14 Night Great Alaskan Explorer (Seattle Roundtdrip)
Sail date: August 26, 2019
Ship:
Amsterdam
Cabin type: Suite
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Liked the flow of ports and sea days. Interesting stops like Homer and Kodak not every line does. Pinnacle and Canaletto are getting too expensive with additional charges for aged steak and lobster tail. Bottled wine about 3x what it cost but I guess this is not just HAL - all cruise lines except all inclusive charge the same.
Best deal- Happy Hour - you can get two big bottles of San Pellegrino for about &7 and a second drink for $2 more. The Dive In has great burgers and a good taco bar.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Cabin 6109 was a Vista Suite but not exactly a suite. A regular verandah with minimal space between the end of the bed and wall. Balcony decent size, bathroom small. Lots of storage room. Cabin didn’t seem as big as Westerdam verandah class.
Ship tip
No BB KING LOUNGE! The auditorium they use for the cooking demos is much smaller than the one on Westerdam which does have the lounge at night in the cooking class room.
Did a Food Tour. Thought it was expensive for what we got. Had better in Savannah and Venice for much less. Lots of stores and of course Diamonds International- Robert’s Tram cost $35/pp Expensive I thought.
Mixed review. First the area- unspoiled beautiful. The native people own this and have turned the old cannery into a huge shopping area with many quaint gift shops featuring native made jewelry and many other items too many to mention.
Second part was the ATV excursion- drove in convoy through a cart path for several miles. Lots of exhaust if you have a problem with that I wouldn’t do this. Saw some bear scat but really not much else. Drove to hill top with view of mountain range and saw blueberries. Lots of $ for not much- wouldn’t
recommend. Although the woman who gave the commentary on the way to
The ATVS did a great job with the information on native culture.
Lovely little town. No excursion but we enjoyed walking around. Shuttle provided from ship to the spit. To get into the town itself you had to take a hop on off pay shuttle. Had a nice lunch at a seafood restaurant on the water. Lots of shops and places selling fishing charters and bear viewing trips.
No excursion but went to the wildlife place and the native Alutiiq museum - both very interesting and not costly. Close to the information center. Shuttle provided to the downtown area.
On board. We had great weather to view the glacier. Captain did a great job getting us as close to it as was safe- about a mile away. Made sure we stayed long enough so everyone had an opportunity to view and take pictures from various bows of the ship. Just gorgeous.
Did excursion Eagles,Bears and Otters Oh My! Pricey but worth it. The boat that took us was owned by the Allen Family- generations of shipbuilders. We spotted two separate groups of otters, whales, and an eagle. The captain made sure everyone had a chance to see by circling the boat several times. The commentary was very good by a young lady - Katie? After the boat we boarded a bus that took us to a refuge for injured eagles and other birds for a chance to get up close to an eagle on a tether in the room- saw where they retrain them. Then to the Fortress of the Bear where they had black and brown bears. Only complaint was not enough time at the two places.
No excursion- probably should have.shuttles to downtown cost $16 pp and it just dropped you off in front of the Empress Hotel. We went in there, looked around then walked the area. Downtown interesting- lots of big stores and a small craft area down one of the streets. Probably should have taken a tour excursion since we had to pay $32 anyway for a ride downtown.
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