Strange Happenings on a Cruise Ship

Posted on March 29, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Vista

In some ways every cruise is different, but in other ways they are pretty much the same. The ship sets sail. Some days are spent at sea and others in port, there’s lots of food and plenty of entertainment. On most cruises the entertainment comes from the ship and its staff, but Carnival Vista had some randomly entertaining passengers as well.

Faros 1 hotel

We boarded the Vista in what they call Athens, but the port is actually in nearby Piraeus. We stayed several nights in Piraeus just a few blocks from the dock. We actually walked much farther than the dock while staying there, but took a taxi to the ship on boarding day because of luggage and rain. We got a nice room for a low price at the Faros 1 Hotel. It would have been great if it weren’t for the bar across the street that blasted loud music outside starting about midnight and getting louder and louder throughout the night, not closing down until morning. All activity stayed inside the bar, they just blasted their loud music out at the 3 hotels across the street for no reason other than to be incredibly rude and obnoxious. It’s not like it would attract passers by to become customers. It was on a narrow side street where nobody would go unless they already had a destination there. Not to mention in the middle of the night where nobody was out walking about anyway. The other strip joint 2 doors down stayed politely quiet on the outside with just a sign above the door indicating their existence, proving there was no need for all that racket. You would think there would be some sort of city ordinance disallowing loud music blasting all night long, but apparently not.

balcony on the Vista

Enough about odd things on land and back to the ship. As the Vista set sail from Athens we went out on our balcony to watch it pull away from the dock. So did passengers from many other rooms. People all up and down the ship stood out on their balconies peacefully watching the ship leave the dock when all of a sudden a very loud orgasmic OH, OH, OH pierced the air. We could see all sorts of people leaning this way and that, looking up and down trying to figure out which balcony the sound came from. We figured one or two doors down from us, probably on our deck, but possibly one above or below. Except for the participants, nobody will know for sure – except anyone watching from shore since we were on the land side of the ship. Or if anyone on the bridge happened to be out in the docking wing because from there they can see all the balconies…and since we were leaving the dock if they use that area for leaving port as well as for docking there would have been.

Athens cruise port – actually in Piraeus

Later in the cruise we were walking down the hallway to our cabin late one night. One of the inside rooms had the door propped open. Normally the only people who ever prop open stateroom doors are the cleaning crew, who do so while they are in a room cleaning. It was way past the time they normally finish their evening cleaning. Somehow an open door just draws the eyes in, especially at an abnormal time wondering why anyone is cleaning a cabin so late at night. Except they weren’t. No stewards in that cabin. Just a man and a lady in the bed, mostly covered by the sheet, but with her bare shoulders and his bare upper body visible. They both waved as we were quickly turning our heads the other way and picking up the pace moving down that suddenly endless hall.

inside cabin

The ship also had some odd happenings that were not so entertaining. Some passengers on cruise ships like to decorate their cabin doors. With Halloween fast approaching, this cruise had more door decorations than normal, some pretty elaborate. At least for a time it did. Though there was no magician on board, somebody had a habit of making door decorations disappear. Some here and there all about the ship, and pretty much all of them in the hallways closest to our cabin. We’re not door decorators, but met some people on board who are. Like so many others, some of their things vanished without a trace. Someone somewhere may have had quite the Halloween display inside their cabin.

passenger cabin door decorated for Halloween

Meanwhile while decorations kept disappearing from cabin doors, inside the cabins very much unwanted smoke kept appearing. Not that the decorations vanished in a puff of smoke like in a magic show. These incidents were unrelated. Cabins from multiple decks in the rear port quarter complained of smoke in the rooms. Okay maybe not the cabins, but the occupants. The best the crew ever did was bring in an ionizer, which kept busy moving from room to room, but only cleared the air until the next time the undiscovered offender decided to have another smoke. Some cabin stewards can sniff out a smoker almost instantly, but apparently whoever had this one was either unwilling or unable to find them despite smoking in cabins being clearly against the rules as well as a fire hazard, and people from numerous cabins complaining about the smoke.

Most cruises go by without any odd things happening so this one was quite unusual with so many strange events, though far stranger things than these do happen on cruise ships.

Posted in Carnival, Europe, Shipboard Life, Vista | Tagged Carnival, cruise, cruise ship, Faros 1 hotel, Greece, odd behavior, Pireaus, strange things that happen on cruise ships, travel, weird passengers | Leave a comment

Snorkeling in Belize

Posted on March 22, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

snorkel boat returning to the Veendam in Belize

It’s a long tender ride from ship to shore in Belize. Tenders are used when there is no cruise ship dock and the ship waits offshore while smaller boats bring passengers to land. These are sometimes the taller lifeboats off the ship and sometimes somewhat bigger boats that come out from shore to bring people in. We did see someone offering snorkel tours at the dock last time we were there, but that was a few years ago. Not knowing if that would be available this time, and not wanting to drag snorkel gear around if it wasn’t or have to go back for it if it was, we booked an excursion through our ship, the Holland America Veendam. (Yes the excursions always provide snorkel gear, we’d just rather use our own.) The other advantage of booking water-based excursions through the ship in Belize is that unlike other ports where the tendering distance is not so far, in Belize excursion boats pick you up right at the ship. At least that was our past experience from other cruises.

snorkel boat in Belize

I didn’t do any ship’s excursions last time I sailed on the Veendam (out of Boston) so I’m not sure if it is this ship in general or just the crew on our Cuba trip, but out of all the cruises we’ve ever done on ships of varying sizes, this one had the absolute worst organization when it came to shore excursions and getting people off the ship. Granted it’s a small ship, but it still holds 1350 passengers so lines can get out of control. Often ships will have different excursions meet in different places around the ship (or sometimes on shore when the ship is docked). The Veendam had everyone come to the theater. Then they set their table up in front of the stage where there are multiple ways to get to it rather than outside one of the doors where there is just one way to get to the table like most other ships. The tickets said starboard side, but while most people lined up there, a few came in the other side, walked right past the line and went straight to the table. They should have been sent to the end of the line from there, but were not. Meanwhile the line went out of the theater, down the hall, and wound around near the stairs and elevators where newcomers had no idea where the end was and ended up joining in wherever happened to be handy. The tickets specified what time to be there for each excursion, but people tend to ignore that coming very early to last minute depending on their individual habits.

dock on Starfish Island

They did not even separate bus or boat tours other than by the numbered stickers given, nor did individual tours have anywhere specific to sit and wait for that tour to be called, unlike other ships we’ve been on that often seat everyone on the same tour together. Ships nearly always have everyone on a specific tour follow a guide out of the meeting area in a group, where on the Veendam it was everyone for themselves meaning people leaving the theater sometimes got mixed in with those on different tours. More people than they had room for crowded the lower theater level. Though they suggested some wait upstairs not many actually did. We went up there and even though it’s one more floor down to the tender portal there was no crowd to fight our way through on the way to the door so we got a faster start. They kept announcing that everyone had to wait for the shore tenders so it would take awhile to get all tours to shore. They got up to number 4 and we had number 8. Shortly after a brief announcement saying some groups might be taken out of order they called number 8 saying that we were special enough to have a private tender. Which probably ticked off all the clueless people still waiting thinking we got priority on one of the shore tenders. Only it wasn’t a tender, it was the excursion boat. Instead of leaving groups 5-7 fuming they could have just been honest and said it was a sea based excursion leaving on the tour boat.

