BigMattT

Oops! Just realized Jordan Pond Restaurant doesn't open until May 17th. Guess we'll just hop on a trolly! LOL

Oh my that’s foggy! We’re there May 7. Ship tour excursion is sold out. I guess I’ll start calling around to see if we can find someone to taxi us to Jordan Pond for popovers and tea, and maybe a stop along the way.

Looks like the Island Explorer bus only operates June through October... Is it worth taking an Acadia National Park tour while the road up Cadillac Mountain is closed (Early May)?

Howdy — You’ll be totally fine on the Zaandam. Nothing you won’t have likely encountered before. Some tips from having cruised extensively with folks your size (and larger): Cabin: Bed: should be doable. The beds together in queen formation by yourself kinda gives that extra length diagonally, so your feet don’t have to hang off the bed. Shower: Avoid inside cabins, as they almost all have a smaller corner shower. Most Oceanview cabins have a shower + tub combo that should be manageable at your size. Some OV cabins on Zaandam (and nearly all OV+ cabins on the newest Pinnacle Ships) have had their tubs removed and replaced with an awesome shower-only that is the most big guy friendly showers on any line at sea (aside from suites). As someone else already recommended: use the “shower at the spa” hack if you encounter any issues with cabin bathroom size. We did that for a decade back when all cruise showers were the awful corner showers with sticky curtains. Toilets: some cabin toilets don’t give you a lot of knee room while seated, but sitting sideways is possible. Seating around the ship: In general, most cruise seating has arms. (Easier egress for populous senior demographic passengers, and safer during ship movement). MOST venues also have some sort of armless alternative. Ask for it. Balcony chairs: The metal chairs are sturdy but have tight armrests to fit in. The “sling” type chairs (fabric taut between two supports) will not support you. Eventually it’ll rip. Dining room: When you board, it’s worth taking a trip to the dining room podium and have a note made on your profile that you need a chair without arms at meals. Some ships are better about simply having this done seamlessly based on that request… others you will need to ask every time at every table service meal. (If you have fixed seating, it’s a little easier because your chair stays at your fixed table, but table mates may unknowingly take your armless chair when they sit 😉.) Spiral Staircases at Sea: Worth noting that spiral staircases, which are sometimes hazardous to folks with very large shoe sizes, are frequently found on cruise ships. Generally, there are nearby alternatives. Spa Robes: The spa usually thinks they have some larger robes and spa slippers… and then don’t. Since we spend a good amount of time in the Thermal Suite, we bring our own. Don’t bother removing the robes from your cabin from their package (they’re “one size fits all”… ….) We’re headed on Zaandam soon so will report back any changes from normal. Enjoy your cruise!

There were not additional choices for room service. Truly the only things different from a standard verandah cabin was the location, the Bluetooth speaker, the canned flavored seltzers + two bottles of water, and the wooden bath mat. (MAYBE the runner on the bed is a different color, too.)

Was just in a VQ on Rotterdam 4/2023. The thermal suite pass is definitely NOT included with your cabin. The location is absolutely wonderful though. Crows Nest nearby, lido right there, and if you buy a thermal suite pass, you’re a super short distance away to use it more often. We found that NY Pizza was really nice to be so close to for quiet early breakfast by the pool! The motion of the ship didn’t feel that exaggerated to us, but some people are very sensitive to this. We prefer to be forward of midship versus aft when we have to choose, so VQ’s work great. Slightly smaller balcony, but most balconies feel small these days. Enough room for one person to use chair reclined or two sitting upright or standing. There are no yoga mats, table-top water feature, slippers, pedometer, fruit tray, bath salts, spa breakfast, or in room spa menu on Rotterdam. This is the second time we’ve used the Bluetooth Bose speaker much more than we would have ever expected. It’s a great touch. The wooden bathmat is also really nice to use, but it’s such a tight space that we kept stubbing our toes or tripping exiting the bathroom because of it.

I wonder how late is too late for them to even start a tender operation for time on the island.

It looks like they just loaded crew and supplies from the tender/island back onto the ship...

Lucky! We’re 12:10. 10.5 hours in Key West is now down to 5. Bummer.

I’m 6’3. Have been on K-Dam a few times now. The toilet angle is a nuisance, but not a significant one. We still prefer the larger showers on HAL Pinnacles to almost everything else at sea for non-suite cabins.

There was mulled wine at the lido pool after glacier bay on Eurodam last year. A splendid way to warm up after a misty/rainy and ice cold morning at Glacier Bay.

We were also in port on a Monday. It’s possible I got bad info. All HAL officially says is “due to operational considerations”… but calling a few tour operators gave me the other explanation. I hope the excursion goes as planned! It sounds promising. Also: things may have changed, but none of the Juneau operators would book cruise passengers on a Tracy Arm Fjord excursion without it being booked through the cruise line. Lastly… no matter what you do, for Alaska, be prepared for unexpected changes and cancellations. More than half of our planned excursions in Alaska have been cancelled due to weather or equipment over the years. Safety first!

Does your ship have a service call at Tracy Arm Fjord before arriving at Juneau? If so, then you’re probably fine. Ours did not have one scheduled AND was an afternoon Juneau arrival.

$600 seems like a lot, but it’s a long excursion and one of the most beautiful places on earth. Totally different experience than watching the glaciers from afar on the ship.

