TableGirl

I’m so sorry. I hope it turns up soon.

Just a follow up - PORT VALET worked well and both suitcases arrived for all three of us traveling together. I agree - how nice would it be to have Port Valet everywhere 🙂

Email “Custom Ink ”https://www.customink.com and tell them they printed a large order of t-shirts and fleeces for a group and explain the Alaska logo to them. I had emailed for a friend who didn’t get to order in time and they said they could still do it but that was a couple of months ago but I bet they can still print them or embroider a fleece.

Thoughts on packing for this trip - for Ladies Now that I’ve done it once I hope it’ll be easier the next time. I brought 2 large suitcases and a roll aboard and my backpack. I needed to do some work on this trip so I had my laptop and although internet was decent my gov’t interface was difficult and my connection wasn’t quite strong enough to do any amount of work. I had upgraded to the premium internet (my Have it All package provided for the ‘surf’ package) and it was pretty good but HAL has done something to the Navigator app and it is more cumbersome to switch between devices. I digress…. A friend who owns a uniform store ordered a 3-piece jacket for me from Port Authority and it was the perfect cold weather item/jacket. It had an outer waterPROOF shell (I could shake or brush droplets of water off and as often as I walked through the rain the jacket with the hood kept me dry as bone), and I chose a fleece jacket liner and a vest liner. They were easy to zip in and zip out. The vest was useful when the days weren’t so cold and the fleece for days when it was colder. However, I wear a medium top and large coat but I should have sized up to an XL so I can wear bulkier items underneath but this worked well for this trip because I didn’t have any bulky items with me. I also ordered from “Nearly New Cashmere” - a UK company - a cashmere neck warmer (so I never had to worry about losing my scarf or tucking it away) and fingerless cashmere gloves. Both are reasonably priced. I had a pair of nice gloves from Amazon that I could use with my phone but after 3 weeks of use - light use at that - the black rubber grippers were peeling off so I left them on the ship. I had a merino wool beanie cap and a leather baseball cap. I used the baseball cap when it rained so that came in handy about 3 times. Was glad to have the beanie but didn’t wear that often. I brought sneakers and a pair of dress platform sandals. I also threw in my flip flops but because I forgot I had put them in the suitcase I sent ahead I threw in another pair of slide sandals for the hydro pool. (Note if packing and send one suitcase ahead write down everything you put in it!) I wore my white sneakers to dinner some nights, I wore my athletic sneakers walking around towns and on excursions and I had a pair of nicer metallic sneakers I hardly wore at all but I had feared it would be too cold to wear sandals. But my feet were never cold going to dinner so I wore those most nights. I had 3 pairs of jeans but only needed 2 pair. I had 2 pair of regular leggings and 2 pair of fleece leggings. I could have done without the regular leggings as I didn’t want to risk going into the gym and getting Covid again. (But I got it anyway because people aren’t considerate enough to stay in their room when they’re coughing and sneezing and clearly not well because no longer is it ever just a cold….) I had one pair of ‘faux’ denim pants, a pair of dressier black pants (Spanx Air Essentials with a tie waist), a pair of navy cotton pants nice enough for dinner or casual enough for excursions and a pair of white denim. Note to self - never travel with white denim pants. I also had 2 pair of looser, thinner nylon pants that I layered with the fleece leggings and 2 pair of wide leg yoga style pants that could double as dressier and I could also layer the fleece leggings under. I had several items to use as base layers - tighter tanks but I could have done with just 2 and one nude camisole. I brought 2 smart wool ‘t-shirts’ but only wore 1 and I layered a long sleeve t-shirt underneath. I had 4 sweatshirts and could have done with just 2. I had 3 dressier blouses and could have done with one and one nice sweater for ‘dressy’ nights. I had one heavier white cable cardigan which I wore a lot as well as a double zip white T by Talbots heavier t-shirt fabric jacket which I didn’t necessarily need but I wore it a lot. I had too many short sleeve layering t-shirts. Long sleeve tees for layering would have been enough. I brought too many scarves but they’re a good way to change up the look of an outfit. Could have done with less of those but it’s always hard to decide which ones to pack. I brought one pair of wool hand knitted socks that I hand washed and wore 4 times, I had a pair of smart wool socks I wore once, and the rest were no show socks. I had some trouser socks and wore them once but could have left those off too. I’m 4-star so laundry is free but I am picky when it comes to my clothes. I spend a lot of money on my clothes and I work hard to keep them nice and they last. I don’t like sending my laundry out but on this trip I had too. I wrote care instructions and notes on my laundry slip and the laundry did a wonderful job. I sent them an extra large tip via the Executive Housekeeper with a note to him expressing how happy I was with their work. I often got notes back from the laundry thanking me for trusting them with my laundry. If I had a spot on piece of clothing I noted it and they always got it out without damaging anything. They did not disappoint me at all and I will bear this in mind for future HAL cruises. The weather can change in an instant in Alaska so you do need a variety of weights to stay comfortable. I was mostly cold so warmer items were suitable for me. There were plenty of people (mostly men) that wore shorts in SE Alaska ports. I thought that was extreme but perhaps they were Canadians or Northerners. Happy to answer any questions any of you may have via email.

