Good News for Alaska itineraries

[REOVA]

 

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NEWS PROVIDED BY

Holland America Line 

08 Jun, 2023, 

SEATTLE, June 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With Holland America Line's "Alaska Up Close," guests on Alaska cruises are deeply immersed in the local culture with informative onboard programming, sea-to-table dining and award-winning shore excursions. The premium cruise line is introducing new facets of the program throughout the 2023 Alaska season that offer an even more engaging guest experience.

Added to every Alaska cruise, guests will find new localized cuisine, cocktails featuring authentic glacier ice, an Alaska-themed brunch, Huna native presentation and wildlife experts to help guests spot the abundance of indigenous animals from the ship's deck. The program continues to deliver workshops and lectures, EXC Talks exploring the stories of real Alaskans and dining events featuring the culinary traditions of the region. 

 

"Since launching Alaska Up Close we've introduced incredible programming that brings an authentic Alaska experience to our guests like no other cruise line," said Michael Smith, senior vice president, guests experience and product development. "This season we're growing the program to embed Alaskan fresh fish and wildlife spotting into the cruise on an even more expansive scale, from new localized cuisine and cocktails to exciting lectures and wildlife viewing. We want our guests to have experiences they can't find anywhere else."

A New Way to Experience Glaciers
Four new cocktails feature authentic Alaska glacier ice harvested by state permit among floating glacier bergs in Prince William Sound and prepared to the highest standard under Alaskan authority. Holland America Line is the only cruise line serving glacier ice, giving guests the unique experience of safely tasting real glacier ice from the waters of Alaska. The cocktails with the glacier ice include:

• Juneau Gin & Tonic" features Juneauper Gin that's produced in Juneau, Alaska.
• "Alaska's Blue Ice" has De Kuyper Blue Curaçao, X Rum, pineapple juice. Velvet Falernum and Dry Vermouth.
• Blue Iceberg: Juneauper Gin, apricot brandy, Blue Curaçao and lime juice.
• Black & Blue: a choice of Jonnie Walker Black or Jack Daniels Black Label served over glacier ice.

Holland America Line also is serving new hot cocktails during scenic cruising in Glacier Bay, Tracy Arm and Hubbard Glacier:

• Glacier Bay Coffee: Baileys Irish Cream and Malibu Coconut Rum.
• Alaska Railroad Coffee: Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kahlua and Cream.
• Gold Rush Coffee: Grand Marnier, Coffee and Hot Chocolate.
• Northern Lights: Crème de Cacao, Kahlua and Brandy.

Alaska Brunch Highlights Local Flavors
Offered once per cruise, all dishes on the new Alaska Brunch menu in the Dining Room have been created with the influence of fresh, local Alaskan and Pacific Northwest ingredients. The selections range from sweet to savory and include Alaskan Blueberry Pancakes, Salmon & Potato Chowder, Wild Forest Mushroom and Tarragon Crepes, Kodiak Steak and Egg Skillet, Crab and Hot Smoked Salmon Cakes, Biscuits with Gravy and Alaskan Reindeer Sausage, and Home Smoked Gulf of Alaska Cod Benny.

A Taste of Alaska in Lido Market
During Alaska cruises, the casual Lido Market features special dishes and theme nights. Guests can enjoy a Salmon Bake dinner and Seafood Boil pop-up dinner on all cruises, and a Gold Rush dinner on 14-plus day cruises

Sustainable Seafood
In 2022, Holland America Line was awarded Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) certification — making it the first cruise line to achieve this distinguished credential by serving only fresh, certified sustainable and traceable wild Alaska seafood. On any Alaska cruise, the line serves more than 2,000 pounds of Alaska Salmon, 1,000 pounds of Alaska cod, 800 pounds of Alaska halibut, 500 pounds of Alaska rockfish and more.

All menus highlight "Taste Alaska" by calling out region-specific dishes and fresh fish options.

EXC Talks and Presentations Bring Alaska to Life
Holland America Line's EXC Talks continue to bring each destination to life with captivating storytelling and expert commentary. On Alaska cruises, guests can attend "Ancestral Memories," "Breaking the Ice Ceiling," "Pacific Giants," "The Iditarod" and "We Are Alaska" to learn more about local culture and customs.

New to the EXC programming, Holland America Line is bringing on a Huna Native Interpreter in traditional dress during the stay at Juneau to introduce guests to the history of the Tlingit people with "Native Voices: Stories of the Tlingit People."  

