Alaska HAL comments

A client just came back from Alaska on the Volendam, and sent me this
message.
Bill
http://shipboard.net

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Hi Bill - we want to thank you for our wonderful Alaskan trip and all of
your help getting us (and my brother and his wife), reserved! Vancouver has
become too built up and you have to look hard to find signs of what it used
to be...a good trip on a double decker bus helped tell us their story.
Alaska was having excellent warm weather which contrasted with the ice floes
in the water and the glaciers.....in the 70's every day......flowers
everywhere and green green green......the mountainsides were so heavy with
trees that I can't imagine how a new one would fit in to grow! (pines, that
is!) The towns are like the old west......jewelers, souvenier shops and
restaurants....no stop lights and few stop signs...the people who live and
work there are mostly only there from April to October, when the cruise
ships try to make their way in.
The homes are set on stilts or mashed into the walls with wire to keep the
hillside up....lovely samon filled streams. Sister-in-law Joyce did all
the touristy things, helicopter to the top of the mountains, dog sled, bus
trips, etc. Sometimes brother, Ken, went with her, sometimes he sat in a
local tavern with me and drank beer and laughed at the entertainment..
Our room was great and larger than most ship quarters. There was lots to
see in the Crows Nest at the top of the ship where you could watch in all
directions...what was ahead....while you drank and ate from morning to
night! Larry ate salmon at least once a day and loved it....I don't eat
salmon but found plenty of other delicious things. The glaciers were
unbelievably beaultiful and we saw lots of fish and wildlife! The
entertainment on the ship was top quality and the food outstanding...the
staff was the best we ever had! We would go with Holland America again and
may indeed use them for our next trip! Sincerely, Nan and Larry