Peggy Sue's HAL Zaandam Alaska Cruise -  May 2005

5/28 - 6/4 Alaska Inside Passage

We just returned from a wonderful Alaskan inside passage cruise on the Zaandam. With the exception of a few short hours of rain one morning in Juneau (liquid sunshine) we enjoyed sunny days and vivid bright blue skies. If a single word could sum up our view of Alaska it would be INSPIRATIONAL. A host of others come to mind too .. like amazing, beautiful, breath taking, awesome .. but for me personally, experiencing Alaska was a spiritual journey ...one that treated the senses of sight, sound and smell to daily delights.

My dad, 75, joined us on this journey. It has always been one of his dreams to see Alaska and we thought this would be a great way to celebrate his 75th year. He enjoyed every minute of this experience.

The Zaandam provided every comfort we could possibly want for this journey. We shared an S suite, just a few steps from the concierge lounge. My dad became fast friends with the stewards and hosts - enjoying the coffee station and all the wonderful treats in the afternoon. He doesn't indulge in many sweets ..but he really enjoyed an afternoon chocolate or two. The suite was very comfortable for the 3 of us. We had an egg crate put on the sofa bed, and my dad said the bed was "OK" and certainly something he could easily survive for 7 nights. Having the dressing room off the bath provided plenty of privacy for everyone, and we certainly put the verandah to good use every day. We folded up the bed every morning and our steward made it up every evening when we went to dinner. The egg crate wouldn't fold up with the couch, so it had to be removed and replaced daily, but it easily rolled up and fit in the closet beside the door. There was plenty of drawer and closet space for our clothing, which included jackets, etc. Our suite was in excellent condition, and our steward was a delight. (and yes, we received a new towel animal every evening .. they were all adorable ... we dismantled them every evening and put the towels in the bath ... you really couldn't move them anywhere ..but we did enjoy them and the few minutes of guessing exactly what the creature was)

We were on the Volendam last November and we found the service to be a bit rushed and not as personable as we had experienced on our previous HAL cruise. We also noted the staff seemed to be a bit disgruntled and over worked in the dining room and the number of cabins assigned for cleaning etc. We were very glad to find the staff on board the Zaandam appeared to be quite content and happy and we received excellent service from all we encountered - delivered with beautiful smiles and a little time to stop and chat and get to know a little about them and their home/family.

The Zaandam has gone through the SOE program. We really enjoyed the new explorations café -- it was a great spot to sit and relax, listen to music, read, use the Internet, etc. Very relaxing atmosphere - This make over receives an A+. I singed up for one of the culinary classes, however I guess they didn't meet the necessary minimum of students, because the class was canceled. I was disappointed, as I didn't have an opportunity to attend any of the culinary demonstrations. I did see the demo kitchen and it looked quite nice. Oh well, yet another reason to book another cruise with HAL.

We enjoyed dinner in the Pinnacle two evenings - Service was outstanding and all of our selections were delicious. My husband loves the porterhouse - my dad and I created our own version of surf and turf .. we ordered the filet and cedar plank shrimp - both were excellent.

The dining room was also very good. We didn't see meat loaf on any dinner menu .. however we didn't eat many lunches in the lido..so maybe it showed up there one afternoon.. They did have "Dutch" night one evening .. complete with the hats .. but I didn't see any sole on the menu. We had an amazing waiter from Bali .. he was so energetic and flamboyant .. Our assistant waiter, wine steward and dining room captain (not sure if that's the correct title?) were all very efficient and friendly. The second formal night featured surf and turf .. lobster tail and a 3-4 oz filet ... it was very good! Dad and David had no problem requesting and receiving another lobster tail ... it came out as a complete dinner again ... After a long day in port we decided to eat in the lido as we really didn't feel like getting dressed for dinner. We enjoyed an excellent meal and service .. We all opted for the prime rib, which was tender and tasty. They were serving Alaskan ale .. Cold and delicious .. Every night the dining room menu also featured two salmon dishes. The menu did not state you could order broiled chicken or steak any evening..it did state you could order a baked potato with any meal. The lido also gets high marks for breakfast .. all items were hot and delicious .. and the fresh ham was very good. We enjoyed breakfast one morning in the kings room .. Although I think we enjoyed the lido breakfast better than the dining room offerings. There were several other suite passengers dining there as well.

