Linda&Vern
June 27th, 2011, 11:16 PM
Sorry that this is so overdue. Before more time passes I wanted to write a few more of my trip memories. I thought I came home with a terrible cold and brain freeze from the red-eye flight from h*ll. Two days later I landed in the hospital with a suspected lung blood clot (from all the flying). Turned out no blood clots were found – but I was diagnosed with CHF (coronary heart failure) and a new blockage was found which needed angio and stenting. I’m back home now and doing okay.
Because so much time has gone by since our cruise my comments will be brief:
We arrived SEA on Tuesday and used Already There Limo for transportation. (Thanks KK!) Extremely impressed with their service. We spent three nights pre-cruise at the Seattle Downtown Hilton. Good room, enjoyed breakfast with a view on the top floor each day, convenient location (6th & University). We took a taxi to Pier 91 on Friday morning.
Pier 91 – This is odd as some have loved the porter service and others noted the same thing we did. We found NO porters outside the terminal (around 11:00am). DH went inside and found a HAL rep, who in turn found someone to take our 4 suitcases. Upstairs check-in was a breeze. We were in group 3 and boarding started sometime after 11:30ish. There seemed to be a lot of seating in the waiting area.
We dropped off our carry-on in the cabin, met our cabin stewards, picked up our beverage and soda cards, and headed to the MDR for lunch. There was no question of whether we were Mariners or not and we were seated promptly. We were told we could not use the beverage/soda cards as the computers could not take them yet. (We were told the same thing the first night at dinner.)
When we returned to our cabin our luggage had arrived and we quickly unpacked and then did a quick self-tour of the ship. We loved the size and ambiance of the Amsterdam.
Our category “C” cabin was on the LP deck, which we had carefully selected. It was perfect in every way and offered easy access to everything. Wonderful to run outside on the spur of the moment!
I have a knee problem and was not prepared for the high inclines on some of the port gangways. In ISP I didn't know if I would make it. Even embarking in Seattle I thought was a little too much incline. That said, we enjoyed all of the ports:
Ketchikan - Weather was clear, sunny, and bright. We took a tour to Saxman Village in the morning and enjoyed the Lumberjack Show in the afternoon.
Tracy Arm - Weather was clear, and not very cold. When we saw the ice flow we anticipated correctly that we would not get near Sawyer Glacier. It was still beautiful scenery.
Juneau - We took a Whale Watching boat tour and saw many sea lions and whales. DH was videoing whales in the distance and got so excited when more whales appeared right next to the boat that he dropped L his video camera into the water. Luckily we had many photos on his two still cameras.
Icy Straight Point – DH did his zip-lining and loved it. He said it was a totally awesome ride. 45 minute drive up the mountain to the launch point (1,300 ft high hill) and a 90 second ride at 60 mph to sea level. After that we walked the area and enjoyed the rural feel with no commercial stores here.
Anchorage - DH and I thought our trip to Portage Glacier was spectacular and well worth the time for that viewing.
Homer - We took the free shuttle to the Spit. Truthfully – we were not impressed. I guess we just didn’t “get it.”
Kodiak – This was a cool, rainy, dreary day. We decided not to leave the ship. To our knowledge no shuttle was offered and we didn’t want to get into a long walking situation.
Hubbard Glacier – What a great day! The scenery and calving was beautiful. (I would have liked to see more calving – but what we did see was beautiful.)
Sitka - We had not booked any tours. We took the tender over, hopped on a free shuttle to “town,” then walked the streets and back to the tender. Great weather here!
Victoria - We took the ship’s city tour. Very informative bus driver. We felt we got to see all of the city by doing this type of tour.
Travel Guide Jeanette on the ship was very informative.
We had our requested early (5:45) upper dining at a table for two near the aft windows. Beautiful views every evening! There were four formal nights - and we noticed many empty dining chairs on those nights. Dinner service was great, as usual on HAL. Food is subjective, but honestly we were not impressed. Several evenings there was nothing on the menu that appealed to us. We were expecting more on a 14-day cruise. Some nights there wasn’t even anything on the dessert menu that sounded fun. After dinner decaf coffee was not drinkable!
Breakfast in the MDR proved to be a nightmare. Waiting over an hour after ordering food just isn’t fun in the morning. After day three we ate breakfast in the Lido for the remainder of the cruise. Lido food was at least easy to access. Seating was a problem – but if you kept looking you eventually found somewhere to sit. (Is it possible the whole ship wanted to eat at exactly the same time?) Lido decaf is drinkable.
We enjoyed the evening entertainment. Again subjective, but for us it was entertaining.
We were surprised that the Lido Pool inside area was so cool (ok - cold)! We saw very few people using the pool loungers and even fewer in the pool. I was disappointed for my DH as he loves relaxing by a pool.
Disembarkation was smooth … until we hit the luggage holding area. When we could not find anyone to help with luggage DH again found a HAL rep and asked about help. She told him to go stand over by the “overhead door” and when he saw someone come back into the building from helping someone else he should grab that porter. Meanwhile I stood across the room with the 4 large suitcases. DH asked why there were not sufficient luggage porters available at the port and was told that it was a HAL directive that they not have more porters available. Go figure! My advice would be only take the amount of luggage you can handle yourself and not count on any help at this port.
Some may recall my dilemma about what to do with our luggage on disembarkation day as our flight was not until after 11:00pm. We took a taxi back to the Hilton and they gladly stored our luggage for the day. (Of course we tipped nicely for this.)
