Home from the Zaandam

[rubytue]

Pre-cruise: Hotel Vintage Park through Priceline. Good deal, short walk to Pike Place. Long walk or short bus + long walk to REI. Most people pre-cruise to the Space Needle, Pike Place, Pioneer Square, etc. We precruised at REI. Love it!!

 

Boarding Day: My step-brother picked us up in a minivan (with my parents already there) around 11:15 am. We were sitting in the dining room having lunch by 12:05. Smooth and easy boarding, and that included me having to see the nurse to have my temperature taken. I had been fighting a head cold for most of the week and had a VERY painful (ears) landing at SEA. I was cleared to board when my temp was 97.8. My in-law arrived at the pier around noon and weren't on board until 1:30. I highly recommend to aim for a 11:30-noon arrival.

 

Sea day: I got a day pass to the spa and went there 3 times, mostly sitting in the steam room trying to unclog my head (remember, I have been deemed non-contagious and on day 6 of a minor head cold - probably wouldn't have even been congested if not for the flight). We generally had a nice, relaxing day. The seas were a calm most of the day, but by evening they had picked up. The ship was rocking far more than I have seen on a cruise before. At dinner, we would occasionally lose site of the horizon through the windows. Additionally, when we were trying to sleep (were were on the portside aft Navigation deck) there was a terrible vibration. It was ebb and then increase and ebb again. Seemed to be something catching a harmonic with some other motor. Found out the next day that our starboard stabilizer was not functioning and the port stabilizer was trying (and failing) to compensate.

 

Juneau: Beautiful day! We spent the morning in the Crows Nest and the Sky Deck watching the passage to Juneau. It was sunny and probably low 60s. My husband and I were booked with Above and Beyond for the self-guided Mendenhall Glacier Kayak. We had booked singles, but due to the wind off the glacier (due to the heat), they gave us a double. I was really glad we had the double as the lake was very choppy. It was SO neat kayaking through the iceburgs. We beached across from the waterfall and climbed up the rocks to get a better view of the glacier. Then we paddled toward the glacier somewhat, then over to beach by the waterfall. Wonderful day! It did cloud up around 5, so we headed back to the pickup point. The final leg was wet and cold due to the clouds and waves. They took us back to the ship, we went on board, changed, grabbed a bite to eat, and tried to go back out to walk around town. Ran into the MIL, who gabbed for awhile, so it was almost 9 by the time we made it off the ship. All the Alaskan owned stores closed by 9 (most were closed when we got off). The cruise-ship owned stores, however, stayed open until we left. :eek:

 

Will finish later, including overall impression of ship and crew - have to get the pup from the kennel :D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home!!

Hope your puppy is alright.

Will await the rest.

[slewiss1]

The ship was rocking far more than I have seen on a cruise before. At dinner, we would occasionally lose site of the horizon through the windows. Additionally, when we were trying to sleep (were were on the portside aft Navigation deck) there was a terrible vibration. It was ebb and then increase and ebb again. Seemed to be something catching a harmonic with some other motor. Found out the next day that our starboard stabilizer was not functioning and the port stabilizer was trying (and failing) to compensate.

 

 

Perhaps I should buy some extra-strength Drammamine:confused:

What cabin were you in?

Can't wait to read more:)

Thank you

[Himself]

I hope Alaska is nice in a few weeks.

[azrose]

The seas were a calm most of the day, but by evening they had picked up. The ship was rocking far more than I have seen on a cruise before. At dinner, we would occasionally lose site of the horizon through the windows. Additionally, when we were trying to sleep (were were on the portside aft Navigation deck) there was a terrible vibration. It was ebb and then increase and ebb again. Seemed to be something catching a harmonic with some other motor. Found out the next day that our starboard stabilizer was not functioning and the port stabilizer was trying (and failing) to compensate.

 

 

 

Ok....that explains that rocking even moreso!! :eek: it did say "rough" on the tv's "sea conditions"....but I can say it really was rough!!

 

Great cruise otherwise!!

[rubytue]

We were in 7074 :)

 

I forgot to mention that on the first sea day, we saw gray whales off the balcony

Glacier Bay - it was a wonderful sea day. Just what a sea day should be. We spent some time in the Crows Nest and were up there when the park ranger came onboard. Eventually, our group (6 - us, my parents, and my inlaws) separated. The boat went to Marjorie Glacier instead of Johns Hopkins, as there were baby seals up Johns Hopkins inlet and the boat would scare the baby seals. My husband and I went out on the bow. We saw a brown bear, a black bear, and some mountain goats. We watched the first half of the glacier viewing from the bow, then, since we were going to turn for the port side to view, we went up to our balcony, opened a bottle of wine, and enjoyed the view. Then, it was naptime :o Took a two hour nap, but was up in time to make it out to the bow for wildlife viewing (3:30 until we left the bay). We saw lots of wildlife, but the best part was after the rangers left and a humpback decided to put on a show. She would breath 3 times, then hump and show her fluke, dive for about 5 minutes, then a full leaping breech. She repeated this pattern 5 or 6 times :eek: Amazing!