Info about Seattle Airport Well my first impression arriving and now departing Seattle’s airport was and still is that it is a HOT MESS. Here is what I hope will be some useful information for the 2025 cruisers that I hope will be helpful. Bear in mind that any or all of the information provided COULD change in year! We arrived in Seattle on Friday night before our Sunday embarkation as we wanted a day in Seattle to see the Chihuly Museum, go up into the Space Needle (my friends who used to live in Seattle kind of poo-poo’ed that but I loved it because of the beautiful views of the city) and we went to Pike’s Market which was mobbed. (I’d Recommend an early morning visit to Pike’s if you want to see it. The flowers for sale are just gorgeous and they are so reasonably priced!) Whether you are arriving and going directly to the ship or coming in ahead of time, there appeared to be no way to avoid getting your luggage and lugging it upstairs across the bridge and then back downstairs to get a taxi or car service or hotel shuttle. The area for hotel shuttles is tight and I can’t imagine how they find anyone there. The taxis and Ubers/Lyfts come into a garage area. It’s just awful. Apparently when they ‘added on’ to the airport (according to one of our many drivers when we were here the weekend before we sailed) it caused the maze that is making it the mess that it is. We had shipped one suitcase with Luggage Forward so we had one suitcase and our carry ons with us. I wish I had gotten a trolly to pile it on and just pushed the trolley. There were 3 of us and we took a taxi to our nearby hotel for $33 and then added a tip on top of that of course. One thing to note for that particular June weekend was that it is ‘graduation’ weekend. They hold big graduations in a stadium for the University. So bear in mind you’ll be fighting for hotel space, car services etc next year so it pays it book early. Leaving the hotel on Sunday to go to the ship we had arranged a prepaid car service called Blacklane that picked us and our luggage up and it was a nice big SUV for 4 of us. That worked well considering we were staying out near the airport. Next time - and we’re talking about doing this cruise again in 3 years - we would come in a day ahead and stay down town. We would use luggage forward for all luggage and I’d bring the bare minimum in my carry on to get through the night and onto the ship the next day. I tend to pack heavy which is my cross to bear. One of these days I’ll learn 🙂 Leaving the ship today - We all used Port Valet for our luggage. We met around 8:15 in Billboard On Board with our carry ons. Our 4th person who is mobility challenged left the ship early because her flight had been changed to 11:something. She used a wheel chair to get out to the taxi and she waited about 15 minutes to get on the elevator. When we left the ship around 8:45 (our flight is at 3:35 pm but it is direct!) there must have been at least 50-75 wheel chairs and scooters in line to get on the elevator. Yikes! We sailed past that line to get to the escalator and out the door. No customs or immigrations folks in sight. We were sharing the terminal with a large Princess ship that had also docked that morning. However, once outside we were guided down the “middle” column to get to our pre-paid car service. The “private” cars were on the left side which is where we should have been because we had to cross over to that area and of course we were screamed at by a lady trying to control traffic and keep it moving but at that point we weren’t going to walk all the way back to the front just to use the cross walk. If you want to use a Lyft or Uber you have a very LONG way to walk way out of the fray to get to those services. There is a shuttle that will take you there but the shuttle gets stuck in all the traffic so it’s a bit of a viscous cycle. In retrospect - knowing what we know now, we would have taken a taxi. We used Blacklane car service again and it was fine but we were ready to go and he was early but he was stuck in all that traffic so he picked us up at our previously requested time. It was a solid 30 minutes once we got in the car to the airport with no Sunday morning traffic. But it is clear by the lines at the airport that it is summer vacation season and a holiday weekend, We walked forever to get to the TSA pre-check line. We were dropped off at Delta but we didn’t need to check in because we used Port Valet so the ship delivered our baggage tags AND our boarding pass to our staterooms yesterday morning. A couple of us are traveling first class so we didn’t have to worry about paying checked baggage fees but if your bags are overweight you aren’t charged extra - you ‘re only charged for checking bags if your ticket level dictates it. My bags were both over 50 pounds I am sure of it and I had no extra charges. They don’t really have any way of charging you. Unless maybe they were to charge us at the gate. Once we got through security we stopped and had the BEST breakfast sandwich and French Toast at a cute place that had sit-down service AND grab and go service, called Floret en route to terminal A which is the end of the earth in this airport. Our 4th friend who left early was at the other end over in S terminal! This airport is a royal pain in the a$$ BUT Port Valet makes up for it in my opinion.

I’ve taken some pictures of my stateroom for storage purposes. I’ll post those in a week or so.

Juneau’s sidewalks were so crowded you could hardly walk. It pays to research the ships that will be in port when you are and plan your excursions accordingly.

You are correct. All 5 of those ports you have listed were tender ports.

