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Thank you for this info! We’ll be visiting Portland twice next year. Our first visit is an excursion to the Conway Scenic Railway so won’t be in Portland but will have a full day the following week. Hubby is a train buff so he wants to go on the railway there—the Maine Railway? How close to the port is the station? Can we walk?

HAL also had bingo on our Alaskan cruises this summer. In addition to what I call normal bingo, there was a ‘win a cruise bingo’ at least once a cruise.

The International Cafe is what I miss the most when cruising with HAL! (We’re Elite on Princess and 4 star on HAL) There is nothing similar to it on the Noordam. There is no venue on board where one can get food 24/7 (we don’t do room service so can speak to that). The Exploration Cafe has limited pastries/cookies throughout the day. Not like the IC that has both savory and sweet breakfast/lunch options. You will not find yogurt, smoothies, avocado toast nor any lunch options there. It’s a nice venue to have a coffee/tea but if you want a meal then you do have to go up to the Lido or the MDR. I spent quite a bit of time there this summer as the library is adjacent to the cafe. (BTW, the libraries on HAL are pretty good! Not at all like what Princess likes to call a ‘library’!) Coffee and tea are available 24/7 in the Lido. I didn’t like the coffee so I brought a French press and just got hot water. Enjoy your trip! We really like cruising with HAL!

Our Mariner (4 star) and Princess (Elite) are now the same. Earlier this summer on the Westerdam, our dining waiter asked me how I liked my last cruise with Princess. I was a little confused since I had not told him we had been in a Princess cruise prior to boarding the Westerdam. I said something to him and he told me that the system listed us as Elites on Princess along with our cruise history with them. I thought it odd at the time—why would HAL have that information available to staff on board?

We have four HAL cruises in the next couple of months—Noordam, Westerdam. Each one of our specialty dining meals show that it will be delivered in the dining room. I’m pretty confident that we’ll be eating in the appropriate space! Here’s a screen shot of our upcoming Westerdam cruise—

My first pick (and if you have the time) would be to go on a nine-hour Northwestern Fjord Tour. The longer you’re on the water = the more opportunities to see wildlife! The scenery is just fantastic! If time is an issue, I would still look for the longest tour with a smaller boat. A smaller boat will get you closer to the glaciers, wildlife and the coast. The tour is also more ‘customizable’—you’ll go/stay more easily. That personalized touch is hard to beat! That being said, the larger boats are better if any one is prone to motion sickness. The catamarans used are warmer, have more comfortable seating and restroom facilities!

We’ve taken the evening train to Vancouver many times after flying into Seattle. I like to use DoorDash before getting on the train, Usually we’re pretty tired after our morning travels so it’s nice just to have your food delivered. We may eat the food before but most of the time we eat on the train. We’ll buy wine or a beer on board. It’s nice to have food especially since you arrive late (after 11 pm). But, when we do go to a restaurant, we really like 13 Coins as well.

Sounds like it might be Kenai Fjords Tours. I’ve been on two of their tours—both times was served a chicken Cesar wrap/burrito. Food wasn’t bad but the tours were still good. I prefer Major Marine Tours though—just a better experience overall: staff, Captain, food. I’ve been on four tours with them—food is a deli sandwich, chips, fruit with freshly baked cookies on the way back to port. Their boats are about the same size as Kenai Tours so if you want a small group tour you might try Seward Ocean Adventures (https://sewardoceanexcursions.com/). Their boats hold six passengers. Great tour and company!

We’ve stayed at the Windsong before. A bit out of town and inconvenient if you don’t have a car. They do have a free shuttle into Seward as well as a paid shuttle to Exit Glacier (I think it was $20 pp?). The on site restaurant was pretty good and the staff was excellent. Overall we really liked the hotel—try to get one of the rooms with a balcony. Nice to just sit on it and relax with a glass of wine!

You might find this website helpful: https://www.aleutians.org/tours We’re going on a driving tour during our port stop this June.

Nice! A Kenai Fjord cruise is always a must for us when we’re in Seward. Going on one in June. We’re on the Noordam a few times this summer. We like to take the northbound to Whittier and then catch a southbound after some DIY activities. Enjoy your summer!

Fly in a couple of days early, take the train to Seward, go on a Kenai Fjord wildlife cruise, take the train back to Anchorage (if you have time stay one night in Seward), and then depart from Whittier on a Princess cruise. Princess goes to Glacier Bay and has a better Alaskan enrichment program onboard.

