Just Returned from Alaska on the Oosterdam

[Brewhaha]

Well, it is over. We just returned from the July 21-28 sailing. This was our (my wife and I) first cruise and we had an incredible time planning and preparing for it. It was fun to spend the last 6 months making plans and looking at websites. Now it is over and I'm a little lost. I suppose I will start looking for another cruise ;-). Anyway I wanted to add a small review of my experience.

 

First of all, a big thanks to this site and everyone here. I travelled with 10 other family members and was constantly surprising them with little bits of information that I got from this site - such as the after-9 pm chocolate available in the Explorers Lounge or the information about getting to Mendenhall Glacier on the cheap. So, thanks for the information I got here.

 

Now to the cruise itself:

 

EMBARKATION: Absolutely quick and painless. The night before, we stayed at the Airport Hilton and they had a pretty good system for getting us and our luggage to the ship. We pre-registered online and were on board very quickly. The rooms were ready for us at about 1 and our luggage arrived about 2. Once on board we headed to the Lido for lunch.

 

ROOMS: We had the cheapest inside cabine and still found it very comfortable. We got fresh fruit daily, had a flat screen TV (with ESPN, CNN, TNT, and two on-board movie channels), and a DVD player. Everything was nice and clean and the beds were FANTASTIC. I had heard about them here on this site and everything they say about them is true - they are comfortable. The bathrooms were clean and the showers worked great.

 

LIDO DINING: Typially I like comfort foods and don't require anything fancy. The Lido definitely fit the bill. The food seemed to be typical buffet fare. Nothing out of this world but everything (at least that I had) was good (not fantastic). All of their breakfast foods were very good. The fresh OJ was fantastic. The melons were always fantastic (yes, fantastic) I do wish they offered better and more varied pastries. I was always able to find something for lunch that was good. I would highly recommend the pizza, pasta, and taco bar. The taco bar could be better if they would put the ingredients in the proper order and offer more jalepenos and hotter salsa ;-). The ice cream bar was very good with some good choices for ice cream and toppings. The baked desserts (chocolate chip cookies excepted) were a disappointment overall and I would definitely suggest improvements in this area. My only other complaint about the Lido is that it was tough to find a seat in the main seating area during the busy times. Our solution, go out by the inside Lido pool. We always had places to sit and they were always window seats. Oh yeah, and Hunky Dorey and Smiley were amazing with their ability to remember your name.

 

VISTA DINING ROOM - Two big points here: 1) As I mentioned before I prefer pretty simply and tame food. I don't like seafood. However, I was able to always find something to eat that we really good in the dining room. I highly recommend their pasta dishes and steak. I was disappointed in the salads as they contained too many strange greens and too few other ingredients. In other words - too much salad to little side. The desserts were always good, especially the berry and apple compotes. The Baked Alaskas were ok but were pretty mushy - I still liked them. 2) Point two had to do with service. Since we were in a party of 12 we were divided into two tables, side-by-side, but with different servers. While both servers (Yan and Suparman) were fantastic and very polite and accomodating, one table (Yan's) were always done 20-30 minutes before the other. I don't know why. Plus, Yan provided great magic and parlor tricks. Ding Dong!

 

PINNACLE - A big disappointment. The Filet Mignon was very good but I would have preffered the Vista or even the Lido for the rest. Oh well, it was a comped meal. Thank goodness.

 

ENTERTAINMENT - We enjoyed the shows. We saw ship singers do two full shows, a ventriliquist (very good), and a juggler (pretty good). We also saw one show that was half singers and half comedian (very good). My suggestions on the show would be to take the singing shows and add in some comedy or performance. The singing got a little boring and repetitive after 30 straight minutes. Mix it up a bit. The on-board entertainment provided by the cruise director's staff was okay. We always played trivia and participated in the sports-related activities. The DAM Dollars added a little incented (we ended up bringing home a beach towel). The educational activities were very good and varied. We also loved the in-room movies (4 to choose from each day). It was nice to be able to get away from the crowds. We also enjoyed the dancing opportunities. However, I would suggest that the bands and DJ's stay at least one hour later.

 

PORTS AND SHORE EXCURSIONS - We only booked one shore excursion (independently in Ketchikan) and the rest of the time we went on our own. In Juneau, cheap transportation to town (1 mile) was available at the dock. We quickly booked a cheap trip to Mendenhall Glacier (6 bucks round trip) and while we were there we took the 3.5 mile East Lake hiking trail through the rain forest and over to the falls. I think the there is a Mendenhall Plus Rainforest Hike excursion available from Holland for around $75 - we did ours for $8 and probably had a better time.