Prince Rupert What a gorgeous day in Prince Rupert. The sun shined finally aroundlate morning, and the skies turned from cloudy to a beautiful blue. Today, 3 of my party took the Cruise Specialist Trolley tour with lunch at a local restaurant called Arabisk. The mobility challenged of my group found it easy enough to get onto and off the trolley though she only got off at the restaurant not at our two other stops. Prince Rupert is small and easily walkable if you want to visit the town on your own. We docked right next to downtown which was a walk up a slight incline. There were shipping container kiosks set up selling mostly handmade goods along the pier, some homemade snacks and some matted photographs and one guy was cooking Mexican food. The official visitor center was a very short walk in a small group of buildings to the left of the pier where we were docked. They had visitor maps for free in several locations - the kiosks and in the official visitors center. Our trolley tour seemed to do a loop 2 or 3 times around Prince Rupert. We had both a driver and a guide. Another retired teacher as a guide. I think teachers must have this innate sense that they need to pass on every bit of information they have to their group. She had a microphone and she was easy to hear. I found the seats comfortable but I noticed when we stopped some folks moved to the cushion pull down seats in the back. I think the trolley also had a lift for those in wheel chairs but I can’t be certain. I’ll try to check that and post that in a wrap up. After almost 2 hours we finally got to the restaurant. It was a pretty restaurant and they had a raised area up 3 steps - set up for our group of probably 60-70 people. (Not so much an ADA accessible place.) Then back down 3 steps to get to the middle eastern buffet which included a Caesar salad, a Feta Salad, some mixed vegetable (a lot of corn) salad, freshly made hummus and baba ghanoush, very thick pita bread, something akin to pizza, rice with raisins and something that I thought was a black olive (it wasn’t and I spit it out!) and some hot pasta dish as well as baklava which I also don’t eat. The sides were decent. They brought around skewers with meats (Brazilian style) - beef tikka, chicken shistawook, marinated (and meaty) grilled drumsticks, some other beef skewer (looked like minced beef (probably with seasonings) formed on the skewer (which I know I don’t like so didn’t try it) and of course the last thing they brought out after everyone was full was the Ribeye steak which was very tasty - but I only had a bite, literally. The meal included wine, beer, sodas…..they greeted us with a glass of champagne (I think that’s what it was but I can’t drink alcohol in the middle of the day) when we came in. It was all good but seemed an odd choice. I’d have been happier having fish and chips since this is the halibut capital of the world. After lunch the trolley brought us back to the pier. The Fish and Chips places close by (within walking distance) that were recommended by the visitor center were Bob’s and Dolly’s - 2 different directions from the ship. TBH, the trolley tour probably should have only lasted an hour or maybe an hour and 15 minutes. The Ice House was a lovely little gift ship not half way up the incline to town (where you could also walk to a Wal-Mart in the mall or the Safeway which has a Starbucks). The Ice House may be a cooperative because there was a wide variety of nice quality items at great prices (in Canadian dollars). The fourth in our party did a Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Adventure -by boat - a 7 hour private excursion and I hope someone will write about here because it sounded absolutely wonderful. They saw bears, Orcas and humpbacks.

Misty Fjord One poster has already reported on the unscheduled stop in Ketchikan to offload a medical emergency announced around 11 pm the night before. The Captain finally mentioned it at his noon announcement. I was surprised in the morning when the ship sounded like we dropped anchor (my room is near the front so I hear a lot) and I turned on the bow camera and thought - wow this looks like Ketchikan. Too bad we couldn’t have had a “do over” as our stop in Ketchikan was probably the worst weather we’ve had on the entire cruise. But yesterday was beautiful there. We were fortunate to have a gorgeous day in Misty Fjord with absolutely no “mist” or fog. I feel like there were a lot of days with mist and fog on this trip but yesterday was gorgeous and today in Prince Rupert promises nice weather too. Three of the four of my party took the excursion yesterday in Misty Fjiord. Our mobility challenged friend was concerned about her ability to get from boat to boat and indeed it would have been difficult. The Shore Excursion manager was moving us from the Rolling Stone Lounge when we were stopped on the stairs because someone realized the difference between the height of the tender platform and the boat we were offloading onto was fairly great. So they did something to lessen it while we waited stuck standing on the chairs for about 10 minutes. One woman standing next to me commented to her husband that she had never spent so much time waiting in line as she had on this cruise. (I can’t disagree with her but then I don’t have trouble standing, but for people who do, beware.) Coming back, we had the same issue about the height difference but the HAL guys practically lifted some us from the small boat to the tender operation. One of our group said at dinner they didn’t offer an arm to help, they just grabbed and moved her. I’m not sure how they handled the folks in wheelchairs. There were 140 of us from HAL and not every seat was filled on the large catamaran. The catamaran was nice enough but not as nice as the ‘Stan Stephen’s’ Catamaran used out of Valdez for the Colombia Glacier tour. It had a bathroom reported by one of our party and it was big enough to turn around in she said. The crew was nice - they served donut holes first, then a choice of clam chowder or vegetarian chili with a pack of oyster crackers to top it, and afterward a ritz cracker with smoked sockeye salmon. There was free beer and wine (I don’t what kinds) and sodas, and water and coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Our excursion was at 3:00 and our dinner reservation at the Canaletto was at 6:00 so I didn’t eat anything. The boat had traveled up 55 miles up from Ketchikan to get us. The same 55 miles we traveled to get all they up into the fjord. I don’t like to offer to negative reviews but I want to tell it like is. So, I hate to say it but I’m sorry I wasted my money. This tour was about $250 if I recall. I’d have been better off just listening to Kurt’s commentary because the excursion didn’t really get go anywhere this ship didn’t pass by coming into the Fjord or leaving it. We got a bit closer to the water’s edge. But I believe it was billed as a nature and wildlife cruise and we saw a couple of bald eagles and the naturalist pointed out some harbor seals in the distance that I couldn’t see. Speaking of the naturalist - there were 2, a man and a woman. The man was FULL of bad puns/jokes. It was a bit much. The Captain said she was excited to take us on this trip because they got to see things they didn’t usually get to see, for example we were to go into “God’s Pocket” but then I never heard anyone tell us we were in “God’s Pocket”. We went to one place close to the shoreline that had what she called a pictograph of a ‘sun’ with rays (described as ‘dots’) on the side of a granite wall. It just looked like a different color pink than the rust color seen on much of the granite walls of the fjord. We had to beat feet to get back to the ship - apparently we were a bit late because once when the Captain was speaking over the loudspeaker she said the ship was calling and we were already running late. Our ship and moved from the “punch bowl” area a bit further out of the top of the fjord where we sat for a couple of hours earlier in the afternoon. The tender platform was down and waiting for us when we returned and the hotel manager, who was there to see us off the ship was there to see us back onto the ship. No security check getting back on, just a scan of the key card. There are plenty of excursions on this trip I would repeat but this one isn’t one of them.

