Volendam (May 10-17, 2006) Review - day by day - a first Alaskan cruiser's opinion

[crusingici]

I have to say after re-reading this that English teachers beware – the tense is sometimes present and sometimes past – but the intent is from the heart! Hope you can enjoy without cringing too much at my grammar!

 

My first cruise was this past February with RCCL – a 4 nighter with gal-friends and very relaxing – which was our intent. This Alaskan cruise was the first for my husband and me together. We are in our early-mid-50s. He has never cruised, he has always said the only place he would consider a cruise would be to Alaska. So, last March I decided that it was time for our cruise and his destination! Thru MUCH research and reading hours and nights on end from this board I decided HAL was the line and finally, finally that Volendam the ship…….. without this board I would never ever have been able to have made a decision that I felt was perfect for us. Now, at home after our cruise, we both agree this was the perfect ship and itinerary for us, the perfect time of year – the perfect week in everyway (except embarkation which was NOT HAL’s fault at all).

 

We spent 4 wonderful nights in Vancouver and I do believe we walked every square mile of that beautiful city! We stayed at “Rosedale on Robson” as it is part of a time share we own. It was very nice – a condo with kitchen, den, and bedroom. It was across the street from the City Library (just to give you a point of reference). We love to walk and hike so we had no problem with the location. It is close to one of the trolley stops if you choose that route of transportation, as well as about 2 blocks from a stop on the Sky Train; many city buses were seen coming and going in the vicinity. It was one block from an Internet Café, which was helpful since we did not take a laptop. The hotel had a very nice restaurant attached, Rosie’s. I will eventually post a review of our activities in the Canada area on the board.

 

Now to get to the details of our cruise: We were in a class B cabin #6185 and LOVED IT. I will try to get this exact location on future cruises.

 

Embarkation day – Wednesday, 5-10-06

 

We took a taxi to Canada Place about 10:15 am on Wednesday, the day of Embarkation. It was an absolute madhouse in the port!!! Carnival Spirit was also embarking that day. Some of the workers said the luggage personnel were late arriving to take the luggage from the folks disembarking that morning so that had everything backed up. I am not sure what the real problem was as we were given different stories and directions of where to go from each “red coat” person we asked! It was VERY frustrating. Those poor folks getting off the Volendam (& surely another ship as well – it was super crowded) were sooo tired and frustrated! The line for the taxi snaked around the inside of the port – and I heard one elderly lady say she was so tired and glad to finally get off that dam ship! I know it was the process she was going thru that had her so stressed! I just “happened” to see a few people getting their luggage taken for boarding the Volendam so we scurried (well, not very fast with all the luggage we had in tow!!) over to get in line. We were near the front of the line and it eventually became a bit more organized so did not take but a few minutes……. Then the lines for security were long and some of the personnel did not seem to know exactly what they were doing – or maybe they were frustrated with passengers trying to take their huge pieces of luggage (that would not fit on the belt for the security check) on board with them and not check it – we saw this happening several times…… when we were finally thru security we were told 2 different directions to go! We ended up in a “holding” room with both HAL and Carnival passengers – we were NOT told where to sit so we were just standing around trying to figure it out – finally a lady told us to “just find a seat” – ok……we sat down in the second row, the first 2 chairs we found. We discovered we were among all Carnival passengers and were not sure if this made a difference or not – we were still bewildered with all the chaos. In about 20 minutes (I am sure the others had been in there much longer than us as the room was over half full when we arrived) we heard a lady yelling for the HAL passengers to stay seated and she would take them out row by row…….we then noticed that the back half of the room seemed to be all HAL passengers as those were the first 2 rows she motioned to come……so the next time she walked to the back of the room and got the next row we just jumped up and got in her line as well – since we were obviously never going to be called sitting in the middle of the Carnival group! Not a problem after that – got right onto the ship – took our carry ons to the Lido Pool area where there was an area set up to take luggage for storage (I knew this thanks to this board!) – got our claim check and off to the Lido for lunch…..whew! We were on board!

 

I happened to look up just as one of the CC members from our thread walked by – his screen name, BSeaBob, was embroidered on his shirt and I gasped! I yelled out his name as he passed our table to the surprise of both he and my husband! I immediately told him my screen name and he broke into a huge grin and gave me a big ole bear hug – after all we were “old” friends from the CC board! We chatted a few minutes and he walked on to meet friends; a few minutes later I heard him mention my name to someone behind me – I turned around and knew instantly it was my new “best friend” from the thread – the kind gal who had walked me thru every step of deciding the ship and excursions and held my hand for a year online! Sage!!! How exciting was this??!!!! We had all planned to meet on board at 11:00 Thursday and here it was not one hour since we had boarded and I’d already met TWO of my online buddies! Tomorrow I would finally get to meet Bellebaby who also had provided many helpful tips and advice for almost a year and a newer member to our roll call, Silver Penny.

 

We finished lunch and went to the poolside bar for our first taste of life on the sea. I opted for the non-alcoholic grapefruit drink and DH got a beer – George, the bartender was very talkative so we chatted for awhile. Met a nice lady who was on her “50+” cruise and over 30+ on HAL!! She obviously cruised a lot during the year as she was not any older than us……and to have so many under her belt was amazing!! She obviously knew George very well from having been on so many cruises. We excused ourselves and walked around the ship a bit before checking on our cabin status. We oooed and ahhhed at all the beautiful paintings, gorgeous flower arrangements, the many cute little nooks and crannies set up for conversation groups or just an out of the way sitting spot to enjoy a book in front of the big windows looking to the outside.The massage chairs located in front of huge windows looked inviting (I never DID make it back to try those out --- next cruise…) We found the internet café as I knew I wanted to keep in contact with family and friends all week. DH located the casino and noticed the craps table was “short” – one of the modified versions.

 

