CupKayke

Juneau, continued...

Our balcony was definitely on the correct side of the ship for coming into Juneau… waterfalls… gorgeous waterfalls… you could hear them and see them and it was beautiful.

We had signed up for the Mendenhall Glacier Trail Walk and Whale Watching Tour (or something like that).   It was a small group tour of only 20 people and we were guaranteed to see whales or we get $100 cash from the tour operator.  We walked off the boat and met Phil, our guide.  He was excellent.  We took a small van to the water first (they reversed the tour in hopes the clouds would lift so we could see the glacier later).   On the way to the boat, we saw 2 or 3 bald eagles sitting in the marsh… then 4 or 5… then we saw at least 10 sitting together on a large stump!!  Amazing.  We had only been off the ship 15 minutes and we had just seen at least 15 bald eagles.  Alaska was delivering quick.  We were on a small boat that could really travel (I think 30-40 knots) and maneuvered the bay well.  

 We saw whales immediately.  We saw one… then two together… then another… then another… the boat moved around an island and other places.  We heard the whale operators talking and we heard them all saying “It’s a whale party out here!”  They finally called our operator and he said he had heard the talk but we had to go in and didn’t have time to come see.  Our water portion of the tour was almost over at this point anyway and we had seen and heard the whales.  It was worth it already.

Day 3 – Juneau

I woke-up and saw beauty outside!  It was GORGEOUS!!   For the remainder of the cruise, this was the types of views we had 24/7!!

Remember the Lido deck breakfast was bad yesterday?  Well, last night our room stewards left a continental breakfast order menu in our room while we were out.  We ordered full breakfasts this morning delivered to our room by leaving the order hanging on our door.  That yogurt/chia-seed/pineapple mix was fantastic.  Everything was great.  We did this one other time.  We tried to do it again but I realized it still hadn’t been delivered and it was well past time.  I checked our door and the order menu was still hanging on the door even though it had been put out before 2am (which is the deadline).   There are some little quirks with the new crew and the processes on this ship but I’m sure they’ll work them out soon.  Anyway, the Lido deck breakfast was full-service with four stations with all sorts of eggs the remainder of the cruise so we just started eating on the Lido deck.  I was walking up there every morning anyway to fill my cup with tea.  It wasn’t “labeled” tea in the mornings but there was always tea every morning.  The label was never put on until after breakfast.  I don’t know why.  Tea is my must-have first thing every morning… like other people’s coffee.

That is also the last banana I would ever see on this cruise...

The weather at sea… this is the ONLY day it would rain on us for the entire cruise! We got lucky!

One of my irks with the HAL Navigator App (which you really must download – it’s nice and they have done a good job with it) is that the times on the TV (see the port times) never matched the Navigator times.  You were never for sure exactly what time we would arrive or what time you had to be onboard - it was anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour difference.  We just paid attention when we left the ship to see what the TV screens said on Deck A. 

It was foggy and lightly raining when we arrived into Juneau.   The rain didn’t stop the bald eagle from sitting around watching everything..

Before I forget... I LOVED the little adjustable reading lights next to the bed!!  They were hidden basically (I thought they were decoration) but then our room stewards opened them one night for us and we were like... Oooohhhh.  Nice.  

Sea Day continued…

We played Bingo at 3pm today (I think it was 2pm or 3pm).  The bartender at the casino/Bingo area makes the weakest and worst drinks we found on the cruise and he lacks the customer service we saw from everyone else on this cruise.   The Cruise Director (I think?) was a kid who looked 17 but assured everyone he was not and he read the Bingo numbers…. Wayyyy too fast!   It was $89 for the two of us to get 6 cards per game and you get a free scratcher ticket if you buy this.  I won $20 on the scratcher.

One of the reasons we like HAL is you can order from the dining room menus to be delivered to your room.   I used the Navigator app evening to check the menu and we ordered from there.   Tonight was “dressy” night (many people were dressed nicely in long black dresses and heels).  The menu tonight was excellent – Filet Oscar and Salmon were the choices we made.  We loved both our choices.  We NEVER ate in the dining room this entire cruise.  We didn’t even realize we had not been in the dining room until the last day.  We usually eat in the MDR at least once.  We ordered to have the dining room menu delivered to our room 3-4 of the 7 nights.   We tipped room service $4 every time – 2, $2 bills we had picked-up from our bank pre-cruise.  I wonder if that is a decent room service tip and what do other people tip?

The skies cleared tonight…

We returned to our room this evening with a cute towel animal and a notice that we would be moving our clocks backwards an hour overnight.  We did not know this was going to happen and we were surprised.

Tomorrow…  Juneau

Day 2 - Monday - Our only full SEA DAY

Let's start with Lido breakfast today.  Bad news at first.  It didn't open until 7am today.  They had only two stations open and they had no real eggs - just liquid eggs (which might be real?) for an omelet or egg whites.  I was not impressed.  Now... let me say this for all the naysayers... the very next morning and all the other mornings... they USUALLY opened by 6:30am and they had hard boiled eggs, fresh eggs you could order fried (any way you wanted), and even Eggs Benedict at the International Station.  They offered everything you could imagine for breakfast at four stations the remainder of the cruise so I this was the only day that they dropped the ball.  They even stayed open later than normal on our last day when we didn't stop at Victoria until 8pm.  

