Alaska on N Amsterdam

[kayehall]

Anyone sailed NA for Alaska?  Looking for opinions on the ship, ports and sailing out of Whittier.  Only considering  because of Glacier Bay.  Thanks, Kaye

[cat shepard]

1 hour ago, kayehall said:

Anyone sailed NA for Alaska?  Looking for opinions on the ship, ports and sailing out of Whittier.  Only considering  because of Glacier Bay.  Thanks, Kaye

I did a Triple Denali with a 7 day Niew Amsterdam cruise at the end of the land portion. It was wonderful. We had an aft Verandah cabin. So we could enjoy the gorgeous, cool weather outside blocked from the wind.
 

We had mostly great weather, the ship was gorgeous and just the right size. Superb service for the most part. A couple of misses in the MDR waiters. But they could easily be avoided. A set dining time would have definitely prevented the misses, but we had a jam-packed schedule in most of the ports, so we opted for Anytime Dining. 
 

My cruise route included: 

Hubbard Glacier

Glacier Bay

Skagway 

Juneau

Ketchikan

and ended in Vancouver. 
 

And some very good excursions: both HAL and private. 
 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by cat shepard

[Crew News]

I have sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam five times with one to Alaska on the same itinerary as above, all in aft-facing balcony staterooms.  i recommend this ship.

 

I prefer the 14-Day Alaska itineraries out of Vancouver and will be aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam for 14 days in Alaska next May.

 

Never sailed out of Whittier but have enjoyed excursions there.  Note that there is a one-way tunnel to get to/from Whittier.  Arriving, the tunnel is open for 15 minutes at the bottom of the hour and departing for 15 minutes at the top of the hour.  If you miss the window, you will wait for another hour. 

[Golfbag]

On 11/6/2022 at 2:11 PM, cat shepard said:

And some very good excursions: both HAL and private

Would you share what you did on in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway?  We have a fun group going June 2023 and I'm doing some research.

 

Thanks in advance.

[cat shepard]

48 minutes ago, Golfbag said:

Would you share what you did on in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway?  We have a fun group going June 2023 and I'm doing some research.

 

Thanks in advance.

I explored with some great companies in these areas. We had amazing weather in Skagway & Ketchikan, but even in the rain our Juneau excursion was great.
 

In Skagway we did a HAL excursion to Haines. Because we knew we would be coming back close to “All aboard” time, we wanted to make sure HAL would wait for us.  The name was “Haines Eagle Preserve Float & Wildlife Quest”.  We were road the high speed ferry to Haines and the took a bus to the launch point. We were exchanged our shoes for water boots there. There were six of us in the huge rafts and a guide. Cordelia, our guide, even offered each of us a chance at the helm. We only saw about six Bald Eagles, since we did not float down a river where the salmon were running. The warm and sunny day was cold and super windy on the river. But this trip gave us a sense of how wild Alaska can be.  The company provided a decent lunch - except for the hot chocolate. 
 

In Juneau we did a combination small boat whale watch/hike to view Mendenhall glacier with Gastineau Guiding. There was a small group of sixteen people. Linda was our guide for the entire trip, and she was joined by Nick for the hike. Both were knowledgeable, but Linda had an amazing easy way of imparting a vast amount of knowledge. She also shared a time-lapse video of Mendenhall glacier receding. The whales were the highlight, of course.  One is famous and has been named because she has brought a new calf with her for four consecutive years.  This was a four hour adventure and I would have loved it to be even longer. In spite of the rain and the raw wind on the water. We were given water and a decent snack on the way to the glacier.  We hiked through the rainforest to the shore of the lake that Mendenhall created when it receded. 
 

We also took the tram up Mount Roberts in Juneau, but the clouds were so low, the visibility was poor. 
 

In Ketchikan we did two private excursions. 
 

We did a Misty fjords flight-seeing tour with Island Wings.  Michelle the owner/pilot was amazingly knowledgeable about the area and knew just how to show off the beauty of the area. She landed the float plane on an isolated lake and we even got to pick and eat wild blueberries.  
 

Then we did a Tongass Rainforest hike. Our young guide was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and clearly was passionate about her chosen field. In addition to walking through the rainforest, we walked along a salmon stream and saw a black bear enjoying its lunch, hundreds of salmon and dozens of gulls. We also toured an abandoned saw mill and visited a totem park where we witnessed an artist carving a totem. I did not record the name of the company, but I bet I could find it, if you liked the sound of this tour. 
 

The time of year you go can dramatically change what you experience, but it is such an amazing land I suspect you will enjoy whatever you end up doing. 

Edited November 9, 2022 by cat shepard

[crystalspin]

7 hours ago, Golfbag said:

Would you share what you did on in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway?  We have a fun group going June 2023 and I'm doing some research.

In 2018 with a group of my family totally nine, we booked a van+guide with Sourdough Tours in Ketchikan. This was the Wildlife/City/Saxman Native Village tour. It was my third time in Ketchikan and by far the best! Our guide was of native heritage and told us many things about totems that I had not learned in self-guided visits to Totem Bight SP and Saxman itself. If you book it, ask if Stormin'Norman is still guiding!!!

https://aksourdoughtours.com/

Souvenir shop on Creek Street (have the tour drop you off there), and walk down to The Alaska Fish House for late lunch!

 

Juneau must always be about whale watching. The only time we did not "do" whales in Juneau it was because we were going to stay on in Seward and do a whole day boat trip in the Kenai Fjords! We went with the ship's tours both times. One was the "scientific" ShoreEx which was interesting. But the other saw more whales! If the clouds are not too low, the tram to the top will also fill an hour or two, but don't buy it ahead of time, because it could be a dud in the rain.

 

Did not visit Skagway in 2018, but did in 2009 and 2016. Took the train through ship, both times: roundtrip in '09 and train-up/bus-down in '16. Recommend the latter! Two different viewpoints, and we did the lunch? show? at the gold-panning Camp which was a little "campy" but the family really did enjoy. We also ate at one of the brewpubs in town which makes me think that the Camp was maybe just a snack...

Edited November 10, 2022 by crystalspin