Last week (8/17-24) on the Amsterdam review

[Copper10-8]

Awesome job with story and pics Kittercat!

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

Thank you for you wonderful report and photo's. I was on the Amsterdam in June for two weeks last June. I love Alaska and the Amsterdam.

 

 

Mary

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for sharing the review and pictures,

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Looks like you have had marvelous weather - hope we are as lucky on September 7th cruise. Thanks for great report and pics.

[shipshapegirl]

My husband and I will be doing this same cruise September 14 - 21. This will be our second time cruising to Alaska. Reading your review and seeing all of the great pictures makes me want to start packing:).

 

I am also looking forward to reading the rest of it!

[Lizzie68]

This is wonderful - thank you very much for sharing.:)

[mrscopper]

Wonderful pictures, thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us.

[alibabacruisers]

Wonderful pictures and review!

 

I have one question though....is it just me or is the review and pictures going off the right side of the screen? (have to scroll over to be able to read the entire post or see all the pictures).

 

Seems this thread only?

[erewhon]

Fabulous review,

Thank you.

[kittercat85]

Day 6, Ketchikan, AK

 

One of the rainiest cities in North America? Not today! We lucked out AGAIN and had an absolutely beautiful day, without a cloud in site. I was very interested to check out this port as the last time I was here it was pouring and nasty out, so we really didn't do much of anything except a store or two.

 

We had decided to get room service breakfast again to speed up our morning, but it wasn't as good an experience as last time. When we got our food, we realized that they had forgotten our bagels and English muffin. We went to go call and ask for them to bring it and something was happening with our phone and it wasn't working. Lovely. So my wonderful husband went up to the Lido deck and grabbed some bread that we could have with our eggs. On the way out, we let the Front Desk know about the phone and they put a work order in for someone to go look at it.

 

We didn't have any real plans for the day, just to wander around and do a little exploring on our own. I had thought about going to Totem Bight on the city bus, but we didn't end up doing it.

 

Getting off the boat in Ketchikan is the least pleasant of any port. There are so many people all around with different excursions trying to hound you into doing whatever they offer. Shops trying to beckon you in with free gifts that I don't even want. We browsed a few shops near where we were docked and decided to walk further into town to get away from all those people to be in peace.

After walking around many blocks in the downtown area, we made our way over to Creek Street and walked around there. I had started to walk up to the Married Man's Trail, but we got distracted and never went back. Interesting little area over there, given it's history.

 

We walked back into more of the main part of town and decided we'd walk a little further west in the city. We walked by the other cruise ships that were in port with us - a Regent boat and the Norwegian Pearl. They were repainting the Pearl while they were in port, which I found interesting because the new green color did not match the one they were painting over.

 

We continued even farther along and I saw another ship coming in that looked like it was HAL. Yep, it was the Statendam coming into port. We watched some of the seaplanes taking off and landing in the water and stayed to watch the Statendam dock at the pier. Afterwards, we decided to go back to the ship and get lunch and we had had enough of Ketchikan.

 

I've seen some people say this stop is one of their favorites and I personally just don't get it. Ketchikan is my least favorite by a long shot. Everything felt too commercial for me - just about businesses and people trying to get you to spend money. Not that it wasn't in a beautiful location, but the town doesn't seem as much about the pure Alaska beauty as other places.

 

I enjoyed another lunch at the Dive In and of course had my favorite fries. After lunch we took time to read and do another load of laundry. Luckily, the dryer didn't eat any socks this time.

 

Later in the afternoon I went down to do the win a cruise bingo. They were selling cards 3 for $25 or 6 for $35. I went with the 6. I wanted to win so badly. They only played one game, and it was a coverall game. No luck that day.. was 3 away when someone called Bingo. Sigh.

 

After Bingo, it was back to start getting ready for our second formal night. I had a brand new dress I was excited to wear. My husband got on his tux again (the beauty of being a musician... they all have them from college for performing!) but with a different bow tie.