Juneau The Westerdam docked at the pier but then so did 2 other VERY large ships and a Norwegian ship looked to be anchored in the harbor to be tendered in but it was hard to tell in the rain and fog. It’s not a terribly long pier to get shore side with a ramp but it was a bit steep which can be an issue for those with mobility challenges (especially walkers). It seems that Juneau is one of those places with wide ranging tides. We had a fabulous whale watching trip - same as @RetiredMustang. There were a number of boats in the area and there were whales all around us. So many in fact, that our heads couldn’t spin around fast enough! We went with a small boat excursion, Harv and Marv’s. I used them in 2019 and Captain Graham from my 2019 trip was still with them but he took a different group out - we had Captain Charles who had been out on one trip that morning already so he knew where the Humpbacks were feeding. (People on the small boat excursions were taken to the small boat harbor in a smaller bus - 2 groups of 6 on our bus - but people on the larger boat excursions I think went on a bigger bus. Harv and Marv’s has a total of 7 boats and I think they are different sizes.) Harv and Marv’s picked us up right at the pier and took us to the small boat harbor - about a 15-20 minute drive. The small group excursion we were on had room for 6 ($175 pp) but one of our party didn’t feel well and didn’t want to fight the weather so it was only 5 of us. It was foggy and threatening rain. We had offered the extra two spots to round out our part of 6 on CC and had a nice couple join us. Captain Charles was awesome and so excited about his work. When the Captain gets excited about how many whales you’re seeing, you knew it was a special day. However, the seas were so rough that it was near impossible to stand up to take pictures off the back. (I will try to post pictures of the boat when I get home.) When I looked at my pictures on the camera roll the coast line jumps up and down due to the rough seas. We weren’t in “open” water per se, but Charles said the tides were coming in (or maybe going out) and where that meets/mixes other channel waters it makes for rougher seas. In this particular area there was a deep hole or something the whales swim around and then dive for food. TBH I couldn’t quite hear everything because I was on the back of the boat taking pictures. It was hard to have sea legs in those conditions but I grew up on boats so I could handle it. I put my phone on a lanyard around my neck - there’s no way I could have held onto it otherwise. Charles could name a number of the whales - they are named officially and tracked by their tails and fins - see HappyWhale.com for more info (I haven’t looked at this site yet). Like @RetiredMustang we saw one of the baby whales breech a number of times. There were times when 2 whales would dive at once but I was never at just the right angle for the perfect whale tail shot. After spending about an hour there we moved on and Charles spotted Sasha. He had some great stories about her. He said she’s pretty sneaky and had birthed 4 calves (is that the right term?) in4 years. The incubation period is 11 1/2 months! Yikes. Apparently she’s a fierce momma - stories about her are legendary. She was traveling so it was difficult to keep up with her. She had a beautiful tail though and I finally got a pretty good shot. She would dive and stay down for good bit and come up a lot farther away than I would have expected. Charles said June and July are by far the best months for whale watching and I can attest to that. Last time I was here was in August of 2019 and that was my first whale watching trip. It was a great experience and got me hooked on whale watching but that first experience couldn’t touch yesterday’s trip in Juneau. Being in a smaller boat closer to the water makes for better viewing, That was probably my 8th whale watching trip (I’ve done whale watching in Iceland and the Caribbean so far but not in Hawaii yet) and it was the best I’d ever been on. Harv and Marv’s picked us up at 10:45pm so we got on the boat around 11 am and got back to the small boat harbor at 2:00 pm. There was a bathroom on board (I didn’t use it) and he had water and snacks as well. When we returned to the small boat harbor pier at 2 it was raining. It was still raining when we got back to the ship. If it hadn’t been raining we’d have gone for Fish and Chips but it was at the far end of the area where the cruise ships dock and I think Capt Charles said it was called the Hanger and the Wharf. If you like crab, right across from where the ship docked was a place where people lined up at 9 am - Tracy’s King Crab Shack. A red building with big letters so you can’t miss it. After a quick lunch at the Dive-In we retreated to our room but a few minutes later the rain had stopped so two of us went back out to explore the area with about 5 thousand others from the various ships in town. Way too many jewelry stores! For the Quilters and Crafters Of course we made our way to the quilt shop called Changing Tides at 175 South Franklin Street up on the 2nd floor. It’s bigger than when I was there in 2019 and better stocked. It was similar to Cabin Fever in Anchorage but far more traditional quilting fabrics - both Alaska themed and regular good quality quilting cottons. They had an entire line of Art Gallery Solids. I don’t need any more fabric but she had William and Morris prints from a line I love at half off - $7.00 a yard! So of course I made a purchase so there’s another box being shipped. She also carried a wide range of other nice quality gift items. There was a cute little Tea and Spice Shop downstairs along with an Art Gallery type store. We also went into the Alpaca International store. Honestly why did I bother. Prices are jaw dropping for the Peruvian made goods. They try a hard sell tactic but I doubt it works very often. We didn’t stay long. The fog finallly lifted by 6:30 and I considered taking the tram up the mountain but I’ll save that for my next visit. Today is July 3rd and the temperature on the TV is 51.8 F at 7:30 am. It’s looking a bit foggy outside for our scenic cruising today in Tracy Arm. Tonight is our last dressy night,

Ah, that makes sense. I hardly ever drink alcoholic beverages at home because I’m always driving but on a cruise I get to enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine. I like having the beverages packages because you don’t have to worry about a bill at the end the trip. I’ve drunk my weight in hot chocolate on this trip and I’m thankful they haven’t run out of cocoa (or hot chocolate mix) in the Crow’s Nest Bar like they did on my Iceland trip in 2022.

