HAL Statendam 6/29/14 Vancouver to Seward + 4 day DIY land

[theloo]

This will be a brief review today followed by pictures in a few days when I have had a chance to choose the best.

 

Day 1: Embarkation

 

We flew to Vancouver early on 6/29 and took Canada Line to the Waterfront. Canada Line was very easy to use. It was too early to check in at our ship, so we walked from the gas clock past Canada Place to the small boat harbor. It was a beautiful day. We headed to check-in around 10:30. We missed the spot to drop off our luggage (it looked like part of the parking lot, not part of HAL). Fortunately, we only had carry-ons, so it didn't bother us. Check-in was really easy and we only waited a short time before boarding. Our inside cabin was ready and cozy. There was plenty of space for 2, but might have been a bit cramped for 3 or if you brought a lot of luggage. We then set out to have lunch in the MDR since we were 1-star Mariners and exploring the ship. To us (who have only sailed once 10 years ago), the ship seems quite large with lots to explore, but we got the basics the first day. At dinner in the MDR, we were seated with a couple that barely spoke English, so it was an awkward dinner. I would think that the other couple would not have requested a shared table if they didn't want to socialize, but maybe they didn't get a choice.

 

Day 2: Sea day

 

We spent a lot of time on the lower promenade deck, walking along the wrap-around deck. I think this may have been my favorite part of the ship. We saw a few whales and dolphins and met a couple of CCers SuefromCanada and serenityj. Entertainment included a lumberjack presentation and competition by passengers in the day and a musical revue in the evening. This was our first of 2 formal nights. We saw a couple of tuxudos, but mostly just dinner jackets. We ate almost every lunch and dinner in the MDR and breakfast in the lido. We tried the MDR for breakfast once and didn't care for it. I am sad to report that we did not ONCE have creme brulee, even though I asked about it and was told that it might be on a later menu.

 

Day 3: Ketchikan

 

It was lightly raining when we arrived and we feared our floatplane tour would be cancelled, but it turned out to be just the right weather for our trip. We went with Island Wings and my husband really enjoyed it (he's more into flying than I am). We landed on a picturesque lake in the mountains. After we got back, we took the Married Man trip up to the Cape Fox Lodge and onto the (closed) fish hatchery. Then we did some souvenir shopping along the waterfront.

 

Back on board, we visited the Dive-In, which had been recently installed. We loved the extra crispy fries there and the sauce was good too. We got a taco and nachos at the small taco bar while we waited about 10 minutes for our hotdogs and fries. The gelato at dinner was the best we had on board, but the hard ice cream at the lido (especially when waffle cones were available) we pretty good too. I didn't much like either the comedian (not to be confused with the magician) or the late night buffet snack.

[theloo]

Day 4: Juneau

 

We went on a whale watching tour with Orca Enterprises. There was a little confusion about where we were supposed to meet (our receipt said at the dock, but turns out we were supposed to go to their office down the street). We saw an orca pod and then a group of humpbacks bubble-net feeding. It was really exciting, but they were constantly surprising us appearing in different places. We took a shuttle to Mendenhall and walked to Nugget Falls. It took us over 1.5 hours to walk to the falls and look around and stop at the photo outlook, so I'm glad we didn't take the combo tour from Orca that only allows 1 hour. We walked to the state Capitol building and onto the Mt. Robert's trailhead. Considering the rain and the warnings at the trailhead (including notices about a lost cruise passenger), we decided against taking the hike. Back on board, we enjoyed the chocolate desserts by Jacques Torres, then relaxed in the hot tub (there are two: one warm and one hot).

 

Day 5: Skagway

 

One significant downside to our cabin (on the main deck, aft) is that we get the engine noise from docking. This morning it was significant at 4:30 even though we were not supposed to be in port until 7 a.m. Pouring rain today :( We went ahead with our plans and picked up our rental car from Sourdough. Very casual place and the vehicle was fine, plus we didn't have to worry excessively about dings or tracking in dirt. The fog made the drive up fairly uninteresting, but the weather improved in Carcross. We stopped there and walked along the sandy beach of Lake Bennett. We visited the cute general store and drove onto Emerald Lake. It may have been the weather, but colors were not very vivid. On the way down, the weather improved and we stopped at many of the stops (from Murray's Guide) that we skipped on the way up. In Skagway, we visited the Cemetery and hiked to Yakutania Point and Smuggler's Cove, which was very pleasant and barely used (maybe because of the light rain).

