Alaska 14 day June 22 the good, the bad the ugly

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

Part one

 

I never thought I would complain about a cruise. But this cruise was different. A lot of little things, one big thing.

 

When We entered our cabin I could not believe how small it was. I was in cabin 3347. I had been in cabin 3355 on a cruise before and it was large. In the cabin

bathroom the toilet was at a 90 degree angail. I knw small point. But the cabin was very small. Bot really big enough fot two people.

 

The great. I had taken a shuttle private car to cruise teriminal. We left at 9:30 and were quickly checked it. I then realized I did not have my camera luggage bag with me. We had a minor problem getting out of the car. when a bottle of wime slipped out of bag and broke all over the street. I went back to desk and HAl bent over backwards in order to help me finf my bag. I was heartsick. We went downstairs of terminal and found our regular luggage no camera bag. Found all our luggage as there were only two half carts of baggage. This woman was wonderful. I wiiiiish I remembered her name. It had no tags as its never out of my sight. Lost and found did not have it. It had to be only one place. The shuttle car. Sure enough when I called they check and found the bag. Hal rep stayed with me the hold time and brought be to specia; security line to check my bag.

 

Since this was my 3rd Amsterdam 14 day cruise to Alaska iin four years. I sure saw the difference. A lot of small things.

 

Meet and Greet was wonderful. We even had Officers come. A large group atteended. It would be the last time I would see a officier.

 

Ok some problems I saw Please don't flame me on this.

Children running all over the stairs at full spend.

 

Children in the pools manly 3 boys bo roughhousing. just swimming in the poor thne hot tops. NO ONE WERE WATCHING THESE CHILDREN. They were all under ten years of age. One day I walked across the lido pool deck these boys were in the pool I was the only adult on the deck. These boys were always in the pool. Just swimming no spashing that I saw. But they always went into the hot top. No parents any where.

 

Crows Nest.

 

I always went up for a night cap and to dance and happy hour at 11pm. the grroup singing were horrible and LOUD. She sang Help (beatles) that drove me back to cabin.

 

The dj played played good music bit it was blasting it was so loud every night we could not talk. I did go up and ask her to lower it but night after night it was blasting. A couple of nights we just left. I know we could have gone else where but this is the music we wanted. then one night teens found the Nest.

the took over the dance floor and starteded sliding and oushing each other. I quickly left. A family came up and danced but they only took a corner and was respecptful of other dancers. The staff was very good and knew your name and what you drank.

 

Out on the bow going into Tracy Arm under the bow someone was working with some kind of skill saw and another was baanging and baging. this was surpose to be quite time. It lasted abaout 1 andone half hours I was steaming.

 

It started again going into Hubbard glacicer but that was only a 1/2 hr.

also on Hubbbard Glacier the young man came by twice withina hour hour to wash down the railings while every one was out on bow

 

ok Good

The staff this is what I love about HAl. But they are over worked. My cabin steward had 30 cabins to clean a day. they were great to us. As the MDR staff I have names but its burried in my suitecase. The cruise was very good and I met some wonderful people. I will do this cruise in a second.

 

OPPS REALLY BAD.

 

while in Victoria they decided I think to paint the ship bottpm or wash it. It made many of us sick and we had to stop what we were doing and flee the ship. I mean run off the ship the smell was so bad. No explantion.

 

another night. The told us on (late sitting) we would have to eat iin the lower deack the last night of thr cruise (anytime) dining. Or eat in the Lido.. I went down later in the day to ask for menu. I was told they changed thier minds we would be able to eat at our regular time. (late Sitting) Our table mates ate else where. No notice was sent to us that a change was made or changed.

 

OK the very good

 

Tracy aram. The Captian did an outstanding job in getting us all the way to sawyer Glacier. All the ice in water was outstanding,

 

Ok I still love the Amsterdam dispite the flaws. Alaska Is wonderful. I will post more later. The ship was clean. The cruise really wonderful.

 

Part 2 coming

 

Mary

[BumperII]

Thanks for the review. We will be doing the 14 Alaska out of Seattle for the second time August 24. I think I better get an idiot strap to hang the camera and binoculars around my neck.:D

[AlohaPride]

Looking forward to Part 2. Thanks for posting!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your report, and I too am looking forward to the second part.:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hi Mary

We were suppose to have been on this cruise but cancelled it. Maybe we made the right decision?? Really don't know.

