Accessible Alaska Cruise with Holland America

At Port in Skagway

“Mr. Wright, nice to see you back! We have your table ready! ”

“Thank you so much, good to see you again!” I reply.

We are once again treated to a fantastic meal, great service, and a fun evening. Hotelling it? Nah. Cruising in style!

Our friends Jim and Sheila let us know a while ago that they were doing the seven-day Alaska cruise, and would we like to come? Having a strong case of spur-of-the-moment -itis and a habit of not behaving very responsively, the plans fit well with us. So here we are, on the Holland America ship Ms Noordam!

Glacier Bay

“This is your captain speaking, we are expecting 11 foot seas and 45 kn winds this evening, it may seem a little rough, passengers are under orders to have a couple of drinks to smooth out the waves,” comes over there public address system.

“You heard the Captain, we have to obey orders, a bottle of wine Sir!”

“Coming right up!” is the reply.

Terryll and I pop a Bonine (similar to a gravol), I take my Dristan cold pills, and we proceed to have a sip or two.

“He was right, this boat does rock in the waves!” I say.

“The storm hasn’t started yet, that is your medication” my wife replies.

Sure enough, a glance out the window confirms that it is just a cold pill – red-wine-storm, all’s well. By the time the real storm hit we were used to the waves anyways, and it didn’t bother us in the least. On the way back to our room we made a stop by at the outdoor pool on the back.

Enjoying the Balcony

“Wow, this places abandoned,” I say looking at the normally busy open deck. The wind was howling, the deck was rolling, the sea (about 100ft below) had white foam on top with whitecap-waves, and the pool was doing its best to empty its stomach. Even on such a large ship one can get the sense of what some of the fisherman must experience out in the open ocean!

On the trip we stopped and disembarked at Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan. We also toured the amazing Glacier Bay for a day, incredible scenery! We saw goldrush towns, float planes, whales, glaciers and salmon runs. It is incredible to pack in so much new stuff into a short time. Everything on the ship including the gangplank seemed completely wheelchair accessible. Our room had a wheel-in shower, and our balcony had ramps. The staff on the ship was incredibly friendly and accommodating. Somebody would always run up to ask if I needed help cutting my steak or a refill of my glass, amazing service! I think if anybody wants to try an accessible cruise I think they would be happy with Holland America!