Alaska - More About the Cruise

I have had a lot of questions about the cruise. We went on Holland America, on the Amsterdamm. This was our first cruise, so I don't have any comparisons, but we were very happy with this ship. As you can tell from the picture on the bow, I am not altogether comfortable on a ship. In fact, I normallly really hate being on water, but this was a very pleasant experience. This picture was taken the first time I went out on the bow. After this, the bow became one of our favorite places unless we were at speed, because we could see so much. It was really great to be out there when we were coming into a harbor because it was quiet and we could see so much of the places we were going.

This ship was one of the smaller ones, holding around 1300 passengers. This is what we were looking for - we didn't want to be with hordes, and we didn't want to be in a perpetual party. This cruise tends to attract older people (older than we are!), so we thought it would be more sedate, which it was. That doesn't mean there weren't things to do on the ship, but there wasn't a rock wall, wave pool, no big bar/dance places. They had games, competitions, some sports things, shows, etc., but the second picture shows our favorite place which was the library although I didn't get a lot of reading done because I was watching the scenery go by and watching for whales most of the time.

Our room was very comfortable, the food was good, and the crew was great. We really had the trip mojo going because we got an upgrade which put us about two cabins from the stairs/elevators; our dinner table assignment was right by the stern windows so we had an amazing view, and our tablemates were interesting and great to talk to. Even though it's not something I would normally do, I went to the casino a couple of times; trip mojo again because I hit a nickle slot for $180!! The only time I felt crowded on the ship was the first meal when we were all put in the buffet area while the rooms were finished. There were just so many public areas that we never had a problem finding a place to sit and stare out the windows.

Finally, I would go again in a minute. I have already started looking at cruise/land travel packages. A big part of that is Alaska itself - I really want to see more, but I would choose Holland America again also.