This was a family trip consisting of my sister and I (who are in our 30's) with our 60-something mom. We are Chinese Americans from California. We have all cruised before a few times on a Yangtze River cruise and to the Caribbean and Bahamas on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. This was our first time to Alaska and on Holland America. HAL Zaandam: May 15 - 22, 2011Vancouver, Inside Passage, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord, SewardPost Cruise:Kenai Fjord Cruise, Alaska Railroad from Seward to Anchorage, AnchorageTravel to VancouverWe flew to Vancouver from CA the day before embarkation. The airport was not very full and we passed through customs and baggage claim with ease. We used the ATM just as you exit baggage claim on the left to get CAD. We had initially planned to take the SkyTrain, but since it was raining we decided to take a taxi instead. It was about $35 CAD with tips. The cab driver was not very friendly and did not wear a seat belt and drove haphazardly weaving in and out of lane. He hesitantly helped us with the luggage. At one point the cab smelled like burnt plastic. He opened the window to clear the air. We were glad to make it to the hotel in one piece!Sheraton Wall Center VancouverI used Hotwire to get this hotel. I called the week before to ask for two beds and was pleasantly surprised to find that we were upgraded to the newly renovated North Tower. I had assumed we would be in the older South Tower because of the Hotwire booking. The room was not ready when we arrive at 11am but was ready by 1pm. It was clean and quiet on an upper floor. We had views of downtown and peek a boo views of False Creek. The lobby of the North Tower is very nice with a bar and lounge. The South Tower lobby is very small. Taxi stand is in front of the South Tower. The gym and pool is in a weird location in the conference area between the towers. It was at the bottom of a flight of stairs that were hard to find. I did not feel safe going back there by myself although I saw many people there.VancouverWe walked down to Granville Island after checking into the hotel. We walked around a bit and grabbed some food for lunch. The walk there was very nice on the Granville Bridge where we had wonderful views of the marinas, downtown, and the surrounding snow covered mountains. I wish I took pictures of the mountain because it was all foggy and covered the next day when we sailed off! We took the #51 bus back to downtown because it started to rain and it took us almost 45 mins to walk over. I had planned to go to Lynn Canal, but we were getting tired after lunch and the increasing rain did not encourage me either. Instead we took a long nap in our room before dinner time. We walked up to Robson St. to stroll the shops. I had to resist not buying anything as they had many cute items! I was heading towards Denman Ave. where I had eaten well on a previous trip. But we stumbled upon Hon's Noodle House on Robson where we had an excellent last meal of Chinese comfort food before our cruise.EmbarkationWe took a taxi to Canada Place without problems. The porters greeted us at the curb. We had printed and attached the luggage tags ahead of time so they took our checked bags right away on the carts. Customs was a breeze as well. Then we got to the HAL check in. The agent that checked us in seemed scattered brain. I had to correct her several times. The other agents sounded more put together. We then took seats in a staging area until they were ready for our group. Then it was a quick walk pass the photo area to the gangway. Our room was on Level 2, where the gangway was so it was very convenient. We dropped off our carryon bags in the room and went up to the Lido for lunch and then a tour of the ship.Public SpacesThe ship looked much better in person than online. The color and finishing are certainly bold but came across gaudy online. It was much more elegant in person.My favorite spot to hang out was on one of the Eames chairs by the window at the Explorations Cafe. I spent many hours with my iPad and a cup of coffee and watching the scenery go by. They had an excellent library with Alaska guides and books, plus other fiction and non fiction books of all subjects. There were also many games and puzzles to keep adults and kids busy. There were sufficient computers to accommodate everyone. I purchased an internet plan at $55 for 100 minutes. Wifi was available in all the public lounges, but I was able to get a signal in the cabin a few times, though it was not consistent. The satellite connection was very slow so the minutes ate up fast. They had 2 for 1 minutes on the last day. The NY Times website was free so we used that to read up on the days' news and to check the weather. The Explorer's Lounge and Seaview Lounge were also great spots to read and watch the scenery if the library was full. We passed through the casino but never played in it. The smoking bothered us.The Spa and Fitness Center were excellent! We purchased the Thermal