OlsSalt

How nice to see the penguins in their dress uniforms for this special day. Baked Alaska in the Officers Mess for them. But what looks like chinstraps, they just might be in ANZAC veterans We celebrate them all.

Assume there can be a wait list, eager to snap up any cancellations. Individual exceptions made by corporate for wanting to kite credit cards does not seem like a winning argument. However, they may be looking for new Club 21 members perhaps? 🤑

The unfortunate thing is asking the passenger to make the effort to get this promised loyalty recognition. When in fact it is the cruise line who should be more than happy to recognize this passenger loyalty with no prodding. Something got this all backwards. But agree, lack of experienced staffing and the still reverberating "covid" disruptions means we all have to cut some slack over many things the seemed to work so effortlessly in the past. When we got our 100-day bronze years ago, we were contacted numerous times by the Guest Services office to ensure we were coming to this special event. At the time we did not understand this was a special command ceremony. We had just seen them passed out in the MDR in the past.

Be glad your Santa Barbara visit came the day that it did. Prior days the Diamond Princess was due to arrive at 6am, but left at 7am. This led to all sorts of local speculation - both naughty and nice about cruise ships visiting our town. This is a tender stop. However, here is the real news report: Per John Palminteri’s (or KEYT’s) Facebook page: Here and gone. The Discovery Princess cruise ship came to Santa Barbara Wednesday morning, then turned around and left. Winds and ocean swell conditions were too rough to bring passengers to shore. A cancellation fee of $6500. will be paid to the city.

Hope they also back the "classic" blue rimmed dinner ware. Then we can stop dropping our knives into the sauce on those tortuous, rimless wonders we have suffered through over the past few years. Less frou-frou in the plate composition would be classic traditional too.

Interesting to see "my home town" from your view angle taken from the ship. I almost could not recognize the landmarks from this angle, but aha it finally made sense. The community college, the harbor and the towers of the Arlington Theater perhaps even Mission up in the hills beyond.

Because of highly changeable weather patterns in Norway, there is no one perfect choice, nor bad choice. Flip a coin if you must. It can be hit or miss if you even see the fjorids. But Norway is always a beautiful visit on so many other levels. You really don't need to second guess any choice you finally make. Our guide once had to hold up photos on one trip to show us what we were supposed to be seeing, because the major fjord we were supposed be seeing was all fogged in. But what we did see instead, was beautiful country side, farms and villages up close, and had a wonderful Norwegian buffet. How about this for a major disappointment - taking the shore excursion to hike up to the all time photo op shot at Pulpit Rock, which appears on a sunny day in virtually every travel pictures for Norway. I had to finally give up close to the top because, it was time to head back to the bus. Others that did make it all the way to the top, but said it was fogged in and they could see nothing of that famous sweep of the view. Yet it was a glorious experience, just for trying, and the naturally stories get better with each re-telling. That is Noway.

Other Asian offerings? How about Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian. We have a local South East Asian restaurant that even got a nod from the last Michelin Guide pass through. https://samasamakitchen.com

Noordam just put in a new, more extensive library - on our recent cruise. One activity is no activity, great task loungers on the lovely wrap around deck - curl up with some good books to read, people watch or just be lazy. We did the long 51 day Tales of the South Pacific traversing much of this same area - yes, lots of sea day but we had good lectures. craft classes, trivia, they are also brining back "game shows often with staff and officers, coffee chats with key ships personnel, enrichment activities by the Polynesian support staff, and planning what and were we were going to eat next -that got to be our routine. Crossing the Equator King Neptune Party was a lot of fun. On a long cruise you also get to know your fellow passengers more, so meet and greet things can just happen when you are out and about. Noordam was in lovely condition on our recent Sept/October cruise. And I think she is due for a dry dock before your cruise starts next year. People do love reading trip reports -day by day- so that is something also to consider doing for all the desk top passengers back home on Cruise Critic

