On Board the Noordam

As much as I've enjoyed sharing the highlights of our Alaskan adventure and have appreciated the comments, all good things come to an end, not in the travel sense, but in posting about our experiences.

Three previous posts about this trip included some of the sights seen and details on the onboard shows and dining. This final post shows some of the ship interiors.

This post is focused on the MS Holland America Noordam. The ship's smaller size, carrying 1,972 passengers, gives Noordam an intimate feel that makes it easy to meet people and make new friends.

This was the first cruise for both Patrick and myself, not counting his U.S. Navy time at sea, which was much less fun he assured me. As this was my first-ever cruise, I took precautions by taking anti-nausea tablets and wearing sea-bands for the first several days. (Sea-bands work by applying pressure to the P6 (Nei Kuan) acupressure point on each wrist to relieve nausea.) These wristbands are considered safe and can be reused, plus they're washable, so a one-time buy. I also brought ginger lozenges (another anti-nausea remedy) but never used them and didn’t experience any nausea or sea sickness, thankfully.

Our 7-day cruise portion was mainly an Inside Passage one which provided cruising through a protected network of waterways along Alaska's coastline. Only the final day of cruising was a bit of rocking and rolling.

The Noordam has a total of 986 staterooms. These cabins are distributed across different categories, with most (nearly 70%) featuring private balconies, 16% are ocean-view cabins, the remainder are inside cabins. There are no dedicated family cabins onboard, but many regular staterooms can sleep more than two people. 

The color scheme in our cabin included a lot of a range of warm, muted colors with burnt orange, ivory walls and blond-wood furniture. The  stateroom bed consisted of two Holland America twin beds configured into a queen. Room furnishings included two bedside tables with drawers and a vanity/desk, hair dryer and chair. There were no drawers for clothing storage, two large closets had shelving and a safe. Luggage could be stowed under the bed. An in-room mini-bar was stocked with soft drinks, beer, wine, liquor — all at extra cost. A flat-screen TV featured movies, ship information and selected news channels. 

Our cabin, like most others, had a combination bathtub/shower. There was a medicine cabinet with three shelves and under-sink storage. Provided toiletries included soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner and lotion.

Our verandah stateroom was on deck 7. The ship's 497 veranda cabins (212 to 359 square feet with a 54-square-foot balcony) are on decks 4 through 8 and 10. Our balcony included two chairs, a small table and a footrest.

The word veranda is used by some cruise lines, like Holland America, to describe a cabin's private outdoor space vs. balcony or veranda. This spelling variation is a branding decision, there's no functional difference between a verandah, veranda or balcony. The interchangeable terms refer to the same thing. Historically, verandah with the h was more common in British English.

Our room was a short walk from the elevator. The decor differed on all floors with elevators. Noordam has an impressive number for its size. There are 14 lifts (including 4 outside ones) which means there was seldom a wait for those who prefer not to use stairs. 

Day of the week elevator mats in case passengers lost track of the day

While it's very easy to lose track of time and even days when traveling, there wasn't any confusion. The elevator mats were changed daily with the day of the week.

Additional signage pointed travelers to the front or back of the ship. Starboard Port indicates the front part of the ship, towards the bow. This is the right-hand side of the ship when facing the bow. 

Forward Port indicates forward port refers to the front-left section, which is the left-hand side of the ship when facing the bow. These terms are standard nautical terms. Using port and starboard avoids confusion as "left" and "right" can change depending on a passenger's orientation on the ship. Starboard derives from the Old English word for the steering side (right side of the boat). Port was adopted as it was the side of the boat used to load cargo when in port, a process that required the boat to be tied up to the dock.

The Noordam features two main pools (one with a retractable roof) and also a hot tub. A popular restaurant, Dive In, served speciality burgers and Nathan's Famous hot dogs for poolside dining. Both were very good as we each enjoyed a burger and hot dog, one of Patrick's favorites.

The onboard art gallery and library

Artwork was featured throughout the ship

Museum-quality art was on display throughout the ship and in a special art gallery. There was also a library where books can be borrowed for reading while onboard.

Explorations Cafe on Noordam

The Explorations Cafe was a popular hangout with a specialty coffee bar close by, and its location next to the library made it a daily hub of activity. There were many seating areas popular for reading, napping or relaxing.

