richwmn

09/07/2024 Hubbard Glacier, Alaska 1000-1500 Good morning from Westerdam on the way to Hubbard Glacier. The temperature outside the ship is currently 54°F/12°C. The humidity is 84% with winds a little over 10mph and it is raining. We will spend today doing a scenic sailing around Hubbard Glacier, then take two days to get to Dutch Harbor for our final stop in North America before heading for Japan. It would be nice if the rain let up for our viewing. We have been promised a special treat of Dutch Pea Soup. Yesterday’s trivia went well. We won once and were one point off twice. It is always interesting to hear the various things that come up in the trivia contests. In the music trivia, we have people that are good at various eras, so that helps. But one team has one or two musicians, they have won the last five days. The show last night on the World Stage was a comic, Buddy Fitzpatrick. While he was funny, he found a theme and stuck to it. He was getting pretty good response from asking people in the audience where they were from and making comments on that. The comments were mostly funny, but to me the routine got old. I wasn’t into loud last night so we passed by Rolling Stone Lounge. While not exactly my cup of tea, the piano players had a decent audience. The Classical Trio had a good audience and sounded pretty good, but I was told they did the same program as last night. We sat in the Ocean Bar for a bit before retiring. Today’s activities and menus –

Greetings, I added a cruise today Jun 08 - July 6th 2025 Alaska - Legendary

Check the format you are saving the pictures in. Apple starting saving in a format that is a bit different not long ago

Walking in Haines – As I mentioned earlier, today is heavily overcast with light rain. I don’t know if Skagway is any better, it wasn’t mentioned on the announcements. There is a shuttle to Skagway, but I didn’t take it. I met Joy @Seasick Sailor right where we were scanned to leave the ship. We left the ship together and after we passed thru the security gate, a lady with a golf car offered to take us down the long walk and we accepted. Joy was on her way to the gift shop, I just wanted to walk a bit so we stayed together mostly. She finished in the gift shop the same time I was walking toward the ship so we walked back together. We stopped in the little shop nearer the ship and she found what she was looking for so we went back to the ship. It was a nice walk despite the rain. I did see some familiar sights, so I was ok with just returning to the ship and getting away from the weather. That is Joy crossing the street

09/06/2024 Haines, Alaska 0600-1700 Good morning from Haines. It is a dreary day here. The day is overcast and a light rain is coming down. It looks to be a long walk down the pier from the ship to town. Here are a couple of pictures from the ship Haines this morning. I talked about Sitka yesterday, so we are back on the ship. Trivia, of course, at 1pm, 4pm, and 8:30pm. At the 1pm trivia it was only two of us and we did terrible. At 4 we had a full team and we were again only one point off tying the winner. At 8:30 it was music trivia again and we had a team of five. While we only missed three points, the winner had a perfect score again. Other than trivia, Rolling Stone Lounge Band had the night off last night. The venue was used for several other activities including line dance lessons and the music trivia. Jose was the leader for these activities and seems to have unlimited energy. Other entertainment staff participated in the line dance lessons and everyone looked like they were having fun. It was also fun to watch. Meals in the lido continue to be good. For dinner last night I had a couple of slices of pizza and some lasagna. Both were good, but if you are looking for gourmet food go somewhere else. I am happy to have food that I didn’t prepare and I don’t have to clean up after. As a side note, it seems that every ship has the ability to stock whatever liquors it chooses. The standards are all available, but if you want something a little different prepare alternatives just in case. Here are the activities and menus for today –

On the Grand Australia cruise earlier this year those with private excursions were allowed to go ashore along with the HAL excursion people.

Some additional pictures of Sitka on our way out.

A walk thru Sitka, Alaska. While the weather wasn’t perfect, it was nice. We left the ship early and the temperature remained below 60°. The ship had a shuttle from the pier to downtown Sitka. Our driver into town gave a very good commentary on the area, and the history of Sitka. He dropped us off in an area that was central to the city. We walked from the drop off point several blocks and admired some of the stores and the Russian Church, which is in need of repair. We did a little bit of shopping, and I went into one of the last remaining Radio Shack stores. We took a slightly different course back to the ship and saw a little more of the city’s downtown. Sitka is a pretty town and the people are very friendly.

