cruisingrob21

Keep in mind that Alaska ports on voyages RT from Seattle are not typical. Juneau is afternoon and into the late evening, ketchikan is AM to noon-ish. Victoria is 8pm to midnight. Icy Strait Pt is evening only. It's likely the performers will have one of the nights off where the ship makes an evening call since only a certain percentage of the passengers will be aboard - so you may not even miss it.

You say you've never been on a cruise? I think you'll have a great time as long as you manage your expectations compared to land resorts. There are many beneficial aspects of a cruise over a land resort, but obviously there are some tradeoffs. For instance, generally, rooms are smaller than the average resort/hotel room, but at the same time, you are much closer to food, recreation, and entertainment. While I think you have a nice list here of things to compare the ships by, I wouldn't get too hung up on the details. We took folks that had never been on a cruise on the old ms Amsterdam (near sister of the Zaandam before she was sold in 2020) and they had a great time which was nice to see given that that ship had very few bells and whistles compared to the newest ships out there today. To speak to your questions specifically. The lack of Club Orange private venue won't be that much of an issue. On the K-dam its in an interior area where you have to look through a hallway to see the water. On all HAL ships the main dining room has stunning views - and the Zaandam and sister ship Volendam have probably the best views of all the ships. As for dining options, it depends if you get bored eating in the same place each night. yes the K-dam has a few more choices but unless you like those venues that it has over the Zaandam, you wouldn't notice. The main dining room menu is mostly different each night. The other venues also cost extra - the food is very good and highly specialized for the venue, but I think most would agree that the included main dining room food is very good to excellent. Sorry, that's not a good answer I guess. I can't speak to the NS rooms being quieter on the Zaandam - someone who has stayed in them is probably better qualified to answer. But there really isn't that much to move around on the lido deck above compared to bigger ships. Overall, the Zaandam is a quiet ship unless you are on deck 1 during docking or port activities. Crowds - well the Zaandam handles crowds very well in that you'll rarely see them, but compared to a land resort, you may experience them when you wouldn't expect them. There will be fewer crowds than the K-dam for food and entertainment, for sure. But remember, you are on a ship and when its at sea, everyone is onboard also. If its a sunny day, expect it to be a bit more crowded around the pools. On embarkation day, expect it to be very busy in the buffet right after boarding. But on the Zaandam, I don't really recall seeing crowds other than those times. There may be some when getting off the ship to go into port if there is only 1 gangway down. The Zaandam has better viewing areas, and more of them for the amount of passengers onboard, for sure. The Zaandam also has a better space in the Explorations Cafe and for that we would sail on her again over the K-dam. The K-dam is a beautiful ship, as is the Zaandam. The Zaandam may not be around too much longer as its one of the older ships in the fleet and the cruise lines can make more profit with larger ships. If I were you, especially going to Alaska, I would stick with the Zaandam.

Yes, seems like it.

Astoria, Oregon posted an update to their cruise schedule for 2026 just yesterday which includes Brilliant Lady making a routine day call (8 to 7pm). Presumably heading to Alaska? Previous call appears to be Catalina Island. I know the ship is potentially different to fit through the canal so its probably not too much of a surprise, but I haven't been following the development of BL that closely. Additionally, Astoria posts these port calls pretty far out and they can be inaccurate as lines continue to make tweaks to itineraries, especially on these US coastal voyages.

I have a different perspective - it seems like HAL has changed their entertainment and now, with the game shows and more regular comedians, seems to be more similar to Princess' entertainment or other mainstream entertainment. While I'll miss the LC group, the change has some positives I think. It is disappointing however that they don't seem to fully utilize the main show lounges as much as they did pre-covid. Most of the Princess ships have 2 or 3 lounges for the more informal performances (comedians, game shows, trivia) whereas the HAL ships really only have the Blues Club/Queens Lounge for those events. Those rooms are sufficiently intimate, but seem to always be at capacity for the aforementioned events. The Vista and Signature ships don't really have any room for changes to add another venue, and the Pinnacle class ships could make the Blues Club into two venues by removing the balcony, but I don't know how popular that might be.

Add on question - what is your favorite ship in each class? This assumes that you've sailed on all ships in a class somewhat recently and I'm sure that list of cruisers is pretty short for the Vista class ships and the Pinnacle class ships.

The "Have It All Plus" package on bookings more than 12 months out shows that it includes the elite beverage package with drinks priced to $15. The package price is still $55 per person, per day.

Thank you all.

Good point. Thanks for pointing that out. Could I ask why you would choose 4053/4054 rather than 4123/4124?

I have an upcoming voyage on the Noordam and took an upgrade offer to a verandah. It's not a well selling voyage (its an unusual 5 night voyage from Vancouver) and was offered an upgrade from Oceanview to verandah for $50 total. I took it and have a few options of cabins that I'd love to get some input on. It seems like deck 4 and 8 have deeper balconies than decks 5 or 6. 4053 or 4054 - I like the fact that I could look aft and see a bit more given that these are the last verandahs before the lifeboats. I'm okay with the exposed nature of this location. While underway, either of these would seem to have less wind. 4124 and 4123 - These are similar to 4053 and 4054 but have lifeboats forward and no adjacent room. The only downside is they seem like they would be windier than 4053 or 4054, but its easier to see forward. Several VA rooms on on deck 5 -all seem to be the same with what looks like a narrower verandah 2 VA rooms on deck 6 (6082/6091), right next to the panoramic elevators which I've read have less privacy and the elevator makes noise all day and night 1 VA room on deck 8, near midship (8069). This seems to have a slightly deeper balcony than decks 5 or 6. Any advice would be appreciated - which room would you take and why?