swings in the water and on the dock at Starfish Island

Our excursion was called Starfish Snorkel and Island Getaway. The name comes from Starfish Island. The boat comes from there and they ran the tour. It was quite large for a snorkel excursion boat. Kind of resembled a barge with seats and a roof over most of it. Part of it also had canvas sides. It did have one head (bathroom) and a small bar area at the back. On the way to the reef they served water. Once we finished snorkeling they had rum punch for those who wanted it.

coral in Belize

Belize is on the Mesoamerican barrier reef, the second largest coral reef in the world stretching over 600 miles from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to Honduras. The snorkeling where we went was pretty good by Caribbean standards, but didn’t measure up to what you find in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef or around the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia. When we took the independent (not through a cruise ship) Trilogy excursion in Hawaii I was happy to see that they provided reef safe sunscreen for people to use as well as educating everyone onboard about the need for using it. Considering the number of people cruise ships bring to coral reefs each week you would think they would all jump onboard with educating and promoting any way to save the reefs that they can, but none of them ever do.

snorkelers in Belize

Coral in the Caribbean is at an 80% loss. The chemicals in ordinary sunscreens kill coral and the oils smother it. One drop in the amount of water held by an Olympic swimming pool is all it takes to cause damage so having hundreds of people slathered in it daily is a serious problem and most of the passengers have no idea they are doing any harm. Ships rarely sell reef safe sunscreen in their onboard shops, and I’ve even seen one cruise line on facebook advising people to use bugspray on all their excursions. Bugspray kills coral larvae, and in all the cruises we’ve done around the world I’ve never once seen a mosquito anywhere near coral reefs or beaches. Mosquitos breed in stagnant swampy water, not salt water. Even natural herbal based bug products can be toxic to coral. If it kills a bug it kills the coral too. If you think you need protection from mosquitos near a tropical beach, put a dryer sheet in the pocket of clothes you wear on land to keep them at bay.

mostly brain coral

Without offering anyone reef-safe sunscreen or even once mentioning the dangers ordinary sunscreen poses to coral, the excursion boat anchored up in a sandy area. Passengers could choose to go in the first timer, intermediate, or advanced snorkel groups. Each one had a different guide so it kept things from being quite as crowded as if it was all one group, though there were still quite a lot of people. They did not let anyone swim out on their own. Everyone had to pick one of their groups and stay with them.

fire coral (internet photo)

The water had deeper and shallower places. Out in the farthest area we went from the ship the tips of some coral rose above the water in an area we could see, but did not go to. The guide called that fire coral and said it would sting if you touched it as well as likely getting cut on it. Fire coral is not a true coral, but rather a similarly structured colony building organism disguising itself as coral that is actually more closely related to other stinging sea creatures like jellyfish and sea anemones. It can resemble several different types of coral and is sometimes mistaken for seaweed. It grows well in strong currents. The patch we saw was sticking out of the roughest water in the area. It was a windy day with some waves that got bigger the farther out that way we went. The guide said there was a drop-off a bit farther on, but it was not safe to go that far that day due to the waves and a strong undertow. Too bad, there may have been some interesting things to see near the drop-off.

stingray partly buried in the sand

We snorkeled over some areas where the coral was just far enough under the surface to float over, some where it was quite a ways down, and some where the bottom had sand or sea grass. One of the sandy areas had a couple barracudas swimming around. Another had a large stingray sitting on the bottom. I saw a couple sand-colored little flat fish scooting along the sand in one place, but I don’t know what sort of fish they were.

snorkeler near coral

There were lots of different types of coral. Some fan coral and brain coral as well as soft coral and many other types. Caribbean coral often doesn’t have much color to it, usually being shades of brown or yellow, but this place had several types in purple.

coral

Where there’s coral there’s fish and this was no exception. Fish large and small, some bright and colorful and others not, swam about the coral and in and out of it’s branches, overhangs, and hiding places. There were also conch shells with living conch inside, sea urchins, and spiny lobsters. There’s lots of life under the sea.

hammocks on Starfish Island

After an hour of snorkeling we got back on the boat for a short trip to Starfish Island. This small sand island in the mangroves had a swimming area, small playground, lots of beach chairs, some hammocks, swings in the water and on a dock, and a volleyball court. For an extra charge they had food, a bar, a gift shop, and water toy rentals for kayaks and things.

beach chairs on Starfish Island

The island had a lot more beach chairs than people. Other than our excursion, there was just one other group there on a different excursion from our ship that went straight from the ship to the island on a smaller boat than ours. Which meant that even though the island was small enough to walk from one end to the other in under 5 minutes it was not crowded at all. Most of the chairs were in the sun, but some had shade from trees or nearby palapas – or the chair could be moved to the shade of a palapa. The palapas had small tables with picnic bench type seating around them. The two sets of hammocks also had shade being strung in a row under a palapa roof.

picnic table with palapa

After a couple hours on the island the snorkel boat brought us back to the ship. People had time to catch a tender to port if they wanted to go to the mainland. We might have done that just to see what’s there if we had never been to Belize, but since we’ve been there before we didn’t.

More Blogs About Belize

Posted in Caribbean, Holland America, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, South and Central America, Veendam | Tagged beach, Belize, coral reef, Meso-American reef, photos, private island, snorkel, snorkel excursion, tropical island, underwater photos | Leave a comment

Which Cruise Lines Are the Most Kid-Friendly?

Posted on March 17, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Cruising With Kids

kids leaving Carnival Legend in Australia

Cruising is becoming ever more popular and young families with kids make up a good portion of the growth. When planning a cruise it always helps to take into consideration the ages of the people you’re cruising with and what different ships and cruise lines have to offer for them to do. While all major cruise lines have theaters, pools, and hot tubs, other amenities vary greatly from line to line and even among ships within the same line. The major lines also each have some sort of kid’s club type program, but again the sort of activities offered varies, as does the age at which kids can attend. Most start at either 2 or 3, and some such as P&O Australia and Princess require potty training prior to attendance even if the child’s age is within their guidelines. Ships also have spaces and activities for older kids and teens. Most ships have an arcade, but the games cost extra.

kids after a cruise ship scavenger hunt on Carnival Magic

Destination is important too, not only because of what sort of activities the ports have to offer, but also if the ship is heading to a cold climate it may be too cold or stormy to count on outdoor activities to keep the kids entertained so a good kid’s club or other indoor activities become even more important. In stormy weather outside decks are often closed so even kids who don’t mind the cold could be affected.

rock climbing wall on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas

It’s also important to look at all aspects of the ship that are important to your family because things like the ship’s smoking policy or how well they cater to special diets can make a big difference in how much you enjoy your cruise. Age or size restrictions also come into play because it doesn’t do any good for a ship to have something like a ropes course or climbing wall if your kids are too young or too small to use it. It also helps if the ship has guest laundries, especially on longer cruises. While you can always send things out for the crew to wash, that gets pretty expensive. Handwashing in your own cabin is an option too, but hanging space to dry things is quite limited even if your cabin has a balcony because it’s usually against the ship’s rules to hang laundry on your veranda.

