Alaska Cruisetour review- Statendam July 2013

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[erewhon]

Enjoying your review and photos.

Thank you.

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DAY 3

KETCHIKAN

 

STATENDAM: overall, still loving the small ship!! The cruise has gotten off to a wonderful start. Small problem with my suite package I preordered but other than that pretty much perfect.

WEATHER: it it WARM!! So thankful I packed shorts, sandals, short sleeve shirts

 

Early morning start. Ugh. Pinnacle isn't open until 7:30 but port time is 7-2:30. So we opted for Lido. A bit crowded but found a nice window table.

Off the ship at 7:30. We shopped at the stores immediately across the street for an hour. I returned all of our purchases to our cabin. Removed all of the rain gear and sweatshirts from the backpack. Retrieved the visor hats and a pair of shorts for the little ones. then met up with our tour guide. It was already 60's and the kids had pants on, I am so thankful I went back to get shorts. It ended up being high 70's.:p

WILD WOLF TOUR: Tracey was fantastic. We booked a hike with her from 9-12p. We drove out about 20 minutes out of town to Lunch Creek trail. Went on a hike for 90 min(was supposed to be 60 min). The waterfall was beautiful, enjoyed hiking along creek side, Tracey was wonderful to listen to. She is knowledgable about the vegetation as well shared information about her heritage and clan. I loved her wolf blanket. The kids went on a scavenger hunt and there were also geocache spots along the way during the hike. she had yummy salmon dip , crackers and water. Next stop Totem Bight Park. we enjoyed this as well. She dropped us off at Creek Street. Theree were a total of 6, 4of us and one other couple.

CREEK ST: We watched the salmon swimming upstream, didn't walk to the fish ladder, then shopped on the way back. Also saw jelly fish blooms down at the large iron bridge. DS says they were moon jellies. Last stop:

ALASKA DISCOVERY CENTER. We had limited time since the hike tour took a bit longer than anticipated. The kids loved the Discover Center. I have been now 4 times but still enjoy reading the information and listening to the audios. Great place to stop for 15minutes, better would be 45 and probably max of 90 minutes. They have a 15min video that we didn't have time to watch.

 

Dinner tonight in the Pinnacle Grill was excellent. There are no reservations available the entire week except 9p on Glacier Bay day. I am glad we made reservations in advance. $25 for the four of us since the kids are free. Next visit I will order food from the MDR for the 2 little ones, they didn't like the lobster Mac and cheese but did split a chicken breast. 10 year old consumed an entire porterhouse steak!!

CROWS NEST: joined the mariners reception a little late due to pinnacle, sat next to a couple and started chatting with them. I ended up asking them so who had the most cruise days this sailing. They said us :) I think they are moving to 5 * with this cruise so will be 5 star on the return trip back next week. They were delightful to talk with. Besides my friends from last night, I haven't really sat and talked with adults during our vacation. :) we talked for nearly an hour, I decided chatting was more fun this evening vs 90 minutes in thermal suite. They truly were a delightful couple. I hope I run into them on another cruise!

THERMAL SUITE: 30 minutes, and peaceful. The couple from last evening was enjoying the room as well (quietly).

CLUB HAL, 3-7

Mid: Funky Fish, Four Corners

PM: Cosmic Cruisers

8-12

Mid: Egyptian rat slap, tricky trivia

PM: lights, camera, action

[tamsocal]

Beautiful day!

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W needed more time! The kids loved sitting and watching the salmon. We didn't have time to go up to the ladder. Had to decide ladder vs discovery center.

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[johnlcruise]

I'm enjoying your excellent review. Keep it up.

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Love this!! Had to have it each night we went to pinnacle

[tamsocal]

 

Peter the head dining room manager for the pinnacle was outstanding! Agustinus was fabulous as well. We loved every minute we spent at the pinnacle! Both for breakfast and evening dinner. We did not have lunch in pinnacle since oldest DS doesn't typically like to eat midday

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Picture didn't insert properly, next below will be the chicken- it was the least favorite of the 4 entrees.

Chicken- can't recall it's name...... The pic above was porterhouse steak, and prior to that was the salmon :)

 

Waiting presently for the little ones to wake up so we can head off to Denali and haven't had breakfast yet! Now I am hungry looking at these pics!

[tamsocal]

Great dish but our fourth favorite

[tamsocal]

The kids love the Chocolate Lava Cake. It was excellent but the lava seemed to be lacking.... Nonetheless was very yummy!:D

 

The kids also wanted to know why each of the scoops of vanilla ice cream had pink tinged color on top. At first they seemed like they were going to pass on eating the ice cream but reconsidered once they started eating the cake....... The they decided they didn't care what the pink stuff was, they needed ice cream!!!

[tamsocal]

I'm enjoying your excellent review. Keep it up.

 

Thanks!!

We had a fantastic cruise. A few bumps along the week but all was good.

We are on train to Denali now :)

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Train ride to Denali today

[kazu]

Enjoying your review - and the info on the HAL club which is rare on the boards and I am sure helpful to others:)

[tamsocal]

DAY 5

JUNEAU--

Mid 70's, all 4 of us wore shorts and short shirt. I carried wind breakers in pack but only one kid wanted one early am.

