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Glacier Discovery Cruise - July 29 - August 6

TwoSue

By TwoSue,
in Alaska

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TwoSue

TwoSue

Posted
Posted

The four of us (me, husband, kids 11 and 14) rented an RV for a week in mid-July. I already wrote up a report from that. After our rv tour, we picked up the Zaandam in Seward. Here's the trip report I just wrote for TripAdvisor. I hope that some of the information might be helpful to someone here:

 

CRUISE PORTION - July 29 - August 6

 

Day 8 - Embarkation

 

After the shuttle to Seward, we boarded the Zaandam around 5:00 p.m. By the time we explored the ship, did the muster drill, had dinner, and explored some more, it was time for bed. This was our second cruise, but our first on HAL. There were only 60 kids on board, about half in the 8-12 group and half in the 13 - 17 group which worked well for my kids. I did notice the general population was older than we are, but nobody cared. We had Anytime Dining and asked to share a table every night. We ate with interesting people, and they were always delighted to talk to our kids about their adventures.

 

Day 9 - Sea Day

 

It was a smooth day at sea. We spent our day doing trivia contests, putting contests, a cooking demonstration, photo scavenger hunt. Kids spent the day hanging around with kids from their clubs. After a formal dinner, we went to the production show. It was fine, but nothing spectacular.

 

Day 10 - Glacier Bay

 

After the park rangers boarded, we went to a very educational ranger program in the morning about photography of Glacier Bay over time. We spent most of the rest of the day on the bow of the ship (in the rain), enjoying our time in the bay. I didn't like the constant yattering of the ranger over the loudspeaker, but I did enjoy Glacier Bay, regardless of weather. My 11-year-old did the "polar bear plunge" into the unheated swimming pool while we were in front of the glacier. The show that night was Paul Pappas, a fun piano player who we all enjoyed. We got in the habit of having the 11:00 snack in the Lido before heading to bed. Love life on the cruise ship!

 

Day 11 - Haines

 

It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day in Haines. We picked up a "walking tour" brochure at the kiosk at the bottom of the dock and decided to walk around town. We all enjoyed the Hammer Museum. We played around on the beach by the dock, skipping stones. Then we walked up through the fort and saw some totem poles. We considered hiking the Battery Point Trail, but after having a late lunch on the ship, the kids wanted to go in the pool (it was so sunny they opened the roof partway), so we stayed onboard. The couple we had dinner with had taken the ferry over to Skagway. There were FIVE cruiseships in Skagway with a total of ten thousand passengers! I was glad we stayed in Haines. The show that night was The Marriage Game, which was especially funny because we had had dinner with one of the 90-year old contestants the night before.

 

Day 12 - Juneau

 

We had an early morning kayak trip booked with Above and Beyond Alaska. They picked us up and drove us to their shop where they outfitted us with life jackets, rain gear, rubber boots, and kayak skirts. They then drove us out to Mendenhall Lake. We had three hours to kayak to the glacier and all through the iceburgs around the lake. It was as beautiful as I had hoped! It was raining off and on, but we stayed pretty warm except for our hands. We saw lots of people at the Visitor Center and out by Nugget Falls, but we were happy that we were in the lake instead of just looking at it. After we were dropped off back at the ship, my son and I spent some time walking around the shops. We went to the production show that night, but I was so tired I dozed off during most of it.

 

Day 13 - Ketchikan

 

We were only in Ketchikan from 11 - 7. We were picked up at 12 by Island Wings for our float plane/bear watch. This was the most memorable day of the trip. Michelle, our pilot, flew us to Traitor's Cove, where we had a short ride and then short hike to get to an observation platform. We spent almost 2 hours watching bears fish and eat at a waterfall 75 feet away where the salmon were leaping. One bear even decided he wanted to bring his fish and eat with us on the deck (he thankfully changed his mind when he got within about 10 feet of us and took a good look). We felt like we were in a nature documentary.... this was our big splurge and definitely worth the money. It rained most of the day but it made no difference. The show that night was a comedienne, who was pretty good. Also that night was the dessert extravaganza by the Lido pool, which was good.

 

Day 14 - Inside Passage

 

We had a beautiful, sunny cruise on the way to Vancouver. We spent a lot of time outside, just enjoying the view. They completely opened the roof over the pool so the kids had a great time swimming the day away. The show that night was a production show again, the best of the week.

