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Disappointment in Holland America

Darwin

This was my 8th cruise, my first on Holland America. My husband and I enjoyed this trip to Alaska very much. The service, cabin, food and staff were wonderful. The activities were similar to other mid-size ships-bingo, art auction, casino. I would have liked a Broadway style show, but the entertainment was really great! Legacy, a musical group doing Motown and other music, was terrific, and the double piano/singers, Adam and Matt, in the Billboard Onboard lounge were fun. People were singing along and enjoying their banter and stories. A dance group and a comedian were also on-board entertainment, plus music in other lounges.

I have to mention, however, that we did an add-on 3 day pre-cruise land portion starting in Seattle. That was a complete waste of time and money. We flew into Seattle and only stayed the night. The next day we flew up to Fairbanks, but Holland America didn't give us any flight information and we were left to get information on our own. Fairbanks wasn't very nice but at least we met the HA tour people there. After 1 night there, we were on another bus to Denali. That was beautiful and worth it, but I would never recommend to do the other cities first.

Loved seeing and learning about the Last Frontier

This was a land and sea tour so I am commenting on the land portion as well.

We enjoyed the land tour but it did feel very scripted and structured. The lodging was all good to very good. Loved the Alyeska resort. 

We pretty much participated in the included activities which we enjoyed and otherwise hiked or relaxed. We did not purchase the greatland dining package and were glad we did not. There are many places to eat outside the hotels that are reasonable. We found the desk staff very helpful with maps and suggestions for places for a quick bite.

I would rate the land portion at 4 of 5 mostly because it was hard to learn about things ahead of the trip and I didn't enjoy the level of structure which is a matter of my taste. The accomodations and transportation were all good and luggage handling was excellent.

The cruise portion I would rate 4.5. Our embarkation in Whittier was super easy like walking on the ship. Debarkation in Vancover involved some queuing but was also very quick and easy.

We had an inside cabin. It was more then adequate to store our belongs, bed and bedding was very nice. Bathroom has a shower curtain verses a door but it worked and everything was clean and fresh. We had excellent service from our stewards. 

We had early fixed dining which was not really what we requested but it worked. It was pretty early even for us being at 5. Our food was good to excellent in the main diningroom I ordered tenderloin 3 nights and it was cooked to my order and scrumptious two of those nights and good the 3rd. I also had salmon which was excellent, and good halibut. I thought the portions where adequate considering you have bread, a starter or perhaps 2 and a dessert.

There were a few instances where the menu was incorrect but they were minor.

I thought perhaps the menu would have been improved by more variety in the poultry offerings. 

We did dine in the tamarind specialty restraunt and were vastly underwhelmed. Most of my dining room meals were better and for the price I wanted to be wowed.

Lido dining was fine. Everything (really everything) is served by servers which slows down the lines. I thought more of the food was fresh and hot then I have on past cruises. I also thought the wait staff were a little more attentive to beverage refills. They are very busy though so I was more then willing to help myself to my iced tea. Desserts across dining are probably just adequate. One tip if you like Asian food, check the menu. They often have dim sum offerings in the Asian area on the menu but you need to ask for them.  The chicken potstickers were very good!

Entertainment in the world stage was mostly mediocre, a clean but not too funny comedian, the same dance programs as our past 3 cruises (really) they did have a quartet performing motown hits 2 nights that we really enjoyed.  The world stage shortcomings are offset by the musical entertainment on the rest of the ship. We enjoyed the very talented piano and song duo in the billboard onboard and what we heard from the rolling stones lounge sounded good as did the combo playing jazz.