We were at the Sea View Bar (the aft bar by the aft pool) - this is the smoking area - when I got a text from my credit card company saying HAL charged $754 to my card.  Myself and several other people visited Guest Services and the guy was announcing "these are just holds" and so I left quickly... but the line was still long with sooooooo many people asking about the Internet service and the HAL Navigator App.   I'll talk about that later.  Once I figured it out, I was impressed but they make it difficult to navigate, for lack of a better term.   Anyway, Guest Services is beautiful...

The shore excursions desks are also down here.  They were busy-busy when we visited.  They have a sign-up sheet so they know who is next.  I regret that we did not take the time to meet with someone.  They were offering $500 OBC for booking while on this cruise.  Here I am, looking to book again already.

It was a complete white-out with the fog for most of the day today.  The fog horn was going off most of the day until the late afternoon.  The pools were busy with kids and the hot tubs were busy with adults.  It was still a good day on the ship.

For the record, it was not always cold or even cold enough for a big coat but my husband always wore his coat, regardless.  I wore a hoodie last night and usually just long sleeves the other days.  A lot of people wore hoodies and shorts.  You saw it all.  Which reminds me, there was an EXCELLENT mix of travelers on this cruise – large family groups, a sewing group, a group of retired Air Force guys and their spouses, a lot of families with children (surprising for HAL to me), and overall I was super impressed with the clientele this trip.  We felt like we weren’t young nor old and it was fantastic. 

Today I found the actual walking track on Deck 3.  I had walked the evening of Embarkation and early this morning on Deck 10 – outside, in the wind, with the foghorn blaring, mostly alone.  It was terrible.  I didn’t realize Deck 3 existed.  It is a beautiful covered walking track and I took advantage of it daily.

-Kay

Good Evening.  Just wanted to say something about ARRIVECAN...  we met a girl at Bingo who told us they had a letter in their stateroom mail telling them if they didn't get ARRIVECAN completed, they would not be allowed off the ship in Juneau (our first port) or any other port.  I don't know if that is true or not but that's what she said.  Also, when we were allowed to board there was a large group of people sitting in chairs with stickers on their shirts and they were told to sit there and complete ARRIVECAN and then they could board.  We only know this because this one lady told us that and then boarded with us and said "I'll do it when I get in my room.  I'm not sitting out here anymore."   So... I would recommend you go ahead and get both ARRIVECAN and VERIFLY completed at least 24 hours before your cruise. 

I booked our free specialty restaurant for the Pinnacle Grill tonight (the first night) on purpose because I didn't want to pack dressy clothes and on the first night, you don't have to be "dressy."  I booked online before the trip.  I wore clean (unripped) jeans and a nicer top and my husband wore jeans and a top.  No jacket or suit or dresses or ties and everyone sitting around us dressed the same tonight.  This was a good idea on my part.  Our reservation was for 8:30pm and we arrived a tiny bit early and we were seated immediately.  The service was fantastic.  They brought a bread basket with various breads and two separate butters to try. I have been being healthy this year and try to eat very little bread so I only tasted one piece (it was fantastic) but my husband tried a variety plus both butters. 

Appetizers were an iceberg/bacon salad for me and I think he had lobster bisque.  He did not like it.  

Main entrees were the ribeye for me and the filet mignon for him.  They were both scrumptious!

He ordered the creamed spinach and I ordered the asparagus.  He ordered the red sauce and I ordered the Bernaise.  The ribeye was wonderful but HUGE.  I cut most of it up and he took it to the room to eat later that night (he's like a rat that eats overnight while I'm sleeping).  The Bernaise was rich-rich but soooo good.  The creamed spinach was the same way.  I was careful and only had a little of each.  My husband took a huge to go box to our cabin.   I took the key lime pie to the room and ate one-half of it only.    It was delicious and I would love to have that other half about right now...

My husband loves steak.  I would book this again (even for a fee).  I was asleep shortly after dinner tonight.  If you are looking on information on any of the shows, you are out of luck.  We did not attend any of the evening entertainment. 

Overall, it was a wonderful Embarkation Day!

Embarkation Day Continued...

We stepped on the boat and there was at least four or five staff members that IMMEDIATELY Warmly Welcomed us onboard and said "WE ARE SO HAPPY YOU ARE HERE!"  Throughout the cruise, at every single port, you would see this.   EVERY.  SINGLE.  PORT.   Holland America is glad you are cruising again and they want you to know it.   Frankly, I thought it was great.  It made you feel good and appreciated. 

I originally booked a verandah (unobstructed balcony) cabin.  On June 6, 2022, I received an email offering us the chance to upgrade.  I called the phone number and was immediately upgraded (for a fee) to a Signature Suite Room 6073.  I surprised my husband today with this information.  He was VERY happy because the bathroom was "huge" compared to normal cabins, in his opinion.  I am glad we were able to do this and I would probably do this again just for the bathroom space for my weird husband if the price was acceptable.  There were two showers also... (one in the bathtub).  I don't actually have a pic of that bathroom right now.  I'll find it maybe later. 

The room...

and...

We had preordered alcohol from HAL for drinks in our room even though we had the free drink package.  We put down our bags and headed to the Lido deck for salads.  It was not crowded AT ALL.  I immediately noticed no bananas.  I asked about it and they told me "they are being loaded now" and I would say they are working out the kinks with the food on this ship.  They put out brown bananas the next day and I did grab one but the lady in line next to me laughed and told me to "eat that immediately."   I never saw another banana the entire trip.  They had apples and oranges.  They put out plums the last day but they were not ripe yet.  Again, lots of little kinks with the food on this ship.

