Jet lag is no excuse to not rattle off a traditional post listing some of the highlights and lowlights of a cruise, especially since we all know it’s going to take me the best part of a year if we’re lucky before I start any write-ups of said cruise and I am definitely going to want to refer to notes when I do so.
We are back from quite the adventure. A week last Friday we loaded the car with suitcases and drove up to London where we stayed in a budget (for London) hotel near Heathrow. At four in the morning on the Saturday our alarm went off to start a period of around twenty eight hours of being awake as we first flew to Paris, then connected for a flight to Vancouver. For me, that marked the first time I’d set foot on Canadian soil (well, tarmac) and it was a brief visit because we were whisked from the airport on a bus to the cruise port where we strolled through the check-in and border process with barely a pause and onto the Koningsdam, a cruise ship of the Holland America Line fleet, and the start of our first experience cruising with them. And from there? Well, it was only a week aboard to see whether all the fuss about an Alaskan cruise was justified!
As you might expect if you’ve visited this site before, the full, in-depth travelogues will go into much more detail and will overwhelm your senses with photographs to the point where you’re begging me to stop posting them. For the love of God, Mark, why did you take thirty one photos of the same bit of mountain!? For now, though, a summary of elements of the cruise with Holland America that the blurb on the back cover of the book of the summary would read “Not as brief as you’re hoping from the word ‘summary’.”
Flights To And From Canada
We had a number of reservations about flying with Air France on the way to Canada. Firstly, the most uncomfortable flight we’ve ever had was with Air France when our backsides barely survived the eleven or so hours sitting on a thin board of MDF masquerading as a plane seat from London to Buenos Aires in 2016. Secondly, the worst food we’ve ever had on a flight was on that same Air France flight where we still don’t know to this day what we were served. Eggs? Potatoes? Some sort of cake? A sealant can exploded on the tray? Thirdly, connecting flights with short layover times worry us ever since we did the London to Madrid to Santiago trek in 2019 but our cases went on their own little adventure. Fourthly, France. It’s got air traffic control operators with a cavalier attitude towards working. But actually, the Air France flight was good, the staff were pleasant, the seats were comfy, the food was decent, and all our bags turned up in Vancouver with us, so well done Air France.
Flying back from Vancouver we had a direct flight with Air Canada which wasn’t terrible by any stretch, but everything felt a little more cramped on the plane and the food was a little more basic with elements of it breaking the boundaries of science in the field of dryness.
Embarkation And Disembarkation
Embarkation was an absolute breeze. Our flights and transfers were arranged through Holland America so we were met at the airport and, along with passengers arriving for Princess Cruises and their similar cruise to Alaska on Grand Princess, were taken to the port by bus. We’d heard some tales of long queues and wait times and scenes of mild chaos at Vancouver’s cruise port but we stepped off the bus at around half past one in the afternoon and were in our room about fifteen minutes later.
Disembarkation was more tortuous. A strike at the port meant the majority of us were asked to take our own luggage off the ship. When we did get off the ship and find our disembarkation tour group we then had a forty minute wait before our bus turned up in the port, which was actually handy in one way since we’d had a thirty five minute wait before the final two passengers due on our tour also turned up.
Holland America Line Koningsdam
A first time with HAL, a first time on Koningsdam, a first time on this class of cruise ship.
We had some issues with our cabin, although nothing major:
- The toilet was angled in such a way and positioned so close to the shower unit glass that it was impossible to sit down and use it in any way other than riding it side-saddle or doing the splits. I’ve never been able to do the splits. If the cabin bathroom was tested using someone with no legs then I applaud Holland America for embracing accessibility issues but use of a leg-endowed test customer too would have avoided this problem.
- The night light that came on when the motion sensor detected movement could have done with something less suited to a lighthouse. It was arguably no less bright than simply opening up the bathroom door and switching that light on. Moreover, the motion sensor was angled towards the near side of the bed and the end of the bed for anyone approaching from those directions. Lovely. But coming back from the bathroom, the light was off, but your night vision was shot to pieces because of its initial glare so walking into the end of the bed before the room lit up to shout “There you are! That’s what you cracked your shin against!” became a regular risk.
- Speaking of walking into things: the coffee table in our room was just awful. Too big to avoid. Too heavy to move easily. Too small to be useful. It and my knee became best friends.
- The room vibrated a lot. To be clear, we were in room 7031 so that’s starboard side (the best side for people with wives who get confused with directions and like some familiarity when they’re cruising) and towards the front of the ship. The vibration was not therefore from the wake of the propellers, but from some general shuddering that the ship was subjected to in this forward part of the ship. The vibration wasn’t large and was mostly only noticeable in bed at night where you could imagine you’d checked into a sleazy motel in some American movie and fed a few dimes into a machine at the side of the bed, but it was pretty constant.
However, the balcony was a great size; the robes and blankets and umbrella were lovely to have; the shower was lovely and large; the bed was the best bed we’ve slept in even including its built-in vibration function. Sorry, Princess.