Good Experience

Boarding in Whittier was quick and easy, and our bags were waiting for us in our cabin when we arrived. We took a HAL-sponsored transfer from Anchorage to the ship via bus and it was a pleasant experience. Our land journey from Fairbanks to Anchorage was on our own because I prefer making my own plans and going at my own pace. The Marriott Anchorage Downtown was close to the transfer pick-up spot (a quick $5 taxi ride) and the hotel was great. Now, for the cruise...my first impression of the Nieuw Amsterdam was that the hallways needed some spiffing up. The material used on the walls has a mottled appearance which makes the walls look old. Overall, the ship was clean, and our cabin was clean. The two stewards who cared for the cabin were excellent and friendly. Our cabin had a safe but do not expect to put your computer in it as it isn't wide enough. It would be wide enough for an iPad or an e-reader. I see in the reviews/pictures that one of the nightstands has a lock, but I didn't notice that when I was there and wouldn't have looked for something like that. The cabin stewards didn't give us a tour of the room, so we had to figure stuff out ourselves. (On our Viking cruise, the cabin stewards gave us a room tour and showed us where things were and how to turn things on. That was very nice and helpful.) We found ourselves tripping over each other in the cabin. I'm not sure if it was because the bed was together instead of separated, but I had requested the beds be split and they weren't. That would have given us another corridor to stand in and might have seemed less crowded (don't know). We ate at Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto, and both were good, but the menu is very limited. We ate in the Dining Room once or twice for dinner but because the menu is limited there as well, we chose the Lido mostly. Getting a table was always challenging and the food was cafeteria food at best. So, I can't recommend the food. There's a pizza bar and burger bar as well that helped fill the gaps created by the Lido and Dining Room offerings. Entertainment was ok; a comedian that was great; some dancers that were good; and some singers that weren't so good.  Excursions were fine, and what I expected. Port towns with tee-shirt shops mostly so best to take tours that get you out into nature if that's what you would enjoy and are able to handle. All staff was friendly and courteous, and I found the guests to be friendlier than they were on our Viking cruise.  I also found the guests to be more diverse in age than we had on our Viking cruise to Panama Canal where they were mostly 70+. Yes, there were older guests, but this was an Alaska cruise, and I expected an older crowd because of it. At any rate, there were some kids, and folks of almost all ages onboard. Disembarkation in Vancouver was a breeze as we took our luggage with us and breezed off the ship.

Nice trip but food needs improvement

Just finished a land and sea package to Denali with a cruise from Whittier, Alaska to Vancouver, BC. 

We liked it and seeing Alaska was amazing. The cruise experience was just ok. Apparently Holland doubles as a retirement home because it seems we were the youngest people on the cruise in our mid 60’s. Only a slight exaggeration.

The logistics of moving bags around hotels, trains, buses and on/off the ship were exceptional. Our stateroom was roomy with a nice balcony and great service. The port towns were ok but quite touristy. The food was the biggest disappointment. I know, when you are feeding 2000 people 3 meals a day it won’t be good but we heard Holland food was very good. Best food was off the ship - had some delicious Alaskan king crab legs a couple of times.

We expected to see more wildlife but only one whale, several harbor seals, 7 bears (6 grizzlies and 1 black), a couple of bald eagles, and some caribou. Really wanted to see a moose but despite the tour guys hyping that a lot over the course of a couple of days, nada.

Quite a bit of colds and coughing going around and I got a brief cold for the first time in 2-3 years. One mistake we made was paying for the drink package. We used only about a third of what we paid for but that was our fault for falling for the pitch when we booked the cruise.

I won’t ever do a Holland or large cruise line again. Thinking a European river cruise might be ok.

Holland - OK but Never Again 

Brisbane

They ship and dining was five star. The food was fabulous. I've only cruised three times but this ship was really kept in great shape. The activities were a three for us.   We really enjoyed the balcony and whale watching.  Our handi-cap room was the absolute best for our accommodations.  The service we had in the cabin was over the top. The young men who took care of our room where wonderful and kind, so polite. They went over and above to make our stay so pleasant.   I loved the itinerary they gave us each night for the next day activities on board.  A bit disappointed in the ports, because they basically were all the same, t-shirts and jewelry.  And the number of homeless people was really sad.  It would have been nice to have an hourly itinerary for the land part of the tour.  I would do it again but not Alaska.

Peaceful and relaxing.

We had a wonderful time aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam for the 14 day Alaska round trip collectors voyage from Vancouver 

Our cabin was on deck 1 Aft and it was a large oceanview stateroom 

The check in took less than an hour since there were 2 other ships that day and basically the reason why it took less than an hour is because the lines at customs were a little bit long but after customs was done we headed onboard when we got onboard the ship it took us 10 min to find our cabin and once we got in we were unpressed by the design we truly enjoyed the bathroom with the shower/tub combo, the king size bed and the couch which turned into a sofa bed for me to sleep on 

The food was very good and we also enjoyed going to lido for breakfast and lunch and also going to the dining room for dinner the staff onboard are very friendly and very nice I also got to go in the thermal suite in the spa and it felt so relaxing for me 