Crows Nest on Noordam

The Crows Next provided panoramic ocean views and was a popular spot on most cruising days, its windows were great places for whale watching. Nature and wildlife talks were conducted here by National Park Service representatives several days during the cruise and were always well attended by ourselves and others.

A few lounge areas onboard the Noordam

The ship featured a variety of bars and lounges with many areas for conversation, drinks, games, reading and relaxing. 

The Noordam atrium with its Waterford crystal  and spiral staircase

A three-story atrium midship sports a curvy green glass stairway crowned by a colossal Waterford crystal compass. Gold-hued tiles mirror the surrounding walls. 

The atrium is quite unique with lots of brass, glass and gold tiles. I did not walk down that staircase during our entire trip.

The Promenade deck was popular for walking and sitting

The Promenade deck (Deck 3) was generously wide and encircled the ship (just short of the bow). On cruising days, it served as a walking track and I joined other passengers walking it several times. The deck chairs are empty in the above photo, which was an early morning shot. They were usually occupied on most cruise days with daytime temperatures in the mid to high 60s and plenty of sunshine. The crew would stow the chairs nightly and set them up again early the next day.

Fish-themed decor was seen throughout the Noordam

The ship’s name, which signifies the Northern point of the compass in Dutch, is reflected in nautical-themed decor throughout the ship. The shell and fish seats above look fairly uncomfortable, maybe that's why they were unoccupied.

The Noordam bow was a popular outdoor spot

The bow of the ship was opened to passengers daily, except if there were rough seas which we only experienced the last day of cruising, passengers were not allowed outdoors. The Promenade deck was closed off as well. 

A selfie on the Noordam bow

If you've followed along on this Alaska land-cruise adventure, we thank you. This is the final post of our 2025 anniversary adventure to the 49th state. 

Autumn 🍂🍁 officially arrived this week (September 22) and our fall travels are starting too. We're leaving today for a week-long road trip to parts of upstate New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. Our next adventure is mid-October with a first-time visit to Portugal. The year will end with U.S. travels in November and December. 

You're invited to travel along with us online. Mark Twain advised: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. We're going with that advice 🙂.

Friday Funnies

Here's a strange sidewalk scene where one ladder was not enough as seen in this photo taken in Juneau, AK.

It was helpful that a path was left between the ladders. Even so, we did not see anyone walking through it at the time, including ourselves. Most folks seemed to steer clear even though they wouldn't be walking under the ladders.

Even stranger was the fact that we didn't see any workmen or tools in the area.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

We're having warm temps and a lack of rainfall — early Indian Summer?

Indian Summer isn't the best terminology, given the history of the term Indian in North America. The term is thought to have originated here in New England. It most likely arose from the practice of native Americans gathering winter stores at this time. This period usually marks a timeframe of dry, unseasonably warm weather in Autumn. The term first appeared in New England in the 18th century and was noted in regions that were then inhabited by American Indians. 

Other terms have been used to describe this weather occurrence. Europeans and British use St. Martin’s Summer, which references St. Martin’s Day, November 11, as the official start of late unusually warm days; a British equivalent is All-hallows summer. Second Summer is a popular term used by the American Meteorological Society.

Maxine is still enjoying warmish temps as she recently modeled a couple of different outfits at the Hudson (NH) Senior Center. She is a resident visitor whose outfits are provided by center members and changed seasonally as well as for holidays. (The Hallmark character Maxine is trademarked and is owned by Hallmark Licensing, Inc. The character was created by Hallmark artist John Wagner in 1986 for the Shoebox Greetings card line.) 

Alaska Ports of Call

Ports of call brochures

Our Alaskan cruise included three port stops  —  Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. While we disembarked in all three cities, we didn't spend the entire port time in each. A brochure was left outside out stateroom before our arrival in each port, detailing the main downtown area and shopping. 

The first post of call was Skagway. The Noordam dropped anchor in the Taiya Inlet. Passengers then boarded a tender for transport to Skagway. Tenders are small watercraft used when a larger vessel can't dock directly at a pier to transfer people or supplies between a larger ship and the shore or between two ships. 

The above two cruise lines (Norwegian and Princess) were also visiting the port of Skagway the same day as our cruise ship, Holland America Noordam. 