 

In Sitka (which was the most beautiful of the stops) we visited the Sitka National Historic Park (free with our National Park Pass) which I would rate 3 stars out of 5 and we watched the Russian Dancers (for $8/person) which I would rate 3 out of 5 stars. We then walked around and checked out some shops. Others in our party found a bike shop and rented some bikes, got some tips from the owner, and rode their own tour. They loved it. Others went whale watching and had a luke-warm experience.

 

In Ketchikan (the shortest stop), we booked an independent float plane trip into Misty Fjords. We did this last January through Alaska Seaplane Tours and got a really good discount (we saved about $100/person compared to the Holland pricing). We flew out to the Fjords, which were beautiful, and were not only treated to stunning beauty, we were also able to watch a Brown Bear/Grizzly and her two cubs walk along the shore about 100 yds from out plane. We just stood on the pontoons because we weren't anxious to get on the same shore ;-) If you are looking at a floatplane to Misty Fjords like ours I would recommend the earliest flight you can get (we docked at 7 and were on the plane at 7:30). I make this suggestion simply because if the early flights find wildlife, then they are often scared off. The bears which we were watching ran into the woods when we started the engine to take off. Last advice on Ketchikan: there are tons of jewelry stores. I don't know if they offer better deals or what but Ketchikan seems to be the place to get Jewelry (as compared to Juneau and Sitka).

 

HUBBARD GLACIER - What can I say? It was breathtaking

 

BEST TIPS FOR NEWBIES - (1) Chocolates are available every evening after 9 pm in the Explorers Lounge, (2) You can get to Mendenhall cheaply and enjoy some hiking in the area's rain forests without spending the big $$$, (3) Pasta, pizza, and ice cream are available every night until midnight in the Lido and they are all very good, (4) bring a battery-operated clock for your room because they get very dark and you can't tell if it's day or night (or, yes, you could pony up the $$ and get a room with a window), (5) on decks 5-7 you can go through the doors marked Crew Only and get to the beautiful viewing decks on the front of the ship.

 

Well, this is way too long but I wanted to share my thoughts. Now I need to get started planning my next cruise with HA. I will probably look for something in the Caribbean. Any recommendations?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Welcome Home:)

Sounds like you had a great trip and learned alot from CC which is great. You wrote a great review andit is good you shared what you learned to help others.

Now as far as thinking of planning your next cruise. If you can stand to wait till October 2008 you can join the CC Group Cruise on the Brand New Eurodam on October 18th:D

[trickiedick]

Well, it is over. We just returned from the July 21-28 sailing. This was our (my wife and I) first cruise and we had an incredible time planning and preparing for it. It was fun to spend the last 6 months making plans and looking at websites. Now it is over and I'm a little lost. I suppose I will start looking for another cruise ;-). Anyway I wanted to add a small review of my experience.

 

First of all, a big thanks to this site and everyone here. I travelled with 10 other family members and was constantly surprising them with little bits of information that I got from this site - such as the after-9 pm chocolate available in the Explorers Lounge or the information about getting to Mendenhall Glacier on the cheap. So, thanks for the information I got here.

 

Now to the cruise itself:

 

EMBARKATION: Absolutely quick and painless. The night before, we stayed at the Airport Hilton and they had a pretty good system for getting us and our luggage to the ship. We pre-registered online and were on board very quickly. The rooms were ready for us at about 1 and our luggage arrived about 2. Once on board we headed to the Lido for lunch.

 

ROOMS: We had the cheapest inside cabine and still found it very comfortable. We got fresh fruit daily, had a flat screen TV (with ESPN, CNN, TNT, and two on-board movie channels), and a DVD player. Everything was nice and clean and the beds were FANTASTIC. I had heard about them here on this site and everything they say about them is true - they are comfortable. The bathrooms were clean and the showers worked great.

 

LIDO DINING: Typially I like comfort foods and don't require anything fancy. The Lido definitely fit the bill. The food seemed to be typical buffet fare. Nothing out of this world but everything (at least that I had) was good (not fantastic). All of their breakfast foods were very good. The fresh OJ was fantastic. The melons were always fantastic (yes, fantastic) I do wish they offered better and more varied pastries. I was always able to find something for lunch that was good. I would highly recommend the pizza, pasta, and taco bar. The taco bar could be better if they would put the ingredients in the proper order and offer more jalepenos and hotter salsa ;-). The ice cream bar was very good with some good choices for ice cream and toppings. The baked desserts (chocolate chip cookies excepted) were a disappointment overall and I would definitely suggest improvements in this area. My only other complaint about the Lido is that it was tough to find a seat in the main seating area during the busy times. Our solution, go out by the inside Lido pool. We always had places to sit and they were always window seats. Oh yeah, and Hunky Dorey and Smiley were amazing with their ability to remember your name.

