Tapi

Glacier Bay: First of all, we were blessed with amazingly clear blue skies and temperatures hovering in the 60's. Arriving in Glacier Bay and seeing the beauty of this place with my own eyes was the moment when I realized that the last 3 years of planning, and all the bumps along the way, had been completely worth it. Pictures and videos will NEVER recreate what your senses feel in this place. Pulling up to Margerie Glacier, and enjoying the views, breathing the pure air, listening to the sound of glaciers calving, and feeling the crisp breeze, was an absolutely wonderful experience.

THE FOOD:

- Lido Restaurant: We ate at the Lido more than we would've liked because we were traveling with small children. the selections were varied and tasteful, but I had an issue with cleanliness (more on that below).

- The Vista Dining Room: Very nice (on the few nights we did make it there). One word of caution for families: waiters don't seem to be as used to small children as on other cruise lines, so service is more "adult" and less "family friendly".

- Pinnacle Grill: I already mentioned it before, but I'll do it again. This venue is a definite highlight on this ship. My wife and I left our kids with the grandparents while we went to eat there and enjoyed every minute of it. Well worth the upcharge.

- Room Service: Nice selection. Definitely wider than on other cruise lines we've taken. It was nice to enjoy a full breakfast in cabin instead of just a continental breakfast. The only thing that was amusing (and a bit annoying at the same time) was the fact that they kept delivering burnt toast. We kept ordering it hoping that the next day they'd get it right but they never did. No biggie. As I said, more amusing than anything else. The use of china instead of hard plastic plates like on other cruise lines we've sailed on was a welcome touch.

FELLOW CRUISERS:

One of the things that I had read extensively about Holland America was that they cater heavily to a well traveled, older, more affluent, and polished clientele.

I will assume that, because this was a 7 night itinerary during the summer departing from a US port, the demographics were different. While there were many fellow cruisers that did fit the description that I had read, there were also many younger cruisers, several families, first timers, etc. Basically, there was a bit of everything, very similar to what we've experienced on more budget conscious cruise lines. Ironically, I had read on the Holland America board that I would never see people walking around the ship in their bathrobes. Well, I think that not everybody received that memo because I saw several throughout the week. It didn't bother me. I just found it a bit entertaining.

KIDS PROGRAM:

There were many families with kids on our cruise and Club HAL and The Loft are the programs geared towards them. While our kids only attended a few times (we chose to let them play with their older cousins instead), the staff was wonderful and the activities were plentiful. The actual facilities pale in comparison to more "family friendly" cruise lines, but at least they are offered.

ITINERARY:

We choose this itinerary specifically because it sailed from Seattle, on a Saturday, and visited Glacier Bay.

The convenience of sailing roundtrip from Seattle was priceless. The main drawback though was that we sailed along the west side of Vancouver Island (instead of the inside passage) so we didn't start enjoying the scenery until day 3 going into Juneau. Not only was it less scenic, but the seas were very rough on the first night. Thankfully, after that, we were blessed with blue skies and calm seas.

- Juneau: Unfortunately, I got sick this day (more on that later) so I didn't get off the ship. But my wife and kids took the Glacier Express to Mendenhall Glacier and had a nice time, although they said they were packed like sardines on the bus. So a different method of transportation may be a better option even if its more expensive.

Other family members did the helicopter / dog sledding tour and they said that it was the most amazing experience of their lives and well worth the price.

PRE CRUISE:

We flew to Seattle the day before the cruise on Souhwest Airlines. This was our 1st time flying on them and while their fares are great and the free bags are a nice perk, this airline is not for me. The flight was late, the whole cattle boarding with no seat assignment is not how I want to start my vacation, with people trampling each other and throwing bags to secure a seat. To top it all, they lost one of our checked bags (the BIG one, with most of our clothes). Just for the record, we are back home and the bag is still missing. How an airline looses a bag indefinitely, flying nonstop between two cities, is beyond me.

Instead of exploring Seattle, we spent the morning of the cruise shopping for 7 days worth of clothes for the whole family. The good news is that we did our best to laugh it off and tried to forget about it (at least until we got home). By the way, gym pants and a dinner jacket can look good on a 3 year old on formal night!

