kjpabl
August 23rd, 2011, 08:01 PM
Hi everyone. We just got home Saturday, and I have finally unpacked and finished all the laundry,and putting everything away, so I thought I should come back and comment on our cruise. I had started but it ended up being so long, I quit to rethink what I wanted to share.
We took the Volendam to Alaska the 10th of August. The ship, her crew and the trip were beyond my greatest expectations. I had planned and overplanned for two years, so I was worried nothing could match my dreams. I was wrong.
The ship was in excellent shape and the crew were constantly working on shining her up. My husband and I were in an oceanview cabin and everything was spic and span. Our stewards worked so hard, most times it looked as if no one lived in our cabin - except for the towel animals and the lovely gift of champagne and strawberries sent to our room by HAL for our 32nd Anniversary. The ship was also beautiful with fresh flowers everywhere and lovely pieces of art surprising you at each corner or landing.
The crew were amazing! Smiling, friendly and personable from the Captain to the young man scrubbing the Crow's Nests floor at 5:00am (I went up to see whales and we were the only two people there). He actually stopped and pointed out a whale on the starboard side to me.
The shows were entertaining. Although they weren't to my husband's taste, I enjoyed them all. The stage was small and the dancer's, I felt, especially struggled with choreography to fit that size space. The voices were good to excellent and the music was a good mix for the admittedly 'older' crowd. But I love Broadway tunes and 50's tunes too, so I was happy!
I have read on the reviews that some weren't impressed with the comedian. Now that was a show my husband and I enjoyed together. He was very funny! His humor didn't rely on foul language and wasn't 'cutting edge' but his take on the ship and cabins and just about everything had the audience rolling with laughter. M husband was crying, he laughed so hard. I suppose it depends on taste.
The food was good (Lido, Chocolate Extravanganza) to excellent (Main Dining Room) to extremely fine (Pinnacle Grill). I had previously heard that desserts were a struggle on HAL, and in some cases I must agree. Many that looked quite beautiful only managed to taste ok. However, there were so many out of the park home runs hit by the culinary staff; I was surprised it was possible with the numbers of people served.
Comments have been made about the quality of the Lobster served on the last formal night. We must have been very lucky; from the escargot to the lobster(not Maine Lobster, but good) and filet we had tender and delicious food served by smiling waiters in wonderful company. We sat at a table for six and truly enjoyed our neighbors. Portions were very good. I could have ordered additional, but each part of the meal was just the right size to appease our appetites but not stuff ourselves.
The waitstaff were tremendous, and I must send a special shout out to Aeleka(sp?) the Pinnacle Grill manager who treated us as family and showered us with attention and way too many desserts on the night we celebrated our anniversary.
As for the trip our ports were extraordinary. We had beautiful weather in Juneau, Skagway and most of the day at Glacier Bay. We had plenty of that liquid sunshine in Ketchikan, but it didn't seem to drop anyones spirits down at all. In Tracy Arm we had our first and only real disappointment of the cruise. We had booked the Allen Marine Catamaran tour into the Arm, however for reasons unkown, the catamaran was over an hour late and would not get us back to Juneau in time to catch our Whale Watching Excursion. So I had to cancel. (A reason to go back, right?) That gave us enough time in Juneau to share a meal at Tracey's Crab Shack,mmm good, and then meet our guide from Harv & Marv's to go whale watching, YEAH! We stopped at a glacier viewpoint on our way to the pier where we met Liz, our captain for our tour. There were five of us plus Liz on the boat and I was nervous about seasickness, and not seeingany whales. Wrong on both counts! No bubble feeding, but whales everywhere you looked and many of them playing. Lots of breaching and tail slapping going on. Towards the end we got a call-- a few boats were chasing a pod of orcas right towards us, so we got quite a show from them also. Then we stopped at Mendenhall Glacier and got to see three black bears fishing and catching salmon. So many salmon you could literally walk on them and not get wet. Vince, our motor guide had enough time to take us up to the salmon ladders to view the fish returning there also. We were treated very well.
In Skagway we toured with Becky from Dyea Dave up into the Yukon along with 2 other couples. Lots of information and we stopped whenever someone wanted to take pics. Becky took us up to Carcross and Emerald Lake and then dropped us and another couple off at Fraser to take the train back. My husband's dad and most of the family are railroaders (BN & SP&S) so you can imagine how much fun he had. We had a car to ourselves (so as to not get mixed up with a tour group, I guess) so he had an entire platform to himself as we came down that mountainside. Great pics again!
Glacier Park was amazing. Not sure if I have the words to describe our time there. Mass was held in the Wajang Theater as usual, but it should have been held in the Crow's Nest or on the deck as the cathedral of the natural world God created was unbelievable. Once again we saw many whales as we entered, (up very early but so worth it!) We then saw one after another of the earth's creatures: Grizzly foraging on the beach, Dall Sheep clinging to the cliffs, seals, birds beyond count and the massive ice walls and cliffs marching down from mountains whose edges cut the sky. I felt very calm and yet excited to be a witness to all this beauty. As we left we were able to view Stellar sea lions, harbor porpoises, puffins and more whales.
Ketchikan lived up to it's reputation as one of the wettest places on earth. My husband was scheduled for a fishing charter at noon so we walked through some Alaskan stores and did our first shopping, then he went off to fish and I rested for what I thought was a cooking class called "An Alaskan Chef's Table". It wasn't somuch a cooking class as it was a wonderful feast on the bounty of Alaskan Seafood. We ate seven marvelous courses and I literally had to postpone our PG reservations, I was so full. We did get all the recipes, so I hope to turn some of my DH's catch(yea he caught some pinks) into some of the great food I got to try.
