Insights from Terri...

Terri Reynolds Sowers is another Syracuse native who transplanted to California. She had this to say about her recent Holland America cruise:

"I look forward to following your adventures in Alaska on your blog and also interested in your Holland America experience. Steve & I just returned from a 2 week Northern Europe/Scandinavian cruise on the ms Prinsendam. The ship is older (as are most of the HAL ships) and had some HVAC & plumbing problems. Also it was their smallest ship which has its pros and cons. We also cruised with HAL on the ms Statendam (2 wks New Zealand/Australia) last November. The Statendam was bigger and we didn't have the cabin problems there. The food on both cruises was the best we've had so far (8 cruises/2 on HAL); service was better on the Statendam; only average, at best, on the Prinsendam. In any case, we thoroughly enjoyed the HAL experiences. You will have a fabulous time - savor the food and the fun!! Keep us posted!!"

When I asked her about Internet connections on board (we want to post to the blog during our trip), this is what she said:

"Internet connection fees are pretty steep; it was 45 cents a minute when we purchased the $100 package and 75 cents a minute on the per-minute rate. There is another package rate for something less than $100, but I can't remember what it is. We purchased the $100 one which gave us just over 3.7 hours. We made the mistake of purchasing the lesser $ package on the previous cruise and ran out of time, so we went with the highest time package on this cruise. For an 8 day cruise, you can probably get away with the lower cost package. Connectivity was spotty for us in Europe - particularly in Russia, where we had no access for 2 full days. We wondered if they were jamming us deliberately!!!"