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In case you missed "North to Alaska" last month, it's available online in Sue's Album at www.VictoriaGazette.com. The saga continues at this time with the second half of our recent adventure.
On Sunday, July 27th, 2003, six days after our arrival in Anchorage -- and subsequent land travel -- our wake-up call in Denali National Park was at 4:30 a.m. in order for us to have coffee, shower, breakfast, and all bags packed and ready for pickup by 6:00 a.m.! Oofda!
It would be 13 hours later -- 7 p.m. to be exact -- before we would be introduced to our cruise ship waiting for us in Seward, a port city south of us on the Gulf of Alaska. Landscape on the way to our ship was phenomenal. It included Cook Inlet, the Village of Whittier, Avalanche Alley, the Kenai Peninsula, and other natural wonders.
And then that very evening we said goodbye to Colleen, expert tour guide and driver of our motor coach for the past week, and hello to the Statendam, which would take us to Vancouver.
When I had asked Colleen about the Statendam, her first response was, "Oh, it's just one of those dam ships." Indeed, other ships have names like Noordam, Rotterdam, and Nieuw Amsterdam.
As we came upon the Statendam, lifeboats clinging to its side gave me a funny feeling. Allan and I have previously been on a cruise ship, as we visited several islands in the Caribbean a few years ago, but this ship was bigger and much closer to icebergs.
Scenes from the Titanic flashed before me, especially those of crashing chandeliers and the sliding piano. Like a floating resort, the Statendam housed theaters, a casino, library, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a beauty salon, laundry, fully equipped workout rooms, jogging track, boutiques, and several lounges, and also dining rooms with pianos and restaurants with chandeliers.
All of the above named amenities were located on the top nine levels of the ship. One of the three "underground" levels housed elaborate and sparkling clean kitchen facilities which we were privileged to tour. Many other passenger rooms were also "under-ground." We learned that the Statendam was built in 1993 in Italy for Holland America. While on board the ship, where a crew of 560 tended to 1,260 passengers, we were technically living in Holland.
For the next seven days, our home away from home was located high up on Deck 9, also called the Verandah. Our private quarters consisted of a spacious suite, and I quickly took pictures before we messed it up and also before we ate the chocolates that had been placed on the pillows of our king size bed. The most impressive feature of our room was on the other side of our French glass doors and private deck. It was Alaska. Peaceful. Haunting. Large.
We came to know mountains and glaciers intimately, from our morning cup of coffee to our nighttime chocolates. The sun rose that very first morning at 3:58 a.m., and we were up investigating the glaciers in College Fjords. Chunks of ice as big as boats were floating all around the ship. I wondered if they were also called icebergs. It was cold out on our deck, maybe 50 degrees, as the Statendam cruised through Prince William Sound.
Located below our suite, the Rotterdam Dining Room was surrounded by floor to ceiling windows for panoramic views of the ocean, mountains, glaciers, and sky. An elegant spiral staircase showcased two floors of dining extravaganza with everyone dressed to the nines.
Our own table each evening included the eight of us travel friends from Minnesota. Seated nearby was the group of people that we also had come to call friends from our motor coach tour of Alaska's mainland.
When the ship's navigator, Paul Adams, dressed in formal white military garb and bowtie, joined our table in the Rotterdam Dining Room, we asked many questions. Paul is from Scarborough, England, only 22 years old, and he doesn't get to see his girlfriend very often.
It was never difficult to spend time in our private suite where tidewater glaciers, so called because they've come down to touch the sea, could be viewed with our patio door either open or closed. When we wanted to congregate with others, we often found familiar faces at poolside.
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