We stayed at the Westin downtown, which proved to be an ideal location for our shopping marathon as well as the bit of sightseeing we were able to squeeze in.

THE SHIP:

As mentioned before, I was a bit skeptical about sailing on the Westerdam. But I must admit that, as I got to know my way around, I warmed up to her and truly enjoyed sailing aboard this ship.

Built in 2004, she's not brand new, but she's definitely not an old gal. She does feel just a bit tired in some places though (nothing major, just little cosmetic issues that can easily be fixed wit new carpeting or wall covers).

There were some areas which I absolutely loved, and spent a generous amount of time in:

- Crow's Nest and Explorations Lounge: easily the best spot on the entire ship. Tastefully decorated, wonderful views, and great ambiance.

- Greenhouse Spa: We signed up for the Spa Retreat week pass which gave us access to the Thermal Suite and the Hydro pool. A little slice of Heaven, specially after a long day of sightseeing.

- The Pinnacle Grill: We have enjoyed alternative dining on other cruise lines, and the Pinnacle Grill did not disappoint. The cuisine was great, the service polished, and we enjoyed having the option to eat here for lunch as well as dinner.

- Lido Pool: Nice layout. The glass roof was perfect for Alaska cruising, and since we were blessed with beautiful clear skies, the roof was retracted a few times. There's something to be said about taking a dip in a hot tub while enjoying the amazing Alaska scenery!

I didn't love everything about the Westerdam though. The decor is truly not to my taste and I found it to be a bit inconsistent. One moment I'd find myself walking by an elegant and tasteful venue or by a fine piece of art, only to be met by the most hideous and tacky decor at another. Some may say that some areas of the ship are "cozy". I'd call them dark and gloomy.

Please do note that even though the decor was not to my liking, it truly didn't affect our enjoyment of an otherwise absolutely wonderful cruise.

THE STATEROOM:

We had initially booked an oceanview stateroom on the Main Deck (1) but just a few days before the cruise, prices dropped and we upgraded to a balcony stateroom on Verandah Deck (5) for free, plus we received $150 onboard credit!

The stateroom was wonderful, the bed very comfortable, and we were very glad about having a balcony. Although we found ourselves out on deck for "serious" scenery watching, it was nice to have a balcony where to sit and enjoy some fresh air. The DVD player was a nice and useful touch, specially for people like us with small children and an arsenal of DVD's for kids.

The other family members traveling with us booked cabins ranging from Oceanview Staterooms to Signature Suites. All were very happy with their accommodations...

Glaciers, Eagles, Lost Bags and Food Poisoning - A pictorial review of our 1st Holland America cruise

I have just returned from my 25th cruise. This one, however, was our first visit to Alaska and our first time aboard Holland America. We traveled with other family members, 14 total, ranging from 74 years old to 15 months old. We started planning this cruise back in 2010, but the plans had to be placed on hold because of my father's health issues, followed by two new babies in the family. But after a lot of planning, we finally picked a ship and a date. Several family members would be first time cruisers, one who visualized cruising as a worse experience than medieval torture. Would this cruise change his mind? We'd soon find out.

My most recent cruises had been on the 225,000 ton Allure of the Seas and the 130,000 ton Carnival Dream, so I will start by saying that I was a bit skeptical about sailing aboard the comparatively small 82,000 ton Westerdam.

I learned VERY quickly that a cruise to Alaska would be mostly about the destination and not so much about the ship...

Fantasy class ships may not have the most bells and whistles, but I do like where their Serenity Area is located. Completely aft, completely quiet, and the only thing separating you from the wake of the ship is a guard rail. They Di have hot tubs and umbrellas throughout, as well as a shaded area.

Why stop with just 1? Why not all? Costa does have a tarnished name.

And Carnival has such a squeaky clean image these days...

And where does that leave Tampa???

Unfortunately, same place as before. 1 hr and 55 minutes away from a very strong competitor: Port Canaveral. A port that is growing, deepening the channel, and expanding its facilities to accommodate the largest ships being built today.

