Trip Report - 3 Wonderful weeks in Alaska on Star Princess and Nieuw Amsterdam

Star Princess-July 8, 2017 thru July 15, 2017 (Southbound Itinerary)

Whittier:After we returned from our successful (we saw glacier calving) 26 Glacier excursion we made our way back to the ship to embark on the southbound itinerary of our B2B journey. Since we had sailed the northbound cruise, Princess gave us an "In Transit" card to present so there were no long lines to wait in; we only had to pass through security and then board the ship.

Temperature was 54 degrees and weather was overcast with rain.

Yakutat Bay:Today, was a big disappointment for us as we were not able to see Hubbard Glacier. Having taken many successful trips to Hubbard we were saddened by the fact that the weather had totally blocked out any sight of Hubbard. I remember looking at my husband and saying "where is Hubbard?"

Temperature was 54 degrees with overcast skies.

Glacier Bay:See the northbound report for comments on Glacier Bay.

Temperature was 59 degrees with sunny skies

Yakutat Bay:Today, was a big disappointment for us as we were not able to see Hubbard Glacier. Having taken many successful trips to Hubbard we were saddened by the fact that the weather had totally blocked out any sight of Hubbard. I remember looking at my husband and saying "where is Hubbard?"

 

Temperature was 54 degrees with overcast skies.

That is too bad! My cruise on the Amsterdam, the day could not have been better! We could even see the Glacier from the Crow's Nest as we approached the Bay. And, once near the Glacier, it "performed" nicely for us with repeated calving.

Enjoying your report! Thank you.

Skagway: A year ago, our excursion photography instructor took us to a beautiful little place called Lower Reid Falls. We didn't have too much time to spend at the falls due to other excursions visiting this place. So, we decided that we would independently return to the falls on our next visit. Fast forward to this year....we make the trek from our ship to the falls on foot and independent of a tour thereby allowing us to spend as much time as we wanted at the site.

When we first arrived at the falls it was peaceful and quiet; all you could hear was the sound of the rushing falls. As time went on, the tour buses started to arrive and the serenity was shattered. Even though we were no longer alone, we did manage to find a little out of the way place to sit and enjoy the falls.

Below are some pictures.

There is a small elevated climb (for some) up the hill to see the falls -- if need be, there are places to rest, the terrain is a little rocky in places and can be slippery as you approach the falls -- we saw people helping people on the trail. We had a great time and felt it was well worth the trip.

Ketchikan:Today, we took an excursion that I booked through a "Big Box" excursion outlet associated with the "Big Box" travel agent. I used this same service last year with no problems. Unfortunately for us, that same luck did not carryover to this excursion. To make a long story short, the excursion was not what we were led to believe (the other couple in the van thought the same thing) --- oh, and our van broke down.

The tour started out fine but then all of a sudden it started looking like the commercial that shows the cab driver driving around Rome at warp speed as the tourists looked at the sights. When the van broke down, the other couple and ourselves began to wonder if we would make it back in time before the ship pulled up anchor. To the driver's credit, he did spring into action quickly to secure us transportation. What ended up happening was we joined another van whose tour was already in progress. The other occupants in the van were kind enough to squeeze together to allow the four of us to join their tour and return to the ship before it departed.

We took a few pictures of the Saxman Village totems, Beaver Creek Falls and the eagles at Herring Cove.

Temperature was 61 with light rain and overcast skies.

That is too bad! My cruise on the Amsterdam, the day could not have been better! We could even see the Glacier from the Crow's Nest as we approached the Bay. And, once near the Glacier, it "performed" nicely for us with repeated calving.

 

Enjoying your report! Thank you.

Thank you for reading. I am so jealous. This year's cruises were all about the glacier opportunities for us so you can see why we were disappointed by not seeing Hubbard. We will be doing B2B cruises again next year thereby giving us two stops at Hubbard --- hopefully, our luck will be better than this year's visit.

At Sea:Our B2B Alaska cruises on board the Star Princess were very enjoyable and we wouldn't hesitate to sail with her again. As stated early on in this report, I will review the ships at the end of my cruise reports.