How Kid-Friendly is Each Cruise Line?

one play area at Disney Oceaneers Club for kids 3-12 (internet photo)

The major American lines with the most kid-friendly amenities and activities are Disney, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival. While Disney is most any kid’s dream cruise, it comes at a significantly higher price. Carnival is often the most affordable, but their liberal smoking policy may make anyone sensitive to smoke think twice about booking there – except in Australia where indoor smoking is prohibited. People with special dietary needs can make arrangements in advance on most lines, and for anyone with gluten issues, gluten free food has gotten much easier to find with some gluten free items becoming available in the buffet on many lines in recent years. Sometimes there are limited-time promotional offers where kids sail free on certain lines including MSC, Holland America, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Costa.

AIDA

Aida ships have a face – AIDAbella, internet photo

Aida is an American/British owned German cruise line in the Carnival Corporation group that caters to younger German-speaking casual cruisers. Their kids club is for children over the age of 3. The main language onboard is German, including in the kids’s club. Food is mostly buffet. Some of their larger ships have indoor water parks. Organized activities mainly focus on fitness and wellness. The ships are kid-friendly, but everything from signage to menus to the daily programs is in German.

CARNIVAL

sports square on Carnival Breeze

Carnival has a lot to offer for kids onboard. Kids club ages are Camp Ocean for kids 2-11, Circle C for 12-14, and Club O2 for 15-17. Besides going to the kids club itself, enrolled kids get a list of special onboard activities like scavenger hunts and parties for kids in their age group that are not listed in the daily activities guide. All of Carnival’s ships have waterslides and mini golf. Some also have splash parks. Other activities vary depending on the ship, but may include things like a ropes course, pool and ping-pong tables, foosball, and more. Some ships have Imax and/or motion theaters. Evening shows include family-friendly comedy and outdoor movies as well as nightly theater shows. Special kid-friendly events during the cruise include towel animal theater, Seuss at Sea with a Dr. Seuss breakfast, parade, and storytime, Hasbro the Game Show, and a towel animal takeover on the Lido deck. Carnival ships all have self-serve guest laundries, which have a fee to use. When smoking policies were pretty much the same on most lines Carnival was our go-to line because they have a lot to do and their prices are often lower than other lines. We don’t sail with them much anymore though because while most other lines have limited their smoking areas and many no longer allow smoking indoors, Carnival still allows smoking in their casino and casino bar areas as well as quite a few outdoor areas. The casinos are not fully enclosed so the smoke spreads well beyond the casino into other areas of the ship and the ships are far smokier inside than they once were because people are no longer allowed to smoke on balconies there as on most cruise lines. As previously mentioned, this is not an issue on Carnival Australia because Australian law prohibits indoor smoking on ships sailing from there. Although Carnival Australia books separately from Carnival USA, they have the same Camp Ocean kid’s program.

CELEBRITY

Lido deck on Celebrity Infinity

Celebrity’s Camp at Sea kid’s club has customizable activities for kids from 3-17 that can be tailored to the interests of the kids on board for each cruise. There are separate areas for kids 3-11 and for teens. Babysitting is available for a fee. Celebrity ships have pools and hot tubs, but no waterslides. Kids must be potty trained to go into the pools. Other than the kids club, you might find things like mini golf, a basketball court, video games or croquet depending on the ship. Generally the majority of passengers are adults. Older kids may enjoy some of the scheduled daily activities. The nightly shows on Celebrity are often of higher quality than those on many other lines, though not necessarily something that would interest small children. Smoking is permitted only in designated outdoor areas. There are no self-serve guest laundries.

COSTA

Peppa Pig in Costa Squok Club (Costa Cruise Lines photo)

Costa is an Italian-based line in the Carnival family of cruise lines sailing mostly in Europe. This low-cost cruise line often has incredibly cheap deals through Vacations to Go. Their kid’s program is called the Squok Club and features activites with Peppa Pig for the youngest kids from 3- 6. Other age groupings are 7-11, 12-14, and 15-17. Some ships have amenities like basketball courts, 4-D cinemas, or a Grand Prix simulator. Indoor smoking is allowed only in cigar lounges. Outdoor smoking is allowed in designated areas and on cabin balconies. Water parks and slides are available on some ships. Some have retractable roofs to enclose pool areas on cold or rainy days. Costa does not have self-serve guest laundries. They sometimes have special cruise saver rates for kids staying in the same room as their parents.

CUNARD

Play Zone on Queen Mary 2 (internet photo)

Cunard is a Carnival owned British based cruise line known for luxury style cruises. While requiring more formal evening wear than most cruise lines, they do allow children onboard and have a kid’s club area for them. The Play Zone is for kids 2-7 and the Kid Zone for 8-17. Smoking is allowed only in designated areas of open decks other than cigars and pipes, which have a lounge. Self-serve guest laundries are not only available, but complimentary which seems to be more of a trend in British ships because American ones normally charge to use the washers and dryers on lines that have them. Kids are allowed on board as young as 6 months for short cruises or 1 year for longer ones. There is a baby zone on board, but parents must stay with kids under 2. Cunard has pools of which some allow children, but no waterslides. Outside of the kid’s club there’s not a lot of entertainment provided for kids.

DISNEY

Disney waterslide for people 38-64 inches tall (internet photo)

Disney has a unique rotational dining system so passengers indulge in several restaurants over the course of their cruise at no additional charge. Onboard kids can meet Disney characters, and themed play areas at the kid’s clubs let them immerse themselves in a variety of Disney shows and movies. Age groups for their kid’s program are 3-7, 8-12, 11-14, and 14-17. Kids 3-12 can go back and forth between interconnected Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab areas. Edge is for the tweens, and Vibe for the teens. There is a nursery available for children 6 months to 3 years old (some itineraries 1-3). There is an hourly charge for the nursery and space is limited so reservations are required well in advance of the cruise. There are scheduled activities that the entire family can participate in as well as activities targeted to various age groups. Pools and waterslides have age and height restrictions and children must be potty trained before entering any pools. There are splash parks available for youngsters with swim diapers and wading pools for little ones who are out of diapers. The ships have no indoor smoking, but do allow it on some outside decks. Movies include Disney favorites as well as new releases. Disney ships even have adult only areas where parents can relax away from the kids. Dinner dress is usually cruise casual, and each cruise normally includes a pirate or other themed night. Short cruises have an optional dress-up night and longer cruises include both formal and semi-formal evenings. Disney ships have self-serve laundries.

