Click.Write.Post.

Dessert was another winner!

Warm Fudge Brownie with coffee gelato and popcorn crunch. The brownie was very rich so it was nice to pair it with the gelato and cleanse our palate between bites with the popcorn crunch.

Coconut Trifle with lime and pistachio. We didn’t pick up on any flavor except for chocolate. It could have been we were chocolate overloaded from the brownie.

A trio tasting. Mango gelée bites, passion fruit white chocolate truffles (our favorite), and dark chocolate.

Coffee, Beukenhorst coffee. This coffee was amazing. Easily the best cup of coffee I have ever had and not available in the Pinnacle Grill. This is not the French press version, which is even stronger than this brew according to the dining steward.

I loved the coffee so much that our steward sent me with one to go. [emoji7]

I would pay $10.00 ($7.50 for my Mariner status) for this coffee and skip the rest of lunch, but skipping lunch in the Pinnacle Grill would be crazy of me. [emoji6]

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For lunch we ordered...

Spinach Arugula Salad, I ordered mine without Gorgonzola.

Pinnacle Burger, served open face but we stacked it to eat and smashed the avocado for easier eating. This burger was fantastic! I wanted another one. [emoji4] Our dining steward asked if we wanted the burger medium or medium-well. We ordered it medium-well, but it was closer to medium when served.

Beef Tri-Tip Sandwich with Caramelized Red Onions. We were not asked how we would like the meat cooked, and it was closer to medium-rare to medium. This sandwich was messy to eat. If we ordered it again we would enjoy it deconstructed, eating the meat and onions separate from the bread. We only had a few bites of the tabbouleh salad as we were starting to fill up and still had coffee and dessert to go.

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This most recent cruise we decided to finally have lunch at the Pinnacle Grill for a price of $10.00 USD per person, which is further discounted 25% for 3-Star Mariners and 50% for 4-Star and 5-Star Mariners.

Hands down, it was my favorite dining experience on this cruise.

A sneak peek into the Pinnacle Grill located on Deck 4. There are no windows looking outside in the Pinnacle Grill on the ms Amsterdam, at least none we could see.

The table setting was modern and elegant, and the menu was beautiful. I couldn’t wait to look inside.

As we looked over the menu, we were brought a selection of bread. The sesame crackers are very crispy and had a nice balanced flavor.

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When we cruise, we review the dinner menu in the main dining room first. If there are menu options on there that we enjoy then we give it ago. On the nights that there are not options that appeal to us we try somewhere else like the Tamarind.

We had a delicious starter in the dining room his last cruise, Thai crispy spring roll; however the rest of the menu wasn’t fantastic so I swung by the Lido Market and supplemented with something there although I should have asked for another spring roll...it was very tasty.

This most recent cruise we had lunch in the Pinnacle Grill and hands down it was my favorite meal and dining experience of that cruise. I have only dined one other time in the Pinnacle Grill and that was at dinner and it was also 8 years ago. I didn’t have the best experience so I haven’t repeated it, but will some day.

We dined in the Canaletto one night and didn’t enjoy the experience. I think for us it would have been better with a big group with lots of different food to try. Although, I am not sure that would have change the taste of some of the food.

Food is so subjective, I love food but am very picky as well.

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Thank you so much, Click/Write/Post -You are one of the most truly helpful individuals here on Cruise Critic. Thank you so much for all your detailed photos and information on this and other threads you have posted after your Amsterdam Alaska cruise. You organize the format of your threads beautifully. They are easy to read, and a pleasure to peruse. Thanks again for your thoughtful and helpful reporting!

Thank you for the kind words. We enjoy sharing our experiences and learning from others as well so Cruise Critic has been super helpful with that. We have a few more posts in the works, mainly port and food related. :) Maybe at a later date we will compare and contrast the different Alaskan itineraries we have done.

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As someone who prefers to not hear a lot of "noise," I'm perfectly fine with no sound notification from the Navigator chat. When dining with DD's family, their phones are pinging. (Even if the phones are on vibrate, all four feel they must check the sender.) Sometimes, even those sitting at adjacent tables get more notifications than DD's family. Whatever happened to conversing with others at the table????

 

JMO

I understand! We have a no phones at dinner policy with the exception of taking a few food pictures. Our phones are with us, just turned off or put away and no checking it if it does go off unless we are expecting a message for some reason.

