Juneau has a lot to offer. The challenge is making your way past the gift shops and tourist traps near the dock. We got off of the ship and made our way to one of the many tour booths on the dock. We chose an inexpensive bus trip to the Mendenhall Glacier and Visitor's Center. The glacier is a must see while in Juneau. The Visitor's Center offers an 11 minute movie, "The Magnificent Mendenhall", interactive exhibits, telescopes, ranger's talks and the opportunity to touch 250 year old glacier ice. We enjoyed everything the visitor's center had to offer and really learned a lot from talking to the rangers. After leaving the Visitor's Center, we made our way along the Nugget Falls Trail ton Nugget Falls. This easy hike takes about 45 minutes round trip and is well worth the time. There are great views of the glacier from Nugget Falls. 
We caught our bus back to the dock and ate lunch on the ship. After lunch we set out to explore Juneau. We walked around town stopping at the Alaska State Museum at 395 Whittier Street. On the first floor we walked through displays of the clothing, regalia and tools of Alaska's indigenous people. Walking up the ramp to the second floor, you find a full-size eagle's nesting tree as well as brown bears, bald eagles, wolves and deer that are displayed in realistic dioramas. The second floor has exhibits of Alaskan History and (to the delight of our children) a Children's Room. We highly recommend this museum, especially if you are traveling with children. 


Juneau

Sitka was our favorite port! If you are able, try to explore Sitka on foot. The Oosterdam dropped anchor in Sitka Sound and we used a tender to get us to the O'Connell Bridge Visitor's Dock. I suggest picking up a "Sitka Through 4 Seasons" Book at the dock. It is free, and it has a wonderful walking tour map inside. From the dock, we walked up Northeast up Harbor Drive to Lincoln Drive. This is a lovely walk past the Crescent Harbor Dock and St Peter's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church. We passed the Sheldon Jackson Museum and started our trek through the temperate rain forest at the Sitka National Historical Park Visitor's Center and Totem trail. The park's trail takes you by the site of a Tlingit Indian Fort and many Tlingit Totem poles. There is also a battle site where the Tlingits fought with the Russians in 1804. We took the trail to Sawmill Creek Boulevard where we followed the yellow bird's feet to the Alaska Raptor Center. Our family loved the Raptor Center where we got to see numerous birds of prey. We were lucky enough to be there at the right time as they brought out an immature bald eagle who was born with a beak deformity. It was almost as big as its trainer! After leaving the Raptor Center we walked back down Lincoln to Harbor drive and past St. Michael's Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church. We ended our exploration at Castle Hill. Baranof's Castle was the site of the transfer of Alaska to the United States. 


Sitka

We enjoyed Ketchikan very much, although it did seem a little more crowded than the other ports. We found an "Experience Ketchikan, Alaska" magazine when we left the ship. Using the map inside of the magazine, we took a self guided walking tour of the Stedman-Thomas National Historic District, downtown and Creek Street areas. In our opinion a must see in the downtown-dock area is the Southeast Alaska Visitors Center. We were pleasantly surprised at the variety of exhibits and our children enjoyed the fact that the exhibits were interactive. There are several rangers that work in the Center who seemed happy to answer all of our questions. Creek Street was an interesting area of historical homes, shops and galleries. We walked through on our self guided tour and ended up at the Totem Heritage Center (601 Deermount Street.) The Center houses a collection of 19th century totem poles and other carvings taken from deserted Tlingit villages. We walked from the Totem Heritage Center down Deermount to Stedman then down Spruce Mill Way to Front Street. There are a lot of shops on Front Street. We thought this was the one best places to buy souvenirs. The Tongass Trading Company and Christmas in Alaska were our two favorite shops. 


Ketchikan

Our ship docked in Victoria at 6:15 pm. We weren't permitted on shore until close to 7:15 pm. and the ship was scheduled to leave at 11:59 pm. I highly recommend obtaining a sightseeing map at the dock. With only 4 hours to spend at this port, we decided to keep our adventure simple and walked to the Beacon Hill Park. We weren't disappointed in our decision. The Park is lovely, adorned with beautiful flowers, bushes and fountains. From the Park, we walked to the Empress Hotel where we walked around the grounds then through the public areas inside. We walked along the Inner Harbor then past the Legislative Buildings on our way back to the ship. It was a beautiful evening and the path we followed allowed us to see the highlights of Victoria without a major time commitment. 


Victoria

Our cabin left nothing to be desired.  My husband, myself and our two children found that there was more than enough room for all of us.  The cabin highlights were the bathroom, verandah, closet/storage space and a dressing area.  The bathroom had two showers, a jacuzzi tub and two sinks.  The verandah was large enough to allow for a table with four chairs and two lounge chairs with ottomans.  There were a total of six closets three had mirrored doors and the overall storage space left us (for the first time ever on a ship) with empty cabinets.  One of my favorite features of the room was the dressing area with a dressing table and lighted makeup mirror.  My husband and I also enjoyed the location of the desk, which was located directly under the picture window.  In the morning I enjoyed sitting at the desk, sipping a cup of coffee while watching the ship arrive in port.

The Neptune Lounge proved to be one of our favorite areas during our cruise and I can't say enough good things about Joel and Rual and the service they provided.We saw quite a bit of calving on the journey and I can't say enough about the view of the bay from the ship.

Oosterdam Review

Amazing Cruise - Thank You HAL!!!!

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Neptune Deluxe Verandah Suite

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