HOLLAND AMERICA

Kids Enjoying the Giant Chess set on the Westerdam

Holland America has smaller to medium sized ships, none of the giant ones carrying 3000 or more passengers. Their kid’s program is called Club Hal and is for children from 3-12. There are separate activities for 3-6 and 7-12 year olds. The 13-17 crowd has their own space apart from the younger set called the Loft. They also have culinary workshops for kids and babysitting available for a fee. Potty training is required before attending Club Hal. The kid’s club has open and closed hours throughout the day rather than being open all day long and kids are not given anything to eat or drink from the kid’s club staff. Some of Holland America’s older and smaller ships have self-serve guest laundries, but the bigger and newer ships do not. Their smoking policy also varies from ship to ship. We’ve sailed on 3 of their ships recently. The Oosterdam and Westerdam only allowed smoking in a small covered shelter on one side of the top back outside deck, but the Veendam still allowed active players to smoke in the casino inside the ship at some slot machines. Holland America has pools and hot tubs, but no waterslides. Some ships have a sliding cover for an indoor pool area in cold weather. There are a few things to do around the ship. There may be a giant connect 4 game somewhere as well as a giant chess set. There’s also often a ping-pong table, shuffleboard, and a basketball court. Scheduled activities are mainly for adults, but older kids might like some things like the America’s Test Kitchen cooking demonstrations. One night per cruise the evening show is often a BBC nature film accompanied by live orchestra music which animal lovers among the kids might enjoy, but mostly they would have to entertain themselves outside of the kid’s club.

MSC

Kid’s Buffet on MSC Divina

Swiss-owned and based in Italy, this line mostly does European cruises, but does have some cruises sailing out of Miami targeting Americans. Although Italian is the main language on most of their ships (except when Miami based where it’s English), they do give announcements in about 5 different languages. They also have daily newsletters and events in different languages as well. Kids under 2 always sail free other than port fees and taxes. On certain cruises older kids can sail free as well. Ships may have anything from aqua parks and waterslides to virtual world gaming, racing car simulator, bowling, and 4D cinema depending on the ship. (Cinema and games have a fee.) The kids clubs are not open continuously all day, but there are mealtime options provided and the ships have scheduled family, kids, and teens activities. Babysitting is available for kids 1-3 for a fee, but parents are responsible for diaper changes and feeding. There is a special laundry service for kids 0-6 years old. There is a mini kids club where parents can bring children under 3 if they stay and play with them there. Kid’s club ages are 3-6, 7-11, 12-14, and 15-17 with separate space for the older kids. There’s even an optional prepaid card for kids 7-17 for families who want to give their children the freedom of their own onboard spending money. MSC does not have self-serve guest laundries. Smoking is allowed in some bars and on one side of the outside decks on European based ships and outside only if the ship is based in America.

NORWEGIAN

towel elephant on the Norwegian Sun

Norwegian invented freestyle cruising. On their ships nobody has assigned dinner times or places, but anyone can go to whichever of the included dining venues they feel like rather than having to stick to the same dining room each night. Booking a spot in one of the many premium dining venues for a fee is also an option, and Norwegian has more premium eateries to choose from than most lines. Even on formal nights dressing up is an option rather than a requirement. For kids 6 months to 3 years Norwegian has an area where parents can play with their kids as well as paid babysitting. Free kid’s clubs start at age 3 and have groups for ages 3-5, 6-9, 10-12, and 13-17. Amenities for things to do outside of kids club vary from ship to ship. Of course they all have pools and hot tubs. Some ships have waterslides, bowling alleys, rock climbing walls, or even a race track. Norwegian’s Free at Sea offer sometimes includes free guests when sailing with more than 2 people in a room meaning with the right booking kids can sail for free. NCL does not have self-serve guest laundries, but they will bring an iron to your cabin for a few hours upon request. Smoking is allowed in designated outside areas and active players can smoke in the casino.

P&O

people playing deck quoits on P&O Arcadia

I’ve only sailed on P&O once on a cruise from Chili to Australia, and that was on the Arcadia, an adults only ship. They do have other ships that are family friendly though. P&O is a British line in the Carnival family of cruise lines. We quite liked P&O, but since they are British with no sailings near where we live haven’t sailed with them again. They had some fun things to do that we haven’t seen on other lines like Wii bowling and deck coits. Deck coits is a fun and popular game on P&O ships that you don’t find on American-based cruises. They had both deck coits and shuffleboard tournaments daily. P&O kids club ages are 2-4, 5-8, 9-12, and 13-17. There is a complimentary night nursery available from 6pm to 2am to babysit kids 6 months to 4 years old for those evenings when the parents have non-kid friendly activities they want to do. Ships have a special tea-time for children with child-friendly food. Which pools are open to children varies from ship to ship, and some have splash parks or children’s pools that allow kids in swim diapers. P&O ships have free self-serve guest laundries. Smoking is allowed only in designated areas on outside decks. P&O Australia is separate from P&O UK, but they have kid’s club and other activities for kids and ships based there have waterslides and an adventure park.

PRINCESS

Puppies visit Ruby Princess in Skagway

On Princess ships, the piazza is a hub of activity, often with events themed toward the destination of the cruise. Some of the activities are just for adults, but others are family-friendly like a visit from husky sled dog puppies on an Alaskan cruise or parrots on a Caribbean cruise. Princess ships do not have things like waterslides, but like all major cruise ships they do have pools and hot tubs. Princess’ Just For Kids program age groups are 3-12, 13-17, and a young adults program for 18-20 year olds. 6 month to 2-year olds are welcome in their Camp Discovery area when accompanied by a parent. Evening entertainment includes movies under the stars as well as theater shows and activities in the piazza, all of which may or may not be family friendly on any given night. Princess does not have babysitting services. Self-serve laundries are available on all Princess ships. There is a charge for the washers, dryers, and detergent. Smoking is allowed in designated areas of the outside decks, and in the cigar lounge (which is fully enclosed.)

ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Flowrider on Royal Caribbean Explorer Of the Seas

Royal Caribbean is one of the more kid-friendly lines, with lots of things to do outside of the kid’s club, especially for older kids and particularly on the newer, bigger ships. Amenities vary from ship to ship, but some of them have things like ice skating arenas, flow riders, rock climbing walls, waterslides, a carousel, mini golf, laser tag, skydiving simulator, or a zip line just to name a few. Some activities have minimum age or height restrictions. Inside the ships have a city-like area called the Royal Promenade with shops and eateries. The newer, bigger ships have a Central Park area as well. Ships with ice arenas have ice skating shows to watch as well as scheduled times when the arena is open for passengers to skate – and they provide the skates. People who bring their own skates can skate in the advanced sessions. There is no charge for ice skating or many of the other activities. Oasis class ships also have an aquatheater with water based shows. Royal Caribbean has activities just for kids and teens too. The kid’s club is called Adventure Ocean and has age groups for 3-5, 6-8, and 9-11. Teens and Tweens have their own spaces where they can come and go as they please. For the youngest guests there are parent/baby interactive classes for kids 6-36 months. There is a charge for late nights in the kids club areas after 10pm. Royal Caribbean does not have self-serve guest laundries. Smoking is allowed in designated outdoor areas. There were a lot of smoking areas on Explorer of the Seas, including next to the jogging track and one side of the pool area.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2019

Posted in Randoms, Shipboard Life | Tagged #cruiseshipkids, #cruisingwithkids, #kidfriendlycruises, best cruise for kids, children's activities on cruise ships, cruise, cruise line smoking policies, cruising with kids, kids, which ships have guest laundries | Leave a comment

Vanuatu

Posted on March 15, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Vanuatu

A nation in the south pacific made up of a group of islands nestled between Fiji and New Caledonia, Vanuatu is a place many people never would have heard of if it weren’t for the 9th season of Survivor filming there.

