OlsSalt

Thank you. We were in that section on the Zuiderdam on our first trip to Alaska year ago. Concur - window views were great, when there is still light. Not so much for late fixed for our upcoming late Sept cruise, but who knows maybe that will be the best seat in the house to see Northern Lights? If only.

I'd worry more about falling into vats of brewing soy sauce. On a tour of the soy sauce island in Japan, they claimed every year a few of their workers do fall in while stirring the soupy mix.

Mutations from whatever the source did gift us humans with opposable thumbs, and the rest as they say is history.

Keeping in mind when asked to describe the various cruise lines under the CCL umbrella, CEO Arnold Donald at the time described HAL as "midwestern". That is probably a good expectation to have about HAL - solid value, basic, dependable, but little dazzle or glitter.

Taking note that Carnival ships are mentioned, not the entire family of Carnival Cruise Line ships which also includes HAL. Within the CCL ship family, Seaborn gets a nod. But The Carnival ships themselves got top markings on a number of disparate "best food" threads. Who knew?

Fun to search on line for "best cruise line food" since the answers are all over the place, but the real surprise was how often Carnival ships were mentioned near the top. Any local comments on that finding? They even apologize for this claim, since on the face it seems so unlkely due to the more "fun ship" reputation Carnival ships have.

Current de Librije menu, in Zolle: https://www.librije.com/eat/menu/librije-s-menu

We did De Librije on the first 50 day Grand Cruise to Indonesia a number of years ago. Overly fussy food left us unimpressed, but glad we tried it. Foamed liver pate, beef cheeks, deconstructed apple pie ....Meh. Hope their menu has moved on from those days. The Pinnacle chef was one of the best we have ever had onboard, so he was well-skilled to execute this menu in this onboard setting. But he also said his wait staff was stressed trying to explain the curiously named menu items to the passengers. That said, this is very celebrated Dutch Restaurant. But our fellow Dutch passengers on board that cruise pretty much wrote it off as so much frou frou.

Here is your roll call - Link -Grand South America - very, very active so just jump in and introduce yourself. Best is to scroll backwards when you read the pages of messages this roll call already has. We did both the South America cruise, the Antarctic cruise and went back for even more on the first Maasdam In-Depth cruise on our way to Easter Island - and we would easily go back to any of these ports again. You are in for a great cruise.

Glad to hear your sister is well enough to travel now. The Huntington Library and Gardens and Griffith Observatory overlook is a good option, to see what can be remarkable about the LA area. Getting above and away from most of it. 😉 Getty Museum was another obvious option too, but not included.

HAL has never been known for being trendy. I would always describe it as fusty, like an old relative's country home - and comfortable like an old shoe. Lack of trendy decor always make me think they are keeping the prices lower too. HAL has come a long way since its fire-sale bordello mismatched carpet days. But as you note, much of this has been built in from the dates of their conception. Stick with the basics, and HAL will excel and even perhaps win you over: travel, food, cabin comfort, remarkable staffing, price, itineraries and good company. I am old school.

New shore excursions just got posted for LA (San Pedro) finally - some decent additions, but as we discussed all take long bus trips to get there. Even some excursions now for Avalon now.

Kids do try to live up to their parent's expectations. Just saying.

You are already living on a planet full of natural radio-active decay going on every single day under its crust. Oceans do take up 73% of the earth surface, so their self-regulation mechanisms deal with short term contaminants. As pointed out by others, dilution is just one of them.

There are no "excursions" in Antarctica on HAL ships. Did you think otherwise when you signed up for this extensive time onboard? It can still be a fabulous "drive-by" experience even if you don't land on the continent. The rest of the ports on this journey around South America are pretty terrific. Much more low-key than other destinations. Wait until you see the listed shore excursions and see what appeals to you. If you are traversing western South America (you did not mention your 73 day itinerary), getting up to speed on the pre-Columbian history of this area and the layers of incredible prior civilizations and their remaining historic sites today will be well worth the effort.

Natasha sounds Russian to me - she says it is in the quality and treatment of the meat, as much as in the sauce, and the options of accompaniments are varied - whatever soaks up the rest of the sauce works: https://natashaskitchen.com/beef-stroganoff/ No, you will not get this much attention to preparation detail in the HAL MDR.

Try to ensure with your travel agent or PCC - early fixed dining, table for two. We have always done this, but for late fixed dining; never tried to get early fixed. Good thing about late-fixed is after a few days there are empty tables when people find out this does not work for them, so the dining staff can offer more available choices. Sometimes we get a table for four, but set up for two.

The art of real traveling is to wander. Never know what will show up. But you have me at the sour cream being critical for Stroganoff. Why bother if the sauce is thin and flavorless, and not piquant and unctuous. However, beef in an herbed cream sauce on noodles - comfort food. Good enough.

5pm for as you wish dining always seems the most impacted. The crowds that gather at the door when the dining room opens, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to handle that random number all at once. When compared to the days of known quantities for only early or late fixed dining - or early and regular dining for the traditionalists When we had 8pm fixed on a recent Konigsdam, our own complaint was it was almost "too fast". Whisk one item in and replace it with another - with little time to pause,savor or anticipate between courses. HAL faces the Goldilocks problem in the MDR, yet there are sweet spots to be found by varying one's routine. I believe their current dinner service standard is now 1.5 hours. In the past it was much much longer, even more so when soup was a separate course and the dessert menu only came out at the end of dinner So that is one change, the more consistent 1.5 hour dinner, that has been welcomed. Even if it now includes asking for a dessert choice at the beginning of the meal -which can be declined if one wishes to do so and make their choices later.

85% of California is still fantastic. It is just that our problems are 300% abnormal. All that is bad seems to flow into California, on a course of least resistance. Not having visited the SF Bay Area in number of years, our Noordam itinerary stop in SF will be interesting when we re-visit this formerly magical city of my own childhoods. Is 85% of the city still okay and the other 15% is 300 times worse. I'll know in a few more weeks. The other burning question having lost the Santa Barbara port for a San Pedro substitution, is taking the Silver Line "J" metro bus from the San Pedro port into LA downtown safe, crazy, too dangerous, and/or perhaps also over-hyped by lurid publicity.

Fincantieri. ( Hdqtr: Trieste, Italy) https://www.fincantieri.com/en/ Finesterra (end of the earth) is a fine resort in Cabo.

Rust and salt air is a part of ship travel. That why we also get chronic complaints about "paint smells" on cruise ships too. It is a 24/7 battle, regardless of dry dock or one time fixes. Comes with the package. You can only add so many layers of paint over it, before it must be scraped down and start all over again. These are not bathtub toys.

Just did a price comparison, and surcharge food items ordered every day on HAL are actually way cheaper than full prices on Oceania. So comparing MDR selections is a poor starting point. When you compare the $230 vs $650 daily costs per verandah cabins.

In Santa Barbara we have something called "marine layer" - an off-shore fog bank that can hang heavy on the far horizon. Laden with water vapor, the bottom border is naturally dark gray. A favorite ploy anti-cruise ship ploy is to photograph a cruise ship smoke stack in alignment with this dark and natural marine layer bottom border, Then scream cruise ship air pollution - here is PROOF!

Today, locals in Santa Barbara now welcome cruise ships with Friend of the Earth (FOE) talking points. https://foe.org/projects/cruise-ships/?issue=335 They hand out grades for various cruise lines. Which then becomes local media fodder for the many who have never been on a cruise ship. Know what the cruise industry is up against on this topic in "eco-sensitive" California. Valid or not.