14 Day Alaska cruise on HAL Amsterdam - 7/31 departure

Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight back home after 14 days of wonderful cruising on the Amsterdam. Overall it was a great cruise with an awesome itinerary. We stayed in Seattle for a few days pre-cruise and boarded around 1:30PM. The wait time was less than 10 minutes. one of my goals during this cruise was to see different native Alaska animals. During the first week of the cruise, the weather was fantastic and I ended up having to purchase sunscreen. You WILL burn on sunny days in AK. We rented a car in Ketchikan from First City Car Rental. Ended up seeing a black bear munching on a salmon as well as lots of bald eagles at Herring Cove. The captain decided to go to Endicot Arm instead of Tracy Arm, due to a lot of ice in Tracy Arm. This worked well for us as we had a Tracy Arm excursion booked through Adventure Bound. Their departure time lists 7:30am, but they will wait for cruise ship passengers. Call them ahead of time to let them know. It is a 10 hour excursion, but totally worth it. We saw humpback whales, orcas, mountain goats, seals on our way to South Sawyer Glacier. It is a totally different experience being close to a glacier in a 55ft boat! There was indeed a lot of ice and the crew used poles to push the ice away from the boat. In Icy Straight Point, was passed through the cruise center to meet up with our local guide Stu from Hoonah Travel Adventures to go on the Wilderness Tour and brown bear search. They can go much further into the park than the cruise ship tours. We only had 8 people in our van. Saw several Sitka Black Tail deer. There were signs of bears at every stop we made, but no bear sightings until we were about to give up at our very last stop. A brown bear appeared from the bushes about 50 years from where we were standing on the bridge and he proceeded to walk right underneath us! Highly recommend this tour. In Anchorage we again rented a car and decided to drive to Seward. Beautiful drive! Stopped at the Wildlife Conservation Center. Managed to see a Sea Otter at the Seward marina and hiked to the Exit Glacier. Quick trip to Homer for another car rental. This time with adventurealaskacars.com. An adventure indeed! The cars are old and beat-up. Good thin was that we did not have to worry about any scratches. $100 flat rate for cruise ship guests and they will pick you up from the Spit. Drove around some. Skyline Drive is totally worth the views.

glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise and saw so much wild life.

That is a wonderful itinerary -- we did it twice.

We were on the same cruise - had a wonderful time .

We had fantastic service everywhere , met lots of great people. ⚓️😀

Where did you take the Tracy Arm excursion from?

Where did you take the Tracy Arm excursion from?

Had to board airplane and was not able to edit original post within 30 minutes.

Kodiak was dreary and rainy. We had not plans so DH and DS stayed on board to relax and I walked around some in town and went for a hike in the park across the bridge. Hubbard Glacier was magnificent. As in Endicot Arm, the bow was opened up . Pea soup and hot chocolate was served on deck. We were able to get pretty close to the glacier and spent a good bit of time in front of it. The last Alaska stop in Sitka was the only time we did a shore excursion through the ship. Dry suit snorkeling was a great experience. DH decided to go into town, so it was DS and I with 4 others. Beautiful star fish, kelp beds and lots of fish, including a school of salmon. Victoria, BC was the last stop and we rented a car to visit Butchart Gardens (a must see) and to just drive around.

Sounds like a real wildlife adventure; thanks for sharing :)

The overall ship experience was good. As mentioned before, check in was a breeze. Service in MDR was great and food was good. Portions were fine and did not leave us feeling stuffed after dinner. Tua (assistant MDR manager) and Dwi (server) were wonderful. They brought us freshly-made sambal from the crew galley every night. We had dinner at the Pinnacle Grill one night and it was awesome. Portions are large! The Lido deck was standard. Dont miss the French crepe station as I did for the first half of the cruise (on the side with the waffles). Ice machine was broken on one side for the entire cruise.

DS loved The Loft. Did not see much of him on the ship as he was always hanging out with the Teen group. We did some of the shows and enjoyed them. The juggler and magician shows were great. There no longer is a librarian available, so you can take books from the library as you wish. The Exploration Cafe always had great snacks. No need to purchase something to be able to get a snack.

Imho, the Unlimited Laundry package is the best kept HAL secret. $98 for the entire cruise and laundry picked up in the morning was back the same night most of the time.

The new Port Valet seems to work very well. Received boarding passes and luggage tags the night before disembarkation and according to Delta, my bag is on the plane with me. Port Valet disembarkation was broken up into 4 groups, with disembarkation times starting at 7:30AM for group A and ending at 8:30AM for group D.

A couple of negatives. The ship is in need of a major refit. The crew is doing their best to maintain it in the best condition possible, but they can only do so much. Dolphin deck (1) Port Aft had a water leak during the entire cruise which caused a less than pleasant odor in the hallways. When we boarded, they were already trying to dry the carpet, so it appears it may have been an issue during the previous cruise as well. Some of the equipment in the Lido did not work.

Be aware that the last bus back to the ship in Anchorage leaves at 9PM, even though all-aboard is not until 10:30PM. This caught a number of people by surprise.

