The Westin Nova Scotian Blog

This year from April to October, the Port of Halifax will host 136 cruise ships. Seeing these massive ships in Halifax, Nova Scotia prompted me to explore the world of cruising. Last week, I was far from home, cruising the West Coast from Vancouver, BC to Glacier Bay, AK. I joined my parents aboard the Holland America MS Zuiderdam. I’ll admit I was a little skeptical about cruising, but the more I talked to people about the route, the more I was assured that it would be a fabulous experience, and it surpassed my expectations!

My parents & I are now converts.

As a hospitality professional, there were more than enough activities to wow me aboard the Zuiderdam. These included: wine tastings & conversations with the ship’s sommelier; culinary demos sponsored by Food & Wine Magazine; culinary trivia contests; three course menus for every meal (that changed daily); formal dining evenings; Las Vegas caliber shows nightly & a variety of live entertainment in the lounges; a grand finale dessert buffet on the Lido pool deck; a galley tour; and the list goes on!

Have you ever wondered how much food is consumed on average for a seven day cruise consisting of 1950 guests and 800 crew members? Well wonder no more…Here are the highlights from our galley tour: 11,830 lbs of meat & meat products, 3,000 lbs of fish, 13,750 lbs of fresh vegetables, 4,000 lbs of watermelon, 1,150 gallons of ice cream and 23,040 eggs.

Visiting Juneau, (the state capital which is only accessible by boat or airplane!), Skagway (which had it’s heyday in the 1890’s during the gold rush), Ketchikan and Marjorie Glacier in Glacier Bay were unique experiences that keep us active and educated! We joined the “On Deck for the Cure” walking 9 laps/5 km of the Promenade Deck in support of the Run for the Cure, (Holland America’s charity of choice), and saw glaciers, whales and sea lions from the ship. Kudos to Cruise Director JT, Captain Christopher Turner and the crew (predominately from Indonesia & the Philippines) for providing top notch service.

 I guess you can deduce that I had a great vacation!