*ICE + FIRE* ms Statendam in ALASKA with pre in Las Vegas - Summer 2013 Trip review

[fireflies]

We went to the Who Am I Game Show which was about hard to decipher professions. Some laughs, never seen it played on another cruise. Just enough time after it wrapped up to see a sunset.

 

 

Some nights shots, the empty Crow's Nest.

 

 

Day 4 in the books.

[JamesEM]

Enjoying your review and photos, how long did it take to eat you Le Cirque dinner, and what was in the Le Cirque box?

[fireflies]

Bxianesq So nice to hear from a fellow foodie :) Glad the menus give you an idea of the gastronomic goodies to come, have an awesome August cruise!

 

 

 

Enjoying your review and photos, how long did it take to eat you Le Cirque dinner, and what was in the Le Cirque box?

 

Hi. There were 4 or 5 tables when we had dinner and service was quick, around 1.5 hours I believe. It was paced fine and they offer an amuse-bouche to start. You receive a chocolate box at the end of dinner in Le Cirque venues. This is ours from Las Vegas

 

 

Glad HAL does try to offer the Le Cirque experience, here is what was inside the HAL version. A white/coconut and a chocolate truffle

 

[fireflies]

DAY 5: KETCHIKAN

 

Today's Forecast: Partly Cloudy / 61 F / 16 C

Tonight's Movie: Life of Pi

 

Our last port stop in usually wet Ketchikan. We lucked out and didn't get any liquid sunshine, sunny and nicer than the previous day. Went up to see the ship glide into town with seaplanes buzzing in the air.

 

We docked at berth 4 the furthest from downtown.

 

Food wise on HAL our biggest problems were on the Lido deck. We just never really liked anything there (the best thing we had were Indian Papadums).

Since we found the Lido buffet to be disappointing we tried the Terrace Grill twice, at least the items were hot. The cheese/hamburgers are alright, salmon burger not as much. I'm not expecting a great quality salmon but a bit better than what we got. A ground salmon burger would have been better. The sausage of the day was bratwurst on both occasions. I had the tacos once but found the taco shell was stale and the meat dry.

 

Pizza looked overly gooey + after reading a thread about quality concerns I skipped the pizza. Here's a pic if you are curious. I did flip it over and the bottom crust was burnt and hard.

 

The pool with the retractable roof open. Like how it allowed for sun but protected you from wind on all sides.

 

We got off and waited for the shuttle into downtown. It runs on a schedule but it seemed to be totally off on that day. A photo while we waited.

[fireflies]

The warm welcome sign. Big tourist shops with small local sweet shops too.

 

Dave Rubin's "The Rock" statue

 

Once off the main tourist drag there were flowers and we found a cute park.

 

 

Totem poles dotted around town.

 

[fireflies]

Ketchikan is a nice mix between Juneau and Haines. Tourist street shops but charming areas too.

 

No salmon this early in the season.

 

 

 

Fun bench on the dock.

 

[fireflies]

 

Successful shoppers!

 

 

Fun on the waters

 

Never been on a seaplane, maybe next time

 

Or anything like this

[fireflies]

Farewell/2nd Formal Night Dinner

 

We ate a touch later and were seated on the top floor for the first time. The port is so accessible you can see the houses through the windows.

 

Duck Pate, Caviar and Smoked Salmon. Couldn't say no to more caviar but it's better on a blini.

 

Escargots Bourguignon. Excellent

 

Surf and Turf. Not excellent, maybe I'm just over steak + lobster but didn't like the herb butter sauce and overall entree that much.

 

Pavlova. A Pavlova is suppose to be soft and light inside this was completely hard through.

 

DAILY VERDICT: Better than our first formal night but still just an average meal.

[fireflies]

Dessert Extravaganza was set up for photos for 10:00. HAL has a good idea to give 30 minutes to photograph the desserts before the chaos of chocolate and cake cravings take over.