By this time it was 1:00 so we decided to claim our carry-on luggage and head for our cabin. Can’t wait to see our new home away from home! As we headed down the starboard side of deck 6 I saw balloons on a door and thought how cute – the closer we got I got excited thinking they were on OUR door and yep! they were!! Just as we were about to enter, our steward popped up to introduce himself – Sofrion (sounds like – I know I mis-spelled it!) He was so gracious – we knew we would be very pleased having him around. The room was much larger than we expected. As we walked in we saw a quite adequate sized bathroom to our left with a Jacuzzi style TUB! WOW – was this gonna be heaven or what – ok, ok, so I had to bend my knees to sit in it – but after the long days of hiking, those jets of hot water were heaven – but I digress……. Lot of closets and shelving behind doors on our right --- and then a gorgeous queen sized bed with the vinyl “luggage” mats on the foot of the bed for our luggage to sit on while we unpacked. (It’s the little things that amaze me and we really DO get out of the house every now and then!) Two nice “waffle” robes hanging for our pleasure. A full size sofa and a nice sized table and cushioned chair – (I envisioned in-room breakfast there already!!), flat screened TV and DVD player at desk level, which swiveled to where it could be seen from anywhere in the room. The desk had a lighted magnifying mirror (thank you!) and plenty of drawer space – we did not even use all of the drawers. (I found a hair dryer in one of the drawers – stronger than the mounted one in the bathroom) Then we saw the bottle of champagne – with a card from someone we did not know….hummmm, could these have been given to the wrong stateroom? L There was a mini refrig – which I immediately emptied so we could use it for our own beverages. Then we walked out onto our verandah – just perfect for the two of us! Plenty of space – a small round table, a lounge chair and a regular chair – we did not plan to be lounging or spending a great deal of time out there in Alaska – just wanted the view. We could open up the drapes and have an entire glass wall thru which we could view the world. This will be heaven!!!! While we were unpacking, 4 chocolate dipped strawberries were delivered with a card – from our sweet daughter for Mother’s Day! How thoughtful!!! In the course of thanking her later I found out the champagne and balloons were also from her – she could not have surprised or delighted me more! We assumed the unfamiliar name on the first card had to have been the HAL rep who took her order………

 

After unpacking (first things first!) we got ready for “the” drill, donned the life jacket and took pictures of ourselves in front of the full length mirror covering the wall at the head of our bed……..well, who else was in there to take our picture?? I had already snapped pictures of every nook and cranny of our room and bath before it got that “lived in” look. I better go ahead and tell you now that I took over 1,000 photos during the cruise week! One night at dinner as I snapped a photo of the cute “Master Chef’s Dinner” menu one of our delightful table-friends asked in a shocked voice if I’d just taken a photo of the butter dish?!! We all really laughed at that and my reputation was set in stone as taking pictures of any and everything – one of the others had already seen me taking a photo of the “day of the week” mat in the elevator! Yes, I took one daily so I could keep my photos in order!

 

After the drill, we scurried up to the top deck to watch (and photograph!) the sail away – I had wanted to be on the “special” deck that I’d read about – but I had not found it and did not know where it was – and we did not have time to go find it now – so we lobbied for good space on top of the ship. Later after sharing the link to my hundreds of photos, Bellebaby informed me I had snapped a picture of her with her DH and her mom while sailing toward the Lion’s Gate Bridge ….not even knowing who she was at the time!

 

After we went under the Lion’s Gate Bridge, we got dressed for dinner at the Pinnacle for the first night. (BTW, we were charged only $10 per person as we had paid before boarding). We called the Dining Room to ask them to let our table (#140) know we would not be there and I was informed that was not necessary….. oh well, just trying to follow courtesy guidelines as mentioned on cc board.

 

Our food was delicious in the P Grill. More than the taste I loved the presentation and the attention of our “precious” waiter, Daniel, from Romania. He had our son’s laugh, infectious smile and quick wit – I had to keep looking at him to be sure it was not our son! Of course I had my photograph made with Daniel. My husband’s steak was one of the most delicious “we’d” ever tasted – I always have to taste his food! I ordered the planked halibut upon recommendations of the cc board but I was disappointed – it was quite bland to me….but then we are from Louisiana – home of extra spicy cuisine! I do wish I had ordered a steak – but next time around I will know better! The veggies were all very good – and as an appetizer I did order the small crab cakes which were very tasty. We did order dessert – as I had saved room – I had to try that chocolate volcano I had read so much about! DH let me decide for him so he ordered the lemon dessert with the strawberry sauce (I forgot the real name) – he really liked it – I did not care for it much….but my volcano was to DIE for! It was warm and so rich and heavenly….. I can still taste it! DH liked it very much but said it was just too rich for him after the large steak he had eaten….so I almost finished it by myself. Daniel brought out truffles and bite sized sweets which I requested to please be allowed to take to my room for another time. He brought out the cutest foil basket for me to take them back to the room in! We had a lovely time – it was a wonderful dining atmosphere and we will definitely go again on our next cruise. We would have dined there again but we enjoyed the company of our table mates so much we did not want to leave them another night!

I really enjoyed the info on the in-room TV that gave us our current (although I am not too sure it was always updated in a timely manner) location – the speed of the ship, wave heights, wind speed, and temperature, etc. I kept an account of the info each time I turned on the TV so I could refer to the location when I tried to label my photos later…..then upon disembarkation we were given a nice brochure which had this info for each day.

 

The TV also gave us other helpful info about the ports and a wonderful “new” service you can pay for to have your luggage picked up from your room the night before Disembarkation; you do not see it again till you arrive at your final destination; you also receive flight boarding passes on ship the last morning. We learned about a special bus transfer system you can purchase – it takes you thru customs while you sit on the bus – takes you to the back door of the airport and lets you out where you go thru your own “private” and quick security check point and at the top of the escalator are the gates! That was the most painless method of getting from ship to flight gate that I have ever experienced! They get an A+ for organization! Ask your TA or contact Hal for more details. A bit of discussion about this can be found on the thread titled “luggage valet” in this HAL section.

 

Our cabin steward came in each day to clean and then while we were at supper each evening to turn back our covers (oh so silky! And the mattress is a dream!! We love a firm mattress but slept very well on this one---- so comfy!) and left us a cute towel animal each night with a delicious chocolate (I did end up bringing most of the chocolates home to enjoy later). There are light switches located at the head of the bed along with music switches for in-room music – nice soft reading lamps at the head of the bed as well. No alarm clock – I was glad to have brought one so I could tell what time it was at any point and to be sure I would be up in time for important events without having to rely on a wake up call. A nice feature to our room were the privacy curtains – one located between the bedroom area and the closet area and another one on the other side of the bed to pull to separate the sitting room area. It keeps lights from being a bother if one person is reading in the sitting area while one wants to sleep. There are lots of thoughtful touches and it is hard to remember them all – but above all – I cannot imagine anyone complaining about the size of the room nor the storage space – we thought it to be very ample! We loved the location of our room and never did we have any reason to complain about noise what so ever. I loved being located near midship – so easy to get to the midship stairs. We never used the elevator – only to take a photo of the current day’s floor mat!!! I noticed the self-serve laundry got lots of use during the week – and it was a noisy area- soooo very glad our room was not located near the laundry…..check the deck plan.

 

In checking out things in our room I discovered stationery with our name and cabin # imprinted on it!!!! Wow – isn’t that sumpin? Very impressive – and that is not such a little thing. Where else do you find that? I don’t know as this is my first week-long cruise!

 

I think that was about it for the evening – DH did go to the casino for his nightly fix on craps and black jack – but I cannot complain as he came out a winner and on the last sea day I used some of his winnings for a hot stone massage – more on that later!!

 

Sweet dreams of a wonderful first afternoon and evening aboard and of fabulous days to come!