 

Back on board, dinner in the MDR was okay. Because we had As You Wish Dining, we never got the same staff. Today's staff was slow and not friendly, but for the most part, service was good. We get the impression that they never want to say no, but can't always comply. Example, when I asked if I could have creme brulee, they said the available desserts were all listed. When I asked if creme brulee is ever available, they said it is on the rotation, but it never was during our 7 days.

 

Day 6: Glacier Bay

 

Got up early and made it outside while we were near Pt. Adolphus, but didn't see whales. It was pouring most of the day, but we were prepared and found some shelter on deck (very few were out on the bow). There was lots of calving at Margerie Glacier, mostly smaller pieces, but a few big ones too. The ranger said the rain seemed to correlate to more calving and better pictures and the ice did seem very blue. They were serving soup and hot cider on deck, but we missed it. We found the loading and unloading of the NPS rangers in a "controlled crash" at 8 knots fun to watch. We didn't have our salmon bake on the lido because we were in Glacier Bay, but our lunch menu was themed for the 4th of July (apple pie, etc.) Our second formal night was great. We sat at a lively table of 8 and really enjoyed the company.

[theloo]

Day 7: Sea day

 

I forgot to mention that we did laundry yesterday. There is one self-serve laundry on main deck and I think 2 more on other decks. Ours had only 2 washers and 2 dryers, so we did have to wait. We have been doing to daily trivia in the library and won twice. We did team trivia a couple of times and almost won once. We spent a lot of time today in the library playing games and looking out the window from the comfy chairs. Other passengers were working on puzzles. We really like the Adagio duo in the Explorer's Lounge every night. We went to a second/different magic show with Indy the dog and found the show very fun. Dancing with the Stars at Sea was okay; we're not really fans of the show. We were invited to and attended the Mariner Brunch. The food was pretty good and we were again seated with very pleasant company. One passenger had been on the Statendam in the same itinerary 3 previous trips and was sad to hear that she had been sold. I was able to tell her that the Statendam will be doing the 14-day Alaska itinerary next summer and she seemed very interested.

 

Day 8: Disembarkation/Seward

 

We had been assigned a late disembarkation because we had independent travel plans, so we had to visit the front desk to change our time. It might have been a problem if we had luggage, but since we only packed carry-ons, we were assigned expedited disembarkation (anytime between 6-9 am). The lido was open at 5 a.m. for breakfast so we didn't bother with room service. Among the few regrets at the end of the cruise were that we didn't try the room service and some missed chances on the food, but overall, we loved our cruise, rain and all. Sometimes the service in the MDR was slow, but sometimes it was really good. Our room was always serviced twice a day with towel animals, nightly chocolates, and our requested 2 daily on location guides. We had plenty of good food and some very good food. The entertainment was reasonable for the smallish size ship (we don't like the big glitzy productions anyway and don't expect Broadway-quality entertainment). We had an inside room and feel that we got a great value. I can understand if a person who paid $200+/pp/per night would feel that the food and entertainment might not be up to par, but that person really is paying a premium for the cabin, not the other amenities. We'd love to sail with HAL again if a smaller ship is available when we are traveling. Disembarkation was very easy (with no sort of customs or anything), almost like getting off at a port.

 

In Seward, we took the 8.5-hour Northwestern Fjords tour with Major Marine. For me, this turned out to be THE highlight of our trip. We finally lucked out with the weather and it was smooth sailing (though we took some Bonine because they expected afternoon swells that did not materialize). We saw the Northwestern Glacier calve a little, several other glaciers along the way and we hit the jackpot with wildlife: Dall's porpoises, humpbacks breaching, sea lions, sea otters, puffins, jellyfish, harbor seals, and bald eagles. The deli-style lunch was quite adequate and included delicious brownies! We stayed overnight in a private room at the Moby Dick hostel, which was fine for one night.