Ketchikan: You can also take the local bus to Totem Bite State Park if you want to really immerse yourself more deeply into the local culture, totem poles and short walks into this beautiful coastal scenery. https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/southeast/totembigshp.htm Skagway: Agree, the White Pass train is a must and a great way to appreciate the history of the Yukon Gold Rush and the National Historic Park Yukon Gold Rush displays and visitor center in town. https://www.nps.gov/klgo/index.htm Juneau: did have an original Woolworth's store, still operating a few years ago - if it is still there. Hubbard Glacier: still our very favorite. Hope you get to see and hear the massive calving that can happen with regularity at this location. Denali land trip: There was a recent trip report about one of the land and sea combination cruises - may offer some helpful tips. Search for "copper 10-8".

We like the Signature suites best for a veranda cabin, but any verandah will do close to the central ship elevator banks and even on the deck under the Lido deck. No, we have not found this deck to be "too noisy", but love the quick trip up the stairs to the outdoor activities . Check your deck plans, and then choose what you may want above or below you. And how far do you want to walk to get to favored parts of the ship. Or if you love to walk, hope you do get your favored aft cabin again

You can always find wifi in the ports, if you want to use your phone to keep in touch.

Rudi needs to pay a little more hands-on attention to the restaurants, that carry his name.

Coming into SF a month ago on the Noordam - early October. Captain also opened the forward deck for the occasion to get photos. Our HoHo tour bust route (carefully crafted and narrated) covering most of the major SF landmarks surprised us - the city looked very lovely, cleaner than expected, and reminded us very much of The City we both knew growing up in the Bay Area in the 1950-60s'. Except there was something missing as well -it felt empty for some reason. The Fisherman's Wharf area easily explored from the port was lively and very accessible, even though it is no longer a working fishing boat wharf. And yes, the HoHo route does include a very brief look at some of the more unsavory parts of town, but only a very quick drive-by. But what a glorious view from our starboard side cabin balcony across Telegraph Hill and out to the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. One can enjoy this port stop very much - with just a little extra attention and preparation. This was our early morning SF greeting:

Yikes even more. I sailed on her when she was originally the Lloyd Triestino-Gallileo Gallilei in 1977, before she became the Merdian. That is when now a the Meridian, she revolutionized the idea of cruising with ensuite cabins, instead of being mainly passenger ships going from point to point. I thought at the time she was such a big ship, but was only about 1500 passengers back then - two separated classes: first class and passenger class. 60 day RTW cost me $900 in 1977. Bathrooms were down the hall for most of us when she was the Galileo, with bunk bed cabins. She did catch fire as the later after the Merdian became the Sun Vista, which was a gambling ship. Then sank after all passengers had been rescued, and her sunken hulk is now a dive site in the Malacca Straights off Malaysia near Penang. In her former life as the Galileo, she was one of the few remaining regular around the world passenger ships back in 1977, taking mainly Italian immigrants to Australia and home sick Italian immigrants back to Italy. Plus a lot of young South Africans, Aussies and Kiwis up to England for a requisite year in the "mother country". I even got two extra free weeks since her Italian crews struck from time to time in order to delay its transit, just so they could dock in Naples for Christmas and spend the holidays with their families . They had to then take us all off the ship in Naples, and put us up in hotels for that extra week before starting the trip again down Suez, Africa and across to Australia. They also paid me a per diem for a prior land-based week, while I had to wait to board the now delayed ship to arrive in Genoa where I was embarking. No wonder they shortly went out of business a year or so later.

We have from time to time gotten warnings from HAL while on board if there have been significant crime reports in the upcoming port areas. Reminder however, one must do their own due diligence up front if embarking one your own. Lima Peru and Montego Bay Jamaica as no-go areas come to mind from past cruises in the areas around the port, or if contemplating independent walks into town. But then even on shore excursions, you can be sitting ducks for organized robbery gangs like in St Petersburg.

