Rose Brooks

Episode 430 – Disembarkation & Final Thoughts On Our Alaskan Cruise

Yesterday was our last sea day, travelling from Ketchikan back to Vancouver. We spent a really lazy day: reading, writing, packing, staring at the ocean, and of course eating.

A library area os a new concept on the Koningsdam, added during this spring’s dry dock. Although there are only 4 chairs, I snagged one and spent an hour writing.
One last lunch from the New York Pizza & Deli located on deck 10 overlooking the pool: a butter lettuce, bocconcini, tomato, and black olive salad , with a Reuben on toasted rye.

In the afternoon, there were two EXC.Talks: Encounters with Bears, hosted by naturalist Natalie Tan, and Origin Story: Holland America Line’s first 150 years, hosted by Cruise Director Stephanie. I took in both, but unfortunately missed the mid-morning talk “A City on the Sea”, looking behind the scenes at life on board a cruise ship.

Our last onboard dinner, in the main dining room:

Left: Belgian wheat beer brewed with Valencia orange peel; crab cake with tomato puree. Centre: caesar salad; roast chicken with gnocchi, roasted corn, and squash; rigatoni with sausage. Right: raspberry ricotta cheesecake; crackled puff pastry filled with chocolate cream.

The last World Stage performance of our week-long cruise was the comedy of Alvin Williams. Since neither Ted nor I enjoy stand-up, we skipped the show in favour of taking a few more photos while sailing in the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and southwestern mainland British Columbia, and then spending a couple of after-dinner hours in the Crow’s Nest with a drink and conversation.

The official photographer of http://www.roseandtedsexcellentadventure.com doesn’t get in very many pictures. Apparently, he is a shadow of his former self.

There was a bit of evening excitement when our Captain announced that we needed to stop in the Strait just outside of Campbell River to rendezvous with the Canadian Coast Guard so that a passenger in need of more medical attention than our ship’s doctors could provide could be transported to the nearest BC hospital.

To be honest, that’s not a vessel I’d choose to be transported in
if I were really ill.

This morning, disembarkation for we people managing our own luggage was any time between 8 a.m. and 9:30.

We grabbed a quick breakfast of coffee, bagels, and bacon in the New York Deli, and were off the ship just after 8:00. Customs was a breeze – we just handed in our declaration forms and walked out of the terminal! Then it was a quick walk to Waterfront SkyTrain station, and just over an hour to our pick-up point, where our amazing daughter-in-law met us for the 5 minute ride home.

I had suitcases unpacked and laundry started before 10:30 ! Grocery deliveries should be here momentarily.

Overall, while Alaska wasn’t a bucket list item for us, it was definitely worth visiting. Our cruise experience was good, and we’re looking forward to sailing on the same ship to Mexico and Hawaii in January.

I’m going to make some much more detailed notes about what we did and didn’t love as a separate post.

19 comments

  2. Also try a smaller HAL ship. We won’t use the Konigsdam (sp) as we think it is too big. I have been enjoying your adventure for quite some time. Thank you.

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      • We have sailed on the Zaandam and have upcoming cruises on the Volendam, both with passenger size of 1432. (Rotterdam Class). They have retired two ships of this class that we have also sailed on. There are four ships in the Vista Class – 1964 passengers. We have been on three of these – Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, and Westerdam. The fourth is Noordam. Because they are smaller, they do not have the Tamarind, that it seemed you really enjoyed. Sometimes it is offered as a pop up for one night. The Koningsdam is part of their largest class of ships, Pinnacle, listed as 2650 passengers. We mainly choose by itinerary, but will not consider anything larger than the Vista Class ships. There is another class, the Signature, 2104 passengers.

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  3. Thank you for your trip journal. I enjoyed it very much. We have only done 4 cruises over 24 years – 2 on HAL, 1 on Oceania and 1 on Celebrity. We’ll be on the 24 day cruise to Baja and then Hawaii departing San Diego on Jan. 6 on the Koningsdam. We’re really looking forward to the cruise. But, I did enjoy reading about your Alaska cruise. If you are going on that one, would love to meet you.

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  4. I so look forward to reading your comments in the next post. I had to laugh because we did a recent Oceania cruise on a much smaller ship, and while it is probably outside our price point for a future cruise, we did have a library with six large rooms, and multiple chairs and tables. I loved the library on that ship most of all. My friend is cruising with Princess to Alaska in a couple of weeks, so I will look forward to her stories as well. Thank you for such detailed posts about your cruise experience.

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  5. I enjoy your blog. We made the mistake last September trying HAL after Viking. I’m not sure if we will ever board another ship with over 1,000 passengers again….except perhaps a short Vancouver to LA trip.

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  6. Have enjoyed your posts very much, along with your amazing photos. You mentioned handing in declaration forms to customs on disembarking..were these forms provided for you in your cabin?

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  7. Thank you very much for your descriptive and informative posts. I was on the exact same cruise the week before you and appreciated your point of view and the extra information that you shared. Our disembarkation was almost identical to yours including the trip home and laundry comment since we live in the same area.
    I’m looking forward to reading your posts about Merida since we will be venturing off to that area of Mexico later this year.

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  8. For a world , curious, researcher the impression I have is that it was nice!

    The trip vs some others – The Reuben sandwich on board vs the Peter’s on Eglinton Reuben.

    You added an interesting experience to your life and memories! (Mine too) Thank you

    >

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  9. I am glad you enjoyed your first HAL cruise enough to repeat sail with them. They have been our go to line for many years. (We begin our first Viking cruise in about 10 days.) We have also watched the HAL Origins presentation with cruise director Stephanie before.

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  10. Welcome home! I agree that Alaska is worthwhile, even if not on your bucket list. The devastation in Maui is so sad. Was thinking about your upcoming trip as the fires raged.

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    • The fires are pretty well contained now. Yes, Lahaina is sadly closed but as a Hawaii resident let me assure you that the rest of the islands and most of Maui are open for business. People are eager to keep working as the income is needed.

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