creel5857

It is what you have time and money to do.  If you can, the land portion or any land trips are great because it is much different than the cruise portion......give you much better understanding of size and beauty of Alaska.  However, we have heard some people turn down a trip to Alaska because they didnt have the time or money to do cruise and the land portion.  My recommendation is to do some good homework, compare prices and reviews, use this board for great source of research on specific topics.......and then get you a trip together and go.   We have been 4 times and take different land options each time along with cruises......love Alaska.......love Alaska.........

We also have 2 cpaps and now let HAL have our extension cords and gallon of distilled water. So simple and very little money to not have to lug around distilled water.  Plus, depending on where the outlets are they will take charge of setting up electrical cords.  I am trying to remember if it might have been Nordam we were on in a standard veranda room that did not have outlets by/behind bed and they had to run them across room toward vanity and they put down a towel on top of cord to remind us to watch out for cord........but most ships have outlets near bed

A little extra space in cabin and bathroom..........

We always like a variety of shows.........musicians, comedians, dancers, .......but HAL sufferers greatly.   We have gone HAL on last few trips because of the cost and the ship had been recently updated and food is about the same, but otherwise we would choose Princess 

We agree.  After 9 cruises we choose HAL only if the price and iternerary beats out princess.  The entertainment is very poor on HAL compared to other cruise lines.  We dont need waterparks, golf, ice skating and 50 shops on board like some people do but we do like to visit the theater at night for a nice show........and HAL has really gone down in this department.

We sail HAL and Princess.......for entertainment we would give Princess the edge up.  We choose first based on itinerary, then secondly on cost and how recent ship has been refurbished.  But if all things were even, we would go princess due to night time shows.  HAL lacks a bit on night time entertainment to us

We have driven to Girdwood first day of arrival.  Since it gets dark later we still had a lot of good viewing before dark. We even had some of our luggage lost by airline and they secured luggage and brought it to our hotel that next morning very early.   We had already been to anchorage a few times and wanted to get our road trip started early and glad we did 

I am another one who vote for princess or holland america as cruiselines for Alaska.  Balconies are great if you can afford, just know that you might not use it much if weather is unfavorable but they are wonderful for early morning coffee, viewing coastline and glaciers in privacy and watching some quiet sunsets.......yes weather is different than Caribbean but still love our balconies.  For us it is usually itinerary first and ship second but prices usually are better with holland.......we prefer princess a little more due to night time entertainment but we sometimes go holland for the price........

We have done it with great niece and it was a bit of an adjustment and challenge but it is doing with a plan and realistic expectations.  Our niece and her husband were smart to discuss a plan ahead that included who would be primary responsible parent which day so the other one had a period of relaxation and it was predetermined if little one was fretful at dinner who would take them out ......DONT LET A BABY OR TODDLER INTERRUPT OTHER DINERS WHO HAVE PAID ALOT FOR THEIR VACATON AS WELL.   Packing is a bit tricky if you are flying and cruise ships dont have many baby supplies but a lot of ports have some basics if you need them.  Infants and toddlers dont do that well on excursions and in fact some excursion dont allow under certain age so check on that ahead if applicable.   Family is important so enjoy being together, just plan realistically.

Not elaborately spacious but better than lesser accommodations.......it would depend on fare as to how much more I would pay.......my real concern is a minor silly one to many people.......my main concern in the location of the TV behind the sofas.........I upgrade my room for both floor space and the additional seating.......but when the sofa is under the TV it eliminates that as a perk.....

We have never run a cruise line so I am not an expert..........but after 8 cruises I would say things are going down hill a bit with regards to services and entertainment.  You can have all the new bells and whistles you want to keep modern or contemporary to meet society demands but if you dont have that solid service and professional entertainment then you have lost the whole reason we like holland.......

yes.......inside public space like dining rooms and theaters we always needs sleves....

Things like this is not a great value to us.  In fact, the pricing of cabins on Princess altogether is getting a bit more than we can get in equivalent accommodations on some other lines......

Congratulations..........we have done this with family and friends on 3 of our cruises and it is not easy........do-able but not easy.   Based on our experience I would recommend you to think and discuss ahead a few things........time differences effect them with their naps and eating so there needs to be a prediscussed plan and back up plan about who stays with little one if the others are in main dining room or theater when baby gets fussy.......not nice for other passengers who have paid so much money to endure  an upset whiny baby......nor for 2 parents to argue or debate who is going to take the kid out.    The other thing is to not try to do real excursions, no matter how good it sounds it can be tricky.....just enjoy ports and be close enough you can return to ship if needed..     Also, depending on age of baby/child and the supplies you will need there are some ports that offer reasonable costs on things like disposable diapers without having to haul so many but check out ahead if they have name brand stores that might offer this.    Boutiques on ship do not have that much supplies for babies and it is more expensive to buy ship supplies.    So if you need to take baby/child (and we understand that youwould) then just discuss a reasonable plan with family members so it doesnt upset each other if you need to make some accommodations while on board and sometimes go to plan b or plan c while others enjoy their trip.  We actually had 3 of us rotating days of who was “on call” to take little back to cabin if needed.....LOL

