This is our ship, the "Westerdam" berthed at Canada Place in Vancouver.
In August of 2001, my friend Marie Rose and I took a short cruise along the west-coast of Canada, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Skagway, Alaska, U.S.A. From there we took a MotorCoach tour to the city of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory of Canada and from there flew back to Vancouver. The tour is operated by Holland-America lines (http://www.hollandamerica.com) and our travel agent is Uniglobe. (http://www.uniglobetotaltravel.com) The ship we were on is the "Westerdam".
For those who might be interested in trying a cruise like this, the costs were (for the two of us):
Fare: C$2,083.10
"Professional Fee" (?) C$40
GST $2.80 (Canada's infamous "Gouge and Screw Tax" of 7%; since then it dropped to 6%)
Taxes and Service Charge C$56.80
This is the total cost for the 2 of us, guaranteed outside cabin, for the 4-day cruise. It includes the flight back from Whitehorse to Vancouver. We were actually onboard the ship for less than 3 days; the rest of the tour consisted of the overland trip to Whitehorse and the flight back to Vancouver.
Incidentally, Marie Rose took a cruise in the Caribbean later, on a different cruise line. She tells me that there is no comparison between Holland-America and that other line. Holland-America was 100% better in every respect. We both would highly recommend H.A. to anyone but she would never recommend that "other" line. We won't mention its name.
With my Sony Mavica FD97 digital camera I took plenty of pictures and here are some of them.
This is our ship, the "Westerdam" berthed at Canada Place in Vancouver.
This is the view from the ship, of Vancouver.
Lion's Gate Bridge at Vancouver
The food was fantastic AND artistic.
a peaceful ocean view
This northbound barge, towed by a tug, had an incredible load on. Note the schoolbus.
At times the view was fantastic.
The tugboat operator was not rushed so he entertained us with some fancy "footwork" or was it "tugwork?"
We took in some shows on the ship. Don Sherman came aboard at Juneau and had us rolling in the isles with laughter. DON'T miss him if you go!
There were no extra charges/fees for any of these shows.
Juneau, Alaska. A real DUMP as far as we were concerned. Clearly the people who live there have absolutely no interest in making their town look inviting.
There were two other cruise ships traveling the same route as we were. Here is one of them, at Juneau.
I got up early and it was very chilly but I *had to* get pictures of the sun rising.
There were two pools; this one has a retractable roof. There was a hot tub behind it.
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The starboard side of the ship.
Some of the thousands of little islands along the British Columbia coast.
The town of Skagway, Alaska. You can see one of the 3 cruise ships at the end of the main street.
The coach which took us overland to Whitehorse, Yukon.
We can honestly say that the trip was great. Holland-America has done fine job. Their show runs like a well-oiled machine. They've covered all the bases. Even when they have to deal with idiots such as I, who leave all their documents in their suitcase, leaving them with no traveling papers.
The weather was fantastic, but we're told that this is rare. We left on August 9, 2001. They have fine-tuned their system to part you with your money. Have not missed a trick. They constantly encourage you to buy drinks etc. They take your picture and try to sell you that. They have lots of shops on the ship. We decided that we had spent enough and were not going to spend any more. You are encouraged to go to their "front office" and give them a signed credit card statement so that you can charge all your purchases to your credit card on the cruise. I guess this way people tend to spend more. We did not register our credit card and bought nothing aboard the ship.
One thing, In My Humble Opinion, could be improved. I like a can of Pepsi once in awhile. Here at home I buy a 12-pack for C$3.67 which is about 20 cents U.S. per can. On the ship, the only way you can get a can is to pay thru the nose. They had a "special" on: US$17.75 for 14 cans or $1.27 per can!! I simply refused to let them rip me off that way. Seems to me they should either provide soft drinks free or at, say, US$0.25 per can. HEY, HOLLAND-AMERICA... are you listening?
The ship had approximately 1,500 passengers and 600 crew. Most of the crew were Indonesian and most of them spoke such broken English that it was difficult to communicate with them. BUT they did a wonderful job and had an excellent attitude. Warning: If you get up in the middle of the night to use the washroom, don't be surprised if you come back to find your bed made AGAIN. All the "important" crew members were Dutchmen. The little chocolate on your pillow every morning is a cute touch. So is the bowl of fruit; even if the pear is too green to eat.
We had hoped to see some Bald Eagles and Humpback Wales (as Don Sherman would add, "Sounds like a hospital for sick animals.") but all we saw were whales so distant that they looked like miniatures. There were a lot of "beached whales" on the ship but that's another story.
Expect to be swamped with papers. Most are trying to sell you something; others are important. There was so much of it that at one point I said I'd never do this again; there just is no time to study all the stuff they pile on you.
I wonder how much Holland-America is paying Canada for the rights to ply their trade in Canadian waters. I wonder too, how much Skagway and Juneau pay the cruise lines to stop in and get a crack at the tourists' wallets.
Some people are not tooooooooooo swift:
These are true stories from someone who works on a cruise ship.
