Just back from 8/16-8/23 Oosterdam trip to Alaska. Always use CC to plan our cruises but rarely post. Felt obligated to add a review this time. We are a family of 4 (45 yr old parents, 16yr old son & 12 yr old daughter). This is our 10th cruise (3rd time on HAL, 2nd time on Oosterdam) which we can compare to RCL, Costa, NCL, Carnival & Princess. We usually book a suite for the 4 of us rather than 2 balconies. Since we came from the East Coast, we flew in the night before without incident. Stayed at the Marriott Courtyard Sea-Tac using the Cruise package (free shuttle from airport, breakfast for 2, towncar transportation to port). Good value, but glad we had receipt showing package items because front desk staff, although pleasant, were ill informed about our entitlements. Courteous porter took our bags for embarkation around noon & we were on the ship in < 10 min. Very smooth, but this time we did not advance through the small line to the special suite check in line. It was 1st come 1st served. Instead of going to the Lido, we were directed to the Vista Dining Room for lunch. We sat down, looked at the full lunch menu & got up & left because it was too much food for our group. Roamed the ship & went to the Neptune Lounge to introduce ourselves to the concierge staff & then the room was available. Our suite was exactly as expected (this was our 3rd time in a suite on a Vista ship). Love the large balcony, 2 sinks, shower + Jacuzzi/shower for our family & access to the Lounge. There was plenty of storage for all. Ship looked great and staff really tried to please with 1 exception (I'll get to this later). Room Steward, Erwin, was efficient & unobtrusive. Dinner was Main Seating, table 5 with Asep & Erwin, plus Pamela, the Wine Steward (Admiral's Wine package was a good value). All of these individuals added to our vacation. Unfortunately we were at a table for 8 in spite of asking for a table for 4 (HAL has always accommodated us before). There was a large group from Farmers Insurance on this cruise so I believe that's why HAL wasn't as flexible. Our tablemates changed throughout the cruise (1 night with 1 family, 2 nights with another family and the rest of the time just us). Show times just didn't work for us on this cruise. Main Seating was at 8PM which meant you were to go to the early show at 7PM (those that did this were late to dinner) and the late show was at 9pm when we were still eating. Gym was crowded so you learned to exercise at off times (during lunch or before dinner). Saw tons of whales from the balcony & porpoises, sea lions & seals on icebergs. Fantastic! 16 yr. old enjoyed hanging out with us but 12 yr old got antsy. We loved the Hubbard Glacier but the 12 yr old was ready for something new after 10 minutes. We encouraged her to go to Kids Club (8-12 yr old group) but Club HAL frequently combined with the younger group (3-7) & that did not appeal to her. Went on Orca Enterprise whale watch in Juneau & really enjoyed Capt. Larry. Did lots of walking in Sitka and saw salmon swim upstream. Next went to the Raptor Center & skipped stones in the creek along a nature trail. Saw the totem poles in the National Park then explored the tide pools. We went fishing with Capt. Ken, of Northern Lights, in Ketchikan. He's a retired middle school teacher who got along famously with our daughter. Caught our 24 limit of pinks & had a great time. We'll be eating salmon at home for a long time. We arrived late in Victoria due to a current so didn't get off the ship until 7PM. Many of the shops already closed. We would have liked more time here earlier in the day. Dinner that night was open seating from 5-8:30PM. We rushed back from Victoria for dinner & went to the 2nd floor Vista Dining Room rather than our usual 3rd floor in the interest of time. We arrived at exactly 8:31PM (1 minute late) and were turned away by the Maitre D! The buffet did not open until 9:30 so we wrote our cruise reviews during that time. Not the best service in my opinion nor the wisest time to annoy passengers. All in all, it was a wonderful week with glorious scenery, a wonderful room & delicious food. Disembarkation was a breeze. Stayed at the Westin in Seattle (purchased on Hotwire) and took in the sites before flying back east the next day.