My husband and I signed up for a 13-night cruisetour to Alaska during the last half of June 2006, 7 nights of which were spent on the ship. This was our third cruise, but our first with Holland America. Overall we were very impressed with the Ryndam; this was the most enjoyable cruise we have taken of the three. However, we liked the land week of the cruisetour better than the ship week. I am 48 and my husband is 50, and we were among the youngest in our tour. Most of the people appeared to be in their sixties, and there were no children in our group. Here is a day-by-day review of our cruisetour:
DAY 1: We had a terrible start to our cruisetour because we flew into Fairbanks at midnight. There was confusion among the HAL personnel at the airport, so we didn't reach our hotel until 1am and we got to sleep at 2am. Then we had to wake up by 6am to have breakfast and get on the motorcoach. This was very poor planning, we thought, and if we had been informed far ahead of time of the flight arrangements, we would have added an extra night in Fairbanks. We spent our few hours of sleep at the Bridgewater Hotel, which has clean but very small rooms. The shower was so small that my 6-foot-2 husband had trouble using it. However, the Bridgewater had an excellent breakfast buffet for $11 per person.
DAY 2: The motorcoach took us to the train station, where we got on the McKinley Explorer going to Denali. What was the point of flying us to Fairbanks if we weren't going to see anything of it? The scenery between Fairbanks and Denali was enjoyable, though, and we got glimpses of several moose along the way. The train ride was comfortable with plenty of leg space. We arrived in Denali around noon and checked into our room at the McKinley Chalet Resort. It was a suite with a separate living room, and there was a great view of a river and mountain from our room. The beds were comfortable and the sink area was separate from the bathroom. During our 2-night stay we ate twice at the Courtyard Cafe and had good though pricey meals. The gift shop had a great selection of items. We caught the free shuttle to the Visitors Center and then took a short hike to Horseshoe Lake to get some exercise. We did not sign up for any excursions during the time in Denali.