Can I say the ms Amsterdam even though shes now with Fred Olsen Cruise Line? I know the other R class ships were similar but the Amsterdam was special. Of the current fleet I'm torn between the Eurodam and the Koningsdam

Just know that if you get seasick easily, pack the Dramamine (or whatever you use). If you encounter rough seas you will feel it in forward rooms more than even a few rooms closer to the middle of the ship.

This seems like the right answer - the candies might have extra costs - or I could see them adding costs to some new specialty items.

We sailed on the Amsterdam in 2019 with kids about the same age. The R class ships have smaller kids facilities for sure, and sometimes it was a bit crowded but my kids had fun. We found the hours stated in the daily program to be roughly correct. They are not open all day long and generally close during meal times on sea days. We were fortunate and the CD brought all the kids to the main showlounge for a few games of bingo on the last day, complete with popcorn, cookies, and strawberry or chocolate milk. One of my kids even won one game. As for general tips, Alaska is a very family friendly place to go, but make sure you find things. There are great playgrounds in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway not far from the ship. Also consider shorter excursions with less 'bus rides". For instance, our kids really enjoyed the duck tour and lumberjack show in Ketchikan. Also, most places have hikes not far from the ships or even "stair roads" that some kids may find entertaining. I agree with the remark previously about affordable binoculars. They may also enjoy walkie talkies (although they don't always work well on the ships). There are a lot of on-demand kid movies (I think the Zaandam has the new system with on-demand tv) - certainly enough for 1 or 2 per day. Consider investing in a few travel board games or teaching kids some card games. Another tip that took us a few cruises with kids to learn is that breakfast or even lunch in the dining room is a calmer, less chaotic experience than the lido buffet. We were able to easily find a table, and enjoy our breakfast while the great crew brought food for our kids. Since HAL ships have such great dining rooms, you get outstanding views usually. Around 8 is when our oldest started feeling confident wandering the ship a bit. The Zaandam is smaller so if you are comfortable with it after a day or two, they may like to wander a bit together. I usually would try to quiz my kids on day 2 or 3 and ask them to show us how to get to our room, or how to get to the Crows Nest etc. After they build some confidence, we felt okay letting them go (with a watch on the oldest's arm) and a set meet up time. By the last night its fun to be walking around the ship and find the kids sitting in a corner reading books 🙂

At some point, HAL, and Princess by extension just need to make their all inclusive plans to include just beer and house wine only to get around all this and maybe a handful of simple cocktails to get around all this. In HAL's case, this $11 limit is pretty annoying when many mixed drinks cost more than that. In Princess' case, the price keeps going up and up but you are getting the same thing - I think they need a "lower" tier that includes Wifi, gratuities, and beer, soda, and house wine.

I've sailed on both ships, and in the last two years went to Alaska on the Eurodam and Discovery Princess. While the Sapphire is a much better ship for Alaska than the Discovery (covered pool area, Skywalkers lounge, nearly full wrap promenade deck), I would choose the NA over the Sapphire Princess. Princess ships have very few, climate controlled observation areas high up, and although the Sapphire is better than most princess ships to Alaska, its not as good as HAL ships with the Crows Nest and Tamarind (on the NA and Eurodam). Additionally the dining rooms are more scenic on the HAL ships.

If you purchased your booking through a travel agent, you might have got a discounted group rate. To add HIA to the group rate, the agent has to apply it after the fact and it attaches to all members of the booking. As someone else said, a quick call should get it fixed.

There's lots of new tonnage to compete with in the Caribbean and HAL offers a unique product. They can probably fill a pinnacle class ship easier in the Caribbean (even with oversupply prices) better than the Hawaii voyages.

Very true

There was supposed to be a 5th Vista class ship, but was instead was sent to Cunard, and then again sent to P&O before finally sailing as the Arcadia. The layout of the Arcadia is similar to Noordam but appears to have the addition of the Signature class' Tamarind restaurant and bar area.

It seems like there is considerably less info on the Noordam than on other Vista class ships on CC. Although the youngest of the Vista class, its odd she seems to be the only one still with Northern Lights nightclub. A minor annoyance of mine with HAL is that they tend to send their vista class ships in the wrong direction from their names? What I mean is that the Noordam spends a lot of time in the southern hemisphere and the westerdam spends a lot of time in asia's far east. Several years ago the Oosterdam was mostly positioned on the west coast of the Americas - although she's now mostly in Europe, but also spends a lot of time in south america. Names don't mean much, but I've always found it odd. Not as odd as Princess sending the Caribbean Princess to Alaska next year...😆

I think Princess struggles with this issue as most of their ships don't have an observation lounge with large tables. Most of the lounges on board princess ships always have things going on and the tables tend to be small, circular, and with a light in the middle that's not moveable.

Has your "good travel agent" sailed on the signature or vista class vessels? Even if they haven't, its a 5 minute google search at most 🤔 and the HAL TA site has the information on it as well.

I've stayed in 1005 before. The couch folds out into 1 bed and there is another bed that drops down from the ceiling above the beds in the cabin. You can see it in this photo circled in yellow:

Everyone who reads this will get it - everyone who doesn't are the ones who this is intended for. 😀 But I agree with you 100%. I'll admit that I'm one of the "bad people" and go contraflow since I'm usually jogging. However, I do yield at all corners and wait for people at narrow spots - or use the top deck exclusively, or jog during meal times or night when there are few people out. All the cruise lines have put in various walking/jogging tracks with markings to indicate "observers" stay to the right, and walkers/joggers stay to the left. But all it takes is 1 person to gum it all up unfortunately - and that person doesn't read posts like these 🙃