My husband and I will be taking our first cruise this July. We decided on the HAL line to Alaska. We are in our 50's and this line seems to be geared toward our age group. My only question is which ship? I don't much care whether we see Hubbard Glacier or Glacier Bay ( think that both would be great) but we can sail on either the Oosterdam, Rotterdam or Zaandam and I just can't decide which ship would be best? Sounds like a silly question and I've asked my travel agent but she says they are all about the same.

Oosterdam has 1900 passengers, compared to Zaandam with 1400, and Rotterdam with 1300. I personally prefer the smaller ships, but other people prefer larger ones. That is something to consider. Rotterdam just had a refit and is currently on a long itinerary. There have been lots of complaints about it on CruiseCritic. I would pose this question on that board.

I love the Rotterdam. We did a Baltic and Med cruise last year and really loved the ship. I am a long time HAL cruiser and had absolutely no complaints. The ports in Alaska are usually very very crowded as there are several ships in each day and the towns are small. I think being on a ship with the fewest passengers is always the best but even moreso in Alaska.

Another vote for smaller ships!

Thanks all for your input. Marcheline, I had looked on Cruisecritic and saw that in Dec there were some very unhappy passgengers which does conern me. I would hope that by July, the issues that the ship was having would be resolved but I'm a little nervous about making that assumption.

We've been on the Oosterdam and the Zaandam. Both are beautiful ships with great crews but we preferred the Zaandam because of its size.

Another vote for the Zaandam in Alaska. I LOVE! that ship. I have also cruised on the Rotterdam in Europe and the Baltic and It's great too. They are very similar. I too prefer a smaller crowd. Enjoy Alaska

We just came off 17 days on the Rotterdam (Rotterdam to Athens - mid September) and it was great. Don't know what the complaints were about but will go take a look.

I find the ship of little importance with sailing Alaska, since for some, the priority is outside the ship.

The itineraries are probably not the same? You may want to look closer at this feature. Sitka is a highlight which HAL includes. So is Glacier Bay.

You may want to do your homework and find out what you want to do in ports? Each is unique which their own touring selections.

BQ: Do any othr lines besides HAL stop in Sitka?