Survivor Vanuatu logo

Officially known as the Republic of Vanuatu, these mostly volcanic islands were first inhabited by Melanesian people. From the early 1600’s on various European countries claimed the islands under a variety of names. Captain Cook named them the New Hebrides in 1774 and that name stuck until the island nation gained independence in 1980.

maps Vanuatu and its location in the world

Threats to Vanuatu include cyclones, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, pollution, deforestation, overfishing, and overpopulation. Introduction of non-native species and decline of some native species is also an issue.

The climate is tropical and often wet with rainfall averages from 93-160 inches per year, the higher averages in the northern islands. The economy depends on tourism, agriculture, and offshore financial services. The majority of residents live in rural areas.

Vanuatu’s underwater post office on Hideaway Island

Tourists enjoy Vanuatu’s beaches, reefs, and sealife. Other attractions include caves, waterfalls, villages, markets, wildlife, native culture, a water park, and an underwater post office. Not a post office formerly on land and now flooded, but an actual functioning post office under the sea where people can dive in and mail waterproof post cards.

Mystery Island – Still a Mystery

On our first Pacific crossing we missed Bora Bora – the port I most wanted to see – due to bad weather. The lagoon surrounding Bora Bora is supposed to be like swimming in a tropical aquarium and we had a snorkel excursion booked.

welcome sign

Crossing the Pacific again on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas we were supposed to stop at Mystery Island in Vanuatu where we had a snorkel excursion booked that was to go to a place called the Giant Aquarium, one called Daydreamer’s Reef, and a turtle resting grounds. Once again we missed the port we wanted to see most, and on this cruise the only one where we had booked an excursion through the ship. Maybe it’s bad luck to pre-book snorkel excursions on Pacific crossings. This time we missed the port due to a passenger medical emergency. They said we were too far out and the weather too cloudy for a helicopter rescue. We bypassed Vanuatu to head straight to New Caledonia for the evacuation. We ended up stopping briefly at Lifou and tendering the patient to shore for a flight to Noumea from there. Rumor had it the patient had actually died and been brought back to life on the ship before reaching land. Lifou was a scheduled stop for the next day. After evacuating the patient the ship left the area and returned as scheduled the following day.

a lone tender evacuates a passenger at Lifou

Mystery Island is unpopulated other than when cruise ships stop by. Locals from a nearby island sell their crafts in booths on cruise ship days. The island has an old airstrip from world war 2 days, amenities for the cruise ship passengers, and beaches and trails.

Excursions other people missed included glass bottom boats, kayaking, other snorkel adventures, and a village tour – which is on another island since Mystery Island is uninhabited except when cruise ships come in.

Mystery Island snorkel photo from Royal Caribbean’s website

Cruise itineraries are never set in stone and always subject to change due to weather or emergencies. It is disappointing when you are looking forward to something for a long time and then miss out. Ship’s excursions and port fees are automatically refunded, but it’s still a disappointment. Of course the patient and their family are quite grateful for the rescue and most other passengers understand and realize that somebody’s life is more important than whatever they had planned for the day.

The ship’s schedule of activities was pretty sparse for the day since most passengers were expected to go to shore, but they added on more to have things resemble a normal sea day.

Mystery Island from the air

During a flowrider announcement one of the guys working there said Mystery Island is such a mystery we couldn’t find it so we didn’t stop there. It got the name from early ships that would go there and it was always a mystery as to whether they would get their lifeboats to shore or not due to weather and sea conditions. For us Mystery Island remains a mystery.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2019

Posted in Explorer of the Seas, Pacific Ocean & Islands, Royal Caribbean | Tagged islands, Oceania, south pacific, Vanuatu | 1 Comment

Kennedy Space Center

Posted on March 8, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

entrance to Kennedy Space Center visitor complex

After disembarking Carnival Magic we had a couple days to spend in Cocoa Beach before going home. Getting off of Carnival Magic in Port Canaveral wasn’t the easiest disembarkation ever. Leaving the ship took a very long time because in addition to long lines a couple crew people suddenly decided to let all the passengers just coming off an elevator cut into the line right there in front of all the people who had already waited quite some time to get anywhere near that elevator. Not just one group, but everyone who came off that elevator after the crew people showed up assumingly to speed up the line which had moved in an orderly fashion before the crew showed up with all new arrivals proceeding to the back of the line. Nice for those particular people exiting the elevator. Not so much for those of us who had already spent a lot of time waiting from the back of the line to get anywhere near that point, and a wait time increased exponentially with only a few people already in line managing to slip through between elevator groups. The ship called Magic definitely lost the aura of magic on the way out that we’d felt onboard throughout most of the cruise.

rocket garden

Once we finally managed to get off the ship we had to get through customs. Traveling with our daughter and her kids, to whom the cruise was just a small portion of a long trip to America from Australia, they had a lot more luggage than what is normal for a 7-day cruise. So we did something we have never done before and had one of those porters with the big cart take all our luggage. By doing this we learned something new – if you want to speed your way through a long line at customs hire a porter. They go right past the line of people dragging their own luggage and into a much shorter line for porters and people in wheelchairs only. This was the only part of that disembarkation that went fairly quickly.

rocket in the rocket garden

Once we got through customs we made our way to the area where people wait for rental car shuttles. Like everything else at Port Canaveral it was quite crowded. When a shuttle for the company where we reserved a car finally came it had space enough for only about half the people. We were too far back in the line for all of us and our luggage to get on, but Sheri managed to find standing room so she could go on ahead and get the paperwork done for the car. It took far longer for the next shuttle to arrive than it took for her to get that done.

some things in the rocket garden are open to climb in and take photos

The overcrowded rental car shuttle took about 15 minutes to get to the lot where people pick up a car. There was a crowd waiting at that end to get to the ship heading out for the next cruise. The shuttle must have kept to a predetermined schedule because it made no effort to get those people on or out of there right away, nor did the other shuttle just sitting there ever let anyone on or leave the lot even though they had more than enough people to fill both of them waiting at both ends.

mission control display

Once we got everything loaded into the rental car we headed off to Kennedy Space Center, partly because we wanted to see it and partly because we had to go somewhere to fill the time between disembarking the ship and checking in to our vacation rental house.

astronaut display

More than just a working Space Center, Kennedy Space Center has evolved into another Florida theme park. There is still a working Space Center, but it is not located at the visitor complex. They have busses that take people out there, but we spent all our time in the visitor’s center and didn’t make the trip. My daughter and I did that years ago. Back then we saw them building components for the International Space Center there. We also saw a very slow moving crawler that they brought shuttles out on for launching. The space station has of course long since launched and the shuttle program ended so there are no more shuttle launches out there. Occasionally there is still a launch though because they do sometimes send up rockets carrying satellites. Spacex also launches there sometimes.

