Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam Alaska/Denali tour May 15 2022 - any questions?

[Tracey/Thom]

It's almost 2 weeks later and we're still on a high from a fabulous Alaska cruise - our first on Holland America, and it was fabulous! There were some hiccups as the season in Alaska has only just started (late April, I think), and of course, Alaska cruising has been cancelled for 2 years. I know this because this cruise was supposed to happen May 2020 - we're thankful it finally  happened!

 

We flew across country to land in Vancouver, BC and spent 2 nights at the lovely Blue Horizon hotel. Just 10 blocks from Canada Place cruiseport, but we took a 5 minute cab ride because we had luggage. It was SO efficient! The driver took us down into the car park specifically for Holland America, our cases came out of his trunk, given to HAL, barely time to find cash to tip him, and he was off and away, and we were on the elevator into the terminalship! This has never, in all our cruising (out of Florida) happened so fast, it was amazing.  We walked through the terminal, all roped off for big lines, but there were NO lines, and lots of staff. We'd done online check in before we left home, and had a QR code, Verifly and Canada Immigration all in the iphone.  We literally walked through, flashing our QR card at each request and landed on the ship - barely time to sit down for 5 minutes.  It was the best embarkation day ever!

 

We had a lovely lunch in the main dining room. We arrived a few minutes HAL told us to arrive for check in, and the MDR was open.  One thing that was very different - we couldn't order wine without our room card. On every other cruise, we were told not to go to our room until later in the day to give staff time to clean it. On this occasion, we were supposed to go to our room (no one told us) to retrieve our card from the door box. We did this and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch in the MDR.  It was a good start to a great cruise. (Debarkation was also just as fast efficient, no lines, no hassle, in Whittier) More to follow, just wanted to get started, and see if any one had any specific questions, seeing as we're among the first to get to cruise to Alaska in 2022!

[oaktreerb]

Was your Denali tour a Holland America cruise tour?  If so, did you take the train or bus to Anchorage?  How many were in your group?  Was there Covid testing when your land segment began?

[ScottishMaid]

Did you board 1st May in Vancouver? we were on that cruise to Whittier and the weather was spectacular north of rainy Ketchikan. So much snow and sunshine. I wished we were staying in Alaska for the summer.

[SightCRR]

Please let us know which Denali park bus tour you took and if the road closure had an impact. Did you see any wildlife. Thanks for any info. Take Care, sightcrr

[LJProk]

Did you do any excursions in Denali other than the bus tour that is included? 

What would you recommend for dinners in Denali?

And what type food was offered on the train going to Denali?

We leave next week, Denali first, then Whittier to Vancouver.

[Tracey/Thom]

On 5/28/2022 at 4:59 PM, oaktreerb said:

Was your Denali tour a Holland America cruise tour?  If so, did you take the train or bus to Anchorage?  How many were in your group?  Was there Covid testing when your land segment began?

Yes, we booked it online a couple months ago. We did the 7 day cruise first (out of Vancouver), disembarked in Whittier, they put us on a bus to Mt. Mckinley Chalet Resort (Long, bad, 9 hour bus drive!), then after 2 days in Denali, we took the McKinley Dome rail to Anchorage. 2 in our group. There was no Covid testing when the land segment began. Hope that helps!

 

[Tracey/Thom]

19 hours ago, SightCRR said:

Please let us know which Denali park bus tour you took and if the road closure had an impact. Did you see any wildlife. Thanks for any info. Take Care, sightcrr

We'd actually booked the Wilderness Tundra tour months and months ago. They put us on the Natural History Tour the night before (without telling us, so we were not happy!), but that's another story.  The school bus (run by park rangers) took us up into Denali National Park as far as they could, and then we ran out of road because of the 100 year snowfall that occurred recently.  It was a white out, and quite spectacular, I might add. Definitely out there in the wildnerness, no cell phone service, no wifi - out there! Absolutely gorgeous. We saw several moose, up close to the bus, (as soon as the park ranger hit the brakes!) but no bears. No birds either, which I hadn't realized, the long duration of the winter is just too much for birds. Hope that helps!

