nana51

On 6/13/2023 at 2:43 PM, jakeil7 said:

Just think about when these ships came out, a “small” ship was something like Empress of the Seas which was under 50k GT.  Now we might consider the Voyager and Freedom class “small”. I suppose it is all relative in the end. 

I think you can find deals on the smaller ships also. 

Yes we know. We are just hoping for two close to each other. 

Thank you for all the replies and suggestions. We are driving down from Austin with 11 people so getting on the road early might be a tad hard. There are 8 children, all teens, so not babies. Hopefully by the time we check in, the rooms will be ready and it will be less crowded. I think we should pack snacks and just wait for dinner as we have early seating 

We are boarding Harmony Dec 24th at 1:00 pm. I was hoping the big rush at windjammer be over. Am I dreaming? We are a group of 12 (it’s why we are boarding so late) are there better options?

I’m following along also. I’ll be on Harmony for the Christmas cruise with 11 family members 😲. I’ve only done Holland America, so a bit concerned about the crowds. One granddaughter is mildly autistic and hates crowds but is willing to go to be with family 🥰. When will it inform us as to our boarding time?

Hoping to see more reviews 

"Sail the older ships while you can..."

Just for the "brown" look? I don't think so....

I agree. Love the look of the new ships. Still very elegant

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I am considering an Alaska cruise for next summer with two children (8 & 11). However, some people have told us that we will be vastly outnumbered by senior citizens and there will be very few families with kids. If you have done a HAL Alaska cruise, can you tell me what your experience was? Or is there a different line that you would recommend for Alaska?

There 250 kids on our Alaska cruise in July. There were tons of families.

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The Buns!

 

 

These bad boys are about 3” across (diameter). I’m still puzzled how they get them so round as when I’ve made them they don’t get that shape.

Thank you. I’ll know what to look for next time

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Nana,

 

 

 

I tried uploading my raisin bun photo, and I got an error message saying I exceeded the file size limit. Geesh, it's just a picture of a bun. How big could it be?

 

 

 

Roz

☹️

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Is the TV in the Ocean View cabin on the desk or mounted on the wall opposite the bed? I've seen two different pictures of these cabins with the TV located either on the desk or the wall. Very confusing!

Just got off Eurodam. They are on the wall across from the bed. I never sit on the couch anyway

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A recent discussion with a fellow cruiser revealed that some people think it's a scam to be charged.

 

My take is that we pay for the internet at home. We also pay for phone service

at home and onboard. I've never heard a complaint about having to pay for cell phone usage while cruising.

 

Internet usage onboard is an option, and the cost is provided upfront, so how is it a scam to charge for it ?

I don’t pay for it in a hotel, restaurant or library. It’s 2018 internet should be free.

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It is only bread. It is hardly going to make or break the cruise if the crust is hard, soft, whatever.

Blasphemy!!

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We may not have met in person, but are kindred spirits. I started cruising with HAL in 2001, but don't know when I discovered the raisin buns. Sometimes you're better off not knowing about certain things. ;p

 

 

 

On one cruise, I would have a raisin bun in the MDR for breakfast, and then an hour or two later I was foraging in the Lido for another one. :oI had to do a self-intervention. :eek:

 

 

 

Roz

I need a picture of these raisin bun so I don’t bypass them next time

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I say thanks to the thread starter for this post, because when I am on a cruise (or any vacation) the food is a very important component of OUR trips. I could see how to some this might not matter at ALL, and to people like myself and OP, it can be a deal breaker. Want to know why I would never sail Princess again, even though I liked the ship? Their “specialty” coffee (and regular) was absolutely intolerable to my husband, who is a coffee fiend. It’s a total dealbreaker for him. I love him and don’t want him to suffer.

 

 

 

Now as for me, I LOVE bread, to me it is often the best part of the meal. Horrible bread is the reason why many, many restaurants are off “my list” and the same will go for a cruise too. My husband knows about this and has learned to live with excluding some otherwise good restaurants because of the bread issue.

 

 

 

My worst nightmare would be to be trapped for a week or more on a ship with ****ty food, I KNOW I would not enjoy myself. Some people may think this is nitpicking, but always remember that the little things ARE the big things! Messed up bread (or food) will mess up my vacation. Period. Thank you OP for bringing this to light. I will be dubiously eyeing the bread basket when I sail in a few weeks to Alaska.