The Captain came onboard and Welcomed Us (and it was so different now than pre-COVID) and he announced this was only this ship's second time cruising since COVID... so for 2 years... this ship had not sailed until the cruise before ours!   I'm kinda glad we weren't the first cruise.   We did notice some of the staff are definitely still learning.   Another passenger told us they announced the ship was "SOLD OUT" at 1200-1300 people even though it normally can hold 2300... because they just don't have the staff to work the ship yet.  I have absolutely NO CLUE if that is true or not.   I do know the website showed this cruise SOLD OUT well over a month ago.   I do think there were staff everywhere all the time and I never felt they were understaffed until the evening we were in Victoria.  The ship never felt packed - EVER.  The Lido deck was quick to get through.  Getting on and off was easy and quick.  I thought it was fantastic.  If the ship is always like this, I love it!! 

 Since I'm thinking of it... someone on our hallway told us gas for this cruise was $800,000.   Again, no clue if that is correct or even close to the real figure but I thought it was interesting to hear. 

We ate our salads on our balcony...

We loved this cooler weather so we sat on our balcony and watched the shore as we sailed away.  They provided two warm wool blankets in one of our cabinets.  We used them on our balcony.

The pools and hot tubs on the Lido Deck were CLOSED today so EVERYONE was back on the Aft deck where there is another pool, one hot tub, a bar, and the smoking area.  I kinda thought it was strange that the Lido deck was closed today but it was never closed again the rest of the cruise and it was the hot spot, busy area for the rest of the cruise.... if there was a busy area?!  There never really was any long lines or a lot of waiting for too many items... just a couple of times here or there.  

I was immediately IN LOVE with the see-through elevators!  

Next up.. Pinnacle Grill for dinner tonight...

Embarkation Day!

(Also, Father's Day and Juneteenth!)

It's Sunday June 19th and we woke to clear but cloudy skies in the Seattle area.  The Hampton Inn & Suites in Bremerton included a free breakfast but I walked next door to Starbucks for iced tea.  The breakfast at the hotel was available early as I am a very early riser.  They kept it well stocked and offered hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, sausage links, waffles, cereals, yogurts, muffins, and all the usual continental breakfast items.  They offer all sorts of coffees and excellent creamers too.   It was nearly empty when I was up at 7am but it was bustling by 9am.  It was autumn weather (to us Missourians) and we loved it.  I was dressed appropriately (below).   I only mention this because packing for Alaska seemed like a crapshoot before we left but, in the end, I did okay... I just packed everything!

We walked next door to the Bremerton Ferry.   It's actually NEXT DOOR to the hotel.  We opted for the 11:10am ferry.  It is free going from Bremerton to Seattle on the ferry.  It's a walk-on ferry for passengers but below they also had bicyclers, motorcycles, and vehicles.  A walk-on adult passenger pays $8 from Seattle to Bremerton (it's a roundtrip fee) but if you are just traveling one way like we were, we just walked on with our suitcases and took a seat for free.   

The ferry seemed clean and everyone was polite.  I had to use the restroom and it was clean and there were several stalls on the ladies side.  The ferry was full of Mariners fans riding over to see the Mariners play the Angels (that's baseball folks).   Again, it was Father's Day so lots of family groups were out today.   The ferry takes one hour and the views all the way are beautiful homes and finally the waterfront coming into Seattle.  We were told to arrive early to catch the ferry and this was good advice.  I think we left the hotel at 10:45am and the ferry was on time, actually a little bit early.

The ferry has a cafeteria and we had read ahead of time that they serve Ivar's Chowder.  This is the best chowder you will ever have in your life so we split a bowl.  It was fabulous. 

Getting off the ferry is a bit of a madhouse because another ferry from Tacoma came next to us at the exact same time and it was also loaded with Mariners fans.   You can take your suitcases and carry them down the stairs but don't be like us... there are elevators you can use!  We got down to the street level and walked down to The Crab Pot (next door) and caught an Uber to the port (Pier 91 is where HAL Amsterdam was docked).   Uber total was $29 plus tip.   

In case you are not familiar with Seattle, this ferry drops you off at tourist central - Ivar's Chowder, Pike Place Market, The Crab Boat, etc... all within 5-10 minutes.  There are signs pointing you in the directions you need to go.  

It is a short drive to the port - maybe 10 minutes?  We were dropped directly in front of the entrance to the cruise port.   The porter/luggage-acceptance area was not organized very well today and it wasn't really busy.  We were there around 12:30pm (?) and no one approached us to take our luggage.   We finally walked-up to a porter stand and a guy did immediately help us.  We tipped him and left our bags.   There were two lines at this point - those who had pre-completed the VERIFLY app and those who had not.   The VERIFLY line was tiny in comparison (and it was also super duper slower than the other line).   I had not completed VERIFLY.  😕   Because we arrived at a not-so-busy time (it seemed)... this was not a big deal but I do wish I had done this ahead of time.   Once it was our turn for check-in, they wanted your boarding pass (on my HAL app)... passports (check)....COVID tests/letters (check)... COVID vaccine cards (check)..... ARRIVECAN receipt (check - this was simply a screenshot/picture on my phone as I did not download the ARRIVECAN app)... .VERIFLY... nope... it wouldn't let me complete it while we were standing it line - it had to be completed 24 hours before embarkation.  She says "Okay, I can complete that for you."  Two seconds later we were onboard.  My VERIFLY app says (at this very moment) that I have not completed the info for this cruise.  It's fine.   Here's the deal with these two apps in my opinion..... ARRIVECAN was super quick.  I did it online, on my phone, the night before cruise in the hotel room.  I did not download the ARRIVECAN app.  I took a screenshot of my little ARRIVECAN receipt, and that photo was accepted just fine.  VERIFLY needed to be completed and in the future, I will take the 15 minutes of my time and complete that app for every trip we take in the future.  If it speeds-up a line, I'm doing it.  