In the meantime, Tampa is stuck, with a cruise terminal on the other side of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, limiting it to ships not much larger than the Legend, which will eventually mean certain death unless they take some drastic measures.

With Legend's departure, Tampa is left with only one year round ship (and just doing short cruises), and 3 seasonal ships.

The Sunshine schedules sucks but I would still do it over a 5 night Elation cruise.

If you figure out your per diem, it's $220/day for the Elation and $228/day for the Sunshine. The difference is negligible.

And if $500 is really going to put that much of a damper on your upcoming Eastern Europe vacation, with all due respect you may want to reconsider your vacation plans since you can easily blow $500 in ONE day in Europe. :o

If you have a good relationship with your PVP (like we do), they are allowed to do ship visits on the day of embarkation and they are allowed to bring up to 4 additional, non-traveling guests along.

Our PVP coordinated to have 4 of our friends join us for lunch and a ship tour on embarkation day when we sailed on the Liberty. It was a wonderful gesture on his part.

Not every PVP is willing to do this, but we've known ours for 8 years and he has become a great friend.

Is that your dog or just a pic that you liked? Every time I see it, it makes me laugh.

Thanks. That is truly my dog (and Tapi is her name) :D

With or without that review, if your family wants to sail on Oasis or Allure, go for it! The difference between a cruise on the Breeze and one of the Oasis twins will be like night and day. It's absolutely amazing. We sailed on the Dream (Breeze's sister) and the Allure the same year, and the Dream was a nice cruise, while the Allure was a "Wow! This is amazing! Once in a lifetime" kind of cruise.

About the link to the review you mentioned, the poster does have some valid points but in my opinion, they are a bit exaggerated. Entertainment is definitely not as good (with more passenger participation activities and less professional entertainment) but you can still be entertained. Food selection is there (and there are still some excellent dishes) but they have cheapened out on others, so it is hit or miss. And the beds, while not as heavenly as they once were when the Comfort Bed System was introduced, are far from being rock hard.

Feel free to read and compare my two reviews below. Hope they help you decide.

Well, Catholic mass on HAL isn't something that I knew about when we booked our upcoming cruise, but I know that many family members in our group will be thrilled!

Although we normally attend mass when we are home, NOT having religious services while cruising (on other cruise lines) is something that we had grown used to.

Another reason to look forward to our 1st Holland America cruise! :)

There are two types of passengers that visit La Romana: those who don't do any research, don't go too far from the pier and hate it, and those who do some research, explore beyond the pier and love it.

We were in La Romana on our honeymoon cruise, and due to an itinerary change, we ended up docked in La Romana for 2 nights!! :eek:

What some may have considered a disaster, we considered to be a blessing in disguise. We were forced to do some research or be stuck on the ship.

We spent one day in Altos de Chavon, a beautiful artist village which was built as part of a movie set, but now greets visitors with its shops, architecture, open air auditorium, and great views.

On the second day, we took a horseback riding tour at the Casa de Campo resort grounds. Wonderful! It was very laid back and relaxing, with great views of the ocean as well as the hills in the area. The tour guide was excellent, offering insight about the things we saw along the way.

Finally, we took a day tour to Catalina Island (comparable to a day at Half Moon Cay or other private beaches). Great day to relax on a powder white sand beach with water sports, a little bit of light shopping, and an outdoor barbecue in a pavilion.

We did a little bit of walking around the area right near the port, and we understand why La Romana gets bad reviews from people that don't venture beyond this area. It's run down, ugly, and crowded. There are some hidden stores which offer bargain prices, but they are not for the tourist who doesn't feel comfortable getting away from their comfort zone.

Have a great time. La Romana is a wonderful place!

Congratulations! We also tried for years and we finally had our first son in 2009. I don't blame you for bein cautious. We were too! We didn't want to go too far away for fears of anything going wrong. Even after our son was born, we were deathly afraid to take him on a cruise because of all the "what ifs". When we finally cruised, we drove to the closest port and took a quick cruise to the Bahamas and Key West. We worried about going to ports too far off the beaten path.