Corrected from previous post (sorry about that!) I haven’t seen that sign posted - you still just pay the difference. However, my group of 4 along with a number of other folks we have spoken to have noticed our Westerdam cruise is full of disorganization to an extent that is astounding frankly. It feels like the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. And I am not exaggerating. I have been charged full drink prices for beverages over the $11 limit for the Signature Beverage package and when I questioned it at the front desk with guest services she fixed it. So, it pays to check your bill EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I can’t tell you how many mistakes my traveling party of 4 (all of us in single rooms) have had overcharges. One of them has managed to rectify hers by putting it in the “Let Us Know” section on the Navigator app. But yes @terrydtx they are back to “nickel and diming” us on drinks. (Sometimes you have to sign for your drinks but sometimes you don’t which is also irritating. With the colds, coughs and sneezes - and Covid on this ship, touching pens is NOT a good idea.). The last time I was on HAL (August 2022) I had the HIA Signature Beverage package. It included fresh squeezed OJ and milkshakes but now it doesn’t. The first trip back after the Covid shutdown the beverage package included the screw top can of water but then quickly after that trip they took it off the package but didn’t take it off the picture advertising that beverage package. I protested and the F&B manager had some screw top cans delivered to my room. Seriously, what good is a pop-top can of water unless you’re just sitting at table? Now many of the drink prices have increased. I used to be able to get a Kir Royale and a Cosmopolitan under the $11 limit. A Kir Royale is sparking wine ($9.50 on the menu) with a splash of cassis. Over $11, really? There is now an “Elite” beverage package which is even more expensive so perhaps it covers some of those drinks. When I signed up for this cruise I had the Elite Beverage package but I rebooked it with the Signature HIA package and knocked over $2,000 off the final price. It’s very frustrating that these changes aren’t widely known or advertised ahead of time. That said, the servers come back to us to tell us it is over the cost of the $11 limit. So I give the servers that. As always, the TCN crew save the day. (One reason I continue to sail with HAL - great crew members.) I hope that’s an indication they are being paid a fair wage - however I still tip well.

@terrydtx I just posted a response (longer) but now I’m going to see if I can find the price difference in the beverage packages.

I haven’t seen that sign posted - you still just pay the difference. However, my group of 4 along with a number of other folks we have spoken to have noticed our Westerdam cruise is full of disorganization to an extent that is astounding frankly. It feels like the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. And I am not exaggerating. I have been charged full drink prices for beverages over the $11 limit for the Signature Beverage package and when I questioned it at the front desk with guest services she fixed it. So, it pays to check your bill EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I can’t tell you how many mistakes my traveling party of 4 (all of us in single rooms) have had overcharges. One of them has managed to rectify hers by putting it in the “Let Us Know” section on the Navigator app. But yes @terrydtx they are back to “nickel and diming” us on drinks. (Sometimes you have to sign for your drinks but sometimes you don’t which is also irritating. With the colds, coughs and sneezes - and Covid on this ship, touching pens is NOT a good idea.). The last time I was on HAL (August 2022) I had the HIA Signature Beverage package. It included fresh squeezed OJ and milkshakes but now it doesn’t. The first trip back after the Covid shutdown the beverage package included the screw top can of water but then quickly after that trip they took it off the package but didn’t take it off the picture advertising that beverage package. I protested and the F&B manager had some screw top cans delivered to my room. Seriously, what good is a pop-top can of water unless you’re just sitting at table? Now many of the drink prices have increased. I used to be able to get a Kir Royale and a Cosmopolitan under the $11 limit. A Kir Royale is sparking wine ($9.50 on the menu) with a splash of cassis. Over $11, really? There is now an “Elite” beverage package which is even more expensive so perhaps it covers some of those drinks. When I signed up for this cruise I had the Elite Beverage package but I rebooked it with the Signature HIA package and knocked over $2,000 off the final price. It’s very frustrating that these changes aren’t widely known or advertised ahead of time. That said, the servers come back to us to tell us it is over the cost of the $11 limit. So I give the servers that. As always, the TCN crew save the day. (One reason I continue to sail with HAL - great crew members.) I hope that’s an indication they are being paid a fair wage - however I still tip well.

Ah, I see I didn’t understand the question before I answered it on the Westerdam live thread. I haven’t seen that sign posted - you still just pay the difference. However, our Westerdam cruise is full of disorganization to an extent that is astounding frankly. I have been charged full drink prices for beverages over the $11 limit for the Signature Beverage package and when I questioned it at the front desk she fixed it. So, it pays to check your bill EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I can’t tell you how many mistakes my traveling party of 4 (all of us in single rooms) have had overcharges. One of them has managed to rectify hers by putting it in the “Let Us Know” section on the Navigator app.