 

We made our way down to the MDR and noticed the chairs done up with the chair covers, which they hadn't done the first night. Something must have happened funny with our reservation, because they did not have a 2 top table for us and ended up seating us at a 4 person table by ourselves.

 

This was probably my least favorite night in terms of food. My husband loved it cause it was surf and turf night with lobster. I contemplated asking the server if I could have a turf and turf, but decided to go with a pasta dish instead. It wasn't bad, but just not what I was in the mood for that night. Nothing else was striking my fancy and I didn't want to repeat a meal that I had done before (the strip steak). My dessert made up for that though... a delicious flourless chocolate cake, and I got a scoop of ice cream on the side. Yum!

 

After dinner we went and took our formal pictures again. Same deal with the four stations. We were pros at this now. Afterwards we made our way to Pub Trivia where we once again failed miserably. It's the effort that counts.

 

We weren't interested in the show in the lounge that night so we passed on that. We went and lost a little money in the casino, having fun with the coin drop machine again. We got those dollars so close in the end!

 

We then made our way up to the Crow's Nest.. really enjoyed that spot. Tonight was karaoke night. I really thought about singing, but the catalog was a little dated. Or sometimes they'd have a popular artist but the song they would have for them was an obscure weird choice. We actually had some pretty good singers on our ship, it was impressive!

 

We had to leave karaoke early to make our way to the Wajang Theater for the movie Divergent. My husband had just finished reading the trilogy on our trip and really wanted to see it. The theater was packed with people of all ages. They did have the free popcorn, but we didn't have any. The movie was long and didn't end until after late night was over, so we missed another night of that.

 

The seas were a little rougher that evening, but nothing like the 1st day at sea. It did feel weird at times in the movie theater moving around so much and you couldn't see anything.

 

After the movie, we headed back to the room for the night. Just one full day left on our beautiful Amsterdam.

[kittercat85]

[kittercat85]

Thanks so much everybody for your kind words. It really makes me happy and more excited to keep posting. We really did have amazing, untypical weather and know that we were really blessed. I hope those of you going soon run into the same fortune we did!

 

I will finish up with Victoria and disembarkation tomorrow. I'll include some little more review like tidbits at the end about things I didn't talk about that weren't significant to our vacation (like drink cards, etc.) Still working on this going to bed thing here... last night didn't work out so well lol

 

alibabacruisers - sorry, that's really weird. It looks normal on my screen. :confused:

[kittercat85]

Day 7, Victoria, BC

 

So sad this day finally came. Our last full day of the cruise. The morning was essentially a sea day. We had just set our clocks forward that day, so we lost an hour. We slept in a bit and went to a later than normal breakfast up at the Lido. I tried the Eggs Benedict that my husband had been eating all week (the classic... they had many varieties!) and actually really liked it. Wish I had eaten it earlier in the week!

 

First stop after breakfast was down the photo gallery, which was open all day today. We got to see the rest of the pictures from the formal night last night. I ended up getting the gold photography package, which included a print of every picture we had taken that cruise. It was $299 after the $50 off from having the thing signed at the photo stations. For the $40 they wanted for large sheet prints and $20 for the small, it was a good deal - and we have some beautiful pictures from our honeymoon. This was one of our only purchases on board so I don't consider it too unreasonable.

 

We then went back to the cabin to start some packing. I also made sure to get down to the library to return my book on time. It was nice having that available to use. Also interesting was this day they were doing maintenance on the balconies (cleaning) and I stepped out and got to see a different view to the cabins beside me. As you can see, there a smoker next door to me, but fortunately it was never really an issue with smell.

 

I had wanted to go to the last art auction, but it conflicted with the Mariners Brunch that I had RSVP'ed yes to earlier in the week. We went to the brunch right at 11 and got another table for 2. Our cruise director led us in a toast and I believe he left after that. Our food was actually very good on the whole. We both got the same things - the chowder and the short ribs. Neither of us were into the greens though. They gave us our tile coaster towards the end of the meal.

