Holland America, Ryndam – Alaska
June 2009
by Tim Anderson

This was my first experience on Holland America and it was a favorable one.

Pros:

1. Friendly courteous staff.
2. Low key with very little pressure to shop, play bingo or play games.
3. Open seating. It was great to visit with different passengers at each dinner seating. It can be difficult on other cruise lines to alter seating arrangements to join in with others.
4. Superior food quality. Great appetizers and entrees.  Average desserts.
5. Formal dining room with views.  Many other cruise ships don't have such excellent views in their main dining room.
6. Late night buffet.
7. Jacuzzi in the suite is great, but hard for taller individuals to fit in it.

Cons:

1. No 24 hour pizza, coffee, juices or ice cream.
2. No self serve in the buffets – staff determine portion sizes.
3. No trays allowed – you must make multiple trips to your table for entrees, desserts and beverages.
4. No free soda and no lemonade.
5. No self serve on beverages – staff fill your coffee cups.
6. Sofa in the suite that doesn’t quite fit you on it.

Weather wise, June wasn’t the best month to visit Alaska. We had cloud for all 7 days, with rain and fog in Juneau.  The northern sections have tremendous peaks and snow, but views were cut off by the clouds.  You know it’s going to be cool when they provide free blankets on the decks instead of lounge chairs.  Temperatures were warmer toward the south but cloud levels were lower, restricting views among all the islands. I'd recommend July and August for the best Alaska weather.  September and May have reduced fares but the weather is a gamble.

The Ship (Ryndam)
The Ryndam  is typical of most of Holland America ships. Some of the stats from Ryndam are:
Launch Date - 1994
Decks - 10
Passenger capacity - 1,258 
Total crew - 588 
Tonnage - 55,819 
Ship length – 720 

The Ryndam cruises the Panama Canal in the winter and Alaska in the summer.

Facilities include: 
Vermeer Show Lounge:  
Rotterdam Dining Room: 
Lido Restauarant (buffet)
Pinnacle Grill -  $20 per person 
Crow's Nest - great place to relax and enjoy the view
Culinary Arts Center
Explorations Cafe
Greenhouse Spa & Salon
Delft Library
Internet Cafe
Basketball Court
Tennis Court
Two Pools
Hot Tubs
Ping Pong
Casino

Cabins

The rooms on Deck 9 were spacious 292 sq ft units with floor to ceiling windows, balconies and a jetted tub.  The tub was too small for tall people though.  Safes that lock using a credit card are standard in the closet.  Units on the Lower Promenade, Deck 6, were a challenge as the windows face onto the deck where passengers regularly walk and jog.  A few of the windows on lower decks were port holes, which I’ve seen described as similar to watching the wash get done in a front load washing machine.  One of the lower decks with opening windows was unable to use them at points during the voyage because they took on sea spray when opened.

Staff
All the staff on Holland America ships are extremely friendly and courteous - it's one of their trademarks.   Staff represent numerous countries around the globe with many from south east Asian.  Direct tipping at the end of the cruise is not necessary, as a fee of $11 per day per person is automatically added to the bill to cover dinning and room services.

Attire
Most passengers dress in casual attire.  The dinning room announces a dress code of casual or formal each night.  For formal nights, men can roll an old summer suit coat into their suit case and they're set for two formal nights.  For women, it’s a bit more of a planning challenge.

Meals
There is assigned dining each evening as well as open seating for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining room.  The open seating was a great way to meet new people each day.  The lido deck also has a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The buffet includes several of the choices from the dinning room menu.  Specialty sandwiches are also available daily.  Surprisingly, soda or soft drinks are not included and must be purchased separately.  Unlike the Carnival unlimited use beverage cards, the ones on Holland America are for a specific number of drinks.  Try a Disney cruise if you find this approach aggravating.  Meals in the dinning room are very good and include several options each night, such as steak & lobster.  The meals were generally better than on Carnival, but the desserts weren't as great.  I found that I was ordering room service for cookies and milk shortly after dinner.

Activities
The activities on board were not dissimilar to other cruise lines, but I found them to be much more retrained and pleasant than a Carnival cruise.  Activities while on board included nightly shows, live music, comedians, trivia contests, name that tune, basket ball, tennis and a casino.  I found it much more pleasant than a Carnival cruise, as I didn't feel pressed by activities or salesmanship.

Ports of Call:

Seward to Hubbard Glacier

The Holland America Ryndam left Seward at 8pm and was quickly followed by the Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas at 9pm.  The Radiance followed us for most of the cruise.  There were swells of about 6 feet the next morning and I was not alone in feeling very sick.  The only position that was survivable was crouched on the balcony with my forehead pressed against the rail.  I had two jackets, a toque, a scarf, two blankets and seat cushion to fight the cold.  I also used a patch for sea sickness but they don’t give instant relief.  I ended up on the deck for more than 3 hours before I could return to the warmth of my room without feeling nauseated.  Just after noon the waters calmed as we approached the protected bay that is home to the Hubbard Glacier.