We received an invitation to the suite welcome aboard party .. This was held at 11:30 AM on our second day on board in the concierge lounge. The lounge was very crowded, so we said our hellos, enjoyed a drink and left after 15 minutes. We also attended another cocktail party in the Explorers Lounge. They had closed the fire door between the piano bar and the Explorers Lounge and put a sign out stating private party. We asked the assistant cruise director what the event was all about and we were advised suite passengers were invited along with all the new guests getting on in Skagway because they did not have the opportunity to attend the Captains gala welcome aboard held the second evening. Our captain also left the ship in Skagway and a new one joined our voyage. (Their names escape me) The cruise director introduced all of the various ship staff/officers at the cocktail party. We also attended the suite luncheon on the last day of the cruise. It was held in the dining room and the staff from the pinnacle prepared and presented the food. Beef Tenderloin was served along with a lot of other delights. It was a very pleasant lunch.

Dress .. I had heard the Alaskan cruises were more casual in nature and based upon our experience last week we found this to be true. David and Dad wore suits on the 2 formal and 1 informal nights (to avoid having to pack yet again another jacket .. I'm all for eliminating informal nights .. I don't see the point???) We saw a few tuxes but suits were in the majority .. just the opposite of our 2 Caribbean HAL experiences. We also observed a few men without jackets, or some with no ties, etc. all were allowed in the dining room. Women seemed to also be less formal .. a lot of simple black dresses .. not many fancy cocktail dresses. We also noted a lot of people skipped the first formal night as the dining room was missing about 1/3 of the people. However, on the second formal night all appeared to be present ... after all, it was lobster night!!

Ports of call - Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan - we enjoyed them all .. one observation..very disappointed to find all the jewelry stores from the Caribbean have taken up residence in Alaska .. why?? The ship was promoting these stores just as they do in the Caribbean ... They were all there diamonds international, tanzanite international, little Switzerland ... etc., etc..... Kind of took away some of the quaint charm of these ports ... also found the hordes of people overwhelming. Skagway has 800 full time residents ... there were 4 ships in port..... We enjoyed the tours we took in Juneau and Ketchikan. We did the rail tour in Skagway .. it was good, but could have been an hour or so shorter. 4 hours on the train was a bit much.

We were scheduled to visit Tracy's arm, but the captain canceled this destination due to the pilots not being able to see to buoy markers (it was the morning of rain) we understand the zaandam had to cancel this on the first two cruises of the season as well. (we were the third cruise of the season) We were sorry we missed Tracy's arm but certainly understood the captains decision to cancel.

The highlight of our cruise was our visit to Glacier Bay National Park .. our cabin was located port side and we had fantastic views of the glaciers from our verandah. We turned up the speakers in our suite and opened up the verandah door so we could hear and enjoy the park ranger narration. It was a fantastic day! The sun was shining and the beautiful snow capped mountains shimmered against the vivid blue sky. The glaciers were amazing and we witnessed a small amount of calving .. the water was like glass and the zaandam glided effortlessly through the bay. The park rangers were excellent and shared a lot of interesting facts about the area and the glaciers. We didn't see much wildlife .. lots of sea birds, a few whale sightings from afar .. but no bears or seals .. however we were quite content with the sheer beauty of this national park.

We only attended one show .. one of the juggler acts. He was good, but honestly was just like the juggler acts we seen before.

Casino - Amazingly there was very little smoke in the casino and we were able to enjoy a few hands of black jack each evening. Normally we find the casino air blue with smoke and avoid the place .. so this was a very pleasant surprise!

On the subject of smoking .. we boarded the ship at 11:30 am. We were shown to the Neptune lounge and we took a peek inside our stateroom .. it hadn't been cleaned yet, but we did notice a couple of empty cigarette boxes left in the room .. Happy to report the room had absolutely no traces of smoke smell at all! During our entire cruise we really only encountered smoke once and that was on our verandah ... I don't think the person smoking was staying in the next stateroom, as we only smelled smoke that one time.

We enjoyed every minute of our cruise above the Zaandam ... The only down side is the long flights from the east to west coasts!

Peggy
 

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