Tender from Holland America Noordam going to Skagway

This was my first experience riding in a ship tender; the travel was quite smooth and surprisingly fast. Several tenders made trips back and forth from the cruise ship to the port. 

Skagway sprang to life during the gold rush of 1898, serving as the primary entry point for prospectors heading to Canada's gold fields. The port is known as the Garden City of Alaska as the city is rich in natural beauty. Much of the area has been preserved as part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.

The downtown area features colorfully restored buildings from the gold rush era, preserved as part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Most visitors experience the gold rush atmosphere on Broadway Street, the town's main street. Much of the area has been preserved as part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.

Red Onion Saloon, Skagway

The Red Onion Saloon, a former brothel and saloon, is the most famous historical building in Skagway. It now operates as a restaurant and brothel museum and has retained its historical appearance and artifacts from the Klondike Gold Rush era. 

As of the 2020 census, the population of Skagway was 1,240. This figures more than doubles during the summer tourist season due to the large number of tourists estimated in the thousands during summer cruise season. The tourist trade is a big part of business in Skagway. There were a total of three large cruise ships the day of our visit.

Street scene in downtown Skagway

Skagway was worth our short visit for its historical connection to gold rush history. During the 1898 Gold Rush, an estimated 40,000 stampeders passed through the settlement in search of gold. They lived amidst a backdrop of brothels and gunfights. Today, actors pose in period costumes along with storytelling park rangers. Most of the town's important buildings are managed by the National Park Service (NPS).

The port city of Juneau is the capital of Alaska and is named the French-Canadian gold prospector Joseph Juneau from Quebec who discovered gold in the region in 1880 along with his partner Richard Harris. This discovery that led to the city's founding. It was formerly called Rockwell and then Harrisburg before being officially renamed Juneau in 1881 by miners. It's been the political capital of Alaska since 1900.

Juneau is unique among U.S. state capitals in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or to the contiguous U.S. (Another state capital not connected to the continental U.S. is Honolulu, Hawaii.) The absence of a road network is due to the rugged terrain that surrounds the city. Juneau is in effect an island city in terms of transportation as all goods coming in and out are transported by plane or boat despite the city's location on the Alaskan mainland.

Red Dog Saloon, Juneau, AK

The Red Dog Saloon is a historic and popular spot located on South Franklin Street, known for its mining-era memorabilia, live music, and legendary Duck Fart shot. It's a lively, crowded and popular tourist attraction, featuring a sawdust-covered floor, a small stage, and an array of animal heads and historical artifacts.

Street scenes in downtown Juneau

Downtown Juneau is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2020 census, the city and borough had a population of over 32,000. It's the third-most populous city in Alaska after Anchorage and Fairbanks; however, it's the sixth-least populous U.S. state capital. From May through September, Juneau has a daily influx of over 20,000 cruise ship visitors.

Juneau is recognized for its glacial landscapes, including the Mendenhall Glacier, as well as its rich gold mining history which led to the city's founding. It's also where we saw some wildlife in the form of an eagle, llama and bear.

Ketchikan, which is recognized as the salmon capital of the world, is located in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, the largest in the U.S. It's is also known for being very rainy with an average annual rainfall of over over 200 inches. Its population at the 2020 census was nearly 8,200 making it the sixth-most populous city in Alaska.

Our first view of Ketchikan, AK, and ourselves taken from the deck of the Noordam.

Ketchikan Creek and seal

Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town, emptying into the Tongass Narrows a short distance southeast of its downtown. It's also known as Alaska's first city due to its strategic position at the southern tip of the Inside Passage, connecting the Gulf of Alaska to Puget Sound.

Tour buses and visitors converged at the Ketchikan docks 

Each year, Ketchikan hosts about 1 million cruise ship visitors, which turns the town into a crush of tourists. Tour buses lined the dock area when our cruise ship, and several others, arrived in port. 

A totem pole in Ketchikan, AK

Another recognizable feature in Ketchikan are its colorful totem poles. Regretfully, it rained quite heavily during our visit, and we returned to the cruise ship.