Wildlife Experts and Park Rangers
A new wildlife expert on board helps guests witness the majestic animals found in Alaska. Guests can be on the lookout for humpback whales, orcas, bald eagles, moose, sea otters, caribou, black and grizzly bears, Dall's porpoise and more. The daily program highlights designated times to meet the wildlife expert on deck to go in search of the animals in their natural environment.

Holland America Line also is introducing a Wildlife Spotting Guide that points out the native animals found along the cruise route and includes a map with the best places to spot each species. Between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., all wildlife sightings will be announced so guests may go on deck and enjoy viewing.

During Glacier Bay scenic cruising, Holland America Line continues to bring on a Glacier Bay National Park Ranger for the day to engage with guests and talk about Alaska's most famous national park.

All cruises on Westerdam roundtrip from Seattle feature a presentation by The Alaska Raptor Center at Sitka. Hosted by the wildlife expert, one of the center's Avian Care Specialists comes aboard with a raptor (eagle, hawk, owl, etc.) to share insights about Alaska's majestic birds in the World Stage.

On Deck for A Cause: Alaska's Parks
For the 2023 Alaska season, Holland America Line is donating proceeds from the "On Deck for a Cause" event aboard ships in the region to Alaska Geographic, the nonprofit education partner of Alaska's parks, forests, refuges and conservation lands. Called "On Deck for a Cause: Alaska's Parks," guests on all Alaska cruises are invited to donate $25 to participate in a noncompetitive 5k fundraising walk aboard every sailing. 

Holland America Line has six ships exploring Alaska in 2023 on seven- or 14-day cruises from Seattle, Washington; Vancouver, Canada; and Whittier/Anchorage, Alaska, along with Cruisetours up to 18 days, which combine an overland to Denali National Park and the Yukon plus a cruise. 

Edited June 8, 2023 by REOVA

[Mary229]

This sounds like the right direction!

[loveandpeas]

This sounds very exciting! Looking forward to Alaska in July.

[mcrcruiser]

Let's hope that that can take that theme  into other sailings not just  Alaska . Be nice to advance into Hawaii cruises ,Europe ,Asia cruises ie 

[loveandpeas]

Do we think the Alaska-specific drinks will be included in HIA or an upcharge? And how can we best guess when the salmon bake or the special Alaska MDR menu will be - avoid the Pinnacle on these days, perhaps?

[OlsSalt]

Thanks so much for posting this I will pass this press release on to my roll call for an upcoming Sept - 14 day Alaska cruise on the Noordam.  HAL is getting its game back. Interesting to see the revival of EXC - the former HAL  enrichment  cruises.

[Haljo1935]

Excited to read about all the great things planned for AK sailings this year. Unfortunately, we missed out since we went 1st week of the season (April 29 - May 6) and will not be back in Sept to close out the season (Fall Foliage peeping instead), but hopefully they'll continue the focus in 2024.

Yay Alaska!!

[DesertRat46]

Looking forward to this on the 24 Sept. cruise out of Seattle. Now, if they would just add some fresh crab to the food list.

[Mary229]

8 minutes ago, DesertRat46 said:

Looking forward to this on the 24 Sept. cruise out of Seattle. Now, if they would just add some fresh crab to the food list.

I think the crab beds are still shut down by the government 

[OlsSalt]

7 minutes ago, DesertRat46 said:

Looking forward to this on the 24 Sept. cruise out of Seattle. Now, if they would just add some fresh crab to the food list.

 

Apparently the entire Alaska crab fishing season was put on restricted status this past year. Sounds like this will be out of HAL's hands. 

[mowogo]

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Apparently the entire Alaska crab fishing season was put on restricted status this past year. Sounds like this will be out of HAL's hands. 

The 2022/2023 crab season was cancelled due to lack of crabs Alaska cancels snow, king crab season over population concerns | The Hill

[Haljo1935]

Yep the crabs are no more, at least for now. DH was very disappointed last May when he couldn't get crab on the ship. And paid dearly at the only place we could find it - the hotel in Anchorage. Then this year when no crab and didn't want to pay $200 at Ketchikan Crab & Go - ouch!!

A lot of people depended on the crab for their livelihood, unfortunate.

[TwinMommyByGrace]

Is there anyone currently on board (preferably on Westerdam) that can confirm if any, or all, of this things have been added yet? We sail on Westie 6/25 and would be excited by these additions. TIA for any current info!

[jackinelgin]

2 hours ago, TwinMommyByGrace said:

Is there anyone currently on board (preferably on Westerdam) that can confirm if any, or all, of this things have been added yet? We sail on Westie 6/25 and would be excited by these additions. TIA for any current info!

We are on her on the 25th too. Would be nice to know!