Enjoyed Part 1 and looking forward to Part 2.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time and effort. Looking forward to the next installment.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

Looking forward to reading more.

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

Just to add before part 2. I had a wonderful time.

 

 

Mary

[Stratheden]

So happy you enjoyed your cruise. Looking forward to Part 2

Edited July 8, 2014 by Stratheden
Spelling

[erewhon]

Thanks for taking time to write a review of your cruise.

Looking forward to part 2.

[POA1]

Thanks for your review! Looking forward to the rest of it.

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed reading Part 1 And looking forward to Part 2.

 

Keith

[lcand1923]

I was on this cruise, also. Mary nailed it. I enjoyed myself, BUT ...

 

The boys were pretty much out of control. On several days they decided that "fun" was to throw each other down the steps. They started out running from the back of the elevator lobby to the steps, then they would throw each other down them. I never saw adults with these boys.

 

The "canned music" was LOUD, too. I kept thinking of the thread that had been on cruise critic discussing the recorded music. I kept looking for a quiet spot, but couldn't find one.

 

I had never done a 14 Day Alaska cruise, so don't know if this is standard scheduling, but I found some things unusual. Here are some examples.

I signed up for the paid cooking class because it was on a Sea Day. It was changed to a Port Day. I cancelled.

The On Deck for a Cause was scheduled for a Port Day. It wasn't advertised much, so did not have much participation. It had very little involvement from the ship's staff. The Cruise Director thanked us for participating, had one photo taken and then disappeared. No one from the ship's staff kept track of the number of laps or cheered the participants. The walkers that I spoke with were doing it because they always did. They all commented that it was the most poorly supported On Deck that they had ever seen. The ship did have a cake, lemonade and cookies.

The Chef's Table Dinner and several Wine Tastings were not advertised. If you happened to hear about them and signed up for them, you did not get any Reminder cards. You didn't get charged, but the little slips did not include the date and time of the event, so I forgot about them.

 

I hope you don't mind my piggy-backing on your report, Mary. I was going to do something similar as I organized my thoughts.

[Susie51]

Thank you for sharing your perspective with us.

 

Are Vista class ships able to get all the way to Sawyer Glacier?

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

No problem at all> I was just wondering if I was nip picking. I really enjoyed the cruise. I don't know If I got off on a bad start and my cabin mate and friend for 18 years fell on my front stairs and badly sprianed her ankle. Keeping us in a hotel room in Seattle for 5 days.

 

I really love the Amsterdam. The food I thought was very good. I am happy someone else saw the boys running amoke on this cruise. Its really ashame as they could have hurt someone. I did mention it in the survey.

 

Officers were hidden during this cruise. I did not believe the Captain was so busy for the mariners lunch the cd was the one.. NOT ONE Officer could attend.

 

Fire alarms at 9 am on sea days? Twice.

 

When on the Zuiderdam that had a dance up on crows nests Officers ask the solo girls to dance. The captian was every where on deck for any pictured, questions, complaintants.

 

But these were all a bit of a pain.

 

Ohh if you have not booked the crab boat tour DO it. I though is would be boring and silly. It was wonderful. But its a very long walk from where the ship dock and where you get on the boat. The should have a shuttle..

 

IN Victoria Skip the bus. Its only 10 for a taxi (not per person) He said he would take us on a tour of city for 30.00

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

I just do not want to change peoeples minds. I had a great time..

 

I got a cold from from the airplane people around me were sick and I knew I would be sick too.

 

I will have more later Lots of good on this cruise

 

Mary

[pspercy]

I was booked on this sailing but had to cancel :(

 

Does anyone know if these 14 day sailings will continue in 2016? I see that it's Statendam next year so I wonder if they're going to discontinue it in 2016.

 

I wonder how long it'll be before HAL decides on 2016.

[POA1]

I was booked on this sailing but had to cancel :(

 

Does anyone know if these 14 day sailings will continue in 2016? I see that it's Statendam next year so I wonder if they're going to discontinue it in 2016.

 

I wonder how long it'll be before HAL decides on 2016.

The 14 day sailings have been a fixture for YEARS. I remember seeing them long ago. I would think that it's a high probability that they'll continue.

[vbmom87]

Mary, I am glad to hear you had a good cruise overall, but sorry for the blips. Thank goodness you were able to retrieve your camera bag. Phew!!!! I know how important your photography is to you.

