In which Layla and Roz cruise to Alaska!

By Layla

We stepped aboard the Holland America Zaandam cruise ship in Vancouver with much trepidation: would we love this cruise as much as we had loved our Trans-Atlantic voyage on the Cunard’s Queen Mary? And if we did… did that mean we were officially ‘cruise people’? As intrepid adventurers in obscure and quirky lands, this felt like an identity transition we were not quite ready to embrace…

Our room on the Zaandam was small but comfortable with a porthole, comfy bed, little seating area and en suite bathroom. We duly unpacked and mused that with the exception of having been too mean to pay for a balcony this time, so far, very much like the Queen Mary. We went up to one of the outside decks for the farewell to Vancouver ‘sail away party’ and while there were certainly seats and sun and prosecco… We regretted the absence of a Cunard live band and a general enthusiasm for waving little flags.  Still, it was lovely sipping bubbles and watching Vancouver recede and enjoying our first taste of something that our Trans-Atlantic journey had lacked: scenery! Amazing hills and waterfalls and beauty.

That night we dined in the boat’s restaurant, with a festive atmosphere, attentive waiters, and the major perk of looking out over the back of the boat with beautiful mountains in every direction. The scenery in this part of the world is outstanding! We watched a random screening of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, then went to a pleasant welcome show of singers and dancers: a very cheery first night at sea. We finished by watching a trashy film about lesbians on our cabin television (and were astonished to find that there exists a lesbian film that we’ve not already seen).

The next day was an at-sea day, and since every day on the Queen Mary had been one of those, we thought we knew what to expect. Alas there was very much less to do in terms of 'enrichment' talks on this boat (other than talks about the flora and fauna of Alaska).  But there was an excellent library/lounge room ‘sponsored by the New York Times’ apparently, so we settled down with our books – and Scrabble. And Jenga. We punctuated our relaxation with an excellent salad for lunch (and multiple desserts, that are better not mentioned), and afternoon tea (pleasant but not a patch on the pomp and circumstance of the Queen Mary!). Roz went on a run. I went to an art auction. We walked round the pretty promenade. We had dinner. And we went to a cheery comedy show. When we headed to bed, we were surprised and charmed by what is clearly a special feature of the Holland America line: a towel dog on our bed, the first of several different animals that would greet us that week, intricately folded out of towels, and awaiting us alongside our bedtime chocolate.

A novelty in our cruising career the next day: our first ever stop! It was Ketchikan, Alaska, known as Alaska’s first city as it’s the first place all the cruise ships visit. Sure enough, the pretty little town/village had a strong concentration of jewellery shops, fur shops, and other things that tourists like to buy. We staunchly avoided these and instead headed up and out of town in search of the Rainbird trail, a beautiful, quiet little hike along the side of a mountain that had clearly not tempted our fellow cruise ship passengers. It was foresty and lovely. Afterwards we popped out at the Ketchikan campus of Alaska University, and walked down to a little mall that had a Starbucks that boasted, thrillingly, free wifi. We checked our emails for the first time in days and I was cheery to receive an offer to write for an online publication in Japan. Afterwards we followed a walking tour map all around town, along pretty Creek Street, once a red light district and now all pretty wooden boardwalks and old houses on stilts above a creek; along said creek to see salmon ladders and watch salmon trying to swim upstream (quite a sight: they make a lot of effort!), and into an outstanding bookshop. We finished by buying a US SIM card and were back on board in time for a late lunch and soon it was time to set sail. It was a formal gala night. We were deeply unimpressed to find most people thought that jeans and sweaters were gala wear... this is definitely a casual ship. But no matter: after dinner we enjoyed a rather entertaining comedian/magician. And so to bed – and a towel crab.

