Volendam Alaska cruise - June 2013 with pictures

I will break this into several sections so that I can include more photographs.

This was our second cruise, the first was on Celebrity Equinox for a 10 day Mediterranean cruise in September 2011.

Our Alaska cruise (and associated trip) was my 60th birthday present, a wonderful way to celebrate a milestone in a location I had long wanted to visit.

We did quite a bit of research before choosing the HAL Volendam cruise which departed Vancouver on June 5th, and we picked this cruise because it included Glacier Bay which I felt was a 'must see' part of the cruise.

Two friends from Melbourne decided to join us for the cruise also.

Our itinerary was:

Wed Jun 5 5pm depart Vancouver

Thu Jun 6 cruising Inside Passage

Fri Jun 7 10am-10.30am Tracy Arm service call

1pm -10.30pm Juneau

Sat Jun 8 7am -9pm Skagway

Sun Jun 9 7am -4pm cruising Glacier Bay

Mon Jun 10 10am-6pm Ketchikan

Tue Jun 11 cruising Inside Passage

Wed Jun 12 7am arrive Vancouver

We booked through 'Vacations To Go' and thoroughly recommend them.

We selected BB6222 which was a balcony cabin near the rear of the ship on the port (left) side on the Verandah Deck, deck 6. At the end of the deck hallway towards the rear of the ship was a door which led out onto a stern viewing area with lounges, not many people seemed to discover this spot and it was a pleasant retreat with stairs up to the Lido and Bar on deck 8.

The cabin was reasonably spacious (similar dimensions to our balcony cabin on the Equinox) and not generally affected by noise problems. However the main dining room was immediately below and if you happened to be in the cabin when they were making P.A. announcements they could be disturbing and quite clearly heard. Our friends were on the same deck in a mid-ship balcony cabin (AA6161) on the right (starboard) side.

Balcony Cabin BB6222

Balcony Cabin BB6222

Bathroom in our cabin

Balcony for BB6222

THE GOOD - HAL/VOLENDAM

- Embarkation and disembarkation was smooth and effortless, very well handled by all concerned and our bags arrived at the cabin in very good time.

- The crew were probably the best part of the HAL experience - cabin attendants were always friendly and helpful, staff in the Lido buffet always had a smile.

THE GOOD - ITINERARY/EXCURSIONS

We were so lucky with the weather during the cruise, we had some cloud and drizzle on the first and last days cruising the Inside Passage but the rest was absolutely fantastic which made the awesome scenery even better.

See part 2 for continuation

Part 2

JUNEAU

We did the 'Five Glacier Seaplane Exploration' which was a flight in an Otter floatplane from Juneau harbour over the glaciers of the district. This was one of the highlights of the trip with spectacular scenery and views, we booked this excursion through HAL and cannot recommend this trip highly enough.

see part 3

Part 3

We also did the 'Evening Whale Watching Quest' which was another fantastic excursion. The boat was medium-sized and not overcrowded, the crew were enthusiastic and friendly, and the commentary was informative and helpful. We were very lucky to encounter a baby humpback that was constantly breaching close to our boat, it would have leapt out of the water a minimum of 20 times while we looked on in wonder. Another fantastic excursion, booked through HAL which we thoroughly recommend.

see part 4

Part 4

SKAGWAY

We booked a 'Yukon Rail & Bus Excursion' with Chilkoot Charters & Tours. With this tour you can choose to either start or end the tour with the White Pass train portion of the excursion. We opted for the bus on the way out and train on the final portion of the return journey. HAL offer a similar tour but researching the CC forums and Trip Advisor strongly recommended the Chilkoot option over the HAL trip.

This is a long 7.5 hour excursion which is an extension of the White Pass Summit bus/train trip.

