Cruising with HAL

[timkins42]

Having just returned from the HAL Y5T 9 day land and 4 day cruise I felt compelled to write a review. We arrived in Anchorage a day early but did not book the extra night through Holland America. Upon arrival in Anchorage there was a Holland America rep there to greet arrivals. I asked if we could get a ride from the airport to the WESTMARK hotel and was informed that we COULD NOT as we had booked the room ourselves and we had to take a taxi to the same hotel they were going to and had room for us on the bus. I even offered to pay for the opportunity to ride with them and was flat told NO to take a taxi. Our extra day in Anchorage was spent riding bicycles along the Tony Knowles Coastal trail which was spectacular. At the nine mile point of the ride we saw and photographed 2 bull moose who were eating on the edge of the trail. Great shots. On Saturday morning we boarded the train for our ride to Denali. The train ride was very nice with beautiful views of McKinley as the sun was shining the entire train ride. Breakfast was OK nothing to write home about. The eggs that my wife ordered were cold and the service was terrible. Did not eat lunch onboard as we were still pretty upset over breakfast. Upon arrival at the McKinley Chalet's we were greeted with a very rustic cabin down in the woods. Adequate but not really what we were expecting from Holland America. When we stayed at McKinley Village 2 years ago with CELEBRITY the accommodations were extremely nice. Saw a lot of wildlife on the Tundra tour and then we departed for Fairbanks on the train again. Dinner was again OK nothing spectacular. The remainder of the land tour was very nice but again the accommodations were nothing to rave about. Upon arrival in Skagway we had reservations for an excursion to helicopter into a glacier and mush the sled dogs. We got onboard the Volendam and exited with a great deal of excitement for the excursion only to have some young man with a smile and a smirk on his face inform us that the excursion had been cancelled due to inclement weather. When we booked the excursion thru HAL I specifically asked the woman who took our money for the excursion how often these things got cancelled. Her reply was she had been booking these type of excursions for 9 years and they had never been cancelled in all that time. Needles to say I had a very disappointed wife who had been looking forward to this excursion for 7 months. She was crying and heartbroken. This was the second time in 2 years we had been cancelled on the dock. We reboarded the ship and left port that evening. After a day on the ship with some absolutely spectacular views of Marjerie Glacier we received a call from the desk asking us if we had time to read the letter. Letter, what letter? They went on to explain that the tub in our stateroom had to be replaced and they had scheduled it for the next day and we would be without the ability to shower for the remainder of that day and until 4:00pm the following day as it would take that long for the caulk to dry around the tub. I asked if this was causing a problem for the people below and was told No that this was a maintenance thing to keep their ship "pristine". I asked why this could not be scheduled at a down time for the room and was informed that there were no downtime as the stateroom was occupied 365 days a year. When I asked why I had to be inconvenienced for this they changed their mind and said they would reschedule.

The food in the dining room was extremely good and the service was fine as was the remainder of our stay aboard the ship. The expedited disembarkation and transportation to the airport was great as HAL handled all of the details. Overall it was a very enjoyable cruise with just some minor glitches.

[Shmoo here]

Having just returned from the HAL Y5T 9 day land and 4 day cruise I felt compelled to write a review. We arrived in Anchorage a day early but did not book the extra night through Holland America. Upon arrival in Anchorage there was a Holland America rep there to greet arrivals. I asked if we could get a ride from the airport to the WESTMARK hotel and was informed that we COULD NOT as we had booked the room ourselves and we had to take a taxi to the same hotel they were going to and had room for us on the bus. I even offered to pay for the opportunity to ride with them and was flat told NO to take a taxi. Our extra day in Anchorage was spent riding bicycles along the Tony Knowles Coastal trail which was spectacular. At the nine mile point of the ride we saw and photographed 2 bull moose who were eating on the edge of the trail. Great shots. On Saturday morning we boarded the train for our ride to Denali. The train ride was very nice with beautiful views of McKinley as the sun was shining the entire train ride. Breakfast was OK nothing to write home about. The eggs that my wife ordered were cold and the service was terrible. Did not eat lunch onboard as we were still pretty upset over breakfast. Upon arrival at the McKinley Chalet's we were greeted with a very rustic cabin down in the woods. Adequate but not really what we were expecting from Holland America. When we stayed at McKinley Village 2 years ago with CELEBRITY the accommodations were extremely nice. Saw a lot of wildlife on the Tundra tour and then we departed for Fairbanks on the train again. Dinner was again OK nothing spectacular. The remainder of the land tour was very nice but again the accommodations were nothing to rave about. Upon arrival in Skagway we had reservations for an excursion to helicopter into a glacier and mush the sled dogs. We got onboard the Volendam and exited with a great deal of excitement for the excursion only to have some young man with a smile and a smirk on his face inform us that the excursion had been cancelled due to inclement weather. When we booked the excursion thru HAL I specifically asked the woman who took our money for the excursion how often these things got cancelled. Her reply was she had been booking these type of excursions for 9 years and they had never been cancelled in all that time. Needles to say I had a very disappointed wife who had been looking forward to this excursion for 7 months. She was crying and heartbroken. This was the second time in 2 years we had been cancelled on the dock. We reboarded the ship and left port that evening. After a day on the ship with some absolutely spectacular views of Marjerie Glacier we received a call from the desk asking us if we had time to read the letter. Letter, what letter? They went on to explain that the tub in our stateroom had to be replaced and they had scheduled it for the next day and we would be without the ability to shower for the remainder of that day and until 4:00pm the following day as it would take that long for the caulk to dry around the tub. I asked if this was causing a problem for the people below and was told No that this was a maintenance thing to keep their ship "pristine". I asked why this could not be scheduled at a down time for the room and was informed that there were no downtime as the stateroom was occupied 365 days a year. When I asked why I had to be inconvenienced for this they changed their mind and said they would reschedule.