 

At 1:00, we went up to the Crow's Nest to do a little more Team Trivia. We preferred this to the Pub Trivia. At the end, everyone that had never won trivia on the ship was told to come up and get a prize. They gave out little Holland America Alaska pins. From there, we stopped at the Bingo game just for the Win a Cruise Lottery, which we did not win either lol Booo.... no raffles or luck on anything this cruise!!

 

At 3:00 was the Dancing with the Stars Finale Competition. I hadn't gone to any of the other ones, but I wanted to see this. We had some good competitors, there was a lot of humor on stage, it was a good time. The woman who won for our cruise was incredible. She seemed like she could be a pro. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up representing the Amsterdam in the finale cruise. Her name was Simona.. let's check on that at the end of the year!

 

After the show we headed back to get ready for dinner. We had 5:30 reservations but my husband was told the dining room was opening early at 5 to accommodate for Victoria, so we could even show up then. We did go the early time. It was International Night. I can be a picky eater. I found 2 apps I wanted to try, but wasn't feeling any of the soups. I ordered a risotto dish (it was supposed to have fish but you could also get it without it). My husband ordered a beef dish that had the most delicious cheese grits. My risotto was good but after trying his meal, I was so disappointed I didn't order his meal instead!

 

While we were eating dinner, the Captain had come over the speaker and said that the fog was starting to lift and he could see land ahead. We were going to be arriving in a little late and the Grand Princess was busy docking ahead of us.

 

We went back to the room to gather our things and wait for customs to clear the boat so we could leave. My phone kept picking up Verizon 3G signal (it would change to Rogers off the ship). Getting off the ship was crazy! There were lines several decks up. People were trying to get elevators but they were jam packed. We waited about 15-20 minutes in lines. Finally, we made it to the gangway. We were off the ship around 6:45 or so.

 

It was a nice night in Victoria. A little brisk when the sun set. I had been here before for a few days the last time we spent time in BC following our Alaskan cruise. We walked from the port down to the Inner Harbour. It wasn't too long of a walk, I guess we got there in 20 mins or so. There were many musicians out playing as well as a street market going on. We walked around taking in everything for a while.

 

We got to the end and decided to turn back around. We enjoyed watching the "Plasterman" confusing little children when he'd come to life. There was also a street performer putting on a show with a huge crowd. We got there late but watched the rest of it and it was pretty entertaining. The sun was setting during this time and it was beautiful.

 

From there, we just walked around the city a little more and did a little bit of geocaching. We decided to head back to the ship after that. Kind of an awkward stop and time. We had already had food, so going and looking for food or anything on shore seemed silly.

 

When we got back to port, all the ships were lit up beautifully. We had never been in a port late enough when we could see this. My husband, who remember this was his first cruise, looks at the boats and goes "Do the ships have some kind of pissing contest in ports to see who can light up the best?" It was pretty funny.

 

After we got back on the ship a little after 10, hitting late night at the Lido first. They had a lot of leftovers from dinner there that night. Which meant I got to have another of the yummy brie appetizers and some of those grits I was envious of earlier.

 

Then went up to the Crow's Nest where we finally easily got one of the nice chairs with the footrests! We ordered two drinks to use up the last of our drink cards and just listened to the music. The HALCats were playing.

 

Cutest thing ever, a little girl was up there dancing away to all the music. A bunch of the ship dancers were up in the Crow's Nest as well. One of the dancers left the table they were out and went over by the little girl and started dancing with her. The girl kept mimicking all his moves. She was exhausted by the end. I thought it was very cool of him to do that.

 

A little before midnight we decided to pack it in and head back to the cabin. We still had some last minute packing to do.

 

To be continued...

Edited August 30, 2014 by kittercat85

[kittercat85]

 

I also forgot to include that we saw a group of river otters heading back to the ship! They were on the docks in the water near our ship, hanging around by a bunch of smaller boats. They were running on the pier and jumped in the water, then came back up again. It was SO CUTE!!!

[kittercat85]

Disembarkation Day

 

Sad day :( We had to leave the Amsterdam today. I knew a whole slew of people from the message boards would be boarding later today.