The ship was remarkably easy to become familiar with in terms of its layout. It lacked an impressive atrium but the Music Walk area was great, and it was nice that you could effectively split the ship in two on deck two and know that all the music venues were at the front, and most of the food venues were at the rear. Drinks range and quality was right up there with the best of the lines we’ve cruised with, and the same can be said of the food in the main dining room. The speciality dining we tried, however, didn’t excel in the same way, and the service on those two occasions was rushed and perfunctory. Service in general, though, was excellent and the staff were friendly and engaging.
Entertainment was mixed to say the least. We don’t do shows so can’t comment there, but the music that went on in the Music Walk ranged from the pretty dire to the unbelievably awesome. One big problem with the music was that it was in that area, and only in that area. There were no other spots around the ship to get to some music and we felt it lacked some locations for some classical trios, a jazz quartet, even a busker to pop up every now and then. The main music options were either a blues band (appalling), a pair of duelling pianists (mediocre at absolute best), and rock band (oh my giddy aunt, how good were they!?) I don’t take a lot of video, but I took a lot of video of the band in the Rolling Stone Rock Room because I have never seen a more engaging, more fun, more talented bunch of musicians. I’ll be talking about them for years to come. But the biggest problem with the entertainment was that it stopped early. Like, “you’re a teenager living in my house and when you get your own house you can stay up as late as you like but until then you’ll go to bed when I tell you” early. What the hell, Holland America?
Alaska
Juneau
At Juneau we started with a nose around town (they had a Diamonds International store!) and a quick visit to a brewery for a drink. We then met up for our organised excursion that began with a walk around the Mendenhall Glacier area complete with talks about moss, lichens, moss, the glacier, moss, porcupines, and moss. We had low cloud and not great visibility of the glacier but the walk was good and our guide was great. Then we boarded a small boat with a wonderful captain and headed off to see some whales. And we saw some whales. Lots and lots of whales. Bubble-net feeding was taking place at a safe distance, which was already far more than we’d expected to see on this trip, and one whale “pooped” (in the excited words of our captain, who then proceeded to boast about it to all the other captains in their group chat) but then a school of whales decided to pass in front of our boat less no more than twenty metres away. It was all extraordinary. Add to that the porcupine up the tree, the dozen or so bald eagles, and the sea lions, this ticked off a lot of nature for us.
Skagway
Our tour at Skagway began with a drive to the Canadian border which we eventually crossed in order to board the narrow gauge White Pass train (that had been waiting for us). We travelled back towards town through some gorgeous landscapes, then headed off to a place called Liarsville for a short show, some gold-panning, and a salmon bake meal. But mostly we’ll remember the flies and mosquitos. All those flies. All those mosquitos. More flies than we’d seen in the Suez Canal. More bites. Our final part of the tour was to the Red Onion Saloon and a visit to the brothel museum on the first floor. Entertaining, interesting, but too short a time there for the size of group we were. Free time in Skagway meant we could explore the shops (they had a Diamonds International store!) and visit the two breweries.
Glacier Bay
This was a scenic cruising day which started off a little grey and drizzly, but no less interesting in terms of sights of the fjords and glaciers we passed by. The fjords don’t quite have that close, imposing feel of Norway but they’re still spectacular. However, the glaciers visible from the ship make up for that, and by the time we reached the main one, Margerie Glacier, the sun was peeking through patches of blue sky to illuminate the ice wall and allow us to see a chunk of it calving into the water. See it, yes. Capture it on camera, no. Still an unbelievable spectacle.
Ketchikan
We had to tender off the ship here for our short tour, but getting back only required use of our feet because we’d developed the power of levitation ashore. That’s a lie, of course. We’ve always had the power of levitation but we just choose not to use it. The ship, however, had docked in the afternoon. Our tour was a brief one on an old bus riding around the town with the guide pointing out some highlights. We stopped at the Saxman Totem Park to hear about the meanings of the poles and their methods of construction and colouring (yes, the way you think they make yellow is the way they actually make yellow) and were then dropped off at one end of the colourful, historic Creek Street to do our own thing. We were distracted here for some time as a seal was eating a salmon it had caught in the creek. After a look at those shops we headed off to the town’s small brewery (surprise!) where several drinks were had, a t-shirt was bought, a chat with a couple of locals was enjoyed, and a talk with and purchase of a book by a local teacher was made. We finished with a wander through the less interesting part of town (they had a Diamonds International store!) before heading back to the ship for the last time.
Alaska Cruise On HAL’s Koningsdam
For a week’s cruise, we certainly packed in a lot of firsts and incredible sightings off the ship. Whales close up and bubble-net feeding, bald eagles, porcupines up trees, sea lions, seals, sea otters, red and grey (well, black) squirrels, porpoises, salmon leaping. The flies and mosquitos we could’ve done without. Four glaciers. Or was it five? A glacier calving! Totems, brothels, a train ride through mountain passes. Moss facts! Breweries, breweries, breweries.
On the ship we were treated to wonderful service in great surroundings, got to witness some of the finest musicians rocking out almost every night, and we even spent that time in the great company of our friends Paul and Carole which made everything even better. We had an absolute blast with them, not for the first time, and I would be willing to bet not for the last either.
So yes, we loved our cruise to Alaska with Holland America on Koningsdam, and one of these years you may even get to read about it on this site in detail.