The food in the dining room was extremely good and the service was fine as was the remainder of our stay aboard the ship. The expedited disembarkation and transportation to the airport was great as HAL handled all of the details. Overall it was a very enjoyable cruise with just some minor glitches.

 

An interesting review. You state it was a "very enjoyable cruise with just some minor glitches" but you really only talked about what appear to be those minor glitches.

 

What were some of the good things?

 

And, a note for future postings, maybe you could break up the giant block of words? It makes it much easier to read.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Sorry--I can not read that big block of words. It makes my eyes swim. So, I created the paragraphs for your readers :) Thank you for your review.

***************************************

 

Originally Posted by timkins42 View Post

Having just returned from the HAL Y5T 9 day land and 4 day cruise I felt compelled to write a review. We arrived in Anchorage a day early but did not book the extra night through Holland America.

 

Upon arrival in Anchorage there was a Holland America rep there to greet arrivals. I asked if we could get a ride from the airport to the WESTMARK hotel and was informed that we COULD NOT as we had booked the room ourselves and we had to take a taxi to the same hotel they were going to and had room for us on the bus. I even offered to pay for the opportunity to ride with them and was flat told NO to take a taxi.

 

Our extra day in Anchorage was spent riding bicycles along the Tony Knowles Coastal trail which was spectacular. At the nine mile point of the ride we saw and photographed 2 bull moose who were eating on the edge of the trail. Great shots.

 

On Saturday morning we boarded the train for our ride to Denali. The train ride was very nice with beautiful views of McKinley as the sun was shining the entire train ride. Breakfast was OK nothing to write home about. The eggs that my wife ordered were cold and the service was terrible. Did not eat lunch onboard as we were still pretty upset over breakfast.

 

Upon arrival at the McKinley Chalet's we were greeted with a very rustic cabin down in the woods. Adequate but not really what we were expecting from Holland America. When we stayed at McKinley Village 2 years ago with CELEBRITY the accommodations were extremely nice.

 

Saw a lot of wildlife on the Tundra tour and then we departed for Fairbanks on the train again. Dinner was again OK nothing spectacular. The remainder of the land tour was very nice but again the accommodations were nothing to rave about.

 

Upon arrival in Skagway we had reservations for an excursion to helicopter into a glacier and mush the sled dogs. We got onboard the Volendam and exited with a great deal of excitement for the excursion only to have some young man with a smile and a smirk on his face inform us that the excursion had been cancelled due to inclement weather. When we booked the excursion thru HAL I specifically asked the woman who took our money for the excursion how often these things got cancelled. Her reply was she had been booking these type of excursions for 9 years and they had never been cancelled in all that time. Needles to say I had a very disappointed wife who had been looking forward to this excursion for 7 months. She was crying and heartbroken. This was the second time in 2 years we had been cancelled on the dock.

 

We reboarded the ship and left port that evening. After a day on the ship with some absolutely spectacular views of Marjerie Glacier we received a call from the desk asking us if we had time to read the letter. Letter, what letter? They went on to explain that the tub in our stateroom had to be replaced and they had scheduled it for the next day and we would be without the ability to shower for the remainder of that day and until 4:00pm the following day as it would take that long for the caulk to dry around the tub.

 

I asked if this was causing a problem for the people below and was told No that this was a maintenance thing to keep their ship "pristine". I asked why this could not be scheduled at a down time for the room and was informed that there were no downtime as the stateroom was occupied 365 days a year. When I asked why I had to be inconvenienced for this they changed their mind and said they would reschedule.

 

The food in the dining room was extremely good and the service was fine as was the remainder of our stay aboard the ship. The expedited disembarkation and transportation to the airport was great as HAL handled all of the details. Overall it was a very enjoyable cruise with just some minor glitches.