Heroes and Legends building

The visitor’s complex has a building called Heroes and Legends in tribute to former astronauts that includes a 3D presentation. The very visible rocket garden has a variety of different rockets standing tall and a couple space capsules visitors can climb into for photo ops or in the case of kids, just for fun. You can even book lunch with an astronaut if you are willing to pay the price.

moon rocket

There are of course displays from the moon rocket era at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Besides space capsules and a moon rocket there are also things like moon rocks and space suits.

shuttle launch experience motion simulator ride

The children’s play area was closed for renovation while we were there, but the cafés were open. The kids developed quite a liking for uncrustables before the cruise, something not available in Australia. They tried to have one last one before leaving the country, but the ones purchased at the space center’s café were inedibley stale. The workers there had probably never eaten these pre-packaged crust free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches themselves because they didn’t seem to understand the problem even when shown that the bread was discolored and completely dry with the jelly gone liquid and soaking through it while the peanut butter appeared almost solid. We did finally convince them to take the sandwiches back. They gave the kids muffins and chicken nuggets instead so we ended up with more than our money’s worth according to what we’d paid.

one of the Mars vehicles

There was a pavilion with displays about Mars and past, present, and future missions there called Journey to Mars. The visitor complex also had an 3D IMAX theater, but due to having a late start after our tedious disembarkation we didn’t have time to see everything and didn’t go to the theater.

life size shuttle launching rocket statue

The crown jewel of the visitor’s center is the space shuttle Atlantis. This is an actual space shuttle that performed over 30 missions before retiring. It is housed in a pavilion in which the entrance has a life-sized replica of the fuel and booster rockets used for launching shuttles.

space shuttle zero gravity toilet

Inside the building besides the shuttle itself there are many other displays. Astronauts hang from the ceiling near the shuttle. Another room has a miniature space station that kids can crawl through. There’s an example of a space toilet and a motion simulator launch ride. The launch simulator ride has a minimum height that Daniel was too small for so he and I stayed at the slide while the others took the ride. While I’ve never been seasick on a cruise, I do have a long history of motion sickness and some of those simulator rides really leave me queasy so I didn’t mind missing that ride. The giant slide was lots of fun.

shuttle landing simulator slide

The slide is a space shuttle landing experience slide. Several curved stations lead up to the slide, intended for people to run through simulating the turns the shuttle takes as it works its way down. Once completing the turns a large button in the floor awaits being jumped on at which time it makes a loud noise simulating breaking the sound barrier. Then you get to the actual slide. No shoes are allowed on feet, but it’s OK to carry them with you down one of the two big and speedy slides. There’s a big cushioned mat beyond the slide’s edge at the bottom, but most people run out of momentum and slow to a stop before getting that far.

Atlantis Space Shuttle

The Atlantis shuttle hangs from the ceiling in a room large enough to hold an entire space shuttle and some other displays as well. The floor height varies so people can stand next to it or below it depending on where they are within the room.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2019

Posted in Carnival, Magic, Port Cities, USA | Tagged Cape Canaveral, Carnival, disembarking a cruise ship, Kennedy Space Center, Magic, Port Canaveral | Leave a comment

Exploring Kodiak

Posted on March 1, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

looking over boats in the ship harbor toward the Westerdam in the background

We stepped outside the Holland America Westerdam into the strong aroma of dead fish. All explained by a glance at the nearest building, labeled Kodiak Fishermens Terminal. We’ve had port stops at container docks before, but this was the first at a fishing pier. The city map has it labeled as a city dock 2. Pillar Mountain, topped by windmills, dominates the land side view from the ship.

row of canneries near the ship

Next to the ship we passed a row of canneries before reaching town. In pre-cruise research I found a site saying it was a mile and a half to town. The ship’s info said a mile. Walking into town, my garmin watch that I use to track my runs said it was just about a kilometer from the ship to the marina at St. Paul Harbor.

boats docked in Kodiak

Unlike many marinas, there wasn’t any sort of blockade on the entrances to the docks keeping anyone not owning a boat there away, so people could go down to the docks and wander around looking at the boats if they wanted to.

informative display on the fence above the docks

On the main street through town from the cruise dock, there are informational signs along the railings above the boat harbor.

Kodiak marina

A side street near there has a big fish sculpture in front of the marina building.

Russian orthodox church in Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak “tour” bus near the Russian Orthodox church

Kodiak so far hasn’t had enough cruise ship traffic to change the town. They use school busses to pick passengers up for ship’s excursions and as shuttles for people who don’t want to walk to town. It’s mostly just a normal little town where locals shop or go out to eat, but there are a few tourist attractions. All grouped near each other there’s a wildlife center, a visitor’s center, and the Baranov Museum. Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Church sits next door to the Baranov Museum and across the street from the Alutiiq Museum. The Baranov Museum charged a $5 admission fee, but the rest were all free. Other than the visitor’s center and the church (which had a donation basket) the others all had gift shops.

old factory ship turned into shoreside cannery

An interesting looking cannery made partly from an old ship sits next to the visitor’s center.

map of Kodiak, Alaska

The visitor’s center has free maps showing all the area’s highlights and where to find them. It also has information on things to do and see and places to stay. We just wandered in there for a few minutes, but overheard someone booking a tour so they do that there too.

Russian Orthodox church in Kodiak, Alaska

Anyone who wants to venture a bit farther can cross a bridge and find a park with trails, a fisheries research center with an aquarium, and a road to St Herman’s Harbor which sits across the bay from where the cruise ship docks. If they want to go a lot farther, Fort Abercrombie State Park is several miles beyond the town and has hiking trails and an old historic fort.

inside the Russian Orthodox church

We just walked to the church and nearby museums, all of which are fairly small, but have interesting things to see. The church is quite ornate and at the time we were there the reverend was telling a tale of how the congregation didn’t expect him to last long until one of them decided that the reverend was going to buy his boat. He found a couple partners and did so. Initially the boat was parked outside the church where he used it for an office and the townsfolk started stopping by sharing boating and fishing information with him, which for him made a great icebreaker and led to his acceptance as a member of the town and not just the new priest.

fish display at the wildlife center

The wildlife center has no actual animals. Instead it had all sorts of displays with models of various species and information about them. It also had a seating area with a short movie.

fun with a bear

Outside the wildlife center people had fun taking their picture with the center’s resident bear…statue.

artifacts at the Alutiiq Museum

The Alutiiq museum had quite a few artifacts including woven baskets, rocks with hieroglyphics, and a very old kayak. Apparently they are the ones who invented kayaks. They even had a kayak skirt to keep them dry, though it was nothing like a modern one.

stained glass window at the Baranov Museum

The Baranov museum had things from the Russian era, which was mostly about hunting and trapping the area’s wildlife Their displays included actual animals that were no longer living rather than models like at the wildlife place. It also included artifacts of daily life in that era – like raincoats made from animal intestines, and a tiny kitchen set up with the sort of things used back then.

guns and things in a display case at the Baranov Museum

Kodiak doesn’t get nearly the sort of cruise ship traffic the major Alaskan ports have, but as more and more ships head to Alaska they need more places to go. A lady at the gift shop in the wildlife place said they had one ship about every other week throughout the summer of 2018, but expect over 30 cruise ship days in 2019. She said the locals are hoping to find a way to accommodate all the tourists without changing the nature of their town, which is at this point as she put it, a real town.

public garbage cans around Kodiak look like cans of salmon

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2019

Posted in Alaska, Holland America, Port Cities, Ports of Call, USA, Westerdam | Tagged Kodiak, kodiak tourist attractions, photos, things to do in Kodiak, travel | 1 Comment

Hits and Misses on Holland America Oosterdam

Posted on February 22, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Oosterdam Hits and Misses

Oosterdam in Sitka

Every ship has things to like about it, and usually something not so great. Of course what people like or not is always a matter of opinion. One person’s absolute favorite thing about any particular ship could be the exact thing someone else hated most. That’s one reason it’s nice that ships have a variety of spaces and places so most everyone can find something to their liking. These are the things I did and didn’t like about Holland America Oosterdam.

