We want to wish everyone a most joyous holiday season! Hope your Thanksgiving was the best ever. We sure enjoyed ours and look forward to the Christmas gathering when the entire family is here.
Now that the dust has settled, we thought we would give our final thoughts on the three Alaska cruises and Tales of the South Pacific. Don't ask us why, but we always thought Alaska was for "old people". Maybe the advertisements at the time led us to think that way. Wrong. In 2007, our tablemates talked us into going on a special 20th anniversary 7 day Alaska cruise with our travel agency at the time. Well, we discovered that Alaska was right up our alley, and we have gone there about every year ever since. This 21-day journey we took this fall was just as much fun for us as it has been. The only disappointment was missing Ketchikan once due to extraordinary winds and rain where we could not even dock the ship. And yes, it was bone-chilling freezing in Glacier Bay, but we reminded ourselves that when we get to the South Pacific, we will be wishing for some of these cold temperatures to cool off.
The Tales of the South Pacific was a Legendary Voyage. We think that means the itinerary is longer, the food is better, and the activities and entertainment are a notch above a regular shorter cruise. It is also a good excuse to raise the price of the trip accordingly. In all honesty, we are not into the activities, games, and entertainment that much, but it is the itinerary that keeps us coming back. And they do gift everyone with really nice HAL Legendary canvas bags, Lindt pillow chocolates, and a few more gifts.
There were some early changes in that itinerary that were not to our liking. For instance, Kauai, Dravuni Island, and perhaps Aitutaki, Cook Islands had been eliminated. Perhaps other ships squeezed us out, or with Dravuni, their platform for the tender boat landing had been destroyed. An extra day in Honolulu was substituted, and the other stops turned into sea days, which we have come to appreciate for re-charging the batteries, so to speak.
Since we have spent so many days on the Amsterdam, being on the Zaandam was like being home. This class of ships is not new, as you all are aware. We did notice that new carpeting had been installed throughout the public areas of the ship as well as in the staterooms (at least on deck six where our room was located). New is nice, but the loose fibers the carpets cast off was problematic for one of us. Filters were replaced three times in our rooms which helped. We had a myriad of things that did not work properly, or not at all. The TV was erratic, changing channels and going off on its own. Many attempts were made by a technician to fix it, but it continued to do funny things for the entire 77 day cruise. The exhaust fan in the bathroom was totally broken, so we had or own "rainforest" after taking showers. It needed new parts, which were ordered to be picked up in a future port. The same went for the jacuzzi part of our tub. It never worked from day one. Once again, new parts were ordered, but it took a week or more before it was operable. When we got to very warm and humid areas, the air-conditioning in our room was not working well. Many days and nights, the temperature of the room was 80 degrees. Thank goodness for the tower fan we had ordered before we arrived on the ship in September. The worst was never knowing for sure if the toilet was going to work when you pushed the button. And pushing it 10 times does nothing. This was a daily occurrence in the beginning due to a major leak on deck one. The whole quadrant was shut down, mostly on port days. Then the problem was spotty until we debarked.
We feel that the food quality and the menu selections were very good on this entire trip….even a notch above the Grand World Voyage. Breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill was so nice, we did not miss one day there. Arsa, the manager, talked us into trying the Tamarind, which was a pop-up. It was every bit as good as on the Pinnacle ships. We did not buy the "Have-It-All" package as we do not drink that much anymore.
The only big objections we have was the excess smoking in the Casino, and although we do not gamble, we passed through the lounge on the way to dinner most evenings. The smoke was heavy despite the fact they made efforts to contain it. Lastly, the photographers drove us nuts. Setting up two large areas on deck five near the Ocean Bar about every night was not people-friendly. We either bumped into their hanging light , or risked tripping on the taped fabric over the carpet. Interrupting guests during their dinner in the dining room was not acceptable to us. One time, they even came into the Pinnacle Grill during dinner, which we believe is off limits to them. OK…enough of that.
Our flight home was easy and short, although it did take almost three hours to drive from the airport to our house. Commute time in the SF Bay Area has gotten to be all day, every day. Now we have our work cut out for us to be ready for the next adventure……the Grand World Cruise 2026. We hope you all join us again on another journey then.
Again, Happy Holidays to all and a healthy and Happy New Year too.
Bill & Mary Ann
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