[skoi13]

9 hours ago, TwinMommyByGrace said:

Is there anyone currently on board (preferably on Westerdam) that can confirm if any, or all, of this things have been added yet? We sail on Westie 6/25 and would be excited by these additions. TIA for any current info!

Same for us. Especially curious about the brunch. I did some searching yesterday, and didn't come up with much. 

[gizmodog]

I’m on this Saturday, very little info in the Westie in Alaska, posts from other ships that are there.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I too question what Westerdam is offering, athough we do not sail on her till September. But every report/review I have read about the Brunch has been sailings that left on a Saturday where the first Sea Day was a Sunday amd they did the Brunch. I have not read of any ships offering that Brunch on Monday or the last day on the ship. I would definitely enjoy the Brunch just need some people to report in from the Westerdam.

[TwinMommyByGrace]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I too question what Westerdam is offering, athough we do not sail on her till September. But every report/review I have read about the Brunch has been sailings that left on a Saturday where the first Sea Day was a Sunday amd they did the Brunch. I have not read of any ships offering that Brunch on Monday or the last day on the ship. I would definitely enjoy the Brunch just need some people to report in from the Westerdam.

I would also enjoy the brunch! I don’t know that our sea day being a Monday should matter for a brunch offering. On land, yes, normally brunches are on Sunday but when sailing it’s vacation so I would hope those rules wouldn’t apply. I guess it remains to be seen (or hopefully reported on by someone on board soon). 😊

[rj59]

The Alaska brunch sounds very nice, especially since adopting a single, disappointing lunch menu for an entire cruise is very low-market and disappointing. I enjoy having naturalist talks on Princess, particularly in fjords and for glacier-viewing, so having the same on HAL ships would be nice. They used to have Mexican Ambassadors on all their Mexican cruises, for language classes, dancing, and singing, so having something similar for Alaskan cruises would be quite nice, even if it's not terribly authentic, like the faux Native Icy Strait Point artificial tourist village. They can't do the 5K walk on Koningsdam, can they, with no actual promenade any longer, just a tiny, dangerous running track on the top deck? I'm really looking forward to a classic promenade on Volendam this week, but moreso, being on a ship with only 1400 pax or so. I got too spoiled by larger ships at 30-40% occupancy during restart year, so full ships last year were a bit too stressful and have made me rethink my commitment to cruising, which is why I'm hoping Volendam will be restorative. 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

6 hours ago, TwinMommyByGrace said:

I would also enjoy the brunch! I don’t know that our sea day being a Monday should matter for a brunch offering. On land, yes, normally brunches are on Sunday but when sailing it’s vacation so I would hope those rules wouldn’t apply. I guess it remains to be seen (or hopefully reported on by someone on board soon). 😊

I found it for the Westerdam. I have been looking every evening on the Navigator App for what they are eating. For the fun of it I hit Lunch for Saturday being the last day on board and there it was…… Totally different than what the other lunches have been in the Main Dining Room.

 

[TwinMommyByGrace]

43 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I found it for the Westerdam. I have been looking every evening on the Navigator App for what they are eating. For the fun of it I hit Lunch for Saturday being the last day on board and there it was…… Totally different than what the other lunches have been in the Main Dining Room.

 

Oh my!!! I’m so (cautiously) excited!! That is exactly the brunch menu they mentioned. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻. Oh, and I do the same thing(checking the menus). I like to live vicariously thru those on the ship until it’s my turn 😆😁. Thanks for the info!

[Haljo1935]

I notice fresh squeeze juice at $4. I thought it was $5.

[paiagirl]

7 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I found it for the Westerdam. I have been looking every evening on the Navigator App for what they are eating. For the fun of it I hit Lunch for Saturday being the last day on board and there it was…… Totally different than what the other lunches have been in the Main Dining Room.

 

I'm very glad you found it since I couldn't remember exactly all we had in May on the Westerdam except for the Alaskan Berry Breakfast Smoothie which was very delicious.  We enjoyed that cruise very much that we are returning to the Westerdam.

 

Our Naturalist was Nan Tan, a very outstanding interesting person who gave lectures on Alaska's nature.  Also enjoyed joining her on the aft promenade for whale watching.  I hope she will be there again when we are on board but I am sure who ever is the naturalist will be outstanding like her.  She is from Vancouver and is a college professor.

[Mike07]

How about purely scenic cruising where we don't stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, or Skagway? Those are ports I can do without ever going to again. Want to know something funny? Only been to each once.... lol.

[Haljo1935]

5 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

How about purely scenic cruising where we don't stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, or Skagway? Those are ports I can do without ever going to again. Want to know something funny? Only been to each once.... lol.

There are itineraries that go farther north that don't have all of those.