I also wish that they would offer some food options (other than room service) on late port calls. When we returned to the ship at 9PM in Anchorage, nothing was available until the Lido opened back up at 10:30PM.

These were minor things in an overall great cruise.

This was our first HAL cruise, so obviously our first time on ms Amsterdam as well. We were quite pleased with the experience, but were disappointed at the meager options for entertainment during sea days. After the ATK cooking demonstrations there was little to do aside from read or visit the bar (DW would read in the bar...).

From other comments here we were wary about what condition Amsterdam would be in, but any issues with physical condition seemed to be minor (we were on 2 so no leak/odor problems) and the crew were friendly and attentive.

Our server in the Crows Nest suggested the wine tasting dinner one evening so we signed up for it. She thanked us many times and told us Sunday night that she got the afternoon off ashore in Victoria as a reward to her for having recruited us.

As you can see below we've put in a deposit for another Holland America cruise next summer...

Thank you for your reports.

Sounds like you had a great cruise.

Underwatr provided me with a bit of information I did not know and never heard anyone else mention: By signing up, I assume with her, for the wine dinner, the crew member was rewarded. Often, during the beginning of a cruise, I have been given a friendly, non-hostile "sales pitch" by a lounge Steward(ess) about the special events that they are able to help me register to attend. Never thought that the crew member would receive any benefit for me doing so.

I try to sign-up for my wine package prior to sailing and usually find a Wine Steward in the forward Mid-Ships Pool area to help me do that. I assume the gratuity for the price of the package goes into a pool for all of the Wine Stewards. Now, I wonder, if he(she) also is rewarded in some other way because they were able to "sell" me (a most willing customer) the Package?

Had to board airplane and was not able to edit original post within 30 minutes.

 

Kodiak was dreary and rainy. We had not plans so DH and DS stayed on board to relax and I walked around some in town and went for a hike in the park across the bridge. Hubbard Glacier was magnificent. As in Endicot Arm, the bow was opened up . Pea soup and hot chocolate was served on deck. We were able to get pretty close to the glacier and spent a good bit of time in front of it. The last Alaska stop in Sitka was the only time we did a shore excursion through the ship. Dry suit snorkeling was a great experience. DH decided to go into town, so it was DS and I with 4 others. Beautiful star fish, kelp beds and lots of fish, including a school of salmon. Victoria, BC was the last stop and we rented a car to visit Butchart Gardens (a must see) and to just drive around.

Where did you rent a car in Victoria? We want to see the gardens, and a one-day rental would likely be cheaper than a taxi both ways.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the cruise.

Keith

Where did you rent a car in Victoria? We want to see the gardens, and a one-day rental would likely be cheaper than a taxi both ways.

Appreciate the feedback.

We've done this cruise but would like to do it again. Your excursions are very different from what we've done and you gave me many great ideas. Really never thought about so many car rentals. Love the idea of the up close glacier visit out of Juneau too.

Thank you!

We were on this cruise as well. It was our first HAL cruise, but it won't be our last! It was fantastic! Some observations...

The ship seemed to be in great condition, but is a bit outdated. The pink tile in the bathroom looks like what was in my 1950's-built house when I bought it! Storage in the room was more than adequate; we didn't use nearly all the closets/drawers. The make up mirror on the desk/dressing table was scary. Does anyone need to see their face magnified at about 100x early in the morning? LOL

Entertainment...the evening shows were mostly pretty good. The comedian on the first night (I have forgotten her name) was absolutely awful. The Amsterdam singers and dancers were very good!

Food...there were a few things that we didn't care for but overall we found the meals very good. We had a few meals at the Pinnacle Grill ... excellent.

America's Test Kitchen ... fun demonstrations and Chef Kathleen was terrific.

Boarding the ship ... went quickly and smoothly. We kept waiting for the lines, but there were none! We used the Port Valet service when leaving the ship. It was so nice not to deal with luggage. Nice service!

People ... awesome! We met so many nice people on the cruise!

We were on this cruise as well. It was our first HAL cruise, but it won't be our last! It was fantastic! Some observations...

The ship seemed to be in great condition, but is a bit outdated.

Entertainment...the evening shows were mostly pretty good. The comedian on the first night (I have forgotten her name) was absolutely awful. The Amsterdam singers and dancers were very good!

People ... awesome! We met so many nice people on the cruise!

We were there too- met so many great people and I was impressed for the most part at how polite people were and lined up for things instead of pushing. We found the decor in need of updating as well, although it did bring me back to feeling like I was on a cruise a long time ago 😀

I try to be very open minded and forgiving with entertainers but agree that comedian the first night was terrible and we did not find her funny at all. Hopefully she is not back for the future Cruisers to deal with.

Happy sails in the future!

We just came home from this cruise and agree that it was a winner for sure.

The Amsterdam is 17 years old, goes around the world every year and, in my opinion, still provides a great experience. We gravitate toward these older, smaller ships because of the superior service and more pleasant traditional interiors.

This was an outstanding cruise for us and gave us the opportunity to see Alaska again...and in the best way possible....from the deck of a good ship.