curtdesilets

On 6/17/2019 at 10:18 AM, malony33 said:

On Oceania's web cite, there is a video of Sirena's new look.

It's very pretty - the red is gone!

The Red sort of reminded me of a Bordello.  Yikes! 

AWESOME!  We will be on Sirena for the 2nd time this December. 

We just booked for a December Pacific Coastal on Sirena and CANNOT wait! 

The travel agent said they poured $25 million into the refurbishment.

Just curious what is new...we sailed her a couple years ago. 

This would be devastating. Do any of you know how serious she is? This would (I assume) include Carnival, Princess, Holland america, etc. as the violation was a Caribbean Princess Ship and the judge is saying Carnival (aka the parent company)  Any feedback from you smart cruise fanatics out there? 

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/judge-threatens-to-bar-carnival-cruise-ships-from-u-s-ports

We found a fairly good deal on a Neptune Suite early this season to Alaska.  We have stayed in Signature Suites before.

What are all of the perks for getting a Neptune suite? 

It's about $500 pp more than a Signature Suite from my research on our cruise.

For those that book Neptune's, is the higher cost worth it?    Any input to this discussion is highly appreciated! 

Sometimes cruises do "clothing optional" or nude cruises. I suppose there is no dress code on those.

So sorry that we were just on the Amsterdam 2 weeks ago and took ZERO pics. We have done Alaska several times so left the camera @ home. Cell phone as well. Yes, I know it sounds insane but we wanted a total disconnect on this vacation. :o

Let me attest to you that Amsterdam is absolutely gorgeous. New furniture and carpeting everywhere. Well thought out. Crows Nest is totally inviting. New leather recliners, couches, the works. As far as "ugly stepsisters" comments.. PLEEZE!!

This is VERY helpful -- thank you!!!

Saw calving for the first time last year (Johns Hopkins). Was impressive, but we weren't close enough to really hear the impact. Still...pretty cool.

Nice to hear that the boat's in good shape. I wondered a little, but as long as it's clean, I'm happy. Nice is an extra though :-} And I really like the thought of shorter lines!!

Appreciate the music info. Sounds like there will be plenty. Not much in to classical, but the piano bar and house bands will probably be perfect. So many talented musicians on cruise ships!

Thanks too for the "2nd drink is $2" reminder. If someone doesn't remind me, I'm on the 3rd day before I remember it. Crow's Nest is usually where I go for a before dinner drink...meet some new friends. AND it sounds like Amsterdam's Crow's Nest will be better than what I'm used to.This will actually be my 33rd cruise...maybe I'll like this smaller ship and book them on purpose in the future!And I don't think it really matters which ship you're on in Alaska...I've never been disappointed sailing there...just too much gorgeous to worry about much else!

Thanks again!!

No worries. You will have a great cruise, trust me. Another hint, try the Pinnacle Lunch for $10. Even on Hubbard Day. We ate @ Noon, was done @ 1pm and we didn't actually get to the Glacier until 3pm. Another Hint. You see the approach to Hubbard on the way out, just in reverse. Sun is usually up by later in the day and all of the glacier watchers are fully worn out. Best time to appreciate it in my opinion. Hubbard will blow you away. Just saying!

But did they ever repair the atrium clock?

They did. I heard and experienced it 6am one morning and 8am another. It seems a bit random when it chimes but it is spectacular when it does. Perhaps an officer can tell you it's supposed schedule.

We were on Amsterdam 2 weeks ago on the same Alaska Cruise you are on . The refurbishment from May was great. Lots of upgrades. Mostly new carpet and furniture, but it almost feels like a new ship. We noticed hardly anything that felt aged or worn out. MS Amsterdam is 18 years old.

Yes, the ship gets very close to Hubbard Glacier and we saw perhaps the best calving ever. Anyone on the July 4th viewing can attest to that. The smaller size (1300-1400 passengers) is an attribute in our opinion. no lines anywhere. Easy disembarkation at ports. All venues are a short distance to walk from your stateroom no matter where you are assigned. My wife and I have been on about 30 cruises, and we now trend towards the smaller ships.

