Our Alaskan Cruise

There are some strong words being spoken at this year’s Cruise Shipping Miami convention. Holland America CEO Stein Kruse has expressed his dissatisfaction with the mounting taxes, fees and regulations that Alaska is piling onto the cruise ships.

Holland America, based in Seattle, is warning the state that the cruise industry will continue to pull ships out of the region in the face of what Kruse is calling the the heaviest costs and regulations of any destination.

Some examples of these are:

• A $46-a-person tax on cruisers
• Taxes on shipboard casino earnings
• New environmental regulations.

It has been said that in some ports a ship cannot take on fresh water because that fresh water supply from these Alaskan ports exceeds the maximum copper content for waste water in Alaskan cruise waters!

Many lines are removing ships from the Alaskan routes and it is forecasted that Alaska will see its first decline in cruise visitors in 30 years. Year over year, cruise travel is down 17%. Alaska Travel Industry Association president Ron Peck says 140,000 fewer visitors.

Despite the trouble the cruise lines are having with Alaska, the other side of the coin is that these regulations, fees and taxes are for the best interest of the State of Alaska and preserving its natural beauty. This tug-of-war between cruise line profits and environmental protection may be pulling at the travelers themselves.

The good news for potential cruise visitors is that “value” is the new industry mantra this year according to Kevin Sheehan, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines. However, the 10 to 20 percent discounts of 2009 may be fading fast as the word at the Cruise Shipping Miami convention is that the industry will be sailing clear of the woes of the last two years by Fall and with it prices will climb back up.

We would recommend planning for your Alaskan Cruise soon to take advantage of current pricing and before the cost of compliance with new regulations begins to filter down to your ticket prices.

The ms Veendam has a passenger capacity of 1350 guests, housing an additional 580 staff. In comparison to many other cruise lines, we were looking at being in a relatively private environment. We didn’t encounter long lines at the buffet, crowded elevators, packed amenities.. it was really quite nice. The ship itself was dedicated in 1996, by actress Debbie Reynolds, but was very current in its services, facilities and furnishings. The gorgeous wood decks gave it the historic feel true to a established cruise ship.

We flew out of Chicago early in the morning on Friday, August 8^th. After a very quick layover in Seattle, we were in Vancouver waiting for our next direction. After we had landed we were directed to a separate area in customs for cruise passengers and it was very relieving to soon realize that we were being directed to a much smaller group of travelers than many of the cruise partitions. It already gave our trip a personal feel.

Being bussed through Vancouver to the harbor was already the beginning of our vacation. We no longer felt like we were still on the journey to get there, but our cruise hosts were giving us a “tour” of Vancouver. We truly appreciated the narration as we traveled through the city, it was a beautiful day and actually made us question why we had never visited Vancouver before.

Once we arrived at the dock, we were very quickly escorted to the ship, no worries about our luggage as we knew that our bags would meet us in our suite. We boarded the ship, received an introduction to our “cozy” room and started to explore the rest of the ms Veendam on our own.

As we pulled out of Vancouver, we truly were lucky to enjoy warmer temps, sunny skies and a few well made cocktails on the deck. We ended our afternoon in the ships Crow’s Nest for free appetizers, mojitos and some quiet time. We were able to breathe, enjoyed each other and the spectacular scenery.

As you’ll see throughout the blog, the shores of Alaska are mainly untouched, only the landscape and its natural inhabitants to take in. The waters were full as well, with occasional whales, seals sitting on buoys and white capped waves hitting the ship.

My husband and I are travelers by nature. Not ones who like to follow the beaten path, but we like to set our own goals and timelines. We would never have guessed our travel plans could ever include a trip on a cruise line, but after several months of researching our desires, our financial limits and our time constraints through work, we determined a cruise would be the best way to experience Alaska.

We were interested in the culture of Alaska current, the history of the people, but mostly the sites and sounds of Alaska’s frontier. We both enjoy our visits to warm beaches, don’t misunderstand, but something about seeing a new great mountain range, calving glaciers, rainforests in the northern hemisphere, peaceful fiords really had us excited. We also couldn’t wait to try the fresh ocean-side cuisine. Alaska isn’t an easy land to travel via car. Getting to many cities can only be accomplished via boat or plane. We wanted to best orientate ourselves along but knew without an unlimited budget and over a month of time, we would never see everything on our list.

Once we started getting serious about our plans, we contacted a travel agent who had helped us with a few trips in the past, including our unbelievable honeymoon to South Africa Our travel agent works with executive clients out of Manhattan, helping to plan their dream vacations. She and her husband travel frequently themselves and we knew they would be best suited to help us put our ideal cruise together.

She suggested a few lines based on our desire to find a line without the masses of people or preplanned itineraries. We wanted to come and go as we pleased, eat what we pleased and enjoy a few quiet nights on the deck of the ship. We ultimately selected Holland America Lines and were very pleased with the results, as you’ll learn through the continuation of this blog. We also scheduled several on-shore excursions through the cruise line and ended our journey with two days on our own in Denali.