LIVE from Maasdam 14 day Alaskan Explorer 8/1 - 8/15

[scluvsrain]

As some of my blog followers already know, my bestie, Adrienne broke her leg the other day and will not be joining me on this cruise. BUMMER!!

 

Seriously. I'm really bummed. She's bummed. But it is what it is. And, we both have travel insurance so a small cost saved her thousands. Thank goodness.

 

I flew up to Seattle yesterday and was able to spend most of the afternoon and early evening visiting with her before leaving to check into my hotel downtown near the pier.

 

This morning I got up, had a nice complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then walked 4 blocks up to the Space Needle and the Chihuly Gardens and Glass. I last visited the Needle in May, so this trip I really wanted to see Chihuly. I was not disappointed!

 

After the Gardens, I headed back to the hotel and caught the shuttle to the pier to board the Maasdam for a 14 day tour to Alaska.

 

Boarding went very smoothly. Everything very efficient. Checkin staff were all so nice and friendly.

 

Actual boarding of the ship began at 11:30. I was in the 6th group to board but they called the letters quickly and I was in my cabin in about 20 minutes. The ship is an oldie, but a goodie. My balcony cabin was neat and clean and everything was in order. I think I will be quite comfortable for the next two weeks.

 

I'm having some trouble uploading photos to this posting but you can go to my blog (see my signature below for the link) to view the photos I've taken so far. Most are of Chihuly Glass and Gardens.

 

We depart at 4:00 PM and are at sea tomorrow. Since I rely on cellular and then onshore wifi, I'm not likely to post again after we sail

tonight until we are in Ketchikan on Wednesday.

 

Let's go!!

[SilvertoGold]

Great post! Looking forward to more when you have the time.

 

That is really too bad about your friend and you, too. What timing, but better before than on the cruise.

 

Have a beautiful cruise and thanks!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Looking forward to whenever you can do a Live report.

Sorry about your friend.

[gigianne]

Great to see your post - will be following you for sure! Bon Voyage! The Maasdam is a favourite of ours - enjoy!

[Cruizer Bill]

We were on the 7/4-7/18 cruise. You will LOVE this cruise!!! Have fun and stay healthy.

[nw gardener]

Looking forward to your report, we were on the 6/6 -6/20 cruise and I'm STILL going through cruise withdrawal!! You will love your cruise - have a great time!

[scluvsrain]

Thanks! I'm still pretty excited as this is a fantastic itinerary. New ports I haven't visited before and of course, old favorites as well!

 

 

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[scluvsrain]

The captain just did the goodbye we're out of here toots! We're officially sailing !!

 

 

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[erewhon]

Have a fabulous cruise.

Sorry about your friend.

[kftw]

Have a wonderful cruise. We'll be boarding her August 29th.

 

Look forward to your posts.

[EbayCruiser]

Thanks for the live report!!

 

We will be boarding when you are getting off on the 15th. Can't wait to hear all your comments and experiences.

 

Safe & happy sailing!

[Cruizer Bill]

You will mostly see just water today as the ship sails too far off the coast of Vancouver Island to get a good look. Also, there are a lot of clouds in the Northwest right now. The good views begin tomorrow in Ketchikan. I hope you are doing something fun! We have flown over Misty Fjord twice in a float plane and recommend it highly! We also enjoyed going on the crab boat - the Aleutian Ballad - as we are big fans of the TV show "Deadliest Catch".

[youwash]

Just returned from this sailing. We had rain and clouds everyday. Well except for Victoria we had sun. Will be so jealous if they have good weather.

 

 

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[kazu]

NIce to see you doing a live thread, Sherita :)

 

Looking forward to any instalments you have time to do.

 

Sorry to hear that your plans went amuck at the last minute, but I know you will make the best of it and hope you have a great cruise :)

[Clarea]

Following and Bon Voyage!

[scluvsrain]

I awakened at 6:00 AM to a dreary and foggy looking morning. The sun was working on coming up and trying to break through the fog. Eventually, it was successful.

 

Room service breakfast arrived promptly at 7:00 AM and I enjoyed a quiet and leisurely breakfast while I reviewed the On Location and picked out what I wanted to see and do today.

 

I was the arranger and host of our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet, held up in the Crow’s Nest at 10:00 AM. I had passed out reminder invites last night to everyone’s cabin, and this morning I filled out the name tags in preparation for our meeting. I am thrilled to say that we had 100% turnout! There were 37 of us in attendance. HAL put out a very nice spread of coffee and teas, and cookies. We had a good mix of cruisers with us - one woman has over 600 days at sea, and one couple were enjoying their first cruise ever. Most had been to Alaska at least once, if not twice, before.

 

Last night I wandered around the ship for awhile and noticed these things:

 

The wait staff in the dining room and the Lido are wearing khaki pants with white shirts now. The jury’s still out, but I’m leaning towards not liking this uniform change. I keep thinking I’m in Staples or someplace, not a HAL ship. We have our first Gala night tonight - I sure hope those khakis are gone and are replaced with something more appropriate.

 

The library and internet area includes also the Coffee bar, so it’s not quite as quiet as in the past, but there are lots of comfy seats to be had. I did notice that there is no “book trade” shelf on this ship. Poo. I like that. I bring a few books with me and I like to leave them behind and trade for others I find to be of interest.

 

Our Captain is Arno Jutten. Hotel Director is Paul Kerr. The Cruise Director is Carlos Mendoza. The Catholic priest is James Hall, from El Paso, Texas. The location guide is Jeanette.

