Westerdam - July 11 & 12 - Victoria and Seattle

[Crew News]

The day began in sunshine and when the temperatures rose, the sliding roof was opened. Several swimmers enjoyed the 60-degree weather by staying nearly submerged in the pool. As the temp continued to rise, more took advantage of the pool.

 

Joanie and I attended the Captain Harris's Mariner's reception and then the Mariner's Luncheon. Several CC members, with many more days than we have, sat together at the luncheon and exchanged HAL stories. Ron and Melissa kept the conversation lively and fascinating.

 

Arrival in Victoria, BC went as planned with Canadian Customs taking their normal 30 minutes to clear the ship for disembarkation. While waiting for the ship to clear Customs, I visited the Pinnacle Grill for a dinner of excellent lamb chops and closed with a mountain of raspberry cheesecake.

 

Joanie continued reading on the verandah as I headed towards downtown Victoria. As I exited the Customs area of the terminal, a connected gift shop hosted a number of Westerdam crew taking advantage of the free wi-fi there. I strolled to an elevated walkway along the waterfront for a few minutes and decided to return to the ship. While returning through the Customs Gate, I struck up a conversation with this Canadian Army retiree that lasted nearly 15 minutes.

 

Arriving at the nearly deserted Lido Restaurant at 8:30 PM, I found the Ice Cream Station closed and endured another day without sprinkles or even ice cream.

 

It was a good feeling seeing all of the bags in the hallway and knowing that mine would remain on-board for another week.

 

I retired as the ship left Victoria at 11:15 PM.

 

Saturday was a bright sunshining day when my alarm broke my sleep at 7:00 AM. Room Service arrived at 7:30 AM, as requested, and breakfast was eaten on the verandah. Our Room Steward was waiting with a rolling cart at precisely 8:30 AM and we were moved to our new stateroom within minutes. Picking up our new room cards from the Neptune Lounge and we headed to the Front Desk for our 9:30 AM In-transit meeting. Even though I questioned the Front Desk representative, she insisted that we could not return to the ship until the new passengers were allowed to return at 11:00 AM. We met a HAL representative at the gangway and were assured that return would be as soon as the ship was "zeroed" out.

 

As we waited in the Transit Lounge, we learned that at 10:00 AM there were still 19 passengers on board. At 10:15 AM, the Hotel Manager came to the Transit Lounge and reported that he found someone taking a shower a few minutes after 10:00 AM and demanded that they leave the ship. We learned that no new passengers could proceed through the Security Checkpoint until the ship was "zeroed." So the passenger in the shower was really delaying hundreds of passengers probably waiting at the Seattle Terminal Entrance. We were back on board the Westerdam at 10:30 AM.

 

To close our first week in Alaska and begin our second, I chose ice cream as my first course for my Lido Restaurant lunch. Being first in line at the Ice Cream Station, I ordered two scoops of chocolate chip ice cream and smothered both scoops with beloved sprinkles. It is the smallest things in life that give it flavor.

 

And in conclusion:

 

Of our numerous cruises, this first week on the Westerdam was better than the rest. Hazel and Mia in the Neptune Lounge did everything possible to make our stay comfortable. Benish, Pinnacle Grill Manager, was gracious, funny, very amenable to changing reservations, and went out his way to arrange for a private table to accomadate Joanie's allergy to scents. Simon Tanner, Culinary Operations Manager, made sure that I received all of the ship's restaurants lunch and dinner menus every day. Our Room Steward, Ayou, was excellent and could just not do enough to ensure we were satisfied with our stateroom. Daniel Lewis, Hotel Manager, and his staff made our cruise memorable and when he came to the Transit Lounge today, he promised to make it even better this week.

 

Next week will be a continuing search for photographs of eagles and whales, great food, meeting other CC-ers, and hoping for sprinkles on every scoop of ice cream.

[jaspersmycat]

Enquiring minds need to know- did the new key cards have Mariner stars?

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your reports.

 

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

Loving your "Live" report.

Yes -- we all want to know if the "stars" are on this week's ID cards.

Captain Harris?? Has he returned to HAL from Wind Star??

[erewhon]

Thanks for your report.

 

Did you move to a different aft stateroom?

 

Am pleased that sprinkles were available for your ice cream.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for posting, I appreciate all the information.

I'm so glad you finally got sprinkles!

