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Zaandam May 21-June 4 Alaska Cruise Log

packercruising

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wfgoode

wfgoode

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May 29 Tuesday-Mostly cloudy, windy and in the 40s today. We are in Homer and will be doing the Best Of The Bay boat tour. Homer is on the shore of Kachemak Bay on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its distinguishing feature is the Homer Spit, a narrow 4.5 mi long gravel bar that extends into the bay, on which is located the Homer Harbor. Much of the coastline as well as the Homer Spit sank dramatically during the Good Friday earthquake in March 1964.

 

The tide level in Homer is on Cooks Inlet, so once again, we will get off the ship either on deck 3 or 2, depending on the depth at that time. There is a free shuttle to take us to the other side of the Spit, where all of the shopping is, but to actually go into Homer costs $15.

The Best Of The Bay tour is rated more difficult because it is a pretty long walk to the boat and a fairly steep ramp to get to the dock. What we saw was lots of sea otters and puffins close up We also saw several Eagles and even mountain goats. There were also birds that looked a lot like penguins, but were able to fly. Very nice tour. The weather made a turn for the worse as we got back, so the afternoon tour probably won’t have it so comfortable.

 

We did try the musical this evening. It was titled Roadhouse, so we were hoping it would be music from the movie. It wasn’t. We weren’t the only ones that walked out early.

 

Thanks for all your great information. We’ll be doing this 14 day in 2 weeks! Yeah! We usually do fixed time in the MDR to plan out a complicated med schedule. What time is early seating? Is it the same on Sea days and port days? Thanks for your help.

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packercruising

packercruising

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Thanks for all your great information. We’ll be doing this 14 day in 2 weeks! Yeah! We usually do fixed time in the MDR to plan out a complicated med schedule. What time is early seating? Is it the same on Sea days and port days? Thanks for your help.

 

Early seating is 5:00 or 5:15, depending on the day. I think it depends on how late they will be in port. Today, we are in Kodiak and set sail at 2:00. Some days we are in port until late at night. The food has been very good. No complaints there. It is the service that has been disappointing.

 

Enjoy your cruise! Hope you get some sun.

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Cruiz'nBaers

Cruiz'nBaers

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Thanks for all your great information. We’ll be doing this 14 day in 2 weeks! Yeah! We usually do fixed time in the MDR to plan out a complicated med schedule. What time is early seating? Is it the same on Sea days and port days? Thanks for your help.

 

Just adding a little information regarding fixed early dining. We got off the Zazndam May 7, early fixed dining was at 5:45. The time was the same every day.

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packercruising

packercruising

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May 30 Wednesday- Today we are in Kodiak,home of the huge brown bear. We will not encounter any as it is $290 for the excursion that will take you to an area where we might see some. Kodiak is the second largest island in the United States next to the big island in Hawaii. There are 13,000 residents, of which 6,000 live within the city limits. Kodiak was never glacierized and the water never freezes, making it ideal for the early settlers for hunting and fishing.

Weather today is cloudy, rainy and windy low40s. There is nothing to do by the dock, but there is a free shuttle that will take you into town. It is only about a mile, so it is walk-able. The weather dried up later in the morning so we took the shuttle into town. Very quick.They have several buses running so little waiting. We got dropped off by the Visitor Center, Wild Life Center and the museum. It turned out to be a pretty nice day.

 

In the afternoon, we went to see a presentation titled Fire&Ice where the speaker, who is not a geologist, attempted to explain the strata. After supper tonight, we went to see White Fang 2 at the theater. First time we have ever done that on a ship.

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packercruising

packercruising

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How long does it take to get off the ship. I’m nervous bc our kodiak excursion is from 7:30 to 1:30. They are picking us up right by ship dock but that only gives us a half hour on each end. Is this doable?

 

 

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If it is a ship excursion, it is not a problem regardless. If you booked a private excursion, they need to know that All-aboard is 1:30. So you need to be back before that. Getting off the ship will not be the problem. The excursion buses are right there. Kodiak gets almost no cruise ships, so they are very accommodating. You really don't have any time on either end.

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packercruising

packercruising

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Thank you for your reports.

You are welcome!