 

Sitka - We booked Sea Otter & Wildlife Quest through HAL. We wanted a smaller tour, but it was originally only me (my husband was going to bike). He ended up joining me. It was great! Here we saw lots of otters again tons of eagles. Again the highlight was the whales. We saw both a humpback and a gray. The naturalist on-board was amazed, saying she had never seen them both on the same trip before. We also got a treat when the gray showed his fluke - they rarely do that. Another cool thing was cruising the islands and seeing all the orange and purple starfish

 

After getting off the small boat, we walked around town. We walked down to the national park - this was AMAZING! We thought it would be overrun with people due to the crowds we walked down there with, but once we veared off the main totem trail, we were on our own. The birds here were amazing. We have lots of song birds at home, but it was a totally different sound to be walking through the forest with ravens and eagles calling. You could tell they were big birds! It started raining here (the only rain all trip), but we just bucked it up and kept going. As we were walking to the park, we passed the hatchery which had a sign saying they were doing a salmon release at 2pm. So we went back downtown, got a soda and a reindeer polish sausage dog, and walked through the church. We went back to the hatchery at 2 to watch the release. Another really cool thing! They are a volunteer run hatchery, and were letting all the visitor help with the release :D The hatchery is technically free, but suggests donations. We left them some :)

 

After this, the rain was getting to us, so we went back to the ship. Additionally, the ship had moved so you could no longer see it from the hatchery. This was a bit disconcerting when we told the volunteer we were on the boat over there, only to find it was gone! It jut moved with the tide :)

 

Strangely, Sitka was the second formal night. I though it was odd that we had formal night after a full port day. All three couples decided to do dinner on their own. We ordered room service. They messed up my order - brought me the wrong salmon dish and didn't put dressing on the salad. We didn't specify a dressing since the salad description included dressing.

[rubytue]

Ketchikan - The men in our party went fishing with Northern Lights Charters. They were disappointed. I admit this would be totally different if they caught fish, but they didn't. Ken had sold them on booking with him with a promise that if trolling wasn't working, they could switch to bottom fishing. Our boys were not able to get him to switch. We have chartered numerous boats before, and never have we had a captain that refused to move when the guests asked. :( The girls did the horse drawn trolley tour. It was OK. Not great, not bad. Just meh. But it was a nice overview of the town. We then took a cab from the pier to Totem Heritage Center ($8 including tip) to tour that, the eagle center, and the fish hatchery. All three were meh. Nothing spectacular, but OK. The eagles were the best part, as they get annoyed when the crowd stops paying attention to them. So we all turned around to look at what the guide was saying, and the eagles started cackling :D After this, we walked back down to the pier, following Married Man's Trail, and stopping for some shopping on Creek Street. We left Ketchijkan about 30 minutes later.

 

Victoria - Here is where I was most disappointed. When we booked, this was sold as 6pm - midnight. I was looking forward to taking a cab/shuttle downtown and doing a ghost tour. Just before we left, someone else reported docking later. Sure enough, when we got the daily program, it was scheduled for a 7pm docking. We didn't dock until 7:30 and weren't off the ship until almost 8. Earlier that day, I decided to spend the evening with my parents at Butchart Gardens (I have been there before). They advised everyone with tour tickets to be waiting at the gangway and ready to debark as soon as possible and then go straight to the buses. Because of this, everyone was crowding the front stairwells. It was a madhouse. My step-mother had bad arthritis and can't stand for long periods (she is find if she sits 5 minute for about every 20 she is on her feet). Well, there were young families taking all the seats nearby while a 68-year-old woman was sitting on the stairs and we were packed shoulder to shoulder. :mad: We made it to Butchart at 8:45 and they were closing at 10. Our driver asked them to extend the hours a bit, even 15 minute, but they refused. Alas. We did get a quick run through of Butchart. We were pleasantly surprised to find letters from HAL when we returned crediting us back half the cost of the tour. At least that was something. However, I think this is going to be a problem all summer. Some folks in the stairwell mentioned having GPS units in their windows that showed the ship was doing 22.9 knots all day. Well, the ship only going 23 knots, so we were essentially going full speed from Ketchikan and were still late.