 

The Lido food stations seem smaller than on other ships that I’ve been on of the same class - but everything is laid out efficiently and last night, at least, it was pretty quiet in the Lido. The Canaletto was empty when I walked by, but that was a little early, shortly after 6 PM. I didn’t venture to the dining room for dinner - I enjoyed delicious salmon filet, twice baked potatoes and sautéed green beans for dinner at the Lido. Tonight, though, I’m heading for the dining room since it’s Gala night! I have open seating, and as is usually the case, the first night of sitting down with a group of strangers is a little daunting, but I usually get into the groove of all of that pretty quickly.

 

In the afternoon, I attended a port lecture by our port specialist. Her name is Jeanette and was born and raised in Anchorage. She now lives in Wasilla, outside of Anchorage, when not on board HAL, working. She assured us that you cannot see Russia from your backyard in Wasilla….. She was engaging and funny and clearly knows her Alaska.

 

At 2:00, I went to a wine tasting and ended up sitting with Bettie and Jerry, from our roll call. We had a good time sampling the wines from the wine package that HAL offers on board. I wish they’d give you a sample of all of the wines from the package, but alas, they do not. Of the 4 we tasted, I really only liked the Pinot Grigio offering.

 

At 3:00, there was a lumberjack and axe throwing competition in the show lounge. That was good fun! The lumberjack, Ray, was hitching a ride up from the lower 48 and gave a nice talk about axe throwing and life in general in this field. He then brought up two teams from the audience to try their hand at throwing the axe. We cheered and booed and hissed our respective teams and a good time was had by all!

 

Tonight was our first gala night and the best dressed people on board were the children! I saw two little boys, about 3 and 6, and they both had on tuxedos. So cute! Everyone generally dressed up, not too fancy, but there were enough sparkle tops and nice dark suits that made it feel like it really was dress-up night. I know in recent years the passengers aren’t going all out and there’s been lots of comments on that here on CC, both pro and con, but you know, it is what it is. I had no complaints.

 

I shared a table at the aft of the dining room and we had a nice view of the wake of the ship. There were 6 of us and I enjoyed the company and the meal. No prime rib, no lobster, but the shrimp offerings were nice and for those that enjoy it - escargot - that was an offering as well. The beef choice was only a pepper steak. It was small, but tender.

 

I went to the 8:00 PM show. The theatre is small on the Madam, and it was packed. We had the requisite champagne toast with the captain and were introduced to the senior officers, then the show began. It was called Atlantic Crossing and was performed by the Madam singers and dancers. It was all British songs starting with the Beatles and ending with Coldplay. It was pretty good. I think I’d seen it before on another cruise, but the people performing were different, and it had been awhile, so I liked it. Besides, I love the music choices.

 

I’m an early riser, which means you won’t find me cutting it up on the dance floor or playing late night trivia. After the show, I went back to my cabin and within an hour I was sawing logs.

 

Tomorrow - Ketchikan!

[scluvsrain]

We sailed into Ketchikan this morning along a dreary and rainy pathway. For those who live here, it was not raining, it was warm and dusty. But for those of us from other places, it was chilly and showery. I love it.

 

I ate a quick breakfast upstairs in the Lido (looking everywhere for my favorite empyanada (I know I’m spelling it wrong) but it’s a great little sweet roll type of bread that makes me smile every time I take a bite) and by that time we had pulled up into Berth 2 and docked. People were already getting off the ship, bound for whatever they had planned. Lots of umbrellas!

 

I had a 9:00 tour with the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman, on one of the boats they used in the TV show The Deadliest Catch, in Season 2 - the Aleutian Ballad. That was the boat that took a big rogue wave and nearly destroyed it.

 

The crew was top notch and they put on a fantastic 3 hour tour. We learned about life as a crab fisherman, the Bering Sea, how the boats operate, and we saw demonstrations of how they pull in the crab pots, just like we see on TV! I really enjoyed it, as I’m a long-time fan of the TV show. We even got a bonus - on our way back in to port, the newest boat in the fleet and on this current season’s show - the Breanna A sailed by, with the captain waving at us from the window of the bridge. Very cool!

 

We also got to spend some time feeding and watching those beautiful bald eagles.

 

After the tour, I wandered about up by Creek Street for awhile, poked into some shops and then settled into a restaurant for lunch. Good Chinese food, one of my favorites!!

 

I still haven’t figured out how to post pictures on CC - it keeps telling me I’m not authorized….so to see photos, go to my blog (link below).

[scluvsrain]

Ketchikan and the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman tour

[scluvsrain]

Maybe some of you can help me out here. At least I progressed to attaching some photos, but how do I go about actually embedding them in my post instead?

 

I see so many others posting with larger pictures inside their posts. I'm just not bright enough, I suppose, to figure it out yet.

[KruzPrincess]

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us. I'm still struggling with myself whether I should book this cruise this year. Maybe you will sway me. I went on the Statendam last year and loved it.

[JamesEM]

Following along, hopefully you will get that photo problem worked out.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Maybe some of you can help me out here. At least I progressed to attaching some photos, but how do I go about actually embedding them in my post instead?

 

I see so many others posting with larger pictures inside their posts. I'm just not bright enough, I suppose, to figure it out yet.

 

 

 

I put my pictures on Photobucket. Then I can enlarge them and copy and paste them on CC.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great review.

[EbayCruiser]

We are doing the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour in Ketchikan and glad to hear that you enjoyed it. Our main reason for booking was the feeding of the eagles and seeing them up close. Hope we have good weather!!

 

Keep up the great review, I feel like I am right there traveling with you!

[kftw]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us.