Seattle made a great port to start our Alaska cruise. We have been on ten cruises (Oceania and Regent for the previous two) but keep coming back to HAL for a good value. We are age sixty, the "kids" are 28 and 24. Pre-cruise hotel was Marriott Waterfront. Good location. Good piano player. Post-cruise was Marriott Sea-Tac. Seattle restaurants have great seafood, even the hotel restaurants!

Embarkation onto the Amsterdam was smooth enough, although everyone heads to the Lido for the "free food" so lines there were long and slow in the early afternoon of the first day. A better idea here is self-serve some pizza by the Lido pool and take a table there. Avoid the lines. Rooms were ready by 1:20pm and luggage arrived shortly thereafter. This is an elegant ship. Lots of expensive art. Fine gym. We had a workout most days. Photographers were not pushy. I was told by a twenty-something young lady that the spa pushed expensive products on her, saying that she had poor skin. First time she had ever been told that, she said. She looked good to me.

We had cabin 6103, a 290sf balcony cabin with shower only. The "kids" had 3375, a C category of about 200sf, upgraded from an FF guarantee. On the second day, the front office called. Would we trade with a couple who had trouble climbing into their jacuzzi tub? We did, so we had the same sized cabin but with a jacuzzi (6218). HAL handled the move, and sent us a nice note and a bottle of wine. Comparing the forward and aft cabins we had, the aft had a little bit of engine vibration at speed. Seas were smooth for our trip. The cabins were spotless, with good beds, plasma tv, dvd, fresh flowers, ice and fruit well supplied. BEST DEAL: stuff their laundry bag and it's all cleaned, folded and returned in a wicker basket or on hangers, for $12! Read more