The ports that we saw included Ketchikan , Juneau, Skagway, glacier bay, college fiord, Wittier, Hubbard Glacier, Glacier bay, Skagway,Juneau,Ketchikan,Vancouver 

The housekeeping staff are very nice as well a big thanks to Sigit and Nicodemus for cleaning our room for us every day and Chantelle in the dietary line as well as many other staff onboard including the dive in staff the club HAL staff in high score and also the greenhouse spa staff as well 

We’ve usually Cruised on the pinnacle class But this ship and its venues are kind of different than the pinnacle class. One of those differences is when you’re on the pinnacle class and you go to your cabin you hold the key card near the Key fob and automatically unlocked it for you but on this ship, you have to put your key card into the slot and it would automatically unlock it for you 

But Other than that, we truly had a wonderful time and we hope to come back on on the ship in the very near future

Wonderful ship great staff and a great cruise

We did a 14 night Alaska Cruise Tour. The ship is great, the Lido was v busy on embarkation so we never ate their again unless it was a late lunch after a port day. We ate in the restaurant, Pinnacle & Tamarind. Each were excellent. We once got a burger from the pool area & ate it in the Ocean Bar drinking a cocktail. The Crows Nest can be busy but is worth sitting in. The land tour is brutal. If you want to see how Holland respond to unexpected challenges, read what people say about how they treated them during the fire in Denali. You won't see many animals. E. G Denali is 4M acres. It's not an African safari. It's a grown up vacation for older rich folk. We were woken at 4am to get ready for a transit to Fairbanks at 0545hrs. We had to pack all our toiletries & have our luggage outside the room by 0430 hrs. Other wake ups are a bit later but it's a challenging schedule. The Westmark Anchorage is below par and the town is a dump. The Westmark Dawson City is old and a bit better. The paddle steamer trip in Fairbanks & The Klondike Gold Tour are good as is the Dawson Museum which is $11 on your own. The whole trip is a chance to sell you excursions. If it's that nice a place, before booking sea planes & hecopters ask yourself why you are getting swept up in it all first.

Sublime 

PRE-Cruise Hotel: The Westmark Hotel in Anchorage was sub-standard, filthy, and run down. The lock on our room door was broken. We had to put a chair in front of the door to feel safe. These accommodations are not what you would expect of Holland America, which is supposed to be a superior cruise line. We walked down to the Captain Cook Hotel for breakfast the next morning. This hotel was superior to ours. It was a Princess Cruise Hotel. Why didn’t Holland America choose a higher-rated and safe hotel? What an insult it is to be put in the Westmark!

 2. FOOD on the Cruise: The food on this cruise was a major disappointment. In the main restaurant, on the first day, my wife had the pasta dish that came out not “al dente.” but was hard as a rock. We also ate in The Pinnacle Grill, which is advertised as a specialty restaurant and which we were very much looked forward to experiencing. My wife ordered the filet mignon which arrived dry and had no flavor. The french onion soup was a mouthful of salt. I had the crab cakes as an appetizer; they were all breading, no seasoning, and more importantly, NO crab. I only ate one of them and left the other. For the main course, I had the scallops and all tasted burnt; I did not finish both items. The food in the Lido buffet was also inferior. The Italian food did not taste like Italian food. Coming from New York, we eat Italian all the time, and the Italian food on the ship was definitely inferior. In the main dining room one night, I ordered the split pea soup. It was like mud; you could stand your spoon up in it and it had no flavor. My meal that night was awful also. At that point, we just got up and left. As we were leaving the dining room, I overheard a gentleman at the next table telling his family that the food on this cruise was awful. You could not get me on another Holland America cruise even if you gave it to me! My wife and I ate a lot of salads, fruit, and sandwiches. The best meals we experience were off the ship in the ports and the land portion. One morning, my wife wanted a banana and oatmeal. I asked at the buffet for a banana and I was told there was none. I went around to the other side of the buffet and asked another food service worker for a banana and he just looked at me. A floor manager approached and asked what I wanted; I told him I want a banana for my wife; he told the worker to go get me one, which he did. Another day, I once again asked for a banana and was told they were all rotten, they were getting a shipment, but they arrived “all green.” When I asked for a bowl of oatmeal for my wife, I was told they were all out and that we have to make more. I waited 15 minutes, when a manager said we will send it to your room, which they did. I would like to know, how do you run out of oatmeal? In addition, I wanted to bring a cup of tea to my room, so I asked the floor managers where I can get a hot cup with a lid. His response was priceless. He said: “they are only used for the specialty coffee’s”. I said, “are you serious, I have to walk with an open cup and try not to spill it?” He replied, “Yes.” I was forced to do so, and it did spill!!. After all the horrible dining experiences. We decided to try the New York pizza on the top deck. This pizza was atrocious. It is nothing like New York pizza at all. The sauce was awful, and it was made terribly. I can go on and on about the food, for example, completely raw breakfast bangers and other inferior meals. One goes on a cruise to experience good times and excellent food. This was awful! We have been on many many Celebrity cruises and were always very happy and we expected the same from Holland America. We also purchased a drink package and the drink selection left much to be desired, and was limited!

