Alaska - HAL Volendam Review with pictures

[KNOT2L82SAIL]

Screams.... and then ....

You have left us hanging. We need more! ;)

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures! Can't wait for more :)

[kristinp36]

Screams.... and then ....

You have left us hanging. We need more! ;)

 

Sorry for the delay....so 1 am and screaming. Dad and I jumped up having no idea what happened. Mom happily took her bath but when she let the water out of the tub the toilet started to overflow with sewage. And to make it worse she had placed her clean PJs on the floor and they were soaking up the sewage water. She was panicking and didn't know what to do. Keep in mind that our cabin was at about 80 degrees at this point. Dad and I were hot and cranky but went to work cleaning up the bathroom. We decided to tell guest services and our cabin steward in the morning since we did not want a bunch of people in the cabin that late at night.

 

I went to guest services early the next morning to report the problems in the room. They said they would send someone later but to make my job more challenging I had to make sure they didn't send someone until after 11 since mom would be the in room getting ready.

[kristinp36]

We meet the family for lunch in the MDR....wandered the ship....took in some scenery. We were starting to see more snow on the mountain tops.

 

Sculpture by the Lido pool

 

 

Our fruit bowl....filled up

 

 

 

View from the Crow's Nest...watching a crew member take some measurements

 

[kristinp36]

This is not my group but a family sitting near us around 3 pm on the sea day....they were all knocked out. This was a great area to relax. Quiet during the day with a great view and them music at night.

 

 

Mom taking pictures

 

[Wakepatrol]

Thanks so much. Absolutely beautiful pictures:)

[kristinp36]

We returned to the room around 4 pm to relax and start getting ready for our first formal night. The steward had cleaned up the bathroom towels from the disaster the night before but mom's PJs were still there. She was not too happy about that. Dad and I were not too happy because it was still muggy and 80 in our cabin....not what we expected on an Alaskan cruise :confused:

 

We decided to get ready and stop by guest services on the way to dinner about the air conditioner. We stopped by and they said they had made some adjustments but it might take time to catch up. OK...we will see. As you can see we had a slightly rough start to this cruise but everyone was still enjoying themselves and going with the flow.

 

The group all dressed up....the idea of formal night was drama for my family. No one but me and mom wanted to dress up. We told them to relax and explained that it did not require sequins and tuxes. Eventually they all turned around and came prepared with their casual version of formal. They actually thought they didn't like the idea of the MDR either but then insisted we eat ALL our meals there. Funny how that happens. We did see a couple people turned away that were not dressed appropriately. Once couple had T-shirt, shorts and flip flops.....another group of men did not have jackets and they were given some to wear. It is my understanding that they have limited jackets to loan out.

 

 

Here are some pictures from my after dinner stroll while the group played cards.

 

 

 

 

Not sure what he was.....any guesses

 

[kristinp36]

Day 3 - On Location - Juneau

 

 

 

 

 

[kristinp36]

[kjeanne2001]

Enjoying your review and pics! Did they say why sewage seeped up? Did you use the thermal suites? I see the hours say 8pm to 10pm. Wondered if that was a typo? Do you recall how much they were?

.

[kristinp36]

Enjoying your review and pics! Did they say why sewage seeped up? Did you use the thermal suites? I see the hours say 8pm to 10pm. Wondered if that was a typo? Do you recall how much they were?

.

 

The people that were sent to our room to check our problems were like ninjas....we never saw them! We don't know what caused the sewage to overflow but Dad and I forbid Mom from taking another bath to be safe. She was not too happy about that but I rationalized that most ships would not have a tub anyways.

 

Sorry I never used any of the spa services.

[kristinp36]

Day 3.....room is still hovering in the high 70's. Ugh someone fix this! Back to guest services. Same story "we will send someone to check it". I usually never have to visit guest services on a cruise. This was not a good start for HAL in my book.

 

Even with the problems I was super excited for today. Dad and I are going on an excursion into Tracy Arm. The ship did not sail into Tracy Arm on this cruise so you had to book an excursion to see it. Loving nature and landscapes this was a must for me. Dad didn't decide to join me until the day before and there was still space. We were instructed to meet in the main theater at 9:00 for a 9:30 departure. Once everyone was checked in we were walked as a group to the lower level. The operator was Allen Marine which has a good reputation on these boards. We were boarded onto their boat/catamaran from the ship in open water. It was similar to getting onto a tender. The boat was a 2.5 level with level 1 all inside seating with windows. Level 2 was 1/2 inside seating with windows and 1/2 outside deck. The top 1/2 level was all outside that was only open while we were not moving and we were viewing a glacier. They opened it twice. This was a long excursion due to the distance into the Tracy Arm and then back to Juneau. That is where we meet back up with the Volendam around 3:30 pm.

 

Get ready for LOTS AND LOTS of pictures!

[kristinp36]

A few from that morning....Dad and I ate in the buffet this morning so we would be in and out. Met some great people on this cruise....it was very popular with Australians.

 

 

Dad in his HAWAIIAN shirt

 

 

I don't know this gentleman but I liked the pic....he and I were the only ones on the bow this morning.

 

 

Started getting a little overcast before we went on the excursion

 

[kristinp36]

The family and lot of others sending us off....

 

 

View from the boat/catamaran looking back at the Volendam

 

 

Even more people up top...

 

 

See you soon...

 

[kristinp36]

Within 15 minutes we see WHALES....Humpbacks. This is not a whale watching tour but they were great about slowing down and stopping the boat. Among the crew was a marine biologist that gave us lots of information about all the wild life we saw this day.

 

I was so happy I had rented a long telephoto lens. I tend to shoot mainly landscapes which require wide-angle lens so I do not own a telephoto....my current longest lens is a 100 mm. I rented a 100-400 mm for this trip. I highly recommend renting a lens. It was a simple process and get shipped to your home or a local camera store (if one is available)...then when you return you ship it back the same way. The following shots would have been much much further away with my own lens!

 

 

Whale 1

 

 

Whale 2

 

 

[kristinp36]

Amazing scenery this whole trip....tons of waterfalls.

 

 

 

[kristinp36]

 

 

More and more ice

 

[kristinp36]

There's a glacier back there

 

[kristinp36]

A Dolphin...this was the best image I got....couldn't get to the rail on that side of the boat...too many people....boo

 

 

Small cruise ship

 

 

 

Loved all the different ice

 

[AlohaPride]

I'm really enjoying your review. Thank you. Too bad about the temperature and bathtub. I hope it gets resolved!

[kristinp36]

We saw minimal calving

 

 

 

 

[kristinp36]

 

 

 

[kristinp36]

 

Dirty Burg

 

 

 

 

[erewhon]

Fantastic photos, cute seals on the iceberg.

 

Hope the room problems were solved for you.

[kristinp36]

 

 

Mountain Goat....look closely :)