 

May 31 Thursday- I forgot to tell you yesterday about the eagles on Kodiak. They were everywhere! Today we are doing Hubbard Glacier, the largest tide water glacier in North America. It is in the 40s and will be getting colder as we approach the glacier, but the sun is reflecting off the water, so I have high hopes. We attended a very good talk on Hubbard Glacier, so a lot of this information is from that. Hubbard Glacier is part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This is the largest park in America at over 13.2 million acres. It includes 11 of the tallest mountain peaks in North America, all over 14,000 ft. Hubbard is over 76 miles long and 7 miles wide at the face. It is one of the few glaciers that is expanding instead of receding. The face we see today will have started out 400-450 years ago. It calves a lot and pieces the height of a 10 story building can break off. It can be up to 1,400 ft thick. The source of the glacier is Mt. Walsh and Mt. Logan, both in Canada.

This, boys and girls, is worth the price of the ticket. Cold and windy to start the day. The sky is mostly sunny and the scenery is beautiful, so just throw on an extra layer and go sit out on the balcony. On the way to Hubbard Glacier, which we get to about 3:00. About 20 miles out, we pick up the pilot that will guide through the Yakatut inlet, where the glacier is. I have been on the balcony more today than all other cruises combined. You just don’t want to miss anything. Maybe all those cloudy, rainy days were there just for us to appreciate today. It is about 7 miles to the glacier once we enter the inlet.

 

Once we got to the glacier, we went up top to deck 10, which is as high as you can get on the ship. Tinted windows made it a little difficult to get good pictures of the glacier without raising the camera as high as possible. A funny thing happened. It warmed up. Instead of being colder, it got warmer. Once again I was impressed at how friendly the other passengers are. Big crowd, but the ones in front gave others a chance to see. From there, we went down to the bow of the ship on deck 3. Here you only have to get your camera above people’s heads to get a good shot. Then we went to deck 7 aft, which has a public balcony once the ship was turning and got even more pictures. I will post some once we get home.Then we had to leave so that the people on the Coral Princess could come in and get their forever memories. On the way out of the inlet, we got a beautiful view of Mt. St. Elias, named for the prophet Elijah because it was discovered on St. Elias Day. We did not go to the main show tonight, but went to see the Ocean Trio, which has become our favorite lounge band. The drummer/singer went on the Big Swig tour with us.

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Flipfliptravel

Flipfliptravel

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You are welcome!

 

May 31 Thursday- I forgot to tell you yesterday about the eagles on Kodiak. They were everywhere! Today we are doing Hubbard Glacier, the largest tide water glacier in North America. It is in the 40s and will be getting colder as we approach the glacier, but the sun is reflecting off the water, so I have high hopes. We attended a very good talk on Hubbard Glacier, so a lot of this information is from that. Hubbard Glacier is part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This is the largest park in America at over 13.2 million acres. It includes 11 of the tallest mountain peaks in North America, all over 14,000 ft. Hubbard is over 76 miles long and 7 miles wide at the face. It is one of the few glaciers that is expanding instead of receding. The face we see today will have started out 400-450 years ago. It calves a lot and pieces the height of a 10 story building can break off. It can be up to 1,400 ft thick. The source of the glacier is Mt. Walsh and Mt. Logan, both in Canada.

This, boys and girls, is worth the price of the ticket. Cold and windy to start the day. The sky is mostly sunny and the scenery is beautiful, so just throw on an extra layer and go sit out on the balcony. On the way to Hubbard Glacier, which we get to about 3:00. About 20 miles out, we pick up the pilot that will guide through the Yakatut inlet, where the glacier is. I have been on the balcony more today than all other cruises combined. You just don’t want to miss anything. Maybe all those cloudy, rainy days were there just for us to appreciate today. It is about 7 miles to the glacier once we enter the inlet.

 

Once we got to the glacier, we went up top to deck 10, which is as high as you can get on the ship. Tinted windows made it a little difficult to get good pictures of the glacier without raising the camera as high as possible. A funny thing happened. It warmed up. Instead of being colder, it got warmer. Once again I was impressed at how friendly the other passengers are. Big crowd, but the ones in front gave others a chance to see. From there, we went down to the bow of the ship on deck 3. Here you only have to get your camera above people’s heads to get a good shot. Then we went to deck 7 aft, which has a public balcony once the ship was turning and got even more pictures. I will post some once we get home.Then we had to leave so that the people on the Coral Princess could come in and get their forever memories. On the way out of the inlet, we got a beautiful view of Mt. St. Elias, named for the prophet Elijah because it was discovered on St. Elias Day. We did not go to the main show tonight, but went to see the Ocean Trio, which has become our favorite lounge band. The drummer/singer went on the Big Swig tour with us.