3. Post-Cruise: The night before we were due to disembark, my wife was monitoring her email to check on our flight and saw the flight was cancelled. It was around 11 p.m. She called down and spoke to Guest Services. She informed them about the cancelled flight and asked what Holland America is doing about it, since the whole trip, including the flights, were booked through Holland America. In addition, Holland America is supposed to handle any problems. She was told they are looking into it and get back to us. Since we didn’t hear , my wife called back about 12:30 a.m. Once again, she was told they had not received a response from Holland America and that it will have to wait until the morning. She asked if there was anybody he could call. She was told: “You cannot call them, the only way to contact them is by email, and we will have to wait until the morning.” We both did not sleep well that evening. She started calling down to Guest Services again the next morning at 5:30 a.m.  We were supposed to disembark at 9 a.m.  my wife called down again and told them we are coming down and we would like to meet with a manager. When we arrived at Guest Services, we asked for a manager to came out to speak to us. We explained the situation to her and about our conversations with the other customer service rep. I asked her, “what is Holland America is doing to get us a flight home?” Her response was that we have not heard anything back from Holland America. I said to her that this is not good customer service as they should have been on the phone or In contact by email as soon as the strike by WestJet was announced. I stated to her since there has been talk of the strike ongoing for a while that Holland America should have had a contingency plan prepared just in case this happened. What were we supposed to do? We were to disembark by 9 a.m.  The manager  did not have an answer for us and “ that we were on our own.” I said, “excuse me, are you serious?” That is not the kind of response that you would expect from a manager in customer service, especially for a superior cruise line like Holland America/Carnival cruises. By the way, there were also other people at Guest Services getting loud and complaining about the same issue. I told the manager that I have been working in customer service at a luxury dealership for 25 years. That is why I did not get loud and abusive like the other guests who were having the same issue. I also mentioned that this is not the kind of response that you should be giving to your guests. This was appalling.  She stated again that we were “on our own.” At this time, in exhaustion and ill, my wife and I went back to our room get the remainder of our luggage and we disembarked. So as you can see this has not been a very good experience for us! Thank goodness Alaska was beautiful, and the land portion to Denali was lovely, but the cruise was a major disappointment! We saved for a long time for this trip of a lifetime and we are so disgusted with Holland America. Most of the crew was very pleasant. Aside from that, the cruise was a complete disaster.

Holland America What A Huge Disappointment 

Like many others, this was a bucket list cruise for us. We have been loyal Royal Caribbean (RC) cruisers but decided to give Holland America (HA) a try since they have been doing Alaska longer than any other cruise line. Princess is also very experienced at doing this cruise.

We flew to Anchorage from the east coast, which was the toughest part of the journey, almost 9 hours including layover. We were put into the Westmark Hotel which was very average. They do have an excellent breakfast buffet. Try the “49th State Brewery” for dinner, excellent food and beverage within walking distance. Luggage handling was excellent, often waiting for us at the next destination. Also their information packets regarding what tags to put on your bag was excellent.

The next day was a narrated bus ride to Denali National Park with a stop for a box lunch at a Princess lodge. We have high praise for the HA McKinley Chalet resort lodge, accommodations and food. The following day was a bus ride to Denali National Park for the Tundra Wilderness Tour. We enjoyed the natural beauty and spotted many animals, bears and Dall Sheep. The following day we took a flight on a small plane (flightseeing) which took us to Denali Mountain, this was a highlight of the tour, and I highly recommend it. Temperatures were 47 degrees at night to 70 during the day. We definitely overpacked.

The following day was the train ride to Whittier. Although the views were outstanding, for some reason the air conditioning was not working in our train car, so the 9 hour ride was a tough one.