For music, there are a number of venues. We prefer the Ocean Bar and the Piano player Joel. He is a young chap from Tasmania who is incredibly talented. Adagio is a Classical group, just Piano and Violin but quite good. There are also 2 house bands. The venues rotate from Crows Nest, to Pool Area, to Ocean Bar to Explorers Lounge and Piano Bar. We were fortunate as well because a Jazz Group (Jazzdagen) was on board. They offered several free concerts. At 4pm there is a great happy hour with free and awesome appetizers and 2 for (almost) one drinks. We went every night, usually at the Ocean Bar but also the Crows Nest.

Speaking of the Crows Nest, it is one of the best observation lounges @ Sea. HAL did not change it to the highly criticized Explorations Central thingy with video screens blocking your view etc. It is a beautiful lounge with brand new leather furniture, highly decorative and huge windows.

Amsterdam does not have all of the bells and whistles of larger newer ships. Instead, she offers sophistication and a more classical cruise feel. You will have a wonderful time, believe me. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for you review! Can you post any pictures of the ship?

Sorry, we left the camera and cell phone @ home. A true vacation. :cool:

1) Salmon wrapped in pufffed pastry with dill sauce. It was outstanding!

2) In the Pinnacle Gril: The Seafood Stew in Italian Tomato Broth. Insanely good!

THIS THREAD IS 7 YEARS OLD. No worries currently on the Crown.

No worries indeed...that is if you wash your hands. ;p

Thank you for your review.

Glad you liked the Amsterdam. We have sailed on her quite a few times.

We last cruised Amsterdam in 2003 when she was barely 3 years old. We love the wood tones and elegant art. She is a beautiful ship and as nice as we remember. The refurb a few weeks ago made her even more pleasant. HAL did a great job of bringing her some new life. We had a nearly flawless cruise experience!

SO glad you had such a positive experience on the Amsterdam! Thanks for your review!

You are welcome! Amsterdam is now one of our favorite ships. We plan to cruise her again next season for Alaska!

One other suggestion. This year Seattle is doing something called "port valet". Essentially for free, your luggage will be magically transported from outside your stateroom on final night to your final destination airport baggage claim. They also print up your boarding passes without you having to queue in the internet café.

We did have the HAL transfers to the SEATAC airport. You would be responsible for any baggage fees, but we were on Jet Blue and had already paid for the single bag in our originally fare. So you just fill in the flight info on the HAL letter and you get the free perk of not having to drag your luggage off a bus, wait in line, work with slow ship internet to print boarding passes. You just walk off the ship and onto the transfer bus. No brainer!

Unbelievably awesome!

ok. i'll bite - what's your motive for reviving a 7 year old thread?

 

what do you get out of rehashing this?:mad:

Voljeep. Thanks for the post and I guess the angry face.:mad:

To answer your question... I was looking for some verbiage for a review by going over some of my earlier posts. Noticed that this particular post of mine got over 10,000 views so I was re-reading it.

The one thing I missed was a posting about the "48 hour quarantine". A fellow poster was questioning what happens if two passengers share the same room but only one is infected. The answer was the (supposedly )uninfected one is free to do what she/he wants to do regardless of the fact that he/she is sharing a quarantined room with an infected passenger. To me that poses NUMEROUS questions.

I do think it is a topic worth discussing.

Has Princess continued with this "quarantine policy" which by definition is not a quarantine?

What do health professionals here on the CC boards think of such a policy.

I was just curious, that is all.

.

Holland America Line appear to be the experts in this field. If you look at post #67 and click on the health statistics link during 2017, the last full year statistics are available. There are eleven outbreaks listed, five cases (just under half) are listed as relating to Holland America Line. These are spread across three of their vessels, Volendam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam. Noordam is almost an eponymous vessel.

 

Regards John

Thanks John. There was a lot of talk recently about this subject as Holland America has just had an outbreak on their 14 day Alaska Cruise. The consensus is that HAL has gotten quite lackadaisical in terms of enforcing clean procedures and reminding people to use good hygiene (washing hands, using hand sanitizer, paper towels on bathroom doors, etc.)

Seems each cruise line goes through a series of outbreaks and then responds. Oceania Rivera was a problem child a few years ago. Crown Princess obviously had some problems. Al in all though, norovirus is still a very rare occurrence. Consider the number of reported cases on the CDC website vs the totality of US cruise passengers yearly (about 15 million). The numbers are tiny.

