Westerdam Alaskan Cruise/Tour Jun 2 - 13 2019

[Oakman58]

June 12th Fairbanks continued

I'm alive...somewhat.

 

There were a number of homes on the river and they ranged from big and beautiful to one step up from a shack.  At one of the lower end house there was a lady cutting the grass.  I think she had her work cut out for her.

 

 

Our boat stopped when we arrived at the kennels of the famous Susan Butcher.  Although she passed away in 2006 her husband continues to run the kennels.  After a brief talk about the dogs they hitched up a team to an ATV for a pulling demonstration.  Those dogs took off like a shot and I couldn’t believe how fast they ran.  There was a lake behind the Butcher property and those dogs did a lap around it in no time.  It was an excellent demonstration of the speed and pulling power of those dogs.

 

 

 

As we moved on, the ship’s narrator began talking about caribou/reindeer just as our boat stopped at an area where there were reindeer in a fenced enclosure.

 

 

The next stop on our riverboat tour was a fish camp where a young woman demonstrated how salmon are prepared for the smoke house.

 

 

 

Our final stop on the tour was the Chena Indian Village where passengers got off to walk around the village.  The passengers were divided into three groups and taken to different presentation/demonstration areas in the village.  I was still very fatigued so I just stayed on the boat.  The boat stayed at the village for about an hour or so.

 

 

Once we left the village it was back to the boat dock.  From the boat it was back on the bus for the ride to our hotel.  This was a Westmark hotel too.

 

At the hotel we were given a packet with information about leaving tomorrow and our room keys.  All of our luggage was waiting for us in the room.  Again this room was much nicer than I was expecting.  Sorry no pictures.

 

As I remember, NCL had a desk in the hotel and that’s where we went to reserve a shuttle to the airport.  We were assigned to take the 3:30 AM shuttle.  Our flight on Alaskan Airlines was scheduled to depart at 5:30 AM.

 

The hotel had two restaurants so we chose to eat at the one with the shortest waiting time for a table.  After that it was up to our room and went to bed.

 

June 13th Going Home

 

We left a wake up call with the hotel for 2:30 AM but for some reason they rang our phone at 2:20 AM.  I was surprised how light it was at that time of morning.  There was some pink in the sky already.  The photo was taken at 2:24 AM.

 

 

It was a short ride to the airport from the hotel and we were checked in and our luggage dropped off by 3:45.  That’s when we found out that TSA didn’t open until 4 AM.

 

I passed through security with flying colors again.  Before taking this trip I was wondering if all the metal in my ankle would be an issue but it wasn’t.

 

Our plane departed Fairbanks on time for the flight to Seattle.  We had a few hours of layover in Seattle and then our flight left for St. Louis on time and we arrived in St. Louis just a little after 6 PM CDT.

 

That, my friends completes my trip report of our Alaskan adventure.  I loved cruising with Holland and my only disappointment was missing Denali National Park entirely on the land portion.  I’m feeling fine but here it is a month later and I still have a lingering cough.

 

I like to thank everyone for their very kind remarks about my trip report.  It’s very encouraging and motivates to do another report after our next cruise.

 

 

[cat shepard]

Wow, still coughing! Be careful.

 

And thank you for sharing your trip with us. You have a gift for storytelling and super pics!

[BermudaBound2014]

You did an amazing job with this trip report. I know it takes a lot of time and effort so please know your efforts are greatly appreciated.

 

 I sure to hope you are feeling better, the cruise crud is no joke :(. 

 

Thanks again! :)

Edited July 14, 2019 by BermudaBound2014

[SilvertoGold]

Very enjoyable and informative thread!  Thank you.

I hope you will consider cruising with HAL again!

[terrydtx]

I also want to thank you for this very informative and NON boring report. This has to be one of the top 5 cruise reports I have read on CC. I can't wait to leave next Sunday on the same itinerary just a different ship, the Noordam. I hope there is no cruise crud and the Noordam. It was also good to know there was an Urgent Care in Denali, just in case.

 

12 years ago we had the cruise crud on the Celebrity Century on a 10 day Mediterranean cruise.  It seemed like the whole ship was coughing by the end of the cruise and my DW and I came down with it the day before we flew home, nothing like a 12 hour flight home with a cough and a fever. It turned out to be a terrible case of bronchitis and took me weeks to get over it at home. 

[lv2teach]

thank you for your wonderful recap of your experience. I am now looking more forward to my up coming trip. I think i will add air bourne to my list of things to pack and take it a few weeks before we leave too. 

[57redbird]

Thank you so much for this!  We've done the cruise portion, maybe we should think about the land portion as well.

Hope you & Joyce are feeling better soon!

[quilty964]

Thanks for your trip report!  I enjoyed it very much.  I'm so sad to read that you missed the Tundra Wilderness Tour...that was one of the highlights of the trip!  We did the covered wagon ride with breakfast...was a nice trip.  I hope you're feeling better.  My Hubby got sick on the land portion of the trip, felt poorly the last 2 days in Fairbanks, had a cough, but was able to do the adventures that were scheduled.  By the time we got home though, he was worse.  He had pneumonia when he went to the dr....

