Semi live review Y1L Holland America’s Alaska Land and Sea CruiseTour, June 1 – June 19, 2022

[Alphen]

3 minutes ago, Lalof said:

Can I get an idea from you about how people were dressed in the dining room for supper? Was it super casual, like blue jeans? Shorts, even? Or a little more like business casual 

We are not on board yet!

[Alphen]

14 hours ago, Gray Lady said:

Curiosity question: Do you know if there are any people who tested positive and couldn’t board the ship tomorrow? We are starting our land tour next week and our greatest fear is testing positive and not being able to do our cruise part of our trip. 

We just heard that at least 12 received a positive test, but more groups are embarking today, we now no of at least 3 couples in our group of which one of the partners tested positive, so at least 3 couples stay behind.

 

So sad for them that their journey has to end this way and please, do not make this review about whether to wear masks or not!

[Alphen]

Last walk in Anchorage 

 

[Gray Lady]

1 hour ago, Alphen said:

We just heard that at least 12 received a positive test, but more groups are embarking today, we now no of at least 3 couples in our group of which one of the partners tested positive, so at least 3 couples stay behind.

 

So sad for them that their journey has to end this way and please, do not make this review about whether to wear masks or not!

Thank you. Yes, so sad. This helps inform us….and is my biggest fear!

[Alphen]

We are now on board the cruise train, turns out only 17 out of the original 33 in our group made it!!!

 

 

Here is the menu for on board the train;

 

[Alphen]

Anchorage to Whittier 

 

 

We left Anchorage at 13:00, on the cruise train.

You are seated in a carriage on tables of 4, assigned seating. The carriage is almost the same as the McKinley Explorer, with the only difference that this has no lower area, just the domed seating with tables, for a perfect view.

 

 

During our ride, about 45 minutes after departure, we saw a couple of Dahl sheep high up the cliffs on our left side.

The tide was out, so no whale spotting on the right.

 

 

Train ride is mostly along the coast, among Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm to Whittier.

Check in for the ship happens on board of the train, no VeriFLY needed, just have to show passport, proof of vaccination and negative test results. Also, your picture is taken, for the onboard security.

All of the check in is completed, including a paper version of your boarding pass, to show on board together with your passport.

On the last part, the track passes a 2 tunnels, before reaching Whittier. Before the tunnel, the area is again beautiful, closing the mountains. The last tunnel is shared with road traffic, but not at the same time, so before the train passes, road traffic on either side is closed off.

We arrived in Whittier at 15:00!

[Alphen]

Anchorage to Whittier 

 

 

We left Anchorage at 13:00, on the cruise train.

You are seated in a carriage on tables of 4, assigned seating. The carriage is almost the same as the McKinley Explorer, with the only difference that this has no lower area, just the domed seating with tables, for a perfect view.

 

 

During our ride, about 45 minutes after departure, we saw a couple of Dahl sheep high up the cliffs on our left side.

The tide was out, so no whale spotting on the right.

 

 

Train ride is mostly along the coast, among Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm to Whittier.

Check in for the ship happens on board of the train, no VeriFLY needed, just have to show passport, proof of vaccination and negative test results. Also, your picture is taken, for the onboard security.

All of the check in is completed, including a paper version of your boarding pass, to show on board together with your passport.

On the last part, the track passes a 2 tunnels, before reaching Whittier. Before the tunnel, the area is again beautiful, closing the mountains. The last tunnel is shared with road traffic, but not at the same time, so before the train passes, road traffic on either side is closed off.

We arrived in Whittier at 15:00!

[Alphen]

And we are onboard!

 

[1ANGELCAT]

@Alphen, thanks for the update. 
Bon Voyage and have a fantastic voyage 🍾🎉🚢

[oakridger]

So nice to see the snow on the peaks still!  

[canadianbear]

What a wonderful journey you’ve had so far.  Been a lot of fun reading your entries and seeing your fantastic photos.  

[RetiredMustang]

On 6/11/2022 at 6:40 PM, Alphen said:

We both have our final negative test results, so, unless Alaska Rail strikes, we will be on Nieuw Amsterdam tomorrow. Only hick-up is a non-working Verifly from one of us, so guess this will take some extra sorting out tomorrow.

