Come Sail a Way with us LIVE as the Westerdam meets the Sail a Way Gang

[Krazy Kruizers]

Loving all your pictures.

[summer slope]

Wonderful pictures. Shows a great time was had by all.

[Mumsysailor]

I won't quote the post but all those lovely pictures of Ingo and the wine tasting bring back fond memories of all the laughter that went on throughout the cruise. And BTW I thought I heard Ingo speaking in my living room and did a double take. It was Arnold Schwarzenegger on the TV![emoji38]

 

 

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[ski ww]

Thanks for the up date & all those pictures, looks like everybody had a great time. Take care.

Allan & Marlane

[Vict0riann]

It was difficult to get photos of Ingo - he was always moving! This was the best I got (although dark), I think, with a couple we know at the Master Chef's dinner:

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Were there so many people at the Master Chef's dinner that they had to use other tables besides the main big table.

[Vict0riann]

We had 11 at the main table, and three more tables of 2!

[kazu]

It was difficult to get photos of Ingo - he was always moving! This was the best I got (although dark), I think, with a couple we know at the Master Chef's dinner:

 

 

 

 

 

great pic Vict0riann. I found one where he is still but hesitated to post, but what the heck...

 

 

 

[kazu]

Our next day was San Diego.

 

 

 

 

Some, too many of our roll call were disembarking here. Fortunately, we were staying on.

 

I had heard horror stories about this port, taking forever to be cleared and getting off, etc. Surprisingly enough it went very smoothly. There were a LOT of customs officers on board. We were called by deck number and we weren't in the lounge any more than 10 minutes. There were a couple of stragglers that were called but even that was quick and we were able to disembark pretty dam close to our regular time.

 

Very impressed and happy. The port here is quite pretty. Lots to see around here so we did a bit of exploring.

 

 

 

 

 

and then we went to the information centre.

Edited May 18, 2015 by kazu

[kazu]

After getting our bearings, we opted to do the hip hop and on thing and see San Diego. This was a really good tour, the driver was really humourous and informative. The bad thing was that we couldn't take pictures from inside as we were in the wrong place. And, with the cruise ship in, we didn't dare get off as we saw people that had been waiting told another one would be on it's way but ours was full.

 

Since we were meeting for lunch, we decided that the best thing to do would be to stay on and get the whole tour - which we enjoyed very much.

 

Once we got back at the port (the restaurant we were meeting was very close - we had already scoped it out) we had some time to kill and it was warm and we were thirsty so

 

 

We had fun watching people arriving to get on for the four day for a few minutes and the nice view of the Westerdam

 

 

Then we were off to lunch. I don't usually mention CC names with pics and I hope no one minds, but Dobiemom had offered to meet us for lunch. We thought we were going to be on the same cruise as her but they fell apart but she still wanted to get together (silly girl). What I didn't know until we met up was how far she had travelled to meet up with us. Incredible!

 

We had a wonderful time with her. Dobiemom is simply a wonderful person and I look forward to the day I can host her here or cruise with her.

 

 

After our scrumptious lunch (and it really was), we walked back to the ship, bade her farewell and got ready for the (uggher) life boat drill. Yes, we had to do another muster drill so that meant that we had to be back on board earlier to be there. It was realatively painless and we had our same demonstrator of how to put on a life jacket from the show room who helped add some levity while seriously showing us how to do it right.

 

 

 

Since this was the start of a "new" cruise we knew that there would be a bigger sail a way on the aft deck and some of the sail a way gang had decided to investigate.

 

They had food going for the starving masses that couldn't wait two hours to eat and the ship was definitely in party spirit with our CD leading the way.

 

They started a conga type dance

 

 

[kazu]

We all had fun at the sail a way.

 

 

 

 

 

All too soon San Diego started to move into the distance.

 

 

 

We were now back to sea on our way to Victoria. I had been warned about how King Neptune can be cruel on this part of the trip. I chose not to tell DH and instead had just said there might be some movement - LOL.

 

Sure enough the captain announced there could be some motion of the

ocean but the stabilizers were in good working form. I laughed to myself when some new people on board made a comment that the stabilizers probably hadn't been working because of his comment. This was the same announcement he made every time if there was going to be motion.

 

The sailing was pleasant that night. DH was fine (he can suffer from a bit of mal de mer now and then) and had no issues.

 

For any red wine drinkers, DH took this pic of his favourite bottle of red wine that he really liked. It was in the Admiral's package and he gave it good marks.

 

 

Lovely dinner, a bit of BB Kings, a bit of piano bar and life is good. We were ready for our sea day tomorrow no matter what !

[kazu]

The next two days were sea days. Despite what people said, it was quite smooth sailing really. Yes, there were waves but nothing seriousl

 

As we watched the waters, we could see whales, porpoises and acquatic life. The birds really enjoyed the Westerdam stirring up the waters and came searching for the fish that were evident.

 

I didn't want to be packing at the last minute since our last day would be a port day - Victoria and I didn't want to miss one minute of that. So, I took advantage of the sea days to get a lot of the packing done of the unneeded stuff.

 

Seeing as there were only two sea days left, it hit me that I would soon be saying good bye to some of the sail a way gang. We were on some verandahs more than ours for sail a way so I thought it would be nice to host it and I was able to reach some of them for a last minute get together.

 

The concierge obliged us with some appetizers (under the tins are salmon)

 

 

 

We had to have something to go with the wine.

 

We had a great time

 

 

 

 

Always nice to get together with people we were becoming fast cruising buddies with !

 

We had discovered that International Night was moved from the last night (since Victoria was a late stop I'm guessing) to the second last night, so we re-scheduled our dinner in the Pinnacle for them.