We were on the same cruise, but did the D3C tour...saw Exit glacier in Seward.  We ended up with a cancelled flight in Fairbanks, and were rescheduled 28 hours later...that was not a fun ending to our trip 😞  Thanks for sharing your adventure! 

[Oakman58]

4 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

Very enjoyable and informative thread!  Thank you.

I hope you will consider cruising with HAL again!

 

I have every intention of cruising with HAL again. 

[Oakman58]

3 hours ago, lv2teach said:

thank you for your wonderful recap of your experience. I am now looking more forward to my up coming trip. I think i will add air bourne to my list of things to pack and take it a few weeks before we leave too. 

 

I think taking air born is an excellent idea.  My wife was taking it during the cruise and although she did come down with a cough, it was mild and didn't last as long as mine.

[BermudaBound2014]

For what it’s worth, I came down with the cruise crud June 20th On Allure of the seas. No fever, just terrible cough. I just went to dr (24 days later) because i was stubborn and wanted to let my body heal itself. You were smart to seek attention immediately which is what I’ll do next time. 30 plus cruises and that’s my first bout. 

 

Ps- I was taking  E-emergency religiously, not sure if air born would have been better. Dr said this years “crud” is tough. 

[SilvertoGold]

1 hour ago, Oakman58 said:

 

I have every intention of cruising with HAL again. 

 

That is great to hear!  

[Rosmerta]

Oakman58, Your report is a gem. Thanks.

Edited July 14, 2019 by Rosmerta
Typo

[VintageGeo]

We have enjoyed your narration. Thank you for sharing your experiences and your wit. Hope you are soon recovered and planning the next reading for us. 😊

 

Lori & George

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have never taken Air Born or anything like it.

 

Our family doctor always gives us a couple of prescriptions to take along with us.

[kimberlydrzymala]

Thanks for a great trip report. We are going in 6 weeks and I WILL have my binoculars ready. Your photos were amazing.

 

[Oakman58]

On 7/14/2019 at 8:58 AM, cat shepard said:

Wow, still coughing! Be careful.

 

And thank you for sharing your trip with us. You have a gift for storytelling and super pics!

 

Finally, my cough is gone.  On my next cruise I'm going to be taking vitamin C, Zinc, and a couple of Air Born every day.

[Oakman58]

ADDENDUM

 

On the day we cruised Glacier Bay National Park I kept seeing this smaller ship cruising much closer to the shoreline and the Glaciers.  I thought it must be a ship offering day tours but I was wrong, it was from a cruise line offering 7 day cruises of Alaska round trip from Juneau.  Judging from the boat they were towing and the row of Kayaks and paddleboards on the back they must do more adventurous excursions than I'm capable of taking.  I checked it out online and the ship had a capacity of 60 passengers and 25 crew men.  Starting prices were $4,995.00 per person, YIKES!  I think I would have to be younger and richer to book a cruise on that ship.  I think I'll stick with Holland America if I ever do another Alaskan cruise.

 

 

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Great review; thank you! Hope you’re all better now and that your ankle heals well! 

[Oakman58]

9 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Great review; thank you! Hope you’re all better now and that your ankle heals well! 

 

Thank you for the kind words.  My ankle is still a bit of an issue but at least I no longer need my knee scooter or my walker, or even my cane anymore.  My cruise crud is long gone but my wife and I have a cruise coming up next week on the 8th so we've already started talking doses of Airborne every day and we will be taking plenty of antiseptic wipes and lotions with us.

[jumpjump]

Question:  @ tea time, did they have music/dancing? 🙂   On the Koningsdam, they had some ballroom dancing/live music played.

 

I'll be on the Westerdam in October & wondering, should I bring my dance shoes!

 

Thx!

[Oakman58]

17 hours ago, jumpjump said:

Question:  @ tea time, did they have music/dancing? 🙂   On the Koningsdam, they had some ballroom dancing/live music played.

 

I'll be on the Westerdam in October & wondering, should I bring my dance shoes!

 

Thx!

 

No they didn't have music/dancing that I recall but we only made it to Tea Time once so possibly on other days.

Edited September 7, 2019 by Oakman58

[erewhon]

Caught up with all your posts, thank you for such an informative and picturesque review.

Have a wonderful cruise beginning on the 8th, will you be doing another review?

[strickerj]

Thanks for the detailed review! We’ll be on Noordam from Vancouver to Seward next spring - Alaska has been a bucket list item for my wife’s mother, so we booked a starboard-side veranda stateroom and the inside across the hall for the 3 of us. I’m working on getting them on a floatplane but I’ll go it alone if necessary - I’m determined not to miss that!

 

Is that smaller vessel in Glacier Bay Lindblad Expeditions, or someone else?