Holland America's Westerdam, round trip from Seattle, August 12 to 19, 2028. Nine hours inside Glacier Bay with park rangers aboard, and a small group of people who booked it together.
Glacier Bay is a national park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a place the National Park Service limits access to. Not every ship gets a permit and not every Alaska cruise goes in. This one spends nine hours there, from six in the morning until three in the afternoon, with rangers who come aboard and tell you what you are looking at while you look at it. Margerie Glacier is a mile wide and it calves while you watch.
Then, the same evening, the ship pulls into Icy Strait Point near the Tlingit village of Hoonah, where the whale watching is about as good as Southeast Alaska gets. Glacier in the morning, whales and Tlingit culture after dinner. That is one day.
Juneau runs until ten at night, so there is time for a whale watch and a proper dinner ashore instead of a sprint back to the gangway. There is exactly one day at sea all week. Five ports in seven nights, which is a lot of Alaska.
| Day | Where | In port |
|---|---|---|
| Sat Aug 12 | Seattle, then out through Puget Sound | Sail 3:00 pm |
| Sun Aug 13 | At sea | — |
| Mon Aug 14 | Scenic cruising Stephens Passage, then Juneau | 12:30 – 10:00 pm |
| Tue Aug 15 | Glacier Bay National Park, with rangers aboard | 6:00 am – 3:00 pm |
| Tue Aug 15 | Icy Strait Point, near Hoonah | 5:30 – 10:00 pm |
| Wed Aug 16 | Sitka | 8:00 am – 4:00 pm |
| Thu Aug 17 | Ketchikan | 6:30 am – 1:00 pm |
| Fri Aug 18 | Victoria, British Columbia | 8:00 pm – midnight |
| Sat Aug 19 | Seattle | In at 7:00 am |
Two things worth knowing up front. Ketchikan ends at one o'clock, so anything you want to do there starts early. And Victoria is an evening call, in at eight and out before midnight, which is the foreign port requirement rather than a day in town. Butchart Gardens runs its summer evening illuminations at exactly that hour and it is lovely, so that is the one I would book.
Per person, based on two people sharing. These are negotiated group rates, priced below what the same stateroom costs booked on its own, and they include the cruise fare, government taxes, required cruise fees and the Have It All package with the early booking upgrades. There is more in this number than a cruise fare.
| Stateroom | Per person | Two people | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verandah Private balcony | $3,409 | $6,818 | 3 rooms |
| Verandah, higher deck Private balcony | $3,479 | $6,958 | 2 rooms |
| Signature Suite More room, larger balcony | $3,689 | $7,378 | 2 rooms |
| Signature Suite, higher deck More room, larger balcony | $3,879 | $7,758 | 1 room |
| Neptune Suite The big one, with concierge lounge | $4,479 | $8,958 | 1 room |
In the price: your stateroom for seven nights, meals in the dining room and buffet, entertainment, the Glacier Bay ranger program, government taxes, required cruise fees, and the whole Have It All package set out below.
Not in the price: flights, travel protection, and whatever you spend ashore beyond the excursion credit.
Traveling on your own, or putting a third or fourth person in the room? Both are possible and both are priced individually, so ask me and I will get you a number.
Holland America's Have It All package is built into these rates, and so is the early booking bonus that upgrades it. Nothing here is an add-on you have to remember to buy. For each of the first two guests in a stateroom, the fare above carries:
Three of those are the early booking bonus doing the work. Booked later, Have It All gives you the Signature drink package at $12 a drink instead of Elite at $16, Surf Wi‑Fi instead of Premium, and gratuities you pay yourself. The bonus is available for a limited time, on a first‑come, first‑served basis, and Holland America can change or revoke it at any time. They have never published an end date. Waiting cannot improve this offer and might cost you the upgraded half of it.
It also carries Holland America's best price guarantee. If within 72 hours of booking you find the identical sailing cheaper on hollandamerica.com, same ship, same dates, same stateroom category, same bundle, they credit you 120% of the difference as onboard credit. My group rate already sits below their public fare, so I would be surprised if you turned one up, but it is there and it costs you nothing to look.
Two things worth knowing before you count on it. Have It All covers the first and second guest in a stateroom, so it does not extend to a third or fourth person sharing with you. And the shore excursion credit has to be spent on this cruise, so whatever you do not use does not come back as cash.
Group space is negotiated space, so it is priced below the same stateroom booked on its own. And these rates do not move with the market between now and sailing.
Nine staterooms across five categories. The good ones go first, and that is not a sales line, it is just how nine rooms works.