Yes they watch quite well........they even stopped our luggage from coming to room for odd shaped item that turned out to be my curling iron........called me down to security and asked me if i had “contraband” and I said “no” but was getting concerned and wondering what had been put in my luggage........had me to sign form in front of camera that the luggage was mine and then got me to open the bag and all the while by BP was getting worked up and then I move my pajamas and they see it is my curling iron !!!    When I took pocession of my luggage the security form had a statement about a barrel type weapon looking object.......so yes they will see it.......and they will get it

I have heard from many who never have a problem and we didnt either on the first 8 cruises and then on cruise 9 there was a breach of security at the cruise port and it was a long and they were checking all carry on bags and even people’s med bags and planners??.  When they saw ours in our original bottles they immediately sent us on through.   So between that incident and unforeseen issues with airport security I will take my med bottles just to be safe.

We were in signature suite on westerdam and our room and bathroom was more spacious as noted in earlier comments.  We had 2 sinks and plenty of storage and nicest shower we ever had.    We were just disappointed that in our cabin the nice large TV was on the wall behind the TV........you could not sit on couch and watch TV???   So my husband sat in smaller chair and once again I sat on bed to watch TV.                                                                                 

It has  several months  since we were on  westerdam but we enjoyed the ship.  It had been freshened up in many areas but we heard from some “inside” cabin passengers that their areas were not freshed up as our signature suite had been. We loved the space in our suite and except for the placement of some of the furniture and TV we think this one of our better rooms.  Service level was very good but appeared to be limited in some areas with some stewards doing double duty.  Shows pretty good.  Shopping about like normal for holland. We did not have Protestant pastor/leader for sunday service but they let us meet and had a volunteer.  Love the size of this ship.   Furnishings getting a little mod/contemporary for my taste but still overall very nice

Loved our signature suite on Panama Canal trip because of the extra space.

We have been on 8 cruises with 5 princess and 3 HAL.  Our decision is based on the following: itinerary and price........the lines are very similar.  There are a few differences as mentioned:  you can usually get a room with mini sofa or better seating in HAL for less money than princess,  we have enjoyed entertainment on princess better, HAL usually has minister for church services on board or at least more often than princess.   We have also done royal and Caribbean and do not prefer those brands at our age/stage in life due to the noise and non stop business ........we are in 60 and 70’s and go for relaxation and dining and sight seeing but not needing the pool parties and karaoke bars and water park features and non stop games.  With both cruise lines it can depend on the ship as to whether the service and furnishings are as pleasant as we hope........but i would go with either if i can get good price on room with small sofa and balcony.

On our trip there was 2......first one was our 2nd night at sea and the 2nd one was key west night if I recall??  It wasn’t our last night so it must have been Thursday night leaving key west.    But yes we had 2 nights that were formal nights

No DVD player

To sunlover2......

not sure if JS 8546 will be effected or not, dont have layout of ship at close hand but yes earplugs are easy to pack so that will be ounce of prevention....primary problem for us was pool and buffet area above.  Some have commented on noise in atrium during times of music and entertainment but we did not experience much of that 

storage space in junior suites was great in closets......bathroom space is sufficient but I would have taken a little cheap small plastic basket (1.00 at dollar tree) for small items that roll around as most of bathroom is narrow flat space

yes hair dryer was located in a drawer near vanity area

there were robes in closet

there was only one outlet in our bedroom area which meant a lot of moving devises around if you have cpap or things that need to be charged.......if you by chance have cpaps let me know and i will give you some more update on our situation with that

our balcony we good size with t table and 2 chairs

TV channel selection was not great but then I realize a lot of people dont watch TV.......as senior citizens we do like to take some breaks and have some down time and at night sometimes after dinner we prefer to go to cabin rather than do shows and nightlight.......we were spoiled on other ships with a selection of channels and interactive TV that had movies etc.   this ship does not

let me know if you have any other questions

Yes we got that message.  Either way, the parking and driving around cruise port is crappy right now.  We thought it was just us but we heard from several people who are used to the port complain throughout our cruise and now today we hear from friends who said several almost missed ship on Saturday due to problems at port with parking and closed lanes.  Maybe they will get it straighted out soon and it will be great looking but we wont be going back there anytime soon

Agree with recent poster that sometimes we just need information ahead so we adjust our expectations accordingly.  This cruise was reasonably priced but have had other reasonably priced cruises as well on ships with less age, recent refurshments and more amenities.  For us it was a way to get to see key west, sail out of a port that we could drive to and try out a new cruise line.   The great thing about cruise critic is that you can read numerous comments and formulate your own opinion and base your plans accordingly.  We are home, clothes washed, ready to enjoy my own comfy bed and glad for the memories.  Since this was my first live posting while on a ship I appreciate your kindness with any of my missteps along the way.