canadianbear

2 minutes ago, ljgordon54 said:

I hate to say it, but black tip shark is a great dinner too!

Just glad none of us was their dinner!

The last couple of times we’ve seen them in Curacao.  I can’t remember the name of the area but basically the fishermen are cleaning their fish at the pier & the turtles are all around there, 

Just now, oakridger said:

Your pictures are getting me so excited to go there but I have to wait until May 2025!!!  I'm happy to look at anything you have videos and pictures of!!  Thank you!

 

~Nancy

 

We loved the cruise-I want to do it again in 2025 (shh…Mr Bear still doesn’t know I have a deposit already down on it!!)   The water is spectacular and we both loved our snorkel excursions.  I’m still in awe of the sharks-I had one coming straight at me & wasn’t quite sure what to do-move or stay-since I had my camera in front of me figured it would hit that first but he veered off! 

@kazu

I am glad you could get reservations again.  I was actually concerned on our 35 day cruise thinking we wouldn’t be able to get several specialty reservations because of people with HIA.  We were pleasantly surprised we could get lots if we wanted. 
 

Guess we are in the minority with you & the bacon.  One and done too. 
 

So happy to hear you have a new table & servers who are great-exactly how they should be.  

I think my husband & I are two of the few that do not like the candied bacon.  We ordered it on our November cruise for the first time.  The waiter brought 2 orders (we only ordered 1) and our friends loved it but we didn’t.

Shhh…don’t say the lunch at Pinnacle is the best bargain or HAL will raise the price again!

Totally agree though-we hadn’t had lunch there in a very long time but treated our friends in November when we were on the Eurodam.  The food & service were top notch.  We also had lunch when on the Koningsdam in the Pinnacle on our South Pacific cruise in February and prefer lunch to the supper.  
 

@kazu

What a shame about your dinner being sub par.  Our escargot on our recent cruise was delicious & we had it several times.  
 

We had late dining & our waiters were fantastic.  I hope you will report to maître de or do a report on the App.  Do you think the waiter maybe was sea sick?  If not he has no excuse. 
 

Raiatea I think was my favourite snorkel excursion.  Hope my video works.  

@BermudaBound2014
Videos so far are great!  Wish we could have done them from the ship-you had premium & it still didn’t work right? 

@kazu

 I am so glad you enjoyed staying at the Riverside hotel-it has been our go to when we cruise from Ft Lauderdale.  The front desk staff are wonderful-when our flight got cancelled in November & we had booked 3 nights but didn’t get there so stayed only 2, they didn’t charge us for the night we missed.  Not sure if it’s because we’ve stayed there several times in the past or if it’s just their great customer service.  

13 minutes ago, ellbelle said:

@kazu I made note of Riverside Hotel you happened to mention in a thread a while ago and after reading reviews we ditched our pay with points hotel and rebooked Riverside for 2 nights before our cruise last year. We were extremely happy with the location and nearby restaurants, easy Uber to Publix for last minute supplies, we plan to stay again next year. Thank you!

 

P.S. Hope your foot is on the mend!

We always stay at the Riverside when cruising out of Fort Lauderdale.  Love the location.  Close to restaurants, water taxi stop, Starbucks, a pastry store right across the street and more.  We try to go a few days early as I enjoy their pool as well with bar service right there.  We were there one year just before Christmas and they had Las Olas Blvd closed for vehicle traffic for several blocks with Christmas market & entertainment right near the hotel. Was so nice walking there with no traffic. 

Bon Voyage!  Your friend and you will treasure your time together.  Probably lots of laughs & quite a few drinks! 

We also listed all our ports even if we didn’t get off the ship.  

I would never have thought of that but it makes sense with all having the same address.  I know Nexus can be very strict.  Sorry this has happened to you but it is a good reminder to all. 

Looks like a fun cruise-Bon Voyage!

Such sad news, I’m so sorry.  You and your Dad had great times together and he will be watching over you and I’m sure he hopes you’ll continue to cruise. 

Just now, Roz said:

@canadianbear, I can picture Mr. Bear getting antsy. 😄

lol.  Yup,  I knew it was a risk but he survived!  I let him win a lot at cards too 😂😂

54 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

I'd love to hear what this roundtrip cruise was like, especially if all the sea days was just too much and what the weather was like when at sea.  Love the idea of no airfare and getting to see all the islands. We've only done one cruise on HA and it was far from our favorite.

As the other poster stated, have a read through the live thread of the recent 35 day South Pacific cruise.  We were on it & enjoyed it-was the longest one we have done.  MrBear was getting bored on the last “zillion” sea days back to San Diego but we played a lot of cards etc. 
 

The weather is unpredictable but for us, the first few days from San Diego were a bit rough for some but we didn’t find it too rough-cool yes, but not too rough,  we did not miss any ports due to weather but did miss Fanning Island because of a medical emergency. 
 

Nuka Hiva was the one port we weren’t sure we’d get into as that had rough seas but the Captain waited it out and the tenders made it in.

We really enjoy the Koningsdam and have been on it a lot.  I am also one that prefers to cruise rather than do a long flight to get somewhere.  
 

Hope this helps you somewhat. I’d do this cruise again in a heartbeat but only you can decide if you’d get bored or not like the entertainment (which did lack). 

1 hour ago, MissiCruzs said:

Announcement was just made that all Holland America tours are canceled. It's not safe to put the tenders against the ship so we'll see what happens next. 

Sorry to hear this.  I’m sure it’s always a hard decision for the Captain but we all know safety comes first. 

Sounds like you’ve settled right in!!!   Have a wonderful time!

12 minutes ago, NukeTim said:

While looking at Navigator for the Main Dining room (Not Lido) menus for our upcoming transatlantic cruise, the ‘menu’ tab / link only shows a Brunch menu for both the Breakfast menu and for the Lunch menu.  Anybody knows what’s up?  Brunch menu shown is limited compared to the old breakfast and lunch menus.

We had a few “brunch at sea” on our recent South Pacific cruise.  It messed up a lot of people who went down for breakfast in the MDR only to find it was “brunch” and not open yet as it was set hours. 
 

I will attach the menu we had.  

Will follow along too and hope you have a great cruise! 

7 minutes ago, SSFrance69 said:

Hello all,

 

Completely new to HAL, never been to Alaska, and booked a 2025 July sailing round trip Vancouver to Alaska on Koningsdam. Our sailing is July 19. I understand the daylight is long that time of year. We have a verandah stateroom. So my question is... do the staterooms have black out curtains that will block out the light while we are sleeping? While I'm at it with questions... any other advice or tips anyone wants to share regarding HAL or Alaska in July? 

 

Cheers

Tammy

We just returned from the South Pacific cruise  on the Koningsdam and the curtains are definitely blackout ones!   
 

We loved the Dutch Cafe on the ship-great lattes & food is included.  
 

Wr haven’t been to Alaska in several years so no comment but I’m sure lots will pipe in.  
 

Enjoy the ship & Alaska! 
 

Bon Voyage to all!  
 

Have a wonderful cruise & smooth sailing! 

1 minute ago, BetsyS. said:

canadianbear- You're braver than me since you tried the Weng Weng. I'm glad you watered it down! 😊

lol. I had to try it-have heard about it for years.  Figured with the HIA might as well attempt it.  Made a good try but boy oh boy, was it strong 😳  Even with Sprite being added I would not order that drink again!