Alaska Cruise

[lsayd]

Has anyone ever traded for the Holland America Alaska cruise? Any info (was the ship nice, how easy was the transfer, where did you sail from, how did you get to the ship, etc.) would be greatly appreciated!

 

[lizjon9197]

We are booked on the July 8 cruise leaving from Seattle. I will post a trip report after we get back.

 

[lsayd]

What a coincidence - we're both from MD! Thanks - thinking of doing this sometime, maybe next year. How are you getting from the airport (I'm assuming you're flying into Seattle) to the ship?

 

[lizjon9197]

There aren't many people from Maryland on this board, so it is always nice finding a fellow Marylander.

We are renting a car. Our cruise is on the 8th, but we will fly to Seattle on the 6th, just to make sure we will board the ship on time and also do a little sightseeing around Seattle. You can rent a car at the airport and drop it off near the port and take the shuttle bus the rest of the way. On the return trip, you can do the same to pick up your car. I think because they get a lot of business from cruisers so there is no one-way drop off charge.

 

[lsayd]

Thanks again - that's good to know. I look forward to hearing about your cruise, I'm sure it will be fantastic. Have a great time.

 

[smmast]

Add me to the list of Marylanders!
We did the Alaska cruise two years ago on Holland America. We flew to Vancouver and left from there. We had a wonderful time. The scenery is just breathtaking. Holland America, however, left a little to be desired.
This is not our favorite line or ship. We were on the Zaandam, which is fairly new (i think). Its just not as nice an experience as the Disney line. The ship needed some attention, from a maintenance perspective.
However, i would go back to Alaska in a flash. Enjoy!!

 

[Mary Ellen]

We have done the Alaskan cruise on Holland America 5x now - never used our points though. We greatly prefer the Vancouver departures as the scenery is much better than on the Seattle sailings. On our 1 Seattle cruise we found that the 2 'at sea' days were - at sea - the mountains were in the far distance. (ok, the evening of the second has a few hours in Victoria) Those same days on the Vancouver sailings are spent with beautiful scenery all around you as you are sailing between islands and the mainland. There are a few hours spent crossing Queen Charlotte Sound, but after that it is nothing but scenery.

The Seattle sailngs are out in the Pacific Ocean. It can get much rougher than the Caribbean. You are in much more protected waters on the Vancouver sailings.

I am NOT a fan of HAL's Vista class of ships (cabins smaller and no passenger laundry - great to have with kids and there are just somethings I don't trust to the ship's mass laundry). The Vistas are the compass directions - Noordam, Westerdam, Oosterdam (East) and Zuiderdam (South).

Other than that, all I can say is that we prefer Skagway to Sitka.

I'm sorry smmast didn't enjoy the Zaandam. We had our 2nd cruise on her last October - 15-days r/t from San Diego to Hawaii. She was in great shape then. I know the HAL ships recently underwent an upgrade (WONDERFUL mattresses now). Maybe you had the bad luck to sail before the dry/wet dock.

Oh - the cabins on all cruise lines are smaller than the DCL cabins. Disney does have the biggest cabins. HAL's (non-Vista) cabins are next largest.

 

[Inkmahm]

We did Alaska in 2005 on Princess and had a balcony room which is MUCH bigger than the DCL line. We love both lines, however. When we do Alaska again in 2009, it will be on Princess.

 

[Database]

We did Alaska on the Oosterdam in 2004 departing and returning to Seattle.
We stayed in Seattle the night before and after the cruise. Transfer was super easy.

We enjoyed the Oosterdam as much as The Wonder. We're cruising newbies.

Next Alaskan Cruise (2009) we plan to depart via Vancouver. Transfering out to HAL from a DVC resort isn't probably the best value use of our points, but for now it works.

 

[lsayd]

Thanks for all the replies. I was leaning toward the Vancouver cruises due to the route, your info made that decision. Although it may not be the best use of points financially, it is for us due to the fact that there will be no out of pocket cost for the cruise itself, the points are paid for. Although the best use is at a DVC resort, we bought in knowing we'd use the points for WDW trips as well as others. For those who have been through Vancouver, how did you get from the airport to the ship?

 

[Starr W.]

