The album is available under ‘Photos’ or by clicking here. Enjoy!

Our first event was the “disembarkation” lecture / crew farewell at 10am. I have to say, the crew on this ship really has been remarkable. The service, as one would expect, has been very good. But, I think the crew really went above and beyond dealing with the (potential) health issues. We witnessed them constantly scrubbing, cleaning, and disinfecting the ship from bow to stern. We found the ship’s musicians serving salad in the Lido, and crew members from the spa dishing out breakfast in the morning. Up late at night (or early in the morning), you’d literally witness the crew disinfecting nearly every hard surface on the ship. So, despite the slight inconveniences to us, the ms Veendam deserves accolades for keeping us healthy!

At 11am, we attended the second culinary demonstration by the James Beard Award-winning guest chef, Donald Link. He made a couple of classic Cajun dishes, which we were finally able to sample. They were excellent. I’m going to make a point of ordering his book, Real Cajun. And, next time I’m in New Orleans, I plan to visit one of his establishments.

Here’s a photo of the Veendam’s impressive culinary arts center:

For lunch, we went to the Terrace Grill and enjoyed (for the first time) their Mexican buffet (closed to do “code red” previously). The food was pretty good (though certainly not great by standards), but it really hit the spot for us. Of course, I’ve pretty much never met a plate of tacos or nachos that I didn’t like at least well enough.

We spent the afternoon reading, relaxing, and watching the scenery go by… we actually saw a few killer whales today off the stern of the ship. I took a few pictures, but alas they’re less impressive than my mediocre humpback whale snapshots. The weather remained overcast and misty for much of the day, making the scenery a little more romantic and mysterious (though also more difficult to see).

Here’s a photo of the Inside Passage:

After working on packing, we ate dinner in the Lido, which was good in terms of quality and had the added benefit of being returned to more of a self-service establishment. We also stopped down to listen to Adagio Strings (the ship’s string quartet) play this evening… they’re some of the best entertainment we’ve ever experienced on a cruise. They play proper chamber music, and they play it well. Bravo!

Finally, we went to the ship’s show lounge tonight to see if this performance, Live from the Stardust Lounge: The Best of Classic Las Vegas, would be better than last evening’s (minor) train wreck. It turned it was. The male vocal leads on the Veendam were very strong; the female vocalists we less so. At least the performance was redemptive from last evening’s attempt.

This will probably be my last post until we return to Tampa. We fly out of Vancouver in the morning and will arrive in Tampa late Sunday night. Upon returning home, I will post a complete review of the cruise, related literature from the ship, and pictures.

We then visited Sheryll (who’s exceedingly friendly and very helpful), the future cruise consultant here on the Veendam. We signed up for the future cruise promotion, which for $100 per person allows you to book and hold basically any available cruise within the next four years. In addition, we’ll get some of this money back in the form of future onboard credit ($70/pp.), and we got a “thank you” bottle of champagne (bonus for me) delivered to our stateroom on this cruise. At the moment, we’re signed up for a 7-day cruise next summer (July 7) on the inaugural sailing of the ms Nieuw Amsterdam. Will it happen? I don’t know. The price isn’t great… actually, it’s downright awful compared to our current insanely cheap cruise ($114/pp per day vs. $292/pp per day!). I’m also not sure that we’ll want to leave the baby that soon (as sailing with him/her won’t be an option that early either). That said, we have the flexibility to move this deposit to any other sailing… including ones that are closer to home, at different times, and which might be better price performers. The upside is that the cruise (if combined with a quick couple of extra days on land), might allow us to knock out 6-7 new countries in as little as 12 days. That makes the cost per country fairly good. So, we’ll see. In any case, I’m always happier to come home from a vacation with some sense of the next trip well in mind.

Anyway, back to today… we spotted a few humpback whales from the balcony of our cabin this morning. The photos aren’t too exciting, but it was nice to have had this wildlife experience.

