Alaskan adventure that hits the highlights

After our Canada/New England cruise last year, we Southerners decided to try another Northern adventure, this time to Alaska. We chose Holland America again. HAL provides a great value and experience. The things that were lacking in this cruise could have been remedied by us choosing a longer, more expensive and upscale cruise, but we were trying to keep costs down. We had a wonderful time, with some unforgettable experiences. We visited Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria B.C. The weather was not great, but we came prepared with our head-to-toe rain and cold weather gear. The best parts of this cruise were the shore excursions. We went on a small group whale-watching excursion in Juneau. The humpback whales were extremely active, and the small boat was able to move easily to the active sites. Then we took a short hike to view the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls. The whales and the scenery were breathtaking. I thought this would be the most memorable part of the trip, until we went on the ocean raft excursion in Sitka. Six of us passengers donned full floatation suits and were taken exploring along the volcano coast. We saw humpback whales, gray whales, otters, seals, colorful sea stars, and more bald eagles than we could count. This is probably the most adventurous thing I have ever done, and was equally as thrilling as the whale-watching excursion. We went on a photo safari in Ketchikan. Although the weather was truly awful, our determined tour guide took us to see totems at Potlatch Park and other locations. We didn't see the sites we'd hoped to see, but she truly made the best of a bad weather day. We had an inside cabin on the Navigation deck. Not the best location for motion sickness, especially when the weather was bad, but the cabin was nice enough. We didn’t miss having a window or a balcony with the bad weather we had. With all the time changes and long daylight hours, I actually slept well in the inside cabin. Westerdam had many inside and outside public areas where we could sit and view the scenery. A smaller ship is going to have more motion in bad weather than a larger ship, but we prefer a smaller ship despite this. Westerdam still has the amenities and entertainment you would expect, although on a smaller scale. Entertainment was not an issue at all on last year's Canada cruise, because we stopped at a port almost every day and spent very little time on the ship. Amenities and entertainment make a difference when you spend more time at sea. The biggest complaint I had with this cruise would be that we spent so little time at the ports, not even a full day. Because we booked shore excursions, we had no time to do anything else while we were at a port. The food was fine in both the Lido Market and main dining room. I would have skipped the specialty dining, but we had a credit with our cruise package. I have a seafood allergy, so I didn't have a lot of variety. Service was excellent in the main dining room for dinner. Service was painfully slow at Pinnacle Grill, and the food was not any better than the main dining room. We had the "Have it all" package. I don't think we really needed all that, but it was a good value. At the time of purchase, this included crew appreciation, shore excursion credit, specialty dining credit, onboard credit, premium internet, and the highest drink package. We did not need the drink package, but it was nice to get what we wanted without keeping track. Premium internet was a luxury that we fully utilized. So many things were included in this package that we had a hard time spending our onboard credit. We got a lot of extra perks with onboard credit that we wouldn't have considered otherwise. On this cruise we were offered port valet service. At the end of the cruise, they took our luggage from our cabin straight to the airport and checked it in for us. We just picked it up at baggage claim after our flight home. The airline’s checked bag charge was even paid by our onboard credit. I am a fan of this service. We booked our flights and pre-cruise hotel stay through Holland America. I thought this would be easier. I am not so sure it was, but I think the trip was going to be exhausting no matter how we got there. We had some hiccups getting to Seattle, and communication was not the clearest. I'm not sure I would have picked this particular flight or hotel, but it all worked out. I'd like to give shout-outs to a particular Delta agent for getting us to Seattle, an SMS Transportation Services representative (contracted by HAL) for getting us out of the airport and on our way to the hotel, and our daughter for tracking down our luggage and getting it to the hotel. This is a great cruise to get a taste of Alaska. It was everything we’d hoped it would be.

5 Stars for Service and Crew

Westerdam is not the biggest, newest or most spectacular ship but it may be among the best run. Friendliness and Cleanliness were tops. Every crew member, every venue and every interaction was exemplary. Services for our wheelchair traveler were seamless. Hollander American gets good reviews on this subject and they were well justified. The ship does not feel too crowded; even though fully booked we could always find a quiet space or San open elevator (except when luggage is being boarded. Our Neptune Suite, the Lounge and Concierge services were outstanding.. Room for improvement: a genuine piano bar and lower amplification levels, all music was painfully loud. Most useful tip: board a bit later, not in the first rush and avoid Lido Market dining and elevators until luggage has boarded and elevators cleared. Have a good breakfast before boarding, go straight to your cabin or suite and get a snack later. Learn how to greet crew members in their own languages and you will enjoy their response and friendliness for the duration.

Awesome cruise

This is my fourth trip to Alaska and it is a wonderful place to go. I cruised on Holland America again for the third time and the ship was smaller, with about 1900 prople. I prefer that over the larger ships. The crew on board the Holland America love what they do and it shows in everything they do. I found the food on this voyage was better than expected unlike some of the other cruise lines that have minimized what they offer since COVID-19. The entertainment on this voyage was exceptional. There was a comedian and a soul singer and a dance group of six young people. I felt the entertainment on this voyage was above and beyond. In addition, they did seminars or presentations on different things and that was very interesting as well. I chose to go with a smaller cabin this time with just a large window and was on the main deck. This was the best decision I could’ve made because there was rain so I would never have used the balcony but more so the room was very comfortable, and the location was midship first floor main it got me to every place I needed to go on the ship very easily. My Holland America cruise to Alaska seven days was very good and I would recommend it to anyone going that direction. The Holland America cruise line is a great cruise line. Try it.

Love Westerdam

First time cruisers. Embarkation was in Auckland, cruise ended in Sydney. DW always wanted to visit Australia. "New Zealand?" she said, as she was unfamiliar. By the time we left NZ she wanted to move there. NZ was the best, and we've been to Alaska, Switzerland, Croatia, etc. Ship/cabin good condition. Cabin service excellent, so was Guest Services when we needed them. We enjoyed the freedom of the Lido buffet. Decent food, fair variety, salad bar, ice cream. We bought drinks a la carte, priced reasonably. Can't see ordering a Drinks package. Hardly any children, possibly due to long air travel from the USA. We arrived two days before embarkation, which allowed us to ferry over to the paradise of Waiheke Island. Fantastic! As my wife wanted to attend church before our Sunday embarkation, we arrived at the cruise port around 1:30 PM, which turned out to be perfect as the most of the crowds had already been processed. The posted 5 PM departure turned out to be 7 PM, as I sussed out online from the Port report, probably due the unique Sail GP competition I was able to watch from the rear deck before departure. I was a bit disappointment at the removal of the Lincoln Center concert room. Disembarkation in Sydney was a breeze.