For now, it's time to pack and get ready for our next adventure which begins tomorrow on board Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam.

Temperature was 61 degrees with overcast skies.

Oh no - I know how disappointing it is to miss Hubbard. Two bad glacier days - not good.

Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam - July 15, 2017 thru July 22, 2017 (Vancouver to Vancouver)

Vancouver:Today was an exciting day for us as we were about to embark on a new adventure. We have never sailed Holland America to Alaska before and were looking forward to this trip. Originally, we had booked our B2B cruises to Alaska with Princess and that was going to be it for our 2017 schedule. You see, my husband has a demanding job that makes it almost impossible for him to get away more than 2 weeks a year and even at that, the timing has to be within his work schedule. Well, in June, all that changed when he made the announcement that he was going to retire.

Since the retirement date had been set, we took to the computer to see if we could add one more week on to our cruise thereby giving us an opportunity we had wanted to do for a long time: Tracy Arm excursion from the ship. After surfing the internet for what seemed like days, I was able to come up with a plan: B2B Princess cruises immediately followed by the Holland America cruise --- we now had everything we wanted.

Our disembarkation from the Star Princess was timely and worked perfectly with the embarkation events associated with our Holland America cruise. We left the Star Princess, gathered our luggage and proceeded through Immigration. Within minutes of leaving Immigration my husband managed to find a Holland America baggage handler who immediately took our luggage and ensured me that everything would be fine and the luggage would make it onto the Nieuw Amsterdam. My head was spinning because everything was happening so fast and so smoothly --- almost too good to be true --- but it was.

After turning over the luggage, we proceeded to the Holland America processing area. Like our Princess embarkation process, we went through a series of lines and holding areas. However, our wait with Holland America was much less than with Princess. We estimated our wait with Holland American was about an hour shorter than with Princess.

The announcement has been made and we are now making our way over to the Nieuw Amsterdam for boarding. After the usual embarkation photos we entered the ship and were graciously directed to an elevator that took us directly to the buffet. A short time later, an announcement was made stating our cabins were ready. We went down to explore our new home for the next 7 days; it was nice. Luggage was delivered within 1/2 hour and we immediately began to unpack. Our room steward visited our cabin within 30 minutes --- he asked if we had received all of our luggage, told us about Muster Drill and left his card with his name and number should we need him for anything.

After Muster Drill and sail-away, we decided to explore the ship and scout out places for good photo opportunities.

We had had an early wake up call for our Princess disembarkation and a long first day on the Nieuw Amsterdam so we decided to retire early and get some sleep.

More to follow.

Oh no - I know how disappointing it is to miss Hubbard. Two bad glacier days - not good.

Amen to that! However, all the more reason to go back next year --- right?:)

Amen to that! However, all the more reason to go back next year --- right?:)

Exactly!

I have a friend on the Coral Princess right now. Yesterday in Glacier Bay looked gorgeous, today in College Fiords looks ugly. I hope it recovers soon for them but I am guessing it will not. I have not had luck on my July cruises for glaciers. Glad to see you are going back to May next year. I love May in Alaska.

I will be anxiously reading about your HAL experience. I have cruised once with them and had an excellent cruise. Congrats on your husband's retirement.

Yakutat Bay:Today, was a big disappointment for us as we were not able to see Hubbard Glacier. Having taken many successful trips to Hubbard we were saddened by the fact that the weather had totally blocked out any sight of Hubbard. I remember looking at my husband and saying "where is Hubbard?"

 

Temperature was 54 degrees with overcast skies.

Same for us on our cruise in May. It wasn't until I got home and examined my photos closely and compared them to Hubbard Glacier Photos online that I realized we were probably right in front of the glacier but just couldn't see it!

Same for us on our cruise in May. It wasn't until I got home and examined my photos closely and compared them to Hubbard Glacier Photos online that I realized we were probably right in front of the glacier but just couldn't see it!

 

It is possible you were 9 miles away also!! I am surprised they didn't tell you how close you got.

