Holland America Blog
Safety Officer
Holland America Blog Has Just Posted the Following:
Today was a real cruise port day in Juneau. All but one of the docks was full and occupied with 3 large cruise ships and a small one, the Safari Explorer. A most unusual name for a ship in Alaska as you relate the word Safari more with African Adventures than with looking at bald eagles in Alaska.* But it does make adventure cruises catering for 36 guests in a ship / yacht of 145 feet in length as a Safari qualifies as an adventure I suppose. This little ship was originally constructed as a research vessel and then in 2008 revamped into a luxury explorer. We see quite of few of them pottering around the highways and the bye ways of Alaska. *They run totally different programs than we do. So it was not amazing that she left while we had just arrived. The guests on board such a small explorer are less into shopping and more into getting very close to nature. As close as possible and I was not amazed to a whole pile of canoe’s or kayaks carefully stored on her aft deck. Going to places in Alaska were the big boys cannot get to. There were three big boys in port today:* The Celebrity Infinity, The Norwegian Sun and the Zaandam.* We were docked at the Alaska Steam dock which is as close as you can get to down town. Behind us at the Cruise Terminal, was the Infinity, not a bad place either and then far away at the A.J Dock was the Norwegian Sun. The Franklin dock, normally occupied by a Princess ship was empty. Through the years a sort of pecking order has established itself, meaning that the most senior cruise company, that is us, gets the best dock as long as the ships are fitting in. Every dock has its advantages and disadvantages. Alaska Steam, named after the Alaska Steam ship company who maintained a passenger service to Alaska until 1964, is the closest to town. The only down part of it is that with the tides the gangway has to […]
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Today was a real cruise port day in Juneau. All but one of the docks was full and occupied with 3 large cruise ships and a small one, the Safari Explorer. A most unusual name for a ship in Alaska as you relate the word Safari more with African Adventures than with looking at bald eagles in Alaska.* But it does make adventure cruises catering for 36 guests in a ship / yacht of 145 feet in length as a Safari qualifies as an adventure I suppose. This little ship was originally constructed as a research vessel and then in 2008 revamped into a luxury explorer. We see quite of few of them pottering around the highways and the bye ways of Alaska. *They run totally different programs than we do. So it was not amazing that she left while we had just arrived. The guests on board such a small explorer are less into shopping and more into getting very close to nature. As close as possible and I was not amazed to a whole pile of canoe’s or kayaks carefully stored on her aft deck. Going to places in Alaska were the big boys cannot get to. There were three big boys in port today:* The Celebrity Infinity, The Norwegian Sun and the Zaandam.* We were docked at the Alaska Steam dock which is as close as you can get to down town. Behind us at the Cruise Terminal, was the Infinity, not a bad place either and then far away at the A.J Dock was the Norwegian Sun. The Franklin dock, normally occupied by a Princess ship was empty. Through the years a sort of pecking order has established itself, meaning that the most senior cruise company, that is us, gets the best dock as long as the ships are fitting in. Every dock has its advantages and disadvantages. Alaska Steam, named after the Alaska Steam ship company who maintained a passenger service to Alaska until 1964, is the closest to town. The only down part of it is that with the tides the gangway has to […]
Click here to view the article.
