Holland America Amsterdam – Alaska Chapter 2

Thats the view from the Spa Jacuzzi and steam room area.

I can’t exactly recall how much the weekly price was. Oh wait never mind, for a couple it was $199 (couple being any two people), I think for one person it was around $120. The area also has that little private balcony, which can come in handy during the Hubbard Glacier day. More on that later.

They claimed that the water on the Spa had minerals and whatnot, to me it smelled like a regular spa (chlorine…) LoL, but to each their own. But it was a really nice place to be at.

And here is the gym, which once again I swore to myself that I would go there every morning, and yup, you guessed it. I never made it there =/.

It was pretty large for the size of the ship, I could not imagine it being to capacity ever.

 

One really cool thing that this ship had (I imagine that most cruise lines must have this by now, but last time I sailed was a year ago on the Sky) was that you could access the Dailies on your cellphone, and create a personalized schedule of what you wanted to do that day. Additionally, you could also access menus, and make reservations, everything without the need of paying for internet. It was really handy, because carrying those paper dailies is a real pain in the butt. Oh, and they also had a communication tool, but for some reason we never used it.

We kept on walking around the ship, and just enjoying ourselves. Next we went to the top deck, well not really the top one, but the top one accessible by elevator. There was another deck that you could go to, but I imagine that deck is really more popular on the warmer weather cruises. I never saw anyone up there.

There was a really nice marina next to our ship. It was packed to the gills!

Again, that retractable roof was a Godsend. Overall the temperature of the pool is quite nice, I was able to go in the water on a couple of occasions. There were a few children on the cruise (maybe around 40-70), and they made good use of the pool. The two jacuzzis have different temperatures, one is hot, and the other is warm. Personally I enjoyed the warm much better, and it was a good thing, cause everyone seemed to gravitate towards the hot one, including mom. But they never really got very busy, people went in and out, and there was always room for others.

We then went to the aft of the ship to check out the views of Seattle. It is really an incredible skyline. I am not sure if I have said this yet, but this cruise was one in the making. Throughout my cruising career I have planned two other Alaska cruises that never came through. So this was a real special moment for us to be able to finally make this one possible.

The aft pool area is my seconds favorite part of this ship, and the best part of the ship for wild life spotting. As a mater of fact all the wild life events are set there. It is very open and with plenty of area to sit and relax. They have a small smoking area on the port side, but for the most part it is a pretty nice area, the smoke does not spread from the small section.

The pool was heated, but not warm enough for most people. The other one was much better with the roof. Although, I imagine both of them had the same temperature, it was just the open air that changes.

Just look at that Skyline. That building that seems to be coming out of the Pearls aft is Seattles original Skyscraper, its called the Smith Tower and was completed in 1914 with 38 stories. It is a gorgeous building. It was one of the tallest buildings outside of New York during that time. Crazy to see the comparison of the buildings to the left of it. I also love the ferris wheel there. Just a really nice picture.

 

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