Wonderful Alaskan Cruise on Zaandam

Zaandam Cruise Review to Alaska - Gulf of Alaska

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 33

Overall rating:

5 out of 5
Zaandam

7 Night Glacier Discovery Northbound (Vancouver To Seward)

Sail date: August 20, 2017

Ship: Zaandam

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Wonderful cruise. However both my husband and I got seasick the last leg (between Glacier Bay and Seward) when we were in the open ocean. So we're not anxious (at this time at least) to get on another cruise, However, if it weren't for that, we'd be planning our next cruise already!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
This was our first cruise and we didn't know what to expect, but everything went smoothly!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Ate at the Pinnacle Grill twice, the Caneletto once, the buffet infrequently,and the main dining room many times. Food at all the restaurants were wonderful. They had steak and lobster the same night we had made reservations for the speciality dining serving Chateaubriand. Some of us had a pre dinner of steak and lobster before the specialty dinner

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
There were lot of activities that we could have participated in but we chose to relax and listen to the classical music. We weren't into martini, wine or beer tasting but we did play bingo and purchased raffle tickets. We didn't win, but the couple we were travelling with won a free cruise for 2!

Entertainment

5 out of 5
The entertainment was great. Enjoyed listening to the pianist and violinist (or was it cello?); enjoyed the comedian (Kevin Jordan) and magician/comedian in the evenings.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Our stewards, Wayan and (forgot his name) were wonderful!!!! All the staff were friendly and helpful.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Ship was clean; there were some bathrooms that seemingly had an attendant every time i went in to make sure the bathrooms were clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Cabin was comfortable and I was pleasantly surprised that there was enough space for everything we had brought with us. Stewards came in at least twice a day (probably more often) to service our room.

Ship tip

Disregard advice on Pinterest about needing to provide more storage for the room. I had brought a shoe organizer to hang in the bathroom; ended not using it. I also brought magnets to hang things but never needed it. The steward brought me an extension cord so I also didn't need the outlet I brought with me.

Ports of call

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5

Ketchikan, Alaska

5 out of 5
Just walked around town and caught the Lumberjack show. Cheesy but enjoyable.

Juneau, Alaska

5 out of 5
We rented a car and explored outside of Juneau since we had 12 hours in port. Saw a black bear at one of the park streams.

Skagway, Alaska

5 out of 5
Hired Beyond Skagway to take us up to the Yukon; so glad we did as we were able to stop along the way to take in sights. Katie, our driver/guide was wonderful.

Seward (Anchorage), Alaska

5 out of 5
Disembarked at Seward; again, process of disembarkation was seamless.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Smooth. Only wish we had a better time frame of disembarkation ahead of time as we had friends meeting us when we got off the ship. Once we know when we were going to be disembarking, I texted our friends but by then they were at the pier waiting for us. So they turned around, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel and then picked us up.
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