Suite pass on the first day and used the heated loungers and mineral pool daily. There is a private deck right outside the thermal suite that was a great "cool down" when it got too warm. The fitness center had adequate equipment to keep the gym rat happy. It had absolutely awesome views as it was on the bow. There are seats at the bow windows in front of the treadmills and these are some of the best seats on the boat for scenic cruising days. A word of caution for the locker rooms: the keys are universal meaning your key can open any locker and vice versa. Do not put anything of value in the lockers. Leave it in your room safe. I found out one day when an older gentleman walked off with my robe by mistake and told me he was able to open his locker with my key. My sister used the hot tub and pool under the enclosed roof and said the temperature was fine. We saw a few people in the aft outdoor kiddie pool. They had the polar bear plunge there on Glacier Bay day and a teenager said that the pool was heated.We used the launderette quite a few times. You can get quarters from the front desk. Washer is $2, dryer $1. Sometimes it was full, other times empty. There were no posted times for the room and the door was open all night long though we tried to finish early. The dryers are high up and deep! We lost a few items but found them later. We also found other people's things which we returned to the room.DiningBefore the cruise, I wasn't sure I wanted to sit through 2 hours of dinner at the Main Dining Room each night. My last all inclusive resort's food was not worth the time. Well, the food on the Zaandam Rotterdam Dining Room was superb! We ate there all but one night. We chose Anytime Dining because I wasn't sure about our shore activities, but went at 7:45pm each night and were seated in the same general area though we had different servers and attendants. In hindsight, I would have chosen the late 8pm seating so we could get the same staff. We are used to excellent fresh cuisine in CA and the MDR did not disappoint. We enjoyed choosing the daily specials from the highlighted chef of the day from the Culinary Council. As for the Master Chef's Dinner, we enjoyed it and it appeared the staff did as well. The menu selection was adequate and the service was only slowed by a tad bit. We ate at the Lido for all meals and found it to be ok. Even though some menu items were the same as the MDR, we found the quality to be inferior though still good. They served us in the Lido the first 2 days to prevent any illnesses. We came to the Lido often to fill our travel mug/canteen with hot water/tea and coffee, especially on cold glacier days! The Lido got busy at times and trying a table can be challenging during those times. Some people ate out under the covered roof area by the pool. We didn't go to the Pinnacle Grill or Canaletto and ate the Terrace Grill only once.We ordered room service for breakfast for many days because we had such early start to our days. Breakfast was delivered warm and on time (usually the first 10 min of the 30 min window). The selection did get repetitive though. We tried to write in items and succeeded with hard boiled eggs but failed with French toast.There was afternoon tea in the MDR daily at 3pm. I only went to the Indonesian Tea day. The snacks were delicious! We were also tempted by the Cupcake day but decided our waistlines had enough.I found menus for all the venues on display in the Greenhouse Spa retreat room. It was great to preview them so I had an idea by dinner time. I think they are also on display at the Lido and outside the MDR too. ActivitiesSince our days were early and often long, we weren't looking for a party scene. I really enjoyed reading in the library the most. Given the age and interest of the average traveler on this particular cruise, the activities offered were pretty low key. The daily Explorer newsletter was delivered to the room nightly for the next day. But they should post the listings thorough the ship. We took a picture of the list with our camera so we can refer to it. You can also pick up extra copies by the librarian's desk.We didn't go to any of the travel guide talks, but we watched many of them on TV in the cabin. Our guide Kainoa was excellent. I enjoyed listening to his talks while I was folding clothes or doing other things around the cabin. They also broadcast other shows on TV as I watched the Filipino Crew show and the disembarkation assembly including the "Love in Any Language" performance on TV.We tried to go the kitchen galley tour but decided against it because it was VERY crowded. We went to one of the cooking demo with Chef Anand from the Pinnacle Grill where he prepared a salad and crème brulee. They had recipe cards for both dishes and small pots of crème brulee samples for the audience. One product I learned about was caramelized sugar. This product will caramelize on its own without a torch! Great for those without one and as Chef Anand said, they had to use it because the sample