Semi live review Y1L Holland America’s Alaska Land and Sea CruiseTour, June 1 – June 19, 2022

[rajkr74]

8 hours ago, Sea42 said:

Monday at 12:30 - Sparkling Wine Art Auction??

I thought the art auctions were a thing of the past.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam from Ft. Lauderdale thru the canal to Vancouver April 7 thru May 1st this year and they held a number of art auctions on ship.  They didn't seem to be well attended when we walked by.

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, rajkr74 said:

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam from Ft. Lauderdale thru the canal to Vancouver April 7 thru May 1st this year and they held a number of art auctions on ship.  They didn't seem to be well attended when we walked by.

Really?  I haven’t seen those on HAL in years 

[Alphen]

Today we did the train, in combination with a 4 mile hike, getting out at Denver stop on the way back. After about 3,5 hour, we got back on the train again, for the short ride back to town.

 

[rajkr74]

 

"We went on out and about the ship, since our luggage only arrived shortly before dinner.

Weather was again sunny and warm (sorry Rick😉), so a beautiful send off from our land part."

 

Alphen,

I didn't want to jinx your nice weather but to get the full "Alaska" experinace one has to have some rain during their land-sea cruise.  lol  

 

Rick

[oakridger]

It looks like there is a new format for the "When and Where" with the so-called "Promotions" highlighted.  I love this as it tells me easily what to avoid!! There are still way too many of them for my taste, but, hey, some people must like them, and purchase or HAL wouldn't keep doing them I wouldn't think.  Art auctions again? Dumb, so dumb.  The icons next to each listing are helpful to show which events are hosted and their duration.

 

The weather and pictures are just stunning!!!  I have never seen Skagway look so pretty!

 

~Nancy

[Alphen]

Skagway 

 

 

Daily Program;

 

In Skagway we had a fabulous train ride over the summit and back on the Whitepass Railway. Because we did the hike out of the Denver stop on the way back, we had a carriage for just the 8 of us, with great views.

The hike was great, not an easy 4 miles , but great in nature and well organised with Ben our guide. There was plenty of food in sandwiches and snacks, so a complete day, with also the benefit of riding one of the best train rides in the world. After getting back in town, we walked down Broadway back to the ship.

In the evening dinner on board and as entertainment BBC Live in concert “Alaska “.

MDR Menu;

[Alphen]

Today Juneau, again a sunny day

 

Again a busy day ahead, planning on tram first and after that a riverfloat, which should fit.

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

Goldbelt Tram Juneau 

 

[RetiredMustang]

22 hours ago, LJProk said:

They will help on the ship with ArriveCan. As for when HAL handled the covid tests for us it was in Denali. They give you a QR code to schedule a time for the test in the Main Lodge. Swab your nose and they send an email. Check your spam mail though, ours went to spam.

 

Thanks very much for the info!

 

Dave

[Alphen]

Juneau, Russian Orthodox Curch

 

 

 

[Alphen]

Juneau, todays MDR menu;

[Alphen]

Mendenhall River Float.

 

After the tram in the morning, we did the Mendenhall Riverfloat, which was a very nice excursion . 
 

Pictures are on a different device.

 

Tonight there will be another performance by Step One Dance; “Musicology”

Edited June 17, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

Relax time in the Ocean Bar!

 

Busy day in port with 5 ships, QE2 had to anchor!

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

ArriveCAN 

 

Tomorrow, everyone has to have his ArriveCAN app checked at the front office. We had no problem filling in ours while in Anchorage and we got our QR code, which we have to show. If you have not done it, the app/website is free to access via the ships internet.

[Alphen]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:08 PM, Travelswitheva said:

Thank you for this very informative blog.  My husband and I are doing this tour in reverse starting June 19. We have been as far as Denali before, so the information between there and Whitehorse was particularly helpful.

You may or may not remember us, but we travelled together on the Zaandam to Antarctica in 2015.  We were supposed to go on a penguin excursion together in the Falklands, but unfortunately we were unable to go ashore.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!  We are driving to Vancouver, so are leaving on Wednesday. 
 