That is what it takes to put your name on a stateroom, and on group space it stays refundable right up until final payment in April 2028. You are holding a room, not locking yourself in, and the balance can be paid down at whatever pace suits you.
Holland America's early booking bonus adds the beverage upgrade, crew appreciation and premium wifi to Have It All. They have never said how long it runs, and promotions end without warning. Booking now is the only way to be sure of it.
Holland America releases whatever is unsold as the sailing approaches. Once a category is gone from my block, it is gone at these rates.
Same ship, same week, and dinner together if you want it. I arrange that once enough of us are booked. Your shore days are entirely your own. Some people on a trip like this do every excursion together and some wave from the pier and go their own way. Nobody is marching anyone around Ketchikan behind a paddle.
Names as they appear on the ID you will travel with, how to reach you, and the category you have your eye on. It costs nothing and it holds nothing yet.
I confirm the room is still in the block, answer whatever you want to ask, and find out whether this trip is actually right for you. Sometimes it is not, and I will say so.
Your stateroom, your price, the payment schedule and a travel protection quote, all in one document you can read at the kitchen table before you decide anything.
Sign the proposal, pay the $350 per person deposit, and I book your names with Holland America against the group. After that you are on my payment plan and my calendar until you sail, and the deposit stays refundable until final payment.
Ready to put your name on one of the nine?
Ask me to hold a stateroomThis is an easier yes than it looks. The deposit is $350 per person, and on group cruise space it is refundable right up until final payment on April 14, 2028. If your plans change before that date, you get it back. So booking now costs you the use of $700 for a couple, and nothing else.
After final payment the usual cancellation terms apply, and that is what travel protection is for. It is in every proposal I send. I am not a licensed insurance agent, so I give you the plan documents and the provider's phone number and you decide.
Included. The rates on this page are Have It All fares with the early booking upgrades already in them, so there is nothing to add on and nothing extra to pay for the drink package, the wifi, the dining night, the $100 excursion credit or your stateroom gratuities. It covers the first and second guest in a stateroom.
What booking early buys you is the upgraded version. Later bookings on this promotion get Signature drinks at $12 rather than Elite at $16, Surf Wi‑Fi rather than Premium, and no prepaid gratuities. The bonus runs for a limited time and can be changed or revoked at any time, and Holland America has never given an end date.
Yes, and a third and fourth person in the same stateroom is priced well below the first two. Those rates are quoted individually rather than published, so tell me who is coming and I will get you the number.
One thing to plan around: Have It All only covers the first and second guest in a stateroom. A third or fourth person does not get the drink package, the dining night or the shore excursion credit, so budget for their shore days separately.
That works. Solo pricing on a group block is quoted case by case and I will get you a figure. Plenty of people book these on their own precisely because there is a group already going.
No. Dinner together is there if you want it. Shore days are yours. The group gives you company when you want it and nothing you have to sign up for.
I will help you sort them, and I will tell you when to book them, which for August 2028 is not yet. Seattle is an easy airport to reach from San Antonio and I would plan on flying in the day before rather than the morning of.
Mid-size, which is the point. She is small enough to get into Glacier Bay and into the smaller Alaska ports, and small enough that you are not waiting in line behind five thousand people to get off. Holland America's crowd skews toward people who want good food, live music and a comfortable ship rather than water slides.
Start with the money, because that is usually the assumption. My group rate is lower than booking this sailing on your own. Group space is negotiated space, and that is the whole point of holding it. Look the sailing up and bring me what you find, I am glad to have that conversation.
Then there is everything the price does not show. Someone who has already worked out which excursions are worth the money and which are a bus ride you will regret, a payment plan you do not have to remember, a stateroom held in a block two years before you sail, and a phone number that reaches an actual person if something goes sideways at the pier in Ketchikan.
I also print and hand over a bound itinerary before you go, which my clients seem to like more than anything else I do.
Rates are per person based on two people sharing a stateroom, in U.S. dollars, and include cruise fare, government taxes and required cruise fees. Rates, taxes and fees are subject to change. Group rates apply to the allocation Byrd Adventures holds and to the first and second guest in a stateroom; once that space is released, pricing is whatever is available at the time of booking. Ports and times are scheduled and subject to change. Byrd Adventures, Universal City, Texas, 210-665-5534, travel@byrdadventures.com. Ship's registry: The Netherlands.
If Alaska has been on your list, this is a good week to do it on, and booking it now is the easy part.
Ask me to hold a stateroomEvery stateroom on this page comes with Holland America's Have It All package, and the early booking upgrades are applied. For each of the first two guests in a room:
Those upgrades are the early booking bonus. It is available for a limited time and can be changed or revoked at any time. Holland America has never published an end date.