The Hubbard Glacier is over 70 miles long and drops directly into the ocean in a 300 foot high face that is more than 6 miles wide.  The glacier has beautiful blue spots in it.  To the west, the Turner glacier also meets the sea, but it is colored dark by rock and sand mixed into the ice.  The bay was full of ice on our approach.  The floating pieces of ice crackled, hissed and popped as we made our way through to the glacier.  Although I was amazed as how close we got, the Radiance of the Seas went even closer, to a distance that was questionable for safety.  The Radiance also blew their horn several times, apparently in a bid to assist the glacier in calving.  It wasn’t a good day for this as major calving had happened a few days earlier.  We did see more than a half dozen minor releases of ice from a height of a bit more than 50 feet.  The ice cracks and produces a sound like cannon fire or a good mid west US thunderstorm.  A great experience.  That evening we headed out into the Gulf of Alaska to swells of more than 10 feet.  Many passengers were sea sick, but I’d passed the initiation phase and was fine.

Hubbard Glacier, Radiance of the Seas

Sitka

The second morning we arrived in Sitka (Shee Atika in Tlingit language).  The Ryndam anchors in Sitka Bay and tenders passengers ashore.  Sitka is a quaint little town.  It was originally populated by the Kiksadi clan of the Tlingit tribe at Noow Tlein, which later became a Russian fort at Castle Hill.  Vitus Bering led the first group of Caucaseans to enter the area in 1741.  In 1799 Russian governor Alexander Baranov built a fort 6 miles south of town.  The Tlingit burned it to the ground in 1802 and drove out the Russians.  In 1804 Baranov returned with several hundred men to take Noow Tlein (Castle Hill), but on their return, they found the Tlingit had established a new fort nearby at the mouth of the Indian River.  It took six days of attack by the Russians before they took the fort and when they finally did so, it was because the Tlingit snuck away in the night.  In 1867 the fur seals had been depleted and Seward bought Alaska from the Russians for $7.2 million.  Sitka remained the Alaskan capital until 1912.

Mount Edgecombe Volcano, Sitka

You can walk from the harbor to the site of the battle, which is now protected as part of Sitka National Park.  Nothing but a clearing remains as evidence of the fort.  The rest of Sitka is easily viewed on foot.  Some of the areas include Castle Hill where the Russians governed Alaska, the Sheet’ka Tribal Community House at Totem Square, the Russian cemetery, St Michaels Cathedral in Russian Orthodox design, the Sheldon Jackson Museum and the Russian Bishop’s House built in 1842.  Sitka can easily be covered on foot, so I’d recommend skipping the guided tours.  If you are hoping to fish and whale watch then the tours are a great idea in the Alexander Archipelago.  The Alaskan Raptor center is great place to see bald eagles that are injured and being rehabilitated.

Skagway

Skagway is the Gateway to the Yukon and a great place to visit.  There are less than 900 permanent residents, but with up to six cruise ships visiting each day it’s a busy place in the summer.  The town still has a gold rush feel to it.  The boardwalk streets and false front buildings make you feel like you’re in the old west.

The original Tlingit (klinkit) name for the area was Skaqua.  In 1897, the gold seekers began arriving trying to reach the Klondike Goldrush.  The town quickly swelled to over 10,000 without any form of law or order.  The most notorious outlaw was Soapy Smith.  When local hero Frank Reid challenged Soapy, they both ended up dying in the battle.  They are both buried in the Skagway cemetery.  The route from Skagway to the Yukon is tremendously tough.  Gold seekers had to work their way up 3,000 feet of rough terrain to reach Canada and the NWMP required them to have 2,000 pounds of supplies to enter Canada.  Thus several trips were required by each miner.  Today you can retrace the route up the Skagway River, through Dead Horse Gulch to Summit Lake on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway.  The train picks up passengers on the cruise ship docks.  It is a fabulous train trip with switchbacks, trestles, step grades, tunnels and views thousands of feet down to the port.  It takes about 2 hours to reach the town of Fraser, BC just over the top of White Pass and another 2 hours to return to Skagway.  The trip is narrated and you are allowed to access the open air porch at each end of the rail cars.  Leaning out over the railings feels a little bit like riding a cable can in San Fransisco, except you also have the exhilarating experience of looking straight down thousands of feet on the trestles or losing all sense of your own position in the total darkness of the tunnels.  I can’t believe what a great time this was!

White Pass & Yukon Railway

Juneau

Although some passengers thought Juneau was great, it was my least favorite port.  One reason is that the city is larger with no special charm.  The other reason is the tour I chose was disappointing.  Juneau is the capital of Alaska, with a year round population of more than 30,000.  The port is congested with tourists frequenting souvenir and jewelry stores.  The weather was rainy and foggy.  Due to the poor weather, I skipped my plan to take the Mt Roberts Tram from the pier up to the 2,000 foot level above the city.  The first tower on the way up wasn’t visible through the clouds.

