Summer is here and travel season is upon us! In these post-Covid times, travel looks a little different and lots of folks are sticking to domestic vacation options that are within driving distance of their hometowns. One of those options for those in the Southern states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana is the Forgotten Coast of Florida.
In March 2022, I was able to sail on Holland America Line’s Rotterdam and learned more about their ships and Alaska products. I was singularly impressed and excited about the beauty of the ship, the service, and the in-depth Alaska products HAL offers. They have been sailing Alaska longer than Alaska has been a state! I knew this was the way I wanted to revisit Alaska and experience it in a new way to get a fresh view of our 49th state. A couple of weeks ago, such an opportunity came up and I quickly jumped on it! Today I board HAL’s Konigsdam in Vancouver, BC, to set sail to Alaska via the Inside Passage!
"Not having had breakfast, my first stop was to the Lido Market for a quick bite to eat. The options in the Market vary from salads, sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, sushi, ramen, hot dishes, breads, and sweets. The food is always fresh and there are options for everyone in the Market. Also open were the Main Dining room, Coastal Café, and the Dutch Café so that everyone could find lunch after embarkation. And of course, the bars were serving cold beverages all over the ship."
Day 3 on the Konigsdam started with a lovely room service continental breakfast served with fresh coffee on beautiful Delft china. The Dutch overtones with HAL are one of my favorite elements of this cruise line and it appears in all aspects of the service onboard including something as simple as room service.
The time finally arrived! After almost three years in the planning, GWTA is finally in Europe ready to sail down the Danube on the Ama Lea and visit iconic Christmas Markets in Germany, Austria, and Hungary! We were set to travel in 2020 and 2021 but those two years had some significant challenges for travel to which we can all relate!
