Scenic Alaska cruise

Item: Zaandam
Rating: 4
Author: NealM

Zaandam Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

NealM

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Reviews: 0

Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Alaskan Explorer (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 21, 2006

Ship: Zaandam

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 18 years ago

Review summary

Ship was luxurious with lots of nice touches (e.g. bathrobes in the rooms and the crew was efficient and friendly. Evening bed turndown included animals made from bath towels, which included chocolates (usually as the eyes).

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Food quality and variety and variety of dining venues available was excellent. Only issue was with one day when passengers were to leave the ship at noon for tours and the published opening times for the dining rooms was 10:30 but the crew was not ready until 11:30.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Sitka, Alaska

5 out of 5

City was easy to walk and tour with a fairly large and varied shopping and eating district close by to the docks.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Raptor center and nature walk

Ketchikan, Alaska

5 out of 5

City was easy to walk and tour with a fairly large and varied shopping and eating district close by to the docks.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Totem poles

Victoria, British Columbia

3 out of 5

Ship arrived at 8:00 pm and left at 11:30, which didn't leave a lot of time for sightseeing. Also difficult to see things in the evening light. Wished we had arrived in the morning and left at 8:00.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Butchart Gardens, though it is a bit of a waste in the evening, even though they advertise the lighting in the gardens

Juneau, Alaska

5 out of 5

Juneau is not much of a city to visit or tour, with a small tourist section right next to the dock and the rest of the city far away to walk to. Difficult to find food/snack places within walking distance. Also it appeared to us, given comments from friends who had visited it, that the weather can be unpredictable, with fog and/or rain quite often the weather.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Mendenhall Glacier is a must see. Whale watching was fun but the boat had to stay too far away to be able to get good pictures or clear views of the whales.

Pros: Spectacular scenery and Holland America Lines Zaandam was a great ship to sail on

Cons: Weather was unpredictable; lots of fog and mist and some heavy rain

Scenic Alaska cruise

Overall rating:

Review summary

Ship experiences

Ports of call

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