BrianC-80

That's a shame - I went on her last year for a day and felt that she was perfect.

I'll hold my hand up - I'm fairly new to cruising. I've not sailed on anything but Holland America, and am only trying Norwegian for the first time this December. We've toured Celebrity Eclipse last year when it was in Southampton and generally I'd ranked Princess in my mind as generally equal to Celebrity... that was until this show.

Basically it's made me rethink Princess entirely and rather than think of it as a luxury line, it's now on par with the likes of P&O for me. Don't get me wrong, it wouldn't stop me from sailing on it given a decent price point and a general feeling of value for money, but I wouldn't pay extra to go on one.

When we did our pre-cruise stay for Vancouver a couple of years ago we stayed at the Metropolitan. I still remember it being a very nice and airy room, and the bonus point is that you don't need to get a cab to the cruise port as it's downhill the entire way!! So perfect for wheely bags.

Glad I could help...

Likewise - we're visiting in December, so very happy to hear that there's a simple solution! :)

I know the feeling. The wife and I are strongly considering a second cruise this year and we both feeling actively guilty about telling anyone as it feels like such an extravagance to go on two cruises in the same year. But we can just about afford it (the second cruise will admittedly be booked on a last minute deal, so we're keeping an open mind about where we're going).

I've never dined at Le Cirque, but having dined at the Pinnacle on our last cruise I can say that we will be dining at it again on our next cruise. The quality of the food was a significant step up from the main dining room (and I think the main dining room is good!).

I think its a big question about cuisines, if you like the sound of the dishes at le Cirque then go for it. Probably if we went on a longer cruise then we'd give it a go, but we're likely to be sticking to 7 night cruises for now, and so we'll be going with the Pinnacle for the time being.

Thought you might all like to see that HAL will be the first cruise line to stop at Trujillo, Honduras from Autumn 2014 onwards.

http://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/banana-coast-lands-holland-america-multiple-port-calls-2014-15-40640

It'll be incorporated into 11 western cruises through the 2014-15 season.

I'm a sucker for the room service club sandwiches.

Although with less than four weeks to go until our second cruise I'm craving the french onion soup like an addict. If we get a two person table this time then I plan to have it more than once, although because I'm pretty awful at eating it nicely I'll probably just have it the once if we end up with company. :)

Oh and the baked alaska. It was like eating tasty clouds last time. Plus after trying a taster on the last cruise, we're booked into the Pinnacle Grill this time and I'm really looking forward to the Steak Diane!

Are the formal nights on the 'first Inside Passage' day, Thursday -- and the Glacier Bay day, Sunday?

 

We want to book the Pinnacle but not on a formal night.

 

Also -- do they still have 'Tea' in the afternoons? If so - what lounge ?

 

Thank you!

That sounds right from what I remember last year.

The second formal night had the lobster and steak main course if I remember correctly.

I heard that you can access special types of snacks at around 11pm to 12am at night, what kinds of food are there and is it every night? Something about Philippino snacks or something?

Its served in the lido restaurant. Theres different food on each night, and they do Philippino food one of the nights. I think its the same night that they do the Philippino entertainment in the show lounge.

Also regarding the high teas - we only did one and it was a cupcake high tea - it was good but we often found that we meant to go to more of them but kept finding other things clashing with it or we were simply ashore at the time.

Where is this forecastle you speak of? :D It sounds lovely! Also, I heard that you can order from the dinner menu in room service during the evening hours, is that true?

The forecastle is the big open space on the front of the ship (pronounced foac-sul). If I remember right, you access it through a door right at the front of the lower promenade deck. While in Glacier Bay they serve hot chocolate and warm pea soup out there as well.

With regards to the main dining room, I thought it was quite good. Theres some standard menu items which are served every night, but the majority change every evening. Here is a link to the menus on the Amsterdam from Alaska last year, I remember the Volendam being different but similar. http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1674710.

My particular favourites included the surf and turf on the second formal night (which included lobster), although I'm personally craving the french onion soup and the basked alaska (which they change the flavours of on a daily basis) ahead of my upcoming cruise in a month and a half. I thoroughly recommend the main dining room for dinner over the lido, it's pretty much the same food to a certain extent at both, its just that the main dining room is so nice that its worth taking the time for.

We did our first ever cruise on the Volendam last year, and to Alaska too.

We loved the ship, and while the majority of the secrets have already been mentioned, here's a few more:

Laundry - You're bound to want to wash something at some point. The machines on the floor with the suites are the least used (check the deck plan). Also be very wary of the tumble dryers, they run very hot and if you have time to let things air dry then do so. I had to stretch out a polo shirt as it came out considerably shorter than it used to be!

Pinnacle Grill - Try it, at least for lunch (which you can't book until your on board the ship by calling the reservations line) which is $10 per person instead of $25 for dinner. We didn't bother and then tried a Pinnacle Grill sample at a cooking demonstration on one of the last days. Trust me, we've already booked our dinner reservation for our next cruise!

Skagway - If you do one excursion, do the train from Skagway up into the mountains. We didn't do it, which was in hindsight a big mistake. Lots of people raving about that excursion afterwards, we heard it non-stop from our dining room friends for the rest of the voyage.

Ketchikan - It'll probably rain. Bring waterproofs and you won't be miserable.

Food - Key thing - remember you can go back onboard for lunch and then come out again if you decide to have a port day. Oh and try the club sandwich from room service, it's really good and isn't served elsewhere. Specifically we've come back onboard from a trip and simply ordered room service for lunch outside of the normal meal times and it was fantastic.

If you make your way out to the forecastle while in Glacier Bay you'll get a wonderful unobstructed panoramic view. Just remember to wrap up warm though as it was snowing in parts of Glacier Bay when we were in there.

Well, the subject kinda says it all - we're looking at a Scandinavian cruise for next year which departs from the UK (so we don't have to pay for airfair or hotel stays).

HAL offers two cruises that fit the bill, but I can't pin down which one would be better.

Norse Legends: Bergen (Norway), Flam (Norway), Alesund (Norway), Eidfjord (Norway), Scenic cruising in Hardangerfjord.

Viking Sagas: Scenic cruising in Oslo Fjord, Oslo (Norway), Kristiansand (Norway), Stavanger (Norway), Scenic cruising in Lysefjord, Ulvik (Norway), Scenic cruising in Hardangerfjord.

Both are on the Ryndam, and both are the same price right now (and both have free upgrades to Ocean View cabins - which is the same class of cabin we had when we cruised before so we'll probably aim for that again, especially if its the same price as an inside cabin).

We've been on a cold weather cruise before in Alaska earlier in the year, and really enjoyed the scenic cruising in Glacier Bay, so I'm naturally inclined to think the Viking Saga is the better cruise for us, but do the different stops in the Norse Legends beat the additional scenic cruising in the Viking Sagas?