From King Crab to Poi-almost live from Koningsdam Alaska to Hawaii and back

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, PasadenaDave said:

Agreed, thanks for taking us along with you.  Mike looks exhausted after flying overnight.  He must really love you since you are still alive after having taken the photo AND publishing it!

I posted the picture of him because I look worse! 😂

[Clay Clayton]

Home!  
 

our flight arrived a few minutes early, met a friend for lunch and then went and picked up some veggies and salad stuff so we won’t starve.  First load of dirty clothes is in the washing machine and held mail has been sorted but not opened (most of course went directly to the trash can). Shower is in the near future followed by sleep-hoping we can hold that off until at least 6 pm but may not be possible!

 

Will post some final thoughts, some funnies, and the hits and misses in a day or two….or three.

[ON cruiser]

Thanks for providing your travel blog. It was a most enjoyable read. 

 

Best regards, 

 

ON Cruiser

[Clay Clayton]

Here is  a list of HAL’s Hits & Misses we compiled during our cruise. (I also shared it with them on the survey I just completed)

 

Holland American Hits & Misses

 

Hits
Variety of entertainment

 

Fresh flower arrangements and live plants

 

Complimentary Coffee is acceptable and is brewed not from a concentrate like on some cruiselines

 

Iced tea is likely made from a concentrate but is much more drinkable than on some lines (talking about you NCL!)

 

Opening the roof at the indoor pool

 

Full wraparound (albeit narrow in places) promenade 

 

Dive In (burgers & hot dogs), Royal Dutch (coffee, pastries, soup, sandwiches) and NY Deli (pizza and sandwiches, late night snacks)

 

Long breakfast hours in Lido Buffet

 

Lots of storage space in Veranda Stateroom

 

Art onboard 

Stateroom cooling system 

 

Automatic nightlight in stateroom

 

Served buffet though there is often a language issue. 

 

Asian Station in Lido Buffet

 

Automatic hand washers in buffet but would like to see a staff member there suggesting they be used- “washy-washy”

Gracious crew

 

 

Misses
Lack of variety in the buffet

 

Running out of items in the buffet or unwillingness to reload-so if you don’t go at first opening you may not get what you hoped to. This is especially true for cookies and other desserts. 

 

Location of various food groups in buffet-toaster is at one location but various breads are at each station.  

 

Lack of outdoor seating for Dining

 

Lack of coffee service at the seaview pool dining areas during breakfast. 

 

Juice and milk aren’t available except at breakfast and even then are difficult to locate. 

 

Lack of outdoor seating along promenade and on the upper decks-only a few benches every so often

 

Closing Dive-In and Royal Dutch before dinner

 

Hamburger at Dive-In isn’t the greatest-probably spoiled by the Viking Burger. 

 

Not opening NY Deli in the morning to serve the breakfast items (bagels) even though the menu includes them

 

Items appearing on menus but either not being available or having substitutes

 

Not having ingredients shown on placards in Lido Buffet (sorry Sir, no Parmesan Cheese for your Caesar Salad”  yet two stations down at the pasta station she had plenty of parm to add to the salad????

 

Generally overcrowded spaces (buffet in particular) and slow service (dining room). Not sure whether this is due to a lack of staff post Covid or a design flaw with K’dam. 

 

Short dinner hours in Lido Buffet

 

Small bathroom-shower is nice size but that means toilet legroom is limited.  

 

Sofa in veranda stateroom isn’t very comfortable to sit on-likely because it can also be a bed. 

 

Lost opportunities for menus tied to destination. When we were in Alaska, most “destination” menu items were Italian and on the way to Hawaii were either Italian or Mexican???

 

No special food events-I would have expected an onboard luau or a bbq by the pool but the closest we got was some hulihuli chicken one night in the Lido Buffet. 

 

Choice of dinner music in Lido Buffet-“Groove is in the Heart”🤔

 

Heavy Heavy Chairs in Lido-very difficult to move and pull up to the table. 
 

[Hygge!]

FYI - masks came off of crew today 26th. Yes we are still on till San Diego. 

[LindaS272]

5 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Heavy Heavy Chairs in Lido-very difficult to move and pull up to the table.

Never been on HAL but my dad always used to say “the greatest exercise in the world is pushing yourself away from the table.” 🤣

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, Hygge! said:

FYI - masks came off of crew today 26th. Yes we are still on till San Diego. 

Jerry had told us that was gonna happen.  Hope it doesn’t lead to more folks and crew in isolation.  

[Clay Clayton]

29 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Never been on HAL but my dad always used to say “the greatest exercise in the world is pushing yourself away from the table.” 🤣

But with these it’s hard to even get TO the table. 😂

[BetsyS.]

3 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Never been on HAL but my dad always used to say “the greatest exercise in the world is pushing yourself away from the table.” 🤣

Clay - I agree with you that the chairs in Lido were very heavy. I was on the

Niew Statendam in August.

        Thanks for taking the time to post the great reports and pictures.

I enjoyed reading them. I'm glad you and Mike had a great trip.

[Clay Clayton]

After a week of post cruise/resets recovery, thought it was time to do a wrap up of this thread. Thanks to all who expressed their thanks and encouragement as I posted. It’s all about paying it forward for me.  So many fellow cruise critics have made our cruising better, only makes sense to do the same for others. 
 

My previous post with HAL’s hits and misses probably gives you a good idea on my feelings after spending 24 days sailing with them. As DH has said, like all cruise lines they do some things well and some not so much.  
 

Biggest surprise was how much we enjoyed their entertainment options-we don’t usually go to most shows. Some of the change here was likely due to meeting Tammy the Piano Player/Singer, some was likely due to our late seating time-we needed something to do before dinner, but a big part was the wide variety offered. 

 

Biggest disappointment was the food.  Not necessarily the taste or preparations but the temperature and lack of variety. Thankfully we had the Indian menu to call on which helped address both issues. 
 

This sailing also confirmed our enjoyment of smaller cruise ships. While it was nice to get our steps in simply by waking from our stateroom at the bow to the dining venues at the stern, the ship was just too big and too crowded for us. 
 

Of course, all of our issues were offset by the price we paid compared to what a comparable cruise would cost on a smaller ship.  Our total cost for both of us for both cruises (cruise fare + onboard expenses) was $7,329. ($160 pp/pn). While I can’t find an exact Viking cruise to which to compare, their Vancouver to Tokyo trip in 2023 is for the same number of nights and would cost us $18,798 ($409 pp/pn). In this comparison , the HAL cruise was a much better value for us (YMMV) but we will continue to sail Viking whenever we can find their “bargains” which typically are their transatlantics or other last minute sailings. Their December TA for example is available now for $2,799 or $215pp/pn which is a good value to us. 
 

So ends (unless someone has a question which I’m happy to try to answer) this thread. As always, any day on a cruise ship is better than one at home. Speaking of which, time to go change the sheets and make the bed!

 

Happy Sailing!

[oakridger]

I really enjoyed your trip reports Clay!  I’ll be watching the Viking Ocean forum for any future reviews also!  ~Nancy 

[Clay Clayton]

3 minutes ago, oakridger said:

I really enjoyed your trip reports Clay!  I’ll be watching the Viking Ocean forum for any future reviews also!  ~Nancy 

Glad you did!

 

Unless we win the lottery (unlikely since ya gotta play to win😂) it won’t be until next July when we are booked to celebrate DH’s big birthday by sailing from Reykjavik to Bergen via Svalbard. 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Clay Clayton