 

I set the alarm for 6, but I couldn't get bring myself to get up. I did not want to leave that super comfortable bed. I finally got myself out of bed at 6:30 to take a quick shower. We were already back at pier 91.

 

 

After getting ready, we went up to the Lido for a last breakfast. I had expected it to be crazy in there, but it wasn't too busy yet. We got done eating a few minutes after 7 and headed back to our cabin.

 

They must have been watching on the hall for us, because in the half hour or so we were gone, our bed was remade up again, however the trash hadn't been taken out. It was only a few minutes when announcements started going over the PA and they started calling for the Expedited Embarkation to begin. We were part of this group. It was time to say goodbye to our cozy cabin that we loved very much.

 

It wasn't the easiest thing to leave with both suitcases... I kept bumping sides of doors as I made my way down the hall. We made it to the gangway and walked right off. They directed us to the elevator that took us down to ground level. On the ground to our left they were starting to unload luggage from the ship and organize it into piles. Straight ahead was customs. No line, no wait, straight through and out to the shuttles. We were completely done with everything around 7:35.. I would say boat to exit area was no more than 5 minutes, and most of it was waiting for the elevator.

 

We had pre-arranged a shuttle to our hotel where we would stay one more night in Seattle. We used Seattle Express. They had a reasonable rate and would take us right to the hotel in Seatac. I recommend them, it was no hastle at all. We were at the Sleep Inn before 8:45. It was amazing.

 

We had such an amazing trip... thank you for letting me share it with you! :D I will be back to make some other points I forgot and a summed up review on different aspects either today or tomorrow, hopefully. Thanks for reading and for all the nice feedback.

[Vict0riann]

My next ambition is to do this Alaska cruise on the Amsterdam, although it is simpler for us to leave from Vancouver. Thanks for your review and all the photos.

[madera1]

Thanks again for sharing your vacation with us.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[dharmapath]

Great post and pictures we were on the Aug 10 sailing and really had a great time on the Amsterdam. thanks for sharing.

[Retired 07]

Thank you again for the great review and excellent pictures! We will be boarding the Amsterdam next Sunday, and I hope we have as much fun as you did. We weren't going to book any shore excursions and just see the ports, but based on your review we are booking the Sea otter and wildlife excursion in Sitka! Thanks!

[kittercat85]

Thank you again for the great review and excellent pictures! We will be boarding the Amsterdam next Sunday, and I hope we have as much fun as you did. We weren't going to book any shore excursions and just see the ports, but based on your review we are booking the Sea otter and wildlife excursion in Sitka! Thanks!

 

You're welcome again! We honestly were going back and forth on excursion or no excursion, and decided to go for it because my husband just got a new job right before we left. So glad we did it! It was more than just a regular whale watch. The sea otters were the cutest things ever. I hope you have an amazing vacation and you see a lot of animals on your excursion!!

[kittercat85]

Here's the last roundup of thoughts, info etc.

 

Ports in Order of Fav to Least Fav: Sitka, Juneau, Victoria, Ketchikan

 

Forgot to mention drink cards. We had the $50 Summer on Sale drink cards, and I also bought the $25($50 value) soda card. I'm not a big drinker, so most of the drink card went to my husband. We finished those out with about $1 on the cards. The soda card we didn't use nearly as much as we thought we would, but used at least $25 so we didn't feel bad about having left over!

 

I ended up getting 3 days of onboard spending credit from the Mariners Society. And I honestly didn't buy much on board but my pic package, pre-purchased Pinnacle meal/shore excursions, and our hotel service charge. Did not get double days for our vista suite was we had an upsell and did not pay full price. Now after my next cruise, I'll move to 2 star mariner.

 

The Great

- The Amsterdam is beautiful and in great condition for her age. Would go on her again in a heartbeat.

- Crew is wonderful, as HAL staff has always been.

- Food overall was excellent. We never had a bad meal. Variety of food was good.