 

Debarking - we docked in Seattle about 7am. We had selected 8am independent transportation. They called the walk-offs about 8:30 and us about 8:45. Luggage was well organized (at least compared to Miami). The line at passport control was long, but the RCI side seemed to be moving while the HAL side stood still. We switched lines and went through quickly. We met the rest of our party out on the pier and our ride pulled up almost immediately after we got there. We had him back home (U District) about 9:30 and were at the airport to pick up our rental by 10:15.

 

Mt Rainer - Since it was a BEAUTIFUL Seattle day (sunny and 80), we decided to go out to Mt Rainer. We were disappointed to find out that the road up to Sunrise doesn't open until late June, and the road to Paradise was closed for a washout (you can get there the long way from Seattle). But luckily we had stopped at the ranger station, and the wonderful woman there (who gets to take her dogs to work!) gave us some recommendations for hiking at lower elevations. We hiked to Grove of the Patriarchs - and old growth grove of cedars, and then to Silver Falls. After that, we drove a few miles down the road to Ochnopotch (sp) and took the short "nature walk" to the hot springs. Great camp ground, but lame hot springs. Well, lame if you want the kind of hot springs that pool and you can play in. It was more like a hot bog. But it was a good day overall. And it was totally weird to be hiking in short sleeves and sandals (I hike in Tevas a lot), yet be traipsing through patches of snow.

 

I'll spare you Saturday house hunting with my brother-in-law ;)

 

We flew home on Sunday. The lines at the airport were long, and Air Tran does not enforce any of their rules! To the point I sent them a letter complaining of our 45 minute wait with 8 people in front of us in the line that claimed to be for those who preprinted the boarding passed and prepaid their bags. We did both, no one else did either, and Air Tran didn't care. At BWI they had someone directing traffic and ensuring people got in the right line.

 

I went to the doctor this afternoon, and sure enough that head cold I flew with last week turned into a sinus infection AND an ear infection :rolleyes:

 

Wow, this is getting long and I haven't even gotten into the ship...

The ship - The staff told us she is due for dry dock in Jan. I was thinking it was Oct, before going back to Hawaii. She is due. The laminate was chipping and peeling on the dresser in our cabin, the beds were hard and you could feel the springs, and there was lots of rust. Nothing that made it a bad trip or anything, just things we noticed.

 

Our cabin steward was the best we had ever had. Neuman. Like Paul Newman. He prefers Paul Newman to "Newman!" from Seinfeld

 

We had AYWD, and were mostly happy with it. We had a few nights where we walked in as a party of 6 and just took the first table. A couple of nights we made a reservation. Once we had table 103 and were not happy with the server. Then we got Max at table 105 - he was much better, and we requested him again.

 

I can't review the food due to the head cold/sinus infection. I couldn't smell anything all week, so it wouldn't be fair. But I will say we probably did have "Salmon 50 Ways" as there were two salmon dishes every night at dinner and other options for lunch. The Master Chef Dinner was the exact same one my in-laws had on the Volendam back in December, with the addition of two salmon dishes. The "salmon bake" was the afternoon of Ketchikan, but was standard BBQ fare with brats, hot dogs, etc. The only salmon was smoked salmon on a salad.

 

The casino dealers were great! Mostly Ukrainian and Russian. We liked amusing them with our last name, which is apparently "very Ukrainian" when you say it like they do, but "means nothing" when you say it like we do :D For craps players, the odds were only 2x, which is lame.

 

We went to a couple of cooking demos, which were neat. My father took one of the hands-on classes and enjoyed it. We also did two trivia games (two points from winning on both). My husband enjoyed the martini class. Apparently if you go to all the mixology classes you get a certificate at the end. That and the casino was about it for our shipboard activities.

 

I know HAL is an older crowd and, especially in Alaska, a slower pace, but compared to our NCL cruise last Jan, my husband and I were very bored. I don't remember that from our Maasdam cruise. Additionally, I was VERY disappointed there was no on-board naturalist. Only Kainoa, the Hawaiian "travel guide" who couldn't help me identify a whale I saw (it was not a humpback). Only once did the captain announce wildlife sitings. He said there was a whale off the starboard side, while my husband and I were watching a gray off the port side. Turns out, the captain was announcing orcas. I wish he had said "Orca whale off the starboard side" as we assumed it was just another one like we were watching. So I missed my whale trifecta.

 

Whew! I'm long winded. If there is anything I missed, ask away.

[aliaschief]

Thanks for posting this review. Alaska is a wonderful cruise venue.

[rubytue]

One thing I forgot to mention, there were trays in the Lido. We usually skipped the trays and went straight to the eggs benedict or sandwhich station.