We enjoyed another lovely lunch in the Pinnacle Grill. (Note: this time Libby went for something more exotic: a Thai-inspired version of shrimp and crab cakes, which were excellent).

We docked in Ketchikan on schedule. Since we had nothing planned for the day, we hung around the ship for a bit and waited for any crowds to disperse. Ketchikan is also a very busy (and rather touristy) port. As we were arriving, NCL’s Pearl was departing. In port with us were the Carnival Spirit and Celebrity Mercury.

We didn’t do too much in Ketchikan. We sort of wandered around the downtown area and window shopped (mostly trinkets and trash, plus jewelery of indeterminable quality and value). We did stop into the Wells Fargo to exchange some money (as I thought I might need Canadian dollars for the ride to the airport in Vancouver). We also visited the very nice and informative Southeast Alaska Discovery Center ($5/pp – worthy of the modest price). All told, we probably sent 2-3 hours in Ketchikan. If we return, we’ll make a point of doing something “more outdoorsy.” But, as it happened, this was alright, because it started to rain on the way back to the ship.

Here’s a photo of Ketchikan from our balcony on the ship:

We had dinner tonight in the Lido. The overall quality in the buffet is higher but the selection more limited than on other cruise lines (NCL and RCI specifically). The hours also seem strangely limited and/or out of sync with some of the day’s activities (for example, the ship departs tonight at 8:30 but the Lido closes at 8:00 – though luck for those who’ve tried to make the most of their day in port I suppose). On balance, I don’t think I like the buffet operation as much on HAL… but maybe this is a function of the itinerary and ship rather than a more systemic shortcoming??? I just don’t have enough data points to know.

We also attended our first entertainment performance aboard the ship tonight. I’m not sure why it took us so long, especially as we attended nearly everything aboard the Brilliance of the Seas earlier this year. I suspect it’s just related to that “rhythm of the cruise” thing I wrote of earlier (and perhaps also due to the effect of the four hour time different, which encouraged early bed times for us from the East coast). Anyway, the show,Encore – A Night at the Symphony, was alright… though neither especially symphony-like nor inspiring of any desire for an encore. Thankfully, the ship has mostly “mature” passengers, who statistically speaking are more likely to be either hard of hearing or simply downright senile. This was one of those rare occasions upon which having such conditions would actually be desirable. Enough said on this topic. (Although, as an aside, it’s a shame because the strings section of the Veendam orchestra can really play chamber music exceedingly well. I’ve heard them as a quartet on many evenings while updating the blog in the Explorations Cafe, and I’ve always been impressed.)

Tomorrow is our final day aboard the ms Veendam – a (hopefully) relaxing and leisurely day at sea.

So, once again, make my day and ask away!

Our day began with the Juneau Highlights, Mendenhall Glacier, and Salmon Hatchery tour ($44/pp.). We boarded our bus for the short drive to the glacier. En route, we witnessed nearly a dozen bald eagles along the Gastineau Channel. Upon arrival at the glacier, I was also able to briefly spot one of the resident black bear cubs. Having seen a number of glaciers on this trip, the Mendenhall (which is nice) lost some of its impact. Nonetheless, the visit was pleasant and the information center informative.

Here’s a photo of Mendenhall Glacier:

On the way back to town, we stopped at the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. This was a brief but informative visit that highlighted the “reproductive assistance” provided to all five kinds of salmon (to the tune of millions of fish) that helps to ensure a thriving and ongoing population of wild salmon. From the casual visitor’s perspective, the most impressive element was watching the salmon—who’d returned to their place of origin after 1-7 years at sea—attempting to swim “upstream” through the hatchery’s 450-foot long ladder.

As for downtown Juneau, I don’t really have a lot to favorably report. The area around the dock is very touristy… and, I generally hate tourists and “touristy” things. (Yes, I know there’s an irony in that… especially as I’m one of the thousands disembarking from a cruise ship). As it happened, there were four other (larger) cruise ships in port today: RCI’s Serenade of the Seas (sister ship to Brilliance of the Seas on which we traveled to Egypt), Princess’s Sea Princess and Island Princess (which we’d considered for a Panama Canal visit), and Celebrity’s Mercury. Like with airplane models, I’m also a bit of a cruise ship geek. So, this was fun for me.