 

We also had one last lunch scheduled in the Pinnacle to avoid the crowds in the Lido and have a really good lunch. The hamburger here was incredible, so although I don't really eat a lot of hamburgers, I had to have that again.

 

to be continued.....

Edited May 18, 2015 by kazu

[Krazy Kruizers]

We had 11 at the main table, and three more tables of 2!

 

 

Thank you.

I was curious because when we did this dinner on the Westerdam in 2013, they placed all 19 of us at the main big table -- having extended it. Very hard to talk to the majority of the people.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful pictures.

We love San Diego -- when HAL offered 20 day -- back-to-back cruises out of there as well as Pan American cruises, we would go over for a few days pre-cruise.

[kazu]

Wonderful pictures.

We love San Diego -- when HAL offered 20 day -- back-to-back cruises out of there as well as Pan American cruises, we would go over for a few days pre-cruise.

 

Thanks KK :)

 

We really enjoyed San Diego. I don't blame you at all for going pre-cruise. We plan to do the same. Since it is our embarkation port next year, we plan to go a few days early and explore at our leisure.

[kazu]

Our next day was Victoria. I was up early and engrossed in the arrival. It was a tad foggy but still very pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful day for us as we sat at the aft pool for a bit but obviously some of our crew were preparing for the worst.

 

 

 

hey, it's Victoria, not Alaska - LOL.

 

We were scheduled to arrive at 1:00 pm and we were right on time (as usual) if not a couple of minutes early.

[kazu]

DH and I had decided that we would walk the sea wall and go to the main part of time. Unfortunately, we got the wrong instructions at the way to turn at the port and when we stopped to ask a local, we discovered that we had walked further than was necessary.]

 

The port...

 

 

But it was a pretty walk, so we headed up hill. Might have been the best thing that happened to us as we found the park, flowers and knowing there would be no flowers at home, we just were enthralled by it all and breathed it all in.

 

 

The rhodos were in bloom already! and absolutely exquisite.

 

 

 

 

So, it was a long walk but well worth it. We found a nice spot for a break and they were very helpful about where to go for a bite later.

[kazu]

We browsed in the main area, zig zagging the streets as we were advised so that we could see some of the wonderful buildings and architecture.

 

When it was time for a break, we found the famous oyster place that we were told about and since it was after 3 pm, it was 'shuck a buck" . That's right, wonderfully prepared oysters for just $1 each.

 

We were the only tourists in the place from the looks of things as the servers seemed to know everyone else and a lovely couple at the next table had a small conversation and then gave us some sage advice. We followed it and it turned out to be a wise thing to do.

 

 

The oysters were delectable and I would gladly go back there any day of the week. For those that don't like oysters, they had lots of other things which II understand was equally good.

 

 

After that we went browsing and with a couple of parcels we decided that we didn't want to walk all the way back to the ship, so we hopped a cab (cheap) to save the old legs.

 

We were quickly in front of our ship

 

tonight was our last night in the dining room where we expressed our appreciation and thanks.

 

Our main dining steward who took great care of us.

 

 

and look, here is another picture of Ingo.

 

 

 

 

the night was not going to be all that early for us. We wanted to catch a couple of people (failed at some, succeeded at others) and check out a couple of last minutes of entertainment.

 

Then it was time to face the bitter truth - the packing. I had already put all the bags out but one, so we needed to get that last one done.

 

to be continued tomorrow...

[kazu]

It didn't take long to reach Vancouver - our port view.

 

 

 

Vancouver was our last stop and time to get off. It was time to bid farewell to everyone and head out. Disembarkation was quite smooth. We mistimed when we went and there was a bit of a lineup but it was quick.

 

Canada Place is very organized. We were zipping along and to the taxi lineup quickly with no wait at all.

 

In no time at all we were at our hotel, and surprise of all surprises, our room was ready. That meant we could put away the valuables and head out to explore. We had decided to stay two days post cruise in Vancouver. One day is pretty much a must because of the timing of our flights, so why not see a bit. I hadn't been to Vancouver since 1986 so I was long due for a visit.

 

 

Vancouver has really grown since I was there last!

 

 

 

 

We got a two day pass on the hip hop on and off trolley and set off to see some sights. We did a fair bit of walking (again) and soon it was time for lunch. We found a fantastic pizzaria where you choose your pieces of pizza and it was weighed by the kilogram (2.2 pounds)

 

[kazu]

the pizza was really good. Totally different than any I have had in Canada, not quite like you would have in Italy (more toppings) but very close.

 

 

 

Walking along there were tons of flower shops. Very reasonably priced so I picked up a couple of gerberas at DH's insistence (LOL)

 

 

By 6:00 pm we were a tad weary. We had found a wine store and some yummy food, so since we had a kitchen and a fridge, we headed back to the room. I don't know why, but usually I find disembarkation days tiring. Or is it depressing?

 

The sky didn't look promising for tomorrow.

 

 

 

Vancouver can get a lot of rain, but as it turned out we were going to have very nice day the next day for our further explorations.

 

to be continued.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have been enjoying your review and great pictures.

[kazu]

Have been enjoying your review and great pictures.

 

thank you kindly KK. should finish up by tomorrow. Wondering if I should do a review here or on a separate thread?

[Oceanwench]

Just catching up with this thread - family emergency at the end of April has kept me busy and away from CC.

 

Great photos! And looks like a wonderful group of people, too.

 

Thanks for taking us along with you. :)

[Folk Singer]

Thank you for this Thread and see you all soon.

[hcij2015]

Great photos.

Which hotel did you stay at in Vancouver?

Thanks.