Back from our cruise to Alaska

Last week, we were in Alaska. This isn’t news; I told you about it in my previous email. Yes, we went on a cruise to Alaska and have visited Alaska two years in a row. Last year, we spent more than three months in Alaska. Last week, we went to and from Alaska in less than a week. We went on our cruise to Alaska to see things we couldn’t see from our RV. The easiest way to get to Alaska’s extensive coastline is to cruise to Alaska on a cruise ship; later, I will tell you about an idea to see even more remote locations in Alaska. So, to recap, we parked our RV and lived out of suitcases for an entire week on our cruise to Alaska.

I have written two other articles about our cruise to Alaska in 2024. The second article is about how we like our cruise. Here is a link to that one. Exploring Alaska’s Coastline

The third article is about our visit to Glacier Bay. Here is a link to that article. Cruise in Glacier Bay National Park

The best cruise to Alaska

I am convinced Holland America has the best cruises to Alaska—both the cruise line and ship matter. I will explain why Holland America should be your choice for a cruise to Alaska. I hope you haven’t booked a cruise to Alaska on a mega-ship before you hear our reasons for choosing Holland America.

You don’t want to be on the largest cruise ship that goes to Alaska. Some cruise ships take more than twice the number of passengers on their ships. These mega cruise ships can’t go to the ports or as deep into Glacier Bay as our smaller cruise ship could do. Other cruise ships can’t even dock at the best docks on their port visits because they are too big. Not only too big, but other cruise ships haven’t been going to Alaska as long as Holland America has been going to Alaska.

In Juneau and Ketchikan, we were docked at the city center but could see other ships docking far away. In Sitka, we were at the dock and saw another cruise ship anchored out, ferrying its passengers to the city in small boats.

Different families need different things. Holland America seems to fit our goal of mainly having adults on the ship. There were children, but they didn’t overrun the ship. Most of the children were gathered at the pool (I wonder why) and were not unsupervised, running about the ship. I didn’t visit the children’s section at the top level of the ship; perhaps they were up there.

It was a full ship.

Unlike our 2023 cruise on the Celebrity Solstice, our cruise to Alaska, Holland America, Eurodam, was full of passengers. I don’t think they had any (?) outside cabins (cabins with a window view) available. Perhaps a few interior cabins were unoccupied. I will tell you later why they may have had a waiting list for a cabin on our ship. Also, unlike the Celebrity Solstice, we could dock at every port. Since Holland America has been cruising to Alaska longer than any other cruise line, our ships had the best docks of any cruise line in Alaska.

We made a round-trip cruise to Alaska.

Our cruise to Alaska started in Seattle and was a round trip. Other ships make a one-way cruise to Alaska and combine a cruise to Alaska with a land tour. I already told you why we didn’t pick this kind of cruise to Alaska. We had already been to every place in Alaska that would remotely be involved in a land tour during the summer of 2023. It is not that a land tour wouldn’t have been excellent, but we already made our land tour. Our land tour also gave us the time at each location to enjoy our stay. The following photo is of Denali and our RV in the same picture.

Departing Seattle

We departed Seattle on a crystal clear blue day, and if you know anything about Alaska, there are only a few clear blue days that might align with your visit. A friend once told me that something is constantly falling from the sky in Alaska (usually rain and snow). Some people must occasionally cruise to Alaska and arrive at each location with a blue sky, but I don’t know any. There must be some people somewhere who have done this. As for us, we expected rain on our cruise to Alaska.

As we were departing Seattle and exploring the ship, I caught this photo of the Elliott Bay Marina. It made me wonder who owns all these boats and how often they get used.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca

From Seattle, cruise ships first enter Puget Sound between Bainbridge Island and north Seattle, then sail northbound past Edmons and Shoreline. At the south end of Whidbey Island, they make a slight turn to the west and, after a while, sail between Fort Casey and Port Townsend. We have lots of experience in this area, staying frequently on Whidbey Island and taking the ferry from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend. Here are links about Whidbey Island and the first time we put our RV on a ferryboat. Whidbey Island Sunsets, Our RV Floats, and The Charm of Port Townsend

After passing Port Townsend, we entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Victoria, Canada, to the north of the strait, and the south is the Olympic Peninsula. On the Olympic Peninsula is the Olympic National Park. We have also taken our RV to the area, and here are a couple of links about our visit. In the Olympic Rain Shadow, Hurricane Ridge Olympic National Park, and Lake Crescent Olympic National Park

My imagination of our cruise to Alaska had us taking the “inside passage” from Seattle to Alaska. The “inside passage” means the route would be between the islands and the mainland rather than exposed to the open. Even though we sometimes cruised among the islands, most of our route was in the open ocean.

While a cruise ship “could” go between Vancouver Island and Canada, our cruise ship exited the Straight of Juan De Fuca directly to the open ocean. The entire first day was spent west of Vancouver Island and Moresby Island. The sea was calm(ish), and the ship wasn’t affected by the rocking. It takes some severe waves to rock this type of boat.

Our first day during our cruise to Alaska was spent at sea, getting far enough north to explore the Alaskan coastal cities. After our afternoon departure from Seattle, we arrived early on the third cruise day in Juneau.