The land tour was outstanding, and I have high praise for it, the ship, (which was sold out) however was pretty average. First off, my HA cruise Agent enlisted me in the Club Orange so that I could upgrade to a suite since she had previously put me in a guarantee cabin. I was upgraded to a “Vista Suite” which really does not exist, it is just a jazzed up balcony suite with a lack of storage. We ended up purchasing and upgrading to a Signature Suite which was very nice. The Club Orange is $25.00 per person per day. You are supposed to get many additional freebies, which did not happen. I tried to call their Club Orange concierge with no luck. Don’t waste your money on the Club Orange. HA’s web site is horrible, and needs works. Many times a “page was not available” or “bad command”. HA is aware of the problem as my cruise Agent admitted it. The download to the cellphone was pretty good and not difficult to negotiate.

One of the problems with a ship of this smaller size, is that the public space is not sufficient. Entertainment in the Rolling Stones Lounge was so overcrowded you could not get in. The entertainment that we were able to see was excellent,…they even flew in a performer from South America just for this cruise.

Food on the cruise was good to very good in the MDR. Don’t waste your money on the specialty restaurants, they were just average. The onboard account was quite confusing, with two categories, onboard account and non-refundable account.

The ports we visited were fun, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan the salmon capitol of Alaska. We booked a fishing trip in Ketchikan and had a great time, shipping fish home for us to consume.

Debarkation was quite confusing as if they had never done it before.

All in all Alaska is spectacular and worth the money.

Cruise and Land tour of Denali D2L

I’ll admit up front that I’m “only” a Three-Star Mariner with HAL, but I’ve cruised other lines.  I frankly found my latest cruise (14-Day Alaska Explorer, May 5 - 19 2024) a bit disappointing overall.  

Here are my experiences, based on our last cruise.

The Good:  

Neptune Suites:  We booked a Neptune Suite on Nieuw Amsterdam and, if it’s in your budget to do so, comes highly recommended.  The suite was large (>400 sq/ft), had a separate shower and bath, dual vanity sinks, a sitting area and a spacious veranda.  One of the best perks was the use of the Neptune Lounge, open 0800 - 2030 daily, with a sitting area, a small buffet for finger foods, free espresso/lattes, a fully kitted-out bar, and dedicated concierge service.  The concierge service is a highlight, since you can ask questions, get customs paperwork and settle billing without having to go to Guest Services on Deck One and stand in a long line for something simple.  Also, occupants of a Neptune or Pinnacle Suite currently get free laundry services, which we used every day.  Another perk is having a choice of three appetizers delivered to your room every day between 1700 and 2000.  Choices included prawn cocktails, tempura shrimp and other small plate items.  Additionally, you are afforded priority boarding and disembarkation, but more about that later…

The Staff:  Interactions with the hotel/food and beverage staff was a uniform delight.  As we’ve come to expect, staff members are courteous, attentive and always pleasant.  We would leave our cabin to return an hour later to a spotless, made-up room, with fresh ice and flowers.  Kudos to Hotel Manager Jonathan and Food/Beverage Manager Pedro for a job well-done.

Alaska:  This was our fifth cruise to Alaska and the scenery never disappoints.  While the weather could definitely been better (it rained and snowed all but our last cruise day), the sights one sees either on-board or on-shore are breathtakingly beautiful.  Even Alaska cruise veterans can always find something different at each port-of-call.

The Bad:

The “HAL Experience”:  I’ve now sailed HAL pre-COVID, during COVID and post-COVID and have frankly seen a slide in what I would call “the HAL experience”.  Gone are such enrichment activities as “America’s Test Kitchen” food demos, Lincoln Center Stage recitals (in fact most live music), and educational presentations on wildlife, history and the like led by experts in their respective fields, replaced by canned presentation, hard selling for on-shore establishments who pay for the privilege, endless/pointless trivia contests and mediocre (at best) entertainment.  I mean, how much tanzanite can a person buy and, more directly, what connection does it have with Alaska?  On previous cruises with HAL, you would be wandering on ship and come across a live pianist in one of the many bars.  No longer.  What you invariably see is a bunch of sullen people sitting about with seemingly nothing better to do than wait for the Lido Buffet to open or the next trivia contest to start.

