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My Review - ms Amsterdam - 7/27-8/10

luvteaching

By luvteaching,
in Holland America Line

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luvteaching

luvteaching

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Review:

 

We did the ms Amsterdam July 27- Aug. 10th out of Seattle. We had a great time and this itinerary is second to none. It’s a shame that it isn’t being offered in 2013.

 

Background: My husband and I did this trip. He has oxygen and mobility issues so we rented a scooter and got his oxygen through Care Vacations. He is wheelchaired on and off the ship in Seattle.

 

Embarkation: We live north of Seattle so we drive to the port. We got there at 10:00 AM, I dropped off my husband and the luggage, parked the car in the long-term lot and got the shuttle back. We were cleared security, checked in, and seated by 10:45 AM. By 11:45 AM we were being escorted on the ship with my husband being wheeled on.

 

Cabin: We had cabin 3360 and this was our first time in an ocean view as we usually get balconies. We had done a “C Guarantee” and this cabin was perfect for us! It was between two doors to the promenade deck on the port side. There was one cabin on the stern side and that was it for neighbors. The hallway to the stern side was where they had us park the scooter at night. The room was quiet and a good size. I had everything put away by early afternoon.

 

Ship and Staff: The ship, in my opinion, is in great shape. Everything is neat and clean and in good working order. The staff are wonderful. They accommodate disabilities so well. We learned that you can fit a scooter (the size we rent) under the Greyline buses! That opened up so many avenues for us.

 

Dining: We had As You Wish dining and I made reservations in the morning if we were thinking of the dining room. We had tables for 2, 4 and 6 at various times during the cruise. We’re not foodies and always found the food to be very good, the service impeccable, and the desserts lovely. My husband particularly enjoyed having the Baked Alaska each night. We ate in the Canaletto one night (no charge, no cotton candy) and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We also did the Lido a couple of evenings when we were just too tired to change and go to the dining room. Breakfast and lunch were in the Lido and we enjoyed the chocolate croissants, the bread pudding, the wonderful salad bar, the custom made omelets, and the ice cream!

 

Meet & Greet: We had our meet and greet on Saturday, July 28th at 11:00 AM in the Crow’s Nest. We had a great turnout and the Holland America staff outdid themselves. We had in attendance the Beverage Manager, the Hotel Manager, Cruise Director Michael, and the Captain, Jonathon Mercer even came! We were all excited about that!

 

Meet and Greet Photo: We didn’t get a photo at the Meet and Greet - a lot of people, the officers there and everyone was having a good time - so I arranged with Michael, the Cruise Director, to stage a photo on the last sea day at 4:45 PM. About half the group came but we were all tickled to see the officers join us again as well. The Captain, Hotel Manager, and Cruise Director were all smiling away, posing for photos, etc. and Michael arranged for a ship’s photographer to take the photo for us.

 

Ports: In Ketchikan I did some shopping and then we explored to the west as we hadn’t done that before. The visitor’s center has a great walking map tour if you want to do something different. It was raining - off and on - but that’s Ketchikan.

 

Tracy Arm: We got all the way to Sawyer Glacier! Captain Mercer and his crew did a marvelous job!

 

Juneau: It was raining (off and on) again. We did the Juneau Highlights tour which gave us time at Mendenhall Glacier, McCauley Salmon Hatchery and a nice city tour.

 

Icy Strait Point/Hoonah: This is a tender port and the weather was nice. We needed to take the scooter off ship and I was impressed. The crew members manning the tenders carried the scooter down a flight of stairs to board the tender, and up again when we came back. This port is not nearly as commercialized as the other ports and it was peaceful to explore. We did a Hoonah “City Tour” and both our guide and driver were native Tlinket women who had marvelous stories to share and lots of information to give us.

 

Anchorage: It was a beautiful sunny day in Anchorage and close to shirt sleeve weather. We did the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and Portage Glacier tour. It was a full day (1:00 PM - 7:00 PM) but definitely worth it! The views of Portage Glacier we fantastic. We were on the Ptarmigan and it got quite close to the glacier. There was also a National Forest Service ranger on board to provide commentary.

 

Homer: Homer is an unspoiled town and your transportation is by school bus for all the tours. This trip we did the Homer Highlights tour that went to the Ocean and Wilderness Conservation Center, Pratt Museum and the Lowell Gallery. This also included a city tour - which didn’t take long but was still informative. All three stops were nice and we could have used a lot longer at the Lowell Gallery and the Ocean and Wildlife Conservation Center It was overcast and just a bit of rain.

 

Kodiak: Rain, rain, everywhere rain! We stayed on ship until 11:00. When we got off the Memory Makers vans were just letting off the first group so they loaded us up right away so we could get out of the rain - but we were still soaked. If you can do a trip with them when in Kodiak they are great! There were only 4 of us in the van - another couple and us. We went all over the place including Abercrombie State Park and the Military Museum, past the Coast Guard Station, to the fairgrounds for the eagle nest, and to Belle Flats for some great views of the Russian River. We looked for bears and puffins (saw the latter but not the former) as well as seeing people fishing. We were back on the ship at 2:15, wet but having had a great time. This was formal night and the entertainment was the Amsterdam singers doing Broadway tunes which was very good.