I wish I had known about this change. The last time I was on HAL (August 2022) I had the HIA Signature Beverage package. It included fresh squeezed OJ and milkshakes but now it doesn’t. The first trip back after the Covid shutdown the beverage package included the screw top can of water but then quickly after that trip they took it off the package but didn’t take it off the picture. Now many of the drink prices have increased. I used to be able to get a Kit Royale and a Cosmopolitan under the $11 limit. A Kir Royale is sparking wine (9.50 on the menu) with a splash of cassis. Over $11, really? There is now an “Elite” beverage package which is even more expensive so perhaps it covers some of those drinks. It’s very frustrating that these changes aren’t widely known or advertised. I’ll go back and look at those threads. Thanks. @terrydtx for posting that,

It is kind of amazing how fast the weather changes in Alaska. You can step out on your balcony to see if it really is as warm as they say it is then you leave the ship and the wind whips up and it’s much cooler than you expected! We’ve had mostly good weather but the heavy fog that kept us from the Arctic Circle was a huge disappointment. Ketchikan, Kodiak and Juneau were, I think our worst weather days with fog and rain but we still managed to enjoy all of our excursions. Ihope your September trip is great!

This is a gorgeous photo - thank you! However, I saw NO peonies at all in Homer - perhaps that particular location has a later blooming time. I had a feeling I should have gone to the Botanical Garden in Anchorage. Next time I know, so thanks!

Haines/Skagway We booked our White Summit Rail pass through our travel agent but HAL did the same excursion. The Westerdam docked in Haines. The pier is very long to get to the street but there were golf carts for folks who needed assistance. Some of the free shuttles were handicap friendly and had a lift for people in wheelchairs. My mobility challenged friend managed to get on one of the shuttles and took a ride around Haines. The shuttles started running at 9 am. A bus took us to the ferry which was literally about 500 feet (if that?) from the Visitor Center. Barely a stone’s throw from the ship. I laughed when we stopped so soon. However, for the mobility challenged folks, the bus saved time getting them there. This excursion required us to take a ferry to Skagway to catch the train. It was called a “Fast Ferry” but I didn’t think it went very fast. The ferry had a small upstairs area where views were a bit better of the fjord and the water heading north to Skagway. You could easily access the outside deck for unimpeded photographs. It was a nice ferry (with bathrooms on board) and took about 45 minutes. It was narrated the whole way. The water was beautiful. Almost a Caribbean pale green. The narrator pointed out waterfalls and other points of interest along the way. But there wasn’t much in the way of wildlife to see. There were a lot of us in our travel agent’s group and the HAL group was combined with us for the travel but our travel agent group had a separate car on the train. It was all well organized and they did a great job of keeping us all together despite the 4 large cruise ships in Skagway which surely added about 10,000 extra people to Skagway that day. The train ride goes about half the length of the tracks - and the track goes all the way into British Colombia and the Yukon Territory. They provided an excellent map (that you could follow as we went north) and narration the entire way and it was easy to hear the narration in all train cars. You could stand on the platforms outside in between the cars but weren’t allowed to move between the cars. It was cooler than I expected and very windy so I didn’t go out on the platform. There was a bathroom on board though I didn’t use it. The views are spectacular and the train tracks are an engineering marvel. However, I’ve done it once now and wouldn’t do it again. I’m sure they’re safe but some of the track looks old and unsafe (it’s mostly one way but there are places where there are double tracks so the oncoming trains can pass). Plus knowing that earthquakes can be deadly in Alaska and looking down to see nothing under you or such a steep incline took my breath away sometimes. I’m not a chicken when it comes to most things but once was enough for me. A boxed lunch was provided - sandwich, chips, a cookie pack and a bottle of water. It was okay but the sandwich was a lot of bread the Hellman’s mayo packet wouldn’t open so the sandwich was dry. I wasn’t that hungry anyway. After the 3-hour train trip, (our train ride ended downtown near the depot in Skagway) we had a mere 40 minutes in Skagway (population 1,600 according to our Ferry guide) which wasn’t enough. It’s a charming little town but it was packed with tourists from the cruise ships. My goal was to get to Quilt Alaska to get some more of the fabric line that the place in Anchorage had run out of. The Alaska quilt shops carry Alaska specific items and fabrics you can’t find in the lower 48. I didn’t have time to look around much - the quilt shop was at the north end of town and making our way through the crowds up there and back took time. We got on a bus for a short ride back to our ferry and then the ferry back to Haines. I believe our travel agent excursion was $340 and the HAL excursion was $350. You could probably do them a bit less expensively on your own if you wanted to. However, I believe the last ferry from Skagway to Haines was the 2:00 pm ferry we were on. It made the return trip back to Skagway for the night and when we got back the line was the full length of the very long pier. (I’ll try to post pictures after I get home.) After we returned, we got right on the shuttle into Haines. The driver narrated the whole way and told us what was in town. One of the first things he pointed out was a food truck that sold freshly caught and cooked crab. I’m not a fan of crab but my friends thought that sounded wonderful. He also pointed out a place for great Halibut Fish and Chips but since we had reservations for the Morimoto pop-up at the Pinnacle Grill last night we passed. It’s a cute enough little town (Skagway is a bit more set up for tourists IMO) with fishing as the main industry. Our traveling party that lost a filling managed to get into the one dentist in Haines and she said he did great job. Nice, clean and new modern office. So two of us had unexpected dental emergencies (mine was taken care of in Kodiak by the Bridgeview Dental Group) and hers in Haines and we both had positive experiences. If I’d had the energy at this point I would have liked to have seen the hammer museum and I’d have gone into the Bald Eagle Foundation but it had already been a long day. Besides, I’ll need to save something for the next visit. Being in a small port like Skagway with 4 HUGE cruise ships wasn’t particularly fun. Of those 4 ships, 3 were docked and one had to tender people to shore due a recent rockslide and the area hadn’t been made safe yet. In retrospect I’m glad we docked in Haines instead as we were the only ship in port.

