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

[summer slope]

Great cabin crawl. Now back to our own cabin with 2 plumbers and no hot water again. Big sigh. These plumbers might as well move in, they are here often enough.

Oh for goodness sakes. Enough is enough. OBC needs to be put in your account for adult beverages.

[kazu]

Great cabin crawl. Now back to our own cabin with 2 plumbers and no hot water again. Big sigh. These plumbers might as well move in, they are here often enough.

 

 

OMG -again??? this is ridiculous! If HAL can't fix this then they shouldn't sell out. It might be time for an officer to give up their cabin so you can shower. Sheesh! this is more than an uggher. It is ridiculous.

 

Cabin crawl was fun I think for most, at least I hope so.

 

The concierge was kind enough to let me bring people into the Neptune Lounge for just a nano second (no touch) so they could see the whole thing.

 

I am still struggling with the Canada Customs form. uggher.

[kazu]

Jacqui

Your pictures are fantastic.

Having unlimited Internet certainly makes a difference in Live reports.

 

 

you are very kind KK, thank you.

 

The package makes a huge difference as it takes time to upload the pics and they don't always upload or the internet drops. No worries on that whereas in the past I would have been cursing about minutes lost.

 

and congrats to lakeswmr who won a raffle at the shopping thing today. $150 value (or so they said). very nice indeed.

[kazu]

Mariners' reception:

 

Well, a number of us managed to get our times changed to the later one so we could see the medallion ceremonies.

 

The captain is now calling us the rowdy bunch. But he was having fun, dancing with one recipient, and pulling a flower out a bouquet for another one.

 

I will download our menu and post it later. hopefully it turned out ok.

 

Another fun day (to quote the captain) on the beautiful, elegant Westerdam :)

 

good thing sea days are for relaxing ;)

 

We had three roll call members who received their bronze medallions and we rocked the house cheering for them.

 

We ignored the "silence on deck" LOL.

 

It appeared that one roll call member was caught off guard.

 

The mariner's lunch menu was different from the last one we had.

 

It was actually quite good :)

Edited April 23, 2015 by kazu

[Skipper's Mom]

As for OBC for the lack of hot water, on our last P-dam TA last year, we had work being done in our hallway (we were NS guests). This was supposed to be for two days and wound up being for almost the entire TA. We were given a reasonable OBC on the last day and then, when we didn't use it, it became a credit to our credit card. A nice gesture on the part of HAL.:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great cabin crawl. Now back to our own cabin with 2 plumbers and no hot water again. Big sigh. These plumbers might as well move in, they are here often enough.

 

 

I am so sorry to hear this.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Cabin crawl and poker run was a huge success! Thanks to Rich, Deb and Jacqui for organizing and figuring out the logistics. A great variety of cabins...DH better get his wallet out as some were looking mighty fine!:eek: :D we bought 4 FCC today so let the planning begin!

 

Our customs forms were all messed up because DH is leaving in San Diego and us 3 are staying on to Vancouver. So we got a new card and I filled it out. IF we buy anything more then I will have to tell them in Victoria and put it on DS'S allowance as I only claimed a very minimal amount under his name.

 

I really can't see how this is going to work or speed things up in Victoria. If anything it will make things slower and more complicated. I also kept the letter from HAL to show if I encounter any issues.

 

 

This all mess with customs for you Canadians sounds like a horrible mess.

[Krazy Kruizers]

As for OBC for the lack of hot water' date=' on our last P-dam TA last year, we had work being done in our hallway (we were NS guests). This was supposed to be for two days and wound up being for almost the entire TA. We were given a reasonable OBC on the last day and then, when we didn't use it, it became a credit to our credit card. A nice gesture on the part of HAL.:D[/quote']

 

Glad to hear that the left over compensation shipboard credit was credited back to your credit card.

[Lizzie68]

Update.... a letter was delivered offering a generous OBC and assurance all was fixed.... minutes before we discovered we were back to cold water. Ah well...

[cruisevers]

Update.... a letter was delivered offering a generous OBC and assurance all was fixed.... minutes before we discovered we were back to cold water. Ah well...

 

That is so terrible, don't think I would have your patience. When you are back from your cruise would you post your cabin number for those of us boarding in the next few weeks? That way if any of us have that cabin we will be aware that it has been going on and can tell them we know it has been an ongoing problem.

I imagine it was a problem even before you boarded.

[Scrapnana]

I really enjoyed the cabin crawl. I hosted my cabin which is an FF forward facing oceanview. Enjoyed seeing the other cabins at the end.

 

Thanks to those who co-ordinated this!

