0106

Our waiter entered our drink orders into a computer. A beverage server delivered them to our table, not our waiter. It was the same two people every night for 22 days. We got to know them too and wherever we saw them on the ship they greeted us by name.

@MicCanberra I’m sorry the you had inconsistent experiences in the MDR. My experience was totally different but I had fixed seating. Since I didn’t spend much time talking about the dining room service on my LIVE thread, I thought I would take a few minutes to make my comments here. We had a wonderful table for two in the third floor dining room. We were seated by the Assistant Dining room manager on the first night, I believe her name was Dina. Every night she greeted us by name and stopped by our table to check that everything was ok. One night she noticed my wine glass was empty and a new glass of wine appeared within minutes. When she saw us in the MDR for breakfast, she always stopped by to speak to us. One day I requested an extra napkin, she got it herself instead of asking a server to get it for us. I feel like our relationship with her improved all of our MDR experiences. Our server Arief and his assistant Rov were outstanding. After the first night, they knew our likes and dislikes. We would sit down and put our key cards on the table. They would immediately appear to ask for our drink order. After a few nights, they realized we drank the same thing every night and our drinks were always there within five minutes of being seated. They knew not to bring the bread basket, that I wanted extra vegetables, that we wouldn’t order dessert until we finished eating, that I drank tea every night after dinner. I believe our relationship with them improved our experience, particularly on a longer cruise. They had 2 tables of eight, 2 tables of four and a table for two. As a former server, that is a lot of people to serve when they are all seated at the same time. We began to arrive 15 minutes after the assigned seating time to avoid the initial rush and they seemed grateful. One of the tables for eight was 4 adults and 4 children; the children were well mannered and cute but required additional attention. We found the food to be good to very good. It was served hot and in a timely fashion. We were usually in the dining room for about 1.5 hours. One of the reasons we choose fixed dining is so we can build relationships with the staff. I feel this enhances our onboard experience. When we do not have fixed dining, we ask to be seated in the same section with the same servers for every meal. I have been on 6 HAL cruises since the pandemic The staffing and service has improved on every cruise. I believe we are almost back to pre pandemic levels. I hope that your negative experience in the MDR is not what you remember the most about our wonderful cruise. This is what I will remember most…

My husband drinks Buffalo Trace which was available at every bar on the Oosterdam last month. He was excited to see the single barrel BT on the Ocean Bar menu and eager to try it. When he ordered it he was told they did not have it in stock. Without giving a direct answer, the bartender seemed to imply that it had never been in stock.🤷‍♀️

@ralfrickI've noted that we can order room service off the MDR menu during dinner's 1st hour. Is this true of any other meals, specifically breakfast? Yes, here’s the standard room service menu: https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Room-Service-Pinnacle-and-S-class-ship-2023-24.pdf Here’s the breakfast menu you can hang on the door the night before: https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Breakfast-Card-2024-1.pdf I’ve written in additional items and it has never been a problem. You can always call room service in the am too. I've noted the policy prohibiting bringing beverages & plastic bottles on board, including energy drinks. Any idea if this applies to small energy shots about the size of a motel shampoo bottle & made of a similar material, different than the plastic in beverage bottles? Never tried but I can’t imagine it being a problem. None of the discussions of gala nights or MDR dress codes mention shoes. My options will be hiking shoes or hiking boots; any issue? Alaskan cruises are somewhat more casual, even on dressy nights. Hiking shoes will be fine. If we've had dinner elsewhere or in port, but the MDR has an appealing dessert, is it considered bad form to take up space for dessert only (after the peak dining time, of course)? The desserts in the Lido buffet will be the same as the MDR Is unlimited laundry per cabin or per person? Per cabin I've noted that bags we carry onto the ship ourselves must fit into the scanner; can one assume that anything that can be carried onto an airplane will fit? Yes I'm fully aware that bringing cannabis onboard is strictly forbidden; that is not what I am asking. But we will be indulging prior to sailing and in the ports, and will therefore possibly have a pipe, rolling papers, lighters, or other smoking implements; are any of these likely be an issue? Pipes, rolling papers and lighters are allowed. Be sure pipe does not contain any marijuana reside. Not sure what you mean by other smoking implements. Our bus from Anchorage arrives in Whittier at 3:30, which seems close when considering the advice to arrive early. On the other hand, this looks fairly standard among the shuttle companies in Alaska, and taking passengers to the ports seems to be the core of their business model, so I shouldn't worry, right? Has the bus from Anchorage been arranged by HAL? If so, I wouldn’t worry. Finally, covid restrictions like masks, vaccine records, et al are not an issue at this time, correct? No Covid restrictions. Alaska is beautiful. Enjoy!

BB Kings is now Rolling Stones Rock Room. On most ships the dual (not dueling) pianos have been replaced by one piano player. Both venues were excellent on my recently disembarked Oosterdam cruise.

Let’s Eat Right Day is celebrated on the birthday of Adelle Davis, a popular writer and lecturer on food and health on the early 20th century. I try to follow this advice for healthier diet, “If something has a whole list of ingredients that you cannot pronounce, it should not make it into your shopping cart." ―Amy Leigh Mercree Positive thoughts to those who need them. Cheers to those celebrating and cruising.

@HokapontasAll tap water is drinkable, created through reverse osmosis. The only time I bought bottled water was leaving the ship for a shore excursion. Distilled water can be purchased, often used by people with CPap machines. I carry a refillable plastic water bottle every where. Just make sure to use a glass to refill it at the water stations.