 

Day 15 - Vancouver

 

We arrived in Vancouver early, but didn't manage to get off the ship until almost ten. We took a cab to the train station, paid to store our bags, then took another cab to Stanley Park. We rented bikes and spent the next three hours riding around the seawall. It was 93 degrees that day, so most of Vancouver was with us at the waterfront! Afterwards, we walked to find the skytrain, and then back to Amtrak. We took the 5:45 train to Seattle. We did this to mostly save money (the flight home from Vancouver was $350 each and the flight from Seattle was $110). But the train ride was spectacular! Arrived in Seattle at 10 p.m. and took cab to Hotel Five.

 

Day 16 - Seattle

 

Stored our luggage at the hotel while we explored Seattle. We walked to Pike Place Market which was extremely crowded and disappointing. After that we took the Metrorail to the Seattle Center and had lunch, looking at the Space Needle only from the bottom. We then took a cab to Theo Chocolate in the Fremont neighborhood, for a chocolate factory tour. (This was our 11-year-old's idea). It was a fun tour with lots of samples! We then took the bus back to the hotel, walked with our luggage to the rail station, took the train to Sea-Tac, and caught our flight home at 8:30 p.m.

 

Overall, we LOVED the whole trip! Our excursions were as good as we had hoped, the weather was good enough, and we all had a great time. The Zaandam was a little worn, (chipped tile, stained carpet) but it didn't interfere with our enjoyment one bit. One of my favorite parts was the unlimited laundry package which I purchased for $49. Since we had been traveling the week before, I had lots of laundry! We also enjoyed the games and competitions, winning HAL travel mugs, tote bags, pins, and coasters.

 

I'll happily answer questions about the Zaandam, or the cruise in general. Hope it's helpful to someone!

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vbmom87

vbmom87

Posted
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Thank you for the excellent cruise report. You have a nice style of writing that kept me interested in what was going to happen next.

 

When I read trip reports I am always wondering when the complaints will begin. It was so nice to read a report that was so positive. Sounds like you and your children had a wonderful time. Some day I hope to bring my grandchildren to Alaska, and I have to say I like the way people say that since there are fewer children on HAL, they get more attention and the children seem to really enjoy it.

 

Thanks again for the report. As I was reading it, I was wishing I was there.

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kruzinwkids

kruzinwkids

Posted
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Hi Susan, thanks so much for your nice post. My parents are going next week and my mom is very curious about the inside temperature of the ship in the common spaces as she packs for their trip. I know 'layering' is recommended, but can you please comment on what most people tend to wear when inside? Thanks in advance.

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  • 8 months later...
JosieRhodes

JosieRhodes

Posted
Posted
The four of us (me, husband, kids 11 and 14) rented an RV for a week in mid-July. I already wrote up a report from that. After our rv tour, we picked up the Zaandam in Seward. Here's the trip report I just wrote for TripAdvisor. I hope that some of the information might be helpful to someone here:

 

CRUISE PORTION - July 29 - August 6

 

Day 8 - Embarkation

 

After the shuttle to Seward, we boarded the Zaandam around 5:00 p.m. By the time we explored the ship, did the muster drill, had dinner, and explored some more, it was time for bed. This was our second cruise, but our first on HAL. There were only 60 kids on board, about half in the 8-12 group and half in the 13 - 17 group which worked well for my kids. I did notice the general population was older than we are, but nobody cared. We had Anytime Dining and asked to share a table every night. We ate with interesting people, and they were always delighted to talk to our kids about their adventures.

 

Day 9 - Sea Day

 

It was a smooth day at sea. We spent our day doing trivia contests, putting contests, a cooking demonstration, photo scavenger hunt. Kids spent the day hanging around with kids from their clubs. After a formal dinner, we went to the production show. It was fine, but nothing spectacular.

 

Day 10 - Glacier Bay

 

After the park rangers boarded, we went to a very educational ranger program in the morning about photography of Glacier Bay over time. We spent most of the rest of the day on the bow of the ship (in the rain), enjoying our time in the bay. I didn't like the constant yattering of the ranger over the loudspeaker, but I did enjoy Glacier Bay, regardless of weather. My 11-year-old did the "polar bear plunge" into the unheated swimming pool while we were in front of the glacier. The show that night was Paul Pappas, a fun piano player who we all enjoyed. We got in the habit of having the 11:00 snack in the Lido before heading to bed. Love life on the cruise ship!

