oaktreerb

We have been to Kodiak at least twice and have never tendered. Can you find out why HAL tendered in Kodiak. Maybe the school busses are needed for school kids? April seemed to have such nice weather. I hope things improve. We are also going to Valdez.

Maybe.

@BaileyMJ Your reply to my question re: Anchorage was very helpful. Thanks for posting the ship communication re: the Anchorage shuttle. I hope the Westerdam is better organized for our visit in June. Were you able to get the car you rented for the day? Since we will be arriving later than predicted we’ll have to tell Avis about our later than intended arrival and hope they have a car for us! Your comment that everyone with a reservation may not get their rental car has me worried! and thanks for posting Kodiak info for going ashore.

@Crew News Can you give us a description of the disembarking process in Anchorage? Was there any priority for getting off the ship? Were the busses that took people out of the port area prompt or did people have to wait? We’ll be in Anchorage on June 26-27 on the Westerdam and our port time on the 26th was pushed back to 11 a.m. and some of us have rental cars and other plans we made for earlier in the day (when we expected to arrive around 8 a.m.) Sorry about the Kenai Fjords weather and rough seas. Have you done that excursion before? We did it several years ago on a beautiful, sunny day. It was amazing. We’ve booked it again for June but I will watch the weather reports in case we want to cancel. HAL gave us very few excursion options for Seward which is such a wonderful tourist area.

Our experience at Tracy arm was like @RuthC. This year we plan to take the Hubbard Glacier excursion direct from the ship.

If you do this excursion from the ship you will transfer to a smaller vessel (catamaran) and there will be enough indoor window seating for everyone. You may get wet transferring to the smaller vessel if it is raining and the transfer does require sure footing. The crew will guide people from the ship to the boat. (similar to a tendering process) We really enjoyed the close up views of the ice that breaks off from the glacier, and the close up views of the shore and the wildlife. We were able to see a couple of bears on the shore. I can’t imagine anybody being disappointed. People can go outside to take pictures or just hang out. Take a bag or something to leave at your seat if you move round the boat.

If HAL will give you a 3 person guarantee stateroom with Club Orange and you don’t care where your stateroom is, why not do the guarantee? You will have a stateroom and CO. When HAL begins assigning guarantees they will give you a 3 person stateroom in your category or higher. If you ask for a Personal Cruise Consultant to book your cruise, you can keep in touch with that person and better control your choice of upgrade throughout the pre cruise process.

We have been sailing on the Koningsdam (Mexico, Hawaii, Pac Coast) and HAL allows smoking in the casino. No non-smoking nights that I am aware of. I think the K probably offers free and special rates for casino patrons. Got to keep those ships full!

The ship usually arrives early and is tied up at the dock at the arrival time posted. Your excursion instructions will tell you where to meet as CCJack indicated above. Just be there at the meeting time which may be 15 minutes before your excursion time.

We do our best to avoid the casino area because of the smoke.

@cccole The casinos are run by another company. HAL benefits from onboard spending of the gamblers in the shops, bars, upscale dining venues. The best * benefit is 4*, free laundry on every cruise for 4* cruisers….a goal worth achieving for many!

Nice close-up of the Princess ship.

Too bad the Eurodam was assigned to the AJ dock today. It’s further to walk but I’m pretty sure there will be a bus to get everybody to the center of activity and the shops!

Hubbard is a huge glacier. Glacier Bay is a national park where you will see more than one glacier. Some HAL ships sail into College Fjord which is beautiful. A lot depends on the weather. If the weather is nice, Kenai Fjords is amazing. You could probably skip Prince William Sound. You could visit the Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage, Exit Glacier, Seavy’s sled dog tours, drive up to Girdwood (Alyeska Resort tram). There’s not a lot to do in Whittier but you’ll see plenty of glaciers from the ship. There is also Portage Glacier tour in that general area.

HAL provides a lot of glacier viewing opportunities: Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier, College Fjord, and Tracy/Endicott Arm. With all the cruise lines competing for the Alaska market, glacier viewing is something HAL does well. It’s marketing. Some HAL ships provide multiple glacier viewing. You are guaranteed one. Not all cruise lines in Alaska provide a glacier viewing experience.

Good question. The program is new this year. Maybe @Crew News who is currently in Alaska can provide the answer.

Thanks for your report. I hope HAL will get this Alaska season going with some good entertainment in the showroom. I would guess that “The Origin Story”, Holland America through the years, was shown in the main showroom. There should have been some musical productions. Sitka and Ketchikan are good ports because they have plenty of places to visit around the port. Juneau is a good place for getting out of town to go whale watching!

Another beautiful day in Juneau!

Snow City Cafe is close to the Captain Cook for breakfast or lunch and very popular (you may have to wait). Glacier Brewhouse is also nearby. You can make reservations for a table or walk in if you are ok eating at the bar. Check out places to eat on Trip Advisor. There are lots of places within walking distance. We loved staying at the Captain Cook!

Those Mariner points for land tours helped us to get to 5*. If you are in a suite (double points) on the cruise portion you get double points for the entire cruise tour!

Great camera views. Interesting how the ships enter the Franklin dock stern first and swing the aft in. So far the weather in April has been pretty nice for the early arriving ships.

Do you remember the name of your rail car? Did you have a guide and a bar tender and a dining car? That does not sound like our experience unless for some reason you were not on a HAL rail car. Maybe the rail car was an older Princess rail car. HAL and Princess work together in Alaska and some of the older Princess rail cars are not very nice. We were in one between Anchorage and Seward a few years ago. I would not have wanted to travel to Denali in that rail car!

Did you take the Holland America or Princess rail cars? Seats are assigned and they are very comfy with lots of room between seats. Because of the dome viewing there is no overhead storage. The HAL busses are also very nice. We’ve been traveling in Alaska and the Yukon with HAL since 2005. The least comfortable seats were when we were put on the Princess rail car but otherwise the experience was pretty much the same as HAL.

@maggiev We have taken the train as part of a HAL cruisetour several times, most recently 2022. Your train seating will be assigned. When you begin the land part of your journey before you board the train you will receive a packet of information with your seating assignment. It’s all comfy and it is all scenic dome windows. You’ll have a guide for narration and a bar tender for drinks. You will be invited to the dining car for a very nice breakfast or lunch.

Just ask the TA for the HAL Booking Confirmation.