I just submitted my review for our recent cruise. I rated it 5 stars out of 5:

This is a quick and concise review compared to most of my previous ones. We have been to Alaska several times so I will not share the port reviews.

The Wife and I were looking for a relaxing getaway and we chose this Alaskan Cruise based on timing and price. 4th of July fell on a Wednesday this year and business-wise, it made a lot of sense for us to take this cruise during a very slow work week. When we shopped around for cruises during this time period, several months ago, we noticed that the Alaska Cruises were quite a bit pricier than past Alaskan seasons. Good economy? Lots of demand? Who knows. But Travelocity seemed to have quite a good deal and gave us $200 On-board Credit. Our Cruise price was a real bargain in comparison..

We chose an outside cabin in the front of the ship on the lower deck. Stateroom 1805 is designed for handicapped people but is about twice as big as a regular OV (DW is disabled) The stateroom was excellent in our opinion. Odd shape but well over 300 square feet. Plenty of storage space. Excellent room!

We had an excellent stateroom attendant (Yusaf) and his assistant. They did a great job. As an example, we needed the beds rearranged and told them before the Muster Drill. We get back from the Muster Drill and the room is totally made up! We are earlyy diners and without telling Yusaf, he knew and made our rooms up quickly every night. Spotlessly! They both deserved the extra tips we gave them at the end of the cruise.

Food and service was excellent. We stuck primarily to the Lido Buffet. There was fresh Salmon every day. They are also serving little Tapas style plates for dinner that were great...couscous salad, marinated vegetables, prawn salad and the like.

Pinnacle Lunch is a great secret. Do not miss it. I'm telling you. Apparently the Rudy's Special Meal for $49pp for only one night is also a winner. We unfortunately did not get a chance to try it though.

Amsterdam was spotless. Service was outstanding. Approx 1350 passengers are easier to manage than the massive megaships that abound. Our last Cruise was Emerald Princess over Thanksgiving with over 3500 pax and 700 children. Enough said on the comparison to this cruise!

Tip: Do not try using the ship's internet while in port. For some reason it slows to a crawl. Works better out at sea. DW was on for 10 minutes in Ketchikan and could not even get into her e-mail account. It was that slow. We brought it up to the front desk who immediately re-credited her 10 minute session. No questions asked! Satellite works fine while we are not in port. Tip for you all!

Embarkation and Disembarkation were a breeze.

All in all, a great cruise and we got what we wanted. Relaxation and a reboot before going back to work the a day after disembarkation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

-Curtis

We just returned from this cruise last week. It was OUTSTANDING! I will share my review soon.

OP Here. I am rereading this thread about the Norovirus situation on Crown Princess a few years ago. I do think Princess has learned from the situation. But this one skipped my collective consciousness...

In response to a question about 75 cabins being quarantined on our cruise and what the policy was if only one person in the cabin was sick...

The other person is not quarantined.

Do you all see a problem with this one?? :confused::confused:

Mendenhall glacier has retreated 1.75 miles (2.82 km) since 1929, when Mendenhall Lake was created, and over 2.5 miles (4.0 km) since 1500.

The end of the glacier currently has a negative glacier mass balance

Yes, Curt, you are right:D

Oh , and I am pretty sure Mark Twain has a quote for that! ;p

My Darling Wife wants to know:

When usually is the 1st Formal Night on Alaska Cruises ?

We sail a 7 day RT Amsterdam out of Seattle and I am assuming it is the 1st Sea Day on our way to Juneau.

Am I right? :confused:

Thanks for all of the responses. We will make an educated decision based on weather etc. I do expect it to be relatively empty though given the Glacier fascination. Agreed, Hubbard is something to behold!

Thank you for sharing this info.

I really loved our tour at Mendenhall. it was a special day with GREAT MEMORIES. I even enjoye d our visit to the ranger station, definitely our salmon bake lunch.

I am sorry others will miss that opportunity at least for now.

The flood alert is over, but apparently it could re-occur at anytime this summer. Not sure if these sort of events are a "flash flood" event like you sometimes see in the desert. We have been to Alaska several times on cruises but have never heard of this. I was just checking the weather in Juneau for our sailing next week and this "Special Alert" came up. - Curt (OP)