Same for us on our cruise in May. It wasn't until I got home and examined my photos closely and compared them to Hubbard Glacier Photos online that I realized we were probably right in front of the glacier but just couldn't see it!

 

If you are referring to the foggy section to the left on your picture, that is very similar to what we saw --- so sad!

Inside Passage:Thank goodness we were already on Bonine as the ride was a little choppy. We spent a lot of time out on deck searching for whales and managed to see about 7 whales off in the distance so no pictures to show. Although we could not capture the whales on film we feel that sometimes it's nice to stop and just take in the moment at hand.

***I didn't keep a record nor did I keep the daily paper so I can't comment on the temperatures -- at least there was no rain.

Juneau/Tracy Arm:The much anticipated excursion to Tracy Arm was finally here. We have been to Tracy Arm twice before: one trip was via a cruise line transit and the other was an excursion with Adventure Bound. For this particular trip to Tracy Arm we were going to offload from the ship onto an Allen Marine vessel.

Our tour was operated by Allen Marine, a company that we have used on other excursions. Like past experiences, we have nothing but respect for this company. The captain and crew were wonderful and very knowledgeable about the wildlife and the surrounding area. Some of the crew members grew up in Alaska and shared first-hand stories of their life experiences. The vessel was clean and offered ample viewing for everyone.

I was concerned a bit as to how far we would get into Tracy Arm. Our weather was wonderful and we were able to get into Sawyer and South Sawyer. I'm so glad that we booked the excursion early and were able to see the wonderful things that we did. Below are a few pictures of the scenery, marine life and glacier calving. There is also a picture of an orca that had just killed a seal. The crew were so excited to see the orca as they usually don't find an orca in the Arm.

More pictures to follow in the next post.

Tracy Arm Excursion - Continued.

Tracy Arm Excursion - Continued

Sorry for all the pictures -- I couldn't help myself -- Tracy Arm is just stunning.

The weather was sunny and turned to some overcast towards the end of our excursion.

Skagway: We decided to take a day of rest from excursions today. We had a late breakfast on the ship and then went into town for a few gifts to take home.

Glacier Bay: See comments for this port under the Princess write up for Glacier Bay.

Ketchikan: We booked the Rainforest Sanctuary tour that was offered by the ship. We took this tour last year around the same time and were lucky to have seen bears on the excursion. While not part of this particular excursion, our guide was kind enough to let us deviate from our tour and watch the bears playing in the grass. Hoping that bears would appear again (fingers crossed) and that we would have a guide that would let us watch them, we are happy to say that we did see bears!

Below are some of the pictures taken. We saw bears catching fish, the eagles eating the leftovers, bears fighting and a few moments where it looked like one of the bears was conversing with the eagle.

Inside Passage:Today marked the end of our three weeks of cruising and exploring in Alaska. Although our weather could have been better at times, we were happy that we came and will be leaving with many wonderful memories.

Vancouver: Today is embarkation day. Holland America did a great job of getting us off the ship in a timely and organized manner. Although we say good bye to Alaska for now, we eagerly await our return home to begin planning our 2018 return.

Sorry for all the pictures -- I couldn't help myself -- Tracy Arm is just stunning.

Oh my gosh...don't be sorry. Your photos are equally stunning.

I was going to comment earlier on what a wonderful photo you had of the two eagles (an adult & juvenile) in a tree, but the subsequent posts have been even better!

You hit the jackpot on wildlife viewing. Loved the bears and it looks like you were witnessing quite an eagle feast!

We are booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam in October (our first HAL cruise) so I am anxious to read what you have to say about the ship!

Oh my gosh...don't be sorry. Your photos are equally stunning.

 

I was going to comment earlier on what a wonderful photo you had of the two eagles (an adult & juvenile) in a tree, but the subsequent posts have been even better!

 

You hit the jackpot on wildlife viewing. Loved the bears and it looks like you were witnessing quite an eagle feast!

 

We are booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam in October (our first HAL cruise) so I am anxious to read what you have to say about the ship!

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate them. I have finally complete my comparison of the ships; see the following entry. Enjoy your time on the Nieuw Amsterdam; I'm sure you will have a good time.