[Tracey/Thom]

19 hours ago, LJProk said:

Did you do any excursions in Denali other than the bus tour that is included? 

What would you recommend for dinners in Denali?

And what type food was offered on the train going to Denali?

We leave next week, Denali first, then Whittier to Vancouver.

We took the Natural History tour into Denali National Park, about 4-5 hours. We'd originally booked the Wilderness Tundra tour (much longer), but it was cancelled due to too much snow. It was a great tour, on a school bus, put on by a park ranger. I'd recommend it if you want to explore the park - which is 5 million acres big. and just not possible without transportation, in my opinion. We stayed at HAL's McKinley Chalet Resort and ate there. We took a walk up the hill but everything was closed. (even the Subway!) We ate at Karsten's Pub, small menu, burgers, salmon, pasta and that was it. They were having staffing issues on May 16th, so service was slow and lines were long. Make a reservation as soon as you get there!  We also walked up the hill to Princess Lodge and ate at Fannie Q Saloon, just a bowl of soup and some fish and chips. Again, pretty limited menu, but all the food was good. Half up up a mountain, I"m sure it's difficult to get supplies in. The food on the Dome train from Denali to Anchorage was good. Breakfast was eggs and bacon/reindeer and coffee/juice for abotu $15pp.  I didn't eat lunch, but it was standard fare, and looked good. There was also a bar on each carriage (and a dining car on each carriage), and the bar tender wandered around asking each person (frequently!) about drinks. The train ride from Denali to Anchorage was great! The guide talked non stop, was funny, gave lots of great tips about photo taking, the train slowed down at Kodak points to take photos of Denali. We saw moose, porcupines and bald eagles from the train. The "motor coach" ride from Whittier to Denali was 9 hours and quite awful (no flushing toilet on the bus) - at the least Denali's park school bus told you up front there was no bathroom, and made regular pit stops.  Hope that helps, have a great cruise, we loved Vancouver!

[Tracey/Thom]

On 5/28/2022 at 5:08 PM, ScottishMaid said:

Did you board 1st May in Vancouver? we were on that cruise to Whittier and the weather was spectacular north of rainy Ketchikan. So much snow and sunshine. I wished we were staying in Alaska for the summer.

We boarded 8th May in Vancouver. The weather was great for us too! Snow, sunshine - but cold - and so bright, we loved it! Our day in Ketchikan was also rainy and 35 degrees on the RealFeel, but we didn't care, it was a great day for us! We found a great shop (Weavers) and bought a pair of hand made, one of a kind boots, can't wait till it's cool enough to wear them!  We love Alaska - putting it back on the bucket list for a second cruise!

[SightCRR]

T/T, Thanks for all the info. Sounds like a great trip. Forgot to ask if you got to see the mt. 

take care, sightcrr

[Tracey/Thom]

3 hours ago, SightCRR said:

T/T, Thanks for all the info. Sounds like a great trip. Forgot to ask if you got to see the mt. 

take care, sightcrr

We did! Apparently 70% of visitors never see Denali, she’s tall and covered in fog / clouds/ snow. We didn’t see her the first day, but our second day, on the Domed Rail from Denali to Anchorage we got fabulous views for about 3 hours!

[Golfbag]

I'd love to hear what you did at your port stops - sounds like you had a fantastic cruise!

[The Penguina]

Howdy!  🤠

Welcome Home!  Glad you had a grand time on your long awaited adventure!

I hope you don't mind a question about your hand carry luggage.  

 

The Holland Land & Sea Tour Guidance sez:  "The hand carry tote should be a size that is comfortable to carry and able to be stowed under a seat. Soft sided tote bags or backpacks no larger than 17”x14”x4” with a zippered enclosure are recommended."

