Glacier Bay
It rained as we headed towards Whittier from Anchorage for the 7-day cruising leg of our Alaska adventure on board Holland America's Zaandam. This was our first cruise on an ocean liner and we were both very excited.
Luxurious Ambience
We were delighted with our choice - luxurious ambience everywhere we looked. The Atrium was simply stunning with a 3-storey high ceramic organ around which a very wide staircase with gorgeous banisters winded.
Lido Deck - Sky Deck - Crows Nest
We had breakfast at the Lido Deck every morning - lots of delicious choices. We didn't use the Sky Deck much as it was very windy on the top deck and neither of us enjoy sunbathing. We enjoyed Crows Nest though which is an Observation Deck by day and a discotheque by night.
Formal Night
Tom and I decked out for the 1st formal night. It felt great to really dress up and saunter around checking out fellow passengers. We held our own.
Samba at Sea
Zaandam's dancers taught a couple of dance classes during the 7-day cruise. One of the more memorable ones was Samba. It was a neat routine but too difficult to learn in a single session.
Glacier Bay
It was a very cloudy morning as we sailed into Glacier Bay. The weather had been rough the night before crossing the Bay of Alaska from Anchorage. Luckily the clouds thinned out as we neared the tidewater glaciers.
Marjorie Glacier Calving
I had gone to mass that morning to pray for good weather and that Tom and I be blessed with seeing a tidewater glacier calving. This was probably our once and only chance of a lifetime to see massive walls of ice break off a glacier to crash into the ocean.
2nd Marjorie Glacier Calving
We were doubly blessed. We were treated to a 2nd massive tidewater glacier calving a short time after the initial calving.
Haines
The next port of call after we left Glacier Bay was Haines, a quaint fishing town. Zaandam's passengers doubled its population that day! Natives welcomed us with song and dance.
Our next major port of call was Alaska's capital city of Juneau.
afternoon. We had rented a car prior to leaving home.
Zaandam was docked there for the day and scheduled in the early