[crusingici]

DAY 1 – Thursday, 5-11-06

 

I woke up at 5:30 am! Well, it IS 2 hours earlier than my home time but I usually just automatically wake up at 5:30 anyway. I got up quietly so as not to disturb DH and opened the drapes to view the ocean and sunlight streamed in…….. so glad we have that privacy curtain to block the sunlight from DH’s sleeping eyes! I had ordered breakfast the night before for delivery 6-6:30 this am. DH got up at 6:00 and the breakfast tray (with fresh flowers!) arrived at 6:10. The eggs were piping hot – everything I ordered was there and man, was it delicious. Is this the life or what???!

 

The TV tells me that we now have “wavelets” (0.3-1.5 ft waves) and it is 46.2 degrees F.

 

This is our first Sea Day so no rush to be anywhere – how wonderful! I went to the level 3 outdoor track at 7:00 am for the “Sunrise Walk A Mile” but did not find it was an organized walk at all – just folks out breathing the fresh crisp air and getting a bit of exercise…..glad I dressed warmly as it is an open deck and that wind whips thru there! I even wore my earmuffs and gloves. Walking against the wind gave me a good workout! There was the cutest little lady who just passed me up and walking a ‘blue streak’ – she must be in her late 70s – you go girl!!! We all watch the Carnival Spirit pass us up - we have been sailing together since “lift off” yesterday.

 

I returned to shower and dress – and to decide what I will do for the day on board. By 8:45 am the waves are now “slight” (1.5-4 ft waves) and we are still south of Prince Rupert according to the coordinates the TV gives me. We have sailed 292 nautical miles from Vancouver and have 542 n miles to go to Juneau. Now WHY do I want to jot all of this down? I have NO earthly idea – but it is interesting trivia. By 1:00 the waves are up to “moderate” (4-7.5 ft) and we DO feel the sway of the ship. I have my crystalized ginger, ginger pills, Bonine and sea bands ready in case I need them – but not once during the week did either my husband or I feel one twinge of nausea – thank goodness!

 

We walked around the ship a bit. Exploring and again being so thankful to be on this trip! I set up an Internet account - $40 for 100 minutes which I will eat up before I know it and need to purchase yet a second package. I took the Galley tour which lasted about 30 minutes and was interesting to see – can’t fathom cooking 6,000 meals day in and day out! We passed thru the Pinnacle Grill and “my” Daniel was giving a briefing on the menu. As I passed him he smiled and called me by name – amazing, even if it had been just last night! He flashed that bright heart-breaker smile for me to snap a photo one more time. At 11:00 DH met me in the Explorer’s Lounge for our CC board roll call meeting – we were all so excited to finally put faces with screen names and “real” names! I of course already knew BSeaBob and Sage – met his wife (would meet Sage’s DH later) and met Silver Penny (now why did I think from HIS post that he was a young chick??!) LOL! and his wife – and then BelleBaby came up – I was glad to finally put a face with her name and thank her for all the helpful advice she’d given over the past year…. And I pretty well had her pegged as to about what she looked like…..she looked as energetic as her posts sound. We had a good chat – I did not see her the rest of the trip since we had different dinner times – but we were on the same flight home so we had a good visit at the airport and I got to meet her husband and mom as well.

 

After chatting awhile and promising to meet again on board we left for lunch in the Lido. I do not remember what we had for lunch but it was always good. Some days we ate at the Taco Bar or had a freshly grilled hamburger, perhaps a sandwich or a hot meal in the Lido. I DID try the famous bread pudding with sauce – and I have to say it was “ok” for me….. I never did get it again as I could do without those calories. My husband had it several times during the week and enjoyed it because it was “light”. After lunch I “had” to try the “make your own Bloody Mary” bar …actually someone made it according to what I chose from the items at the bar…..and took it to my verandah for sipping and ocean viewing. Saw whales about 12:30!!! That was fun and our neighbors were out on their deck getting all excited too – we chatted awhile around the screen divider – one side is from Australia (turned out there were about 300 on board from Australia as tour groups were really pushing the Alaska cruise this year) and the other set of neighbors were from Georgia. Afterwards I took a nap while DH went jogging in the gym……..he said the jogging track on the top deck was to “square” to easily jog at the speed he preferred so he decided to jog on the treadmill……well, he laughingly told the story of how he kept falling off due to the swaying of the ship! He came back sweaty so somehow he was able to get an adequate workout…..without twisting an ankle or breaking his neck.

 

I attended the Naturalist talk on whales. She suggested the bow of the ship (deck 4) for Glacier Bay viewing and possible whale sightings. I had read on this board to be up and out before sunrise – which means I have to set the clock for 4:20 that morning! She said the second best spot will be on the 3rd level outside – she will be speaking from the Bridge. I am going to locate that ‘special’ deck I read about…….

 

I also took the Spa tour as I was not sure I would actually be purchasing any services – will just see how our days go and if there are any times available later in the week….perhaps that last sea day. Those thermal beds really do look inviting – but we were not given an option to purchase by the day – we were told only “25 tickets” would be sold for the week – none of us could get her to explain if that was 25 individuals or 25 couples – as she was quoting couple pricing…….one of the passengers said it would be his luck he’d show up the same time the other 24 or 49 showed up! In thinking about how busy our days would be I decided to pass – only a sea day would give me adequate time to use the facility…..but they surely looked tempting for a cold day!

 

For you casino lovers – my DH spent part of the day in the casino – he got to know the dealers and met up with some really nice guys and gals who enjoy black jack. DH has just recently begun to play black jack as he is a confirmed lover of craps – finds it much more exciting…..but has found when the table goes cold he needs an alternative game – so picked up black jack. That was a good thing on this ship as he found only one other craps player……so DH, being the extrovert he is, talked his new BJ buddies into letting him teach them to play craps – there ended up being about 6 of them who would go back and forth between the craps table and black jack all week. They had more fun and really got to know each other well! The dealers had a blast as they do not often have a full craps table to work --- so they really enjoyed the week as well. I am just glad DH was on the winning end all week!

 

In our exploring we found the ship to be the perfect size for us – it did not take too long to go from one end to the other and the back tracking was not tooooo frustrating when we’d make a wrong turn or end up aft when we should have been forward – the ship had many bars and nooks to sit and enjoy the atmosphere. We were impressed by the variety of music available in each bar – something for everyone’s tastes….. and amazed that the music did not flow over from one area to the next…..you could hear only the music where you were located ---even while walking around the ship from one area to the next. That was very nice indeed – someone did some great planning to make that happen. The Crow’s Nest was a wonderful place to go for viewing up front if we wanted to come in out of the cold.

