hondorner Posted May 25, 2010 #51 Share Posted May 25, 2010 For what it's worth, the Prinsendam docked in Anchorage, Alaska (where I live) yesterday (first cruise ship to dock here in 22 years) and it is beautiful from the outside. It was such a huge deal (and a gorgeous day) that the news stations were interviewing passengers as they came off and all over downtown. In addition to raving about the beauty of their cruise up (it is an unusually long 2 week trip, we have had very sunny weather this spring in Alaska, and the ship will be back here as part of its itinerary) they also raved about the ship/cruise. You know that Regatta will be making at least 2 cruises into and out of Anchorage in 2011. I kind of hoped they would be first. I do know that when I first proposed Anchorage in the Itinerary Idol contest, some said it was only an industrial port and no cruise ship would be welcomed. According to Tim Rubacky, of Prestige Cruise Holdings, when they investigated a stop in Anchorage, the authorities were very much in favor of it and very encouraging. Your report about Prinsendam reinforces that. I'll be on the first sailing of Regatta from Anchorage on June 29, 2011. It's exciting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seafare Posted May 25, 2010 #52 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I'll be on the first sailing of Regatta from Anchorage on June 29, 2011. It's exciting! Don & Betsy, We will be the first sailing into Anchorage, arriving 29 June 2011. Don't worry I'll take good care of the Regatta for your arrival. P.S. Do you know if there will be Naturalists (sp) on board & if there will be binoculars in the staterooms? Can you tell I'm in full planning mode already and it is a full year left before we sail. :D Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrammieK Posted May 25, 2010 #53 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I don't mean to hijack this post, but it is about HAL value vs. Oceania, so here goes. I have two cruises booked (Sept 2011). 1 - HAL - Quebec City - NY 2. Regatta NY - Montreal. I can only go on 1 (they are at the same time). and I am hoping someone will have some info that can help me to make up my mind. Have been on both lines before and booked a SB aft suite on the Eurodam and a PH2 on the Regatta. What do you think? Which would you go? K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esther e Posted May 25, 2010 #54 Share Posted May 25, 2010 That is a hard decision. Only because I think the tub on Regatta is very high, would I consider seriously HAL with the separate shower stall, or lower entry tub. And those two sinks.... Whichever you decide will be wonderful. But let me add that the excursions offered by the ship line would be a definite consideration for us, too. We only do ship's tours so whichever suits our fancy would be a push. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toranut97 Posted May 25, 2010 #55 Share Posted May 25, 2010 We were on Nautica for 39 days in March/April and found the smoke odor awful in Horizons most every evening we were there. Stopped going after awhile, truthfully. Also, we were forward, starboard on Deck 7 and could smell the odor from the outside pool deck area in the corridor outside our cabin....must have drifted down the stairway. AND in the fitness room...crazy that the smoking area is located so close. Every time the outside door opened, another waft of foul smelling odor came along. Yes, we did make note on our comment cards. O can't please all the people all the time but it sure would be nice if the smoking areas were more isolated. With HAL's current smoking policy, we doubt we will sail on her. We are waiting for a cabin assignment (we are GTY) for the 8/29 Black Sea Serenade on Nautica -- and this has freaked me out! Are we potentially going to have to avoid our veranda because of smoke stench? We are category A2. We are so looking forward to our veranda --- is this a huge problem???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hulamoon Posted May 25, 2010 #56 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I hope the answer is no, we are avoiding booking HAL because of their air quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondorner Posted May 25, 2010 #57 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Do you know if there will be Naturalists (sp) on board & if there will be binoculars in the staterooms? Can you tell I'm in full planning mode already and it is a full year left before we sail. :D Jill I suspect there will be lecturers familiar with Alaska; there have been such lecturers on all our previous cruises and only one was of little significance. I don't think there are any binoculars in concierge or below; they have not been there on our previous cruises. There maybe some in Penthouse Suites, and I'm pretty sure there are some in Owners and Vista suites. We always bring our own. Between the binoculars, cameras, laptop, phones, chargers, mouse, mobile hotspot, and (with all that) a necessary power strip, I always have on carry-on that is entirely electronics, optics and gadgets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaitape Posted May 25, 2010 #58 Share Posted May 25, 2010 We are waiting for a cabin assignment (we are GTY) for the 8/29 Black Sea Serenade on Nautica -- and this has freaked me out! Are we potentially going to have to avoid our veranda because of smoke stench? We are category A2. We are so looking forward to our veranda --- is this a huge problem???? At the risk of being chided on changing the thread to one regarding smoking, I'll respond to your question: We never had a problem with smelling smoke on our veranda while on Nautica. Anymore discussion regarding smoke, smoking or other related topics should probably be in a new thread. The issue of smoking is a BIG one and certainly one that has influenced our choice of cruise lines.....which is one of the reasons we value O and RSSC over other lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyQuinn Posted May 26, 2010 #59 Share Posted May 26, 2010 For what it's worth, the Prinsendam docked in Anchorage, Alaska (where I live) yesterday (first cruise ship to dock here in 22 years) and it is beautiful from the outside. It was such a huge deal (and a gorgeous day) that the news stations were interviewing passengers as they came off and all over downtown. In addition to raving about the beauty of their cruise up (it is an unusually long 2 week trip, we have had very sunny weather this spring in Alaska, and the ship will be back here as part of its itinerary) they also raved about the ship/cruise. No biggie - but thought I’d mention that it was HAL Amsterdam not Prinsendam that was in Anchorage yesterday. This was the inaugural voyage of a 14-nite cruise that goes deeper into Alaska with new port calls in Anchorage, Homer & Kodiak. Earlier this month, HAL announced that it will continue these extended Alaska cruises on Amsterdam into 2011. So Anchorage should have lotsa action. And of course, Oceania will also be there next year. It's always exciting when a cruise ship comes to your homeport! :):) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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