 

VISTA DINING ROOM - Two big points here: 1) As I mentioned before I prefer pretty simply and tame food. I don't like seafood. However, I was able to always find something to eat that we really good in the dining room. I highly recommend their pasta dishes and steak. I was disappointed in the salads as they contained too many strange greens and too few other ingredients. In other words - too much salad to little side. The desserts were always good, especially the berry and apple compotes. The Baked Alaskas were ok but were pretty mushy - I still liked them. 2) Point two had to do with service. Since we were in a party of 12 we were divided into two tables, side-by-side, but with different servers. While both servers (Yan and Suparman) were fantastic and very polite and accomodating, one table (Yan's) were always done 20-30 minutes before the other. I don't know why. Plus, Yan provided great magic and parlor tricks. Ding Dong!

 

PINNACLE - A big disappointment. The Filet Mignon was very good but I would have preffered the Vista or even the Lido for the rest. Oh well, it was a comped meal. Thank goodness.

 

ENTERTAINMENT - We enjoyed the shows. We saw ship singers do two full shows, a ventriliquist (very good), and a juggler (pretty good). We also saw one show that was half singers and half comedian (very good). My suggestions on the show would be to take the singing shows and add in some comedy or performance. The singing got a little boring and repetitive after 30 straight minutes. Mix it up a bit. The on-board entertainment provided by the cruise director's staff was okay. We always played trivia and participated in the sports-related activities. The DAM Dollars added a little incented (we ended up bringing home a beach towel). The educational activities were very good and varied. We also loved the in-room movies (4 to choose from each day). It was nice to be able to get away from the crowds. We also enjoyed the dancing opportunities. However, I would suggest that the bands and DJ's stay at least one hour later.

 

PORTS AND SHORE EXCURSIONS - We only booked one shore excursion (independently in Ketchikan) and the rest of the time we went on our own. In Juneau, cheap transportation to town (1 mile) was available at the dock. We quickly booked a cheap trip to Mendenhall Glacier (6 bucks round trip) and while we were there we took the 3.5 mile East Lake hiking trail through the rain forest and over to the falls. I think the there is a Mendenhall Plus Rainforest Hike excursion available from Holland for around $75 - we did ours for $8 and probably had a better time.

 

In Sitka (which was the most beautiful of the stops) we visited the Sitka National Historic Park (free with our National Park Pass) which I would rate 3 stars out of 5 and we watched the Russian Dancers (for $8/person) which I would rate 3 out of 5 stars. We then walked around and checked out some shops. Others in our party found a bike shop and rented some bikes, got some tips from the owner, and rode their own tour. They loved it. Others went whale watching and had a luke-warm experience.

 

In Ketchikan (the shortest stop), we booked an independent float plane trip into Misty Fjords. We did this last January through Alaska Seaplane Tours and got a really good discount (we saved about $100/person compared to the Holland pricing). We flew out to the Fjords, which were beautiful, and were not only treated to stunning beauty, we were also able to watch a Brown Bear/Grizzly and her two cubs walk along the shore about 100 yds from out plane. We just stood on the pontoons because we weren't anxious to get on the same shore ;-) If you are looking at a floatplane to Misty Fjords like ours I would recommend the earliest flight you can get (we docked at 7 and were on the plane at 7:30). I make this suggestion simply because if the early flights find wildlife, then they are often scared off. The bears which we were watching ran into the woods when we started the engine to take off. Last advice on Ketchikan: there are tons of jewelry stores. I don't know if they offer better deals or what but Ketchikan seems to be the place to get Jewelry (as compared to Juneau and Sitka).

 

HUBBARD GLACIER - What can I say? It was breathtaking

 

BEST TIPS FOR NEWBIES - (1) Chocolates are available every evening after 9 pm in the Explorers Lounge, (2) You can get to Mendenhall cheaply and enjoy some hiking in the area's rain forests without spending the big $$$, (3) Pasta, pizza, and ice cream are available every night until midnight in the Lido and they are all very good, (4) bring a battery-operated clock for your room because they get very dark and you can't tell if it's day or night (or, yes, you could pony up the $$ and get a room with a window), (5) on decks 5-7 you can go through the doors marked Crew Only and get to the beautiful viewing decks on the front of the ship.