 

Tonight we attended the Captain’s reception and enjoyed delicious cold champagne. I do love champagne. We ate in the Dining Room for the first time tonight and thoroughly enjoyed meeting our 6 other table mates. A couple from Alberta. A couple from Australia. Two sisters from New Jersey. We all got along “famously” and enjoyed laughing together the rest of the week. We both ordered the King Crab tonight and it was delicious. The desserts were “ok” – I had a chocolate soufflé with rum sauce and DH had the “light” baked Alaska – which was mainly ice cream and whipped topping. I do not remember now what our appetizers were but I always enjoyed my appetizers and salad or soup every evening – I never had one I did not enjoy. The cold avocado soup was my absolute favorite – and I did not even try to think about all the fat grams in that one – even if the avocado does contain “good” fat the heavy cream cancelled it out! The only thing I sometimes did not rave over were the desserts – now I DO enjoy dessert every now and then – but that suited me fine that they were nothing to really rave about as I did NOT need those calories anyway! I just wanted to taste them to satisfy my sweet tooth and to be sure I did not miss anything!!

 

I did love the fresh ginger the “doorman” handed out each evening as we left the Dining Room – along with a huge smile for everyone.

 

After dinner we attended the H2O musical variety show – it was cute and high energy with 10 singers and dancers. The ship was really rocking and I was amazed they could keep their balance and not miss a step! By 9:15pm we really, really felt the swaying! But it is ok – we laugh as we try to walk back to our room – feeling a bit drunk with no alcohol! It is still light outside and we can see mountains. We had a nice treat when we entered our room – another delightful towel animal – an elephant tonight – and lying with him on the bed is a nice canvass bag with the HAL name – just perfect for carrying souvenirs back to the ship in Juneau! And, as always, the schedule for tomorrow.

 

I am wearing a pedometer most days and was able to log on about 8,000 steps today – not bad for no more exercise than I really did – just lots of walking around the ship and using stairs.

 

Ok – time to head to bed since tomorrow will be busy – Tracy Arm in the morning and Juneau the rest of the day.

[crusingici]

DAY 2 – Friday, 5-12-06

 

Up taking photos off our verandah at 5:30 this am! We have sailed 755 n miles from Vancouver and have 80 left to Juneau. The sea is moderate, gentle breeze and the temp is 39.7 F. We had to set our clocks forward 1 hour as we crossed over to Alaska during the wee hours this morning. Now I am 3 hours earlier than at home. It is hard to know when to call to chat with kids and parents with a 3 hour difference – at least we can now use our cell phones with no additional charges added on. It is hard for me to believe we really are in the USA – it does seem like a foreign country – the scenery is incredible. According to the TV location we must be in or near Stephen’s Passage this morning. Had another wonderful hot breakfast in the room and were on the bow at 6:30 am! We stayed 1 hour here as we entered Tracy Arm…… it began to sprinkle rain and even snow began drifting down! We decided we could see just as well from our own balcony so we headed inside. Burr! Wind chill has to be below 39 F! I have on long underwear under my clothes and a nice cozy vest I purchased just for Alaska as well as my rain jacket/parka, a neck warmer I pull up over my mouth, ear muffs, and gloves – you’d think I was in Alaska or something!

 

The scenery is absolutely breath taking – ice bergs everywhere – they are huge! Just seeing them floating all around us and knowing that at least 2/3 more is underneath the water – amazing our crew just glide around them without hitting any. There are cloudy skies and it is very misty looking --- just gorgeous…..ethereal. Because of all the ice bergs we will not be able to get closer in to Sawyer Glacier – but we are not disappointed (as we have NO idea what we might be missing!) for what we have seen has been so incredible that we are thankful for seeing what our eyes have feasted on for the past 3 hours. The ship is about to turn around at 8:30 so we head up to the Crow’s Nest. Sage, her husband, and their friends come up right after us so we have a nice visit as we glide back out of Tracy Arm and head to Juneau. DH and I head down to the Lido for lunch and enjoy the scenery from our table.

 

We head back to our room to get ready for our excursion in Juneau… At 12:20 the TV tells us the temp is 45 F and the sea is calm with a “ripple”. We are going 9.8 knots. We dock at 1:45 and enjoy watching the docking process from our balcony – all the while counting our blessings to be on board! We actually docked early and are allowed off the ship at 2:30 – our first port! We head down the main street and spot the Red Dog Saloon – we are among the first to enter so sit at the bar – the piano man is just getting cranked up – saw dust on the floor and lots of animals on the walls along with cute sayings……I take more photos as we enjoy the “ ragtime”. After a bit, it begins to get more crowded so we give up our seats to the new customers and head outside to kill some time before meeting our excursion group. We walk along the shoreline and run into friends from the ship. All the locals are raving about the gorgeous day and how perfect it is – what a rare day to not have rain…… We see the temp sign that registers 50 F. We meet up for our excursion van at 3:50. We are excited as we are heading out on a helicopter flight to Mendenhall Glacier to do the 2 hour trek (booked thru HAL). We are suited up in special boots, pants and jackets – given a pouch with water and a snack bar and tissues. We receive our instructions and are led to the helicopter. We have 3 others with our tour group…. They are from Australia…. Isn’t everyone on this cruise from Australia??? LOL! Everyone we have met from Aussie land is delightful! That must be a wonderful country of folks. I am seated in the front seat on the end – next to the glass door. I have never been in a helicopter and try not to think about it! The 25 minute flight is for sight seeing – I take lots of photos and because the walls of the mountains are so close to us I forget how HIGH we are…..till I look down and almost pass out, as I do not like heights – what if this door I am pressed against does not hold and it opens? I try not to think of that and just at that moment the pilot informs us we are going only about 120 mph! omg – just concentrate on how gorgeous it is – take photos and it will be ok…… soon we are landing. Whew – Andy is our guide – about 6’3” tall and very personable. He works the ski patrol in the “off cruise” season but loves this job the best…..so he says. After we have the crampons attached to our shoes (look like huge teeth to grab the ice) he teaches us the correct “stomping” technique to use to move around the ice and snow. We learn to climb hills and to safely ease our self down hills while leaning back on our “staffs”….a huge ice pick. We see deep blue colored water flowing that sounds like thunder – I take movies so we can listen to it at home. We found – well, Andy found – a blue “tunnel” – he was so excited to show this to us – he took our pictures peeping thru to him – he was always so good about suggesting good photo spots and taking lots of time to explain things to us. It is amazing to think the glacier moves 1-3 feet per day! He showed us a rock that must have been as large as a house that had taken 12 years to move to the spot where it is now – from way behind us --- the owner of this company began working here 12 years ago and has kept track of this “boulder’s” movement. The 2 hours flew by – we got some exercise!! The heli flight back was directly to base so it was only about 5 minutes – this excursion was a once-in-a-lifetime experience – well worth the money to us….. and one we highly recommend. It was not too strenuous but I’d say you have to be in fairly good shape as the hill climbing does put pressure on the knees and all that “stomping” on the ice is more of a workout than one realizes it will be……of course the higher elevation would have something to do with that as well. It was truly a perfect afternoon. We got back to the ship about 7:45 pm and were quite hungry! We missed our dinner time so ate in the Lido. Believe me, I enjoyed those hot water jets in my tub that evening!! I had over 12,350 steps today……but I deserve extra credit as those steps burned more calories than steps walking around the ship – right??!

