Alaska-Seattle

[cruzinjudi]

We are planning a alaska cruise for 2007-I have done the one way cruise before from seward to vancouver-but my sister and her husband haven't been to alaska---We were looking into roundtrip from seattle on the Nordam or Oosterdam----I want her to see a glacier and looking at princess itinerary she won't unless we go on our own----can anyone give me any input on Holland america ships out of seattle.

[MercedMike]

There are some very nice roundtrip itineraries from Seattle. Noordam and Oosterdam are essentially twin sisters. We were on their other twin (quadruplet?) Zuiderdam to Alaska and loved it.

I am also a big Princess fan and love to take Princess to Alaska, but you are right that Seattle roundtrips on Princess do not do Glacier Bay nor Hubbard Glacier. The two small glaciers at the end of Tracy Arm do not compare! Of course you can visit Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and it is nice, but not anything like Glacier Bay.

I think you would have a GREAT cruise on either of those ships.

[Joy2Day]

Also, don't overlook Vancouver roundtrips. The Seattle sailings generally have less scenic sailing through the Inside Passage. Also, our time in Ketchican was very short.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Oosterdam:
Seattle
atsea
Juneau - noon - 9:30 PM
Hubbard glacier - 1 - 6 PM
Sitka 8 AM - 5 PM
Ketchikan 7 AM - 1 PM
Victoria 6 PM - midnight

Noordam:
Seattle
at sea
Glacier Bay 11 AM - 8 PM
Juneau 7 AM - 8 PM
Sitka 8 AM - 4 PM
Prince Rupert 8 AM - 3 PM
Victoria 6 PM - midnight

Of the 2 schedules I would choose the Oosterdam JMO.

The Amsterdam will also be doing 7 day round trips out of Seattle in 2007.

[OldCodger73]

Also, don't overlook Vancouver roundtrips. The Seattle sailings generally have less scenic sailing through the Inside Passage. Also, our time in Ketchican was very short.

Definitely don't overlook Vancouver. We live in the Seattle area and after comparing itineraries went with a Vacouver roundtrip on HAL.

Cruzinjudi, you should check the Alaska board as the Seattle/Vancouver question is a frequent thread.

[dj_crusin]

We were on the Ocean Princess Vancouver to Seward cruise about 5 years ago. We recently went on the HAL Oosterdam for a Seattle round-trip. Both were in late May.

I preferred the HAL cruise due to the ship, the crew and the food. I would recommend a balcony cabin, even though it's a little cold in late May. We had balcony cabins on both cruises.

I liked Hubbard Glacier as opposed to Glacier Bay. It may have been the timing, but Hubbard was calving every 5 minutes or so and we got a lot closer to the glacier. What a great experience!

We went to Sitka instead of Skagway on our HAL cruise. We liked Sitka, but the White Pass Yukon Railroad was one of the high points of our earlier trip.

We also went to Victoria which was a new port for us.

You'll have a great time whichever route you take. I could go back to Alaska again and again! Have a great trip.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done several cruises round trip from Vancouver - including one again this past June.

The OP is coming from Florida and may be looking at ridiculous schedules and prices to get to Vancouver and that is why they are looking at a Seattle cruise.