Homer Originally we had booked a HAL sponsored peony farm tour for Homer. But then our travel agent was hosting some different excursions so we signed up for a visit to peony farm with a cooking demonstration for Alaskan foods. Our excursion was cancelled a couple weeks before the cruise because the vendor didn’t have proper insurance for the bus. We decided not to go back to the original HAL excursion when, after some more research we learned that the peonies don’t bloom until July. (However, we learned that Alaska exports more peonies to the lower 48 in late summer than any other place in the world. One of these days I’d love to see peonies in bloom in Alaska!) At this point, one of our party had filling that fell out so she didn’t feel like getting out and another is mobility challenged and she wasn’t up to the tender and just walking around on the spit as two of us wanted to do. I love the “spit” - lots of cute gift shops and eateries. I had done the hop on hop off back in 2019 so if you’ve never been Homer I recommend that if you want to see the town. I met a sweet, young, local couple in Anchorage who recommended Two Sisters bakery for wonderful pastries and if you want a more substantial breakfast/brunch/lunch they said there is a great place for crepes in Homer. So, we spent our morning walking the spit. The tender operation was fine and we had a very steep ramp up to street level. Remember the tide variations in Alaska are huge. We shopped in a number of different gift shops but my main goal was the Alaska Salt Co. which I had shopped in back in 2019. You can follow them on social media. I bought several flavored salts and bath and skin care products for gifts and had them ship it home for me since all the goods were mostly packaged in nice glass jars and they were heavy. One comment on the “spit” - the sand is a dirty dark gray and my light blue sneakers were filthy after walking around for a few hours. There are roads but to get to the shops on the side opposite of the area where the boats are docked you walk through the sandy areas to get up to the boardwalk area where the shops are located. This may not be the best for mobility challenged folks using a walker and not all the board walks had ramps leading up to the shops as I recall. There are 2 separate strips of shops on one side of the spit and the side where all the boats are docked are at street level. If you only spent your time walking the spit you could be easily entertained looking at the beautiful wild flowers, the seafarers monument, the mountain views (possibly with the clouds lower than the mountain peaks as we had that day) the beach/sea or looking at all the mariner flags and their meanings. There is also a giant fish hook! (Note - I saw the flags and the fish hook in 2019 but didn’t walk that far this time as the weather started to turn and it got cool fast and very windy.) We stopped at Captain Patties for halibut fish and chips and clam chowder which were excellent! In 2019 I had eaten ice cream after my fish and chips but it was too cold for ice cream this time around.

We had dinner last night at the Tamarind pop-up - our second dinner there this week. The Tamarind pop up was June 24-27 and it was excellent. They used the Pinnacle Grill for the Tamarind. There was confusion among the staff who originally scheduled it for us on embarkation day because during the Westerdam voyage coming from Japan the Canaletto was turned into the Tamarind for the whole voyage (this according to the Pinnacle Grill manager). The Tamarind pop up did appear online but it was confusing as to when it was scheduled for so for the 2025 cruisers you may find yourselves frustrated trying to make dinner reservations for the Tamarind ahead of time. (Assuming they have it again next year.) It was very clear when the Morimoto pop-up was scheduled for and we made those reservations ahead of time. 3 of the 4 us traveling together live close to each other so we had gotten together for several planning sessions and we just happened to see the Morimoto pop up the day it appeared online. Like many of our fellow cruisers, we were checking the HAL website daily for excursions. But once on board, we received a note telling us they had overbooked the Morimoto night (big surprise) so we willingly moved our reservation. We had carefully planned our specialty restaurants ahead of time so we didn’t conflict with excursions that may leave us tired. I wasn’t thrilled with the change but we made it anyway so we’ll have our Morimoto dinner the night of our White Summit Train trip which is a 6 hour excursion. That promises to be a long day getting on the ferry to Skagway then onto the train and the same again to get back to the ship. Today we are in Homer. We had an excursion planned with Cruise Specialists - our travel agent but it was cancelled because the bus didn’t have the required insurance. It was a cooking demonstration and a visit to a peony farm. Apparently Alaska provides the major volume of peonies in July and August when they are in bloom up here. Who would have guessed? (Not me - I don’t have a green thumb!) Our plans today are to walk the spit and shop at Spit Salt. We have several recommendations for breakfast, brunch or lunch but we’re expecting a bit of rain according to Stone who just told us tenders are ready to take us ashore.