It was just a mistake that it was offered for our itinerary. Round trip Juneau to Tracy Arm Fjord excursions only depart in the morning. Our itinerary had an afternoon call to Juneau with no service call scheduled prior at the entry to Tracy Arm Fjord. We were disappointed at first, but mistakes happen. Ultimately, we had the most relaxing voyage. The sunrise views entering glacier bay were so astonishingly beautiful. Eurodam really is a perfect ship for Alaska.

At this point, HAL would be better to position it as an a la cart premium experience with a prix fixe option that resembles the current inclusions. The current way with incidental charges comes off as tacky or penny-pinching… the death knell for any luxury experience.

Have been waiting on booking a 2023 Alaska sailing until I can confirm the Tracy Arm excursion, too. On our 2022 Eurodam sailing, they offered it… and then cancelled it— saying it never should have been offered for our itinerary. Fingers crossed we’ll be sailing.

If you're in a Neptune or Pinnacle Suite, you may also request to have afternoon tea served in your suite. We did so at 2pm daily last month on Eurodam, and it was one of our favorite rituals of our trip.

Abigail and Siri were both phenomenal on our Eurodam experience 8/20 also. The service staff was universally lovely. It was just the food ingredient quality and some of the preparation that was truly bad. Even our caviar service on Koningsdam vs Eurodam 3 months apart was like night and day. Koningsdam was superb, whereas on Eurodam the blinis accompanying the caviar were not recognizable as blinis for caviar nor were they edible (raw on the inside). The foie gras on the Rudi's night was definitely NOT goose or duck liver. They had clearly substituted something else or cut it with chicken liver. It was also a single bite versus an appetizer portion. Again, baffling attempts to deliver something they're not capable of doing at the moment. To me, its a sign of GOOD hospitality to remove something from menus if you can't deliver good quality. They're better off removing the lobster and delmonico steaks from the Pinnacle if they can't do them right. Charging more and still being unable to deliver was doubly bad.

Yikes! The upcharges are getting downright stupid. I don't particularly mind them when a premium experience is delivered... but our Pinnacle dinner experience last week on Eurodam was really terrible. We paid upcharges for caviar and the Delmonico steaks... the former was the most bizarre/clumsy caviar presentation we've ever seen, and the latter was atrocious quality for having paid extra (tell-tale signs of freezer burn). Every restaurant has its off nights, but for having paid the upcharge for the restaurant plus upcharges for premium items, our expectations were higher. Even the included items in Pinnacle were lousy compared to our prior experiences. Lobster bisque had zero lobster flavor, and I left my baked Alaska uneaten... whoever made the merengue didn't warm it enough so that the sugar dissolved... it was totally grainy to bite into, and even looked like a melting mess on the plate. Now... I've only eaten at the Pinnacle Grill on ships 4 times... and I could tell something was wrong with the Baked Alaska from across the room. How anyone working there could let it leave the kitchen is beyond me. Not sure what's going on there, but adding an additional charges isn't the answer.

Last week in Seattle, our Uber dropped us off about 50 feet from the Pier 91 terminal building door at Noon. There was no chaos, just a normal bustling port. There were lots of people dropping off their bags at the entry-door crosswalk, but no real wait. No one checked for our scheduled arrival time. Then, there was a short line (5 minutes) to enter the terminal, at which point the line split into VeriFly or non-Verifly for health checks and ArriveCan completion. The next line was security, about 8 minutes, walking through a well organized, constantly moving stanchioned queue area leading to metal detectors and bag scanners. The final wait was roughly 10 minutes in line to match photos to our boarding pass/passport. From there it was a walk without stopping on to the ship. (There is a seating area here to rest if needed after you're checked-in.) In total, it was ~30 minutes of standing and roughly 800 steps (according to my pedometer) through areas with very few places to stop or sit. (We noticed ~5 minute waits for elevators.) At disembarkation, you'll walk roughly the length of the ship (~1,000 feet) from gangway through baggage claim, customs, and out to the transportation area. There is no place to sit while waiting for customs. For Uber/rideshare app pickups, you'll hop on a short shuttle to a lot with numbered parking spaces where the Ubers pickup. There was no wait for the shuttle. I would not recommend using the option to "walk off your own luggage" if a member of your party needs any mobility assistance. It is safer to wait onboard in a lounge for your bag tag to be called, instead of trying to navigate escalators, stairs, and elevator lines with baggage. On *EVERY* cruise I've been on, I've witnessed passengers with visible mobility deficits fall during debarkation trying to navigate escalators and queue stanchions with luggage.

We cruise with a GF friend, and he would would eat at Tamarind every night if we let him. We've found they're the best about GF options there. The best food we've had on HAL has been in Tamarind. So much so that we've scheduled it 3 nights out of 7 for our next voyage.

Noted. Since Signature Class ships have two-level bows (deck 5 and crew-only deck 4), there have apparently been cruises with private viewing events using the deck 4 area in Glacier Bay. Most recently, it appears a Sail with Seth group did one: very positively reviewed.

We're heading to Alaska shortly on Eurodam, and we'd like to heed the advice of not staying solely on our cabin balcony for Glacier Bay scenic cruising. What's your favorite public outdoor viewing area on Signature Class ships for Glacier Bay? From what I understand, often the bow is opened but may be very crowded/loud for such a peaceful setting? Alternately, has anyone been successful in organizing one of those private viewing events that groups occasionally hold in the deck 4 bow area?

Most VPNs are blocked. 😞