Even on land, I remind my hubby and parents to put their phones away at dinner lol. ;)

I didn’t mind that it didn’t notify you as for the two of us traveling, we knew when to check for messages.

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Aw rats! Your photo confirmed my apprehension that Amsterdam has not received the large-screen interactive TV update. And likely will not before my planned trip on her in December.

Loved your review! <--should have posted that on the other thread but saving space :).

I did see that staterooms on other decks received updates, just not staterooms Deck 1 and maybe a few on Deck 2. I do not have any pictures of the updated rooms, but some staterooms on Deck 2 appeared to have the new shower (could see that when stewards were cleaning rooms) and Suites on Deck 7 has new linens in a blue and gray (silver) color scheme rather than the orange, green, white/beige color scheme in my stateroom.

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Thanks for the pictures! Are there hooks in the cabin? I guess I won't bring my waterpik since there are no outlets in BR.

Yes, there are four hooks in the cabin, looking at the bed they would be on he left hand side not visible in any of the pictures I have, and three or four in the bathroom on the door.

Other bathrooms may have outlets, but ours didn’t aside from the one on the dryer, see below.

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Could it have been the room stewards verifying the connecting doors were in fact locked? Just wondering. Nicely documented. I like your photo showing how to turn the shower on. My DW would have gone several days before complaining that all she could ever take were baths because the shower didn't work! ;):confused:

I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to turn on the shower, called my husband in to figure it out and we were so confused. The stewards were doing their morning routine a few cabins away, and saved the day. Sapto, one of our stewards, showed me what I needed to do so crisis adverted. :)

I thought a little note on here would be helpful to others. :) I actually took it as a live picture, not video so I haven’t figured out how to post the action shot yet. ;)

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I'm not likely to be inside, but your Deck 3 description sounds perfect. Thank you so much for that AND for the photos!!

 

Kind of funny, I like peas but cannot do pea soup...wish they'd have salmon instead...maybe I'll take some of my own ;-}

I don’t like either, but my husband likes to partake in the tradition. :)

The other thing about deck 3 is Kelly, the onboard EXC / naturalist, after finishing her narration during the sail in moved down to deck 3 and is available for questions.

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I found the Chat icon did advise you if you had a message, with a little number alongside the icon - but of course, no sound. It would be nice if there was a sound...:)

Yes, that is correct. If you had a message a number in a red circle did appear, but no sound notification.

It is a helpful tool. We used the chat feature about once or twice a day depending on what we had going on.

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Some may consider it "cheating" or "gaming the system", but with a wireless travel router even the 1 device at a time restriction on internet logons can be circumvented. They usually also function as an external power source as well.

 

OP, nice in-service on the Navigator tool. :D

Thank you!

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Are the fantail rolls spicy?

 

How cold was it? I'm assuming Seattle and Victoria were pretty warm since our weather is pretty much the same.

Was it warm enough for shorts or capris in places other than Seattle and Victoria?

 

The seas might be rougher on the outside of Vancouver Island, but at the moment the air is probably clear since there are a ton of fires and from looking at the fire map, the inside passage might be quite smoky.

The fantail rolls are not spicy; they reminded me of Carrabba’s oil dipping sauce if you have ever had that but 100x better.

The weather changes so quickly up there. The only day for us that would have allowed for capris was Sitka, in the sun we shed a few layers, in the forest or when the sun went behind a cloud we put a layer back on.

Sitka with almost clear skies and sunny.

The other ports were overcast, some rain, and colder.

Victoria was actually a little smoky.

There was so much fog during the sea days that I could tell if you could see the smoky haze while out to sea.

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It was still $10 when we were on in June. 3* Mariners - $7.50 and 4* and above - $5.

 

 

 

No matter what you pay, it's a great deal. Lunch is a real joy in the PG IMO. Menu is great and totally different than dinner.

This was true on the ms Amsterdam just last week, August 2018. It was my most favorite dining experience of the trip. I will be reviewing it on here soon with pictures!

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Thank you for your review. I confess I'm a fan of the rolls too!

This was by far my favorite bread item and maybe even my favorite food item. I missed not having one today. Lol.

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There were some discrepancies between the printed where and when and the navigator app when it came to locations of events. As we were told, if there is a discrepancy, go with the printed copy.