We are soul mates. Bread is to me, the most important part of the meal. [emoji4]

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We had them every morning on Zaandam in March

It was always so crowded I didn’t see anything but the sticky buns☹️

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we have to ask our waiters for white bread or rolls. We hate any bread with seeds or other crap in them. It seems that they are adding more and more of the unedible stuff in their bread baskets.

I agree. Very Midwest of me but I love those plain white rolls with a crunchy crust

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Can you please tell me if the new flat screens tv was in your cabin. They were in the Zaandam in April and I loved it.

Yes, they are great. Loved them. Great movie choices too.

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What were people wearing on gala nights?

 

 

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My grandson wore a suit and I wore a dress. A few tuxes and lots of suits. Very few long gowns but I saw a couple. There were a few tieless, jacket less men though. They kind of stuckoyt.

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Maybe someone can answer this. I recently read here that the Eurodam was no longer showing movies in its theater. As I remember, the theater is also the location of the test kitchen and cooking events. Does this mean that more theater time will be devoted to these events?

 

 

 

We're on the Eurodam in ... ~44 days? so looking forward to it. Hopefully we'll have good weather too.

They have nice big tv’s in the rooms and a GREAT selection of movies so I didn’t miss it.

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We got in late and our excursion was delayed from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. So it was dark on the way back. Downtown was lovely with the lights, but unable to see the city gardens. What can ya do. Stuff happens. [emoji19]

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Was on the Amsterdam a few years back to Alaska in the summer. 600 kids onboard. Lido pool midships was unusable and was like a mid-city water park. Roof was closed and the humidity rivaled Miami. In the rest of the ship, children everywhere...sitting on stairways, running about, yelling in hallways. But it wasn't their fault that they weren't supervised.

 

I was on the Eurodam last week. There were a good number of families, but the ship wasn't over run, and I certainly wouldn't say it was like Carnival. The aft Lido pool - with a sign saying that it's for Adults Only- was filled with kids and parents one day. But what can we do ?

We can choose not to sail during peak times for kids, meaning the summer and holiday sailings. Or we can choose another line that would be less likely to have many children.

 

Btw, the BBC Earth presentation of Alaska was excellent. BB King's Blues Club was PACKED on the final Gala Night night (Thursday).

And we had a comedian - David Crowe - on Wednesday night (Sitka). A friend who went to see him enjoyed it thoroughly.

I do agree with you. The remark about Carnival was tongue in cheek. This was the only available time we could go. I’m home now and missing the ship. It is a beautiful ship and except for too many kids in the pool, they all seemed well behaved. I miss being on board. ☹️

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This is my first post in years as we just recently booked our second cruise. We are doing a 7-day Mexico cruise from San Diego on the Eurodam, which is the same itinerary we did almost 4 years ago on the Westerdam.

 

 

 

I have a few questions which I am sure have already been answered but I'm a little overwhelmed and my searches are not finding what I need.

 

 

 

One night of the cruise is my birthday, any suggestions for which Specialty Restaurant we might want to try to reserve?

 

 

 

In regards to "Formal" or "Gala" nights, how many will there typically be? Also, I'd like to wear my tux, will I be overdressed?

 

 

 

When it comes to dining in general, our booking confirmation shows "open seating", is there a way to change this? I'd really prefer to have a table for two reserved for every night if we could.

 

 

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I'll be trying to find the answers by searching, at least for now.

 

 

 

Just as it was 4 years ago, this forum is so helpful and I appreciate the knowledge you are all sharing already.

 

 

 

Thanks!

As to gala nights, for you 2. They are almost always at sea days. You will not be overdressed in a tux. Even though there are mostly suits I saw a number of tuxes and the wearers received many admiring looks.

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Great review!

 

Do you know if other passengers were able to get porter service? Or, in the absence of porters, are there carts like the airport has for passengers to use? We're sailing on a 14 day out of Seattle next week, and want to bring quite a bit of water onboard.

We checked in around noon and head porter service so I think he was just a little too early to get it

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