Lots of "funny" missing the ship videos out there online - people running like crazy, because they got back late with onboard passengers on deck either cheering or booing, depending on the final outcome. It can happen. Especially when the shore time is different from the ship time - or as in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - I think there is/was a half hour difference between the two times?

You can always explore ports on your own on HAL cruises, subject only to any of that country's own limitations.

Our last big group "US immigration" in SF, on board the Noordam required filing into a large room and having one of the many, many Immigration agents floating around shoot a "camera' at our face and then send us on our way. Facial recognition I suppose that must have given an instant green light. We were coming down from Vancouver. - SF was our first US stop, then disembarking in San Diego - already cleared. it was a lot quicker than having to line up for individual contact. It felt more like a milling crowd party room. Always wondered what that room would look like if a "stowaway" was discovered in one of the scans. Would guns be drawn and we would all need to fall to the floor and duck and cover?

For the record, K-dam -Christmas 2022 cruise Set de Mer was perfectly awful for us too, as previously reported. I sense a pattern here -what went so wrong so consistently on the K-dam in this time period? Pinnacle was not great either, but Canaletto did shine. Hanging in there for at least the venerable "Sallzburger Knockerel" dessert -who could screw up eggwhites? But what we got was a flattened, baked "claufuti' doughy thing, with some blazing micro-waved hot berries, that were dangerous to even try to eat.

We got hooked on our second HAL cruise called "Northern Strong Holds" - which was maybe 14 days, but I have never seen that itinerary again. Kind of a post-repositioning extra before the start of the European summer season. Rotterdam, Gdansk Poland, scattering of Scandinavia, and the real treat I don't think they ever went back to again - tiny Bornholm Island, Denmark. Danish pastries on that little island were perfection.

HAL appears to have an enviable "loyalty" problem. Too many still choose HAL, regardless of what gets handed out in response. The future of the Mariners Program will be interesting. The history of when it started and how it grew a loyal passenger base, even more so. HAL itineraries and onboard experience, weighed the most in our own "HAL loyalty" decisions.

We personally like being close to the Neptune Lounge to take full advantage of that perk - mainly to pick up small snacks, coffees and tea. Have a place to sit when they are making up our cabin. Not sure we would like a Neptune suite on another deck or even a longer hike to another section of the same deck .This also makes the aft-deck Neptune suites ones we would not take either, even though they are beloved by many and book up early. So the additional "Neptune suite" perks are also subjective, as well as tangible.

Think about picking the cruise during the dates when it is most likely to transit the full Prince Christian Sound in Greenland. When it will hopefully be free enough of ice to be passable .One of the most stunning memories on the entire Voyage of the Vikings. Of course, it will be impossible to predict this for certain but maybe there are more likely times of the year than others. We did the full Voyage of the Vikings in early August (I believe) Boston to Boston, We first entered the PW Sound from the west in the evening, and parked overnight as far in as we could go. Then in the morning we cameback out so slowly again to the western entrance. Then onwards through another route for our east bound journey on to Iceland. Captain had a search helicopter available to check it out, before making this partial transit decision. Then on our return route back to Greenland from Iceland (Rotterdam was the turnaround port) we were able to transit the full PW Sound - so just a few weeks made a difference in the ice content of the sound. Obviously there is no way to predict this - just beware of possible weather limitations on viewing this spectacular Greenland channel of water - the Prince Christian Sound.

Looks like the best advice to get a more traditional "HAL cruise experience" over the holidays is to book the smallest HAL ship, for the longest itinerary that is not a back to back. With no "kids sail free" promotion, and if possible the most obscure and hard to read departure port. There are some choices. Our own experiences were on the Oosterdam, then the Eurodam, and lastly the Konigsdsam; going for okay to terrible, in that order. I would still try the Zaandam or Volendam to explore a full HAL holiday cruise experience and see if the above theory holds. Those who do want a much "livelier" HAL experience can do just fine with the larger HAL ships. No question most were enjoying themselves, even if we were not. (Old fogies here.)