MS STATENDAM GLACIER DISCOVERY - NORTHBOUND

7 Night Cruise sailing from Vancouver to Seward aboard Statendam.

Grandly proportioned and recently enhanced, ms Statendam offers an onboard experience defined by spacious comfort, and the latest Signature of Excellence features and amenities. Upgrades begin with new fixtures and soft goods in staterooms and bathrooms. Staterooms offer a generous amount of personal space and many feature commanding ocean views with private verandahs.

Recent enhancements include remodeled public spaces, updated lounges and an exciting new entertainment destination called Mix featuring three distinctly themed bars. Together they provide the ultimate place to socialize and be entertained.

Exhibiting a theme of historical Dutch life and exploration, ms Statendam features more than $2 million worth of art and rare artifacts beautifully displayed throughout the ship. The Van Gogh Theater is a work of art in itself, commemorating Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh's paintings "The Starry Night" and "Irises." At the heart of the ms Statendam a three-story atrium showcases an elaborate 26-foot-high sculpture titled "Fountain of the Siren." Luxuriously appointed and uniquely refined, Holland America Line's ms Statendam ensures you the ultimate onboard experience with her graceful combination of classic cruise ship features, state-of-the-art amenities, and sophisticated ambiance.

Highlights of this cruise:

Vancouver
Galleries, boutiques, colorful public markets, restaurants of every ethnicity: this vital port city has them all. Visit vibrant Chinatown and Stanley Park, with its 1,000 acres of forests, gardens, lakes and lawns in the heart of the city.

Inside Passage
The fabled Inside Passage is one of the most scenic sea-lanes in the world, and one of the few where deep-draft vessels can sail close to steep mountain walls. The scenery is unbelievable, with forests in a hundred shades of green, tumbling turquoise glaciers, and evocative towns loaded with history, culture and adventure. With most of Southeast Alaska accessible only by boat or plane, the Inside Passage is a lifeline to the outside world. All day long it hums
with activity.

Ketchikan
Built out over the water and climbing weathered stairways, Ketchikan clings to the shores of Tongass Narrows and drapes the mountains with a cheerful air. Besides the main attractions - Creek Street, the Tongass Historical Museum, Totem Bight State Park and Saxman Village, try a flightseeing trip to breathtaking Misty Fjords National Monument--a transformational adventure not to be missed. These deep water fjords left by retreating glaciers left granite cliffs towering thousands of feet above the sea and countless waterfalls cascading into placid waters. The souvenir photos you'll take from the pontoons of the plane are worth the trip alone.

Juneau
Located at the foot of grand mountain peaks on the Gastineau Channel, the town of Juneau has the massive Mendenhall Glacier and the immense Juneau Icefields at its back door. Juneau is the place to let your imagination run wild. Explore the lush Tongass National Forest. Visit the rustic shops in town. Or get out and kayak, dogsled, raft, hike, whale watch, flightsee or fish. There s no end to the adventure because of the long daylight hours. Climb aboard the Mt. Roberts Tramway for a great spot to hike and shoot a souvenir photo.

Skagway
The sidewalks are all but rolled up in Skagway come winter, so you can only imagine the frightful conditions endured by the gold prospectors who passed through en route to the Yukon, with a mandatory ton of supplies to be hauled with them over the steep and treacherous Trail of '98. Today, summertime visits to Skagway require nothing of the sort, but you can still ride the antique White Pass & Yukon narrow-gauge railway up through silvery-purple rock faces, past Deadhorse Gulch, to see what it was like back then.

Take your time and poke into every little store from the Trail Bench to Lynch & Kennedy's Dry Goods. The Red Onion Saloon, with its honky tonk piano and costumed barmaids, is a treasure trove of memorabilia featuring pictures of Klondike Kate, Peahull Annie and other vintage characters. To complete the picture of those rip-roaring days, visit the nostalgic Trail of '98 Museum. The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park boasts restored buildings and wooden boardwalks that invite you to take a stroll into the past.

Glacier Bay
As Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Glacier Bay National Park; protects a unique ecosystem of plants and animals living in concert with an ever-changing glacial landscape. How does it feel when a monumental chunk of ice splits off a glacier and crashes into the sea? The sound is like thunder. The impact shoots water hundreds of feet into the air. You hold your breath as you catch the moment on film. Then you wait for it all to happen again. And it does. Glacier Bay has more actively calving tidewater glaciers than anyplace else in the world.

Seward
Beautifully situated on Cook Inlet and surrounded by the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage offers fine restaurants and frontier saloons, museums and art galleries. Visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center, where village elders and apprentices demonstrate the time-honored customs and crafts of the various Native groups. Sample shore excursions: Kenai Guided Fishing; Prince William Sound Glacier Cruise; Redoubt Bay Flightseeing and Bear Viewing.

Nearby, Kenai Fjords National Park's steep-sided, glacier-carved valleys give you an up-close look at abundant wildlife. Located on the southeast coast of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, it is home to the Harding Ice Field, the largest entirely within U.S. borders. Watch for bald eagles, listen to the sounds of thousands of seabirds and share the waters with Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, Dall's porpoises, sea otters and whales. The gateway to the park is the historic town of Seward, whose quaint shops await exploration.

  ____  _  _   _____   __  __   ___   ___ 
 |__ / | || | |_   _| |  \/  | | __| | _ )
  |_ \ | __ |   | |   | |\/| | |__ \ | _ \
 |___/ |_||_|   |_|   |_|  |_| |___/ |___/