You can also book a transfer from someone other than Princess. I’ve used Alaska Cruise Transfer (the Big Bus) a few times. They’ll pick you up at port and take you directly to the airport. You can also book tours with them that will stop at the Alaska Wildlife Center, Girdwood, and/or other spots. Generally cheaper than a Princess transfer… https://alaskacruisetransfer.com/

There are lots of wildlife/glacier tours out of Whittier—we like the shorter Glacier Discovery cruise from Phillips. Lazy Otter Charters has a number of wildlife cruises as well as guided kayak tours. Do you like to hike? You can hike the Portage Trail (trailhead is close to the port). Kayak? Jet ski? We’ve done the back to back a number of times and have always found something to do in Whittier. Last year we kayaked and took a wildlife cruise. This year we’re hiking. And, we always eat at Swiftwater Seafood Cafe. Great fresh seafood!

The longer and further you go into the park, the greater the possibility of seeing wildlife! Yes, try to get on the Tundra Wilderness—there are rest stops about every 90 minutes, narration, snack box (but you can bring a lunch), monitors on board for wildlife viewing (driver will use a scope and show it to the bus).

I still bring hand (and foot) warmers on every Alaskan trip! I recently bought rechargeable hand warmers that I will be bringing instead. And, yes I bring gloves but I’ve found putting those foot warmers in my shoes and using hand warmers allows me to stay out on deck longer on glacier viewing days! (I embarrass my family when I use had warmers—born and raised in the Colorado Rockies! But have lived snow free for many years in California.)

My recommendation is to take Major Marine’s 8.5 hour Northwestern Fjord Tour. The longer you are on the water = more wildlife sightings! And the scenery is fantastic—fjords, glaciers! Yes, it can be a bit choppy—I experienced that as well as one where the seas were very calm! I have actually stayed a few nights on Fox Island. Had friends who were on the Fox Island Dinner/Cruise combo with Kenai Fjords Tours so we walked over to meet them during dinner. Not impressed—it’s a buffet. Food was meh. After dinner, folks then just hung around the gift store and the pier until it was time to leave. You do not have much access to Fox Island. There’s a “gate” (a rope between two wood posts) and staff stops people from going to the lodge/beach.

I hope you do try it! It's pretty good! Hubby loves getting an appetizer portion of the cheese wheel pasta. There's a pretty good bar menu as well. Enjoy.

Our favorite restaurant in Little Italy is Bencotto: https://www.lovebencotto.com/ It's just a 15-20 minute walk from the cruise port.

Living on the West Coast, Alaska is like our Caribbean! Easy to get to! And, never gets old. I teach at a university so am limited to when I have time off. Getting close to retirement so most of my professional duties are being picked up by new non-tenured faculty! Starting to cruise more further afield —next summer is Northern Europe in addition to Alaska. Alaska is huge and so diverse—one can and does spend years exploring and experiencing the state!

Salmon Berry Tours has a number of tours out of Anchorage if you don’t want to rent a car. We have taken the Matanuska Glacier Trek and the Hatch Pass/Independence Mine tour from them. I highly recommend this company. https://www.salmonberrytours.com/alaska-tours/summer-tours/

I’ve been on many Alaskan cruises (Disney, NCL, Princess and HAL) and land trips over the past ten years. Our favorite cruise lines for Alaska are Princess and HAL. I think their enrichment programs are much better than other cruise lines. Here’s a link to HAL’s 2024 Alaskan Experience: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/news/2024/April/news-041724-holland-america-line-set-to-debut-new-glacier-day-alaska-experiences. This should give you an idea of what HAL offers; Princess offers similar programs. If you can spare the time, I would look into a DIY trip in Alaska. Take a northbound or southbound cruise. As mentioned earlier by Coral, focusing on the Kenai peninsula would be a great option. Seward is wonderful and there are a lot of things to experience. I think a rental car is a must if you’re heading to Denali for a DIY but you can get by without a car in Seward. This summer we’re spending 11 weeks in Alaska—8 weeks cruising and 3 weeks of DIY land trips in Alaska/Yukon. Cruising only on HAL and Princess. Our Alaskan obsession started with a 7 day cruise! Enjoy your planning. You have plenty of time to research and see what’s important to you and yours. For us, on our first trip to Alaska in 2012, it was sled dogs (our girls were 8 and 10! 🤣).

Yes, we’ve started to book more cruises with HAL based on their package. Booking HIA Early Bonus gives us upgraded drink package, WiFi, crew gratuities, shore excursion credits (varies based on cruise length) and specialty dining. Add to that, we also get loyalty OBC, shareholders OBC, AARP OBC and Educator OBC. Compare that to the Plus /Premier package on Princess. Don’t want or need the desserts, exercise classes or the casual dining meals. Also didn’t like that Princess didn’t grandfather in those of us who had already purchased a package prior to the roll out of the new and improved Princess Plus. We love Princess (elite) and will continue to sail with them, but we’ve found better values with HAL.

This is what showed up in my cruise personalizer this morning! Uh, thanks?

I also prefer Totem Bight park. If you are docked in downtown Ketchikan, it’s easy to catch the city bus. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve done it, but I do believe it was $2 pp each way. Go out first thing to visit the park before the tour buses arrive! Much nicer!