Our review of the 14 day Alaska Amsterdam cruise--6-22-14

[AlohaPride]

I can't view the one drive album. It tells me it's been removed or I don't have permission to see it.

[rajkr74]

I can't view the one drive album. It tells me it's been removed or I don't have permission to see it.

Sorry, forgot to make it public. I corrected it, try it again.

[SunLakesBob]

Rick

 

Do you remember who, which passenger, hosted/coordinated our meet and greet?

[rajkr74]

Sitka. Today we pulled into Sitka early in the morning and the cruise in was beautiful. The skies were clear and looked like we were going to have a great day. When we boarded in Seattle we signed up for the Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest but were waitlisted for the morning excursion. We checked a number of times before Sitka but were still waitlisted. Early on the morning of Sitka we ran into a fellow passenger we met who has also been waited listed for the morning excursion and he said he went to the excursion counter that morning and got moved to the morning time. So I raced down there from the Lido and low and behold we got our time changed to the morning. If I had not done this or talked to the fellow passenger we would have gone on the afternoon trip. So, if you are waitlisted or an excursion has been sold out keep checking, spots do open up. It appears a number of passengers canceled this excursion prior to the day of Sitka. Not sure why the excursion counter did not change our time. So now we raced to eat, pack and get ready for the morning excursion.

 

We staged in the Queens show lounge and this seemed to go slower than normal since there were tenders and excursion boats pulling up to one exit point for the boat. Finally we were called and our excursion boat came up alongside the Amsterdam and we boarded. It was a nice boat with both enclosed lower covered seating and an upper deck with standing room for photographers and a small open covered seated area there also. The upper deck worked well and had tiered standing areas so everyone had an obstructed view of wildlife. Turns out this boat was only about ½ full so this brought into question why we were waitlisted???

 

Well we started out heading toward some islands and immediately found sea otters, seals and eagles. This was turning out to be a good excursion. The ocean was smooth and glassy, perfect morning. Good narration from the skipper, crew and staff. There were also binoculars provided if you did not have your own. This went on for hours as we moved around looking for additional otters with great success. We then went out to an island populated with birds and got semi-close to puffins on the water. After that we swung back toward Sitka looking for whales. Spotted a spout a distance off and we set sale for it trying to guess where the whale would surface again. Slowed down and all eyes keep watching…….”thar she blows” and off we went again in pursuit. This happened two more times trying to guess where it would surface. The last time we guessed correctly and the whale surfaced just off our starboard side and our cameras clicked a bunch of pictures of the fluke as he went down. After this we headed in to the dock at the end of the excursion. We were provided with some snacks of smoked salmon as we headed in.

 

We docked at the small boat harbor right in the center of town. This was the same dock the ships tenders were arriving at. Three years ago we tendering to the dock towards the left side of the town under a small bridge. The dock this year worked better since it was in the center of town. This made it easier to walk to the Sitka National Historic Totem Park a short distance away. We stopped first at the Bishops house a National Park site and museum on the way to the Sitka park. It was free admission and had quite a showing of the Russian culture. We then walked to the Totems and walked the trails viewing all the nice Totem Poles located there. Found a pair of Bald Eagles in a tree and got some good shots of them. We walked back into town from the park and joyce did a little shopping while I walked over to the Library and connected to wifi. This turned out to be a real nice day in Sitka.

 

Harbor seals.

 

Sea otter, mother and pup.

 

Bald eagle.

 

Humpback whale fluke.

 

Sea lions sunning of a buoy.

 

Pair of Bald Eagles.

 

[rajkr74]

Rick

 

Do you remember who, which passenger, hosted/coordinated our meet and greet?

Bob,

It was Karen--"luvteaching" from Sedro-Woolley WA. Karen's husband was in the motorized cart.

[rajkr74]

Sitka continued.....

Afternoon, some clouds showed up but it was still pretty warm and nice.

 

Russian Orthodox church right downtown Sitka.

 

Inside of church.

 

Edited July 14, 2014 by RAJKR74

[BldLvr]

Nce again thank you for this wonderful and informative review. This exact cruise is on our list for 2015! Did you like the May departure date? Love your photos, thank your wife! Marian

[BldLvr]

Sorry, I see you went in June!

