Tours of Alaska's Inside Passage
May 31st, 2006, 12:58 PM
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Tours of Alaska's Inside Passage
I posted this on the US forum and meant to post it here.
Just returned and loved our cruise.
KETCHIKAN: We took recommendations from this board and went with Southeast Aviation. I cannot say enough good about their personnal attention and professionalism. We flew thru the Fjords on a seaplane and landed on a wilderness lake. Our pilot had 31 yrs experience as a bush pilot and was very knowledgeable about the area. Jim Kosmos and his wife Abby are either owners or part owners and wonderful to deal with. I left my jacket and upon a phone call to them, Abby delivered it to our ship that was leaving in 15 min. Great people!
JUNEAU: Again on recommendations here, we took a helicopter tour thru Coastal Helicopters. We landed on the Herbert Glacier, walked around and then flew down the Mendelhall Glacier. It was the highlight of our trip for me. We were picked up at the heliport by Ocra, owned and operated by Capt Larry, and away we went to their boats and whale watching. We saw a lot of humpback whales but the most fun was stopping at a bald eagle nest and having 5 bald eagles eating, almost out of our hands. This was my husbands favorite! We can really recommend Capt Larry!
SCAGWAY; We rented a car from Avis (reservation) and drove into the Yukon. Wonderful experience and beautiful scenery. We had debated doing this or taking the train. As it turned out, the train in Scagway was cancelled that day because of melting snow. (we had beautiful sunny weather) so for us it was great but for the people with train reservations, not so great, they had to take buses.
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Just returned and loved our cruise.
KETCHIKAN: We took recommendations from this board and went with Southeast Aviation. I cannot say enough good about their personnal attention and professionalism. We flew thru the Fjords on a seaplane and landed on a wilderness lake. Our pilot had 31 yrs experience as a bush pilot and was very knowledgeable about the area. Jim Kosmos and his wife Abby are either owners or part owners and wonderful to deal with. I left my jacket and upon a phone call to them, Abby delivered it to our ship that was leaving in 15 min. Great people!
JUNEAU: Again on recommendations here, we took a helicopter tour thru Coastal Helicopters. We landed on the Herbert Glacier, walked around and then flew down the Mendelhall Glacier. It was the highlight of our trip for me. We were picked up at the heliport by Ocra, owned and operated by Capt Larry, and away we went to their boats and whale watching. We saw a lot of humpback whales but the most fun was stopping at a bald eagle nest and having 5 bald eagles eating, almost out of our hands. This was my husbands favorite! We can really recommend Capt Larry!
SCAGWAY; We rented a car from Avis (reservation) and drove into the Yukon. Wonderful experience and beautiful scenery. We had debated doing this or taking the train. As it turned out, the train in Scagway was cancelled that day because of melting snow. (we had beautiful sunny weather) so for us it was great but for the people with train reservations, not so great, they had to take buses.
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Jun 12th, 2006, 11:10 AM
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Melissa:
We were on the Ziuderdam. Acually, we cruised May 20 - 27. The reason was because Memorial Day was the 29th and we wanted the extra time to go to Victoria without taking more vacation time off. By going early the week before, spending time in Vancouver, cruising and then spending time in Victoria, we ended up with a 13 day vacation and only taking 8 vacation days off. We also liked the idea of fewer little people because school was not yet out.
We were taking on chance on weather (rains) but we checked Weatherbase http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/s...;s=&refer= to find averages. As it turned out, our weather was perfect.
Good luck on your cruise!
We were on the Ziuderdam. Acually, we cruised May 20 - 27. The reason was because Memorial Day was the 29th and we wanted the extra time to go to Victoria without taking more vacation time off. By going early the week before, spending time in Vancouver, cruising and then spending time in Victoria, we ended up with a 13 day vacation and only taking 8 vacation days off. We also liked the idea of fewer little people because school was not yet out.
We were taking on chance on weather (rains) but we checked Weatherbase http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/s...;s=&refer= to find averages. As it turned out, our weather was perfect.
Good luck on your cruise!
Jun 26th, 2006, 04:54 AM
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Tiffy
The ship is fine. IMO not a five star but a good solid three. The staff is great. and the food is very, very good. The portions are not huge so you can order an appetizer (which are great) soup or salad (or in my husbands case, both ) and an entree and not be stuffed. We truly enjoyed all our meals with wonderful server's and tablemates.
There are two formal nights. I took a dressy black pant suit, wore it both nights with a different top. DH took a dark suit. The other nights I wore slacks and cotton sweaters and DH wore dockers and cotton sweaters or button down shirts. There is a laundry on board and we found them reasonable in price. There is a bag in your room and you can stuff it with clothes. Anything you can get in there will be washed for $12.00 a bag. There is a little clothesline in your shower that can be pulled and attached to the other side of the shower. We washed out our underwear daily and hung them up. Because of the low humidity, they dried everyday. We had very little dirty clothing to bring home. The best piece of clothing we both took was our cotton lined nylon jackets. They so not take up a lot of space and are lightweight if carried and keep you warm if rainey or windy.
We did not take swim suits but the pool has a roof and people seemed to be enjoying it and the hot tub.
Also, we like to have cocktails in our room at night so we purchased volka at one of the bars to keep in our room. Price was not bad considering...I think 36.00.
Have a great time!
The ship is fine. IMO not a five star but a good solid three. The staff is great. and the food is very, very good. The portions are not huge so you can order an appetizer (which are great) soup or salad (or in my husbands case, both ) and an entree and not be stuffed. We truly enjoyed all our meals with wonderful server's and tablemates.
There are two formal nights. I took a dressy black pant suit, wore it both nights with a different top. DH took a dark suit. The other nights I wore slacks and cotton sweaters and DH wore dockers and cotton sweaters or button down shirts. There is a laundry on board and we found them reasonable in price. There is a bag in your room and you can stuff it with clothes. Anything you can get in there will be washed for $12.00 a bag. There is a little clothesline in your shower that can be pulled and attached to the other side of the shower. We washed out our underwear daily and hung them up. Because of the low humidity, they dried everyday. We had very little dirty clothing to bring home. The best piece of clothing we both took was our cotton lined nylon jackets. They so not take up a lot of space and are lightweight if carried and keep you warm if rainey or windy.
We did not take swim suits but the pool has a roof and people seemed to be enjoying it and the hot tub.
Also, we like to have cocktails in our room at night so we purchased volka at one of the bars to keep in our room. Price was not bad considering...I think 36.00.
Have a great time!
Jun 27th, 2006, 04:01 AM
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Probably because my expectations for Holland were so high. We had never sailed Holland before and everything I read or heard seemed to point at the best....and the Zuiderdam is only 4yrs old so I was expecting 'posh' and sparkle. You know, the Ritz instead of the Sheraton? AND...there was a stain on our carpet floor, and one of our chairs on our balcony had a hole in it. picky,picky,picky. It is a fine ship, Like I said, a Sheraton IMO.
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