RedneckBob "Not Your Usual Alaska Cruise Review, Zaandam, August 27, 2018".

Hi y'all RedneckBop hear! (Just a little play on Ihob)

Well me and the Misses went on another exciting cruise to Alaska aboard the beautiful and elegant Zaandam, departing 08/27/18 for 14 days. We had done this cruise several times but not this late in the year so we did not know what to expect but maybe some good days and some bad days but hope just a great cruise if not that would be ok since we were in Alaska and away from those hot and humid days in Florida. (ok, English expects, have add it)

Overall I would rate this cruise a 8.9654 out of 10; ok a 9 out of 10. It was a great trip somedays sunny somedays rainy. Hear is my review.

Embarkation: Very nicely done in Seattle, organized and quick. Being one of those high end cruisers, above a one star Mariner we got to board first and I was at The Lido Restuarant stuffing my face by 11:37 AM.

Cabin: We had booked one of those spacious inside "Double Wide" cabins on Main Deck. It was great. Anytime of day it could be midnight, just turn off the lights. "How dark was it RNB?". "It was so dark that I could develop my photo film from by Brownie Camera. It was so dark it was too dark for bats. It was so dark ghosts would be scared in this cabin". Ok, back to the cabin. We had the best cabin stewards ever!. There names were Buddy (pronouced Booty & Herri (pronouced Harry). The only problem was that the Misses got really upset at me everytime I called Buddy for some ice cause she thought I was making a "Booty Call" :eek:. We tried to help the cabin stewards since they worked so hard. The Misses had this great idea, you know how those toilet tissues are made into a point by the cabin stewards, well, Thelma decided to do this herself. Well I guess after a few days Buddy & Herri got concerned cause instead of leaving a chocolate on the pillow each nite, they left a prune ! :eek:

I was so glad I had brought with me binoculars, not to view whales but watch the TV. Same old and very small TV in cabin.

Ship: Was in good condition after drydock

Food: Now I know that everyone has different opinions about this but the food was good to great. We ate at PG three times and Canettello once. Food was excellent but service a little slow in the PG. In fact two times we skipped the dessert since we were there so long but PG Manager opologized and offered free desserts next nite.

Entertainment: Overall was good with two really good comedians. One of the comedians we had seen 15 years ago and he was using the same jokes. But they were funny the second time around

Ports of Call: All Great. It was sunny at Anchorage, Homer, Kodiak and Hubbard Glacier. Cloudy at Tracy Arms. Light rain at Juneau, Victoria and Icy Straits. And best of all no rain in Ketichan the whole day. Some of the highlites;

Ketichan: First time in nine visits to Ketichan that it did not rain all day we were there. Took the free tour to Walmart. Excellent driver and very informative for 10 minutes each way.

Sitka: took the free shuttle to downtown. Had a great driver and narrator. He started by telling us that he was from the old country, somewhere in the former USSR and to him Sitka should be pronouced, and I will clean it up Shihka. Then he gave us some shopping advice along the way. "If you see a sign in the Gift Shop that says "End of Season Clearance Sail", it's a lie! Don't shop there. That sign is up all year round" and finally he pointed out a famous landmark in Sitka, McDonald's Restaurant". He said, "on the right is a McDonald's, you can buy a Big Mac for $9.99, if it disagrees with you there is a Hospital across the street and if that does not work out there is a Funeral Home next to the Hospital". I told the shuttle bus driver that I guess the Funeral Home Director by locating next to the Hospital and McDonald's was "thinking outside the box". :eek: Forgot to mention while I was on this faboulus free shuttle bus tour the Misses saw whales right next to the ship while we were docked.

Kodiak: Another sunny day. Just walked to town, talked with locals and climbed to top of bridge over the ship channel. When I got to the top a couple of ladies from the ship approached me and asked me, "RedneckBob (everyone knows RNB), is there anything to do on the other side of the bridge". I replied, "There sure is Ladies. There is this wooded park with trails and may even see a bear!" They replied, "Thanks" for which I asked. " Which one of you can run the fastest" which one lady pointed to the dark haired lady for which I said looking at the dark haired lady. "see you back on the ship" :eek:

Anchorage: We took the Salmon Berry 6 hour tour on our own. Excellent. Would recommend !

Hubbard Glacier: almost cloudless day and saw HUDE calving, I would saw a piece 250 feet tall fell.

Icy Straits: Since it rainy that day decided not to zip line even though I had bought extra underware at Walmart in Ketchican :eek:.

Well, that about covers it. Another wonderful cruise to Alaska.

I'm RedneckBob and I see it like I tell it, I mean Tell it like I see it !

RNB! Great review! Although we've been to Alaska 3x we'll be taking the kids and grandkids along with us next summer - I'll be sure to have everyone read your review so they understand Alaska on a big boat...

Thanks for the review RedneckBob.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Thanks, RNB! Glad you had a sunny day at the glaciers.

Yay! Another Redneck Bob review! Thanks for the info and laughs. :D

We'll be doing this cruise next June. Your tour in Anchorage -- what's the name of the company you used? Thanks!

Thank you for your review.

Enjoyed the laughs.

We were on the same cruise, and also had a great time! DH took a picture of the list posted of all the wildlife we might have seen - we actually saw about half! I posted three things on the list - harbour porpoise (I heard someone say "You can tell that had been added by a Canadian - just look at the spelling of harbour" - was that you, RNB?), pigeon guillemot and kelp flies, but the naturalist deleted the kelp flies. I don't know why, they were definitely a big part of the wildlife.

Having just come from a dry-dock, we expected that the hull would have been repainted, but it looked as if it had just been scraped. However all the new carpeting was wonderful! I really liked the new dining room carpet, and the removal of all those cabinets in the Crow's Nest opened things up a lot. It seemed to me they also removed a lot of the bookcases in the library area and put in new sofas, etc., instead.

