We flew to Seattle and rode the Link Light Rail directly from the airport to the last stop (Westlake Center) downtown for $3 per person. We stayed at the Homewood Suites/Convention Center which is about 5 block from the Westlake center - uphill with luggage, but fine. They have reasonable downtown rates and offer a wonderful breakfast. There are several places within walking distance to get ...
Overall, the cruise was great. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Our experience onboard was super. Food and service were both excellent however lines on the lido (eato) deck were quite long at times so you had to find that window to minimize the wait time. The entertainment was fair with little geared toward the senior crowd except if you wanted to play bingo or attend sales pitches ...
Some thing that was very nice was to have classes in Windows 8.1, but was not so nice was the computer room being located in the shopping area and the shopping announcer continually shouting into his microphone through out the lessons. Someone needs to teach some common courtesy on that ship. Not sure they are smart enough to pay that much attention to detail on that ship.
The second engine ...
Cindy: Hi! Welcome to my trip report of my Alaska cruise on HAL Westerdam.
Readers: HAL Westerdam? Alaska? Cindy, you’re confused. You’re not going to Alaska until 2014.
Cindy: Yes, HAL Alaska. Why the confusion friends? I had this vacation planned for well over a year.
Readers: But… but…Cindy, you weren’t planning to go to Alaska until 2014. This year you were taking a 9-night Celebrity ...
This was our 3rd cruise with Holland America and the 2nd time on the Oosterdam. Our previous experiences have been wonderful! But this time we felt let down. The activities seemed fewer, the food more limited and not as good, and the service somewhat lacking in the Vista dining room.
We had chosen to sail with HAL based on previous cruises and had convinced friends to go with us due to the high ...
We were on one of the last Alaska cruises of the season. Due to crazy weather conditions, our itinerary was changed and we missed one port - Sitka. Disappointing but trust that the captain knows best. They added a full day in Victoria, BC so no complaints.
I found my first Holland America cruise to be pretty lackluster. The ship is lovely but the entertainment on board is truly awful. The piano ...
Embarkation: Great
Suite: Great
First day at sea: Great
Juneau: Great! Took the fly out fly sighing tour. Best tour ever.
Then things went to h-e-double hockey sticks.
A storm came in which cancelled our stop in Sitka so they moved our stop in Ketchikan up one day from Friday to Thursday. Thursday morning we were told because of the storm we now couldn't stop in Ketchikan either. So they ...
I had high hopes for the Westerdam and HAL. I have previously sailed with Celebrity and Disney and I was hoping that HAL wouldn't disappoint. Sadly, I was mistaken. The only thing that I could confidently say was awesome, was this ship's itinerary. The ports of call were fantastic, breath taking, and beautiful. Take advantage of the port of calls. We booked all of our excursions with local groups ...
After 20 cruises, I should know better. But booking late led to taking a cabin on a lower deck than usual, and, boy, did we pay for it!
Cabin 4051 should NOT be sold as a wheelchair accessible category VD cabin. Here are some reasons:
1-There was barely enough room for a travel-sized wheelchair to pass by the bottom of the bed.
2-It was extremely difficult for a wheelchair user to climb the ...
This was our first experience cruising on Holland America. This was a roundtrip cruise to Alaska out of Seattle. We took this cruise because we wanted to go to the port of Sitka. We had cruised 11 times in the past on a different cruise line. I had also worked for one of the cruise lines in Alaska one year.
We traveled to Seattle by Amtrak and arrived only a couple hours before we needed to board ...