 

Day 11 - Haines

 

It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day in Haines. We picked up a "walking tour" brochure at the kiosk at the bottom of the dock and decided to walk around town. We all enjoyed the Hammer Museum. We played around on the beach by the dock, skipping stones. Then we walked up through the fort and saw some totem poles. We considered hiking the Battery Point Trail, but after having a late lunch on the ship, the kids wanted to go in the pool (it was so sunny they opened the roof partway), so we stayed onboard. The couple we had dinner with had taken the ferry over to Skagway. There were FIVE cruiseships in Skagway with a total of ten thousand passengers! I was glad we stayed in Haines. The show that night was The Marriage Game, which was especially funny because we had had dinner with one of the 90-year old contestants the night before.

 

Day 12 - Juneau

 

We had an early morning kayak trip booked with Above and Beyond Alaska. They picked us up and drove us to their shop where they outfitted us with life jackets, rain gear, rubber boots, and kayak skirts. They then drove us out to Mendenhall Lake. We had three hours to kayak to the glacier and all through the iceburgs around the lake. It was as beautiful as I had hoped! It was raining off and on, but we stayed pretty warm except for our hands. We saw lots of people at the Visitor Center and out by Nugget Falls, but we were happy that we were in the lake instead of just looking at it. After we were dropped off back at the ship, my son and I spent some time walking around the shops. We went to the production show that night, but I was so tired I dozed off during most of it.

 

Day 13 - Ketchikan

 

We were only in Ketchikan from 11 - 7. We were picked up at 12 by Island Wings for our float plane/bear watch. This was the most memorable day of the trip. Michelle, our pilot, flew us to Traitor's Cove, where we had a short ride and then short hike to get to an observation platform. We spent almost 2 hours watching bears fish and eat at a waterfall 75 feet away where the salmon were leaping. One bear even decided he wanted to bring his fish and eat with us on the deck (he thankfully changed his mind when he got within about 10 feet of us and took a good look). We felt like we were in a nature documentary.... this was our big splurge and definitely worth the money. It rained most of the day but it made no difference. The show that night was a comedienne, who was pretty good. Also that night was the dessert extravaganza by the Lido pool, which was good.

 

Day 14 - Inside Passage

 

We had a beautiful, sunny cruise on the way to Vancouver. We spent a lot of time outside, just enjoying the view. They completely opened the roof over the pool so the kids had a great time swimming the day away. The show that night was a production show again, the best of the week.

 

Day 15 - Vancouver

 

We arrived in Vancouver early, but didn't manage to get off the ship until almost ten. We took a cab to the train station, paid to store our bags, then took another cab to Stanley Park. We rented bikes and spent the next three hours riding around the seawall. It was 93 degrees that day, so most of Vancouver was with us at the waterfront! Afterwards, we walked to find the skytrain, and then back to Amtrak. We took the 5:45 train to Seattle. We did this to mostly save money (the flight home from Vancouver was $350 each and the flight from Seattle was $110). But the train ride was spectacular! Arrived in Seattle at 10 p.m. and took cab to Hotel Five.

 

Day 16 - Seattle

 

Stored our luggage at the hotel while we explored Seattle. We walked to Pike Place Market which was extremely crowded and disappointing. After that we took the Metrorail to the Seattle Center and had lunch, looking at the Space Needle only from the bottom. We then took a cab to Theo Chocolate in the Fremont neighborhood, for a chocolate factory tour. (This was our 11-year-old's idea). It was a fun tour with lots of samples! We then took the bus back to the hotel, walked with our luggage to the rail station, took the train to Sea-Tac, and caught our flight home at 8:30 p.m.

 

Overall, we LOVED the whole trip! Our excursions were as good as we had hoped, the weather was good enough, and we all had a great time. The Zaandam was a little worn, (chipped tile, stained carpet) but it didn't interfere with our enjoyment one bit. One of my favorite parts was the unlimited laundry package which I purchased for $49. Since we had been traveling the week before, I had lots of laundry! We also enjoyed the games and competitions, winning HAL travel mugs, tote bags, pins, and coasters.

 

I'll happily answer questions about the Zaandam, or the cruise in general. Hope it's helpful to someone!

 

Great review, is there also one for rv portion of your trip as we are thinking of doing that too... thanks

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