Amsterdam Review
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After three months of excitement and planning for our Alaskan cruise, my wife and I flew into Seattle the day before and stayed overnight with relatives at their home in Gig Harbor. We have cruised before with Royal Caribbean and Carnival as well as enjoying quite a few sailing voyages on sailing yachts - all in the Caribbean. This was to be our first Alaskan cruise and first time on Holland America. My wife said my excitement level was through the roof! My wife's cousin and his lovely wife joined us on this cruise from Seattle for a 7 day round trip voyage to Alaska on the beautiful Amsterdam. This was just the second 7 day Alaskan voyage for the Amsterdam, May 10 - 17, 2010, before she begins her 14 day voyages to Alaska.
We were graciously dropped off at Pier 91 on Monday in Seattle by my brother's wife and arrived at 10:35 am. The Holland America staff was very courteous and congenial as we breezed through security, had our photo taken, documentation checked and received our ship's card. If only airport security was so pleasant! After boarding at 11:35 am for early embarkation we had a delicious lunch at the Lido restaurant. After lunch we had fun exploring the ship and found it very easy to navigate. By 1:45 pm our cabin was ready, and we dropped off our carry on items, and our suitcases arrived shortly thereafter. After unpacking and a smooth life boat drill at 3:20 pm, we uncorked our champagne that was chilling in our cabin and had a celebratory toast with the couple that joined us! We then went out on the Promenade deck and with excitement watched as the Amsterdam pulled away from the dock promptly at 4 pm. All in all our embarkation day had gone extremely smooth. We found the ship to be very well maintained and in excellent condition.
Our K category Large Inside cabin was conveniently located on the Lower Promenade deck near the stern and with less than a 40 ft. walk we could be outside enjoying the view. Our cabin's layout, furnishings and dEcor were outstanding. Our cabin measured 182 SF and with the very comfortable Mariner heavenly bed, two night stands with drawers, dresser with 3 drawers and couch, oval table and chair maximized the space. The bathroom was well laid out and had plenty of counter space, with nice amenities. We were very impressed with comfort of our cabin and the 5 spacious hanging closets, which easily accommodated all of clothes we brought for this Alaskan cruise. Our cabin was immaculate and kept very clean twice daily by our cabin stewards.
Cabin Review
Large Interior Stateroom
Spacious large inside cabin, K3245, 182 sf with excellent layout, & beautiful decor. Bathrooms amenities and space was great. Excellent storage with a total of 5 drawers and 5 closets. Good sound proofing as we didn't hear our neighbors at all. However, being so close to the stern, on the first night there was vibration and noise as we steamed north near top speed of 22 knots into building seas and near gale force winds. I think that combination of aft location, weather and speed, proximity to propellers produced this. Other nights were fine as the cabin was quieter with little vibration and hardly any noise. The first night I was up two or three times trying to find out what was vibrating. Put some paper between the TV and wall which helped some.