14 Day Land Explorer May 22 - June 5 Review

Our family recently returned from a 14 day Alaskan Cruise aboard the lovely Amsterdam. We Sailed May 22-June 5. We had a wonderful time aboard the Amsterdam and thoroughly enjoyed our Alaskan adventure. First a little about us, our group consisted of my husband and I, our adult children aged 20 and 23 and my parents. My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and we renewed our vows on board (more about that later). Our family has cruised to Alaska before, this was our first time on Holland America, but it was not my parent’s first Hal cruise.

We drove to Seattle from Canada and left our car at the cruise parking at Pier 91, which I would do again as it, was so easy. We paid for our parking in advance before we left and kept the receipt in the car for an easy exit at the end of our cruise. We dropped our luggage and passengers off and then my husband and Dad went and parked the cars and then took the shuttle back to terminal. It took less than 10 minutes. It was 1:00 when we arrived, a bit later than we intended, but there were no lines at all and we never waited at all to board. After dropping our carry-on’s in our room we went and had some lunch before doing a bit of exploring. It was very warm and sunny, so we found a nice shaded spot by the aft pool to have a drink as we awaited sail away. 4:00 came and went and we then learned that we were delayed because the vegetables were lost in traffic and that we wouldn’t be sailing away until 5:30. We were not too worried; we were on vacation after all!! We had early fixed dinning so sail away was during dinner. Our table was right by the window (table 19) so we enjoyed a lovely meal while we watched Seattle grow smaller in the distance. Our Dining Steward Zaini and Assistant Steward Wawan as well as our Wine Steward Nestor were fantastic. They were wonderful and made our experience very special. We were very pleased with the quality of the meals. We enjoyed our time in the MDR so much that we ended up cancelling a few evenings in the Pinnacle Grill because we enjoyed the MDR more. A lot of that was because of the Staff.

We had three inside cabins for this cruise and we were very happy with our rooms and room stewards. We have had balcony rooms before and really enjoy them but this time we chose to get inside cabins and save a bit of money. The ship is very well taken care of and staff were constantly cleaning or maintaining every inch. The staff was friendly and helpful to my husband and I as well as my parents but our young adults were often overlooked. We did witness them politely wait long periods of time for service on several occasions and they were often ignored despite trying to get the attention of staff. We watched older patrons walk up and they were immediately served when the kids were standing there. Not sure why because as soon as we would stand beside them, we were eagerly served. They are not children they are adults and they are very well mannered and mature. They were perplexed because on Celebrity they never found getting served to be an issue at all. Maybe it was because the average age on this cruise was 80. My parents who have sailed Hal on a multitude of occasions felt that they were too young to be on this particular sailing, we certainly felt that way and several others joked to us that we were too young to be there!! We really didn’t mind as we were travelling as a group and spending time together as a family. The inability to obtain service for the kids is really my one and only complaint and overall we really enjoyed this cruise. We are pretty easy going and we didn’t let this little issue bother us too much. We were together most of the time and as long as we were with them it wasn’t a problem at all.

This cruise was the earliest we have been to Alaska. Every other time has been during summer and I have to say it was a bit cold at times. We were prepared and brought warm clothes including hats and gloves so we were not uncomfortable. We had mostly dry weather and it was nice to see more snow on the mountains. Alaska is stunning and one never tires of the view. We spent our first sea day relaxing and getting some reading in. As we have in the past we meet for a cocktail before dinner every night. We all had the explore 4 beverage package; my daughter though as she is still only 20, was sampling non-alcoholic beverages. We enjoyed having the package but all agree would not pay for it if it wasn’t included in out booking. We actually saved $60 per person by adding it to our booking when explore 4 came out last summer. It was nice to be carefree and enjoy ourselves, but we all agreed that we probably didn’t get our money’s worth every day.

Our first port of call was Ketchikan. We had all been there multiple times so we got off the ship and wandered around for a bit. We were not interested in all of the diamond stores or other touristy shops so we didn’t spend much time there. We went back to the ship after a short while and enjoyed some time playing cards together. We have been told that it is too icy to enter into Tracy Arm tomorrow so we will visit Endicott Arm instead. We didn’t really mind as we hadn’t been to Endicott Arm yet and we were not disappointed. It was very beautiful.

This is my first attempt at adding a photo, fingers crossed this works

Photos are not loading I will have to figure out how.

Enjoying thus far. Thanks for taking the time to report.

Enjoying your review.

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Thanks for sharing, we will be on this itinerary in a few weeks.

Thank you for reviewing your Alaskan cruise.

Thank you so much for your reviews - it is such a treat for those of us who are planning a trip and it is much appreciated!

⚓️😀

Here are a few photos of Endicott Arm

Juneau was our next stop. Again this was a port we had been to before. In past trips we have gone to the Mendenhall Glacier as well as taking the tram up Mt Roberts. Both are great, unfortunately my son is awaiting knee surgery and he could not handle the hike. We went and had Beer at the Red Dog Saloon; afterwards we went in search of a decent cup of coffee. Not loving the coffee on Holland America I have to say. We found a nice coffee shop and used a bit of their wifi before heading back to the ship again.

Our ship in Juneau

Icy Strait Point has always been one of my Favourite stops, mostly because it is the least commercial port on our whole trip. The tribe and their leaders have done a great job welcoming tourists and still maintaining control of how people visit. I love the new dock and how much development they have done over the last few years. We didn’t have any tours scheduled we just walked along the beach and forest path. It is a very beautiful stop. The cannery is very interesting and there are lots of free things to see. If you are brave the zip line is terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. We went the last time we were there.

Oh and there were lots of whales

In Anchorage we took a 10 hour train excursion. We took a short bus ride to the train station, bought a coffee and picked up our box lunches before boarding the train. We saw some spectacular sights that were only accessible by train. It was a long day but we enjoyed the adventure

Homer was our next stop. We took the shuttle to town and then walked around the area. We spotted the Time Bandit from TV’s Deadliest Catch and snapped a few photos.

Homer is very pretty and we enjoyed our time there. We took a hop on hop off trolley and explored some more

Another stunning sunset

More to come tomorrow...

Not loving the coffee on Holland America I have to say. .

I'm assuming this comment is about the free brewed coffee. Did you try to coffee that is available for a fee? (Do you regularly have specialty coffees?)

Great pictures!

Thank you for sharing your review.

Looking forward to more.

I am enjoying your review and loving your pictures.

We have done your cruise twice on the Amsterdam. It is a great itinerary.