 

The 4" dimension is a tough requirement since this tote will carry CPAP equipment.  Did you have difficulty stowing your hand carry and do you recall which leg of the journey you ran into any issues?

 

Any/all clues & tips are much appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[Tracey/Thom]

On 5/31/2022 at 11:16 PM, The Penguina said:

Howdy!  🤠

Welcome Home!  Glad you had a grand time on your long awaited adventure!

I hope you don't mind a question about your hand carry luggage.  

 

The Holland Land & Sea Tour Guidance sez:  "The hand carry tote should be a size that is comfortable to carry and able to be stowed under a seat. Soft sided tote bags or backpacks no larger than 17”x14”x4” with a zippered enclosure are recommended."

 

The 4" dimension is a tough requirement since this tote will carry CPAP equipment.  Did you have difficulty stowing your hand carry and do you recall which leg of the journey you ran into any issues?

 

Any/all clues & tips are much appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

We carried a backpack each, and it stowed easily above our seats (along with our coats, jackets and scarves) and didn't have any difficulty. The CPAP we took with us fit easily in our carry on suitcase (45 linear inches) which was sent ahead to our hotel room from the ship.  Hope that helps!

[Tracey/Thom]

On 5/31/2022 at 9:24 PM, Golfbag said:

I'd love to hear what you did at your port stops - sounds like you had a fantastic cruise!

In Ketchikan, it was a cold, rainy day (typical Alaska in May!), and we were not interested in any of the excursions on offer. It's a pretty small town, we walked around Creek Street, found a local diner to grab some coffee and cake and talk to a local. We bought some boots, one of a kind, handmade at Weavers - looking forward to wearing those in the fall! We bought a $20 warm jacket, marked with Alaska - not really "shoppers" but there wasn't much else for us to do. 

 

In Juneau, we took a whale watching tour in Auke Bay which was fabulous! Saw 2 humpbacks (we also saw an Orca off the ship), saw Mendenhall glacier, took a short walk to Nugget Falls - this was a great day, beautiful, sunny (and cold!)

 

In Skagway we took another HAL excursion to the White Pass Yukon Route, the train was wonderful! heated, clean bathrooms, free bottled water. We got our best photos from the outdoor platform, although it was cold. We went panning for gold and hit paydirt! That was fun, the BBQ lunch was fine, but nothing special. We walked back to town, as it was a bright, pretty day (but chilly in May), but most of the shops were closing. It's like an old cowboy town.  Our guide Matt, a young man from Texas, was wonderful! Fresh fruit/veg in May is expensive, so when we gave him a banana with our cash tip, he was very appreciative!  Luckily, I carry fruit in my bag for snack (they deliver it to my cabin each morning) and hadn't eaten that day's ration!

 

We had a fantastic first time HAL, first time Alaska cruise, and would definitely do it again, although not sure we'd go with HAL again.  Hope that helps!

[Tracey/Thom]

As this was a bucket list trip for us, and been cancelled two years in a row thanks to covid, we got an Aft balcony on the 7th deck - well worth the money!  When it got too cold to stand on deck, we were able to be in our warm cabin and sit for hours looking at the majesty of Alaska!  We'd heard that Rotterdam, the 7th deck was the best deck for service as it's where Neptune and Pinnacle Suites are. The service was very good, but to be honest, we've never had "bad" service on any of cruises. We make sure and leave a tip each day in our cabin and genuinely thank them, and our experience has always been positive. We were so disgusted to see "some" people being rude, and contemptuous to the brown skinned servers and polite to the white servers/staff. Seemed like it was the same 2-3 couples we kept running into doing this, so we noticed it (the ship was only at 50% capacity, so  it was easy to keep running into the same people).  When I said "hey, he's just doing his job", I was met with a hostile stare.  The staff were amazing, hardworking, polite, friendly, they are worth every penny, and a lot more, in my opinion. They're obviously well trained by HAL too, because they handled such odious behavior with dignity and professionalism.