[azrose]

Rubytue: don't worry about missing the ghost tour in Victoria...if it was the same one we did last year.....boooooring......we played Americans in Victoria and just hung out at Starbucks :D (for the free internet since I used up my HAL package minutes with sloooow reception) after fiiiinallly getting off the ship!!:eek:

[LovesSaltwater]

So glad you had a chance to see Ohanapecosh & Silver Falls, and the Grove of the Patriarchs, an area where as a child spent many lovely camping trips with family (and even caught fish in the River--the clarity of which was always breathtaking, no matter how many times we saw it). Also remember making Bisquick turnovers in foil in the campfire, filled with wild blueberries picked along the banks of that river. Wonder if the crowds in the parks allow any to grow there now... By the way, did you get to see the Box Canyon?

Anyway, we are booked for mid-Sept cruise on Zaandam to Alaska, first time cruise for us and our friends coming from Europe. These trips aren't cheap and your description of condition of ship is making me wonder...:confused:

A week isn't a month's cruise, but a week of not getting good sleep because you can feel the springs in the mattress isn't a good thing. I can get that at a $65.00 /night motel if that's what I want. :p What else should be we aware of beforehand, so not shocked and dismayed upon boarding?? Considering that I was expecting a certain "air of luxury"...is that foolish of me? Thanks for any feedback...

[rubytue]

So glad you had a chance to see Ohanapecosh & Silver Falls, and the Grove of the Patriarchs,

I'm glad you knew what I was talking about when I butchered the spelling ;) Don't even ask me to say it.

 

Someone else here might be able to confirm that egg crate foam covers are available. I want to say they are, we never asked for one, but I think we should have.

 

Like I said, the condition wasn't bad enough to make us no enjoy the trip, it was just noticable. My parent's room did not have issues with the dresser, but there was rust on the balcony, too. The service was excellent, and will surely make you feel luxerious :)

[FloridaAdGuy]

Victoria - Here is where I was most disappointed. When we booked, this was sold as 6pm - midnight. I was looking forward to taking a cab/shuttle downtown and doing a ghost tour. Just before we left, someone else reported docking later. Sure enough, when we got the daily program, it was scheduled for a 7pm docking. We didn't dock until 7:30 and weren't off the ship until almost 8.

 

 

Thanks for your excellent report, rubytue. Many of our experiences on the May 15-22 Zaandam cruise (the week prior to your trip) were similar. In fact, we didn't get off the ship in Victoria until 8:15pm which was very disappointing. I was surprised about the lack of salmon you experienced at the Salmon Bake. They were grilling salmon the week prior...I actually thought this was the best salmon they served all trip as the other dishes tended to mask the salmon with sauces and cremes. I do agree that the Zaandam is in need of a sprucing up...the carpets are very soiled/worn in the high traffic areas and there are some minor rust issues...I think the old girl just need a makeover and she'll be right as rain! :p

[rubytue]

Thanks for your excellent report, rubytue. Many of our experiences on the May 15-22 Zaandam cruise (the week prior to your trip) were similar. In fact, we didn't get off the ship in Victoria until 8:15pm which was very disappointing. I was surprised about the lack of salmon you experienced at the Salmon Bake. They were grilling salmon the week prior...I actually thought this was the best salmon they served all trip as the other dishes tended to mask the salmon with sauces and cremes. I do agree that the Zaandam is in need of a sprucing up...the carpets are very soiled/worn in the high traffic areas and there are some minor rust issues...I think the old girl just need a makeover and she'll be right as rain! :p

This further confirms my hypothesis that this is going to be trouble all summer. Someone on the 8-15 May sailing reported not docking until 7:30, you didn't, and we didn't. Plus adding in the folks who say theeir GPS units showed we were doing 23 knots all the way from Ketchikan - it just doesn't work. :(

 

for us, they took the folks from the Whale Watch and put them on the Buchart tour. Our bus had several families on it, including some really cranky looking teenagers. I felt for them, as I'm sure when you are 15, canceling the whale watch and having to go to the gardens would be horrible.

 

On the plus note, come summer, Buchart stays open until 11:30pm, so at least anyone going to the gardens will get to see it without running. But I doubt ay other tours will be much use.

[songbert]

We'll be on the Zaandam Aug 7-14, and I was interested reading your report. Hoping that my SO and his 13 year old DS will be impressed with cruising in spite of the downsides (this is their first cruise; my first Alaskan cruise).

 

We have also booked the Sea Otter tour, so I was glad to see your review.

 

I'm doing Butchart Gardens alone, so hopefully I will get to see at least some of the gardens. Too bad they can't get the port time down....