We took the Volendam to Alaska the 10th of August. The ship, her crew and the trip were beyond my greatest expectations. I had planned and overplanned for two years, so I was worried nothing could match my dreams. I was wrong.
The ship was in excellent shape and the crew were constantly working on shining her up. My husband and I were in an oceanview cabin and everything was spic and span. Our stewards worked so hard, most times it looked as if no one lived in our cabin - except for the towel animals and the lovely gift of champagne and strawberries sent to our room by HAL for our 32nd Anniversary. The ship was also beautiful with fresh flowers everywhere and lovely pieces of art surprising you at each corner or landing.
The crew were amazing! Smiling, friendly and personable from the Captain to the young man scrubbing the Crow's Nests floor at 5:00am (I went up to see whales and we were the only two people there). He actually stopped and pointed out a whale on the starboard side to me.
The shows were entertaining. Although they weren't to my husband's taste, I enjoyed them all. The stage was small and the dancer's, I felt, especially struggled with choreography to fit that size space. The voices were good to excellent and the music was a good mix for the admittedly 'older' crowd. But I love Broadway tunes and 50's tunes too, so I was happy!
I have read on the reviews that some weren't impressed with the comedian. Now that was a show my husband and I enjoyed together. He was very funny! His humor didn't rely on foul language and wasn't 'cutting edge' but his take on the ship and cabins and just about everything had the audience rolling with laughter. M husband was crying, he laughed so hard. I suppose it depends on taste.
The food was good (Lido, Chocolate Extravanganza) to excellent (Main Dining Room) to extremely fine (Pinnacle Grill). I had previously heard that desserts were a struggle on HAL, and in some cases I must agree. Many that looked quite beautiful only managed to taste ok. However, there were so many out of the park home runs hit by the culinary staff; I was surprised it was possible with the numbers of people served.
Comments have been made about the quality of the Lobster served on the last formal night. We must have been very lucky; from the escargot to the lobster(not Maine Lobster, but good) and filet we had tender and delicious food served by smiling waiters in wonderful company. We sat at a table for six and truly enjoyed our neighbors. Portions were very good. I could have ordered additional, but each part of the meal was just the right size to appease our appetites but not stuff ourselves.
The waitstaff were tremendous, and I must send a special shout out to Aeleka(sp?) the Pinnacle Grill manager who treated us as family and showered us with attention and way too many desserts on the night we celebrated our anniversary.
As for the trip our ports were extraordinary. We had beautiful weather in Juneau, Skagway and most of the day at Glacier Bay. We had plenty of that liquid sunshine in Ketchikan, but it didn't seem to drop anyones spirits down at all. In Tracy Arm we had our first and only real disappointment of the cruise. We had booked the Allen Marine Catamaran tour into the Arm, however for reasons unkown, the catamaran was over an hour late and would not get us back to Juneau in time to catch our Whale Watching Excursion. So I had to cancel. (A reason to go back, right?) That gave us enough time in Juneau to share a meal at Tracey's Crab Shack,mmm good, and then meet our guide from Harv & Marv's to go whale watching, YEAH! We stopped at a glacier viewpoint on our way to the pier where we met Liz, our captain for our tour. There were five of us plus Liz on the boat and I was nervous about seasickness, and not seeingany whales. Wrong on both counts! No bubble feeding, but whales everywhere you looked and many of them playing. Lots of breaching and tail slapping going on. Towards the end we got a call-- a few boats were chasing a pod of orcas right towards us, so we got quite a show from them also. Then we stopped at Mendenhall Glacier and got to see three black bears fishing and catching salmon. So many salmon you could literally walk on them and not get wet. Vince, our motor guide had enough time to take us up to the salmon ladders to view the fish returning there also. We were treated very well.
In Skagway we toured with Becky from Dyea Dave up into the Yukon along with 2 other couples. Lots of information and we stopped whenever someone wanted to take pics. Becky took us up to Carcross and Emerald Lake and then dropped us and another couple off at Fraser to take the train back. My husband's dad and most of the family are railroaders (BN & SP&S) so you can imagine how much fun he had. We had a car to ourselves (so as to not get mixed up with a tour group, I guess) so he had an entire platform to himself as we came down that mountainside. Great pics again!
Glacier Park was amazing. Not sure if I have the words to describe our time there. Mass was held in the Wajang Theater as usual, but it should have been held in the Crow's Nest or on the deck as the cathedral of the natural world God created was unbelievable. Once again we saw many whales as we entered, (up very early but so worth it!) We then saw one after another of the earth's creatures: Grizzly foraging on the beach, Dall Sheep clinging to the cliffs, seals, birds beyond count and the massive ice walls and cliffs marching down from mountains whose edges cut the sky. I felt very calm and yet excited to be a witness to all this beauty. As we left we were able to view Stellar sea lions, harbor porpoises, puffins and more whales.
Ketchikan lived up to it's reputation as one of the wettest places on earth. My husband was scheduled for a fishing charter at noon so we walked through some Alaskan stores and did our first shopping, then he went off to fish and I rested for what I thought was a cooking class called "An Alaskan Chef's Table". It wasn't somuch a cooking class as it was a wonderful feast on the bounty of Alaskan Seafood. We ate seven marvelous courses and I literally had to postpone our PG reservations, I was so full. We did get all the recipes, so I hope to turn some of my DH's catch(yea he caught some pinks) into some of the great food I got to try.