 

Good news about the negative tests.  When/how did HAL handle them?  A non-working Verifly is annoying.  Did you have any issues doing the arriveCAN?  

 

Dave

[quack2]

From personal experience, a non-working Verifly may be operator error.

[Travelswitheva]

Thank you for this very informative blog.  My husband and I are doing this tour in reverse starting June 19. We have been as far as Denali before, so the information between there and Whitehorse was particularly helpful.

You may or may not remember us, but we travelled together on the Zaandam to Antarctica in 2015.  We were supposed to go on a penguin excursion together in the Falklands, but unfortunately we were unable to go ashore.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!  We are driving to Vancouver, so are leaving on Wednesday. 
 

Eva and Jim

[Cruising to Retirement]

On 6/11/2022 at 5:19 PM, Alphen said:

Anchorage Trolley

 

Last night we did the Anchorage Trolley, which was a blast. An hour long, so pretty short tour through Anchorage, but the driver slash guide was hilarious. Our guide was Alice, in her adult life she was a teacher, but boy, could she tell in a funny way about life and living in Anchorage. She even sang for part of the way and we have never had a funnier tour!

 

 

[tundra1]

Thanks for this update!  We were debating the food plan and decided that breakfasts would be the best option for us.  Your pictures and descriptions have been so helpful, especially seeing the menus. 🙂

 

[Alphen]

Departure Whittier 

 

The continuation of this review will only be on port days, we have no ships internet!

Any questions will be answered after our cruise. 

What we can tell as extra info, which might be a question, we do not know how things went for the 8 couples (16 guests in total) of which at least one of the partners tested positive, before this cruise portion. We learned from another group that is travelling the same route, but through a tour-company, that they went from 94 to around 70, so also quite a few positive cases that were denied to cruise.

 

 

Check in was already done, so we only had to go through security and were on board about 15 minutes after arrival of the train.

We went on out and about the ship, since our luggage only arrived shortly before dinner.

Weather was again sunny and warm (sorry Rick😉), so a beautiful send off from our land part. 

Daily program;

 

We always have the early fixed seating, on NA this started at 17:30 (we were more used at early seating beginning at 17:45), at a nice table at the window. We were excellently taken care of by our waiters; Wayan and Agung. The selection was more than enough and we accompanied this with a bottle of our favourite Moscato from our wine package. Dinner attire was mixed, jeans and such, did not see shorts.

MDR Menu;

After dinner, there was no show, but we went to see the Whale Watching Talk with naturalist Christie and after that we saw “We are Alaska”, a story about 75 years of HAL in Alaska, live narrated by the cruise and travel director Nick, from Belgium. This story is presented in the same style as the “Origin Story “, later on this cruise , which we have seen before, but is an absolute not to miss history of HAL and we will be attending again.

Things on board have changed slightly, there is no standard turn down service on NA, only on request, but we do not mind. The towel animals have remained, they have just moved from the evening to the morning shift, including the chocolates, so the service remains almost the same (at least the first morning) thanks to our stateroom attendants Usep and Rei.

Navigator App is still far from perfect, especially when you are scrolling through days events, it constantly jumps to the top of the page, or a blank page, which is really annoying!

We heard somebody say that we are sailing at less than half capacity, around a thousand, but this is not official.

 

[Alphen]

Hubbard Glacier

Daily program;

During the morning, we sailed in the direction of Hubbard Glacier and after breakfast, we made some rounds over the ship and attended presentations about upcoming shore excursions and another EXC presentation called “Pacific Giants” about whales, again in the same way as the “We Are Alaska” talk, in the afternoon an EXC presentation, called “Ancestral Memories, The Past is Present”, an impressive documentary about native Alaskan language and how it survived and now also has regained a future.

 

We reached Hubbard Glacier in the afternoon. This is our second time here, but last time we regretted not having done the “Excursions By Catamaran: Hubbard Glacier & 
Enchanting Disenchantment Bay”, which we made up for this time.