Anyway, back to Juneau, the downtown area near the pier has a lot of the same shops as you’d find in cruise ports in the Caribbean. And, I do mean, literally, the same: Diamonds International, Venetian Jewelers, Del Sol, and so forth. You might as well have been in the Bahamas. Interspersed were the usual trinkets and trash shops for “Harry Otter” t-shirts and what not. Two thumbs down!

We had lunch as the well-reviewed Twisted Fish Company restaurant. This was pretty decent. We started with salmon crochettes (very good).Libby also has the clam chowder (excellent). For my main course, I enjoyed an Alaskan king crab “burger” (note: king crab at my mother’s suggestion – she was right, fresh king crab is excellent), while Libby enjoyed her rockfish and chips.

Back aboard the Veendam, we enjoyed an afternoon nap, which we followed up by pouring over cruise brochures to discuss where we might travel next (perhaps we could bring the baby to the Black Sea next year?). We’re both clearly naïve and/or just downright crazy. But, what the heck, I might book the trip anyway! After all, the kid has to start traveling sometime. (As an aside, we heard today of a passenger who’s spent more than 2000 days at sea with Holland America, as well as a couple who sold their home and most of their possessions to now, effectively, “live” on Holland America cruises ships. I don’t know what to make of such people: completely nuts or kindred spirits? I suppose time will tell.).

Tonight, we had room service for dinner, which was pretty good actually. We skipped the main dining room (formal night, again) and the Lido (limited menu and crowded seating as one side was reserved for officers and crew???… not to mention ongoing “no self-service” rules). The Lido buffet is a huge disappointment compared to other cruises.

All in all, a fine but unremarkable day.

We booked the Alaskan Wildlife Experience Tour ($119/pp), which departed at 8:30 in the morning. The tour involved a 45-minute drive out along the picturesque Haines Highway. Our “unofficial tour guide”and bus driver, Suzanne (a full-time Haines resident transplanted from central Ohio three years ago) provided an interesting narrative about life in small town Alaska.

Here are a few highlights that I recall:

Aside from a few stores in Haines, significant shopping for provisions (called the “Costco Run”) must be done nearly 4.5 hours away (one way) in Juneau via a ferry.

The local school (K-12) has 224 students. The school’s curriculum (starting at age 5) includes winter weather and cold water survival skills (provided by the US Coast Guard). Students participating in competitive sports must travel to matches via either airplane or ferry (which can take days and thus a teacher is sent along).

Haines does have decent medical care for such a small town: at least four physicians, two dentists, a well-equipped 24-hour medical center, a pharmacy, nurses, a physical therapist, a chiropractor, some herbal medicine practitioners , and the local shaman of the Tlingit tribe. Visits to specialists of the need for more invasive treatment requires travel to Juneau or beyond (Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Seattle).

If the medical systems fails to save you (or you’re simply mauled by a bear), it’s your family’s responsibility to take your body to Juneau for embalming (likely in combination with a “Costco Run). Think: Aunt Edna in National Lampoon’s Vacation. Alternatively, the local Ace Hardware will construct a simple pine box for your dearly departed to be buried year round in the town cemetary (graves opened with dynamite blasts). Conveniently, Ace also sells body bags (useful for the aforementioned trip to Juneau with the dearly departed in the bed of your pickup truck).

After Suzanne’s insightful commentary, we arrived at the Kroschel Films Wildlife and Education Center. Steve Kroschel’s center provides an important resource for the care of wounded and orphaned wild animals, as well as an opportunity for visitors to learn firsthand about Alaska’s wildlife. We witnessed, touched, and/or fed all kinds of animals during our two hour visit, from the tiny arctic lemming to the brown (grizzly) bear. Here are a few pictures:

We returned to Haines via the same route with more commentary provided by Suzanne.