The first portion of the trip was a drive in a small bus (about 15 seats) to Fraser where we met the train arriving from Skagway and picked up a couple of extra passengers. We then continued along the Klondike Highway through the scenic lakes and mountains of British Columbia and Yukon to Emerald Lake, before doubling back a couple of miles to Caribou Crossing where we had a hot lunch and some time to explore the Yukon Wildlife Museum and visit the Husky puppies. After lunch we began the return trip which included time to explore Carcross before returning through the spectacular scenery to Fraser. Here we left the bus and boarded the historic narrow-gauge White Pass & Yukon Rail for the 28 mile return trip to Skagway.

Doing this trip with Chilkoot Charters had several big advantages.

i) because we were in a small bus it was much more personalised and although the bus had (approx) 15 seats there was never more than 8 of us onboard so there was plenty of room to move around and place bags, coats etc.

ii) the small bus was able to stop and double back when wildlife was spotted so we were able to twice go back and sit by bears that were spotted on the roadside. the HAL excursion was in large 'tour coaches' that just didn't have the ability to do this.

iii) On the train portion of the journey the HAL group had their own 'exclusive' train cars, those carriages appeared to be quite crowded and full. By comparison our 'general' carriage was virtually empty, about 8 people in total, so we had plenty of access to windows on either side for photos as well as virtually uninterrupted viewing on the outside platforms at the end of each carriage.

This was an excellent excursion, made all the better by the small group and personalised service of the driver/guide. I believe that costs through Chilkoot and HAL were very similar so not a big saving but much better than the crowded HAL option - thoroughly recommended.

see part 5

Part 5

GLACIER BAY

Breathtakingly awesome!

The scenery was simply spectacular, from the reflections in the calm waters to the majestic snow-covered mountains and the grandeur of sitting close to massive glaciers, listening to them 'speak' to you in the stillness of the pristine wilderness.

photos to follow

see Part 6

Part 6 More Glacier Bay photos

see Part 7

Part 7

KETCHIKAN

First we took the 'Ketchikan Duck Tour' which was a tour of the town and harbour by road and water. Nothing special but a fun trip that pointed out the major sights and included the novelty of a water trip in an amphibious vehicle. I wouldn't call it a 'must do' but it was a fun way to hear about some of Ketchikan's history. Booked through HAL but you could just walk up and buy a ticket, not sure if it was any cheaper.

We also did the HAL 'Magnificent Misty Fjords by Floatplane', a flight in a Beaver floatplane over the Misty Fjords wilderness area. The scenery is beautiful and the trip includes a waterlanding on one of the many waterways deep in the wilderness area. Shutting down the plane and clambering out onto the floats to experience the wilderness was a great moment. On the return flight we spotted several Orcas in one of the coastal stretches near Ketchikan, the only time we saw Killer Whales during the cruise. Not as spectacular as the Five Glaciers Flight in Juneau but still very much worth doing.

see Part 8

Part 8

THE BAD - HAL/VOLENDAM

- In our opinion the cabin was quite 'old and tired' with chips and marks on the desks, very basic television and not much else. One of the full-length windows leading out onto our balcony had several huge cracks which ran from about waist height down to the floor. When I pointed it out to the cabin steward he said that they were aware of it but hadn't been able to get a replacement window yet.

- We had opted for 'Open Seating' (anytime dining) but when we were given our I.D. cards they showed early fixed seating. When we tried to change this back to our booked dining option we were first challenged with a fairly aggressive "So you want to change your dining preference?" When I pointed out that our confirmation stated Open Seating and that I was not changing it but correcting their mistake I was then told rather brusquely that Open Seating had been over-subscribed and if we didn't take the fixed seating then we may experience extensive delays. We still went with our preferred Open Seating and never had a problem with getting a table for the entire cruise.

- Throughout the cruise we found the food to be average at best. On the first night of the cruise we went to the Pinnacle Grill which was a waste of $25 per person, the food was not particularly good and the service was off-hand.

- We only tried room service once for breakfast and it arrived so late that we almost missed our excursion.

THE BAD - ITINERARY/EXCURSIONS

GLACIER BAY

The park ranger informative talks were held in the theatre at the same time as the ship was cruising by spectacular glaciers. You had to choose whether to listen but not see, or see but not listen. It would make much more sense to broadcast the ranger talks on outside speakers so that you could combine viewing and listening.

