I’ve Been to 80 Countries. My First Cruise Blew Me Away.

I’ve been to distant corners of the world, from Saudi Arabia to Paraguay to rural Namibia. Yet despite traveling to 80 countries across six continents, I’ve avoided taking cruises like the plague. As an adrenaline junkie, cruise travel really never spoke to me. I always associated it with being a sanitized travel experience to picturesque locations where you had no real cultural interaction.

But I decided 2024 would be the year I’d finally take my first cruise. The only requirements were that I wouldn’t go somewhere warm, the destination had to be deeply connected to nature, and it had to be somewhere I had never been before. Traveling to Alaska via Holland America Line’s Eurodam ticked all of the boxes.

So, after seven days of living that sweet cruise life, I can finally answer the question: Can those of us with high adrenaline levels find pleasure in cruise travel? Here’s the answer.

The Alaska Explorer cruise I signed up for departs from Seattle. It’s advisable to spend the night in Seattle before your cruise departure to ensure smooth sailing. I came to Seattle a few days early and treated myself to a vacation at Four Seasons Hotel Seattle because, like Alaska and cruising, I had also never been to Seattle.

Once it was the day of the cruise departure, I headed over to the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal and was surprised to see that checking into a cruise was similar to checking into a flight. Someone was there to tag luggage and take it off your hands if you didn’t feel like carrying it to your room (and it would be delivered to your room on the ship). You needed a passport and a boarding pass, and there was security clearance.

Since I would be living on this ship for seven days, I wanted to familiarize myself with everything onboard quickly. The Eurodam has 11 floors, and it turned out my happy place was on the ninth floor. That’s where you’ll find a rooftop deck, a few hot tubs, both an outdoor and indoor pool, a gym, a burger bar, a pizzeria, the designated buffet Lido, two bars, and the spa.

I knew I wanted to partake in a spa experience, and learning Holland America Line had acupuncture available onboard sealed the deal. I signed up. The service cost me around $200, and much like Seattle, Alaska, and cruising, it would also be my first acupuncture. ’Twas the trip of firsts, I suppose. I’ve officially added it to my roster as a new relaxation routine, though I’m not sure any future acupuncture session will ever be as cool as one in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

One of my biggest concerns with cruise travel is the quality of the cuisine. I’ve been to my fair share of all-inclusive resorts, and the food is almost always quantity over quality. I was pleasantly surprised by the Eurodam. My first meal onboard with Holland America Line consisted of an array of fresh seafood, including mussels and rockfish, letting me know I was going to be in for quite the treat.

The Eurodam has a wide range of restaurants, including collaborations with world-class chefs like Chef Masaharu Morimoto and Chef David Burke. I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite meal onboard, but some standouts were a fried fish sandwich in the Dining Room, crispy duck with udon noodles at Tamarind, and a perfectly cooked medium rare filet with lobster dumplings at The Pinnacle Grill.

I met with Executive Chef Natarajan Manilal, who told me they make an average of 13,000 meals a day for approximately 3,000 passengers onboard (roughly 2,100 Holland America Line customers and 900 staff members). While the quality of the cuisine was a pressing concern, I was also concerned about the waste.

Chef Natarajan showed me the cruise’s designated biodigester, a machine that breaks down waste, and essentially turns it into pellets. Anything humans can eat can go in the biodigester, but things like pineapple skin, uncooked pizza dough, and other items we typically would avoid cannot.

As for booze, drink prices added up quite quickly on a cruise. If you plan to throw a few back, it might be worth your while to invest in a drink package. I took advantage of the designated happy hour each day, and naturally signed up for not one but two wine tastings onboard, led by a master sommelier.

It’s not all about the cruise, after all, but about the destination. In Alaska, we stopped in Juneau, Sitka (a.k.a. the oldest city in Alaska), Icy Strait, and Ketchikan. Additionally, we made a short stop in Victoria, Canada, for just a few short hours. Most cruises that leave from the U.S. will make at least one international stop because of something called the Jones Act, a law that essentially requires all ships that depart and return to a U.S. port must make at least one international stop.

Shore excursions are available for booking at each destination. I advise anyone on any cruise, not just Alaska, to limit their shore excursions. They seem tempting prior to travel, but upon pulling up to each port, it’s sometimes nice to just walk around and take in the town.

As for my shore excursions, I signed up for a culinary walking tour via Juneau Food Tours, which was a perfect introduction to Alaska (when else can I say I’ll eat spruce tip jelly?), and a whale watching tour in Icy Strait, where I saw plenty of orcas and humpbacks.

I pride myself on having a strong stomach, so I was surprised when I woke up in the middle of the night on day two or three, fully swaying across my bed, slightly nauseated. The funny thing about being on a ship is that they move. I often saw wine glasses vibrating at dinner and sometimes lost my balance ever so slightly. Overall, the conditions were smooth, but it’s good to remember that you’re on the ocean, so you might feel that at some point.

Aside from the unpredictable ocean conditions, the beds were comfortable, and I never once struggled to get a WiFi signal. The private balcony in my room was a top-notch addition; waking up every morning with coffee delivered to my door to look out and see anything from glaciers to sea otters was a peaceful way to begin each morning that made me dread ever returning to reality.

Despite my apprehensions going into it, I was surprised by how quickly I not only enjoyed, but truly fell in love with cruise travel. So much so that I’ve already signed up to go on two more cruises this year: one through the Norwegian fjords with Havila Voyages, and one for my ultimate bucket list destination, Antarctica, with Lindblad Expeditions.

The main selling points for me with Holland America Line were the convenience of seeing several destinations without the need to unpack and repack my belongings, the impeccable quality of the food and wine onboard, and of course, seeing Alaska and all of its natural beauty.