Upon arriving back at the ship, we ate lunch in the Pinnacle Grill. This is the Veendam’s upscale, specialty restaurant ($10/pp. surcharge for lunch). It was simply excellent! Libby started with a shrimp bruschetta, and I enjoyed a warm scallop “crème brulee.” We both followed this with a delectable “five onion soup.” My main course consisted of a blue cheese crusted beef tenderloin, while the culinary adventurous Libby opted for the “Pinnacle Burger” [I’m rolling my eyes while I type this].

We spent a leisurely afternoon in Haines and enjoyed a brief nap. The meal in the main dining room was also good this evening. It was the “Celebration of Alaska” dinner. We both started with the Yukon Gold potato vichyssoise. I also had the Alaskan seafood sampler appetizer, including different preparations of salmon, shrimp, clams, and crab. For main dishes, I opted for the Alaskan King Crab Cobb Salad (very enjoyable), and Libby had some sort of roasted hen with stuffing (clearly less memorable).

All in all, today’s been a great day on the cruise!

At 10:30, we attended Ranger David’s talk about the wildlife and ecosystems of the park. It was, more or less, a “circle of life” / “everything is interconnected” speech. But, I have to say, he was a very polished presenter and the talk was captivating. Indeed, it was the single best presentation that I’ve seen on a cruise ship. Ranger David’s presentation was followed by that of a cultural interpreter from the Tlingit tribe of native people, who view Glacier Bay as their spiritual homeland. Alice’s discussion was also interesting and provided a personal narrative of the area’s people. All in all, this was another example of successful education / enrichment from HAL.

Unfortunately, the scenery today was far less fulfilling. It seems that a number of wildfires in both Alaska and Canada have resulted in very hazy skies. This obscured much of the majestic scenery, having painted the landscape in an ethereal fog. I’m afraid this might portend a fairly lackluster experience along the rest of the Inside Passage, but we’ll have to wait to see. In any case, we did get within a quarter of a mile of Margerie Glacier (which is tidal glacier of nearly a mile wide and over two hundred and fifty feet tall). Here we stood for about an hour, eating an excellent Dutch pea soup (served on the deck), waiting to see calving (which we saw, though modest in scope).

Here’s a picture of Margerie Glacier:

While leaving the glacier, we passed another HAL vessel, the ms Eurodam Westerdam. We last saw the Eurodam Westerdam in Southampton, England, prior to her maiden voyage in the summer of 2008 the Bahamas during December, 2007.

Next, we moved on to Lamplugh Glacier, which impressively displayed a river of water rushing from deep within the glacier. Here’s a photo of the glacier and its feature:

Overall, Glacier Bay National Park was enjoyable but not spectacular due to the atmospheric conditions. It seems that weather in Alaska is always variable and rarely favorable. Thus, I think we’re doing pretty well on balance.

Now for your Sea Day Q&A answers…

What can you tell me about the aft verandah suites, especially #226?

As you probably know, #226 is two doors down for us. It’s one of the new cabins recently added during the ship’s renovations in dry dock. I believe it’s nearly identical to most of the other cabins in its class, though the balcony may be a bit larger and it’s obviously brand new.

A few other details: it has ample storage space, a full-size couch and chair, an abundance of pillows (firm, medium, and soft), the bathroom is pretty much standard cruise ship size (though this has a smallish whirlpool tub, which would be great if you’re less than 4’5” tall or like to bath while sitting in the lotus position). The decor is contemporary with a neutral color scheme and nicely veneered maple wood surfaces.

The little details are nice: two wool blankets in lieu of beach towels, access to a library of DVD movies, phone-based concierge for reservations, a coffee table that is height-adjustable, and fresh fruit / flowers. I just wish it had in room Internet access… but I digress.

I’m not sure what else to say. Is there something you’d specifically like to know?

Compared to other cruises, how’s the food on HAL so far?