As mentioned before, we went to Alaska for 3 weeks. We cruised on the Star Princess for the northbound and southbound itinerary. Immediately following our disembarkation, we embarked on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam. Listed below are some of our observations:

Star Princess

-Slow embarkation process (3 hours). However, once we boarded the ship, our cabin and luggage were available shortly thereafter.

-We had an inside cabin with beds pulled apart for extra space to move about. Cabin was very nice and met our needs.

-Shower was very small and it had a fixed shower head. I didn’t care for the shower head as I am a short person and had a hard time with the water reaching me and thoroughly rinsing my hair. I heard other women complain about the shower as well.

-Staff and crew members were very friendly from the moment we got on the ship.

-Loved Captain Tuvo; very funny and very engaging with passengers.

- Buffet staff were extremely efficient and ensured services (providing beverages and clearing of tables) were done in a quick and timely manner.

-Hand sanitizer was more visible and was mandatory when entering the buffet food area.

-Buffet was poorly laid out. Food choices and variety of food was only “so-so.” We are light eaters so that is why we chose buffet over dining room.

-Lots of lounges available suitable to everyone’s form of entertainment.

-Interior of the ship is bright.

-Plenty of entertainment and enrichment programs.

-Crown Grill was a big disappointment. My husband ordered steak and paid extra for the lobster tail. When the lobster arrived at the table it was burnt. My husband sent it back, the waiter apologized and a new lobster was brought back to the table. The point is, the waiter should have looked at the lobster first before bringing it to the table; we were a little surprised this happened. Funny thing is, the people behind us had a problem also --- not good PR if you ask me.

-Princess had a pretty good walking deck. We tried to walk as much as we could after meals to keep the calories from sticking.

-Casino-Appreciated the fact that non-smoking machines existed. The bad aspect was that machines only had an 86.92 payback.

-For back-to back cruisers, we appreciated the ease of transitioning from one cruise to the next: accounts carried over, internet carried over and we didn’t have to attend the muster drill again.

-Self-service laundry was a plus especially since we would be on board for two weeks.

-Embarkation was fast and efficient.

Holland America – Nieuw Amsterdam

-Shorter embarkation process (2 hours). Once we boarded the ship, our cabin and luggage were available shortly thereafter.

-We had an inside cabin with beds pulled apart for extra space to move about. Cabin was very nice and met our needs.

-Ship had a darker interior with lots of interesting art work.

-Loved the large shower with a moveable shower head.

-Staff and crew members were a little reserved on the first day; warmed up as the cruise went on. Buffet staff was not as efficient and fast as the Princess staff.

-Hand sanitizer was visible but not used very much by people. Placement of the hand sanitizer in the hallway before the buffet was a poor option in our opinion. It should have been placed right near the entrance to the food.

-Buffet offered many wonderful choices and was clearly a winner for us. We really enjoyed the pizza; you could order a whole pizza at no cost.

-Lots of lounges but smaller in size than Princess. The problem we had was there were two large tour groops on the ship and, at times, the lounges were not available to the public.

-We had dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. We both ordered steaks and they were fantastic; very juicy and melted in our mouths. Clearly, Holland America is a winner here.

-Activities were almost non-existent compared to other lines.

-Holland America had an outstanding walking deck; it was very wide and open --- loved, loved this area.

-Casino-Appreciated the fact that non-smoking machines existed.

-Fresh flowers were all around the ship; nice touch.

-Embarkation was fast and efficient. We would give the edge to Holland America for queuing up the lines after you have picked up your luggage as it prevented congestion when leaving the area.

**** We enjoyed both cruise lines and wouldn’t hesitate to sail with either again. The comments I have listed above are minor in nature and might not even affect another cruiser.

Within the next few days I hope to attach all my pictures to the area under "my signature" for those that might be interested in seeing more of our adventure. Thanks for taking the time to read my posts.

Below is the link to ALL our pictures from our 3 weeks in Alaska. Thanks again for taking a peak at our adventures.

https://alaska2017princessandhal.shutterfly.com/