Hits on Holland America Oosterdam

I found a lot to like about the Oosterdam. The thermal suite is a definite hit. Holland America’s Vista class ships (and P&O’s Arcadia which is the same hull design) all have excellent thermal suites. This includes a large mineral pool with jets around the walls, a rack over jets to sit on, and an intensely jetted area inside a metal circle. Besides the pool, the thermal suite also includes heated ceramic chairs which may not sound comfortable, but are actually awesome. There’s also a sauna and aromatherapy steam rooms. It does cost extra to use the thermal suite, but worth the extra cost on these ships since it is so nice.

spa pool in the thermal suite

The Oosterdam had cloth hand towels in public restrooms, which is touch of class that is far nicer than paper towels and miles above air blower hand dryers, both of which are found on some cruise ships.

heated ceramic chairs in the thermal suite

Cruise ship cabins sometimes have just one outlet for the entire cabin. The Oosterdam had 2 outlets as well as 2 USB ports in our cabin, and we just had an inside room. Newer ships and those that have been recently renovated are far more likely to have extra outlets and/or USB ports while older non-renovated ships usually just have the one outlet and no USB port. It’s definitely a bonus to have more than one place to plug things in.

making fresh crepes at the buffet

Their buffet breakfast on the Lido deck includes a crepe station serving fresh made-to-order crepes and waffles. They also had daily specials there serving something different each day. That station also had some gluten free items. Another station served eggs Benedict made fresh to order rather than sitting out ready made under lights like at the buffet on some other ships. Surprisingly the eggs Benedict station never had a line. There’s also the always popular omlette station. Overall an above average cruise ship breakfast buffet.

pool with the dome closed

The Oosterdam has a retractable pool dome, which means on bad weather days or cruises to cold places the main pool area can be inside rather than outside which is definitely a plus on a cruise to Alaska.

back Lido deck with covered smoking area

Oosterdam had the best smoking policy of any ship we’ve ever been on from a non-smoker’s point of view. There’s no smoking on the promenade deck or anywhere inside the ship. Smoking was limited to just one area on one side of the Lido’s outside back deck only. They did have a cover over the seating in that area so people would not have to be out in the rain or anything. It’s the perfect location for a smoking area. It’s not on the way to anywhere so you don’t end up inadvertently walking through it, and at the back where the ship sails forward out of the smoke. There are two sets of doors between the elevators and that deck so less smoke gets inside. It is next to a pool and hot tub, but since it’s not the only pool or hot tub on the ship people have other options. Way to go Oosterdam! Being allergic to tobacco smoke I greatly appreciated the ease of avoiding it on this ship. Unfortunately that is not a standard smoking policy for all of Holland America as it varies from ship to ship.

sunrise on the Oosterdam’s smoke-free promenade deck

Lots of people exercise by walking or jogging around the Promenade deck on ships that have one encircling the entire ship, as the Oosterdam does. Besides being smoke-free, the outside area of the Promenade deck also had several drinking fountains making it a very exercise-friendly place to go.

TV in a cabin

Programming for the cabin TV’s included lots of free movies to choose from.

While most internet usage is an extra charge, it was free to use the internet for their onboard website. It had information about the cruise including daily menus and schedules of the onboard activities for the day. They did have a daily paper newsletter listing the activities as well.

towel elephant in our cabin

Each evening we came back to find a new towel animal in the room.

Misses on Holland America Oosterdam

There’s always a few things on any ship not to like, or that could be improved.

Open times for the ship’s shops were not posted at the stores or in the When & Where daily newsletter.

The ship has no self-serve guest laundries.

Doors on the showers and dressing rooms in gym/spa changing area are see-through glass rather than anything offering privacy.

There’s no oatmeal in serve yourself areas of the Lido buffet at breakfast. If you want any you have to wait to be served and it’s located at the middle of the most crowded station so it’s a long line.

There’s constant air blowing inside the cabin. You can adjust the temperature, but can’t turn the airflow off which means the sound is there day and night. This is an issue on a lot of ships, particularly older ones. They seem to have solved that problem on the newest ships I’ve sailed on.

chicken dinner

The food on our cruise was not on par with what we’ve come to expect from Holland America. Food does vary from ship to ship and even on the same ship over time. It’s not that the food was bad, just the last time I’d been on Holland America the food was the best I’d ever had on a cruise ship and in comparison the food on this ship was a disappointment. One 0f the items on their everyday dinner menu said steelhead salmon, but steelhead is a sea run trout. So is it steelhead or is it salmon? The chef knew that was wrong yet nobody had ever changed the menus and we were there at the end of the season.

the curtain over nothing but wall makes the room feel smaller

Inside cabins have a curtain over a wall at the back of the cabin, trying to give it the look of a window. What that curtain actually does is make the room seem smaller. Some ships have a mirror on the back wall of inside cabins, which make the room feel bigger.

life ring

Yes I realize most of the misses are minor and petty, but it’s a hits and misses blog so there have to be some misses.

Posted in Holland America, Oosterdam | Tagged bad things about Oosterdam, cruise ship, good things about Oosterdam, Holland America, Oosterdam, Oosterdam smoking | Leave a comment

Kodiak Cruise Ship Port

Posted on February 15, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Westerdam in Kodiak

Kodiak is one of Alaska’s lesser visited cruise ports with just a few mostly smaller cruise ships visiting each summer. Because of this the port currently remains as it was before cruise ships came to town rather than having the near port shopping area taken over by the typical cruise ship shops found at all the frequently visited ports like you see in Ketchikan and Juneau.

map of Kodiak, Alaska

Less frequented ports don’t have dedicated cruise ship docks. In Kodiak ships dock at City Dock II, about a kilometer south of town. Kodiak’s main economy derives from the sea, mostly in the form of fishing. Government jobs are second in importance to the economy with the largest Coast Guard facility in the USA located there. Tourism comes in third for the island’s economy.

crab pots stacked near the ship

The pier where the ships dock is at Fishermens Terminal with a row of canneries between the dock and town so it wasn’t surprising that a heavy smell of fish hung about the port. There’s a bit of a flat parking area between the road and the ship. Land on the other side of the road rises nearly straight up in the form of windmill-topped Pillar Mountain. One of our dinner mates on Holland America Westerdam climbed Pillar Mountain, though not directly straight up from the ship. There’s a road winding up the mountain and he found a trail off the road somewhere.

docking at Fishermens Terminal

The town provided school busses which were used both for ship’s excursions and as shuttles into town for those who didn’t want to walk there. It’s a pretty easy walk into town on mostly level ground. Besides shopping and food there are a few tourist attractions including the boat harbor, an old Russian church, a few museums, a visitor’s center, and a wildlife center, all near to each other.