 

What a magnificent day! We had Tracy Arm AND a glacier trek – looking back on it now, Tracy Arm was my very favorite area of the entire trip – all those ice bergs were just miraculous to behold……the massive mountain sides just have to be experienced to really grasp how high they stretch to the sky – no picture can give you the sense of how small we really are.

[crusingici]

DAY 3– Saturday, 5-13-06

 

5:32 am – up taking sunrise photos – so glad to catch one – not a cloudy day – beautiful! We have now sailed 922.4 nautical miles from Vancouver and 87.5 n miles from Juneau and are only 14 n miles from Skagway. The sea is calm with ripples. The sun will set tonight at 10:38pm and the current temp is 39.6 F. Our speed is 13 knots.

 

Breakfast delivered to our room at 6:05am. No need to hurry off the ship as we do not meet our guide till 9:30. This is our hiking day – so DH decides he might need to tape his leg where his boot rubs – so he leaves the ship early to go to a drugstore. After I am dressed I go out onto the verandah and look about – what a lovely area! Such a quaint looking town. As I look down the side walk I see DH coming back to the ship! I run to grab the camera (of course!) and as I get him in focus he is striding up the gangplank so I get the shot – what a coincidence that I happened to look out at that time……. He has an interesting story when he gets back to the room. He said nothing was open yet except a mercantile store – he was explaining what he needed when one of the locals, Christie, said she owns the Red Onion and she will let him have the tape from her medicine kit! She took him to the Red Onion Saloon (hummmmmm) to get the tape. He brought it back with him with a promise to return it after our excursion. Skagway has only 800 residents! During the summer that number can double as folks come in to help with the cruise traffic……leading tours and working in the stores, etc.

 

We left the ship and met Chris – the owner of “THE SKAGWAY FLOAT TOUR COMPANY” – nice nice young man. His wife also leads tours. Chris drove us around town giving us the local lowdown and then to the beginning of the Chilkoot Trail hike in the National Park. We are the only 2 signed up for this morning tour so we head out…..or should I say UP. This trail is not quite what I had envisioned….. I’ve hiked in the Grand Canyon and guess I thought it would be similar to those trails but not so – this is a rough and tough stone, roots, rocks, and find-your-own-way kinda trail! Some of it seems to go straight up – and then when you get “up” and think now I can go down – there is more “up”!! I remember inquiring on the board about the “activity rating” and a guide for a different company made the comment you should be able to climb 20 flights of stairs to do this hike – yep, he is right – although I’d mentioned that statement to Chris early on and at the end of the “trail” he smiled and looked at me and asked “was that like 20 flights of stairs?” I laughed and said, “no, 40!!!” It is a beautiful rain forest – the lushness of the ferns, running streams, tall magnificent trees, all of this is “real” and it was a marvelous experience – it took us about 1½ hours to hike to the river edge – Chris took it as slow as we – huh, I, needed – and never rushed us. He held his arm out if I needed to balance onto something as I climbed around roots and rocks….. as I’ve mentioned I am afraid of heights, if I am on the “edge” with nothing to hold onto….. and one part of the trail was really close to the edge of a drop off – he saw me quickly inhale and immediately was there for me to hold on to as I walked along the edge. Whew. I was never out of breath since we were going slowly but again I caution anyone with bad knees, this is not a hike for bad knees! Thankfully I do not have bad knees –but I could feel the strain on them at times. We passed the “droppings” of a bear from the day before – and possibly bear tracks from the day before as well – but never met up with him – which suited me just fine! We saw an empty eagles nest. Chris pointed out lots of edible plants and we tasted “devil’s claw”; he explained lots of things to us about the ecosystem – named trees and foliage for us – very knowledgeable young man. He mentioned the late Spring season this year and that not many plants had bloomed. We saw budding and the first violets of the season (of course I took photos!) When we arrived at the Tayia River we met our rafting guide. Chris went back to the van to drive it to the take out point. We had a nice (although chilly – I had to put on my gloves) ~ 45 minute float down the river. We saw another eagle’s nest and 2 eagles. One was in the nest and hopped out as we floated by. It was a nice relaxing ending to a wonderful day – the hike had been a bit more rugged than I anticipated but it was really fine and felt so good to know I was burning some of those wonderful dam calories! J At the take out point we snacked on smoked salmon, cheese and crackers….we’d worked up an appetite! It was about 1:00. It was amazing how high the tide had come in since we had first passed this area on our way to the hike. We saw sea lions (I think I have that correct…) and ducks swimming. Chris dropped us off at the Red Onion at our request so Brian could return the tape. We were disappointed that Christie had stepped out – we split a delicious sandwich and then walked back to the ship. Once on board we took a nap and then dressed for “Dutch Night” dinner. The food choices were very good and the hats added to the merriment. I did not write down what I ate each evening so am sorry I cannot give you details on the food – I just remember that I never had anything I did not enjoy.

 

Had a little over 10,000 steps today – but again – that “trail” was not for the faint of heart and all that climbing gives me a lot more humph for my money than strolling around a mall! I was really tired so am sure I did not tarry long before going to bed – I always read a few minutes and looked at the next day’s schedule before falling asleep. Of course we had a delightful towel animal waiting on us – it was the swan tonight….which I dressed in DH Dutch cap. I lined all the towel animals up along the back of our couch – could not bear to tear them apart!

[crusingici]

DAY 4 – Sunday, 5-14-06

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

I set our clock and we were awakened at 4:20 am! So much for spending Mother’s Day in bed! It is Glacier Bay day and we were told to get up and at em if we want to see whales! (I know you have all read those posts on this board!) We were out just before sunrise (sunrise at 4:39)……. All we caught was one spout and a cold nose (our nose, but the spout of a whale)…… We stayed outside looking for an hour and gave up – decided to head to the Lido for breakfast since I had not ordered room service. I tried the hot muslei with yogurt and honey and it was delicious – so creamy! I see why I’ve read rave reviews on it…..very good. I even had them grill me a little breakfast steak – that standing outside in the cold will cause one to have a huge appetite! Went by the room to leave coats – the TV says there are smooth wavelets and the temp is 43 F (felt colder standing in the drizzle!) By this time it was close to 7:30 – others are up and stirring around. We head up to the Crow’s Nest to get a front row seat to watch as we enter Glacier Bay. The port side balconies have the advantage on entering – our starboard cabin will be great for our exit. We stayed up there till about 9:45am and decided to leave the comfort of the Nest and venture outside. It is a cold, drizzly morning today L We got our ponchos (I wished I’d taken my umbrella out to protect my camera) and ventured out to the 6th deck (accessed from the port side door) I finally found the special viewing deck! – a better view point in our opinion than the bow. We got to see calving….the thunder was amazing and it looked just like we’ve seen on TV! We stayed out there till about 12:15 or so as the ship began turning to head out. He had stayed in front of the Marjerie Glacier for an hour. We were just in awe of the vastness of the glaciers – the birds that flew near by looked like specks of black pepper, the porpoise we saw jumping and other wildlife such as an eagle perched on an iceberg…..they all looked so tiny. As he turned the ship we headed to our cabin to enjoy a bit of warmth and dryness on the way out. We stood on our verandah and ooooed and ahhhed at the calving! What visual treats. We had such fun visiting and sharing it with our neighbors and delighting in the fact we could stand on our own balcony and enjoy this spectacular sight.