So... rather easily, we made it onboard...

Good Evening! 

A review it shall be.  I will try to get most of this finished tonight but if not, it will be in the next couple of days hopefully.  I will stop and start as I have more steps to get in tonight and I'm doing laundry, etc.   

First thing I want to say:   WE LOVED THIS CRUISE.   Nothing "amazing" happened... it was just a beautiful cruise and there were a few things about HAL we liked more than other cruise lines. 

So...let's start with us... I'm the female in this marriage and we are in the late 40~ish age and I'm older by a small bit.  We travel every year (except obviously during COVID) and seem to sway between cruises and land trips.  

Here we are:

We were not for sure where we were going this year but we kept getting mail from HAL even though we had only sailed with them one time previously.  They offered free wi-fi, free drinks, $100 per person for an excursion and one specialty restaurant free if we booked this trip.  I booked this cruise on March 6th.   

Our Itinerary:

Sunday, June 19, 2022 ~ Embarkation in Seattle

Monday, June 20, 2022 ~ Sea Day

Tuesday, June 21, 2022 ~ Juneau

Wednesday, June 22, 2022 ~ Hubbard Glacier

Thursday, June 23, 2022 ~ Sitka

Friday, June 24, 2022 ~ Ketchikan

Saturday, June 25, 2022 ~ Victoria, BC Canada

Sunday, June 26, 2022 ~ Debarkation

We live in the Midwest but we were in Los Angeles so on Saturday we boarded our Delta plane for our 7:00am flight from LAX to SEA.  (Just to note:  this flight had been delayed the evening prior to 7:50am and then the gate changed THREE times this morning).  We sat on the plane and waited 45 minutes for pilots that never showed.  The pilots for this plane had been held-up in Seattle the night previously and the FAA would not allow them to fly.  Keep that in mind when you see what happens in Seattle on Debarkation Day.  So....our flight was cancelled. They repeatedly announced they knew there were cruisers onboard who had to catch their cruises in Seattle TODAY so they were working very hard to accommodate everyone (not us obviously).  Just another reminder.... don't fly in the day of your cruise!   Luckily, as we were getting off the plane, everyone on the plane got a text that they had found new pilots and this same flight with these same people would be leaving at 10:16am.   We sat in the LAX airport waiting and later, as they started reboarding us, along comes two pilots... the crowd cheered and clapped for them!!!  Never seen that happen before.  We arrived in Seattle just before 1pm and they asked that we all stay seated while some cruisers were allowed to leave the plane first.  A very large family group left the plane and a few other people.  I will give Delta kudos because one of their reps had walked back to this large group of family cruisers on the plane (they were sitting in front of us) and told them they had been in touch with the cruiseline and the cruise bus was waiting for them at the airport and would not leave them.   

For us... we did not board until tomorrow... so my sister and her husband were waiting for us at baggage claim.   They live in the area.  We had a late lunch and drove to by nephew's house before they dropped us at our hotel choice for this evening which was Hampton Inn & Suites in Bremerton, WA.  This Hampton Inn is directly on the water next to the ferry, we got an excellent deal through the Hilton app, free wi-fi, free evening cookies, free lemon iced water, tea, and coffee, clean & working ice machine, etc..  and everything was spotlessly clean.  I told my husband it felt like the staff owned the hotel because they were so friendly and caring about guests and the hotel.  It has been remodeled but it is one of the best remodels I've seen in a hotel.  I would recommend it all day long.  

View from the outdoor seating area (also a smoking area but no one was smoking)

There is also a large side open courtyard with tables next to the hotel... which leads to a Starbucks, a small market/convenience-type store, a frozen yogurt/ice cream place, a Subway, and an Anthony's restaurant (seafood/chowder/etc).  There is a credit union across the street.  Just down the way there are bars which apparently attract the younger crowd at night.

We did not go out to dinner as my husband had leftovers and I had brought a Keto bar so we were asleep early.  Tomorrow... we take the ferry to Seattle and it's Embarkation Day!

Good Evening!   

I have not been active on Cruise Critic in a long time so I don't know if there is a real desire for cruise reviews anymore however, we just stepped-off the Westerdam in Alaska, it was our second HAL cruise, our first time to Alaska, and one of our top trips of all time.  I think I'm going to post a daily review with pics. 

I'd like to know if there is enough interest for me to do this?   Thanks - Kay

This is not the correct place.  I will be posting this review in the Holland America main board if anyone is interested.  Thank you. 

Hello Cruise Critic! 