[rajkr74]

Sorry, I see you went in June!

The 5-18-14 cruise, which I followed had great weather. Some say that May has better weather. But you can never predict it absolutely. In 2011 we did th same cruise in the middle of July and great weather all except Sitka which had rain in the morning. Just make sure you have rain gear. Edited July 14, 2014 by RAJKR74

[rajkr74]

Last at Sea Day and Victoria. The last sea day was the Fourth of July and the ship was decorated out in Red White and Blue. There was a Fourth of July barbeque on the Lido deck pool area mid-ship with tables and chairs all set up. They had hamburgers, hot dogs and ribs for lunch along with all the normal side dishes for a picnic. Nice decorations but after the lunch was over they immediately removed all the decorations??? We wished they would have left up some the Red White and Blue decorations until the end of the day. The rest of the sea day was left to some reading and going to events on the ship. Joyce packed up one suitcase in preparations for the Seattle debarkation.

 

On Saturday 7-5-14 we attended the Mariners presentation and then lunch. We received our Cooper award for 100 sea days with HAL. The Explorers’ Lounge was full of recipients and it was pretty neat to receive the award. The presentation was followed by our Mariners lunch. There were so many Mariners that they also held a similar lunch the previous day on July the 4th.

 

We had nothing scheduled for Victoria other than to walk into town from the dock. It took about 30 minutes and was all on sidewalks and easy. We went to Murchie’s tea store located a block north of the harbor across from the Hudson Bay store. The downtown area had free WIFI and I connected while sitting outside Murchie’s. We walked around just viewing some of the shops. We have been to Victoria a number of times and seen most everything they have to offer. We walked back to the ship and finished the “PACKING” ……not that we liked doing that!

 

Fourth of July barbeque and picnic by the midship Lido pool.

 

All the staff dresses in Red, White and Blue.

 

A USA flag made out of cupcakes, pretty neat!

 

Parliament building in Victoria,

 

Next summary of the whole cruise and some pictures around the ship.

[AlohaPride]

The cupcake flag is so cool!! Did they do anything for Canada Day on July 1?

[luvteaching]

The cupcake flag is so cool!! Did they do anything for Canada Day on July 1?

 

Hi Mary,

 

For Canada Day a few things were done. One is that Michael, the CD, did a presentation about Canada for those interested. It was in the theater and he did a good job. As a Canadian (but in the US for 37 years) I learned a few things! Dinner in the MDR had a Canadian theme. The hit, for our table, was the appetizer "French Canadian Tourtiere". It was a "Fluffy pastry crust with ground beef, pork and onion". Many of us felt it could have been a main dish and I heard of a few people who ordered another one for dessert! There were 2 entrees with a Canadian theme - Rainbow Trout with Cranberry Sauce and Roasted and Honey Mustard Glazed Ham with Maple Sauce. It was formal night (as was the 4th) and Canadian flags were on the tables. It was nicely done.

 

Karen

[rajkr74]

The cupcake flag is so cool!! Did they do anything for Canada Day on July 1?

The cupcake flag was even more impressive in person.

 

We were in Kodiak that day and we were off ship during the day so we did not see if they did anything for Canada Day during lunch like they did for the USA. Re-checked the schedule and saw they had an "On Location" talk about Canada in the Queens Lounge but did not see anything else special listed. That was formal night also and they did have Canadian Flags on all of the tables in the MDR.

[rajkr74]

Hi Mary,

 

For Canada Day a few things were done. One is that Michael, the CD, did a presentation about Canada for those interested. It was in the theater and he did a good job. As a Canadian (but in the US for 37 years) I learned a few things! Dinner in the MDR had a Canadian theme. The hit, for our table, was the appetizer "French Canadian Tourtiere". It was a "Fluffy pastry crust with ground beef, pork and onion". Many of us felt it could have been a main dish and I heard of a few people who ordered another one for dessert! There were 2 entrees with a Canadian theme - Rainbow Trout with Cranberry Sauce and Roasted and Honey Mustard Glazed Ham with Maple Sauce. It was formal night (as was the 4th) and Canadian flags were on the tables. It was nicely done.