Anchorage - We had scheduled a HAL tour to go to the Portage Glacier but after seeing the Colombia Glacier we cancelled it. Anchorage was an overnight port and the weather was absolutely glorious. How lucky were we!? The sun was shinning most of the time and the skies were clear enough to see all the surrounding mountains. Shuttles were free to get into town to drop off at the Eagan Center. Cute and colorful maps were provided with sites of interest noted. Anchorage is well organized and well equipped to handle visitors. We had pre-booked a Trolley tour that left from the cute little log cabin Visitor’s Center. It was the “Deluxe” tour for an hour and a half that turned out to be a 2 hours. Our tour guide was Donna and she talked for 2 hours straight. A retired school teacher, she told us all about how she got to Alaska and her family. She was very knowledgeable about Alaska’s history and told us about the earthquakes, the tsunamis, and her personal family history with those events. We stopped at Ships Creek where she told us about salmon fishing. Then on to the Captain Cook statue and she talked about how the high schools decorate the statue on special occasions. We then went to a place on the edge of the forest that is basically where the ‘fault’ line is and you can walk down into the woods (at a 45 degree angle) and you can tell where the tsunamis hit. She sprayed everyone who wanted to make the short hike with mosquito spray because she said the mosquitos are thick in the woods. We then drove by the municipal airport - home to about 400 small planes and as we were driving around the airport one of the planes was coming at us. They have the right away so we backed up a ways to let it pass us to get to the take off area. According to Donna there are about 700 other small planes - almost all Cessnas - at all the other regional municipal airports around Anchorage. She noted that most of these planes are 65-70 years old due to the cost increase thanks to insurance premiums. (So if you want to book a flight seeing tour you might want to ask about the plane’s age and ability! She didn’t talk about small plane crashes in Alaska but I’d certainly research that before I got on a small plane here.) After the tour I stayed in town to do some souvenir shopping and had dinner at the F Street Station. I should have had the Halibut Fish and Chips because it looked delicious (the couple next to me shared a large plate) but I was craving a burger. The F Street station is very close to the Visitor’s Center. The next day I went in ahead of my party to ship some souvenirs home from the UPS store. It isn’t cheap to ship from Alaska. I could have gone to the post office in the mall but didn’t have tape to tape up boxes. The post office may have provided it though. I think both options were close and in retrospect I should have shipped 2 priority mail box from the Post Office instead of one larger box from UPS. Oh well. The highlight of the day was going to a store called Cabin Fever. It was a fairly new store - a combined store of The Quilted Raven (which closed its old location) The Wolley Mammoth (a yarn store) and another gift shop with very high quality gifts. I am a quilter and they had a small but excellent selection of Alaska specific novelty fabrics and batiks. They also carry the Qiviut yarn which is the soft fur/hair of the moose or the muskox. It is very expensive. They also had some items hand knitted from Qiviut yarn. Again, the prices on those items are high but I thought other prices were reasonable. The owner’s daughter has designed many appliqué patterns that included the laser cut pieces and the template for laying them out. Dummy proof! It was a fun shop and they’ll be shipping my two boxes to me as well. After all that shopping we went for lunch to the Glacier Brewhouse for Fish and Chips. Again, very close to the Eagen Center drop off point but I recommend reservations for either dinner or lunch if you want to be sure to get in. It’s a large restaurant/bar but busy and popular. Be sure to check out the humongous woolly mammoth skull and tusks in the window of the Art Gallery shop across from the Glacier Brewhouse (in the same building). I’ll try to post those pictures when I get home. Anchorage is home to a large combined Air Force and Army base and all afternoon we saw - well mostly heard F-17s roaring above us. We have a cabana and the weather was so nice we spent our afternoon up there playing cards.

Kodiak I didn’t have a chance to write about our day in Kodiak yet. We had a private tour - 6 people only on a wildlife boat tour. The Captain and his ‘mate’ were both excellent. They picked us up promptly and were very helpful in getting our mobility challenged person up and down the ramps with her walker and onto and off of the boat. I’m sorry, I don’t have the name of the company but I can get it for anyone who wants to know. The weather was crummy. It was very foggy but that didn’t stop our Captain from getting us to places to see puffins, sea lions and otters. He was also a good Eagle spotter. We chased one whale for a bit when we thought the weather was started clear. We couldn’t get close - the whale was traveling and he was traveling alone. No diving so no fluke shots. 😞 The fog rolled back in and we made it back to the dock right on schedule. We were just unlucky with the weather. As 4-stars we had no problem getting on one of the first tenders that morning as our tour pick up was 7:30 am and our tour was 3 hours from 8 am - 11 am. Tour cost was $275 pp. My traveling party had no wait getting back on the tender but our tour operator dropped me off at the Bridgeview Dental Group as a crown has fallen off the night before at dinner. The Bridgeview Dental Group was actually listed in our map when I got back to my room after dinner so I emailed them and then called them from the boat at 8 am and they graciously gave me an appointment that worked well with the end of our tour. I waited about a half hour and they got me and out quickly. I called a taxi to pick me up and had him take me to the Safeway (one of our party needed some medication and apparently the option for a drugstore was Safeway or Walmart) then back to the tender where I waited about 20 minutes. The line just got longer and longer behind. And it was very chilly. I was dressed warmly but standing still in line I started to get chilled. The ship was right there - so close to the pier. Thus everyone’s irritation over tendering rather than docking.

The public areas are fine if a bit dark. The flowers are still beautiful of course. I went on the cabin crawl a week ago and the rooms are okay for the most part but not great. I hate a shower curtain for one - especially when I know they aren’t being washed in between passengers. And they always blow in on me while I’m showering. The mirror in my bathroom is losing the finish on the underside, the bathtub is pitted and there are 3 different colors of beige between the sink, the counter, the bathtub and the walls. The walls in some staterooms I noticed are marked (dirty or permanently marked? I’m not sure) and the desk and the coffee table in my room are beat up. My traveling party has similar issues. I’ve always had great black out curtains on HAL but neither me or the rest of our traveling party think the curtains are black out. Normally that would be fine by me but on a cruise where you have almost 24 hours of daylight most of the time, blackout curtains are important. I really want HAL to keep these smaller to mid-size ships but they need to be updated regularly. Not just the public areas but the rooms too.