 

 

 

Do you see whales from the ship at any point? I have not scheduled a whale wAtching excursion bc I really don’t want yo be on a boat during port days. I also don’t want to miss out on seeing whales...

 

 

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packercruising

packercruising

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Do you see whales from the ship at any point? I have not scheduled a whale wAtching excursion bc I really don’t want yo be on a boat during port days. I also don’t want to miss out on seeing whales...

 

 

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We saw one, but it was not close enough to count. When are you sailing? I am not sure when they head south. We saw lots of them when we were on the excursions in May 2005. not so much when we went in August.

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packercruising

packercruising

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Thank you very much for your reports! We will be on this cruise next month. Your report on Hubbard Glacier really got us excited!

 

Have a great cruise! I hope the weather is as clear for yours as it was for ours.

 

June 1 Friday We are in Sitka today until 4:00. Docked right next to the NCL Jewel. Temp is 49 degrees, with a high of 56 expected. In terms of land area, it is the largest city-borough in the U.S.,with a land area of 2,870.3 square miles and a total area (including water area) of 4,811.4 square miles . Urban Sitka, the part usually thought of as the "city" of Sitka, is on the west side of Baranof Island. The current name Sitka (derived from Sheet’ká, a contraction of the Tlingit Shee At'iká)[6] means "People on the Outside of Baranof Island, Sitka was the site of the transfer of the Alaska Purchase in 1867. ( this part was from Wikipedia)

We take a free shuttle in to town. It is provided by the port of Sitka and we share it with the Jewel.The lines for the shuttles are ridiculously long and slow. Both our line and the NCL line. A stark contrast to other ports where you need to shuttle in to town. You get herded like cattle, kind of like embarkation day, but embarkation went a lot faster. They obviously do not have enough shuttles to accommodate over 3,000,which is what the combined total for the 2 ships is. Not even including the staff that gets to be ashore. Also, there are two ramps to climb just to get to where the buses are. Luckily, there is a nice visitor center up there was well, with lots of shopping available.

 

Good day to review our photos from yesterday J, and get photos of the ship. The main show was a combination of thecomedian and the Motown singer. Not quite the day yesterday was.

This is a good point to let you know there will be parting thoughts (kind of a summary), once we get off the ship and photos once we get home.

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Flipfliptravel

Flipfliptravel

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We saw one, but it was not close enough to count. When are you sailing? I am not sure when they head south. We saw lots of them when we were on the excursions in May 2005. not so much when we went in August.

 

 

 

We will be starting the 14 day cruise 7/30. Are there excursions in Sitka we could do last minute to see whales if we haven’t seen any by then?

 

 

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RuthC

RuthC

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We will be starting the 14 day cruise 7/30. Are there excursions in Sitka we could do last minute to see whales if we haven’t seen any by then?

Take a good look to see if the HAL Wildlife Quest is still offered in Sitka. Never a guarantee, of course, but you are likely to be on wildlife overload when you're done, including whales.

At the end everyone on the boat got a map of where we had traveled, along with notations of where the various wildlife species were seen. It was a fabulous trip.

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packercruising

packercruising

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Sure don't like the sounds of the long lines for the shuttle buses.

I think we went faster using tenders.

 

That's what I told Lynette.:cool: I would have rather tendered. Good thing we have been there before. One thing I don't like about HAL, if there isn't a Diamonds International in port, they don't provide you with a map and useful information.

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Vict0riann "Live from...." Rare

Vict0riann

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Great reporting! Thanks so much.:D You seem to be making good use of your balcony and having good viewing. Which side of the ship are you on? When we have done the one-week trips, it doesn't seem to matter, and although we did a one-week Vancouver to Seward cruise many years ago, I don't remember which side we were on....

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packercruising

packercruising

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Great reporting! Thanks so much.:D You seem to be making good use of your balcony and having good viewing. Which side of the ship are you on? When we have done the one-week trips, it doesn't seem to matter, and although we did a one-week Vancouver to Seward cruise many years ago, I don't remember which side we were on....

 

We are on Starboard side. The side to be on headed north. Or it would have been had it not been cloudy or foggy every single day until we got to Anchorage, where there are really no scenery shots to take. In 2005 we did a land/sea cruise where the sea portion started in Seward and ended in Vancouver.

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Sea42

Sea42

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That's what I told Lynette.:cool: I would have rather tendered. Good thing we have been there before. One thing I don't like about HAL, if there isn't a Diamonds International in port, they don't provide you with a map and useful information.

How far was the town from the pier?

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