Iceberg in front of Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau

We took the Lake Mendenhall Native Canoe excursion to the Mendenhall Glacier.  This tour was not only disappointing, but misleading.  The implied native canoe is actually gray fiberglass.  The guides aren’t native either, but rather college students from the lower 48 experiencing their first summer in Alaska.  It takes more than an hour of paddling to get near the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls.  Both are impressive, but when you realize that you could easily have taken a short hike from the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center instead of paddling across the Lake to get the same distance from the glacier, it’s disappointing.  It’s also at least $100 US per person less to take a bus to the visitor center ($14 US return for the bus, vs $136 US for the canoe trip).  The most disconcerting aspect is that the canoe trip leaves you exposed for more than 2 hours to the 34 degree icy water as you cross the middle of the lake.  If the canoe swamps, there is no one to save you – the paddlers will all perish from hypothermia.  Although we did get some excellent close up views of ice bergs, this tour is definitely one that isn’t worth the risk or the price.  Take a bus from the pier to the visitor center instead and stay safe and warm.  You’ll have a great view of one of the most quickly disappearing glaciers in Alaska - it has receded more than a mile since 1958.  Those who took the helicopter glacier tours were very impressed, but foggy weather can make for poor viewing.  Hard to beat an excellent view for $28 at the visitor center.

Others had much more favorable experiences that day.  The whale watching expedition came upon 7 humpback whales engaging in bubble netting.  They watched the whales working in concert to encircle prey for more than half an hour.  Perhaps I owe Juneau another chance.

Ketchikan

Ketchikan is totem country.  The most visited areas are the Saxman Village totem poles about 3 miles north of town and Totem Bight about 7 miles north.  Saxman has poles commissioned in the 1940s to preserve native culture and Tlingit perform dances as part of the tour.  We were worn out by touring at this point and did a self guided city tour, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  We started by catching a bus that the driver indicated was free.  It’s very exciting to step off the cruise ship and on to a bus without any idea where it’s going.  We ended up at the Totem Heritage Center.  The center has preserved a number of original totem poles from southern Alaska and pictures of the poles at their original location are provided too.  There were an amazing number of poles on long houses at the village of Kasaan in the late 1800s.  You could also see trend in pictures for natives to absorb European culture and to switch from traditional weaving to use of buttons and Hudson Bay blankets.  Beside the center we visited the Deer Creek Hatchery and Eagle Center.  They use tourist revenues to preserve aboriginal traditions.  There are two injured female eagles at the center.  Both suffered broken wings and will spend the rest of their days at the center.  They will likely live another 20 years in captivity.  The hatchery had thousands of young salmon and one adult that had just returned from the ocean to the hatchery at the end of its life.  The highlight of the visit to the center was a totem carving by Israel Shotridge.  Israel was there teaching a young boy to carve on a totem that was nearing completion after 6 months of carving. It was a special moment to see him passing on the tradition.  I also got a great shot of him mocking a threatening and goofy pose with one of his adzes.

Creek St

From the hatchery, we followed Deer Creek back to town following the map we obtained at the visitor center on the pier.  The trail twisted and turned on wooden boardwalks and stairs along the river.  This led us to Creek Street where the shops all extend out over the creek.  Here we found a tram that takes up to 10 passengers up the hillside to the Cape Fox Lodge.  There was no one supervising the tram – it was self serve, which was strange.  At Creek Street, I took some interesting photos of construction being done using a chain saw.  The platform they were attempting to collapse accidentally fell into the creek.  When they attempted to stop the platform from entering the harbor, someone jumped in the creek to stop it.  The next thing I knew a comical photo session turned into the shocking experience of watching someone about to drown from hypothermia.  While I went to a small business and had them call for emergency help, someone else was able to find a rope and extricate the man from the freezing water.  Emergency vehicles handled things from there.  Quite the day in Ketchikan.

Vancouver

The trip from Ketchikan to Vancouver proceeds over open water between the Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland.  BC Ferries traverses this section through the channels of the Inside Passage.  The cruise companies refer to the channels north of this and along the east side of Vancouver Island as the inside passage instead.  Vancouver Island was far less populated and much more extensive in person than the impression created from facts alone.  The approach to downtown Vancouver under the Lions Gate Bridge was the highlight of this section of the trip.

Transportation from the Canada Place cruise terminal to the airport is a breeze.  You can catch the Sky Train a short block in front of the cruise terminal and catch the Canada Line to the airport.  The fee is less than $10 and it takes about 25 minutes.

Recommendation
Holland America is an impressive cruise line and one I'd choose again.  I'd travel Alaska again if I had a prospect of sunshine for a return visit.

Be sure to check out our land tour to Denali National Park as well.