Zaandam Review

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558 reviews

Denali Tour and Cruise - D1T - Holland America

Review for Alaska Cruise on Zaandam
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coloradoute70
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Sep 2012
Cabin: Large Interior Stateroom

We were on Holland America D1T which began in Fairbanks on Sept. 5th. The ship departed Seward on the 9th. We arrived a day early. It was good to have the extra day in Fairbanks as we toured the Museum at the University (great museum), went to Santa's house in North Pole, AK. We had a good dinner at the hotel restaurant...

The HAL hotel is the Westmark in Fairbanks. Nice hotel but the rooms are a little small and its in need of an update. HAL has a desk at the hotel which was good. Our tour included a very fun and informative ride on a paddle-wheel boat, lunch and panning for gold during the day. We recommend the land tour in Fairbanks. We also went on the salmon bake that evening, which we all agreed was not worth it. The next day we were transported to Denali on the train in very nice observation cars. The observation cars have comfortalbe seats and a bar upstairs and a restaurant area below the seating area and great visibility of the scenery and quite pleasant. The guides were attentive and informative. At the train station in Denali we were transported to our hotel, The McKinley Chalets Resort. Our group was in a separate full sized hotel near the main lodge. It is a 5 minute walk from there to the main lodge and there's a shuttle running every few minutes. Our impression is that building was owned by HAL. The main lodge has a couple of restaurants, a bar and a gift shop. Across the street is the commercial area with many shops, ice cream, pizza, etc.

We took the white water river rafting trio down the Neenana River. Since it was September the weather was on the cool side, but they provided "dry" suits that are water tight and go over your clothing (water tight at wrists, ankles, and neck). It was about 1.5 hours of non-stop class 3 rapids. We have river rafted several rivers, and this was one of the best rides...we all had to paddle and being on the point (up front) is "the" place to be. A great trip and worth it.

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Large Interior Stateroom

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