 

On Glacier Bay Sea Day, a national park ranger came on board and talked through the PA system all day. It was really nice to be educated as we looked at glaciers - quite spectacular I might add, and the highlight of our cruise. The captain opened up the very, very front (bow) of the ship on Deck 5. We had to go through the long corridor, past all the cabins, and step over a tall metal rim to get there. (Not handicapped accessible) You could feel the artic breeze coming through that door at the other end of the corridor! It was well worth it, and it was nice to get to be in a part of the ship that is generally closed to passengers.  They served hot pea soup and had a bar ( a little brandy helped to stay warm!) on that deck all day.  Did I mention it was cold? LOL - but the light and sunshine was phenomenal.  Who knew that glacial breeze is a real thing. The side nearest the glacier was windy and cold, the opposite side was calm and a bit warmer.  We saw it calve - PHENOMENAL! and the sound Kaboom! as it hit the water - happened too fast to get a photo, we were glad we spent hours standing/sitting and looking.  I also saw a humpback whale in Glacier Bay - in love with Alaska!

 

Hope this helps!

[Skylark baby]

39 minutes ago, Tracey/Thom said:

As this was a bucket list trip for us, and been cancelled two years in a row thanks to covid, we got an Aft balcony on the 7th deck - well worth the money!  When it got too cold to stand on deck, we were able to be in our warm cabin and sit for hours looking at the majesty of Alaska!  We'd heard that Rotterdam, the 7th deck was the best deck for service as it's where Neptune and Pinnacle Suites are. The service was very good, but to be honest, we've never had "bad" service on any of cruises. We make sure and leave a tip each day in our cabin and genuinely thank them, and our experience has always been positive. We were so disgusted to see "some" people being rude, and contemptuous to the brown skinned servers and polite to the white servers/staff. Seemed like it was the same 2-3 couples we kept running into doing this, so we noticed it (the ship was only at 50% capacity, so  it was easy to keep running into the same people).  When I said "hey, he's just doing his job", I was met with a hostile stare.  The staff were amazing, hardworking, polite, friendly, they are worth every penny, and a lot more, in my opinion. They're obviously well trained by HAL too, because they handled such odious behavior with dignity and professionalism.

 

On Glacier Bay Sea Day, a national park ranger came on board and talked through the PA system all day. It was really nice to be educated as we looked at glaciers - quite spectacular I might add, and the highlight of our cruise. The captain opened up the very, very front (bow) of the ship on Deck 5. We had to go through the long corridor, past all the cabins, and step over a tall metal rim to get there. (Not handicapped accessible) You could feel the artic breeze coming through that door at the other end of the corridor! It was well worth it, and it was nice to get to be in a part of the ship that is generally closed to passengers.  They served hot pea soup and had a bar ( a little brandy helped to stay warm!) on that deck all day.  Did I mention it was cold? LOL - but the light and sunshine was phenomenal.  Who knew that glacial breeze is a real thing. The side nearest the glacier was windy and cold, the opposite side was calm and a bit warmer.  We saw it calve - PHENOMENAL! and the sound Kaboom! as it hit the water - happened too fast to get a photo, we were glad we spent hours standing/sitting and looking.  I also saw a humpback whale in Glacier Bay - in love with Alaska!

 

Hope this helps!

 

[Skylark baby]

Was there Lincoln Center Stage chamber music on your Nieuw Amsterdam ship?

[Tracey/Thom]

17 minutes ago, Skylark baby said:

Was there Lincoln Center Stage chamber music on your Nieuw Amsterdam ship?

Yes there was, but we never got there - we were usually somewhere else on the ship. The room was actually quite small, so one had to get there early to get a seat.

[Skylark baby]

1 minute ago, Tracey/Thom said:

Yes there was, but we never got there - we were usually somewhere else on the ship. The room was actually quite small, so one had to get there early to get a seat.