Holland America Noordam docked in Ketchikan

Time was spent cruising when the ship was not in a port. The next (and final) post about our Alaska anniversary adventure will highlight some areas explored on the ship. As this was my first-ever cruise, hopefully not last cruise, I was interested in seeing as much as possible onboard the Noordam.

As always, thanks to everyone for coming along on this continuing adventure. Patrick and myself appreciate your visit and comments as my posts are rather lengthy. My postings are less often as it takes time to assemble them and my pace is slower.

More Alaska Adventures

As readers of this blog well know by now, we like to travel by road trips in the U.S. and, in recent years, to other countries. We consider ourselves fortunate in that we can physically and financially afford these adventures, knowing that there are many people, who for reasons of health, money, obligations or other reasons, are not able to do the same. We also know that our tolerable aches could restrict future travels. 

Mark Twain advised that, Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. Twain advised living life to the fullest to avoid future regret. We're following his advice.

A late August post shared highlights from our Anniversary Adventures in Alaska. It was wonderful to explore some of the 49th state with the motto, The Last Frontier. To explore all of Alaska would take a very long time since it's the largest U.S. by total land area. To give you more detail, it's over twice the size of the second largest state, Texas, and bigger than the three largest states of Texas, California, and Montana — put together. We only saw a very small part of the state.

Alaska's population of some 741,000 is low for its size, placing it as the third-least populous U.S. state., ahead of only Vermont (648,493) and Wyoming (587,618) as of 2024. While Alaska is the largest U.S. state by land area, it has a very low population density, with less than 1.5 people per square mile. By comparison, California is the most populous U.S. state. (nearly 40 million), then comes Texas (over 32 million) and Florida (23 million).

Our land-cruise trip included two days (hardly enough) touring Denali on an Alaskan sternwheeler, converted school bus through Denali National Park and in a domed railcar from Denali to Talkeetna also a tour bus. This post includes some highlights from those forms of travel and sights along the way.

Our land modes of transport: a sternwheeler, school bus, tour bus, domed rail car

The day after our arrival in Fairbanks, we traveled by tour bus to Steamboat Landing where we boarded the Sternwheeler Discovery III. A sternwheeler is a type of paddle steamer propelled by a single, large paddle wheel at the vessel's rear (stern). These ships navigate rivers in shallow waters. The Discovery III traveled on the Chena and Tanana Rivers during a narrated 3+ hour tour. 

Steamboat Landing and the Discovery III sternwheeler

The tour boat company is a family-run business started in 1950 by Jim and Mary Binkley who began a river cruise business with Godspeed, a 50-foot gas-powered boat that held 25 passengers. They later upgraded to the Discovery sternwheeler which held 49. In 1986, the Binkley family expanded the fleet band by commissioning the 260-ton, 156-foot Discovery III which has a capacity of 900 passengers. Binkley grandchildren now operate the family business.

A bush pilot demonstrated takeoff viewed from the sternwheeler

After boarding and starting the river cruise, we saw one of Alaska's bush pilots taking flight on the Chena River. Monitors set up on the boat allowed the pilot to communicate with the passengers visually. There was a demonstration of the pilot taking off, landing further down on the river and then flying back.

Traditional methods of salmon preservation

Continuing along the river, the riverboat paused near a riverside fish camp for a demonstration of how Alaska natives traditionally prepare salmon for smoking and drying. Once again, monitors provided a closer look at the procedure which involved cleaning the fish and then hanging it to cure in a drying shed.

Dog sledding demo at Trail Breaker Kennels

The next site viewed from the boat was Trail Breaker Kennels, founded by the late four-time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher. It's now operated by her daughters, Tekla and Chisana Butcher-Monson. Both women are involved in the family legacy of dog mushing. David Monson, their father, is a Yukon Quest sled dog race champion. 

The sled dogs were harnessed to an ATV as, of course, there was no snow for a sled demo. The ATV was pulled it in a circle around the kennel, afterwards, the dogs were treated to a dip in the river.

Trapper's Line Cabin was a shelter used by Athabascan trappers for overnight stays

The only stop on the sternwheeler tour to disembark was an hour visit to Chena Village Living Museum where passengers were split into several groups. Native Alaskan guides presented highlights of a native Athabascan village and spoke about the culture. The Athabascan people are known for their nomadic lifestyle which includes hunting and fishing along major river systems.