- Our vista suite was wonderful. The room was a perfect size, always cleaned well. The beds were so comfortable. I kept asking how we could sneak the beds off the ship with nobody noticing. Loved the peaceful balcony.

-I know HAL can't control this - but we had absolutely perfect weather this cruise without a drop of rain :)

- When we were tendered in Sitka, the tenders were very quick and efficient.

- When we had an issue in the room with the phone, it was taken care of quickly.

- Front desk staff were very pleasant and helpful.

- We were never bored, there was always something going on that we find to do.

- Open seating worked well for us. We always made reservations and always got our table for 2.

- Expedited disembarkation was amazingly quick.

- We liked all the hand sanitizer machines everywhere.

- Pinnacle Grill was absolutely wonderful. The service, the food, the atmosphere... everything. Still drooling over my lava cake dessert.

- Availability of breakfast room service when we wanted it.

- Surprised and excited we had gotten a last minute upsell. It was so exciting that this trip progressed from a guaranteed inside cabin to a vista suite.

- Our captain was wonderful. A pleasure to cruise with.

- Wide range of passenger age all over the ship. Everybody was fine, people we talked directly to were friendly, seemed to be no problems with anybody.

- I actually really liked (and preferred) lunch at the Dive In. Those fries!!

- Nice library to take out books.

 

Room for Improvement

- Wish the Lido had more hours, specifically start lunch earlier. It was frustrating coming back before our tour and not being able to get any food. Lido didn't start lunch until 11:30, and our tour ticket said get to the tenders no later than 11:30.

- Room service one day forgot our bagels and then for some reason our phone wasn't working when we tried to call and let someone know. (They did come fix the phone issue)

- Entertainment was okay, the performers were good but the material they had to work with could be much improved.

- Wish the Late Night Buffet was more of a general food buffet and not themed (French Night, Dutch night, etc.) I'm hungry looking for food, but I don't want bouillabaise!! (fish soup!)

- One of the forward elevators stopped working during the trip. They got it up again in about a day.

- My husband would have liked better availability of regular coffee/tea at any time around the ship (or if it was available, he was new to cruising and had no idea)

- We tried to play a few board games on board and almost every single one the instructions were missing!! :( Couldn't play what we were looking forward to.

 

Wayyyy more positives (and I'm sure I haven't covered everything) with just a few areas we noted cause be improved. But we had an incredible time and I'm already itching to get back on our next cruise. It was my first cruise since 2001, and my husbands very first cruise. Definitely not the last for either of us, and we would sail HAL again in a heartbeat. :)

 

Thanks again for letting me share our vacation with you! To the others who are taking their Alaskan cruises very soon, I hope you have a wonderful vacation as well!

[thetexasaggiecruiser]

This was a really fun review to read. I felt like I was there. And just wonderful pictures. Thank you for taking the time and effort to post your experiences!

[CruisermanVA]

Wonderful review and fantastic pictures. I might have to upgrade my camera to your Canon SX50. I love those closeups of the seals, otters and whales!

[lazey1]

We thank You for sharing your honeymoon cruise with us. Your photos are fantastic. :):D:)

And thank you for telling us what camera you used. Gary is looking for a new point & shoot camera as his older Canon is to heavy for him to manage now.:eek:

[retiring soon]

HI all!

 

kittercat85 ~ Just finished reading your review & loved it!:D Thanks for sharing your honeymoon with us.

 

You sure lucked out with the weather & wildlife viewing, just amazing!!

I was on the 14 day Aug 24 & had a great time too.

 

I agree with you about the Space Needle as I lived in Toronto for 40 years & kept wondering where's the rest of it.;)

 

We also went to the Chihuly glass works & loved it, each room was lovelier than the last. Did you eat at the cafe there & see the collections in the middle of each table? Very cute!

 

We stayed at Sleep Inn too but at the start of our trip. Loved the location & availability of shuttle service to local restaurants, light rail station & airport.

 

What a lovely cruise you had for your DH's first one & your honeymoon.

 

~ Jo ~ :)