Yay! Another Redneck Bob review! Thanks for the info and laughs. :D

We'll be doing this cruise next June. Your tour in Anchorage -- what's the name of the company you used? Thanks!

I would like to have this information also, we are booked on this cruise for the third time next year.

Yay! Another Redneck Bob review! Thanks for the info and laughs. :D

We'll be doing this cruise next June. Your tour in Anchorage -- what's the name of the company you used? Thanks!

Y'all welcome. Salmon Berry Tours, Anchorage, AK. We took the Turnagain Arms Tour. 6 hrs, $165 each but approx $65 was for lunch, tram ticket and entrance to wildlife preserve

Thanks RNB. Not often that I sit at my computer laughing out loud. I now know what not to do in Kodiak when I get there in three weeks. :D

Great report as always. Looking forward to meeting you on the Eurodam in Mar.

Allan

Enjoyed the review...we got off when you got on! We had a great cruise...first time ever sunny in Kodiak:).

Karen

Thanks for the review!

I always enjoy your reviews. Thank you.

Too funny! And so well written!

Any comments about Explore's Lounge/Lincoln Center? The old format with 2 or actual Lincoln Center musicians?

Y'all welcome. Salmon Berry Tours, Anchorage, AK. We took the Turnagain Arms Tour. 6 hrs, $165 each but approx $65 was for lunch, tram ticket and entrance to wildlife preserve

RNB....

Could you answer a couple of questions:

1. How and where did you pick up this tour? I looked at the website and it looks like one needs to get downtown via the shuttle. Is there a pick up site near by?

2. How strenuous was the tour?

RNB....

 

Could you answer a couple of questions:

 

1. How and where did you pick up this tour? I looked at the website and it looks like one needs to get downtown via the shuttle. Is there a pick up site near by?

2. How strenuous was the tour?

Ms Lynne,

City of Anchorage provides shuttle bus service from port to heart of downtown. Drop off is at the Convention Center only one block from Salmon Berry Tour Office. Tour was very easy. No climbing (Tram to top of mountain does that). There is a little walking at the wildlife reserve. Also transportation was a 15 passenger mini bus similar to small rental car buses at airport. Very comfortable.

PS: I don't get commissions providing this info ;p!

RNB......

Thank you so much for the great information,we will definitely look at doing this.

Great and funny review. I was also on this cruise. One thing to add.

The Port Valet is outstanding. Port of Seattle provides free baggage service from port to SeaTac to final destination. After putting bags outside cabin next time I saw them was at Tampa Airport. Also since we could walk off ship after the ship was cleared in Seattle, there were no lines at Customs and agent took 10 seconds to look at passports ! Best disembarkation ever !

Y'all welcome. Salmon Berry Tours, Anchorage, AK. We took the Turnagain Arms Tour. 6 hrs, $165 each but approx $65 was for lunch, tram ticket and entrance to wildlife preserve

Ms Lynne,

City of Anchorage provides shuttle bus service from port to heart of downtown. Drop off is at the Convention Center only one block from Salmon Berry Tour Office. Tour was very easy. No climbing (Tram to top of mountain does that). There is a little walking at the wildlife reserve. Also transportation was a 15 passenger mini bus similar to small rental car buses at airport. Very comfortable.

PS: I don't get commissions providing this info ;p!

Thank you RNB!

Great and funny review. I was also on this cruise. One thing to add.

 

The Port Valet is outstanding. Port of Seattle provides free baggage service from port to SeaTac to final destination. After putting bags outside cabin next time I saw them was at Tampa Airport. Also since we could walk off ship after the ship was cleared in Seattle, there were no lines at Customs and agent took 10 seconds to look at passports ! Best disembarkation ever !

We used Port Valet After our Aug.13-27th Zaandam Cruise. Worked perfectly and luggage showed up in Ontario CA. We did Best of Seattle Tour and it was great not to have to drag luggage for check in. The bus dropped us off a considerable distance from the check in counters.

Karen

Thank you for reviewing your Zaandam cruise.

We used Port Valet After our Aug.13-27th Zaandam Cruise. Worked perfectly and luggage showed up in Ontario CA. We did Best of Seattle Tour and it was great not to have to drag luggage for check in. The bus dropped us off a considerable distance from the check in counters.

 

Karen

We also did Port Valet after our cruise ending 9/10 in Seattle and took the Seattle Express shuttle directly to the airport. The driver said all buses and vans had to stop at one specific area at the airport, so that is why you probably had to walk a while. They looked at us funny at the port shuttle pick up spot when we had no luggage with us, thanks to Port Valet. It worked great...luggage arrived fine at our home airport. It is an excellent service by the port of Seattle, and all at no extra charge!:D Wondering why you had to check in? We got our boarding passes as part of the program, so got to skip that step, too. Only had to go through security and then to the boarding gate.

Thanks for the review.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

We were on the same cruise, and also had a great time! DH took a picture of the list posted of all the wildlife we might have seen - we actually saw about half! I posted three things on the list - harbour porpoise (I heard someone say "You can tell that had been added by a Canadian - just look at the spelling of harbour" - was that you, RNB?), pigeon guillemot and kelp flies, but the naturalist deleted the kelp flies. I don't know why, they were definitely a big part of the wildlife.

 

Having just come from a dry-dock, we expected that the hull would have been repainted, but it looked as if it had just been scraped. However all the new carpeting was wonderful! I really liked the new dining room carpet, and the removal of all those cabinets in the Crow's Nest opened things up a lot. It seemed to me they also removed a lot of the bookcases in the library area and put in new sofas, etc., instead.

Nope, was not me; but we may have met :confused: