The Air Crossroads of the World sign just outside the visitors’ center in Anchorage, Alaska. ANC is a stopping point for many longhaul flights.
Travel Tuesday Photo: Air Crossroads of the World Sign
Categories: Alaska, North America, Picture of the Week, United States
Tags: Alaska, Anchorage, Picture of the Week, Travel Tuesday Photo
Leave a comment
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
I knew nothing about Prince Rupert, British Columbia before our stop here, but it was another perfectly delightful little port town. We were in port from about 7 AM until 4:30 PM and the town is not that big, so we had a leisurely morning before disembarking. It was quite foggy early in the day but by 11:30 or so the fog had lifted and we had an amazingly sunny afternoon.
Categories: British Columbia, Canada, Cruises, Holland America, North America, Trip Report
Tags: British Columbia, Canada, Cruise, Marina, Ocean Cruise, Prince Rupert, Trip Report
Leave a comment
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
After a busy day in Juneau, our time in Ketchikan was much more relaxed. For one, the ship didn’t reach port until late morning and we decided to let all those who needed to rush off get out of our way before we disembarked ourselves. So it was nearly noon before we left the ship.
Ketchikan is quite picturesque with colorful buildings in the downtown and historic districts as well as the expected marina areas. It’s known as the Salmon Capital of the World and has the street sign to prove it.
Categories: Alaska, Cruises, Holland America, North America, Trip Report, United States
Tags: Alaska, Creek Street, Cruise, Holland America, Ketchikan, Ocean Cruise, Salmon, Totem Poles, Trip Report
Leave a comment
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
Juneau was the only port where we had booked a shore excursion. The ship docks right in the city so you can walk right off the boat and into town. One of the most popular attractions is the Mt. Roberts Tramway which is a cable car that departs from the city street nearly straight up the mountain and offers great views. Unfortunately, the tram was down for repairs during our visit.
We had booked our excursion using the same company we did for our cruise, and snagged a 10% discount on an excursion that included whale watching and a visit to Mendenhall Glacier.
Continue reading
Categories: Alaska, Cruises, Holland America, North America, Trip Report, United States
Tags: Alaska, Cruise, Glacier, Grey Whale, Holland America, Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier, Ocean Cruise, Trip Report, Whale Watching
Leave a comment
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
Valdez was the prettiest port on our cruise. When we arrived, the ship couldn’t even send any tenders out because the fog (or cloud) was so thick. But once the fog burned off, oh my goodness, was it gorgeous. My photos don’t do it justice.
Categories: Alaska, Cruises, Holland America, North America, Trip Report, United States
Tags: Alaska, Cruise, Holland America, Ocean Cruise, Trip Report, Valdez
Leave a comment
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
Anchorage is a much larger city than Kodiak and we were blessed with great weather for the second day in a row. While we did not have to use the tenders to leave the ship, we were docked in an industrial area so there were motorcoaches waiting to drive us downtown to the convention center.
Our first stop was the visitors’ center which allows you to fill out post cards for free and they’ll mail them for you (within the US). We sent several to friends and family. I loved this Air Crossroads sign outside!
Categories: Alaska, Cruises, Holland America, North America, Trip Report, United States
Tags: Alaska, Anchorage, Cruise, Holland America, Mushing District, Ocean Cruise, Street Art
Leave a comment
Travel Tuesday Photo: A Lionfish in New Orleans
A lionfish at the Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans, Louisiana
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
Our first port of call was the town of Kodiak, Alaska. It’s a small town of around 5,500 people at the last census and is one of seven communities on Kodiak Island. Our ship anchored out in Saint Paul Harbor and we had to take tenders to reach the town. If you are mobility-challenged and cannot stand long enough to step from the ship’s dock to the tender, you will not be able to visit any port where tenders are required. We saw a number of people with rolling walkers, and that worked fine, but motorized scooters did not make it aboard the tender.
Our first stop was the Kodiak National Wildlife Visitors Center. You can start your visit there with a short film about the area and then visit the exhibits. The lower level has details about the brown bears in the area.
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
This installment took the longest to write because the ship is just so big I hardly know where to start. So feel free to scroll down through the photos if that’s what you want to do.
The Holland America Line (HAL) ms Noordam was originally launched in 2006, making the ship 20 years old. It underwent a significant remodeling in 2024 and, from the parts of the ship I visited, still felt fairly fresh, even two years later. It has 11 decks and a capacity of 1916 passengers and has a crew of about 800. This ship sails Alaska and the Pacific Northwest during the northern hemisphere summers before heading down south to Australia and New Zealand for the northern hemisphere winter.
It has five dining venues, eight bars/lounges, six shopping venues, and 19 activities venues – so there’s always something to do on board! There are eleven passenger-accessible decks as well as Deck A, which is below Deck 1. This is a strictly utilitarian deck. The only time we were ever on it was as we were boarding or leaving the ship as the gangway location varied depending on tides and port facilities.
The ship offers 986 staterooms ranging from inside cabins, ocean view cabins, and balcony cabins to 162 full-on suites.
I’ll have more detail on the individual decks below. Continue reading
Categories: Cruises, Holland America, Ship Review, Trip Report
Tags: Cruise, Holland America, ms Noordam, Ocean Cruise, Ship Review
Leave a comment
Our Time in Seattle
Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
I hadn’t done any real planning for things to see in Seattle other than asking AI to give me some suggestions of things to photograph. I knew that we’d be sleeping in since we arrived so late and that proved to be the case.
It was a gloomy morning when we set out and I decided to wear jeans instead of the shorts I’d packed – a decision I came to regret. Later in the day it was sunny and gorgeous and I was hot. Live and learn. Here are some things we saw while exploring the city.
The Troll Under the Bridge
My roomie on this trip loves to find the off-beat tourist things and she read about the Troll Under the Bridge, so naturally we had to hunt it down.
The Fremont Troll
Not only did we find that, we also found the three Billy Goats Gruff!
Continue reading
Categories: Award Travel, North America, Trip Report, United States, Washington
Tags: Fremont Troll, Photo Essay, Pike Place Market, Seattle, Space Needle, Trip Report, Troll, Washington
Leave a comment
Recent Comments