 

About 1:00 we had passed most of it so we went up to the Lido – I enjoyed Nachos and DH had pizza…. A bit lighter since we have an early dinner tonight. At 1:35 The TV says it is 40 F and we are going 18.6 knots; the sea has wavelets and we have 320 miles to Ketchikan – due to dock at 10am tomorrow morning. We have sailed 1162 n miles from Vancouver and 225 n miles from Skagway.

 

I went to hear the Park Ranger speak for an hour and then back to the room for a much needed nap!

 

Tonight was the much anticipated (by me) “Master Chef’s Dinner” – one seating for early and one for late – so we were seated at 5:30 tonight instead of 6:00. At each place were the TALL paper chef’s hats – very cute but they would not stay taped and kept falling over our eyes – so we all eventually gave up and took them off. Cute menu that had rolling pin shapes and other “kitchen ware” --- I took a picture and one of our hilarious table mates asked me if I’d just taken a photo of the butter!!! We all laughed a lot about that and how many photos I was snapping……never did get that butter dish photo! Actually, we enjoyed the evening and thought it was fun – we appreciated the time and effort the waiters had put into practicing for our enjoyment. It was obvious some really did not enjoy having to dance but others really got into it and “let their hair down”. They were supposed to do a ballet of sorts and spread the napkin into our lap --- well, some just kinda floated by and dropped the napkin to us – funny! Then for the salad, a real “rock n roll” song (I cannot even remember the name now!) – the waiters juggled bell peppers and jigged up to the salad bowl to drop in veggies. Of course salad was served that had not been juggled and dropped! The food was all delicious. For dessert we had white solid chocolate chef’s hats sitting on a small piece of decadent chocolate “cake” – it tasted very similar to that wonderful chocolate volcano I’d had at the Pinnacle. I did take a photo as it was so cute……it was very good. I imagine the wait staff was pretty tired after having to perform twice tonight!

 

We walked around the ship a bit after dinner – DH went back to the casino – he is in the black by quite a bit so I do not mind! The tables were not open so he sat down at a video poker machine – he hates machines – but said he figured he’d just see how long $20 would last till the tables opened up…..well, soon he had lights flashing and bells ringing and the casino staff came over – he’d won $235! Not bad for someone who hates machines. He donated his earnings to me for a hot stone massage – after the active excursions we’ve had I took him up on the offer! I will call tomorrow to see when I can get an appointment! I went to the theater and watched the movie “Holiday” – it was cute and everyone seemed to enjoy it – a very comfortable theater. I went to the casino to check on winnings – still doing ok – took photos of his new buddies and dealer friends… and then went to the room to read about tomorrow….finally about 12:15am to bed. At 11:42 pm the TV said it was a clear night (usually it would say cloudy) with force 1 winds (“light air”) – usually the winds were force 3 or 4. and the temp is 44F. Very nice evening…sunset was at 9:34 tonight……while I was in the movie – probably a beautiful sunset……which I missed. L

[crusingici]

DAY 5 – 5-15-06

 

We were dead tired this am – room service woke us up at 6:35am! I requested a “late” (6:30-7) breakfast since we did not have to leave the ship early today – should have asked for it at 7:30!

 

At 7 am the TV says it is 46 F with force 3 winds – only 11 nautical miles to Ketchikan. Maybe it was good we were awakened as we were docking at 8:30 am and not 10:00! We enjoyed our breakfast and dressed to walk around town and finish up our morning by shopping……had heard this was the best port to purchase souvenirs – yep, we hit pay dirt alright! Got all of our t-shirts and candy bars with cute Alaska wrappers – bear claws and ulu knives – found them all right here….very careful to purchase ones “made in Alaska” – and it did not take long at all! Before we shopped we walked around a bit – I wanted to eat at Burger Queen – had read their halibut sandwich was good – we got directions and headed out – it is on the other side of the tunnel – not open – oh well, then we see someone inside coming out the door so we inquire – nope, not open at all on Monday! What? With 4 ships docked and the restaurant is NOT open at all today? They obviously do not need the tourist trade! So, we take a horse drawn trolley tour of the town, which we enjoyed……..what we really enjoyed was sitting down and not walking!!! I found the “streets” named First , Second, Third, etc amazing as they are actually STEEP stair cases! These staircases are the only way for those folks to reach their homes! They really are considered streets – what a workout to go shopping and haul it all up those stairs – or just to go check mail! Whew….to build anything around here the granite walls have to be blasted – everything is so expensive…..we were told that in Juneau and Skagway as well – what we would call very small homes are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In fact in Skagway Chris showed us a “double wide” that sold for about $250,000…..wow. After shopping we head back to the ship (it is docked right here at the main street) to drop off our wares and just eat lunch on board. We are warned at security not to unpack those ulu knives! We have time for a nap before our float-plane excursion so we take advantage of the time. We head out to meet the van at 1:45. We booked Michelle thru Island Wings for the Misty Fjords flight and landing. We had 2 other couples with us – we all enjoyed the trip – I was not frightened of the plan – I felt much more protected than in a helicopter – I know, I know – it’s all in the eye of the beholder! We had such a clear day that we could go higher than when it is cloudy and misty – we loved it. The scenery was just spectacular – pictures do not do it justice and my words in no way can help you feel it. We are early in the season so we have tons of snow capped mountains and frozen water falls and lakes to view – I actually enjoyed our sights better than the “misty” photos I have seen of the later season. We landed for about a half hour…. a bear watched us land and kept on grazing the entire time we were there – of course there was water between us and he was not interested in coming to see us…… we enjoyed watching him. The lush greenery was breathtaking – the stillness and quietness was so serene; a beautiful place – and yes, I highly recommend it! One of the men with us said it was his understanding that Michelle is the only one who allows her passengers to actually get out of the plane and wander about for the 30 minutes – the other planes do a landing but no one gets out…… I have no idea the truth of this – but we loved being out and experiencing the feeling of smallness among the huge cliffs – smelling the fresh air and seeing the beautiful green trees and foliage.