 

Well, this is way too long but I wanted to share my thoughts. Now I need to get started planning my next cruise with HA. I will probably look for something in the Caribbean. Any recommendations?

Thanks for your review...interesting to read after my family experience 2 weeks ago on the OOsterdam

 

I was shocked by your review of the Pinnacle, I would love to hear more details...curious to hear what you didnt like, etc..

 

Thanks...welcome home!

[MissWindyCity]

PINNACLE - A big disappointment. The Filet Mignon was very good but I would have preffered the Vista or even the Lido for the rest. Oh well, it was a comped meal. Thank goodness.

 

Thanks for your review...interesting to read after my family experience 2 weeks ago on the OOsterdam

 

I was shocked by your review of the Pinnacle, I would love to hear more details...curious to hear what you didnt like, etc..

 

Thanks...welcome home!

 

Hi!

I am Richard's sister and I was just reading your review and thinking the same thing!

I am glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise but am also curious to hear more about why you were dissapointed with the Pinnacle Grill?:confused:

I am shocked also because that was by far my favorite meal all week. If I were to do it again...I would probably book the Pinnacle for 2 or 3 dinners!

Thanks!

And another cruise to consider is the one they are all trying to talk me into in Feb, 2008 to the Mexican Riveria!

[Brewhaha]

Basically, the entrees received good reviews from my family but the starters, sides, and even desserts came in below what was available in the Vista. For me, the dessert menu was the most disappointing with mushy baked alaska, a simple chocolate lava cake, and basic ice cream. No one in our group tried the creme brulee - maybe that would have been great. But, overall, I was glad I didn't pay for the meal. Your mileage may vary...

 

I will add this however...the atmosphere was very nice and enjoyable. Maybe I was just disappointed that the food didn't live up to the ambiance.

[MissWindyCity]

Basically, the entrees received good reviews from my family but the starters, sides, and even desserts came in below what was available in the Vista. For me, the dessert menu was the most disappointing with mushy baked alaska, a simple chocolate lava cake, and basic ice cream. No one in our group tried the creme brulee - maybe that would have been great. But, overall, I was glad I didn't pay for the meal. Your mileage may vary...

 

I will add this however...the atmosphere was very nice and enjoyable. Maybe I was just disappointed that the food didn't live up to the ambiance.

Well...sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the Pinnacle quite as much as I did. But....it just goes to show, we all have different tastes. The Filet Mignon I had in the Pinnacle was one of the best I have ever had. And I am from Chicago - A Steak Town! There was 6 of us and everyone Loved their steak!

 

I guess the sides and dessert may depend on the day or what you ordered. I don't recall having a salad. I had the shrimp cocktail which was really good fresh jumbo shrimp. When I ordered shrimp cocktail in the Vista Dining Room it was tiny and disappointing. The side I had was scalloped potatoes and I liked them. Again that's a personal taste item. I think my brother just had a basic baked potato. The creme brulee in my opinion was to die for! I have craved it since! LOL :D I am not sure about the other desserts...we only had the creme brulee, but of course you have to like that!

I also think the point of going to the Pinnacle is basically for the ambience and the great steak!

We liked the atmosphere so much that we had breakfast there at least twice since we had that extra perk as suite guests.

Thanks for your revue and glad you enjoyed the cruise...we loved it!

[fcorey]

Basically, the entrees received good reviews from my family but the starters, sides, and even desserts came in below what was available in the Vista. For me, the dessert menu was the most disappointing with mushy baked alaska, a simple chocolate lava cake, and basic ice cream. No one in our group tried the creme brulee - maybe that would have been great. But, overall, I was glad I didn't pay for the meal. Your mileage may vary...

 

I will add this however...the atmosphere was very nice and enjoyable. Maybe I was just disappointed that the food didn't live up to the ambiance.

 

Thanks for posting your review and the tips on getting to Mendenhall, I'm thinking of doing the same thing, and Mt. Roberts when we are there in a month. As for Pinnacle dinner, I cant speak for the other deserts, but the creme brulee was really good when we ate there last year.

 

And it looks like my friend Lisa beat me to it again in mentioning the CC group cruise next year! :D

[Brewhaha]

I did really like the Filet and the Porterhouse also recieved good reviews from our group. I would definitely avoid the beefsteak tomato and basil starter. If the tomatoes would have been fresh it would have been really good but they were dry and mealy.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. I enjoyed reading it.

 

Sorry that you were disappointed in the Pinnacle.

[dvdfreakmc]

Great review - it brought back many memories from our trip in June. You've inspired me to get back to booking excursions independently Glad you had a great time.