Juneau, Icy Point Strait, Sitka, and Ketchikan

On our cruise to Alaska, we visited Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. Except for Juneau, none of these cities is connected to roads leading anywhere; all are islands. I will save some stories about our visits to each location for a later article.

Last year, we visited some of the other more remote Alaskan cities connected to Canada, including Skagway, Haines, and the very small town of Hyder. To get to each of these cities, we crossed on roads into Alaska from Canada (or departed via Canada). Between Haines and Skagway, we even took the Alaska Maritime “Highway” to get there. Here is a link to our Alaska adventures from 2023. Playlist FoxRVTravel Alaska.

Alaska Marine Highway

To get to some of Alaska’s even more remote cities, you would have to take the Alaska Marine Highway, the official name of the ferry boat system. A summer dedicated to visiting remote Alaska cities using the Alaska Marine Highway would be a unique (and expensive) way to see other very remote places in Alaska. I wonder if you could take a truck camper on such a trip. (The size of the vehicle determines the fare.) Sorry, I wandered off the subject.

Glacier Bay National Park

We didn’t take our cruise to Alaska to visit the cities; instead, we took our cruise to Alaska to visit Glacier Bay. One of our most memorable experiences in 2023 was taking a tour boat from Valdez to the Columbia Glacier. Our trip on the LuLu Belle was wonderful. Here is a link to that story. Deep into the ice flows at the Columbia Glacier.

For our cruise, I wanted to repeat our Columbia Glacier visit by visiting Glacier Bay National Park. The easiest way to visit Glacier Bay National Park is by taking a cruise to Alaska. However, be careful: not all cruises to Alaska include a visit to Glacier Bay National Park, and even fewer cruise ships to Alaska go deep into Glacier Bay National Park. This visit to Glacier Bay National Park is why we chose Holland America for our cruise to Alaska. I will save our Glacier Bay National Park photos for a future article. They are also impressive. Now that we have visited Glacier Bay, I can tell you that I would go back immediately, especially on the Holland America Eurodam.

Visiting Skagway

We didn’t visit Skagway on our Alaska cruise. We picked a ship that visited the ports we didn’t visit last year. Last year, our campsite in Skagway was near the cruise ship dock, and every day, we saw all the passengers depart their ships and return to their ships. It was almost like a parade. A new cruise ship would arrive daily, and the process would repeat. Sometimes, several cruise ships were in port at the same time. We visited several towns last year that also were visited by cruise ships. The things I noted were how often the cruise ships rotated. It was like airplanes at an airport. Arrivals and departures daily.

The best inside information.

We know how hard it is to pick a cruise to Alaska and what to do on a cruise ship, but now we know how to get the very best information about cruising to Alaska. The cruise director on our ship was Valerie Perry, and she wrote the book about cruising to Alaska. Here is a link to her book on Amazon, which is all about having a fabulous cruise to Alaska. Sea More: Alaska

Our ship was sold out.

We paid full price for our cruise to Alaska and didn’t get any discounts that were not available to anyone. So, even though this may seem to be a paid article, it isn’t. We were very impressed with our cruise to Alaska, and others onboard were also impressed. Perhaps the ship was overbooked, or perhaps a group wanted more tickets (there was a large group on the ship with us), but before our cruise, Holland America asked us to get us to give up our cabin and move to a less desirable cabin for a huge discount. We also talked to other people who received the same offer. We didn’t take them up on the offer.

Entertainment

There were several shows in the main auditorium on the cruise ship, and each was wonderful. Since we went to the early show, the entertainers got closer to the audience for each show. It was fun.

I have also included a YouTube video of Tommy Proulx as an example of the entertainment. We went to the shows each evening after dinner. All were great, especially Tommy. Tommy is very expressive when playing the Saxophone.

Disoriented

Several parts of our cruise were disorienting. First, there was the ship. So, to help maintain orientation, I always took a right turn when exiting our cabin. The next passageway was the elevator and stairs. From there, we had a landmark to help us return to our room on the ship’s starboard side. So, to go to our room, you always went to the seventh deck and proceeded aft on the starboard side. In case you get disoriented, carpets with weaving show which side of the ship you are on and which way the ship is pointed.

Changing ports overnight was disorienting. Our last port was Victoria, Canada, where we stayed until late evening. We were still in port when we pulled the curtains to block the light from an early sunrise. We were scheduled to get off the ship in Seattle the next day. When we got up, Tami looked out the window and exclaimed that a different ship was at the pier with us and that it was moving. One glance told me that the ship wasn’t moving. It was tied to the pier. But it appeared to be moving because we were moving.

Even then, the picture wasn’t clear; we were moving into port rather than departing, and I knew the pier we were tied to in Vancouver was a dead end. It would be impossible for us to go any further into the pier before us. Glancing at the horizon told me we were moving forward, but rather than being in Vancouver, we arrived in Seattle.

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About our links

As you know, our blog income is zero, which allows us to be independent and tell the truth. We do not get income or commissions. No, we don’t make paid endorsements. We don’t make recommendations; instead, we will tell you what we like (or dislike). The links are only provided as a quick reference to help our readers.

Links

Holland America Cruise Lines

Glacier Bay National Park

Visiting Glacier Bay National Park on a cruise ship

Valerie Perry’s book Sea More: Alaska

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