glad to hear that you enjoyed it. Our main reason for booking was the feeding of the eagles and seeing them up close. Hope we have good weather!!

Keep up the great review, I feel like I am right there traveling with you!

If you are wanting five cabins close together, then I would chose the J's on Main Deck on Starboard side, J1073, 1069, 1063, 1059, 1053 etc.

If you can do four together and one in another location, you can look at the K's on Main Deck K1116, 1115, 1119 & 1125.

The I's that are extra large are on Navigation Deck I8045, 8041, 8037 & 8033 but that is another set of four.

These are the largest insides on the Eurodam.

Thanks for the live report!!

We will be boarding when you are getting off on the 15th. Can't wait to hear all your comments and experiences.

Safe & happy sailing!

We have ribbons tied to our luggage and it works really well.

I have a really strong lighted mirror at home. I found the ones on HAL to be adequate and glad that they are provided.

Thanks for your blog, I really enjoyed it.

We are going on the chartered APHC cruise August 15th for two weeks. We are not visiting Homer but staying overnight in Anchorage.

Glad you had a great time, Alaska is so beautiful!!!

On all our cruises (non-international) we have never locked our luggage or had anything missing and I do buy designer clothing.

I do lock my doors at home, even during the day. Now I feel like I should buy TSA locks and use them but what keeps the criminals from having TSA keys to unlock the locks. Maybe a lock just makes criminals think there are more valuable items inside?

Thanks! I just booked it for our upcoming Maasdam cruise out of Seattle. One less thing checked off our list.

Yes, the luggage tags will be different. Once the luggage gets to your airline at SeaTac, they will have your airline tags attached. You should get boarding passes the night before disembarkation. We have used this program many times on many cruise ships/lines and it has never failed us.

Do you have to be the first off to use this service? Our flight leaving Seattle is not until 12:45 p.m.

You can also go to halfacts.com and see if any of the cabins that are available are pictured there.

I saw six bears there early this morning. Fish not jumping much but later when there was one bear the fish were really jumping.