Eva and Jim

Could be, it doesn’t immediately ring a bell. Did we meet each other on board? We do remember our stop at Stanley, which was cancelled because of the wind and which would have been a real highlight after Antarctica. It is still our best cruise to date, not only the itinerary, but also ship, crew and Antarctica team.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

Ketchikan 

 

 

Currently docking in Ketchikan, right behind Westerdam

 

 

This morning watching another excellent EXC presentation, breaking the ice ceilingDeadliest Catch tour!

 

Tonights menu

 

 

 

Second time we had a towel animal and chocolates this cruise.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

Ketchikan 

 

 

Currently docking in Ketchikan, right behind Westerdam

 

 

This morning watching another excellent EXC presentation, breaking the ice ceilingDeadliest Catch tour!

 

Tonights menu

 

[Alphen]

Ketchikan 

 

We could not have been docked in a better place, just a bit later than planned.

Since tomorrow will an Inside Passage seaday, next report will be after coming home, probably Tuesday, to round up this review, with reports on research, preparation and lessons learned.

[Travelswitheva]

19 hours ago, Alphen said:

Could be, it doesn’t immediately ring a bell. Did we meet each other on board? We do remember our stop at Stanley, which was cancelled because of the wind and which would have been a real highlight after Antarctica. It is still our best cruise to date, not only the itinerary, but also ship, crew and Antarctica team.

It was an awesome cruise.  We did meet.  I’m pretty sure we did the same tour from Valparaiso to the airport in Santiago.  We were also supposed to do a tour in Puerto Chacabuco, but the tour company was unable to get to us due to a labour dispute in the community. Lots of interesting things happened on that trip.  We also enjoyed the snow that fell while we were in Antarctica. Lots of fun to see the excitement of some of the crew in seeing the snow.

Enjoy your last couple of days.  We’re excited about getting on board on Sunday.  We’ve arrived in greater Vancouver. 

[Alphen]

2 hours ago, Travelswitheva said:

It was an awesome cruise.  We did meet.  I’m pretty sure we did the same tour from Valparaiso to the airport in Santiago.  We were also supposed to do a tour in Puerto Chacabuco, but the tour company was unable to get to us due to a labour dispute in the community. Lots of interesting things happened on that trip.  We also enjoyed the snow that fell while we were in Antarctica. Lots of fun to see the excitement of some of the crew in seeing the snow.

Enjoy your last couple of days.  We’re excited about getting on board on Sunday.  We’ve arrived in greater Vancouver. 

I looked at my records and I had organised several tours you were on, including the Chacabuco one that was cancelled because of the fish factory strike I believe. Cannot bring up any faces, will look at my pictures.

[Alphen]

Ketchikan Eagle Islands Sea Kayak 

 

We did a kayak tour this afternoon, nice workout and spotted some eagles, later we will do the lumberjack show.

 

[Sebbiesgrammy]

Thursday we received notice that our June 29 Y1l 18day is cancelled and more cancellations of this itinerary are also being considered so, if you get to go on this trip, lucky you!!  For me, OP's day by day reporting has been amazing and wonderful and makes me even a little sadder that we won't get to have this experience this year.  In fact, HAL isn't even sure about next year at this point so no automatic roll over to 2023 for same tour.  I fear Alaska/Yukon travel is going to require a prolonged recovery.  One of the main reasons cited for cancel and future concern is the scarcity of major medical care in remote regions and that can't be resolved easily.

[Alphen]

Vancouver 

 

We just arrived in Vancouver just now and will begin our journey home.

 

Early this week I will make a round up of the land journey, with further tips and lessons learned. I sincerely hope that others will be able to make this journey, which we immensely enjoyed, thanks to all HAL crew ashore!

[canadianbear]

1 hour ago, Alphen said:

Vancouver 

 

We just arrived in Vancouver just now and will begin our journey home.

 

Early this week I will make a round up of the land journey, with further tips and lessons learned. I sincerely hope that others will be able to make this journey, which we immensely enjoyed, thanks to all HAL crew ashore!

Thank you SO much for taking us all along with you!  Really appreciate your detail and photos.  
 

Safe travels home. 

[Mary229]

Thank you for all of the wonderful reports and photos.  I truly appreciated the hiking reports as we are avid hikers also.  I look forward to your synopsis.   Have a great trip home.