Amsterdam Review

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A Bit of Disappointment

Review for Alaska Cruise on Amsterdam
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DIY-guy
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jul 2015

We wanted a Seattle-to-Seattle seven day Alaska cruise in the time frame of Mid July to Mid August as part of our celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary. After some web research, we narrowed our search to the smaller ships (a personal preference) that visited Sitka and Tracy Arm Fjord rather than Skagway and Glacier bay. It seemed like the Tracy Arm Fjord cruise in a smaller ship might be a unique experience and the description of various ports seemed to favor Sitka over Skagway.

We chose the July 19th sailing aboard the Holland America Amsterdam. The ship seemed to fit our criteria of a relatively small vessel with a high Cruise Critics rating and the right itinerary (Tracy Arm to the Twin Sawyer Glaciers, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria). Our one previous commercial cruise had been on a Holland America ship. Two things about this particular itinerary were not obvious to us at first-- the outer passage route and the unannounced change substituting the Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier rather than the twin Sawyer Glaciers. We should have known about the former, but no one ever mentioned the latter either before or during the cruise.

The outer passage route was problematic for an approximately 24 hour period on the second day out. The seas were pretty rough and both passengers and crew suffered some issues. One crew member said it was the roughest passage he had experienced in 2 months aboard. We managed pretty well using ginger capsules to settle our stomachs. Otherwise, the ride was pretty comfortable, but the views on cruise days from our balcony were mostly of water, not BC and Alaska wilderness.

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Port Reviews

Seattle

We spent three days in downtown Seattle before the cruise and five days in the area afterwards. Both times were very good experiences. Bellingham, the San Juan Islands and the Lavender farms on the Olympic peninsula were all great and the weather was gorgeous.

Victoria

Base on reviews on this site we decided not to do an excursion, but set out on foot. Detailed maps were provided at the dock (by local volunteers, I believe). One gave us some advice on what sites might be within our range and we followed it, walking along the waterfront to the Empress Hotel and nearby government complex. We toured the Royal BC Museum at senior citizen rates and saw a special exhibition on gold and gold rushes as well as the First People and Victoria History exhibits. We were able to cover at least half of the museum in the time we had.

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