My wife and I took two of our grandsons on the July 8, 2006 Holland America Oosterdam Alaska cruise. My wife has wanted to visit Alaska all her life, and we give each grandchild a special trip on their eighth birthday so we combined the events into our first cruise. One grandson was ten, the other turned eight during our cruise.

Boarding: Boarding in Seattle was the first of many good impressions. Holland America has this down to a well-oiled procedure and this left a good taste in our mouths. Theres lots to do on boarding but we felt things went well. We were welcomed on the ship with: Welcome to the experience of a lifetime! While thats an overstatement, it was part of the ship boarding process that got our cruise off to a good start.

First Impressions: The shipped seemed massive, Im sure they all do. Everything was clean and well lit, there was art everywhere. This is a level of vacation experience weve never experienced and it set the tone for a great week. Read more