It's been a long time since I've been active on Cruise Critic and now I'm lost.  I would like to post a review with pictures of our 7-night Alaska Cruise with Holland America.  We sailed June 19-26th on Amsterdam.  We visited Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria.  Is this the correct board to post a trip report?  Someone let me know or point me in the right direction and I'll post a daily review with pics.  Seems likes my review might be able to answer a lot of questions I see on this board.   Thanks!  - Kay

Test

Thank you all for your kind comments.  Oasis is probably in our future. 👍

Oh... and I don’t like Queen...must be before my time?! Glad others liked the show. 

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

Must admit that it is not a situation I have seen, or had installed on any of my ships. The only vertical drop fire screens I have seen are fire curtains installed in pass-through between the galley & servery. For obvious reasons they have to be  a slow controlled drop. I have never seen vertical drop doors in pax spaces.

 

Best guess is the shutter is a security device to isolate the gangway from the remainder of the vessel. The ships security plan would outline procedures for use. They may have seen something on x-ray that initiated a response.

 

I can only hope the door descended in a controlled manner and a warning bells sounded during the descent.

 

Hopefully the Chief will see this one, as he has more recent cruise ship experience.

Interesting info, thanks for your comment.  Alarms were sounding and it descending quickly but yes, in a controlled manner in my opinion.  

4 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Enjoyed your review!  This was especially of interest to us having "survived" the ordeal of the Viking Sky back in March where we were among the 400+ pax who had to evacuate by helicopter (talk about an excursion....) 

 

If you enjoyed your itinerary, some time you MUST get to Quebec City - many cruises (including the ones the Summit does) do an overnight there. Fascinating port of call. 

 

Thanks again - I especially enjoyed your pics in Bar Harbor since we didn't make it there this time. Safe travels....

Thank you.   I also watched the Viking Sky on YouTube and TV and was horrified to see what was happening! So glad you were safely rescued.

We traveled to Quebec City 12 years ago in August.  We are returning in three weeks to visit the Christmas Markets. 

You are welcome and thank you for your kind comments.  Safe travels to you too.... I'm not sure if I would get back on a cruise ship after the Viking Sky debacle!

Debarkation Day  -  Nov 2

We enjoyed our last night on the cruise and for some strange reason I stayed-up with my husband past 1:30am which is not normal.  We started rolling-in to the New York harbor a little after 5am and I grabbed my camera.  It was cold on the balcony but I got some shots early morning shots of NYC and Lady Liberty.

We sailed under the Verrazano bridge and I was surprised at how much traffic there was so early in the morning.   

Early morning arrival…

My husband didn’t want to get out of bed.  We had decided to book a ship transfer to the Newark airport for late flights.  I believe they charged us $27.50 per person for this transfer.  We were moved from luggage tags 39 to 25.  Our debarkation time was scheduled for 9:10am.  I did not read anywhere in the Cruise Compass where you had to be out of your room at a certain time but I was listening to the announcements of how quick they were emptying the ship and knew we would be off early.  My husband was still in the shower at 8:30am.  We left our cabin around 8:45am and our neighbors were leaving their cabin at the same time.  They told us someone had pounded on their door and told them to leave.  This did not happen to us.   As we were getting to the elevator, they called our number 25.  Number 25, this debarkation, was for all passengers taking a Royal Caribbean transfer to Newark Airport with flights departing after 2pm.  We were off the ship at 8:50am.  We gathered our luggage (easily enough) and then followed the crowd to the long lines of buses with your airline name in the windshield.  There was some cussing and hustle-along going-on by some of the porters but we found our bus fairly easily. We were dropped-off at Newark airport before 10am.   

We had a late flight as did several others and apparently the airlines will not take your luggage until 4 hours before your flight.  This was okay for us today.  There are plenty of places to sit with your luggage (as lots of us did) and there are escalators going down to clean bathrooms, lots of restaurants, and some shops.  This is all before the security area so you are free to go down the escalators all day.  Also, our seats were by the doors where my husband was free to go in and out and smoke.  We passed the time by talking to other cruisers waiting – some outside smoking and some inside just relaxing.  We were able to check our luggage within two hours and then we passed the rest of the time talking some more.  It’s amazing how quickly the day flew by and we were on our flight home.

We both agree this was a good cruise.  We met some good people.  As one elderly lady talking to us said…  this was a senior citizens cruise.  That’s okay.  There were plenty of people younger than us sprinkled-in throughout the ship.  We quickly learned the Windjammer is packed 6:30am-7:30am and easygoing thereafter.  We quickly learned the dining rooms are packed 5:30pm-7:00pm and for us, Windjammer was a better option.  We napped, we enjoyed Bingo, we watched a few movies, and we enjoyed a couple of ports.  This cruise was supposed to be about seeing the autumn colors and relaxation for us.  We definitely relaxed.  As for the fall colors, it was a hit or miss.  We liked the ports and I would like to revisit a couple of them again, especially Maine.  I loved Maine.  After talking to a few loyal RC cruisers, it seems as though I would like the Oasis of the Seas layout better than the Anthem.  This is definitely going to be on my radar for the future. 

One other thing of interesting to note… two ladies on our cruise told us that the next week, when the ship was going to the Bahamas, was also called “Jersey Week” and all the New Jersey schools were closed… the ship had over 1,500 kids scheduled to board the day we got off!

