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5/28 - 6/4 Alaska Inside Passage
We just returned from a wonderful Alaskan inside passage cruise on the Zaandam.
With the exception of a few short hours of rain one morning in Juneau (liquid
sunshine) we enjoyed sunny days and vivid bright blue skies. If a single word
could sum up our view of Alaska it would be INSPIRATIONAL. A host of others come
to mind too .. like amazing, beautiful, breath taking, awesome .. but for me
personally, experiencing Alaska was a spiritual journey ...one that treated the
senses of sight, sound and smell to daily delights.
My dad, 75, joined us on this journey. It has always been one of his dreams to
see Alaska and we thought this would be a great way to celebrate his 75th year.
He enjoyed every minute of this experience.
The Zaandam provided every comfort we could possibly want for this journey. We
shared an S suite, just a few steps from the concierge lounge. My dad became
fast friends with the stewards and hosts - enjoying the coffee station and all
the wonderful treats in the afternoon. He doesn't indulge in many sweets ..but
he really enjoyed an afternoon chocolate or two. The suite was very comfortable
for the 3 of us. We had an egg crate put on the sofa bed, and my dad said the
bed was "OK" and certainly something he could easily survive for 7 nights.
Having the dressing room off the bath provided plenty of privacy for everyone,
and we certainly put the verandah to good use every day. We folded up the bed
every morning and our steward made it up every evening when we went to dinner.
The egg crate wouldn't fold up with the couch, so it had to be removed and
replaced daily, but it easily rolled up and fit in the closet beside the door.
There was plenty of drawer and closet space for our clothing, which included
jackets, etc. Our suite was in excellent condition, and our steward was a
delight. (and yes, we received a new towel animal every evening .. they were all
adorable ... we dismantled them every evening and put the towels in the bath ...
you really couldn't move them anywhere ..but we did enjoy them and the few
minutes of guessing exactly what the creature was)
We were on the Volendam last November and we found the service to be a bit
rushed and not as personable as we had experienced on our previous HAL cruise.
We also noted the staff seemed to be a bit disgruntled and over worked in the
dining room and the number of cabins assigned for cleaning etc. We were very
glad to find the staff on board the Zaandam appeared to be quite content and
happy and we received excellent service from all we encountered - delivered with
beautiful smiles and a little time to stop and chat and get to know a little
about them and their home/family.
The Zaandam has gone through the SOE program. We really enjoyed the new
explorations café -- it was a great spot to sit and relax, listen to music,
read, use the Internet, etc. Very relaxing atmosphere - This make over receives
an A+. I singed up for one of the culinary classes, however I guess they didn't
meet the necessary minimum of students, because the class was canceled. I was
disappointed, as I didn't have an opportunity to attend any of the culinary
demonstrations. I did see the demo kitchen and it looked quite nice. Oh well,
yet another reason to book another cruise with HAL.
We enjoyed dinner in the Pinnacle two evenings - Service was outstanding and all
of our selections were delicious. My husband loves the porterhouse - my dad and
I created our own version of surf and turf .. we ordered the filet and cedar
plank shrimp - both were excellent.
The dining room was also very good. We didn't see meat loaf on any dinner menu
.. however we didn't eat many lunches in the lido..so maybe it showed up there
one afternoon.. They did have "Dutch" night one evening .. complete with the
hats .. but I didn't see any sole on the menu. We had an amazing waiter from
Bali .. he was so energetic and flamboyant .. Our assistant waiter, wine steward
and dining room captain (not sure if that's the correct title?) were all very
efficient and friendly. The second formal night featured surf and turf ..
lobster tail and a 3-4 oz filet ... it was very good! Dad and David had no
problem requesting and receiving another lobster tail ... it came out as a
complete dinner again ... After a long day in port we decided to eat in the lido
as we really didn't feel like getting dressed for dinner. We enjoyed an
excellent meal and service .. We all opted for the prime rib, which was tender
and tasty. They were serving Alaskan ale .. Cold and delicious .. Every night
the dining room menu also featured two salmon dishes. The menu did not state you
could order broiled chicken or steak any evening..it did state you could order a
baked potato with any meal. The lido also gets high marks for breakfast .. all
items were hot and delicious .. and the fresh ham was very good. We enjoyed
breakfast one morning in the kings room .. Although I think we enjoyed the lido
breakfast better than the dining room offerings. There were several other suite
passengers dining there as well.
