Holland America

[zeb1226]

We are first time cruisers and have tentatively booked a 14 day Alaska land/sea cruise in September with HAL. This is a southbound cruise.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions/thoughts on this or could suggest another ship/line for this same time of cruise?

Thanks!!:o

[jhannah]

Holland America has a strong presence in Alaska. Their ships are elegant, and their crews amazing. Another option is Princess. Since you're taking a cruisetour, note that Princess owns their own lodges and has dedicated rail service.

[Assateague Island Princes]

I'm sure you'll love it! We've sailed exclusively on HAL after friends got us hooked on our first Alaskan cruise in 2006. We loved it so much we went again last May 31st, and have just booked HAL's new 14-day itinerary in May of 2010 that sails to "new" ports of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Homer. We are soooo excited!! You will not be disappointed with HAL - the ships are refined and elegant, the crew is the best sailing the seas, and the beds....oh those beds!!! Best sleep I ever got was on the Oosterdam...and this from a menopausal woman who barely gets 5 hours of sleep each night on a GOOD night!! LOL! Enjoy, enjoy!!!:D

[Mscruisin]

We are first time cruisers and have tentatively booked a 14 day Alaska land/sea cruise in September with HAL. This is a southbound cruise.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions/thoughts on this or could suggest another ship/line for this same time of cruise?

Thanks!!:o

I did the Alaskan cruise last May with Princess. It was great! I just returned from the Panama Canal reposition cruise and I know HAL has a lot of issues with their ships right now. If it was me I would definately go with Princess hands down. HAL wasn't up to the standards I have experienced on my previous cruises with them. If you had of been a first time cruiser on the ship I just returned from you would have probably never cruised again.

[stevecmo]

Hi Zeb,

 

We booked a Holland cruisetour for June for our 40th anniversary. Then after doing lots of research we cancelled the tour portion and decided to do it on our own. That way we can go where WE want when WE want and stay as long as WE want. :) No waiting on the last person to get down to the bus so we can go to the next stop and leave when the bus driver / tour director says it's time.

 

I'm not knocking the cruisetour necessarily. It's just that after researching and really thinking about it, it made more sense to do it on our own. Probably not a big difference in price, just the freedom to do your own thing without being dependent on a "schedule" or a bus load of others. That would be great for some, we just decided it wasn't what we wanted.

 

We researched the places we wanted to see and booked our own accomodations and activities. You might want to look at CC's sister site Trip Advisor on the various Alaska forums, there is a ton of knowledge there and very helpful folks......just like here! :)

 

Hope this helps.

 

Steve

[Boytjie]

... and I know HAL has a lot of issues with their ships right now.

 

Care to elaborate?

[zeb1226]

Thank you for responding - lots of different things to think about now!!

[zeb1226]

Thank you for your insights - now to make some decisions!!

[eh2zed]

HAL and Princess have been in Alaska the longest and as a result have a big advantage on the use of naturalists and both have extensive land infrastructure including coaches, hotels, etc. Both lines are owned by Carnival Corp. which markets HAL at a half to one star above Princess. This difference may or may not be recognized by you depending on what features, etc are important to you. HAL's ships are generally smaller and the experience a bit more traditional. Again it depends on you mostly as to what preferences you would identify between the two. You really can't go wrong with either in Alaska.

[zeb1226]

I apologize as I am unsure how to actually reply to any or all of you who so kindly responded to my question. Any direction would be greatly appreciated!!1

 

thank you all for sharing your experiences ;)

[lazey1]

Our first cruise was a 10 day cruise/tour in Alaska back in 1989. We have been hooked on cruising with HAL line ever sense. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did ours. (Be sure to try the bread pudding)

 

I am very definitely not current but here are a few of the highlights of our trip.

 

1 day in Denali National park, we saw the entire mountain and saw bear, doll sheep, eagles, moose and more.

 

Going up to Tanana river in a paddle boat out of Fairbanks where we saw sled dog training facility and an Eskimo/Indian fishing lodge.

 

Riding the narrow gage railroad down the Chilcoot Trail.

 

Seeing the Mendenhall glacier.

 

In Sitka seeing the Russian folkloric dancing and the Russian church. Also the raptor center with the Bald Eagles.

