first time cruiser on Veendam-help!

[titania]

I need help with cruise planning for July 7 Alaska Veendam cruise. How formal is the dress? What is the best way to plan shore excursions? Will my 60-year-old body need to schedule naps? Who is the best 'get to know' person on the ship?

What shouldn't be missed? etc,etc, etc !!

[Esme]

Alaska tends not to be as Formal as the Caribbean as a lot of paxs will be doing land tours pre and post the cruise, especially on the Veendam which does a 7 day Northbound and 7 day Southbound trip. If you are not doing a land cruise, take a nice long skirt or dressy pants and a couple of fussy tops for the 2 formal nights, that is if you are a female. Men - jacket, pants & tie.

 

Check the excursions listed on HAL's website and book from there if you wish, or wait until you get on the ship. Try to do a whale watch, Mendenhall Glacier, salmon bake, train ride, if you are in Skagway. There is so much to see and do in Alaska and it's best if you check out HAL's excursions prior to leaving for the ship.

 

 

Who is the best 'get to know' person on the ship? The bartender! :D

 

Only your 60 year old body will know if you need to schedule naps. This 70 year old body sure needs one after lunch every day. :D

[Sequim88]

If it is in the budget the Misty Fjords jet boat/flight combo in Ketchikan is spectacular beyond belief. Like Yosemite Valley but flooded with water. Shear cliffs a thousand feet high - with waterfalls everywhere.

 

In Juneau our helicopter glacier tour was rained out by low ceilings so we switched to whale watching and got up close to a baby humpback (or actually we sat still she "he" came up close to us for a look). Then with extra time we hopped a city bus for Glacier Gardens a beautiful but quirky place. Much cheaper than a "canned" tour and we got to visit with some locals on the bus.

 

If Sitka is a port skip the bus tour all over town. The bird sancutary was OK as was the totem pole place but the school bus ride all over was boring. The "russian" dancers was kind of cool but very crowded in a huge gymnasium like hall.

 

So some excurions it is best to pre-book (Mysty Fjords) but others you may be better off at the dock (Juneau).

 

Dress was fairly casual (khakis and sweaters). Best investment we made was convertable 3-way Columbia jackets (removable fleece lining and nylon shell) - lining as a zipper sweatshirt, shell for warm wet days and both for the snowy June day on our post-cruise excursion to Barrow.

 

#1 guy....cabin steward. Naps are good. Snag a blanket and if the weather is OK nap on a Pomanade Deck chair (we did and only 46yo then).

 

Veendam was our first cruise too. Wonderful ship and not like the huge mega-ships - big enough but not so big as to be overwhelming.