We received an invitation to the suite welcome aboard party .. This was held at
11:30 AM on our second day on board in the concierge lounge. The lounge was very
crowded, so we said our hellos, enjoyed a drink and left after 15 minutes. We
also attended another cocktail party in the Explorers Lounge. They had closed
the fire door between the piano bar and the Explorers Lounge and put a sign out
stating private party. We asked the assistant cruise director what the event was
all about and we were advised suite passengers were invited along with all the
new guests getting on in Skagway because they did not have the opportunity to
attend the Captains gala welcome aboard held the second evening. Our captain
also left the ship in Skagway and a new one joined our voyage. (Their names
escape me) The cruise director introduced all of the various ship staff/officers
at the cocktail party. We also attended the suite luncheon on the last day of
the cruise. It was held in the dining room and the staff from the pinnacle
prepared and presented the food. Beef Tenderloin was served along with a lot of
other delights. It was a very pleasant lunch.
Dress .. I had heard the Alaskan cruises were more casual in nature and based
upon our experience last week we found this to be true. David and Dad wore suits
on the 2 formal and 1 informal nights (to avoid having to pack yet again another
jacket .. I'm all for eliminating informal nights .. I don't see the point???)
We saw a few tuxes but suits were in the majority .. just the opposite of our 2
Caribbean HAL experiences. We also observed a few men without jackets, or some
with no ties, etc. all were allowed in the dining room. Women seemed to also be
less formal .. a lot of simple black dresses .. not many fancy cocktail dresses.
We also noted a lot of people skipped the first formal night as the dining room
was missing about 1/3 of the people. However, on the second formal night all
appeared to be present ... after all, it was lobster night!!
Ports of call - Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan - we enjoyed them all .. one
observation..very disappointed to find all the jewelry stores from the Caribbean
have taken up residence in Alaska .. why?? The ship was promoting these stores
just as they do in the Caribbean ... They were all there diamonds international,
tanzanite international, little Switzerland ... etc., etc..... Kind of took away
some of the quaint charm of these ports ... also found the hordes of people
overwhelming. Skagway has 800 full time residents ... there were 4 ships in
port..... We enjoyed the tours we took in Juneau and Ketchikan. We did the rail
tour in Skagway .. it was good, but could have been an hour or so shorter. 4
hours on the train was a bit much.
We were scheduled to visit Tracy's arm, but the captain canceled this
destination due to the pilots not being able to see to buoy markers (it was the
morning of rain) we understand the zaandam had to cancel this on the first two
cruises of the season as well. (we were the third cruise of the season) We were
sorry we missed Tracy's arm but certainly understood the captains decision to
cancel.
The highlight of our cruise was our visit to Glacier Bay National Park .. our
cabin was located port side and we had fantastic views of the glaciers from our
verandah. We turned up the speakers in our suite and opened up the verandah door
so we could hear and enjoy the park ranger narration. It was a fantastic day!
The sun was shining and the beautiful snow capped mountains shimmered against
the vivid blue sky. The glaciers were amazing and we witnessed a small amount of
calving .. the water was like glass and the zaandam glided effortlessly through
the bay. The park rangers were excellent and shared a lot of interesting facts
about the area and the glaciers. We didn't see much wildlife .. lots of sea
birds, a few whale sightings from afar .. but no bears or seals .. however we
were quite content with the sheer beauty of this national park.
We only attended one show .. one of the juggler acts. He was good, but honestly
was just like the juggler acts we seen before.
Casino - Amazingly there was very little smoke in the casino and we were able to
enjoy a few hands of black jack each evening. Normally we find the casino air
blue with smoke and avoid the place .. so this was a very pleasant surprise!
On the subject of smoking .. we boarded the ship at 11:30 am. We were shown to
the Neptune lounge and we took a peek inside our stateroom .. it hadn't been
cleaned yet, but we did notice a couple of empty cigarette boxes left in the
room .. Happy to report the room had absolutely no traces of smoke smell at all!
During our entire cruise we really only encountered smoke once and that was on
our verandah ... I don't think the person smoking was staying in the next
stateroom, as we only smelled smoke that one time.
We enjoyed every minute of our cruise above the Zaandam ... The only down side
is the long flights from the east to west coasts!
Peggy
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