The excursion was great, we came to within half a mile of the glacier and much earlier than NA, which was great, because fog/low clouds came in later. NA, did not get anywhere near as we did and we had a great view at several calvings. We remember being here on Maasdam a couple of years ago and getting much closer. On our way back, we spotted two coastal brown bears, together on the shoreline, probably two juvenile cubs, normally they are not together. We got back about 45 minutes late, but it was all worth it.

Tonight was a “dressy” night, not many  tuxedos were spotted, everyone pretty casual, just a tie, some jeans, polos, or a jacket here and there. Being a bit late, we missed the captain’s welcome toast this time, but seeing the bears made up for that.

Shows are at 19:00 and 21:00.
Tonight we concluded our day with the late show of the Step One Dance Company with “Humanity”, which we have seen a couple of times, but well worth another viewing. This time, we could not help noticing that the group was one male dancer short, but they worked around that, with their choreography.

MDR Menu;

 

[Alphen]

Glacier Bay

 

Arrived in Glacier Bay, cloudy with low hanging clouds, not much wind and light drizzle at the start of the day.

 

Daily Program;

 

 

The Park Rangers were picked up around 08:30 at Icy Strait and a little bit later, the bow opened up and naturally, there was the traditional split pea soup!

Every now and then, seals and otters popping up and possibly stellar sea lions, but well trained for the sound of a lens cap coming from a camera, to take a dive at that very moment! Hopefully they were caught on my video, which I hope to see at home.

Arriving at the first Glaciers, Reid and Lamplugh Glacier, things opened up with even some patches of blue sky and the Glacier even in a little bit of sunlight and so was John Hopkins Glacier.

 

After John Hopkins in Glacier Bay, we crossed paths with older sister Eurodam, when we were on our way to Margerie. In the distance, near Eurodam, we saw several spouts of a humpback, and with a huge telelens, somebody even saw a tail.

Last Glacier was Margerie, significantly colder and low clouds getting up there, but still a grand sight. Again, a little sun made its way to bring out the best view of the Glacier for us, we were so lucky!

In the afternoon, after leaving Margerie Glacier behind us, we got a very good presentation from Ranger Adam, one of the Park Rangers, about life under water in Glacier Bay, with humour and good information in one passionate package, not from paper, but all by the heart. This was followed by a native presentation, but we were also looking for our first happy hour. Life is full of choices, so we had to skip this one and go for a Mango Daiquiri from Marisa in the Ocean Bar.

MDR Menu;

During a very nice dinner, we could see the Park Rangers debark again. We were in time for the first show of the evening, the second show from the Step One Dance Company; “Tandem”. Tonight’s performance was with one of the BB King singers, as guest vocalist, the dancers were still with 5.

Tomorrow our first Alaskan cruise port, Skagway, where we will be docking at 07:00. Again a full day ahead of us with a 7,5 hour excursion combining the White Pass Rail with a hike.  
 

[Alphen]

On 6/13/2022 at 8:09 AM, RetiredMustang said:

 

Good news about the negative tests.  When/how did HAL handle them?  A non-working Verifly is annoying.  Did you have any issues doing the arriveCAN?  

 

Dave

Got our test in Anchorage, not done very professional, ArriveCAN no issues.

[Alphen]

On 6/13/2022 at 12:17 PM, quack2 said:

From personal experience, a non-working Verifly may be operator error.

Nope 

[Gray Lady]

We are doing the exact same cruise on the NA in two weeks. Being our first cruise ever, your pictures and information are SO helpful! Thank you!

[Sea42]

Monday at 12:30 - Sparkling Wine Art Auction??

I thought the art auctions were a thing of the past.

[Alphen]

Today Train and Hiking in Skagway 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Alphen

[LJProk]

On 6/13/2022 at 11:09 AM, RetiredMustang said:

 

Good news about the negative tests.  When/how did HAL handle them?  A non-working Verifly is annoying.  Did you have any issues doing the arriveCAN?  

 

Dave

They will help on the ship with ArriveCan. As for when HAL handled the covid tests for us it was in Denali. They give you a QR code to schedule a time for the test in the Main Lodge. Swab your nose and they send an email. Check your spam mail though, ours went to spam.