 

How awful that your friend sprained her ankle and wasn't able to enjoy Seattle. That must have been such a disappointment. I hope she was able to enjoy Alaska by the time you got there.

 

As for your cabin, it is important that you do your research on cabins before booking. There are always a few that are less than expected. When I first started reading about your cabin problem, I thought you were going to tell us you got one of the cabins that vibrated. I am so glad that was not it. When we were on the Amsterdam in 2011, there was a section of the deck you were on that had cabins that experienced very annoying vibrating with the noise. These cabins were just a few forward from our cabin. I would have been sick if I had one of those. So glad that wasn't the problem. I hope they fixed this problem, because talking to the people who occupied them, this vibration went on whenever the ship was moving.

 

There is no excuse for HAL to allow children to be unsupervised day after day on a ship. I am not sure what went wrong here, but this was unacceptable. I think anyone who was on this cruise should write letters to Seattle. The crews of all ships need some serious training on how to handle these kinds of situations in a diplomatic but firm way. I have read about situations like this many times. It seems to me the cruise ship just ignore the problems and many guests suffer because of it. This is a shame.

 

Wow, washing deck rails and sawing during the scenic cruising days?? That too is totally unacceptable. I would have been livid. Very poor planning on HAL's part. I would have been very, very disappointed.

 

My friends were on the Oosterdam and they also complained about the hike to the Bering Sea Excursion. Back in 2008, on my first Alaska cruise, HAL always had the best berths. I used to read on CC that many recommended HAL for this reason. However, the last few years, I am reading this is no longer the case. HAL seems to be getting the least desirable berths. I do not know for sure, but I wonder if the cruise lines pay more money for the best berths, and perhaps HAL doesn't want to put out the money for that. Or maybe the ports alternate the cruise lines each year. I have no idea, but like you say, a shuttle would have been nice. That is what my friends thought.

 

I can see why you were somewhat disappointed with the cruise itself. Especially since you had been on this cruise before, you knew how good it could be. When things decline, it is normal for us to feel let down.

 

I know you still enjoyed yourself. How could one not love Alaska and all it has to offer?

 

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. I was looking forward to it.

[Trip Biatch]

I also love reading all of the trip reports. I feel inclined to comment about the kids running around unsupervised. We took a cruise on the Westie the beginning of June. I have 2 boys ages 10 and 13 that went to the kids club and were taught a game of "Manhunt." I was upset when I found out the counselor was actually encouraging my kids to run around the ship. I am not saying that the kids or parents for that matter aren't responsible for their actions. However, I am disappointed that the ships staff would encourage kids to play "Manhunt." They may have not been encouraging the running but I don't know a game of hide and seek that doesn't involve running, especially with kids.

[NMLady]

The 14 day sailings have been a fixture for YEARS. I remember seeing them long ago. I would think that it's a high probability that they'll continue.

 

May of 2010 was the very first of those 14 day sailings, done on the Amsterdam twice a month through early September. There were none one summer, 2012 or 2013? And just a couple the other summers. That is why people are concerned that HAL will discontinue them again.

[JimAOk1945]

The 14 day sailings have been a fixture for YEARS. I remember seeing them long ago. I would think that it's a high probability that they'll continue.

 

I am so glad to read that there is a high probability of the 14 day cruise continuing. I am in the early stages of planning one for sometime in 2016.

 

I notice that different ships are used for this cruise. Does anyone have an opinion on which one provides a better/nicer experience? I know everyone has different perspective of what they enjoy, but I'm still interested in reading others opinions.

 

Mary,

 

I'm enjoying your review and look forward to Part 2.

[JimAOk1945]

May of 2010 was the very first of those 14 day sailings, done on the Amsterdam twice a month through early September. There were none one summer, 2012 or 2013? And just a couple the other summers. That is why people are concerned that HAL will discontinue them again.

 

This is my concern as well since we are hoping/planning for 2016!

[Watson's aunt]

May of 2010 was the very first of those 14 day sailings, done on the Amsterdam twice a month through early September. There were none one summer, 2012 or 2013? And just a couple the other summers. That is why people are concerned that HAL will discontinue them again.

 

I was on the Amsterdam for two week cruise in2011 and 2012 it di not run the 2 week cruise in 2913

 

 

Mary