Texas Birthday Gals visiting big sister state "Alaska"
Zaandam Cruise Review to Alaska
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 89
Review summary
Enjoyed the champagne and gift card for my b-day from cheap cruise, it was the best birthday cruise yet!Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
some of the Chef's choices for the early dinner choices were strange, those nights we stuck with chicken or steak. The last formal night we had Maine Lobsters! What!? Aren't we in the Crab Capital of Alaska?
Onboard Activities
we're a little old and handicap so our activities was walking the 3 floor deck slowly on good days and shopping on the 5 floor on bad days. The pool was nice when the roof was closed, to windy for us.
Entertainment
went to a couple of shows that were "So-So", so we got movies from the front desk girls.
Service and Staff
our waiter Ari and his staff for table 302 helped make my birthday party great. I had twinkle lights and favors everywhere with goody bags for all. They sang and played the drums for me. 2 waitress from the wine bar service us at lunch on the lido buffet when we were there. no matter where saw them it was like see family. The young man that brought us room 3325 service always had a nice smile dropping off and picking up breakfast. The front desk girls were helpful nearly every day. I would give b-day goody bags to all the workers across the ship.
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
take extra underwear because the ship doesn't have laundry room.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
booked tour from cheap cruise for crab boat. was thrilled about going out on the Aleutian Ballad seeing and holding different crabs, shrimp and watching the Eagles diving for fish the crew was throwing.
booked gold panning and salmon bake with cheap cruise. tour guide looked and dressed the part of a gold miner even had a beard. showed us how to pan and talked about the hard times of the miners. We found some gold flecks in our pans. I gave tour guide a bag of Texas pasta which he liked. Then the next guide took us to the salmon bake. It was picturesque setting with pretty flowers and huge trees and the smell off the wood burning in the pit where the salmon was being cook. Made your mouth water just smelling it. The side dishes were OK but the salmon was to die for, flaky not dry. Did I mention the SALMON was delicious! It was worth waiting for....
Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Alaska
booked the taste of Hoonah from cheap cruise and our tour guide was a local Gal. she talked about the healing plants that are still used today like the Devil's Claw and took us to all the hot spots in town. Stopped at local bar to sample some smoky salmon and halibut plus tasting Alaska beers! BEER! Gave her bag of Texas pasta plus goody bags for her son.
We like booking our tours with cheap cruise because we're in smaller groups like a dozen people. Took tour with Salmon Berry tour had 2 hour city tour. Got back in time for lunch at the White Spot Cafe on 4th and A st. they had the biggest Halibut burger with fries. The brownie was to die for, it was moist and fudggie. Found a great Bakery and got a strawberry cake with champagne frosting for my b-day party on the ship.
we found out the ship doesn't have a laundry room and there service was costly, so went into town for underwear. Got back in time for shuttle bus to the Spit for lunch. Had halibut kabobs with fries couldn't finish fries but the fish was great.
was pouring rain so we rode bus to town and when everyone got off we stayed on the bus. We say can we've been to down town Kodiak! went back to the ship and had hot chocolate from room service.
took tour of the Bear fortress watching baby bears playing then over to the national park for the totem pole walk. Got back in time for lunch across from the visitor center. Had halibut with coleslaw and fries, again ate all the fish leaving the fries.
Glad we got tickets for the Hop On - Hop Off bus from cheap cruise. This one makes 20 stops and has a commentary on what your sight seeing on the way to down town. [the ships shuttle made 2 stops] The bus driver help to load and unload our scooter carts, so when we got ready to go back to the ship we wait for him. I gave him the last bag of Texas pasta and all the funny monies we got for change plus a 5.00 american bill. He said we made his day...