I cannot imagine saying I saw Alaska in less than 14 days. All-in-all it was a great trip and we are glad we went. You have to work hard to not enjoy yourself on a cruise. Will we do Alaska again - probably not. BUT - we are very glad we took everyone's advice and did this trip. Everyone really should go once!
Because so much time has gone by since our cruise my comments will be brief:
We arrived SEA on Tuesday and used Already There Limo for transportation. (Thanks KK!) Extremely impressed with their service. We spent three nights pre-cruise at the Seattle Downtown Hilton. Good room, enjoyed breakfast with a view on the top floor each day, convenient location (6th & University). We took a taxi to Pier 91 on Friday morning.
Pier 91 – This is odd as some have loved the porter service and others noted the same thing we did. We found NO porters outside the terminal (around 11:00am). DH went inside and found a HAL rep, who in turn found someone to take our 4 suitcases. Upstairs check-in was a breeze. We were in group 3 and boarding started sometime after 11:30ish. There seemed to be a lot of seating in the waiting area.
We dropped off our carry-on in the cabin, met our cabin stewards, picked up our beverage and soda cards, and headed to the MDR for lunch. There was no question of whether we were Mariners or not and we were seated promptly. We were told we could not use the beverage/soda cards as the computers could not take them yet. (We were told the same thing the first night at dinner.)
When we returned to our cabin our luggage had arrived and we quickly unpacked and then did a quick self-tour of the ship. We loved the size and ambiance of the Amsterdam.
Our category “C” cabin was on the LP deck, which we had carefully selected. It was perfect in every way and offered easy access to everything. Wonderful to run outside on the spur of the moment!
I have a knee problem and was not prepared for the high inclines on some of the port gangways. In ISP I didn't know if I would make it. Even embarking in Seattle I thought was a little too much incline. That said, we enjoyed all of the ports:
Ketchikan - Weather was clear, sunny, and bright. We took a tour to Saxman Village in the morning and enjoyed the Lumberjack Show in the afternoon.
Tracy Arm - Weather was clear, and not very cold. When we saw the ice flow we anticipated correctly that we would not get near Sawyer Glacier. It was still beautiful scenery.
Juneau - We took a Whale Watching boat tour and saw many sea lions and whales. DH was videoing whales in the distance and got so excited when more whales appeared right next to the boat that he dropped L his video camera into the water. Luckily we had many photos on his two still cameras.
Icy Straight Point – DH did his zip-lining and loved it. He said it was a totally awesome ride. 45 minute drive up the mountain to the launch point (1,300 ft high hill) and a 90 second ride at 60 mph to sea level. After that we walked the area and enjoyed the rural feel with no commercial stores here.
Anchorage - DH and I thought our trip to Portage Glacier was spectacular and well worth the time for that viewing.
Homer - We took the free shuttle to the Spit. Truthfully – we were not impressed. I guess we just didn’t “get it.”
Kodiak – This was a cool, rainy, dreary day. We decided not to leave the ship. To our knowledge no shuttle was offered and we didn’t want to get into a long walking situation.
Hubbard Glacier – What a great day! The scenery and calving was beautiful. (I would have liked to see more calving – but what we did see was beautiful.)
Sitka - We had not booked any tours. We took the tender over, hopped on a free shuttle to “town,” then walked the streets and back to the tender. Great weather here!
Victoria - We took the ship’s city tour. Very informative bus driver. We felt we got to see all of the city by doing this type of tour.
Travel Guide Jeanette on the ship was very informative.
We had our requested early (5:45) upper dining at a table for two near the aft windows. Beautiful views every evening! There were four formal nights - and we noticed many empty dining chairs on those nights. Dinner service was great, as usual on HAL. Food is subjective, but honestly we were not impressed. Several evenings there was nothing on the menu that appealed to us. We were expecting more on a 14-day cruise. Some nights there wasn’t even anything on the dessert menu that sounded fun. After dinner decaf coffee was not drinkable!
Breakfast in the MDR proved to be a nightmare. Waiting over an hour after ordering food just isn’t fun in the morning. After day three we ate breakfast in the Lido for the remainder of the cruise. Lido food was at least easy to access. Seating was a problem – but if you kept looking you eventually found somewhere to sit. (Is it possible the whole ship wanted to eat at exactly the same time?) Lido decaf is drinkable.
We enjoyed the evening entertainment. Again subjective, but for us it was entertaining.
We were surprised that the Lido Pool inside area was so cool (ok - cold)! We saw very few people using the pool loungers and even fewer in the pool. I was disappointed for my DH as he loves relaxing by a pool.
Disembarkation was smooth … until we hit the luggage holding area. When we could not find anyone to help with luggage DH again found a HAL rep and asked about help. She told him to go stand over by the “overhead door” and when he saw someone come back into the building from helping someone else he should grab that porter. Meanwhile I stood across the room with the 4 large suitcases. DH asked why there were not sufficient luggage porters available at the port and was told that it was a HAL directive that they not have more porters available. Go figure! My advice would be only take the amount of luggage you can handle yourself and not count on any help at this port.
Some may recall my dilemma about what to do with our luggage on disembarkation day as our flight was not until after 11:00pm. We took a taxi back to the Hilton and they gladly stored our luggage for the day. (Of course we tipped nicely for this.)
I cannot imagine saying I saw Alaska in less than 14 days. All-in-all it was a great trip and we are glad we went. You have to work hard to not enjoy yourself on a cruise. Will we do Alaska again - probably not. BUT - we are very glad we took everyone's advice and did this trip. Everyone really should go once!