Holland Vollendam Alaska June 13-20 Trip Report

This was our first cruise AND our first trip to Alaska! We used Cruisecritic a lot to prepare and wanted to return the favor! My husband and I (52 and 56) traveled friends in their mid 60's. We knew Holland would be more relaxed for this age group and it was, and to be honest I didn't mind not having lots of young children running around. There were a few on the ship and they were all wonderful.We flew into Vancouver the day of sailing, a big nono but we didn't really think we'd have any problems and we didn't. Our flight was on time and we arrived into Vancouver around 10:30 a.m. It was a little rainy but not bad and we had made sure to keep our rain jackets on us since all our carry on and luggage went with the ship right away. We had transfers set up to and from the ship, so after we got to the port we walked a few blocks to the liquor store to purchase our wine. It was raining harder than and we round a dollar store in the same building so took advantage of that and picked up a few umbrellas and ponchos. Of course after that it didn't rain again.;) We boarded without any problems and they directed us around well to where we needed to go. We had received an upgrade offer to the Verandah deck 6 with a balcony and couldn't have been happier! We only had one excursion booked before we left, a whale watch in Juneau and then we had a car rented for Skagway. We didn't feel that we had time to do a lot after the whale watch so instead of trying to do the tram or Mendenhall we walked around town, ate a crab leg at Tracy's Crab shack and then got back on the ship. We did see some whales but not a lot. Got some great shots of seals upset with a bald eagle though. Renting the car was very easy and we enjoyed having time to do our own thing. We went all the way to Whitehorse and then took the loop back but didn't see much more doing that. It made for quite a bit more driving. Customs was easy and no problem with the rental car. Enjoyed a few beers at Skagway brewing and then back on the boat. Ketchikan we took the city bus to Rotary beach to beachcomb but it was sort of hard to walk around on, very rocky with lots of moss but we managed. It was a beautiful day and there were locals swimming and enjoying the weather. We enjoyed our cruise and wouldn't do too much differently. The only time it seemed unorganized was when we left the ship at the end. Everyone was together in the same area trying to get off and we couldn't hear anything being announced. We didn't do any of the programs except "ask the Captain", and some of the musical shows. All were very good. We did not buy a drink card but each had 25 dollar cards from the promo when we booked. We only spent an additional 25 dollars over that. We took advantage of all the happy hours and thought they were all very good. The food was all good, we did not spend extra on any meals. Ate at the Main Dining several times and enjoyed it but many times we wanted to be on deck watching the scenery better. Lido deck buffet was great for that. Also ordered room service and they were very quick and it was always hot. All the staff was exceptional, and everything was very clean. They do a wonderful job and even though this was our first cruise and we don't have much to compare it to, we enjoyed the size of the ship, very easy to get around and used the stairs almost all the time. Not much that we would do different. I wish I had packed a zip up fleece instead of pull overs, going in and out was hard to not overheat. Very glad I had gloves and light rainpants for Glacier Bay. Many other people got a little cold and we were very comfortable with them. We left our balcony door open every night and enjoyed listening to the ocean. I would have really missed that if we had the other room. We will do another cruise someday, I had worried about being bored on this but there is so much beautiful scenery I didn't want to miss a minute of it and we were up early with the sun (well not right with the sun but about 5:30 or 6) and loved having it light out until almost 11. We didn't get much sleep but we enjoyed each day to it's fullest!