 

Day 9: Central Alaska

 

We rented a car from Hertz in Seward: we reserved a mid-size, but they only had a subcompact Chevy Spark, so we took it with a discount. We stopped at Exit Glacier and walked up the trail, but you can no longer approach the actual glacier (toe). Apparently, last year you could, but the river from the glacier changed course and you can't get there without crossing the water or scrambling down the rocks. We also stopped at AWCC in Portage and visited all of the animals; they particularly have a lot of wood bison that they are restoring to other areas. As we continued on, we were aware that there was no gas for a while before Cantwell, but were so interested in the scenery that we missed the last gas station (some 115 miles before Cantwell). Take more care than we did: get gas early and often! We ran out 6 miles short of Cantwell. Fortunately, a friendly Alaskan gave us a ride to Cantwell, where we purchased gas, and a ride back to the car, saving the day. We managed to see Denali and enjoy the views before we realized we were nearly out of gas. Anyway, me made it to the Denali Mountain Morning Hostel and chatted with a couple who was just finishing their 2-week Alaskan trip.

[theloo]

Day 10: Denali

 

Before we even got to the park, we saw a moose on the road! There are warning signs on the road north of Anchorage, including a tally of moose-car collisions, but we didn't really believe it. On the shuttle to Eielson, we stopped for lots of caribou and a few grizzly bears, but we never did see any Dall's sheep. We ate our lunch and took the alpine hike at Eielson where we meet a very friendly ground squirrel. It was pretty obvious that he had been fed because he came right up to us. Despite not being able to see Mt. McKinley, it was very peaceful up there on the ridge and we only saw about 10 other hikers the whole time. On the way back, we stopped just before Stony Dome for our wilderness adventure. Even though we never got far from the road, there was no one and no trail out there. We ended up hiking up a small hill, then bushwhacking through 6-foot high birch willow and marshy tundra. We did see a big caribou and a few springy adolescents. After about 90 minutes, we managed to get back to the road where we caught the next a shuttle. We met another couple who did something similar and also got stuck in the marsh and trees, plus got rained on. We decided we should stay on maintained trails, so we went on the Horseshoe Lakes trail near the entrance.

 

Day 11: Denali

 

We went to see the sled dog rangers today and saw a short presentation and demo. We spent some time before and after the show meeting the dogs. We learned they are much bigger than dogs used for the Iditarod. We hiked back to the entrance via the Rock Creek trail and checked out the visitor center before leaving Denali. The drive back to Anchorage was uneventful. We stopped at the Alaska Wild Berry store to check out their chocolate waterfall (think, Willy Wonka) and their pet reindeer, but their pet reindeer is no longer in residence. We ate next door at the Sourdough Mining Co. The ambiance is fun, but the food is heavy and just so-so. We saw the show next door, then headed out to the airport to return our car and catch our flight home. With a 2:45 flight, we finally saw it get dark as we left Alaska.

[mort&fran]

Thanks for your comprehensive review. We will be on the Statendam later this summer; appreciate your giving us an insight into what we will likely experience.

[travgurl]

Great review! Thanks for sharing. We are going next summer Fairbanks to Vancouver cruise tour. I love reading about the places and get ideas of what to do there! Sounds like you had a fabulous time!

[erewhon]

Thanks for your great review.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful review.

[theloo]

Sorry, it's taken so long for pictures. Here is a link to the cruise food. Scenery pictures will be coming in a day or two.

 

http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/phildonnia2/library/Cruise%20Food

[theloo]

Okay, here finally are some of the promised photos.

 

Sunset in the Inside Passage:

 

 

In Misty Fjords National Monument:

 

 

Humpbacks bubble-net feeding near Juneau:

 

 

Big chunk of Margerie Glacier calving (left side of the arch):

 

 

Sea lions leaping next to the Statendam:

 

 

On Major Marine's Northwestern Fjord tour:

 

[theloo]

Right next to the Major Marine's Viewfinder:

 

 

Harbor seal on ice:

 

 

Baby humpback breaching:

 

 

Denali makes its appearance:

 

 

Brown bear in Denali:

 

[theloo]

Caribou in Denali NP:

 

 

Caribou next to the park road:

 

[theloo]

Hope you enjoyed the preview. More can be seen at Photobucket: http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/phildonnia2/library/Alaska%202014

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your very nice writeup.

 

Keith