Kodiak Visitor’s Center

There’s also trails and an aquarium on the other side of a bridge. Fort Abercrombie State Park has trails too, but at over 4 miles out the opposite side of town from the cruise dock it’s too far for most cruise ship passengers to walk there and back and still have time for hiking around in the time available during their port stop. The shuttle let people out by the visitor’s center. It had walking maps of the town, people to answer questions, and tours available to book.

Kodiak uses school busses for cruise ship tours

Kodiak has mild coastal weather which is often wet and cloudy. At an average of 68 inches of precipitation annually it is much drier than Ketchikan’s average of about 150.

walking from the ship to town in Kodiak

Kodiak was originally occupied by Alutiiq people who lived in small villages on the island until the Russians settled there in the late 1700’s mainly for fur trading. After trapping sea otters nearly to extinction Russia sold Alaska to the USA and fishing replaced sea otters as Kodiak’s main economy.

sign by the dock at Kodiak boat harbor

The biggest volcanic eruption of the 20th century covered Kodiak in nearly 2 feet of ash in 1912. During World War II the USA built military installments on the island. One naval base became the coast guard station in 1972. Forts Greely and Abercrombie are historic now.

lighthouse at Kodiak boat harbor

A tsunami from an earthquake in 1964 damaged or destroyed much of the town’s commercial infrastructure, but the people rebuilt and the fishing industry rebounded. Disaster struck again in the form of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, which did significant environmental damage that took years for the area to recover from, and for fishing to return to pre-spill catch levels.

Baranov Museum in Kodiak

Kodiak hasn’t seen much cruise ship traffic in the past with just a few ships a month during the summer, but expects to triple that starting in summer 2019. Townsfolk voiced concern over balancing keeping the integrity of their town while servicing the expected increase in tourism.

Kodiak boat harbor and houses

Excursions offered from our ship included a scenic drive, Kodiak highlights with stops at museums and Fort Abercrombie, sightseeing with afternoon tea at the Russian church, a walk through the harbor, a walk through town with tasting stops at various eateries, a hike at Fort Abercrombie State Park, and a couple wildlife watching cruises.

Posted in Alaska, Holland America, Ports of Call, USA, Westerdam | Tagged Alaska, Holland America, Kodiak, Kodiak Cruise Ship Port, Kodiak Cruise Terminal, photos, travel, Westerdam, what's in port Kodiak | 6 Comments

Surprisingly Good Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on February 14, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Chocolate chip cookies are delicious with or without oatmeal, so what makes this recipe so surprising? Carrots, that’s what. Carrots are quite sweet and over half the sugar from the original recipe in an ancient cookbook has been replaced by carrots in this version, yet they taste surprisingly delicious and not at all like carrots. Coconut helps too, which besides being sweet has replaced half the original recipe’s fat making these cookies that much less unhealthy. If you want the carrots to blend unseen into the dough you could boil and mash them instead of just shredding them. While unpeeled carrots are fine for savory dishes, when used for sweetening they work much better without it because the peel kind of has an earthy taste.

Surprisingly Good Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup finely shredded peeled carrots

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup softened butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

1 cup flaked coconut

2 cups old fashioned oats

8 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F

Cream butter, add sugar and beat until thoroughly blended. Mix in finely shredded carrots. Beat in egg and vanilla. Blend in soda and salt, then add flour. Stir in coconut and oatmeal by hand, followed by chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls or round into balls and place on greased or ungreased pan. Bake 12-14 minutes until cookie centers are set. Cookies retain the shape they start with, they do not flatten or spread as they bake so flatten them down to the height you want.

Posted in recipes | Tagged #chocolatechipcookies, cookie recipe, healthier cookies, low sugar cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies | 2 Comments

Food on Holland America Veendam

Posted on February 8, 2019 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Veendam in Costa Maya, Mexico

Cruise food varies greatly from line to line, even from ship to ship on the same line. Sometimes it even varies from one sailing to the next on the same ship. Menus change over time. Sometimes they change due to the itinerary. Other times it’s the same menu, but the food just tastes better on one ship than another, particularly when a ship has a superior chef and galley crew.

not your average taco

Dining room food on the Veendam was generally quite good. Sometimes excellent like the bean tacos they served one night as a port-inspired option on the menu of a cruise with two stops in Mexico. The tasty food was quite a relief. We weren’t sure what to expect after the food on the Oosterdam last time we sailed with Holland America didn’t quite live up to their usual high standards. Especially not the best cruise food ever standard set by the Veendam several years back on a trip out of Boston.

Where’s the chicken?

There’s a few things not up to par though. We tried the Dive-In poolside grill one day. After a 15 minute wait for the chicken breast sandwich because that’s how long they said it takes to cook, when said sandwich came I thought they forgot to put the chicken in it. I had to open the bun and look inside to find the tiny piece of chicken hidden there. More like a chicken tender sandwich, breasts are much bigger. The good news is they do have gluten free buns on request. The bad news if you’re gluten free is that they coat their French fries in flour “to make them crispy” and have no uncoated ones available.

taco bar on the Veendam pool deck

There’s a taco bar next to the Dive-In, which is one of the few places serve-yourself food is available. Throughout much of the buffet you have to wait for someone behind the counter to get things for you, which really stuffs up the line. The taco bar has taco shells, chips, tortillas, and a variety of things to put on them so people can have all sorts of do-it-yourself Mexican food options. The food is good, but the set-up is a bit weird because all the toppings are next to the chips and taco shells and all the meats and beans and things down at the far end. So you have to either get things out of order or go back and forth, which works fine when nobody else is there, but not so much if there’s a line.

gluten free pizza

Gluten free options are available for the asking in a lot of places. Besides the buns at the burger place, the buffet has gluten free bread options, and the pizza place has gluten free pizza crust. All of the pizzas are made to order so you have to wait for it to cook regardless of whether ordering gluten free or regular pizza crust. The good news is you get the toppings of your choice and a hot fresh pizza. The bad news is you get a whole pizza even if you really only wanted one slice, and the gluten free one seems to take longer to bake.

the fruit plate is always a dessert option for dining room dinners

In addition to all the complimentary food options, the Veendam does have some pay-extra eateries. Holland America ships all have the upscale Pinnacle Grill. At dinner time a portion of the Lido buffet gets converted to their Italian restaurant, Canaletto. They also had a café with things like premium coffee and some goodies in the Explorer’s Lounge. I don’t really have anything to say about them because we didn’t eat at any of those places on our Veendam Caribbean cruise.

pasta shells in the dining room

You don’t have to go to the Italian place to get pasta. There’s always pasta options on the dinner menu and in the buffet.

double surf no turf

The dining room is willing to alter things from what the menu says. For instance if you just want a meat that is offered, but not the side dishes it comes with, you can have that meat with something else on the side. Or if the menu has surf and turf and you just want surf or turf, but not both, you can order one without the other.

there’s always fancy desserts to top off a cruise ship meal

Lunch and dinner options change daily at both the buffet and in the dining room. Overall the ship has a pretty good variety of tasty food.

pork dinner in the dining room

Posted in Cruise Food, Holland America, Veendam | Tagged #cruisefood, cruise, cruise food, food, Holland America, photos, Veendam | 1 Comment

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