It’s a little hard to say given the (relatively) limited # of meals. But, here are a few impressions:

The room service breakfast is excellent! We ordered omelettes (both tasty and still hot), breakfast ham (excellent), bagels (toasted and warm), fruit salad (very fresh and uniformly cut), orange juice (which tasted freshly squeezed), and decaf coffee (which was surprisingly satisfying). This was by far the best we’ve had on a cruise line.

The Lido Restaurant’s food tasted fine, but the selections were more limited than on other lines. I will say, however, that while we’ve often used the buffet for salads, sandwiches, and that sort of thing… we’re not usually enamored by the hot entrée selections provided on either NCL or RCI. This might not be the case on HAL, as the Lido Restaurant seems more geared toward serving up “proper” meals.

The only other downside to the Lido is the lack of self-serve areas (even before the “code red” precautions). This is just a bit annoying to us, as some of the patrons seem incapable of efficient ordering and there’s a bit of confusion on their part about “how it all works” as you move between action stations. Frankly, the ship was built in the era of “pile up a tray on the buffet line” and that’s just not especially conducive to the newfangled “get handed a plate from an action station” model.

Canaletto, the ship’s free (no surcharge) Italian specialty restaurant was good for the price. We’ve never had a great Italian dining experience aboard a cruise ship, and I’d have to say we’re still waiting. However, for the price, it’s right… especially if you stick to the staples of Italian-American cuisine (e.g., Libby’s “home-style” pasta was better than my attempted “gourmet” fish dish).

We’ve only eaten once in the main dining room. As such, I’ll reserve judgment for now. However, it seems to be pretty much standard cruise fare: it’s certainly not up to land-based “fine dining” yet. But, it also holds its own (and may be better than) the likes of NCL and RCI.

Would you recommend HAL for Alaska?

It’s a little early to say for certain, but I’d probably go with “sure” at the moment. Frankly, they’re simply one of the dominate players in this market along with Princess Cruises. We ended up on this cruise due to the low cost (less than $800/pp for our verandah suite) and desire to try HAL (because we’d have likely ended up taking them to more exotic locales in the future anyway).

We’re certainly not disappointed and indeed are generally pleased. In fact, if pushed I’d have to say that HAL is more “in keeping with our personality” due to its refined atmosphere and activity/enrichment/cultural focus. That said, I’ve seen nothing that would cause me to abandon other ships in favor of exclusively HAL.

More to follow on this question later…

What do you think of SilverSea?

We’ve never sailed on that line before. And, I can’t say we have any immediate plans to do so.

We select cruises based upon 1) itinerary, 2) dates [Libby, as a school administrator, constrains us a bit], and 3) cost. Recently, we’ve been cruising a lot because it’s both a comfortable and cost- and time-efficient way to get to many new places quickly. Likewise, it sometimes just provides a cheap and quick getaway from Florida. Bottom line: we’re travelers first, cruisers second.

We travel widely and frequently. Indeed, we reject (for us anyway) the concept of “the trip of a lifetime.”That’s a constant theme one hears in travel, but it’s one that I just don’t buy into. For us, it’s more like the “trip of this six months.” As a result, we prefer to go on more vacations to more places, knowing that doing so means we’ll sacrifice some luxury in the process.

As an aside, we also assume that we’ll get back to most places. This is why cruising, as a kind of “travel tapas,” doesn’t drive me crazy. We sample widely and use the findings to inform future travel. For example, we found that we really wanted to return to Malta but not Athens, who’d have guessed that in advance?

Anyway, we’ve sailed only on mass market cruise companies in the past, specifically NCL and RCI. We’ve enjoyed those trips and always had a good time. Based on industry positioning, HAL is more of a premium line (along with others such as Princess and Celebrity). In addition to being “more upscale,” these lines usually offer more diverse destinations and longer itineraries. In fact, new itineraries are the primary reason why I expect we’ll find ourselves on more and more on these premium lines in the future.

