Holland America Cruise

[OKWPA]

Has anyone traded DVC points for the Holland America Alaskan Cruise? We are thinking of using our points for the Seattle to Seattle Alaskan cruise in 2006. We have never cruised on Holland America. What was your experience and is it worth the points?

Thanks,

Dale

 

[MDonley]

We took the "inside passage" trip out of Vancouver back in August, 2001 before they moved to Seattle. It took a lot of points, but we considered it worth it. Took some sort of side trip at each port we docked at. We were on the Zandaam. Holland America ships are much smaller than other lines (carnival/princess) that travel at the same time. More personal IMO. Every line seems to hit the ports on the same days. Temps were in the 70s - 80s. I seem to remember this question being brought up before, so you might use the search function for additional comments. With the recent tsunami, our thoughts and prayers are with our waiter at dinnertime (Sammie) who was from Indonesia and had family there.

 

[OKWPA]

Mike,
Thanks for the info. I will check previous messages for additional info. I think Holland America now has a newer, larger ship sailing the Seattle to Seattle cruise. Currently it is the Oosterdam but that may change in 2006.

Dale

 

[wtpclc]

My parents took the same cruise as Mdonley at around the same time. They are stillr aving about it. HAolland America is a 5 star cruise line and known to be excellent. My DH and I are contemplating that for a 10-year anniversary trip. From my parents' stories, it would be worth the points.

 

[OKWPA]

I could not find any previous post but a 2-2 "worth the points" is good enough for me.
Thanks for your input MDonley and wtpclc,

Dale

 

[Mary Ellen]

We've never used our points, but we've sailed 4 times to Alaska on HAL. This May will be #5. HAL's ships may be smaller than some of the others sailing this area, but the cabins are larger than on the other ships. Disney does have larger cabins, but they don't sail to Alaska.

The Oosterdam is the newest of HAL's ships sailing Alaska, but the cabins are smaller and many HAL fans don't care for the design of the 'Vista' class ships.

We prefer the Vancouver cruises for better scenery, but air is more expensive to Vancouver. Many fly into Seattle a few days early and drive/shuttle/train to Vancouver.

 

[smiley]

We are sailing with HA to Alaska August 2005 using our points. We decided to go on the Oosterdam r/t out of Seattle. So far we've booked an excursion to view the bears out of Ketchikan. We are currently looking at booking an excursion to go glacier trekking in Juneau.

Here's a link to some Alaska cruise message boards: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55


Good luck, we are very excited.

-Julie

 

[bongo59]

go to the mcburney ice fields in juneau.........you'll be standing on 8500 ft of ice that is 6 million yrs old.........they have to fly you up there on a copter.......we had a snowball fight up there in August with my wife 6 months pregnant........i drank the H20 straight from the glacier .....ice blue water cold as the dickens that was the best tasting water ever.........also would highly recommend taking a seaplane into a fjord in glacier national park.........awesome Caves ......not ice caves but pieces of glaciers collapsing into the ocean right in front of you.........unreal.........also i would strongly recommend the rafting trip into the Bald Eagle reserve if you go in early AUgust...........the eagles are everywhere and they will fly right over your head..............great pix are found there for all alaskan wild life.........bear elk deer and moose etc........