 

We arrived back on the ship about 4:20…..what another glorious afternoon! Formal night is tonight and dinner is at 6:00 – we’d better get cleaned up! Tonight was the Baked Alaska parade – that was fun to watch and a tasty treat. We had surf and turf but I was really not impressed with either…..but had plenty to eat so certainly was not complaining.

 

After dinner we walked around – back in the room I notice the most gorgeous sunset! I could not believe what I was witnessing from my own balcony. I snapped photos from 8:45 – 8:52 – took one last picture at 9:00. The TV said that the official sunset time was at 8:52 – just magnificent. We are 43 miles from Ketchikan – we have traveled 1524 miles since we left Vancouver. And now, our fantastic voyage is almost over. I did not wear my pedometer today – forgot it.

 

Upon entering our room tonight, Sofrion was standing near by so I asked to have him pose with me for a picture. As I entered the room I squealed with delight at the towel monkey hanging from our ceiling! He KNEW I would love it!! He agreed to come in and pose beside the monkey – how adorable.

[crusingici]

Day 6 – 5-16-06

Sea Day

 

We slept later today as I had not ordered room service breakfast so we could eat breakfast in the Dining Room once before we leave the ship. I had made an appointment for my massage for 11:30 today – figured sea day would be best and was so glad they had an open spot.

 

We enjoyed meeting new friends at breakfast. A gentleman from Australia, one from BC and then just before we finished a couple from Australia sat down. We returned to our room to begin the packing process – that is no fun! Today is the salmon bake by the pool for lunch.

 

I finished packing before my massage – so now I can really relax! I had never had a hot stone massage and was not sure what to expect. She did a regular massage and at some points used hot oil (not hot enough to burn – but sometimes it almost took my breath away) and stones and man, did it feel soothing and relaxed those muscles! This massage lasted for 75 minutes… she did feet as well – it was a heavenly experience and one I highly recommend for everyone to try at least once. Soothing music made it hard not to fall asleep!

 

After the massage I met DH (who was really, really hungry by 1:15!) for the salmon lunch – it was very good – although they did run out of the crab – which did not bother me except that I would have enjoyed tasting them – they looked scrumptious on the plates I had passed! The grilled salmon was very good. Afterwards I went to the Jackpot bingo and the lady sitting next to me won! Neither did I win the drawing for the free cruise. Earlier I had gone to the free cruise bingo but I did not win…… had I won that would have been the title of my cruise journal! It was fun and DH has won enough in the casino to more than make up for my bingo. J Went back to the room to fill out all papers for our disembarkation – walked around the ship to take last minute photos – finished up on the computer. DH and I went to visit Sage and her DH before our early dinner – just to say good bye to them and to once again thank them for their hospitality on board and to thank Sage for all she did to help me plan the most perfect trip possible…… we also wanted to take a gander of their suite – very ‘sweet’ indeed!

 

It was a bit choppy today – I have since read something about the two waters meeting each other in this area and causing it to be a bit rougher (Did I say that right or all wrong???) At 8am this morning the winds were “gale force” at force 7 – the sea was “slight” (1.5-4 ft) but it seemed a bit rougher to us…… The temperature was a nice 56 F. We have only 310 nautical miles to reach Vancouver – from which we have sailed 1719 since last Wednesday.

 

One interesting thing that really impressed DH today – he dropped by the pool bar for a beer for the first time since we embarked and George was there – have not seen each other since the first day – George immediately calls him by name and asks about me by name! (I was not even with him today!) That was very impressive since George had talked to us only once a week ago! Then when DH started to sign for the drink George says – “let me guess your room #, -- it is 6…. and it has a 1 in it…..“ gracious! It was 6185.

 

One last wonderful meal and visiting with our table mates – emails exchanged all around with promises I’d send on the link to my online photo albums – the “famous” photos. J I did end up taking over 1,000 this week – plus the 218 I took in Vancouver prior to our cruise.

 

We go back to the room to set out our luggage – this means we really have reached the end of our cruise. L Sofrion walks by and asks me teasingly if I packed the monkey!

 

We attended the evening show- Brandy the juggler and Paul the pianist – both were quite entertaining.

 

Tonight at 9:30 pm the TV tells us only 100 miles left – sea is “moderate” (4–7.5 ft); 63 F and there is a moderate breeze at force 4.

 

We have really lucked out on the weather this week – the only rain was the drizzle the morning of Glacier Bay. Thankfully due to this board I packed the right items to layer and was very comfortable in all kinds of temperatures. I did pack a few too many tops and needed another pair of casual shoes and slacks or a jog- suit for on board but I managed……the important thing is that I had plenty of the layers I had read about – that is most important! I could have sent clothes to the laundry but decided not to fool with it…..but that is a viable option for sure.

 

Tonight I will dream of the most perfect week I’ve experienced and how much fun cruising is – and how very thankful I am that DH has enjoyed his week with NO complaints about anything on the ship or I planned! The crew has been perfect – the passengers were perfect – everything has been perfection for us.

[crusingici]

Disembarkation Day 5-17-06

 

Set our clock for 5:30…It was really hard to get up today! We ran up to the Lido for a quick breakfast as we have to be in the lounge at 7:30. I went to the outside deck 6 to watch our approach to Lion’s Gate Bridge and photograph it. Pretty morning – no rain, a bit breezy.

 

We had purchased tickets for the ship to take our luggage last night and check it for us – we won’t have to fool with it today and will see it at home – one less headache! I was too late in finding out about the bus transfer. We went to the lounge to get our boarding passes and lucked out as they had a few bus transfers left – we purchased those………..and I cannot speak highly enough about this program!

 

We were on “secured” buses with passengers who had all purchased these same transfers – the entire bus was able to complete customs on the bus -- we were driven to the back door of the airport and let off the bus, where we went thru a quick security check point and up the escalators right to our gate – the easiest process I have ever seen! What a major difference from our embarkation day! Our bus driver told us HAL has worked on this program for 2-3 years and finally this year it is all in place- we thought it worked perfectly and will be sure to go this route anytime we have the option. They make it very pain free for the passenger! Of course it only works if you are flying out on disembarkation day.

 

We were on the same flight as Bellebaby, her DH and mom so we were able to enjoy a bit of conversation with them while waiting a few hours in the airport. It was so good to meet our online friends! We will meet again on board – whether on cc or on a ship!