From what I know, SilverSea is a luxury cruise line (like Crystal) that also charges luxury prices. They have fewer and smaller ships. They also offer less schedule flexibility and longer itineraries (a negative for us due to practical limitations). I have no empirical evidence to suggest whether they are good value for money or not. Clearly, one is buying exclusivity and (one would also hope) truly first class accommodations, fine dining, and service. That said, we’re people who are inclined to skip formal nights and like the flexibility of what NCL calls “Freestyle” cruising (eating when, where, how, and with whom you want – even if that means paying for surcharge venues). Presently, I don’t have a sense for how well our proclivities marry with the luxury cruise segment.

I like this photo of (I believe) Vassar Glacier:

Here’s a photo of Libby (from our balcony) in front of Harvard Glacier:

We were able to witness Harvard Glacier calving up close. Here’s the splash down from an ice chunk that must have been the size of a Volkswagen Beetle:

The photo ops were pretty much over by 7am. So, Libby and I enjoyed a wonderful room service breakfast (best we’ve ever had on a cruise ship) from the comfort of our stateroom while we sailed out of College Fjord. We cleared the fjord by 8am and entered a sea fog that pretty much had us socked in until after dinner tonight.

We also discovered this morning that the ship had been placed under “code red” due to an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness among some of the passengers. That’s right. The “dam ship” got the “dam shits.”

Oh well, such is life.

As we later learned, it seems that a group of passengers from a land-based tour that joined the ship with us in Seward were found to be suffering from the traveler’s trots. Having the Alaskan equivalent of “Montezuma’s Revenge” (I’m even not sure what that’s called, perhaps the “Palin Poops”), we have gone into full lock-down / disinfection mode. Sick passengers are confined to their cabins. Lots of precautions have been taken, including not being able to self-serve any food, being subjected to nearly constant hand sanitation, and witnessing numerous disinfection procedures being carried out around the ship.

It actually sounds worse than it is. And, for the record, Libby and I are both feeling and doing just fine.

Having been on a number of other cruises, we’re pretty jaded about “enrichment programs” or other so called “activities” (after all, if you’ve seen one Men’s Sexy Legs competition, you’ve seen them all). Indeed, even “educational” programs seem to be of second rate quality and often poorly scheduled.

This is not the case on HAL, which provides a breath of much needed fresh air (unrelated, of course, to the aforementioned GI troubles). Today, we attended an interesting and professional cooking demonstration in HAL’s impressive show kitchen called the Culinary Arts Center, as well as a geological talk about the volcanoes and earthquakes that are forming and reforming the Alaskan topology. So, unlike other cruise lines that bring on circus acts, HAL seems to take on celebrity chefs, anthropologists, and the like.

Two thumbs up.

Tonight was “formal” night, which we skipped. Instead, we ate in the “smart casual” Italian restaurant called Canaletto. Libby and I both started with the salad (nice display, good enough taste) and minestrone soup (excellent). Libby had the spaghetti and meatballs (very good), and I ate a dish of cod with a tomato sauce (my fish was tasty, but not properly cleaned – it had bones in it). Dolci, which seems fairly good on HAL, was just alright tonight…

The weirdest thing was that we (and everyone else) were served a veritable mountain of white cotton candy piled high into a bowl immediately following the main course. You heard me right. Cotton candy! Why? Is this always done at Canaletto on HAL? Given the poor Internet performance I have an assignment for my loyal readers: can someone find out if there is some sort of historical connection between cotton candy and Italian cuisine? I’d like to think a sound culinary reason exists for this choice. Perhaps, it’s a nod toward the snow-caped mountains of Alaska? I just don’t know, and I’ll be dam’ed by it.

Ok… enough blogging. I’m off to get a wheat beer and enjoy the sunset from the balcony!

Tomorrow we cruise Glacier Bay National Park.

Note: Internet access has been a bit of a nose bleed aboard this ship. I struggled to get connected (funny story) and then it’s been running slower than the pace of the glaciers outside (much to Al Gore’s chagrin on both account of globe warming and as “Father of the Internet”).