Holland America Cruise 08/23/10 through 09/06/10

Check out the summary which is the last posting. Images are inserted from first to last for each article. Page down to skip the text just to view the images. We have extensive editing yet to do on our journal for next few weeks. Images are inserted in front of each article topic and above each image is a brief description.
NOTE: Except for the map and ship, you can click on any image for a larger view.

We have examined and selected the "story telling" images that are samples of all photos taken. As we examine images from the larger collection, we will upload them to a photo sharing site and announce the posting here. Glaciers and flowers were the main attractions at the ports. It is almost worth the trip to see the flowers in Alaska. The glacier's are awesome to say the least.

Of the places we visited, the town of Sitka was our favorite. The best view of a glacier was in Juneau. Homer was keen for fisherman, but not for tourists.

A side note:
We learned that many shop owners and those making a living from the tourist are "snowbirds" that move to the lower 48 in the winter, although some of the coastal towns do not get as cold as we might think.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Journal of activities Alaska Cruise 8/21/10 -- 9/8/10



Starting in Seattle

Our flight is scheduled start loading at 5:20 and depart from Austin at 5:50 pm on August 21, 1010. This direct flight is 4:20 hours in length and we selected 28C28D, both isle seats near the rear of the plane. We decided to ask for pick up by SupperShuttle at 2:15 with expectation of arriving at the ariport by 3:00 pm. The flight boards at 5:20, so we should have time to grab a sandwitch before going to the gate. We checked in with Alaska Air Line through it's web site about 6:00 pm on Friday to acquire our boarding passes and pre-pay for the luggage. The flight takes 4:20 minutes and our arrival time is 8:10 pm. We do not expect to get to the hotel until about 9:30. We made earlier arrangements to ship a box to the hotel rather and have four bags to keep track of. We asked the hotel if we could ship a box to arrive before our check in date and the hotel Concierge agreed to hold it for us.

We meet Holland America Representative to arrange transportation to Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University St. Seattle WA 98101 ph 206-821-1700.
We have a full free day on Sunday at Seattle and on Monday we board MS Amsterdam for our 14 day cruise, hopefully with 3 large bags, two carry ons and three extra smaller bags that will be filled from the contents of the box, which contains three collapsible
ags for this purpose.

Prior to departure we created links below for each port to show map location of sights of interest, weather, etc. , and will comment on each port the evening after visiting each one.

Monday boarding of MS Amsterdam:
Day 1, Tuesday 8/24 Inside Passage. Breakfast in Cabin



select ship
select interactive maps lower left
Select Alaska to zoom in on cruise ports
click on ports for more detail.


Ports of call

Day 2, Ketchikan, shore excursion city highlights.

Ketchikan Things to do



Ketchikan hotspots

Day 3 Sitka shore excurson colonial cultural




Day 4 Skagway downtown walk


Day 5 Glacier bay


Day 6 at SEA
Day 7 Anchorage ship's activities


Day 8 Homer shore excursion Russian culture


Day 9 Kodiak shore excursion Russian fisheries

Kodiak images



Day 10 Ship's activities

Day 11 Juneau shore excursion salmon bake
Juneau alaska

Day 13 Victoria BC
Victoria BC



Day 14 Seattle WA deboard
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