My husband, mother-in-law and I returned yesterday from our cruise of the Inside Passage -- our sixth cruise overall (first to Alaska) and our first with Holland America. We had chosen this particular cruise based on the itinerary, the numerous good reports we had read about HAL and having the extra day (i.e., Labor Day) post cruise to recover before returning to work. Our previous cruises had all been with NCL, and, while we enjoyed them all, we agree with those who feel that HAL goes above and beyond. Here is our cruise "diary". Hope it is helpful to any of you who may be sailing the Zaandam in the coming weeks.
"Pre" Day 1: As we live in the east, we chose to fly into Vancouver a day early to get acclimated to the time change and to not have that first day exhaustion that we had experienced previously. We let our travel agent handle everything and she did a good job. Upon arrival in Vancouver (via Air Canada -- which was a wonderful experience in itself), we stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront in a harbor view room where we were able to watch the Zaandam sail in the next morning. We spent the afternoon walking around town and had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Brothers, with an interior that resembles a monastery and a wait staff that dress like monks. In the evening, we attended the IMAX film at Canada Place entitled "Alaska:Spirit of the Wild" -- to put us in the mood for the cruise -- which it did.
Day 1: We awoke early enough to watch the Zaandam sail in, had breakfast and went to the hotel lobby at about 9:00 a.m. to check-in for the cruise. (This was so convenient compared to our previous embarkations that involved standing in line and waiting). At 10:45 we joined a group of other Zaandam passengers for a 3-hour tour of Vancouver. This tour took us to Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park (with its beautiful sunken gardens), Chinatown, Gastown, etc. Our tour driver allowed us time to stop and take pictures along the way. At about 2:00 p.m., he took us to the ship, where we simply got on -- walking past all those who were sitting waiting to be processed. It was great. Our cabin was a standard outside on the Dolphin Deck at the very back of the ship. Once aboard, we unpacked a little, toured the ship and prepared to sail. At this point, the weather was partly cloudy and in the high 60s. Later that evening we attending the introductory show, i.e., the Las Vegas style review type. We are not fans of this type of entertainment, so we avoided the shows for the most part -- with the exception of the magician (who was excellent) and the Indonesian crew show.