 

Karen

Thanks Karen. I guess there were more things happening than we saw.

Rick

[pspercy]

Great photos, did you use a polarising filter on some of them - Tracy Arm for example?

[rajkr74]

Great photos, did you use a polarising filter on some of them - Tracy Arm for example?

Joyce always has a polarizing filter on her main lens but does not always rotate it for shots. Will do so if the shot does not come out. It may be aligned on some of the shots just by luck. It is used as a protector rather than using a Skylight filter. She also, as a rule, sets the aperture at minus .3 to minus 1.00 depending on the light levels. We have found that digital cameras over expose most of the shots and by doing this minus the photos come out better.

[pspercy]

Thanks, I used to love those pol. filters when I had my SLR:)

[rajkr74]

Highlights and comments on the cruise:

The Weather gods could have been better to us in Ketchikan and Juneau. It was so so in Homer, Kodiak, Victoria and Hubbard Glacier. They smiled on us in Tracey Arm, Icy Straight Point, Anchorage and Sitka with very nice days. Thank heavens we packed rain gear and we did use it a couple of times.

 

We missed traveling on the inside of Vancouver Island this year like we did in 2011. The sea day out in the ocean was not as smooth or as scenic as the inside passage around the island, but it was not real rough, just a lot of zig zag walking down the hall ways.

 

The crew again was exceptional, from our room stewards to our dining room staffs, they were all great. We used As You Wish Dining so we had different waiters each night and they all were good. Everyone we passed in the halls from maintenance staff to officers greeted us with smiles and acknowledgements. This is one of the reasons we cruise with HAL, the staff is the best!

 

The entertainment that we attended was good but some nights we went to the movies instead so we did not see all the stage entertainment.

 

Over all the food was fine both in the MDR and the Lido. They did not serve any King Crab legs for dinner in the MDR and there was only one dinner where they had Halibut. I wished they would have had more. Salmon was one of the always available items on the Daily menu in the MDR and was excellent. We had no problem with being seated quickly with As You Wish Dinning including tables for just two. We did eat only one night in the Lido for dinner and it was more causal and quicker.

 

The food that is available between 2:00pm and 5:00pm, outside of room service, is limited to the Dive-In which provides only hamburgers and hot dogs. Some excursions finished after the Lido was closed for the afternoon and passengers returning did not have much to select from. We found that some people liked and disliked the “Dive-In” sauce that was put on both the burger and hotdog buns. The patty it’s self was fresh ground beef and very good. Ice cream flavors lacked variety and at the late night snack they tried serving it sitting on ice rather from a freezer and the result was soupy melted ice cream. Leftovers were put back in the freezer and served later which resulted in crystalized ice cream. We went to the Pinnacle twice and had steaks the first night and halibut the second night which were excellent along with great service. Portions in the MDR are smaller but after 2-3 days of eating that did not bother us, we did not go hungry.

 

We learned a lot from the Digital classes and the culinary demonstrations. Recipe cards were provided after each demonstration and you could pick up cards on the ones you missed later during the cruise.

 

Formal Nights:

First Sea day-day 2

Second sea day- between Icy Straight and Anchorage-day 6

Kodiak- day 9

Third sea day-between Sitka and Victoria-day 12

 

Our cabin was in great shape and everything worked perfectly with no problems. The room was keep clean and the stewards did an excellent job and were friendly and attentive. Remember on these older ships that there is only one US electrical plug available at the desk. So, we brought a small surge/multi-outlet plug which worked very well and we used as needed. When not in use we unplugged it. Again the beds were very comfortable and with the mild rocking motion from the ship we slept very well even if they were separated.

 

Overall this was another great cruise and we are glad HAL returned this itinerary to their list since they did not offer it last year. The Amsterdam is a great ship, well attended by staff and in good condition. The promenade deck on some days was closed down due to work on some of the tenders so the walkers were disrupted. We did not experience any problems with children on the cruise. Overall the passengers were very good and we met and struck up conversations with a lot of very nice people while on this cruise. We would recommend this cruise to anyone wanting to go to Alaska.

 

Our room stewards Ronald and Jerrol.