Here are some of my opinions of Royal Caribbean Anthem of The Seas…

Things Royal Caribbean is doing GREAT…

·         *Customer Service – bartenders, Windjammer staff, room attendant

      *Thank You for offering the World Series every night in our rooms

·         *Warm blankets to watch movies by the pool 😊

·         *3D movies are great – offer them more often and clean/sanitize the 3D glasses please

      *Loved the “map” of Bar Harbor.  You should do this for every port.

·          *Cupcake class was excellent.  Maybe offer a second class making a different creation on a long cruise like this?

·          *Well-ventilated and large smoking areas (though there needs to be an indoor smoking area that is not the casino)

·          *Allowing guests to “Dress Your Best” on formal nights.  This is the wave of the future and you are stepping it up to start a new base of loyal Royals.  Excellent.

·         *Your drink packages are worth every dime.  We would not cruise again without them.  It is convenient to not have to worry about a tab and the bartenders, again, are excellent.

Things Royal Caribbean Needs to Fix...

 *Fix your Cruise Compass!   These need to be completely restructured.  You are repeating yourself a lot, not putting the times of items listed on the front page until the back page, you are wasting a lot of paper and they are inaccurate at times. Get someone who knows what they are doing to put these out and pay attention to what is there – many items listed on our Cruise Compass did not pertain to this cold weather cruise at all – pretty sure there wasn’t a sand problem on this cruise and listing two different “be back onboard by” times could cause some major issues.

·         *Sell steel straws or travel straws like 4Ocean sells

·         *No free movies in the rooms  ☹

·         *Offer more movies by the poolside that relate to the clientele onboard.  You showed a teenage dance movie one night at 9:30pm for THIS cruise.  Really???  (Poms)

·         *Sorrento’s Pizza… pepperoni or pineapple & ham were the only offerings most of the time.  You need to step it up here  - more toppings, thicker crusts, better options. 

·         *According to my husband, you really don’t offer 24/7 food as Café Promenade is a joke

·         *Why are all the shows so late at night – ESPECIALLY on this cruise??  I am normally asleep before 10pm my time so it would have been before 9pm on this cruise every night.

·         *Offer bar service before, during, and after Bingo.  The line at the bar in Two70 was long and the service there was less than optimal.

Well, that’s it folks.  We like Royal Caribbean.  NONE of the things mentioned would ever keep us from sailing with them again. Overall, it felt as though a lot of items were disorganized or no forethought was given to what was coming next – like waiting in line to leave in Saint John or the costume parade.  We respect Royal Caribbean and we do like the clientele in comparison to Carnival (too young and wild for us) and HAL (wayyyy too old for us) so they are probably more our style of cruising overall so my critiques in this review are simply lessons learned by myself and probably some changes RC needs to make on this ship …and as some people tend to forget, this is a Cruise “Critic” website.

Final day (night) continued... Nov 1 - Cruising At Sea

All luggage needed to be in the hallways by 10pm tonight.  Several people (like us) had theirs out much earlier.   We got ours out and then had dinner in the Windjammer.  They were walking around giving everyone large slices of this chocolate cake tonight…

I thought it was a nice gesture.  The taste however… well… you know how cruise ship desserts are.   The dessert bar, however, tonight, had full-on cakes – red velvet cake, carrot cake, fudge cake, lots and lots of cakes to choose from tonight.  They also had someone scooping real ice cream the previous night and tonight with a full sundae bar attached.  Last night they had chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  Tonight they had pistachio ice cream also!  It was yummy!

The Windjammer has some amazing guys who are constantly making warm cookies – all day every day.  They make oatmeal raisin, sugar cookie, chocolate chip, sometimes peanut butter.  It varies a bit.  They are always warm and incredibly popular.  You will see almost everyone glance over and grab a cookie – or 3 or 5 at times – before leaving the Windjammer.  Many times I saw older ladies leaving with a saucer piled full of cookies.  As soon as I took this photo, this employee gave me a thumbs up!

I’m going to take a moment and say that the Windjammer is not your typical cruise ship buffet.  It is nothing short of fabulous.  The first day or two I sorta complained to my husband that I am a “plain jane” eater and I was tired of always getting mashed potatoes and the pork steak that was offered…. So then he pointed-out a few things and I never complained about the Windjammer again.  You just need to look around and see all the stations available to you.  They offer the following items for lunch and dinner every day…  pasta station… bread station…. excellent salad station…  a full-on hamburger & hot dog station where you have chili and cheese and sauerkraut and you have lettuce, tomato, pickles, etc plus sesame seed buns or no seeds buns, cheese on your burger or no cheese, etc… an area where they have the basics every night like mashed potatoes, gravy, and pork steaks… plus they have specialty nights like Italian night with veal, pork, and chicken parmesan, beef lasagna (it was yummo) plus meatballs and spaghetti that were great… and they had an Indian night (the Indian chicken that was semi-spicy and looked like nuggets was great)…. and and and… the Windjammer café has everything anyone could ever want for lunch or dinner and there are servers walking around at all times offering drinks plus they have full bar service in there.  Many times they offer the same items on the dining room menus.  I can’t say enough about this being the best buffet I’ve seen on a cruise and I am not a buffet person normally.

And now some Kudos to RC for recycling… as these types of trash cans were all over the decks..