Second day in a row there has been talk of spring gardening. Please think about the pollinators before you clean out your gardens. In northern states mid-late April should be the earliest you consider cutting back perennials and clearing garden debris. Keep in mind that some bees don't emerge until late May, so the longer you can tolerate your “messy” garden the better. I get my spring gardening fix by planting window boxes of lettuce, spinach and peas in mid March. My DH will bring them in the kitchen over night if there is a chance of frost.

They also had zero alcohol Coors Edge on the Oosterdam.

Yes.

We had filet & lobster one dressy night in the MDR on our recently disembarked 22 day SA & Antarctica cruise. It was not a Legendary Voyage. Since I don’t eat beef, I asked for two lobster tails and received them. They were tasty.

No, all Facilities at HMC are available to all passengers.

Yes, it was very hot in Buenos Aires & Puerto Madryn and very cold and windy in the Falklands and Antarctica.

@Cathygh We throughly enjoyed all of our private tours. I highly recommend booking privately. We used HIA credits to book 2 HAL tours. I was unhappy with both because of the waiting and large crowds at the sights we visited. I booked the HAL tour to Magdalena Island in Punta Arenas to see the penguins because it was a 2 hour boat ride from the port and I was going without my DH. If I hadn’t already seen so many penguins it would have been a good tour but it was late in the season and there were fewer penguins than on my previous tours. Book your private tours ASAP, they will sell out. I found people to join me on the Roll Call. If you are interested in photography, I recommend a zoom lens. However, all the photos posted on this thread (unless I indicated they were taken by someone else) were taken with my iPhone SE. We used our verandah frequently during scenic cruising. It was very windy many days. Be sure to bring appropriate clothing.

Happy Thursday! Thought I’d make a quick post while I am unpacking and doing laundry. One more day until Four Star and free laundry! I’m on a Collector cruise at the beginning of March. Wonder if I can convince them to give me free laundry after the first 7 days? It was cheaper to book as a Collector instead of a B2B. We found our Bronze medallions on our bed one evening. I know there was a ceremony for Silver and Gold because I spoke to someone who attended but there was no other acknowledgment for us. I believe the “Dude’s Delight” might be a tribute to The Big Lebowski movie. We drank some excellent Chilean Sauvignon Blanc on the cruise but I have always enjoyed those from New Zealand. Thank you to all the regular posters, particularly those who post port pictures. Positive thoughts to those who need them. Cheers to those celebrating and cruising.

The experience in the Santiago airport was not the nightmare that I had anticipated. From what I could find out, the International terminal was renovated in 2021 and appears very modern. We waited in a restaurant for 2 hours before we were able to check our bags for our 11:55 American flight. There is very little other seating available. We were able to check our bags 4 hours before our flight. After dropping our bags, we proceeded through the security doors. It took about 10 minutes to get through the passport check and another 10 minutes to get through the airport security scanner. After a long walk to our gate, there was plenty of seating in what appeared to be a new space. Yes, it was a 6 hour wait for our flight but I felt safe the entire time. One weird thing was an additional baggage check before boarding the plane. No water was allowed through this additional security check. Our flights were on time and we are now home. This cruise was exceeded my expectations. If this cruise is on your bucket list, book it! Please feel free to ask any questions and I will help you if I can.

Yes, they use those exact words. Many said they would not accept bills that were torn or had writing on them. They also said they needed to have the “large”. President heads. They were easy to get at my bank.

All six private tours I booked in Argentina and Chile requested payment in crisp new US dollars. This includes the Adventure Falklands tour with Patrick Watts which was the best tour I had on the cruise, mostly because I love penguins. People in Argentina were extremely happy to be tipped in US dollars because their currency is so volatile. This was explained to me by the bell person in the hotel and a bartender in a neighborhood Palmero bar.

We disembarked the ship this morning and took a wonderful tour with the German Pirate. We were picked up at the cruise terminal in San Antonio about 9:30. We stopped at a winery to stretch our legs and enjoy the beautiful garden. We drove to Viña del Mar and saw the Flower clock and Easter Island statue. Next was the sister city, the port city Valparaiso. Sightseeing in Valparaiso. We stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant. Next we drove to winery in the famous Casablanca valley. We were dropped off at the Santiago airport about 6.

The same way they built ships. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/churches-of-chiloe-unesco-world-heritage

We had an excellent private tour with Puerto Montt Excursions. We viewed- Llanquihue Lake, then proceeded to Green Lagoon, Todos Los Santos (Emerald) Lake, - Petrohue Rapids or "Falls" at the foot of Osorno volcano all in Vicente Perez Rosales National Park. We then visited Puerto Varas.

We had an enjoyable day walking around Isla de Chiloe Castro. Up a steep hill to the church constructed without nails. The stilt houses. We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant with a view of the ship, empanadas and grilled octopus, local beer and wine.

In Ushuaia, there was only one pier available for all boats needing to disembark passengers so HAL tenders shared with fishing boats and other excursion boats. There were very long lines and incorrect information was given by HAL personnel about which line to stand in. We made it back in about an hour and a half but I’ve heard stories from people were waited for a tender for more than 2 hours.

I have not used any local currency. I have charged everything on my credit card. All of my tours in Argentina and Chile have requested payment in US dollars. Especially in Argentina where the currency is largely fluctuating. There are ATMs in most ports. I will attempt to find an answer to your question at guest services tomorrow.