 

 

 

Some cute displays

 

Croque En Bouche tower of cream puffs

 

Animal ice carvings as well

 

 

Day 5 in the books. Almost at the finish mat, one more day

[RedHeadTexan]

Your review is sensational! Not only have you made me absolutely giddy for Alaska, but you also motivated me to learn how to use all the features on my DSLR. I bought a field guide on my Sony A200 and learning how to be a better photographer. My mind is full of f-stops, shutter speed, iso's, and a ton of other stuff. :D:eek::D

 

Lisa

[Hilltopper_2]

Wonderful review and great pictures and commentary! We are going on Statendam 8/25 with 2 other couples and then the tour. Thanks. For all your hard work!

[fireflies]

you also motivated me to learn how to use all the features on my DSLR. I bought a field guide on my Sony A200 and learning how to be a better photographer. My mind is full of f-stops, shutter speed, iso's, and a ton of other stuff. :D:eek::D

 

Lisa

 

 

Hi Lisa. A nicer complement could not be given, thanxs :) :o :). It's awesome to hear you are delving deep into the exposure triangle. Soon, after reviewing a photo on the camera screen you'll be thinking "That would look better at f/3.5...I need to freeze the action more, time to crank up the shutter speed...too noisy, have to dial down the ISO."

 

You put your camera around your neck along with putting on your shoes, and there it is, an appendage of the body that shares your life with you. The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

-Dorothea Lange

 

I had a look at your fun RCI review (great slice of life shots in St.Kitts) would be nice to hear how your Alaska adventure goes, are you planning to post a review?

[fireflies]

Hilltopper_2 Thanxs for your kind comments. Happy I could give your group a glimpse of things to come on the Statendam.

Sure travelling in a group will be lots of fun in Alaska. Have an amazing Alaskan adventure, hope the weather is great on the cruise + on land too!

[fireflies]

DAY 6: Sailing to Vancouver

 

Today's Forecast: Partly Cloudy / 60 F / 15 C

Tonight's Movie: Skyfall (We didn't actually watch any movies but 007 was the closest we came)

 

A last sea day to soak up the Statendam and to enjoy the vistas through the Inside Passage. The last day is always bittersweet for me but a chance for a last look around, have a few smiles + laughs and savor a sunset.

 

It doesn't look it but we did eat breakfast at the Lido a couple of times. Nothing too exciting and I wasn't crazy about the not-quite self-serve hot item service.

 

Back to PG for another peaceful lunch.

 

Chilled Carrot and Ginger soup

 

Northwest five onion soup. Like a Cream of Onion soup but heaps better than than MDR French onion soup.

 

Crab and Shrimp cake. The balance was off, plenty of rice, not so much seafood.

 

Beef Tenderloin with Oregon blue cheese crust. Another great presentation plate from the kitchen. I'm not usually a steak for lunch person but the portion size is good, not too big.

 

Chocolate Brownie Decadence. Not bad but chocolate dosage could be amped up. Our other choice was a repeat of Strawberries w/ Raspberry sorbet

 

Not as fabulous as our first lunch but still a solid lunch. Our favourite meals were probably at PG for lunch so I'm a little sad we didn't have a chance to try their dinner offerings. Remember to book early for the last night if you'd like to finish the cruise in Pinnacle Grill.

[fireflies]

Sports Deck It was quiet on the final day but I saw some groups getting use of the facilities on other days.

 

 

Tennis lite

 

Could use a new one I reckon

 

Snowcaps mountains abound

 

 

Oceania Regatta powering northwards.

[fireflies]

Back inside, we wanted to finish the afternoon tea trifecta and so we had the Cupcake tea. It's not a must do but the first 2 teas (Dutch + Indonesian were pretty good).

The regular / English tea was my least favourite since it was the least inspired because you could get everything offered at the other teas.

 

Guest vocalist strumming away. We never managed to see the HALcats but did see the nice Adagio classical duo perform a bit.

 

One of the evening shows was the comedy + magic of Jeff Peterson who features "Indy" the cute dog/s.

He seemed to be a popular entertainer, we peeked in on one of his shows on the upper deck and it was full.

 

I touched on the fact that we didn't catch any production shows so I can't comment on the quality but we liked the audience participation shows.

The Love and Marriage show was later in the evening, a great and generous group of guests.