One of the things I don’t like is the paper straws onboard.  You get this great plastic cup for the beverage package which has an area for a straw but you get no straw.  You can’t even get a plastic straw at the La Patisserie where they sell Starbucks.  I asked.  I was told there are no plastic straws available onboard.  The paper straws get mushy by the time you are done with your cocktail (smoothie in my case) and I just don’t like them.  There are A LOT of things in this world I will give-up long before I give-up plastic straws.  Anyway, I noticed Royal Caribbean partners with 4Ocean as they were selling their bracelets in the gift shop.  I have some 4Ocean items and one of the things I have at work is their steel straw set – 2 straws and a straw cleaner that came in a bag.  RC – please start offering these in your gift shop, next to your counters at Starbucks, or just everywhere…. You will make some money for a great cause and make your guests happy because I was not the only person irritated by the straw situation onboard.

So back to our final day at sea…

Tonight we listened to a band called The Royal Swedes in the Music Hall.  They were great.  They played songs like “Feel Like Making Love” and “I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore.”  They played other days according to our Cruise Compass.  Listening to them tonight was uplifting and made me want to stay on this boat forever.   This has been a relaxing and good cruise for us which was desperately needed.

Up next, debarkation and more notes about this cruise…

Nov 1 – Final Cruise Day – Rocking & Rolling At Sea

Today was the final cruise day.  We woke-up to rolling seas and barf bags attached to all the stairs.  People were walking around like they were drunk.  We were fine.  This type of thing has never bothered us.  I only heard one lady say she was feeling a little queasy.  We enjoyed the day just as we would any other cruise day. 

At one point, the rain was pouring into deck 14 so hard because of the winds blowing it in that you could not walk from the outdoor pool area by the outdoor movie screen into the closed area where the Windjammer entrance is located.   Royal employees did a great job of getting the water cleaned-up as soon as the rain would slow down or stop. 

We didn’t do too much today.  Enjoyed the day talking to people, packing, and purchasing a few items.  They offered Bingo again (3^rd time this cruise) at 2:45pm but we saw they were offering Bumper Cars again from 3pm to 5pm in the Seaplex so we chose Bumper Cars over Bingo.  This was only the 3^rd time bumper cars were offered this cruise.  We decided to go to the Seaplex early because (stupidly) we had pre-purchased $20 each in Arcade credits.  The arcade is located next to the Seaplex.  If you buy the arcade credits online ahead of time, you get a $25 credit per person.  However, you have NO WAY of knowing how much you have used.  You MUST track this yourself somehow.  When you prepurchase, the credit is on your account but you don’t know if you used your $25 or not.  We went $8.50 over because we didn’t realize until after we had played for a while that we had no idea how much credit we have.  There is a small machine there where you can buy “XX” amount of credit or check the credit on your arcade card but we were not allowed to do that because ours were pre-purchased.  I called the phone number that is alllllllll over the arcade on notices -  “For arcade assistance dial xx54887” ….or something like that.   There is a phone in the hall. I dialed.  I waited and waited… and started counting…. 23 rings later and no one answered.  Oh Well.  At least we stopped at only $8.50 over.  So, if you have children, do not pre-buy this.  Actually, for anyone, I would not pre-buy this because we almost forgot to use ours.  

I love Skee ball..

My husband likes the type of games you can “ride”

We stopped playing in the arcade to get in line for Bumper Cars around 2:45pm.  The Seaplex went from completely dead at 2pm/2:30pm…

To completely packed by 3pm…

Do you see that line?  I am taking the picture from where I am in line.  The line wound all the way around the entire Seaplex and then some today!!  Clearly, we only rode one time.   They are a lot of fun! 

Kudos to this lady…. She is a British RC employee who is HILARIOUS!! She calls them “Bumpa Cars” and she makes jokes while telling you the rules at the same time. Both times she ran the Bumper Cars when we were there and she is fabulous!!

We were in line long enough that my husband walked over to the Seaplex Doghouse and had a hot dog and he said it was alright.   He noticed they offered bratwursts and he wished he would have tried one of them too. 

Bumper Cars are fun and I highly recommend you try them.  It seems most people waited until the last day or didn’t realize until later on in the cruise that they are rarely offered.  On our cruise, based on the Cruise Compass, they were offered Day 1 11:30am-2:30pm, Day 3 5:30pm-7:30pm and Day 9 3:00pm-5:00pm.  Day 1 is when embarkation is happening and our original arrival time wasn’t until 1:30pm, Day 3 they are offered during dinner time, and Day 9 was simply packed.  Regardless, I’m really glad they are offered as they are awesome and fun and maybe it was only a total of 30 minutes of fun for us on this cruise but we loved them.

This cruise review will continue...

No.  Not true.  There was never any smoke in the haunted house.  We asked one of the staff in the haunted house after we walked through the haunted house.  This may have been the rumor floating around but nope.  Also, the haunted house was on the 4th floor and we were standing by the gangway on the 5th floor above the haunted house (at the Bionic Bar) when this happened and there was no smoke.   The gangway was 5th floor.

Well, this is funny to me.  I just realized the picture of the couple inside the Brass and Bock is a couple we met the last day in the gift shop.  He talked to my husband for a long time while I waited to pay and his wife shopped.  He was a veteran of Vietnam and said every year RC does something to memorialize the veterans and he didn't see anything in the Cruise Compass about it this year so he was upset.  I told him I had read something and I believed it was on the 4th floor around 7pm and to recheck his Cruise Compass.   Again, the Cruise Compass needs reworked for sure...