I prefer departing out of Vancouver myself. Water is much calmer in the Inside Passage. First trip we left out of SF, and it was rough until we got to Vancouver/Victoria area. No experience with HAL, but when we sailed with Princess we flew into Vancouver(via Chicago). Princess chartered a United plane, we didn't go into the airport in Vancouver, but got off via steps(really old school) went into a small building to clear Canadian customs, got on the bus for our ship(Princess rep checked everyone in on the way). Waited about 20 min at the Port and then were let on the ship(bags showed up while we were talking to our cabin steward).

We met some people on board who flew into Seattle and Princess had transportation that could be booked to get to Vancouver.

We did the one way and got off at Seward, spent the night in Anchorage then flew home the next day(Anchorage-Seattle-Detroit).

Like Inkmahn, I'm very partial to Princess.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Hello fellow Marylanders on this thread! I too am from Maryland, Westminster in Carroll County! Just giving a shout out!

 

[TenThousandVolts]

Another Marylander here who wants to do the Alaskan cruise. Does anyone know what kind of stateroom you get for the points on the DVC points chart- and can you pay higher points or pay cash for a balcony stateroom?

 

[Inkmahm]

We did 3 nights in Seattle visiting relatives, then 6 nights on land starting in Fairbanks and then 7 nights cruising on Princess starting in Seward and ending in Vancouver, adding a couple nights in Vancouver at the end. I would definitely add some days on land, if possible, and not just do the cruise. The train from Fairbanks to Anchorage (stopping at Princess lodges along the way) has amazing scenery that you can't see from the ship. Also, a lot of fun excursions!

Vancouver north to Seward is cheaper as it is less popular to go that route than it is to head south and end in Vancouver. We stayed at the Intercontinental in Vancouver and took a taxi to the airport when we left. If you are going right home after getting off the ship, the cruiseline will arrange transporation for you to the airport (or visa versa if you start in Vancouver.) Cruise lines are great at doing transfers for you including arranging the airfare if you don't want to bother with doing your own plans. I had Princess do the Seattle to Anchorage airfare and I arranged all the other legs of the trip myself (it was cheaper.)

 

[MinnesotaChill]

My DH and I did Vancover to Seward the week before the 4th of July a few years back and it was HOT! Just a warning for anyone packing for at rip during the summer because it seemed like we were the only ones on the ship that were prepared for warm weather. Do make sure to bring plenty of clothes for cool weather as well. Okay, now that I got that first thing off my mind...

This was our first cruise (we were in our early 30s) and we left our kids at home. We loved the Alaska cruise because the scenery was fantastic and we liked to do the adventureous shore excursions. That said, we probably wouldn't go HAL again because it was just too slow for our pace. Because our kids were very small and energetic, and because this was one of our first times without them, we actually enjoyed the amount of "downtime" we got. We spent entire days just sitting on deck watching the scenery go by... but there was little else to do on the ship for us. I played bingo more than I ever thought I would, that's for sure; and I actually LOST weight because there was so much time for me to spend in the spa/workout area (fantastic views while doing aerobics on deck!). We were also the only "young" couple on the ship. Every person at our table of 8 had children our age. We had a blast with them, and really did enjoy ourselves, but found ourselves looking wistfully at the Princess and Norwegian ships that seemed to follow us from port to port. I do think, however, that they both turned back and did a loop, while we continued to Seward. I know for sure that we were the only ones in port in Seward, the building we exited through to catch our buses/cabs, etc. was just a large pole barn. Absolutely no ammenities. Very Alas-kan.

If you've been on other, bigger, flashier ships, you will likely notice a huge difference with HAL. We'd never been on a ship before so it wasn't a big deal, but when I have looked at other people's pictures from other ships, I see that in some areas we were a little more sparce (about 4 stores rather than several floors, etc.).

We arrived a day early to make sure that we wouldn't wind up missing the ship due to a flight problem, and just took a cab from the hotel to the port. Very easy.

The service was fantastic, the ship was clean and well maintained and the food was good. Just a bit slow for us. But we adored Alaska and plan to take the kids when they are middle school age. I think it is one cruise that older kids would really enjoy because there are so many interesting places to see and animals to learn about.