pots were plastic. These demos were very popular. Get there early for seats, otherwise you will have to stand or sit in the aisles.The jackpot bingos seem to be very popular as the lines were out the door at the theater before each event. I didn't set foot in the computer lab but some of the offerings looked interesting. My mom went to a tai chi class and my sister took a yoga class and both had positive feedback. Mom also went to a dance class and the flower arranging demo and she enjoyed them both. We wanted to do wine/liquor tasting but never got around to it. There were Friends of Bill W meetings and LGBT Gatherings daily.We really appreciated not being hawked to as we had been on previous cruises. There were no frequent public announcements about art or jewelry sales. The "sidewalk" sales in the hallways and Lido were not pushy. A big plus for class by HAL.EntertainmentWhat can I say? This was cruise ship level entertainment. Most of the theater production was cheesy to me but my mom and others seem to enjoy it. I watched the first few minutes of the Broadway review with Bob Mackie costumes and had to leave. The Crow's Nest is the "club" but it's a different type of club than I am used to. I am not sure I heard anything from the last 20 years the few times I was up there. Jenny and the HAL Cats was a good lounge act and Jenny tried to keep the room engaged. But most of the time, the dance floor was empty and people sat around drinking and talking. Singing with Jenny was a live Karaoke with the HAL Cats as the backup.... lots of Elvis and country songs. Karaoke with the DJ was also filled with the same tunes.The other live musicians on board were excellent. The chamber group played in the lounge each night and sometimes in the MDR. I played violin many moons ago so I appreciated their talents. I saw the violin player in the gym almost daily. He is a cordial young man from Eastern Europe who was having a good time traveling with the ship. The jazz group also sounded great in the Ocean Bar. We noticed that the pianist was reading her sheet music from an iPad!ServiceTop notch all around! It was a little unusual for us to see such a homogenous crew of mostly Indonesian and Filipinos. The Spa and other staff were more diverse. Our cabin stewards Setyo and Dwi were discreet yet friendly. Setyo was almost ALWAYS in the hall to greet us when we came back! He always asked about our day and if we needed anything. My sister was feeling a little left out with the towel animals the first two days so I told Setyo to make sure to give her one next. He didn't wait until the next day. She had one waiting for her the same night after dinner. Since we had Anytime Dining, we had different servers. We had great service with all of them and minor issues were taken care of immediately. The Lido staff was busy but we had a few attendants who made us feel special, joking with us about seeing whales and wildlife.Other passengersOk.... this is the one bad part of the review. A few rude passengers really clouded our experience of the cruise. I knew that with HAL and going early in the season, fellow passengers would fall in the older age range. But it was REALLY apparent we were in the minority both in terms of age and ethnicity. Most passengers were Caucasian in their golden years. We are Chinese but our skin tone and facial features are such that we are mistaken for Filipinas often. We thought we were paranoid and self conscious that we looked like the "hired help." But several personal experiences throughout the cruise really confirmed some passengers' bad attitudes. My mom was in the Greenhouse Spa retreat room in her street clothes drinking the juice before she changed into her robe to go into the Thermal Suite. A woman snobbishly said to her, "you know this is a special area for those who paid extra!" We had several more interactions like this in the spa/thermal suite and at the Lido and other public areas with other passengers who gave us the cold shoulder and did not seem interested in talking with us either as a group or individually. My mom commented that she felt like she was in a time warp in the pre-segregation era! We did not experience this on our previous cruises.I hope those rude passengers were just the exception and not the norm of typical HAL passengers. We certainly met many very friendly and interesting passengers of all backgrounds and had many interesting conversations. But those FEW rude people really spoiled the experience for us. I talked a gay couple who told us they did not feel comfortable holding hands in public, and I don't blame them. There were a handful of babies and a few school aged children. The mom of a couple of grade school boys said they were having a great time despite not having many children of their age around. They had a special junior ranger program on Glacier Bay day where the kids can get their badge. Extended day by day travelogue with photos on the Alaska forum:http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1421385