 

Well, the end of our vacation has come and this journal has reached its end as well. My DH was not too sure about all of this before we made the trip – he figured he’d be bored on board….. well, I do have to admit that his good luck in the casino with craps and black jack helped him enjoy his on board experience more!! Both of us were very pleased and impressed with the attention to small details the HAL crew took to ensure our pleasure at doing business with this cruise line. Their customer service makes the difference in this being a “fun trip and glad we came” vs this being the “next best thing to heaven and we are now encouraging our friends to all seriously consider HAL for their cruises” – and DH is even referring to our “next” cruise to Alaska – perhaps in 2 years – now that is music to my ears!

 

I wish for you all the most perfect vacation. I realize the activities we did are not for all and the ones we skipped are probably some of your most favorites. That is what makes this board such a useful tool – the diversity of the members can help anyone plan their own perfect vacation. We do not regret one second (once we boarded the ship!) and do not regret one decision we made to get to this point. We have always heard this is a wonderful trip and one that most folks decide to repeat – but we had never known anyone to go on the HAL ship – we are the first among our friends in our area – but I can guarantee HAL that we have started something, as they all see how very pleased we are with out trip – and with the ship, Volendam. I know the ship is not “the” trip – but as we looked at some of the massive ships in port beside our Volendam and saw the thousands of passengers streaming off or lining up for tenders back on their massive floating homes – we were so grateful we were among the elite few to board the lovely Volendam!!!

 

Wishing you all wonderful dreams and may many of those dreams come true!

 

BTW, my real name is Sandy and my DH is Brian - we hope to meet you all at some point on your perfect cruise!.....or at least read about it!!

[Sage]

Gici,

 

You have provided a wonderful review. I'm so glad that you enjoyed your cruise, and now you are officially a Mariner. It was so nice meeting you and your DH. We hope that we will have the chance to cruise with you again.

[sail7seas]

My goodness........what a wonderful, complete review. Thank you for sharing with us.

 

Happy you had such a great cruise on that pretty ship. Sounds like a fabulous cruise.

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Sandy, Thanks for the wonderfully detailed review:) I am sure others that have cruised often and for a long time on HAL will agree we tend to take for granted all the special things you saw as a first timer and first time cruiser for your DH. It was wonderul reading your review and seeing thru your eyes the beautiful HAL ship and all your excitment.

I will also mention we had exactly the same problem with embarkation at Canada Place. We also never got upset but it was right up there with one of the most disorganized embarkation. Sounds like they could not do it any better for yours than ours which was only three days later. I hope they get it straighten out before they start to have 4 or more ships in there:eek: You are absolutely right this has nothing to do with HAL the chaos all happens before you ever check into HAL once you get to where you check in with HAL everything goes perfect.:)

I am so glad you and Brian enjoyed your cruise and would guess you are now very hooked. Welcome to the club:D

[bellebaby]

Gici

 

Thanks for providing the review of "our" cruise. As we all coversed on the roll call for over a year, I'm glad you and your DH had a wonderful first cruise.

 

I think you should post the picture you took of our CC group. I hope we all meet up again someday.

 

B

[OldCodger73]

Thanks for the great, complete trip report, which was of special interest for us as we're taking our first cruise ever on the Volendam's 5 July sailing. Hopefully by that time Canada Place will have smoothed out the embarkation mess.

[Bucky3]

Just returned from our Volendam cruise (May 17-24) yesterday after driving from Vancouver following the ship's arrival there on Wednesday. I'll be writing a bit about our trip next week once this long weekend is behind us. Just loved reading your very detailed review - how did you find the time to take down ALL those details ! - and I most certainly agree with almost everything you have written - just a few exceptions. Ours was also a MAGNIFICENT trip - our 4th Alaska cruise and the best! More later. Bucky

[Bucky3]

Hope you plan to post a couple of those 1,000 photos!! Especially one of the cc group and you and your DH. Bucky

[OldCodger73]

Bucky, looking forward to seeing your report. We'll be driving from the Seattle area and are wondering about what you did for parking?

 

We received our cruise documents earlier this week so the anticipation is really mounting.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

I have really savored your review. It is a keeper for sure! I know I'll be reading it another several times before we leave on our own first cruise to Alaska on Volendam's sister ship, Zaandam. May you and your husand enjoy many more cruises together.:)

[Hikini]

How wonderful to read this really detailed, very open review. Thanks for taking the time to write it all out for us!

 

Hikini:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

You did a fabulous review.

 

Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed reading it.

[NancyIL]

What a wonderfully written review! I'm so glad your first cruise to Alaska was everything you hoped it would be.

[kimmeesook]

wow. great review. and great idea... i will remember to take my pedometer. thanks. :)

[Lizzielady65]

Except for the hiking, I felt as though I was along the cruise with you. Great job! Now, I'm even more excited about the Thanksgiving cruise we're taking on the Volendam.

[Cachecara]

Sandy, thanks for a wonderful review.

I have been dying to go on an Alaskan cruise and hope next summer will be "my" year! I have been strongly thinking of going "Hal" for this cruise, so it was great hearing all your wonderful details. Thanks so much. :) Cruising Hal really sounds great.

[Bucky3]

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in the Richmond area of Vancouver near the airport. We have stayed there before and previously had a park and cruise package so we left our car parked there for the week and the hotel shuttled us to the ship. That worked well, but this time DH wanted to get an early start after leaving the ship, so we decided to park right at the pier -Canada Place. There are two types of parking. Be sure you get the lot right there at Canada Place. You drive into the parking area, tell the attendant you will be cruising - the rate is less for the week than it would be daily - then you park your own car. It is all covered parking. They have carts available for you to load your luggage and an elevator to take you up to the check-in floor. When we got back from our cruise we just got a cart, loaded the luggage, went down the elevator to our car, and we were on our way. If we were to do a cruise again from Vancouver I think we would not stay up there but would get a motel in Burlington or Bellingham close to the border crossing and just drive right to the ship the morning of sailing. Of course, if you have not visited Vancouver before I would think you would want to spend a night or two there - it is such a beautiful city.

 

Also, when we boarded the ship on May 17 there was no confusion at all for check-in. We had a fairly short security check line and then went quickly through immigration, were seated just a very few minutes before boarding. It was very well organized and no problem at all. We arrived about 11:30.

 

In my opinion you have chosen a GREAT ship and THE BEST itinerary for this RT Vancouver Inside Passage Cruise. This was our 4th trip and the best. The ship is wonderful, easy to get around, great crew, and the viewing from the Crows Nest is just fantastic especially if you encounter inclement weather. Some of our group had trouble finding the Crows Nest where we met just following the muster drill (held at 4:15PM). To get to the Crows Nest, take one of the Forward Elevators up to the Sports Deck. Get off the elevator and go forward on either side of the staircase to get into the room. The room is lovely and just the perfect place to relax and enjoy the scenery from all sides. Enjoy your cruise - wish we were going again!

[OldCodger73]

There are two types of parking. Be sure you get the lot right there at Canada Place.

 

Do you need advance reservations for the parking at Canada Place?