Holland America?

[imbelle]

My in-laws picked Holland America for our Alaska trip several years ago and my impression was that it was definitely aimed at an older clientele. Three types of prunes on the breakfast bar and bland dinning room food about the quality of a Banquet TV dinner. The staff was overly efficient, packing up things (deck chairs, etc) so that you kind of felt in the way and rushed. Room decor was 60/70's motel-ish (but not in a fun, kitschy way). Not a horrible experience but unless things have changed, I would say that there are better options out there.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I know this is a bit of an older thread, but we sailed on HAL to Alaska in Aug 2022 on the Koningsdam. The Koningsdam is one of the newer and relatively bigger ships that HAL operates (it’s roughly the size of the Magic and Wonder). They have trimmed down their fleet somewhat since the pandemic. We sailed as our family of 5 with 3 kids in the early teen/tween age as well as with my in-laws.

Honestly we had a blast and I would not hesitate to recommend the Koningsdam to anyone. Hands down the best feature was the retractable roof over the main pool area. It meant that the kids could swim every day and evening, plus we watched movies out there in the evenings sometimes. The ship was gorgeous, nothing old about it at all. The buffet offered a huge variety, far bigger than Cabanas, and also had late night snacks. Included food options in general were more plentiful than DCL, eg a huge cafe on deck 3 a bit like Cove Cafe but with waaaay more food, both savoury and sweet. Dining room food was good, but admittedly super slow so we only ate here 2 nights. My ILs said it wasn’t too bad when it was just the two of them dining. We tried the specialty steakhouse - so good.

The itinerary was similar to DCL Alaska but with Glacier Bay, which was truly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen on a cruise.

HAL does Alaska well for sure.

 

[lklgoodman]

I know this is a bit of an older thread, but we sailed on HAL to Alaska in Aug 2022 on the Koningsdam. The Koningsdam is one of the newer and relatively bigger ships that HAL operates (it’s roughly the size of the Magic and Wonder). They have trimmed down their fleet somewhat since the pandemic. We sailed as our family of 5 with 3 kids in the early teen/tween age as well as with my in-laws.

Honestly we had a blast and I would not hesitate to recommend the Koningsdam to anyone. Hands down the best feature was the retractable roof over the main pool area. It meant that the kids could swim every day and evening, plus we watched movies out there in the evenings sometimes. The ship was gorgeous, nothing old about it at all. The buffet offered a huge variety, far bigger than Cabanas, and also had late night snacks. Included food options in general were more plentiful than DCL, eg a huge cafe on deck 3 a bit like Cove Cafe but with waaaay more food, both savoury and sweet. Dining room food was good, but admittedly super slow so we only ate here 2 nights. My ILs said it wasn’t too bad when it was just the two of them dining. We tried the specialty steakhouse - so good.

The itinerary was similar to DCL Alaska but with Glacier Bay, which was truly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen on a cruise.

HAL does Alaska well for sure.

I've read so many great things about Glacier Bay. We did a DCL cruise to Alaska that sailed to Tracy's Arm, which was nice. I'm excited to see Glacier Bay next summer.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I've read so many great things about Glacier Bay. We did a DCL cruise to Alaska that sailed to Tracy's Arm, which was nice. I'm excited to see Glacier Bay next summer.

It's so beautiful!! I discovered somewhat accidentally that the ship opened up the bow area on one deck and many people did not know about this until later in the day so it was gloriously uncrowded in the morning for some amazing views. HAL also brought on National Park Service park rangers on Glacier Bay day (maybe some other cruise lines do this too) and they were upstairs in the observation lounge (another huge perk) throughout the day, narrating through the day, and then one led an afternoon talk in the theatre, while the other one led a junior park ranger program in Club HAL for the kids.