I stayed at a Quality Inn near the airport. There are several restaurants within walking distance and I believe the hotel will still shuttle you to the train into town. It is a nice, basic hotel. The breakfast is good but not a lot of variety. Shuttle to the ship is easy.

09/05/2024 Sitka Alaska 0800-1700 Today we are in Sitka, one time capital of the territory of Alaska. The temperature outside is 55°F/13°C with rain. We have arrived and should be cleared to exit the ship shortly. Yesterday was an entertaining day at sea. As always, the meals were good. I rarely eat in the MDR, as the Lido food is good and fast. I do enjoy a slow relaxed meal now and then as well. Lunch was from the Asian station and as always was tasty and well prepared. Dinner was Salmon and rice. They dish out good portions and I was satisfied when I left the Lido. We had three rounds of trivia, 1pm, 4pm, and 8:30pm. All were well attended and hosted by Jose. If he can keep his energy level up for another 48 days it will be amazing. He is a fun trivia host. My teams won once yesterday and on the other two were within a point of winning. In the Ocean Bar a group called Third Avenue West (HAL’s Seattle Address) plays soft Jazz several times a night. The are very good and play at a volume level that encourages chatting. They play a good selection of songs, and play them well. The Rolling Stone Lounge has a 6 piece band that does R&R standards. Most of the vocals are done by two ladies, sometimes one guy sings. All singers have good voices and seem to know the songs. Unfortunately the volume in the lounge is a bit high for conversation, even sitting at the outside area of the bar. On the other hand, the dance floor was full for most songs. Billboard Onboard contained the two piano concept. Trivia comes during one of their gaps, but on the first day they played into the trivia time slot by a bit. Because of that, the venue is full and it takes a bit of time to transition to trivia. I arrived early to get a seat, and was not really impressed with the duo. I do realize that they had a good crowd, so others did enjoy their sets. The Captain introduced the senior staff on the World Stage starting at 7:15 and then had the welcome toast. The Captain is a very accomplished speaker and his introductions were funny. After the toast, the show for the evening started. It was a tap dance show which I didn’t attend but heard mostly good reviews.

Looks like I grabbed the info from yesterday again. Thanks for the catch, here are the correct ones.

09/04/2024 At Sea Destination Sitka Alaska eta 09-05 Good Morning from Westerdam. The temperature aboard the ship is 57°F/14°C under clear skies. We are underway, headed for Sitka tomorrow morning. Yesterday we were in Vancouver to drop some passengers and get a few more. I had decided early that it was going to be a ship day. All passengers had to go thru a face-to-face meeting with US Customs & Immigration and had a pretty long time frame to do it. Still, they had to announce several times that people still hadn’t complied. The process was easy, but a bit time consuming because a Princess ship was also in Vancouver. We did this just after lunch and it took maybe 30 minutes. Because we were in Canada the ship was only allowed to open one bar per deck. This caused some long walks for beverage stewards. All bars were open shortly after we left the dock. As mentioned earlier, the 1pm trivia was general knowledge and I was able to meet up with two friends from Grand Australia along with two new players. It is a good team. The 4pm trivia was canceled for the sail away party, and for the late trivia we teamed up with the Bridge Director and his wife. His name is Peter and he told me he was the head bridge instructor for HAL. We again did well, but another team got a perfect score again. Looks like they are going to win most of the time. The show last night on the World Stage was a welcome to the ship and an introduction to the entertainment staff. The Cruise Director, Karlijn, introduced the various people that would be supporting her during the next two months. We have about 12 people in various roles for this cruise. We listened to the Rolling Stone Rock Band again for most of the 9pm set, and all of the 10pm set. The musicians are good and the singers are very good. They played a nice assortment of songs and had the dance floor full. It was a late evening, but very enjoyable.

Howard was my trivia partner for the Grand Australia & New Zealand and continuing on to Fort Lauderdale. We talked about meeting up again the day before he left Volendam, so I'm not sure when you talked to him. As to losing, we had 15 correct and the winning team had 16. We lost a couple over the 106 days we played together, but not many.

Interestingly Howard and Gill showed up for 1pm trivia today. They were surprised at your comment. Our other trivia partners were Bonnie and Wayne. We missed winning by 1 point.

Add that Macy's (Federated) bought up both local favorites in Atlanta -- Davisons and Richs, closed a few locations and rebranded what was left to Macy's and lost a lot of good will.

