Description
Cruising Alaska is a truly memorable travel experience and encompasses awe-inspiring tales from history and days filled with breathtaking glaciers, deep fjords and dense forests. Your journey through the inside passage will leave you with amazing memories and fascinating stories to take back home with you.
Your premium-class Alaskan cruise will be on Holland America Line's Ryndam, featuring art and artefacts from the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. Guests aboard this spacious ship encounter elegance at every turn - from a string quartet serenade in the splendid Rotterdam Dining Room to the 2-deck Vermeer Show Lounge. At the heart of the Ryndam is a 3-storey atrium. And with a gracious and unobtrusive crew, the superior service that is signature of Holland America Line is never far away.
Eats and Drinks
The Rotterdam Dining Room, Pinnacle Grill, Lido Buffet, Explorations Café, The Crow's Nest bar, Terrace Grill, Neptune Lounge, Dolphin Bar and Ocean Bar.
Entertainment
Vermeer Show Lounge, Culinary Arts Centre.
Fun and Games
2 swimming pools. Greenhouse Spa & Salon with thermal suites and thalassotherapy pool, fitness suite, casino, Club HAL kids' club (3-12 years), The Loft and The Oasis teen area, library, wine-tasting room. Tennis and basketball courts.
Staterooms
633 air-conditioned Staterooms with shower room and TV. Large Inside Staterooms (category K) have twin beds that can covert into a queen-size bed.
Stateroom Upgrades
Large Ocean View Staterooms - same layout as Inside Staterooms but with bathtub, shower and large viewing window. Verandah Suites - 2 beds that convert to a queen-size bed. Whirlpool bath and shower, sitting area, private veranda, mini-bar, fridge and floor-to-ceiling windows.
Itinerary and Sail Dates 2008
Wed: Vancouver, British Columbia
5.00pm: Leaving the delights of Vancouver behind, you embark on this fantastic cruise ship. Now is the time to explore the facilities on board or sit back and enjoy a cocktail at the piano bar.
Thu: Scenic Cruising - Inside Passage
Gliding through the beautiful inside passage, 1,000 miles in length. You will be heading deeper into one of nature's most isolated monuments, some of which are accessible only by sea and air.
Fri: Scenic Cruising - Sawyer Glaciers*
2.00pm: Arrive at Juneau, Alaska's scenic capital featuring colonial architecture and its very own glaciers.
Sat: Skagway Alaska
7.00pm: If you close your eyes and use your imagination, you can almost hear the tinkle of the saloon, the piano and the arguing at the poker table. Take your time and look into every little store, from Lynch & Kennedy's Dry Goods to the Red Onion Saloon. Depart 9.00pm.
Sun: Glacier Bay National Park
7.00am: How does it feel when a monumental chunk of ice splits off a glacier and crashes into the sea? The sound is like thunder. The impact shoots water hundreds of feet into the air. You hold your breath as you catch the moment on film. Glacier Bay has more actively calving tidewater glaciers than anywhere else in the world. Depart 4.00pm.
Mon: Ketchikan, Alaska
10.00am: This morning you arrive at Ketchikan. Take an authentic seaplane from Ketchikan over the Tongas National Forest, encompassing the vast Misty Fjords National Monument. Depart 6.00pm.
Tue: Scenic Cruising, Inside Passage
Now it's time to head back through the inside passage on the last full day of your cruise. Sit back and enjoy the wilderness; you may even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of sea lions, soaring eagles or even moose, deer or bear foraging on the shoreline.
Wed: Vancouver
7.00am: Arrive back in Vancouver at the end of your amazing journey.
*Conditions permitting
Stay and Cruise Options
Why not make the most of your cruise to Alaska and combine this with a rail tour through the Rockies before your cruise. The Western Rail Explorer begins in Calgary and you will be taken through the Canadian Rockies visiting the must-see attractions, including Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Kamloops, then finally arriving in Vancouver for 2 nights. Full details of the rail tour can be found within our main Cruise brochure.