We now have a daughter who was born on Feb 2012. We actually dropped our fears and cruised when my wife was just shy of 24 weeks of pregnancy with her and didn't worry. We are now planning our daugter's 1st cruise (to Alaska) so we've come a long way. :)

Enjoy this amazing time and cherish every moment of it! It's truly a wonderful experience! :)

Hello:

Has anybody used the Sitka Visitor Transit Bus "Untour"? It's a service provided on cruise days, charges $10pp and stops at several tourist attractions.

Where do we board in relation to the tender dock? Where do we purchase tickets? Can we pre-reserve? Any other useful information?

We've read that we can walk to the Raptor Center through the National Park and be there in 30 minutes, but we are traveling with my parents, who are in good health but aren't too keen on walking.

Here's the link that I found. http://www.sitka.org/listings/index.cfm?action=display&listingID=171&menuID=67&hit=1

But they tended to rest on their laurels' date=' not keeping up with changing times and eventually you felt like you had wandered into a very aging old folks home. And then they tried to compete with lines that had kept up and they did it ever so poorly. In their attempts to become mass market they forgot about the passenger and their reason for cruising...the gave up cleanliness, and decorum for pie in the face Barnum and Bailey.

 

I just think it is a badly run company that depends way too much on stimulus instead of heart and soul.[/quote']

 

I agree that NCL went through a "rough patch" a few years ago, but they are now under the command of Kevin Sheehan, which has completely turned NCL around, making them a very attractive. modern, and profitable company. Kevin Sheehan is doing for NCL now what Bob Dickinson did for Carnival while he was in command. In fact, NCL is leaving Carnival in the dust these days with their new and innovative ships, accomodations, and onboard services.

 

It's easy to say "I'll never sail on that cruise line ever again" after a bad experience. I know I almost did with Carnival after we sailed on the Tropicale in 1994 (at the time, I thought that Carnival was an absolutely horrible cruise line and I said I would never EVER sail on them again). Thankfully, I did give them a chance again. If I hadn't, I would've missed out on some great cruises.

 

Granted, not EVERY single Carnival cruise has been great. Some have been good, some not so much (one has been down right awfu), but I've learned NOT to dismiss a cruise line altogether because I had one or two experiences that weren't the best.

How about the bigger cabins and more comfortable beds on Carnival?

Not as clear cut anymore. Back in the Kathy Lee Gifford days, Carnival could truly claim to have the biggest cabins in the cruise industry, but that's not the case anymore.

It is true that Carnival still offers larger accomodations on some categories (specifically the lower categories like standard insides and ocean views), but the tide turns in favor of the other cruise lines on pretty much anything else. Carnival just can't compete in terms of category selection, square footage, and perks.

I also love them signing the goodbye song. Chokes me up every time. It makes the cruise FUN!

And this post just shows that variety is the spice of life, and why there are different cruise lines for different tastes. What one person may find great, the next person may not.

While this passenger is getting all choked up at the goodbye song, we are rolling our eyes and wolfing down our desserts to get out of the MDR as fast as possible. We can't stand the cheesiness of the singing waiters...:o

Thanks for posting! We are looking forward to our first NCL cruise aboard the Jewel next summer! It's good to read about the differences, as minor as they may be.

In our opinion, the little things ARE what make the difference between "just another cruise" and a great cruise.

Normally, people respond to this type of thread with an argument like "if you want more, you'll have to pay more on another cruise line". Not the case this time. Our cruise aboard the Norwegian Jewel priced out a good $700 cheaper than Carnival and $1300 cheaper than Royal Caribbean!

The Breeze (like the Dream) has a Lanai Deck. So instead of overlooking just the ocean, it's like having a street below... with hot tubs... and smokers.

Our balcony was located on the Upper Deck (6) so we had the closest deck to the Lanai Deck below (5). Contrary to similar comments like yours, we didn't encounter any problems with smokers from below or lack of privacy. Although it is true that there are hot tubs located on the Lanai, we had looked at the deck plan before booking and made sure that our balcony was not located above any of them.

Here are some pictures of the view from our balcony on the Upper deck:

We thought about getting a cove balcony until we learned that they don't have glass railings (instead, the balcony is a "cutout" into the hull with metal railings). The ocean view from inside the cabin is a bit more limited than from regular balconies.