Yes, we have to go through an immigration check in the terminal building between 10:30 and 3pm. Necessary evil I guess.

09/03/2024 Vancouver, Canada 0700-1600 Good morning from Vancouver! Today we have 250 guests leaving and 150 new guests boarding. I hope those leaving had a nice holiday. After a nice day in Victoria yesterday we came back to the ship in time for early trivia at 4pm. Jose is the Trivia Master and he is a very energetic host. So far he has made trivia fun and a bit different than our normal sessions on HAL. The afternoon trivia was general and we did ok. The evening session was again music, but no specific time frame this time. Out of a possible 35 points we got 32 but someone got everything correct. Dinner was in the lido with Steve and Connie, our hotel and shuttle partners. I had Asian inspired chicken along with rice and green beans. All was very tasty and the conversation was good. There was a movie on the big screen of the World Stage last night so I didn’t go. It was a recent remake of “The Call of the Wild” which I previously watched in my cabin and it is pretty good. For entertainment, in Billboard we have two pianists, who are ok and so far have had an audience. They had a nice mix of songs but seem a bit loud and one attacks the piano keys. After trivia we were caught by the Rolling Stone Room Band. We stayed there for about 30 minutes and enjoyed both their selection of music and their treatment of it. That made for an enjoyable end of the evening. Here are today's activities and menus.

Thanks to Lyle for identifying my pictures. I'm afraid I should write down such things but I'm too involved in the moment and don't think about it. We really enjoyed the day in Victoria and meeting Lyle, Lynn, Ann, and Pat. I'm just glad we thought to ask if there was another couple waiting for someone. Thanks to everyone for a great day.

The top one is lunch, the second one (says Far East in the upper right) is dinner

Today in Victoria. We were picked up at the ship by @Blackduck59Lyle and Lynn and given a very nice tour around the city. First stop was at some gardens, maintained by the city and very beautiful. We also went by two castles and the Government House. Lyle and Lynn were very good hosts and we got along very well. At noon we met with @Vict0riann Ann and Pat at Mile 4 Pub where we had a fabulous lunch. Lyle was full of information about his city and was a very good tour guide. We got back to the ship in time to play trivia, where we did ok, but didn’t win. My Fish & Chips Lunch The Lunch Group .Rich, Sue, Ann, Lyle, Lynn, Pat

Since I am the one who posted these menus, I feel I must respond. These are the menus that are shown on the Navigator Web Site, or were yesterday evening. So from that standpoint, they are real. Are they just for this Majestic Japan Cruise? I don't know Are they test menus? I don't know Are they going fleet wide? I don't know I just posted the menus that are provided for those currently sailing on Westerdam to see what they might be dining on. For all I know, they could change tomorrow.

I just uploaded the menu that is online. To be honest, I haven't even looked at it so I can't answer your question.

09/02/2024 Victoria, British Columbia 0700-2100 Good Morning from Victoria. It is nice to be back aboard a ship. The temperature is 57°F/14C° under scattered clouds. Last night we had a nice sail away party on the aft Lido Deck. People really didn’t start showing up until after we left the dock, but then it picked up. We were introduced to the Entertainment Staff and then those who wished participated in a group dance. The Lido was open for dinner and it was Welcome Aboard Steak Night. We went in and got a table. I got steak, rice, and a small ear of corn. All was pretty good. Everything went smoothly. After dinner I went to the World Stage for the show. I arrived right at the start and the upper level was packed. The comic, Warren B. Hall, was pretty good and got a good response from the audience. After the show I headed for Billboard and music trivia at 8:30. The two piano players were playing to a pretty large audience and went a bit late so trivia was delayed. It was announced that the 8:30 trivia each evening was to be Music, and last night was three songs from each decade from the ‘50’s to the ‘90’s. We paired up with the Bridge Instructor and his wife and only missed one song and artist. After asking for scores up to 25 right it was declared that we were all winners, so I don’t know if anyone got them all. A group nearby that was pretty loud group might have. Today's Activities -- Today's Menus --

Greetings from Victoria, BC, looking forward to a good day with some local CC members. @StLouisCruisersSandi, sorry for the blanks this morning. I work from a local copy at home and failed to load it to halfacts before I left. That oversight has been taken care of.

Room Service