The Food:  While I can’t say the food offerings on board were terrible, I can say that the food offerings this go were lackluster.  The pay-for-play specialty dining venues (Tamarind, Canaletto and Pinnacle Grill) were predictably good, but the offerings in the Lido Buffet and Main Dining room seemed uninspired and repetitive.  It’s kind of a statement when what we considered the dining highlight for this cruise as being a burger and fries from the poolside Dive Inn venue.  Yes, the food in the Main Dining Room was artfully presented and enticingly described on the menu, but, when compared to past cruises with HAL, it just seemed the kitchen staff was having to do “doing more with less”.  Offerings in the Lido were, for lack of a better term, somewhat upscale and more diverse cafeteria food.  It seemed the same entrees and sides were on offer day after day, with little variety.  As a fan of Asian foods, I found that the Asian offerings were somewhat limited, though they did make a small offering of sushi available at lunch and dinner.

Tipping:  While our “Have It All” package included gratuities (I’m not sure HAL offers that any more), there was a definite “push” this time around to tip waiters and bar staff more than the gratuity automatically added to the price of drinks and food.  It became a mental struggle each time we were presented our bill to sign whether the service was so over-and-above to warrant an additional tip exceeding the built-in gratuity.

The Ugly:

The Weather:  As stated above, the weather for this cruise did not cooperate, possibly because it was so early in the cruise season.  One reason we took this cruise was for the purpose of seeing the Northern Lights.  Ironically, while our skies were uniformly cloudy and grey, our neighbors back home got a great light show.  Further, the sea conditions were pretty rough the first three days of sailing and motion sickness among passengers was common.  Not a ding on HAL because who can predict the weather, but we’ve found the weather in Alaska to be much more clement later in May or June.

The Cruise Terminal, Vancouver BC:  This was our first time embarking on a cruise from Vancouver BC and honestly, the experience reminded me of a Wild West cattle round-up, with less organization…  As stated earlier, because we had booked a Neptune Suite, we were told we could embark at any time starting at 1100 AM.  Nope.  When we arrived at 1 Canada Place, after some confusion due to lack of signage, we were told that we had to descend into the parking structure to deposit our bags.  Thankfully, there were only two ships scheduled to depart that day (the terminal can “handle” five), so we took our bags down, dragged them across the expanse of the underground parking and, after placing our tags on them, left them with the third-party vendor responsible for the luggage.  Okay, not so bad, however, when we ascended back into the “terminal” proper, we were shunted into a long line of other passengers, only to find that we could have dropped our bags off there.  Then was the interminable wait for US CBP to get organized.  Once they got their terminals up and running, US Customs (since we were leaving Canada) went quickly but then the fun really started.  We were told to sit in a vast holding area on uncomfortable stackable chairs and wait.  No refreshments, no sorting with respect to boarding priority, only a number of third-party “terminal” employees frantically running from place-to-place with portable radios blaring.  After an hour of sitting, we saw another herd of passengers that were seated elsewhere trooping through onto the ship and up the gangway.  Some of the passengers seated with us with mobility issues raised a fuss and, after much arm waving and high-volume radio communications that the tide of interlopers was stemmed momentarily and those passengers with disabilities were allowed to board.  We, who were supposed to get priority boarding after those with disabilities, were allowed to join the ensuing free-for-all, as passengers from other locations in the building all converged on the gangway.  Bottom line, 1 Canada Place is a vast convention center being repurposed as a cruise terminal.  It’s huge, confusing and, at least on May 5, was seemingly ill-prepared for the two ships departing, let alone five.  Also, something that is not well-advertised, if your ship arrives at 0700 AM (as most do), do not try to book any onward travel, like flights, buses or trains after disembarkation before noon.  We learned that through our Neptune Lounge concierge…  Our ship arrived at 0700 AM and, even with dragging our bags ourselves (we couldn’t wait for priority disembarkation), were only allowed to disembark at 0745, making our 0900 CanTrail/AMTRAK connection back to Portland Oregon a hair-raising experience.  Thankfully, we were able to breeze through Canadian Customs and the 1 Canada Place employees were seemingly better organized.  We were able to make our connection with mere moments to spare…

Bottom Line:  Alaska is and will remain a beautiful cruise experience.  It’s all in how you get there.  While we have another Alaska cruise (our sixth) booked on HAL in September, we are seriously considering cruising with other lines and certainly not out of Vancouver…

Alaska Remains Awesome; HAL, Not So Much Anymore

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