Arrived in port ~9:30, disembarkation was a bit of a cattle call. A few people were becoming a little feisty in line due to others cutting in front. I understand not desiring people to cut in line but the telling people abruptly to get in the back of the line is a little awkward and takes a bit away from the happiness of going ashore, but the cutting in line does too..... Hhhhmmm? :)

RENTAL CAR: We were on our way immediately to Goldbelt hotel for Avis Rental car. We paid for compact car but they only had Full size cars. The upgrade was nice but not really important as there were only little kids in the back. First stop:

MENDENHALL GLACIER: we started off with the boardwalk along the creek and then took the FOLLOW ME trail to the Moriane trail loop. It was a bit longer than I anticipated and we had to stop abruptly to spray insect repellent. Once deep in the woods, there were LOTS of Mosquitos. The loop took us to a great place to get pictures of both nugget falls and the glacier. We then hiked out to Nugget Falls. We crossed the river beds by foot vs using the bridges and gravel pathways that now exist. It was nice being on the trails on our own vs the many people that were on the other. We saw a few birds nesting going this route as well. The kids played at nugget falls for about 30 minutes

this picture is at nugget falls.

. Then back to the visitors center, we listened to 4 ranger presentations. Oldest DS completed 70% of the Tongass NFS JR RANGER patch. We should have picked up the pamphlet in Ketchikan and he would have had the book complete for the patch, but now we will just need to mail it in. He did get his JR ranger badge and pencil. If you go to Ketchikan first, stop at the discovery center and start the JR ranger program if your kids are interested and then finish up in Juneau. The ranger presentations are great for kids and adults. Total time at MG: 5 hours!!!! (I had planned for 1-2 hrs. Next stop:

Shrine of st Therese viewpoint for whale watching. BEAUTIFUL!!

GLACIER GARDENS: excellent tour, the gardens are beautiful, still love the upside down trees with the flowers planted in the roots. The viewpoint at 600ft elevation was excellent and it was such a nice clear day. So another reason we didn't care that we opted not to do Mt Roberts tram. Alaska toursaver is great for here and salmon bake.

MAUCULAY HATCHERY: quick stop for ~ 1 hour. The kids enjoyed the aquarium tank (giant crabs, halibut, and many other fish), the salmon ladder tanks outside with the salmon jumping about, the tiny salmon in the indoor tanks and the underwater viewing window. Great stop for the kids!!

TWIN LAKES PARK: amazing playground. The wooden structures were fun. The fish ladder that was painted by kids was a great idea. We only played for 30". This park is near the hospital. hospital street is on right and if you stay on the glacier highway as it curves to the left, the park is on the left. It's also easily seen from the highway. Next stop:

GOLD CREEK SALMON BAKE: the food was the same as the 4 other times we have been. Scale of 1-10 I would give it a 9 for buffet food and a 6 for quality meal/dining in compared to average restaurant. Decent food (not spectacular) and they always do a good job. Great place for the kids: panning for gold, marshmallow roast, campfire, watching salmon swimming upstream , waterfall, creek/river walk. The kids really wanted to go in to the gold mine at the top by the waterfall:).

I still love the peaceful ambience of this salmon bake and we are 4 for4 with going to MG and GCSB every visit to Juneau. Next stop-

DOWNTOWN: shopping and collecting 3 more coins- the kids love these "gold" coins. It is similar to the diamonds international charm bracelet. However, none of my 3 DS are interested in charm bracelets. We parked at the downtown Avis lot for our short shopping trip which was very convenient as we were all a bit tired of walking. Returned the rental car and then back to the ship. Barely made dinner in the Lido at 8:20 PM. I had anticipated being out until 5-6 PM not 8pm :)

The kids went to sleep by 9pm (we ate dinner fast)

 

Overall day in Juneau: I give it a 10 out of 10. We met incredibly nice rangers at MENDENHALL, although everywhere we went from avis staff, etc-all were very nice!, we had tons of fun hiking, and fun everywhere we stopped. Our only negative is we ran out of time for the mining museum, Mt Roberts Tram and visiting the library so we could email and use wifi :)

Added bonus: cost was fairly low compared to our other port days..... Total for day: $150- car, gas, entry fees x4, etc

 

CLUB HAL, 3-7

AM: Name art, where's my shoe

PM: Under the Sea

8-12

MID: pineapples, totem poles

PM: mysterious spy night

Everyday for port days it says : not going ashore: arts, crafts, sports, video games and so much more and $5/hr charge 8-3 ketchikan, 10-4p Juneau, also 10p-1a EVERY night

 

STATENDAM:

All the staff we have met have been wonderfully friendly. I have found this cruise interesting in that almost all of our other cruises we have known the names of every maitre'D and head dining room staff. They will come around to your tables, introduce themselves, ask how you are doing and if there is anything else they can do to make your dining experience even better or any issues with the cruise they have asked about as well. I would not be able to guess today if you stood 20 people in a line which one is the maitre'D or head dining staff. One of them came by briefly the first day and that was it. The best service has been in the pinnacle. They know my kids by name. The kids food comes when mine and oldest DS appetizers are served. We have had 2 nights in MDR that the children's food has arrived after my main entree. They ordered plain pasta with butter!! We never specify what type of pasta, just any pasta that is already on the menu, add butter. :)

Overall 5* service in pinnacle due to the staff, the food being yummy is just an added bonus. Peter is wonderful and always ensuring the staff have enough support, and assisting them personally when needed.

Overall 4* for the MDR and I would still score it 4* even if I didn't have the pinnacle to compare to since I have other cruises to compare to. However, if it were my first cruise I might be a little naive and would have scored it 4.5 or more.

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