 

Hubbard Glacier: During the night between Kodiak and Hubbard the waves were high and the wind was blowing. We were to stay off the promenade deck which didn’t take a lot of convincing! In the morning things were calmer and we were allowed access once again. The day was an at-sea morning. The rangers and the native people got on board at 2:00 and the ranger did a talk that was ok. From there it was out on deck to look at Hubbard Glacier. Even though it was overcast and there were low-lying clouds the glacier shone and the views were stunning.

 

Sitka: The day was cloudy and we tendered in. Sitka has free wi-fi pretty much all over town which is nice. We went to a few of our favorite spots then checked in with the email and internet before heading back to the ship.

 

Victoria: We did the self-guided walk on Dallas Road. We turned left when we left the dock and wandered all along the waterfront to the Empress Hotel then back to the ship. It was about 6 miles total and a beautiful day to walk.

 

Now we’re home and looking back over the trip and we still are reveling in it. This is a great itinerary and I’m sad that Holland America won’t be running it next year. The trip was 2 weeks of fun and relaxation, a chance to meet and connect with some really nice people, and a highlight of our summer.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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Nice review - it certainly sounds like you had a good time:) consider yourself lucky that you snagged this cruise while it was still available:D

 

Thanks and welcome home:):)

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catl331

catl331

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Our first HAL cruise was on the Amsterdam to Alaska. So happy to hear she is still pleasing cruisers. We enjoyed Capt Mercer while we cruised on another ship and thought he was friendly to all. You have some nice memories. Thanks for sharing.

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pepsigirl64

pepsigirl64

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:D Great review. Thanks for sharing. I am doing this cruise next month and will also rent a scooter. What did you do with the scooter when you took the tour in Homer in the school bus? or the tour in Icy Strait Point?? Any other "scooter" suggestions for Kodiak?? I have had a scooter in Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan, so I know the ropes there. Thanks

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trvlcrzy

trvlcrzy

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luvteaching did a great job organizing our meet and greet. Thanks so much for that!

 

I won't be writing a review (if you've read one of my reviews in the past -- you'll understand that they take too much time to write!), so here's a brief list of the activities luvtwotrvl and I did...

 

pre-trip: drive to Mt. Rainier (it's close, but yet so far... no easy way to get there... mostly through towns and rural roads with low speed limits; weather was beautiful for us, though!)

 

Ketchikan: on our own to walk around

 

Juneau: rented a car and drove up to Eagle Beach State Recreation Area (deserted due to rainy weather, but still nice and peaceful), stopped by the Shrine of St. Therese

 

Icy Strait Point: ZipRider through the ship's excursions (great fun... and I was the fastest in our group)

 

Anchorage: Spencer Glacier Rail and Trail through the ship's excursions (train to Whittier then back to Portage then back to Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop, walk to Glacier Observation Point and back, train to Portage, bus back to ship... long day but worth it, I think)

 

Homer: on our own walk around (free shuttle to Salty Dawg, but we walked back to ship)

 

Kodiak: rented a car and drove south along the bays (rainy conditions hampered what might have been glorious views)

 

Sitka: Tour with Captain Davey on the Esther G Sea Taxi to find wildlife (great photos of otters, saw several humpbacks... including a breach not captured on film, so you'll have to trust us, seals, puffins and other birds)

 

Victoria: Butchart Gardens with Short City Drive through ship's excursions (bit of a mix-up between ship and shoreside about the number of us, so there weren't enough seats on the 2 buses. The shoreside folks put us on the bus for the Butterfly Gardens and Butchart Gardens and promised that our time would not be shortened... we were originally scheduled from 12:30 - 4:30, and we were loaded on the bus at 1:00 with a 5:30 return, so no harm done)

 

post-trip: Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle (wonderful museum worthy of more time than we allowed)

 

If anyone has questions about our particular activities, feel free to ask.

 

Apologies to luvteaching if she thinks I've hijacked her thread. I didn't figure my info was worth another thread from the same two-week trip.

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luvteaching

luvteaching

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Hi!

 

Trvlcrzy - no need to apologize at all - you didn't hijack anything! I hope more from our group add on as far as what they did in each port so others will know.

 

I appreciate the kind words about the Meet and Greet. It was a great group of people!

 

I stopped at our travel agent this afternoon and she was telling me she had several customers come in wanting to book this trip for next year and were very disappointed that it wasn't being offered.

 

We can consider ourselves very lucky to have done it and for the hubby and I to have done it twice!

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CuriousCornellian

CuriousCornellian

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Luvteaching:

Thanks for the great review. I would love to get more informaiton on your husband's scooter experience since my husband will be using one for the first time and a I haven't planned any special tours because I don't know how he'll manage. Any tips or suggestions. I'd love to speak with you but I don't know how to get yoour phone number or give you mine.

 

CuriousCornellian

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luvteaching

luvteaching

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Luvteaching:

Thanks for the great review. I would love to get more informaiton on your husband's scooter experience since my husband will be using one for the first time and a I haven't planned any special tours because I don't know how he'll manage. Any tips or suggestions. I'd love to speak with you but I don't know how to get yoour phone number or give you mine.

 

CuriousCornellian

 

Hi CuriousConellian,

 

You can contact me at kandp1794 at gmail dot com and we can talk scooters. We've done at least 4 cruises with his scooter (we rent from Care Vacations) and have had good success on all of them. When and where are you cruising?

 

Karen

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