I wanted to try a 1 day cruise and it was really more work getting packed and it was over the moment I woke up. However we did upgrade to the Pinnacle Suite which was a lot of fun, and fairly affordable considering this was only one night. The golden marble in the bathroom was beautiful and it is much more tasteful than the newer HAL Pinnacle Suites, however the furniture is silly and the shower ...
This was a great, low key trip to Alaska on the Oosterdam. We had cabin 4006. The cabin is at the front of the ship. It was clean and a nice size cabin. No bath tub but we didn't miss the tub at all. The cabin is near the side thruster, external door, and main stage. It was generally quiet, but there were times when engines, entertainment, or door drop were very noticable. Food was good across the ...
This is my first review of a cruise ship. I have been on two previous cruises. One was in 2015 on RCI's Liberty of the Seas, and in 2018 on Holland America's Maasdam. I have to say, for my third cruise, the Oosterdam did meet or exceed our expectations.
Starting in Seattle, embarkation went smoothly. We were in a pretty long line, and it took 30 minutes to get to speak to someone. ...
Past the “sweet spot”..... timing wise, for sailing Alaska, but weather was really good, considering. We’ve been up that way 6+ times.
Arrived day early staying at boutique in Queen Anne neighborhood, closer jump off to getting to ship next day.... a little hilly, great neighborhood & restaurants. Uber from airport to hotel $38 and the hotel to port $8. Arrived port 11:15am
We were sailing ...
My partner and I, 55 and 58 gay men, decided pretty last minute to do this Alaska Explorer 7 night charter. We were able to get a good deal booking with the charter as we are alumni with many past cruises with them, and there were many cabins to fill.....our luck. Also, we had never cruised with Holland American Line before and have wanted to for years, so a win-win all around!
We flew in to ...
We arrived at the ship at approximately 12:30 after parking at the Cruise Parking lot by the Armory and taking their shuttle to the cruise dock... We were on board and in our cabin about 20 minutes later. It was pretty painless. Our luggage was in our stateroom after we got back from lunch.
The ship was in great shape and was constantly being cleaned and maintained. We had Verandah Stateroom ...
We chose this cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary. This was also our 25th cruise. We had never cruised to Alaska before and over the years many fellow cruisers had recommended it. It was our 3rd time on the Oosterdam and our 2nd Neptune suite so we knew what to expect as far as accommodations.
We stayed in Seattle at the Marriott waterfront for two days prior to embarkation and had a ...
We are back, mostly unpacked and exhausted. We have been on cruises to Alaska 4 other times, 3 of them on HAL. We picked this one since it docked in Sitka where most others do not, preferring Skagway. It was well worth it.
Embarkation was the easiest we have ever experienced. It all went smoothly and we were on the ship much earlier than the time we had been assigned (since we transferred from ...
It's been a few years since we've cruised on Holland America. Our last cruise on Royal Caribbean was not good so for our next cruise we chose HAL. Overall HAL provides good value for the money. Everyone has different cruise expectations and HAL checks many of our boxes, though not all. We will continue to experience different cruise lines.
For us, we cruise to spend time with our family. We ...
We selected this cruise because it was raining in San Diego the week after New Years and we decided to treat ourselves. We were on a family vacation and it was too rainy so we did the illogical thing and jumped on an Alaskan cruise in May, the rainy season. We live in Eastern Washington so a Seattle departure and a short trip were the most critical elements. Sunday to Sunday works. We both had ...