This cabin was a more permanent residence as shown by its furnishings

This outdoor museum is an educational attraction which is only accessible as a stop on the Discovery riverboat tour. It provides a look into the traditional lifestyle of the Athabascan people, who lived in the region historically. 

A cache built higher to protect food from wildlife displayed the furs of trapped wildlife

The village includes cabins and caches (buildings on stilts used for food storage) and fish camps, which according to the guides, showed methods of living and survival. Families would historically move to fish camps during the summer and use outdoor drying racks to prepare salmon for preservation in smokehouses.

Clothing was made of fur, hide, beads and very elaborate

Two of the village guides modeled clothing made of hide and furs and decorated with beadwork. They explained how the Athabaskan people thrived for over 10,000 years in harsh climates necessitating the warm outerwear.

Sled dogs enjoyed the attention from tour group members

The final village stop was a demonstration of sled dogs from a handler and sled dogs from Trail Breaker Kennel. The dogs were quite friendly and very eager to interact with many passengers as shown in the above photos. This was the final attraction as we boarded the steamboat for the return trip to Steamboat Landing where our tour group boarded the bus for a return to the hotel.

Scenes fromDenali National Park 

Early the next day, we boarded the tour bus and headed to Denali National Park. Its vast size doesn't come close to Alaska's total land area and at 6 million acres, the park only represents 1 percent of Alaska's total land mass of over 665,000 square miles. For a size comparison, Denali is slightly larger than West Virginia.

Once again, we traveled on a bus — this time a school bus as these are the only vehicles used on tours in Denali National Park due to their durability in being able to travel on the park's unpaved gravel road. The school buses are also more economical to operate compared to large tour buses. 

Brian, our Denali Park tour guide, inside the school bus, grizzly and elk 

All wildlife viewing was done from the bus and we did see wildlife in the form of elk, grizzly bears (at least 3), moose, caribou and Dall sheep so high on the mountains they were called little white dots by the tour guide, who was also the bus driver. We learned that all the wildlife we viewed were native to Alaska, except elk as the last native populations from the Ice Age (Pleistocene era), died thousands of years ago. Today, elk in Alaska are Roosevelt elk reintroduced from the Pacific Northwest in the 20th century.

The above photos show the diversity of the landscape in Denali.

There was only one stop in Denali and everyone took this opportunity for some photos. The top photo ↑ shows all the members of our tour group. The bottom photo shows the most of our tour group from the NH Hudson Senior Center; there were 16 total, but not everyone made the photo opp.

Travel friends, Jan and Bob, who we traveled with 2 years ago on a UK adventure

After the sternwheeler cruise and Denali National Park Tundra Wilderness Tour, we stayed overnight at the Denali Lodge, a wilderness lodge and resort, before the next part of our land adventure.

Front and lobby views of Denali Wilderness Lodge

Holland America owns the Denali Lodge and the McKinley Explorer®, a glass-domed train which was our next mode of transport from Denali to Talkeetna.

Holland America Line and Princess Cruises, both owned by parent company Carnival Cruises, operate the largest fleet of dome railcars in Alaska. Most passengers who travel on these railcars are part of cruise line group tours. This private 2-level, glass-domed railcar travels hundreds of miles into Alaska's interior and seats 86 to 88 passengers in the upper level dome. 

The large curved glass dome windows run the full length of the car and gave great 360 degree views. The car had a host guide who provided a narrated commentary and answered questions along the route. The trip from Denali to Talkeetna, our next stop, was 5 hours on an overcast and rainy day. 

Our stay in Talkeetna, Alaska, was very brief, just enough time to walk from the train to the downtown area. is known for being a gateway to Denali. The town is known for its quirky history, including having a cat mayor named Stubbs from 1997 until his death in 2017.

The buildings in downtown Talkeetna were very unique

After an overnight stay in the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, we boarded the tour bus to Anchorage for a brief stop before continuing to the port of Whittier where we boarded the Holland America Noordam.

Holland America Noordam in the port of Whittier, AK

The next part of our trip was on this vessel for a 7-day cruise through Glacier Bay and several port stops. These adventures will continue in future posts. 

Thanks to those who traveled with us through this post. 

We appreciate that you took time to come long..