Enroute to Victoria, Canada

Day seven aboard the Oosterdam
We spent the whole day at sea aboard the Oosterdam enroute to Victoria.  Circumstances leaving Ketchikan and fog caused the ship to have a later arrival into Victoria.  The scheduled arrival time is 7:00pm, but we arrived at about 8:30pm.  Tours were cancelled, but passengers were fully refunded and offered free shuttle service into town.  The day at sea prior to arrival into Victoria allows passengers to enjoy all the activities, entertainment, dining and spa treatments Oosterdam has to offer.  During this cruise I enjoyed a fabulous massage by a skilled therapist.  I get a lot of massages both on cruises and when I'm at home and I was truly impressed with the skills and the technique offered by the therapist in the Greenhouse Spa & Salon.  An absolute must when cruising aboard the Oosterdam is dining in the Pinnacle Grill, which is one of the specialty restaurant aboard the ship and like a steakhouse experience.  Vista Dining Room is the main restaurant on the ship and offers very refined service and quality, so if you choose the Pinnacle, Canalleto's Italian restaurant, Terrace Grill or the Lido area are all great choices depending on your mood.

I was impressed with the musicians onboard the Oosterdam.  The shows are great,  musicians in the Ocean Bar play your favorite dance tunes and are fun to listen to.  I saw numerous activities and lectures around the ship, like a sport and nutrition expert, there was a multi-media trivia contest that was clever.  Days at sea are so full of activities and fun things to do, but on an Alaska cruise the scenery and ports are fantastic!  I think there is a rise in families taking their kids to Alaska, because of the fun excursions involving such adventures such as seeing wales, bears, and other wildlife, as well as things like helicopter rides and dog sledding.

Day Eight
I did not go into Victoria because I had been there in the past, and it was getting late, so I spent some time packing, relaxing, and preparing for disembarkation early the next morning in Seattle.  I think Holland America Line did a great job coordinating disembarkation.  Of course passengers put their large luggage outside their stateroom the night before arrival into Seattle, which is then distributed shoreside and organized by colors and numbers on your luggage tags.  The Port of Seattle is also a very unique cruise port because you can check your bags from the ship to the airport and you can even have your flight boarding pass printed out to make the transition from ship to shore, to airport and home again as smooth as possible.  I went on a shore excursion after disembarkation in Seattle, a tour of Seattle by bus, and a boat trip through some locks from a lake, back into the Port of Seattle.  The tour ended by taking us all to the airport.  It was seamless and convenient.

You can visit this link at our Cruising Authority website HERE to see all of the multi-media content from this Alaska cruise aboard the Oosterdam.  There's video, audio, photo albums, and more articles about this ship at that link, however; I'm posting this link before I have edited the videos so mark the page and visit often within the next couple of weeks to see more and more content posted.  

      

About Cruise Reality

It is a challenge to continually come up with new ideas and ways to keep our listeners and fans of Cruising Authority engaged and interested in what we are doing. We have almost reached a milestone with the Cruising Authority talkshow with nearly one hundred shows! It's June 16th and tomorrow my family will fly to Vancouver to board the luxurious Regent Seven Seas Mariner to Alaska. It's going to be an adventure and I'll be sure to keep you posted here on the blog to let you know how the cruise is coming along AND how Terri and I are doing with our "CHALLENGE". If you don't know about the "Challenge", watch the preview video on our website at http://www.cruisereality.com/

This is the Seven Seas Mariner in Alaska, it looks like a beautiful ship, and I can't wait to see the glaciers and the beauty of Alaska! I also can't wait to board this ship, which I have heard and read that she is a a classy ship. My family will also be in a Penthouse Suite...of course the Mariner is an All Suite ship, one of the first ever built. Stay tuned here, subscribe to this blog and my wife's blog at: http://www.dreamvacationscruise.com/blog/ and follow us on this journey, this grand voyage aboard the luxurious Seven Seas Mariner! I'll try to post photos along the way. This is all going to be somewhat new to me as I will be recording bits for Cruising Authority, and creating video segments, I'll be blogging, maybe "Twittering" at: http://twitter.com/cruisetalkshow so I have a full plate as I also try and enjoy the cruise.