3rdGenCunarder

The MDR on the K'dam is loud on the lower level, and I would have hoped that HAL might address the issue on the later Pinnacle ships. The second time I sailed on the K'dam. I was at a table on the upper level at the back, almost in the corner. It was amazingly quiet compared to other areas.

Absolutely! The sail to the glaciers is slow, and you don't need to be outside the whole time. If the weather is dreary, it's nice to be able to go out for a while, see the view, then go inside to warm up--especially with room service coffee. I don't much care how big my cabin is--for me it's all about the view from the balcony!

Yikes! I haven't been on an R or S ship in 6 or 7 years, so I'm glad I asked. I didn't expect USBs, but I didn't remember that there were so few outlets. Glad I asked--I'm going to have to do some serious scheduling to charge my phone and my camera batteries. Is HAL okay with a "squid" cord splitter? I don't think they usually come with a surge protector.

The corner afts vary a lot on the Vistas, and deck 6 are the smallest. But I think there is less (but still some) variation in size of aft on the Signatures. Balcony sizes don't have the variation on the Signatures that you see on the Vistas. Try looking at pictures of cabins on halfacts. Signature Class | HAL Cruiser Information (halfacts.com)

That isn't a lot of outlets for this day and age of rechargeable devices. No plug by the bed?

Such a simple solution! It's a shame some people are too inconsiderate to do that.

That makes sense. I wonder if cabin category comes into play here. We booked our first Alaska cruise on Zuiderdam closer to sailing than we usually do. We booked a Neptune suite. We had to take a guarantee because it was the last cruise of the season and we wanted combine it with the coastal to San Francisco. They were keeping their options open and only doing guarantees at that point. Despite the late booking, we got first seating confirmed before the cabin location was confirmed.

A few years ago, we had strong winds blowing toward our side of the ship coming down the coast after leaving the St Lawrence River. We couldn't open the balcony door all day. OTOH, I've had northeast cruises that were perfectly calm.

Perhaps ask the winery if their products are available anywhere else in Alaska where you could pick some up at a more convenient time.

Bring back Dutch Tea, Dutch night in the MDR (for the night of the Orange party?), or add Dutch items to the "special" dressy night menu? For the non-Pinnacle ships, could they enlarge the coffee/bar area in the Crows Nest (or whatever they call it now) and serve some of the Dutch Cafe items? I recall seeing some things in a cold case, so not everything requires having a kitchen there.

The classes were a 5-star perk, and anyone else had to get on a waiting list. I would sign up right away on embarkation day, so I had a chance of making the cut. And I did. I was lucky to do the class twice when there was a guest chef. Even better than the cooking was the conversation over the lunch that followed. They need a kitchen setup for hands-on classes, but they don't need one for demos. Cunard does demos in the main theater. They use portable cooking stations and get the most entertaining staff members to do it. I think the chefs enjoy it even more than the passengers.

Does booking a guarantee cabin, as opposed to choosing a cabin, affect getting your choice of dining time?

Nooooo! Please, please no more spa or shopping infomercials!!!! I would love to see the cooking demos return. Even better, the hands-on classes. I would happily pay to go to some of those again.

On Eurodam last month, I found the beef portions to be significantly larger than the fish portions in the MDR.

Sure doesn't sound like it. All we've heard about the changes in the entertainment is what's going away. What's replacing it is unclear. If Lincoln Center is going to be on World Stage as a group that travels form ship to ship, with my luck, they won't be on any cruise I'm taking. I still haven't seen Cantare. All I ever see is Step One.

I just looked at Navigator on my phone. I don't see a way to edit the account holder. But there is a contact given if you want to delete an account. Try emailing navigator.support@hollandamerica.com and put something like "change account" in the title so they know you aren't simply trying to delete an account.

You don't have to use it, but it makes things easier. You will get a paper daily program, but Navigator means you don't have to carry it around to remember things you wanted to do. You can also check menus, which is convenient if you're wondering what's for lunch or dinner at the Lido. If you booked a tour through HAL, your tour ticket will be in Navigator. Paper tickets are not distributed, although you can get one printed. Given the short hours of the Shorex desk, that could be a hassle. There are reports that some tours will scan your cruise card and accept that as a tour ticket, but I didn't see that happen.

That's how I read it, too. But--When I tried to check in at the face scan kiosk in FLL, it said I hadn't done all my docs. That was wrong. I had done all the check-in stuff the website wanted, and HAL did not require Verifly to get all the green check marks and a boarding pass. The kiosk watcher sent me to a live check-in person, and a minute later I had my little paper boarding pass. So no big deal, but I wonder if the kiosk wanted me to have Verifly. HAL did send emails "encouraging" me to do it. But after going through ArriveCAN several times last year, if I wasn't required to do an app I had no desire to bother. OTOH, the kiosk might have been cranky for some other reason.

I can't imagine why. It wasn't needed to embark or disembark, at least not at FLL. Where are you disembarking?

This is a good list. Unfortunately, utilization would require HAL to do something (enrichment? entertainment?) in some of these spaces and they don't seem inclined to do that. Is the cooking set-up from the days of the Queen's Lounge still on the revolving stage in BB King, or has that been removed to give BBK a larger stage?

Is this HAL's pattern from maybe 10 yeas ago? It's Rosenthal. (Things tended to follow my mother home... 😉) The blue is actually a darker blue, more like navy blue.

I don't know if they still sell them, but when the Delft bread plates were new, I was able to buy a set of the four different designs.

(bold is mine) More than 20 minutes on my 2018 K'dam cruise. Step One was only two shows in the cruise, and there were guest entertainers some nights.

On Eurodam, the Casino has expanded into the Gallery Bar, so that underused spot had a new use.

I don't think the mariner discount applies to any special/popup dinners/