Thanks.  Yes, the room is small, and usually cold, but worth the wait!

[RSWBADGER]

Great information here, we are on the Noordam, 10 day Denali tour out of Vancouver on July 10th, same schedule. I have a question about the luggage transfer on the last night/morning in Anchorage.

 

We have a late flight out our last day, were there any luggage transfer options available where they picked up bags the last night and you didn't see the bags until you got home?

I understand you can drop your luggage off at the airport to hold for the day. We have plans to rent a car for the day and would prefer not to have the luggage with us.

[Tracey/Thom]

2 hours ago, RSWBADGER said:

Great information here, we are on the Noordam, 10 day Denali tour out of Vancouver on July 10th, same schedule. I have a question about the luggage transfer on the last night/morning in Anchorage.

 

We have a late flight out our last day, were there any luggage transfer options available where they picked up bags the last night and you didn't see the bags until you got home?

I understand you can drop your luggage off at the airport to hold for the day. We have plans to rent a car for the day and would prefer not to have the luggage with us.

I wasn't that impressed with the service in Anchorage. To be honest, the land tour part of our 10 day Denali tour was substandard, compared to the cruise part, which was absolutely brilliant. They put us at the Westmark, downtown Anchorage. There was only 1 elevator, and about 400 people that arrived at one time. (They gave us our room keycard on the bus). The room was very clean and had a little balcony. Downtown doesn't have any abundance of restaurants, the first 2 we went to had a long wait, we ended up at an Italian restaurant (Italian is not our favorite!), just because there was a short wait, and we knew there'd be an awful lot of people arriving right behind us as soon as they'd found their room and got back out of the hotel!

 

The luggage didn't arrive in our room until after we returned from dinner. We were told to leave our luggage outside our room by 3 am. The next morning, we left our room at 3:30am to catch the motorcoach to the airport and the luggage was still there. They brought the luggage to the lobby (where we were waiting at 3:35) and we had to take our own luggage to the sidewalk where the motorcoach was. Even little old ladies and disabled men. Thankfully, a staff person loaded the cases into the trunk. Dropped off at the airport and we lugged our cases to the terminal, checked them and in and saw them again when we arrived in Seattle (for our personal 2 night mini-vacation). I didn't see any luggage storage at the airport, but I"m sure if you check the airline website, or the airport website, they'll inform you if they have it available. Alternatively, if you're renting a car for the day, you could always just store your luggage in the trunk and that way you'll be sure it's not going to get left behind on an Anchorage runway!

[jlynchtx]

Thanks for all the info! We will be on the same ship in July. Besides the live music venues, do you remember what some of the evening shows or presentations were? Possibly what time they started? Thanks!

[Tracey/Thom]

42 minutes ago, jlynchtx said:

Thanks for all the info! We will be on the same ship in July. Besides the live music venues, do you remember what some of the evening shows or presentations were? Possibly what time they started? Thanks!

We went to 5:30 dinner in the MDR and the show started at 7:30, so there was time for a leisurely dinner and a stroll to the theatre. The later dinner was the same, it's all well timed so you can get to it. We went to the whale watching presentation / class in the theatre the day before we went to Juneau in the theatre, that was at 2 pm. There's not a gigantic choice, so we never felt rushed or that we had to make a choice between 2 things we really wanted to see.  There was also a movie "Call of the Wild" one afternoon in the theater. Another afternoon, there was a native american man, and a park ranger on board, in the theatre. Their talk was informative, but not lively, they were obviously not used to public speaking. Have a great cruise! We loved every piece of our cruising, the ports, the scenery, the staff on the ship. We were not pleased with the land tour portion, but the cruise itself was great!

[MrsKMB]

I'm SO happy you posted about your trip! I'm hoping to take this same cruise in 2024 and am impatiently waiting for the schedules to open. 

Thank you for all the information!