Another stop the next day: Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Intriguingly it’s America’s only capital city that is not accessible by any road: only by plane or boat! It was raining in the morning so since we were moored there til the evening, we lingered over breakfast, and had an early lunch on board before the clouds started to clear a little and we stepped off the boat. Pleasant things about visiting Alaska by cruiseship: they dock pretty much in the centre of town, so it’s like staying in an extremely convenient hotel; it is really speedy to get on and off; you can pop back for a free meal or snack or to change your clothes without any hassle; and since everyone in town knows you are going to want to explore, as soon as you step off, the visitors’ centre and various tour operators are all standing conveniently to attention. This meant that we were able to buy tickets for the Glacier Express shuttle bus within 10 metres of our boat, and get on it just around the corner. It drove us half an hour along the coast (where we saw bald eagles – our only wildlife sighting other than the salmon) to the Mendenhall Glacier, a really beautiful and impressive national park whose jewel is the eponymous glacier, which is an amazing sight. It is huge and white with sections that look bright blue, looming over a glacier lake. We hiked out to a big waterfall next to the glacier, then went off the beaten track to another hike… but there were apparently lots of bears and despite (or perhaps because of) my loud singing of Christmas songs and songs from the musicals, we lost our nerve and headed down to a more peopled trail. Despite our silly (or maybe not silly) terror, the park had fabulous walking and scenery – a major highlight of our Alaska trip so far. Afterwards we headed back into town and to another great bookshop – who knew that Alaska would be so excellent for bookshops? And then to a café for some tea and a read before heading back to the ship to get ready for dinner. We finished the evening at the ballroom dancing area which, oh dear, must stop comparing to the Queen Mary, was done in a bar opposite the casino, and was thus less charming – and there were only a couple of dancers on the dancefloor – many wearing, dare I say it, trainers rather than dancing shoes! But it was nice, and Roz and I even got up to do a little dance. That night: a towel walrus.

Our third stop, the following day, was Skagway, which is famous for its role in the gold rush. In particular, it has a lovely narrow gauge train that winds its way deep into the mountains and was once used by people heading to claim their gold. We decided that much as we had til now avoided expensive tours, we did love trains and this was probably the time to invest. And so we were up bright and early and by 8am we had boarded the White Pass train. The following 90 minutes were incredibly scenic and lovely. We climbed and climbed through the hills, right up past the tree line – the place where it’s too high for trees to grow. It was interesting to see the trees getting shorter and shorter as we ascended. When we got out, not only were we in the clouds, we were also in Canada! Excitingly that journey had only been the first half of our tour. For the second half, we hopped in a van for 10 minutes, got out, were given bikes, and for the next two hours we cycled down the mountain, all the way back into town! It was quite exciting to zoom out through the clouds and past waterfalls and wild flowers and across bridges and even seeing the train in the distance as we descended. Plus it was quite weird going through customs to get back into the US – our first customs approach by bicycle! Much fun.

We returned to the ship for lunch, then donned hiking boots and headed out on what turned out to be quite a substantial hike into the hills and then around a beautiful lake, and finally down to the few streets that comprise the attractive little town of Skagway – the special feature being wooden pavements/sidewalks. Intriguing to imagine that the winter population is just 500 people! We finished off with tea in a cute local bakery before heading back to the boat, totally exhausted, for dinner, a little ballroom dancing, and bed. And a terrifying but impressive towel rabbit.

The following day was a much-anticipated highlight of most cruises in Alaska: Glacier Bay. This is a national park area filled with, well, glaciers, and excitingly, the turquoise water is filled with little floating mini-icebergs. We spent most of the day watching the scenery and reading our books while a ranger from the National Park, who had hopped aboard, told us useful things. In a typical McCampion fashion, we failed to see any wildlife, but the glaciers were amazing and the scenery all day was fantastic - really exciting to see. Another gala night that evening (and again people were unimpressively dressed). After dinner there was supposed to be a LGBT social meeting, but we were the only ones who turned up! So we went to another comedy magic show instead and were, as ever, deeply impressed by parlour magic. We both had developed sore stomachs so after the show, and a little evening Scrabble, we headed to bed. Hanging from a hanger attached to the ceiling: a deeply impressive towel monkey!

Today is our last full day on the ship and it is to be spent on the open sea. Mist has descended so there is very little to see – if there are still pretty mountains nearby, I cannot tell. The ship is also, for the first time, swaying a bit and we are vigorously trying to not feel unwell! Not many activities today, so it is to be a quiet day of eating, reading, writing, and bracing ourselves for our arrival at Seward tomorrow morning – and having to get off the ship after a very relaxing week of not having to think about how to get around, where to eat, where to stay, or whether we’ve packed everything.

So after all that, what do I think of Holland America versus Cunard? I liked Cunard more, mainly because of their more intelligent program of talks, shows and activities that interested me, the more glamorous, sophisticated and romantic vibe including people dressing up properly in black tie, the fancy afternoon tea, and the proper ballroom dancing, better food, and not ever really having to see the casino or tacky shops when moving around the ship. However, Holland America provided excellent lunchtime salads, a better lounge area, and towels folded into animals… and both had a pretty similar promenade and various outside areas. What was interesting, or shameful, depending on your perspective, is that I had an absolutely delightful time. I’d probably rather be on a Cunard ship – but for Alaska in particular, the scenery and hiking were the stars of this holiday, and it’s been lovely.