Alaska Noordam Holland America - May 11 - 25, 2025
This was out third year in a row taking a cruise to Alaska. This time we picked Noordam of Holland America Cruiseline mainly because they were leaving from Vancouver, more convenient for us. We also chose a different month of the year, basically the beginning of the cruise season to Alaska. This year we booked two full weeks but later on board we found out that are actually two one week back-to-back cruises, one ending in Whittier and the second one starting from there. This fact came with pluses and minuses.
The embarkation process in Vancouver was very smooth and faster than previous years
Being budget travelers, we went for an inside room. The room was smaller than our past cruises but other than sleeping we don't spend time here so it was fine. The room was very clean, serviced twice a day
The Noordam ship, built in 2006 in Italy, was well maintained, it looked very fresh, modern with some classic touches
First stop was Ketchikan. We've been here before but we still enjoyed strolling for a few hours through the city. This time of the year was too early for salmon season.
Next was Juneau, the capital city of Alaska. This time here, beside the usual spots we explored before, we visited Cope Park
Skagway is our favorite stop in Alaska, it was two years ago when we were here last time so we really missed the place. Skagway is so rich in history, the beginning of the Gold Rush is preserved so well to this day, with long wooden boardwalks, historic buildings, shops and so much more. We also did a little hiking to Yakutania Point, Smuggler's Cove and Pet Cemetery trail.
The last port of call and first time for us to be there, was Whittier. The town is very small, most of its population of under 300 people live in one building, Begich Towers also nicknamed "town under one roof". Not much you can do in Whittier but it is quite an important junction for trains and cruise ships. Here most of the passengers from our ship disembarked and continued their journey by train. They were replaced by people mainly returning from trips to Denali National Park.
One of the main attractions during an Alaska cruise are the glaciers. Glacier Bay looked colder this early in the cruise season, bigger chunks of ice floating nearby (to be officially called icebergs they need to meet certain size criteria)
For the first time we visited College Fjord where you can see from one place five glaciers reaching the water. All five glaciers are named after elite East Coast colleges.
It was also the first time for us to see the mighty Hubbard Glacier Alaska, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. It is over 11 km (7miles) wide, more than 122km (76 miles) long and 182 meter (600 feet) overall height (above the water surface 100+ meters /350 feet)
We found out that wildlife at this time of the year is not as present as on previous cruises. The hungry whales are just arriving from the warm Hawaiian waters, harbor seals are not that present but of course we could spot many cute Northern Sea Otters. It is also difficult to catch wildlife on camera, many times we have seen amazing displays but by the time we grabbed our cameras, it was too late. Still, we managed to see some interesting animals, for the first time mountain goats, a colony of sea lions and a pair of harlequin ducks
The daily shows at the World Stage theatre were very good quality with various subjects. During the first week we attended all of them. We just skipped the repeats on the second week. Also interesting were the cooking show with the ship's master chef and nature shows presented by the onboard marine biologist.
Orange Party is one tradition kept from the time the company was Dutch owned. The suggested rules were to wear anything orange and be ready to have a lot of fun. At the party was present all ship management team including the Captain, they mingled among the guests and very friendly answer any question asked.
The food served onboard was very delicious, of wide variety and plentiful. There was a daily themed menu at the Lido Market buffet where we actually always had our meals. We had access to the Dinner Room where you were served the food from a menu at the table but Lido was more convenient for us. Included was also the Dive-In snack bar where they served burgers, hot dogs and the best fries on the ship.
Compared with our previous cruises, on Noordam Lido buffet the food was served mainly by the staff behind the counters, most likely done for sanitary reasons.
Worth mentioning was the "Cake Me Away" event at Lido market, once a week a display of amazing cakes which of course you could also eat. A nice "secret event" was "Chocolate Surprise", again once a week, when late in the evening on Deck 2 were served a variety of chocolates and sweet treats.
All in all the Noordam Holland America cruise was a great experience. We participated in countless fun trivia games, dance lessons, tai chi initiation, raffles and so many other memorable events. We might be back in the near future