SUMMARY

Cruising Alaska was an awesome experience, one of my lifetime highlights.

Would I do another Alsaka cruise? - probably not.

Would I recommend HAL? Only if the itinerary/timing is one that you can't do with anyone else.

Thank you for this review and for sharing these fabulous photos of your Volendam cruise.

Did you take a photo of the cracked window?

No didn't take a shot of that sorry.

Sorry to anybody that reads this, I didn't realise that I only had 20 minutes to edit in the photos and descriptions after the initial post. :mad:

It will be a bit messy now but I will add additional pictures as I get them uploaded, sorry about that. :o

I love your review.

Yes -- there is only certain time frame for editing posts.

Love your pictures -- looking forward to the others.

From what I was told years ago the rangers are not allowed to have announcements on the outside desks while cruising in Glacier Bay.

Skagway and the White Pass & Yukon rail 1

Bear on the Klondike Hwy

Bear on the Klondike Hwy

Bear on the Klondike Hwy

Emerald Lake panorama

Scenic Lake reflections

Scenic Lake reflections

Skagway and the White Pass & Yukon rail 2

White Pass & Yukon train at Fraser B.C.

WP&YR badge on outdoor viewing platform

Our carriage, virtually empty

Winding our way through the mountain scenery

Splendid views

The Canada/USA border at White Pass

Glacier Bay 1

Entering Glacier Bay in the early morning

First sight of a whale in Glacier Bay, many whales, dolphins, otters, bald eagles etc were seen during the day.

The Park Rangers coming aboard from their base in Gustavus

A sea otter in the calm waters of the bay

Magnificent scenery - photos just cannot do it justice

The beautiful colours of the floating ice

Glacier Bay 2

Wake patterns add to the scenic beauty

Part of the magnificent Margerie Glacier

Margerie Glacier panorama

Close up of fissures in the face of Margerie Glacier

Glacier Bay panorama

Breathtaking scenery - it must be seen to be truly appreciated

Glacier Bay 3

The colours and contrasts are spectacular

The HAL Amsterdam heads towards Margerie Glacier as we make our way down the bay

Changes in the light as it gets a bit later in the day

Majestic mountain views

The park rangers return to their base after spending the day onboard Volendam

Last look back into Glacier Bay as we start our journey to Ketchikan

Ketchikan 1

View of Ketchikan from our balcony

One of the Ketchikan Ducks

Cruise ships in Ketchikan harbour, taken from our amphibous Duck

Welcome to Ketchikan

Bald Eagle on display

Eddystone Rock in the Misty Fjords National Monument

Ketchikan 2

Misty Fjord scenery

Partially frozen lake from our floatplane

Beautiful reflections

Getting in close to the scenery while landing in the Misty Fjords

Another view of Eddystone Rock

Orcas spotted from the floatplane on the way back to Ketchikan

Ketchikan 3

Cropped image giving a better view of the Killer Whales

Coming in to land in Ketchikan harbour

Views of Creek Street, Ketchikan

Views of Creek Street

Creek Street

And that brings us to the end of my cruise photos, hope you enjoy and if you have any questions or would like to see larger versions of the photos just let me know.

Graham

Thank you for sharing, loved your beautiful pictures.

Kind regards,

Gina

stunning photos - thanks very much for sharing your expeiences:)

Thank you for sharing. We will be in cabin 6220 on 28th August. Good to have a fellow Aussie's oint of view. We have booked a similar trip to yours with Beyond Skagway. Can only hope the weather is as kind to us as it was to you.:)

I opened only one picture, but it was the important one. I'm thrilled to see that the cabin bathroom hasn't been renovated and updated. I have several cruises booked on this ship, and can now look forward to being able to use the electrical outlet in the bath.

Was there no entertainment worth mentioning on this cruise?

Thank you for your review! And especially for the pictures of the cabin!