Another BIG disadvantage of cove balconies is that if the seas get VERY choppy, your balcony will be SEALED! :eek: (and on our cruise, they almost had to seal the cove balconies due to bad weather on the last day).

We live in a household where both parents work full time. To make matters more challenging, both parents travel for work (one is an airline pilot, the other one is a sales representative). Both of us spend our share of nights away from home, and we are constantly alternating so that someone is home with the kids.

Vacations give us the opportunity of being TOGETHER. It's an absolute treat for us.

We don't want to take our kids for granted. We spend enough time as it is away from them. We don't want to spend our vacation time away from them as well...

I frequently see families with babies (and I mean teeny weeny babies)' date=' a couple still in diapers (that can't be fun on vacation) and a preschooler or two. Mom and Dad (and the Grandparents if they are roped into coming along) spend all their time feeding, watching, running after, disciplining, cleaning up after, etc. their brood and don't seem to have any Mommy Daddy time, or adult conversation. [/quote']

 

Well, I've taken 24 cruises in my life. The last 3 have been with an infant. You know what? They have been by far the BEST 3 cruises of my life.

 

It all depends on where you are in life, and what you consider a vacation to be. Yes, there was a time when a vacation meant going away and having adult fun. These days, I'm in a stage in my life where a vacation means spending time with my family and re-discovering things through my kids eyes.

 

My wife and I used to roll our eyes at our friends with kids who'd make the "pilgrimage" to Disney....that is until we had our OWN kids. We took our son to Disney for the first time last December and watching his eyes lit up in amazement as he walked through those gates for the first time was simply priceless. It brought tears to my eyes. It made me think of when I was that innocent.

 

And no, going on vacation doesn't mean that you'll spend the entire cruise feeding, changing diapers, etc, etc. The beauty of taking a cruise is that you can take a break from your kids because they have kids camp (cruise lines like Disney and Royal Caribbean will accept kids as young as 6 months of age). We'd spend the day with our son, go ashore, have fun, check out the different activities, and then at night we'd drop him off at the kid's nursery while mom and dad went out for dinner, watched a show, or just spent some time relaxing.

 

Most children don't remember what they did in life before the age of 6 and don't care about a lot until they are 12 as far as "doing" something different on vacation.

 

You're right' date=' small kids won't remember, but [u']the parents [/u]will. The memories that WE have with our infant son are priceless, and the 3 cruises that he's taken so far have been amazing! :D

 

We now have a second child, and we are gearing up to sail to Alaska with our now 3 year old son, and our 1 year old daughter. We can't wait! :)

We liked our Boardwalk view because we could still see the ocean (even if it was a partial view). We liked thr future and bustle, and being able to see the action below. As far as noise goes, it only brunette us once (Rita's Fiesta).

I agree that the Cental Park location would be more serene, but I feel that after a few days it would've felt a bit monotonous and claustrophobic. After all, you will spend the week staring at walls with balconies.

We went to Belize last October (aboard the Dream), and while we wanted to go snorkeling or cave tubing, we opted for a Belize City Tour instead since we were traveling with our 23 month old son (who needless to say, was too young to participate in most excursions). We booked the Belize City Tour even after the shore excursion desk staff told us not to expect much.

Well, it's true that Belize is a poor and underpopulated country, and at first glance, many would turn around and go (more like run) back to the ship, but we absolutely LOVED the tour! From the beginning, the tour guide told us not to expect to be wowed by architectural landmarks or big monuments, but the tour would focus on how Belizeans lived. We drove all over the city, from the wealthier suburbs, to the most oppresed parts of the city. And while some of the sights were right down heartbreaking, the smiles and genuine hellos from everybody along the streets made us love Belize. We learned so much about this place!

True, we didn't get to go cave-tubing, or go snorkeling, but we took memories that will last us a lifetime. We agreed that this tour of Belize was the highlight of our cruise...!

Here are some photos:

Arriving by Tender to the Welcome Center in Belize

Our wonderful Tour guide

St. John's Cathedral

We even had a chance to sit during mass and were welcomed by the priest and congregation

Museum of Belize

Shops and restaurants along the water