 

 

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We did not experience this. One thing that the Navigator tool does is group things on the hour and then the description of the event indicated the time within that hour. For instance under the 5:00 PM hour it might say wildlife viewing, but in the description is gives the time of 5:30 PM. That tripped us up a few times in the beginning, but at least we were early to those events.

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Thanks for the good info. One question; are you still limited to one login per stateroom/account?

 

We were on Maasdam in April and May, and could readily book the extra-cost restaurants, but had to call the reservations desk to change or cancel, which made that function seem unfinished.

We each had our own accounts.

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As long as it's clean, I'm not too worried about updates :-}

 

Hubbard is not one of my favorites for viewing, but maybe seeing it closer will change my mind.

 

This will be my first cruise to Alaska without a balcony, so I'm sure I'll be on deck...an ocean view picture window just won't cut it!

 

Thanks for sharing

From our ocean view stateroom. I stopped by for warmer clothes after spending time on the bow, which is exposed to the elements.

From the bow, which was crowded as was Deck 6’s forward balcony.

From Deck 3. I found Deck 3, lower promenade deck the “best” deck for viewing for a few reasons: longer deck for people to stretch out and it is covered from the elements, deck 3 has 3 sides open for viewing with only the forward area enclosed. I walked from starboard to aft as the ship rotated for optimal guest viewing.

We even viewed it from the Crow’s nest for a short time, which was also crowded.

Just make sure you are either on the Bow, Deck 3, or in the Crow’s Nest when the hot Dutch Pea Soup is served! It goes quick!

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Thank you for posting so many detailed cabin photos. While the room did not get the bath refresh or the new soft goods package seen on other cabin types/ships, I will say it looks exceptionally clean, tidy and in good repair!

It certainly was; we had amazing room stewards! I would be happy to stay in that room again for a longer amount of time too. ;)

Also, this stateroom had very little squeaks. You could hear the occasional noise through the adjoining room door. It seems as if at least once a day someone in the adjoining stateroom tested the door on their side, but the strange thing is we never saw anyone leave or enter that stateroom. Ghosts maybe? ;)

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I wasn't aware there was a carry-on size limit. I'll be at my embarkation port for a week before we sail, so naturally I will have a medium-sized suitcase, not a carry-on. Are you saying they will not allow me to bring it on with me?

You can check more than one bag, say if you have one for your pre-cruise stay and another (or two) for you cruise itself.

You may have to check the bag you are referring to unless it fits through the smaller security scanner. Our checked luggage arrived outside our stateroom rather quickly this last cruise and usually within an hour of boarding.

We took on a backpack each and checked a piece of luggage each as well.

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Here are a few other screen shots of the Navigator

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My favorite feature was reviewing dining options and menus.

This is an example of the Canaletto menu available online.

Breakfast and lunch menus were not available online neither were any Lido Market menu.

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I had many questions about the Navigator before my last cruise so I took a few pictures and screen shots to share on here.

We did not receive an announcement about the app until a few hours after being onboard and then we saw the poster listed below on one of our walkabouts.

Each ship will have a different WiFi to connect to, ours was the “Amsterdam-Guest.”

You will create a login and pin. The pin allows you to see the onboard account charges and statement if you are the primary person; and it allows you to make purchases and reservations regardless of being the 1st or 2nd guest in the stateroom.

In the upper left corner there is a chat bubble icon. Click this icon to chat with others onboard. The tool does not notify you that you have a message so check it throughout the day when you are not with individuals in your party or as you make new friends on board whom you can also chat with.

In the upper right corner, there are three lines that you tap on to take you to the different options available in the tool.

You tap on the picture menu you want to access.

You can electronically plan your day and future days onboard by adding events happening on board. Here I was browsing events for the next day at sea on our way to Victoria after leaving Ketchikan.

Also, dining reservations will automatically show up in your itinerary, if I remember correctly.

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The Bathroom was not updated during dry dock.

Dispenser on back wall, left to right: shampoo, conditioner, and body wash

With water turned on, pull down on ring around bath faucet to turn on shower.

On left, hairdryer with electrical shaving outlet. There are no other outlets in the bathroom. On right, opened medicine cabinet, which we did not use. We stored our toiletries in their bags on the shelf under the sink.

Bar soap, hand lotion, and shower cap.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

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The stateroom after turndown service.

Close up of turndown presentation of next day’s When & Where, reminders, chocolates, and remote. The In-Room Dining Service Menu for breakfast is located inside gray folio.

Up next, the bathroom.

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