[fireflies]

Master Chefs International Dinner

 

 

Trio of table flags, would like to visit Denmark one day

 

Brie in Crispy Phyllo

 

Asian Mushroom Salad. Not much mushroom

 

Roasted Duck with Apricots. I'm a sucker for duck, this was fine.

 

Kiwi and Passion fruit Pavlova. Oops I mislabeled yesterday's dessert, seeing the torch on top it was actually Baked Alaska.

This was the pavlova I was talking about. I didn't mind the Baked Alaska but would pass on the Pavlova.

 

 

DAILY VERDICT: So dinner ended not with a bang not a whimper something like a hum.

 

DINING VERDICT: Overall I'd say the MDR was a quarter step better in comparison to other cruises we have been on (my previous favs were Celebrity + NCL) just letdown on formal nights. Not quite what we hoped but still good. Canaletto we liked and the Pinnacle Grill lunch was a definite thumbs up. If you love land Le Cirque, HAL's floating version seems to be a good deal considering how much the regular menu goes for. Wish Tamarind was on this class of ship too but oh well.

[fireflies]

Take a Bow British Columbia. We heard there was a group of dolphins following the ship but missed them, just our luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fireflies]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small.

And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks - on your body or on your heart - are beautiful.”

― Anthony Bourdain

[RedHeadTexan]

 

 

Hi Lisa. A nicer complement could not be given, thanxs :) :o :). It's awesome to hear you are delving deep into the exposure triangle. Soon, after reviewing a photo on the camera screen you'll be thinking "That would look better at f/3.5...I need to freeze the action more, time to crank up the shutter speed...too noisy, have to dial down the ISO."

 

You put your camera around your neck along with putting on your shoes, and there it is, an appendage of the body that shares your life with you. The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

-Dorothea Lange

 

I had a look at your fun RCI review (great slice of life shots in St.Kitts) would be nice to hear how your Alaska adventure goes, are you planning to post a review?

I am absolutely doing a review for Alaska. I found on the last cruise that typing a summary every day on my iPad worked out well. Everything was fresh in my mind and I didn't leave anything out.

 

Lisa

[lstrong]

Thank you so much for the beautiful photos and terrific review.

[fireflies]

I am absolutely doing a review for Alaska. I found on the last cruise that typing a summary every day on my iPad worked out well.

 

- Smart idea, after downloading photos I get too lazy to type before bed and forget everything. Great to hear, I'll keep my eyes open for your review.

 

- lstrong : Thanks, really nice to hear you enjoyed the review.

 

 

DAY 7: The Vancouver Rising Sun

 

A final post to finish the recap. We packed up and were ready to roll out since we chose self debarkation. This was our only visit to the Rotterdam for MDR brekkie. Decided to give the Japanese breakfast a try. Guess everyone was at the Lido since there were only a handful of cruisers and a matching handful of staff it seemed. We waited for around 20 minutes for breakfast to arrive.

 

 

Vancouver gets a lot of rain but the stars must have aligned because we had a picture perfect day in Vancity with not a cloud in sight.

 

 

I started with some food pics so I'll end with some food pics of a couple of Japanese inspired places. Where East meets West, Japadog! This is the Robson street location in downtown. A satisfying snack place.

 

 

The dogs have quirky toppings like grated daikon/white radish and even crazier stuff.

 

 

For late lunch we went primal, Japanese BBQ @ Gyu-Kaku, a casual yakiniku restaurant. You take the reins over the cooking thongs charring till your heart's content. Who doesn't love a flaming pit in a table? It's a bit further up from the port but still in downtown.

 

 

The Trinty of Summer, bbq + meat and ... beer

 

Thanks to everyone for the interest in the review and all the positive comments, hope it wasn't too painful to follow. Bon Voyage to all the Statendamers!

 

Sayonara + safe and sound sails

 

jc

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience and photos.

[lovetocruise2020]

Thank you SO MUCH. I love the shot of the seal, the b&w of the couple holding each other, and i think this is one of the most elegant dining rooms i have EVER seen. I am not a fan of the MDR on the Eurodam or the NA... Too modern for me, i think the MDR should always be elegant, even if the rest of the ship is modern...

 

Thanks for all the food shots!

[erewhon]

Super review and photos, thank you.