10 hours ago, lovemylab said:

 

I was surprised to read this.  I live in Halifax and the Titanic cemetary is definitely accessible (I drive by it everyday going to work).  There was a small sinkhole this past summer on the side street where the large tour buses normally park; however, the cemetary itself can still be accessed and that road isn't closed.  Other ways to currently access it would be by taxi or a smaller vehicle; however, I've seen some tour buses just park on a different street.  

 

Yes, some new friends of ours told us they were somehow able to see it on their own so we found that interesting.  Maybe the trolley, the hop-on hop-off, and the shore excursions all had to cut it out but doing it on your own must be available so your information is nice.  

Continued...

My favorite professional pic of the night..

We walked all the way back to Two70 because the Cruise Compass said there would be a Costume Parade.  We didn't know if this was a staff or a guest costume parade.  There were no specific details in the Cruise Compass, of course.  We hoped there might be a costume contest.  We arrived at Two70 and it was packed with people standing but around but no RC staff.  I finally found a staff member and asked if there was a costume contest and he said no.  We stood around until about 9:15pm or so and decided we had no idea what was about to happen but Two70 was packed and we were hot.  We were never approached to be in a parade.  We walked to the outer deck and sat and cooled-off.   Later, we would walk through deck four and someone said to us "you two should have been in the parade!"   ??????    The next day we would see on the RC TV show that the parade looked like guests and staff.   They announced costumed individuals in Two70 and they would come out on the floor and dance and then leave.  We were never invited to be a part of any type of parade and there was no information on this in the Cruise Compass and we were clearly visible there for a good 20 minutes.    Deck 4 was (as always) packed with people sitting around watching those in costumes sorta "parading" around and Deck 5 upper chairs were packed too as people watched from above.  Royal should consider having a costume parade through this area.  Royal should also have some sort of specific instructions in the Cruise Compass about what is or isn't going to happen, where to meet, how to sign-up, etc.  and they should have a costume competition.   My husband was a bit disappointed as he's the one that loves Halloween.

We decided to check-out the pub tonight.  It was late and we just wanted a bit to eat.  The bartenders in this pub are working like crazy and friendly the entire time.  We ordered their beer cheese and pretzels (eh, just breadsticks really) and their BBQ nachos (hubby loved them).   There was an older gentleman singing some fantastic songs in here tonight.  Him, a mic, and a guitar I believe is all it was.  Lovely.

The picture below was taken at another time.  The Brass & Bock was packed tonight.  

We left Halifax tonight with 50mph winds and the boat was rocking and rolling...

Up next... our final day at sea...

Halifax, continued...

We walked back on board in Halifax and my husband crawled in bed.  I milled around and waited for the movie in the Royal Theatre this afternoon - Aquaman.  The movie was scheduled for 1pm (?) and they didn't come to open the doors until about 10 minutes prior.  No popcorn or anything today.  Surprisingly, the movie was well attended.  It was a 3D movie.  You pick-up your own glasses from a rack.  

These 3D glasses are total crap.  One lady said "the glasses don't work" as she left.  I tried two different pair.  They are just too flimsy.  I love-love that they offer 3D movies, just wish maybe they would upgrade or clean the glasses.  The man in front of me cleaned his and his wife's with a handkerchief.   Several people were looking for ways to clean their glasses or would go back and get a different pair.  Kinda gross when you think about it but the movie was good.

Tonight was Halloween on the ship.   We had brought costumes.  We took a bit to get ready.  I was a witch...

He was a vampire..

We walked to deck five to have our pictures taken.  It was a festive atmosphere throughout the ship - lots of people semi-dressed in costume and others dressed-up in full costumes.  I saw some ladies in Halloween sweatshirts that said "Ghouls Night Out" and another lady in a light-up candycorn tiara, several couples in Halloween tops or sweaters, and of course.. lots of people in costume.   

We had our photos made by several professional photographers on the ship, hoping for a shot we would really like.  Just after we had this shot made near the Bionic Bar, and alarm went off on the ship...

The gangway was on Deck 5 just across the way from the Bionic Bar.  All aboard time tonight was either 7:30pm or 8:30pm, I don't know for sure because both times were in the Cruise Compass.  Either way, there were still people slowly returning to the ship.  We have no idea what happened but as someone came back on the ship and put their items through the x-ray/scanners... an alarm was setoff and a 3-story metal "door" came down and completely closed off the gangway area from the rest of the ship.  We couldn't believe it.  Several of the staff members seemed surprised.  I asked one if she had ever seen this happen before and she said no.  I walked around and took a picture of it because it was so strange...

Of course,  it was also a bit scary.  Eventually, the steel door was raised and we never knew what happened.  We were standing in line for the haunted house when the door was finally raised.  There was a long line for the haunted house all night.  It was located just past the La Patisserie on Deck 4.   I'm glad Royal Caribbean recognized Halloween in such a way and attempted a haunted house but this haunted house took maybe 5 minutes and it was probably entertaining or scary to 10 year olds?  There were adults, many much older than us, in line for the haunted house.   Maybe do something a little different for Halloween on a cruise like this in the future?  The haunted house was supposed to close at 9pm but the line was so long they must have left it open longer.  

This kid was hilarious... running around the ship (mom was nearby all the time)...

She welcomed us to the haunted house...

More on Halloween night coming...