Alaska -14 day, June 1 impressions

[arewethereyet]

I will pick up the narrative of this trip post flight (since all air travel sucks). We arrived at SeaTac in the evening and connected with the Shuttle Express people with no problem. Since we had a prepaid reservation, everything went very smoothly. We arrived at the Mayflower Park in downtown Seattle after 10 PM for a two night pre-cruise atay. Check in was smooth, the room was on the 12th floor with a great view of Westlake Center. The Mayflower Park is in a great location if you want to see Seattle. The room was small, but very comfortable. All staff members were very friendly and polite. We ate breakfast twice (part of the package) and dinner once in the Andaluca Restaurant on property. The service was terrific, and friendly. The food was excellent as well. The hotel is within easy walking distance of Pike St. Market. It sits between Macys and Nordstroms, one block from the Pacific Place mall. Westlake Center is also the monorail station to the Space Needle. We walked down to a couple of wine shops (Pike and Western, World Market) to pick up some wine for the cruise. We also had lunch at Pike Place Chowder - truly excellent New England style chowder. The crab rolls -eh, not so much. On Friday, the hotel shuttle took us to the ship (Amsterdarn). OK! Here we go.

 

We took the shuttle provided by the hotel and arrived at the pier shortly after noon. We could have gone earlier, but I saw no need to become part of the "rush". Check-in went smoothly enough -painless, with no delays or surprises. Our cabin was ready (cabin 1867, Dolphin Deck midship), but had a peculiar smell - sort of a gamey campground smell. Fortunately, this was no longer detectable after the first day (yes, I sniff the air on entering the cabin). Otherwise, the cabin is fine. The toilet works -lol -every time so far. If it fails to flush, I'll post pictures (just kidding). The AC has been perfect. We ate a quick small lunch in the Lido. Embarkation day combined with HAL's 48 hour policy makes the Lido unpleasant to me. We did, however meet some nice people from Texas. The ship sailed basically in circles for the first hour or so. The Captain explained that this was to calibrate the magnetic compasses. This probably explains the plot someone posted several days ago about one of the dam ships near Stockholm. Finally, I sent a note to the bridge telling them that Alaska was North. I'm sure they appreciated my input, as we started up Puget Sound. The first evening we changed to open seating in the MDR and had a very nice meal. Service was excellent, and we did indeed have a wine attendant. I use the term "wine attendant" because that is how she introduced herself. The wine attendant did not seem to be stretched too thin, as everyone around us got service quickly. Because we chose to not do formal nights this trip, we ate dinner in the Lido the first formal night. Not good. I won't do that again. I'll get room service rather than eat in the Lido at dinner. Speaking of room service, we had room service breakfast the last two mornings. It's the only way to live, IMO. That, and the unlimited laundry (thanks to whoever recommended it) are highly recommended.

 

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The paragraphs above were written while on the trip. The internet service was so spotty, that I gave up attempting to post anything before getting home. So, the review turns in to a bunch of post cruise impressions and observations from here on.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation went very well from my perspective. DW and I always handle our own luggage whenever possible. We were delivered to the port at noon, and picked up when we returned to Seattle. This was all painless and went without a hitch.

 

Ports - I'll leave that to someone else. I liked them and we had fun and good food in most of the ports - nuff said.

 

The food on the ship was possibly the best I've had on any cruise ship. After the first two days, we had room service for breakfast, except on day in the MDR. Room service was terrific, and we do cash tip the guy delivering the food. It seemed unexpected and genuinely appreciated. We ate lunch in the Pinnacle once, and dinner three times. All meals were excellent, both in service and food. We did bring our own wine to two of those meals and happily paid the corkage fee. Most of our lunches were in the MDR or in ports. I was disappointed with the halibut and chips at the Alaska Fish House in Ketchikan (I was really looking forward to it). The fries had a heavy mesquite seasoning and the panko coating on the fish was too dark. The slaw had way too much cilantro for my taste (DW liked it).

 

Our dinners venues were as follows: 3 in the Pinnacle, 3 in the Canaletto, 6 in the MDR, 1 ashore, and 1 Lido. The MDR and Pinnacle were very consistently good. Wine service was always very fast. Canaletto was OK. The lasagne is the most bland I have ever tasted, I did like the Cod Putanesca, and the veal Milanese.

 

The weather and seas cooperated better than a person has a right to expect. I have read that some people on this sailing said there was some rough seas. I personally didn't notice any rough seas. In fact, crossing the Gulf of Alaska was remarkably smooth.

 

I won't review the entertainment because I don't cruise with HAL for the entertainment. What I was exposed to was a mixed bag. Some of it was pretty good - some should be arrested for impersonating entertainers.

 

This was a great cruise all in all. The HAL personnel that we dealt with were polite, cooperative, helpful, and cheerful without exception. I like this ship very much. If HAL would adopt a Celebrity-like smoking policy, this would be my favorite ship. It only takes a very few smokers to stink up much of the public areas on Deck 5.

 

We also stayed post cruise at the Mayflower Park. A great post-cruise stay - we caught a game at Safeco (Mariners - Giants) on Friday night. The next morning, a very short walk took us to Westlake Station where we caught the Link to SEATAC. The fare for us was $3.50 ($2.75 for DW, $.75 for the old fart - me).

[RuthC]

I won't review the entertainment because I don't cruise with HAL for the entertainment. What I was exposed to was a mixed bag. Some of it was pretty good - some should be arrested for impersonating entertainers.

It's a shame that you won't mention anything about the entertainment, as that's the one part of your cruise (which I will be doing later this season) that I am most interested in learning more about. :(

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hpe you talk more about the ports and what you did in them.

 

What night was the International dinner in the dining room?

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for posting a start to your review. Keep the rest coming.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for a review of your cruise, can't wait for the rest.

[vbmom87]

Thanks for your review. I appreciate you sharing your time in Alaska with us.I did this itinerary last year, and loved it!

[Himself]

Thanks for the review. I also did this same cruise last July and I just loved it.

[trophy_23]

Thanks for the in depth review, we are on this cruise in a few weeks and can't wait!

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for all your reviews.

[PetNanny]

Thanks for your review.

[kazu]

Thanks very much for taking the time to share with us. Sounds like the service was very good on board:D:D

[Dawn1004]

Ohhh I'm interested in the ports you visited on a 14 night cruise.

 

i'm in love with Alaska now, and just love to research everything about it, am counting down until they release cruises for 2014 when we go next.