 

Lido buffet.

 

Sandwich station in the Lido.

 

Dinning room. This picture is from 2011 since we did not take one this year so the carpet might be different.

 

Clock in the Atrium. It would ring the bells on the hour, pretty nice.

 

Lido mid-ship pool with roof open.

[carri cruiser]

Last at Sea Day and Victoria. The last sea day was the Fourth of July and the ship was decorated out in Red White and Blue. There was a Fourth of July barbeque on the Lido deck pool area mid-ship with tables and chairs all set up. They had hamburgers, hot dogs and ribs for lunch along with all the normal side dishes for a picnic. Nice decorations but after the lunch was over they immediately removed all the decorations??? We wished they would have left up some the Red White and Blue decorations until the end of the day. The rest of the sea day was left to some reading and going to events on the ship. Joyce packed up one suitcase in preparations for the Seattle debarkation.

 

On Saturday 7-5-14 we attended the Mariners presentation and then lunch. We received our Cooper award for 100 sea days with HAL. The Explorers’ Lounge was full of recipients and it was pretty neat to receive the award. The presentation was followed by our Mariners lunch. There were so many Mariners that they also held a similar lunch the previous day on July the 4th.

 

We had nothing scheduled for Victoria other than to walk into town from the dock. It took about 30 minutes and was all on sidewalks and easy. We went to Murchie’s tea store located a block north of the harbor across from the Hudson Bay store. The downtown area had free WIFI and I connected while sitting outside Murchie’s. We walked around just viewing some of the shops. We have been to Victoria a number of times and seen most everything they have to offer. We walked back to the ship and finished the “PACKING” ……not that we liked doing that!

 

Fourth of July barbeque and picnic by the midship Lido pool.

 

All the staff dresses in Red, White and Blue.

 

A USA flag made out of cupcakes, pretty neat!

 

Parliament building in Victoria,

 

Next summary of the whole cruise and some pictures around the ship.

 

WOW!! we were on a 14 B2B on Zaandam last year over Canada Day, and the 4th of July, the only decorations we saw anywhere were the ones we brought to celebrate both days!! looks like they did this one up good!!!

[rajkr74]

More photos of the Amsterdam on the 6-22-14 Alaska cruise.

 

Queens lounge

 

Crows Nest.

 

Pinnacle restaurant.

 

Explorations café, library and computer center.

 

Promenade deck.

 

Head Chef. Kitchen tour.

 

Wow finally done. Thank you for all your kind comments and remarks, this proved to be a lot of work since this is the first time we have put a review of this proportion together before. Hope you all enjoyed the review and pictures?

[AlohaPride]

Thank you very much for all your hard work AND for answering our individual questions!

[SunLakesBob]

Rick/Joyce

 

Thank you for a great review with pictures. It brings back great memories. It was a pleasure meeting you, both.

[Linda&Vern]

Thank you for taking the time to do this review with the beautiful photos. It was a wonderful reminder of our 2011 Amsterdam Alaska 14-day cruise. We will be on the Amsterdam again in December, so appreciated your current ship photos.

[RuthC]

The food that is available between 2:00pm and 5:00pm, outside of room service, is limited to the Dive-In which provides only hamburgers and hot dogs.

Are you saying that the sandwich station, which has always been open well beyond the time the main line of hot food closes, is also closed down at 2:00 PM?

I have always had the option of a sandwich, salad, and possibly soup up until at least 3:30, on every ship I've sailed.

[rajkr74]

Are you saying that the sandwich station, which has always been open well beyond the time the main line of hot food closes, is also closed down at 2:00 PM?

I have always had the option of a sandwich, salad, and possibly soup up until at least 3:30, on every ship I've sailed.

When we came back to the ship late a couple of times after the Lido was closed, we did not notice anything open. Maybe we did not look at the right place. Joyce did notice once that a salad station was open. It said on the program that Lido Deli would be open but did not find it's location and never saw any pizza. Maybe someone else who was on this cruise with us can confirm if we are correct or not? If it was indeed open and we missed it I am sorry we miss lead anyone on this issue. We were probably too tired to do laps around the Lido looking for stations that might be open. :o