Hope tomorrow is filled with sunshine and sprinkles.

[dobiemom]

"It is the smallest things in life that give it flavor."

 

Yup! Glad you got your sprinkles. :)

 

Thanks for taking the time to give us your reports. Hi to Joanie. :) Enjoy your second week aboard the Queen of Horns. ;)

Edited July 13, 2014 by dobiemom

[POA1]

Thanks for the update. We, too are delighted to see you got your sprinkles.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your report. Sounds like you have been having some great days. Question, so did you have to go thru US imigration? I know they made us do it twice on our btbtb, but that was in Vancouver.

[Crew News]

Enquiring minds need to know- did the new key cards have Mariner stars?

 

I haven't looked for the stars thread but will answer your question here. The missing stars were a software issue in Seattle. Our new key cards did have our four stars.

[Crew News]

Loving your "Live" report.

 

Yes -- we all want to know if the "stars" are on this week's ID cards.

 

Captain Harris?? Has he returned to HAL from Wind Star??

 

Captain Peter Harris is indeed the captain now unless there might be another Captain Harris. Captain Harris was the captain when the Westerdam won the Queen of the Horns title last year.

 

The Hotel Manager is Daniel Lewis and he has made our cruise memorable.

[Crew News]

When we departed the ship, we walked two exits down from Customs and sat in some chairs that put the Security Check-in about 50 feet away. No Customs and no passports needed. In fact, we were under HAL escort at all times.

 

The Hotel Manager appeared in the Transit Lounge to tell us that nobody can even pass through the checkpoint until the ship is "zeroed."

 

We moved from our upgrade aft wrap to our original #6052 down from the Crow's Nest.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Crew News

[erewhon]

Thanks for replying to my query.

[2bout2c]

Captain Peter Harris is indeed the captain now unless there might be another Captain Harris. Captain Harris was the captain when the Westerdam won the Queen of the Horns title last year.

 

The Hotel Manager is Daniel Lewis and he has made our cruise memorable.

Roger, the Captain on the Westerdam is Capt John Scott...

We did talk a lot about Capt Harris but he is not on the Westerdam.

melissa

[thetexasaggiecruiser]

Yay, sprinkles! Hopefully the start of a new trend.

 

Enjoy the second leg of your wonderful trip!

[POA1]

Roger - Is the large cheese menu, where there are 15 or so cheeses and you select the 4, still available at dinner in the MDR?

[Crew News]

Roger, the Captain on the Westerdam is Capt John Scott...

We did talk a lot about Capt Harris but he is not on the Westerdam.

melissa

 

My error. All of the conversation of Captain Harris slipped into my brain for my earlier post. Twas one of my senior moments.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks Crew News for answering my question on imigration. I hate they have to make you get off, just to zero down. They know how many in transit passengers they have, you would think they could count. When we did the Hawaii/Mexico cruise, they did not make us get off. It was so nice, so much less hassle.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Captain Peter Harris is indeed the captain now unless there might be another Captain Harris. Captain Harris was the captain when the Westerdam won the Queen of the Horns title last year.

 

The Hotel Manager is Daniel Lewis and he has made our cruise memorable.

 

 

Interesting -- when we were on the Westerdam in March/April 2013 we had a new captain (for us) -- Rens van Eerten.

Ron Bontonbal was our hotel manager -- we have sailed with him many times.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Are there Stars on your ID cards this week?

[Linda&Vern]

Are there Stars on your ID cards this week?

KK - On another thread Roger answered that question. Yes, there are stars this week. Apparently last week there was a software glitch in Seattle, causing no stars to appear.

[Linda&Vern]

Thanks Crew News for answering my question on imigration. I hate they have to make you get off, just to zero down. They know how many in transit passengers they have, you would think they could count. When we did the Hawaii/Mexico cruise, they did not make us get off. It was so nice, so much less hassle.

I agree - however, my understanding is that "they" isn't HAL.

[Krazy Kruizers]

KK - On another thread Roger answered that question. Yes, there are stars this week. Apparently last week there was a software glitch in Seattle, causing no stars to appear.

 

 

Thank you -- I guess I missed it as Crew News as so many threads right now.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I agree - however, my understanding is that "they" isn't HAL.

 

 

You are right -- it not HAL that has made the rule that the ship has to be down to "zero" count.