 

[Inkmahm]

My DH and I did Vancover to Seward the week before the 4th of July a few years back and it was HOT! Just a warning for anyone packing for at rip during the summer because it seemed like we were the only ones on the ship that were prepared for warm weather. Do make sure to bring plenty of clothes for cool weather as well. Okay, now that I got that first thing off my mind...

This was our first cruise (we were in our early 30s) and we left our kids at home. We loved the Alaska cruise because the scenery was fantastic and we liked to do the adventureous shore excursions. That said, we probably wouldn't go HAL again because it was just too slow for our pace. Because our kids were very small and energetic, and because this was one of our first times without them, we actually enjoyed the amount of "downtime" we got. We spent entire days just sitting on deck watching the scenery go by... but there was little else to do on the ship for us. I played bingo more than I ever thought I would, that's for sure; and I actually LOST weight because there was so much time for me to spend in the spa/workout area (fantastic views while doing aerobics on deck!). We were also the only "young" couple on the ship. Every person at our table of 8 had children our age. We had a blast with them, and really did enjoy ourselves, but found ourselves looking wistfully at the Princess and Norwegian ships that seemed to follow us from port to port. I do think, however, that they both turned back and did a loop, while we continued to Seward. I know for sure that we were the only ones in port in Seward, the building we exited through to catch our buses/cabs, etc. was just a large pole barn. Absolutely no ammenities. Very Alas-kan.

If you've been on other, bigger, flashier ships, you will likely notice a huge difference with HAL. We'd never been on a ship before so it wasn't a big deal, but when I have looked at other people's pictures from other ships, I see that in some areas we were a little more sparce (about 4 stores rather than several floors, etc.).

We arrived a day early to make sure that we wouldn't wind up missing the ship due to a flight problem, and just took a cab from the hotel to the port. Very easy.

The service was fantastic, the ship was clean and well maintained and the food was good. Just a bit slow for us. But we adored Alaska and plan to take the kids when they are middle school age. I think it is one cruise that older kids would really enjoy because there are so many interesting places to see and animals to learn about.

The crowd is generally older on Princess, too. We were mid-40's and we were young. There were only a handfull of kids on the whole ship.

Princess doesn't loop. It starts in Vancouver and goes to Seward, then from Seward back to Vancouver. Over and over all season long. Stops are at Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Excursions at each are great!

We loved the ship- always lots of things to do when not in port.

 

[kendzee94]

okay, so we are planning on taking a 7 night HAL cruise in 2009 (DH's 40th!!) on points with myself, DH, DS(will be 11), DD( will be 9). Will they be bored stiff after doing the DCL land/sea this year??? How are the kids programs, anyone, anyone, Bueller?

 

[Melcatfish]

Hi, we are still at the thinking of buying into DVC stage and my husband is very keen to know what else we can do with our points. Can anyone give me an idea how many points it costs to do an Alaskan cruise?

Thanks
Mel
x

 

[Inkmahm]

okay, so we are planning on taking a 7 night HAL cruise in 2009 (DH's 40th!!) on points with myself, DH, DS(will be 11), DD( will be 9). Will they be bored stiff after doing the DCL land/sea this year??? How are the kids programs, anyone, anyone, Bueller?

Can't really help you regarding HAL since we took Princess. I can tell you though that there weren't more than a handful of kids on the whole Princess ship we were on. The ones that were there were well behaved and always with their parents as far as I could tell. I don't know that they had any kids programs.

 

[Starr W.]

Can't really help you regarding HAL since we took Princess. I can tell you though that there weren't more than a handful of kids on the whole Princess ship we were on. The ones that were there were well behaved and always with their parents as far as I could tell. I don't know that they had any kids programs.

Last time we went on Princess to Alaska, there were about 2 handfuls of kids and they do have kids programs(I have a 10 & 6 yr old) since we are planning on going in 2009 or 2010. I don't think you see too many younger children, mostly elementary school age and up.

We did meet some kids that were on a HAL ship when we did the rafting at Mendenhall glacier. They got wet and were complaining they would catch their death of cold. The dad was making sure mom had the video camera going to catch it for posterity.