[Mscruisin]

Care to elaborate?

On our recent cruise engines broke down and we sat dead in the water for a few hours, backed up toilets, reoccurring floods in rooms and hallways, nororvirus on ship, lack of staff(entertainers served us food in the Lido), construction zone on ship after drydock, terrible dining room service, dirty windows and decks, air conditioning problems, dirty pool and hot tubs and the list goes on and on. After researching the Veendam on our return I see they have had ongoing problems with their engines and with Noro Virus. Worst cruise I've ever been on. From reading reviews on here about other cruisers on HAL ships it appears that things aren't the same as they used to be.

[lmt1022]

Stevecmo -

Would you share your itinerary and how you booked your itinerary? Where you stayed and what you did? I am looking at booking on my own instead of doing the cruisetour.

 

Thank you.

Lynda

[PopPop3]

On our recent cruise engines broke down and we sat dead in the water for a few hours, backed up toilets, reoccurring floods in rooms and hallways, nororvirus on ship, lack of staff(entertainers served us food in the Lido), construction zone on ship after drydock, terrible dining room service, dirty windows and decks, air conditioning problems, dirty pool and hot tubs and the list goes on and on. After researching the Veendam on our return I see they have had ongoing problems with their engines and with Noro Virus. Worst cruise I've ever been on. From reading reviews on here about other cruisers on HAL ships it appears that things aren't the same as they used to be.

 

WOW, all on one cruise?

[RevNeal]

On our recent cruise engines broke down and we sat dead in the water for a few hours, backed up toilets, reoccurring floods in rooms and hallways, nororvirus on ship, lack of staff(entertainers served us food in the Lido), construction zone on ship after drydock, terrible dining room service, dirty windows and decks, air conditioning problems, dirty pool and hot tubs and the list goes on and on. After researching the Veendam on our return I see they have had ongoing problems with their engines and with Noro Virus. Worst cruise I've ever been on. From reading reviews on here about other cruisers on HAL ships it appears that things aren't the same as they used to be.

 

:eek:

With all that, they didn't make you row the ship, too??

I don't intend to make light of what you describe, but wow!

It's not reflective of the Fleet. Just off the Ryndam and the Amsterdam in May and both ships were lovely. The only time I saw entertainers "serving food" was in the Master Chef Disaster, and there it was just the "show."

[InTheWASide]

On our recent cruise engines broke down and we sat dead in the water for a few hours, backed up toilets, reoccurring floods in rooms and hallways, nororvirus on ship, lack of staff(entertainers served us food in the Lido), construction zone on ship after drydock, terrible dining room service, dirty windows and decks, air conditioning problems, dirty pool and hot tubs and the list goes on and on. After researching the Veendam on our return I see they have had ongoing problems with their engines and with Noro Virus. Worst cruise I've ever been on.

 

Appears that this person was on the Veendam right after drydock and what they experienced was a rougher than usual post-drydock cruise... We've all already heard about it...

 

What they forget to mention is that they were either given a 20% refund or 30% future credit for the difficulties...

 

From reading reviews on here about other cruisers on HAL ships it appears that things aren't the same as they used to be.

Please tell me you aren't referring to the fact that there are no more *gasp* trays which has been beat to death, smoking policy is rather restrictive although allowed in reasonable places like one's own room or outside, or the issues with "The Retreat" vs. a standard second pool.

 

Wow... things change... welcome to Earth. :rolleyes:

[Tarheel72]

Stevecmo -

Would you share your itinerary and how you booked your itinerary? Where you stayed and what you did? I am looking at booking on my own instead of doing the cruisetour.

 

Thank you.

Lynda

 

Lynda, we just returned from Alaska and made all of our own pre cruise tour arrangements. You can read details and my review here:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=55822.

[pspercy]

Yes, dress codes and manners have taken a big dive. I'm not overly formal - I'd wear a suit or dark blazer etc on formal nights, for example but some people are just slobs.

 

Last year my wife & I were in a high end steak-house in Maui for our birthdays and people came in in tank tops & swimming trunks etc, obviously been in them all day - and got seated without any comment.

 

Guess I'd better put on my "flame" suit pdq :)