[PathfinderEss]

Great cabin crawl. Now back to our own cabin with 2 plumbers and no hot water again. Big sigh. These plumbers might as well move in, they are here often enough.

 

Update.... a letter was delivered offering a generous OBC and assurance all was fixed.... minutes before we discovered we were back to cold water. Ah well...

 

I feel so bad for you, guess the plumbers will be moving in........:(

 

Sounds like the pub crawl was very successful, as did the Mariners awards ceremony too. Glad you all got to see your sail away buddies get their medallions. Now that you mentioned about the Captain dancing with one of the guest, I remember he did a slide coming into the Queens lounge, it was actually quite impressive, on our cruise.

 

Sounds like you all are still having a wonderful time. A big thank you for keeping us updated with your postings:D

 

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Update.... a letter was delivered offering a generous OBC and assurance all was fixed.... minutes before we discovered we were back to cold water. Ah well...

 

Can't believe the problems you have had. I was thinking of the Westerdam for Alaska this summer as it goes to Glacier Bay but am now thinking of returning to the Amsterdam instead.

[mollyanne]

Lizzie:

 

I think you would do us all a great service if you divulged your cabin number. Many are booked on future cruises and would hope to avoid this cabin like the plague! I truly hope things are fixed for you once and for all and that you get a nice chunk of change for what you have endured.:o

[retired714]

The cabin crawl was great! Thank you to all the hosts/hostesses! Scrapnana, we loved your cabin. Next time we cruise, I'm pretty sure we will check to see if one of those is available. Is it loud though? Yesterday we were in the Vista lounge when we pulled out of Hualtalco and the engine noise was pretty loud for a couple minutes.

[dfish]

I had to go find some Chocovine after reading this thread. I found it at the local grocery store, the regular chocolate as well as the raspberry one. Both are very good.

 

Really feeling sorry for Lizzie. Enough is enough. I sure hope they get that problem fixed before we board!

 

Deb

[Scrapnana]

The cabin crawl was great! Thank you to all the hosts/hostesses! Scrapnana, we loved your cabin. Next time we cruise, I'm pretty sure we will check to see if one of those is available. Is it loud though? Yesterday we were in the Vista lounge when we pulled out of Hualtalco and the engine noise was pretty loud for a couple minutes.

 

It does get noisy and vibrating when they start the engines but it only lasts for a couple of minutes.

[kazu]

I really enjoyed the cabin crawl. I hosted my cabin which is an FF forward facing oceanview. Enjoyed seeing the other cabins at the end.

 

 

 

Thanks to those who co-ordinated this!

 

 

thank YOU for hosting your cabin. It was really unique and I think it is a great cabin for those that like OV's. Loved the lay out and it was so different.

 

thanks so much for letting us have a peak. Rich got the pics for the site :)

 

He's a better photographer than I for sure!]]

[1of4]

Our towel animal tonight was a snake. I say was because I had DS destroy it while I was out of the cabin. I HATE snakes.

 

We received a note on our bed tonight that said routine maintenance on the balcony will be done tomorrow between 8 and 5 and they will need access through our cabin, they also said that we are welcome to stay in our cabin but it is not necessary. We could reschedule by 11 tonight but it was after 10 when we came back to our cabin after collecting DD and DS from Club HAL. Tomorrow we are in Puerto Vallarta so it is unlikely we will he staying in our cabin all day. Good luck trying to access our balcony when the sofa bed is out. Somehow I don't think they will be climbing over the pull out bed with all their gear!

 

My thought was why don't they give Lizzie68 hot water instead of working on our balconies?

 

DH also went to the front desk to request a lock for the balcony door. The front desk is sending someone to verify that there is, in fact, no key in the lock. What a waste of time. We have no keys for any lock in this stateroom, side tables included. I just noticed that yesterday. But with DH departing on Monday I want to be able to lock the balcony door.

 

We had dinner in the PG tonight. It started out lovely. We were seated in the side room in one of the corners. But before our main course could arrive a table of 8 arrived and it took no time for us to feel we were crashing a private party. They were crass, loud and obnoxious. When asked how we were enjoying our meal DH said it was lovely until this party arrived and now we couldn't hear ourselves think. Topics they covered included contents of haggis (and he was wrong in his description of what it was), sucking marrow from bones, comparing escargot to poop, politics and eating the bowel of pigs. By then I had had enough and the manager was kind enough to move us into the main room where we could enjoy each others company and finish our meal in peace.

 

We will request our tiles tomorrow since we were not invited to one of the luncheons.

Edited April 24, 2015 by 1of4

[kazu]

just sitting here on the verandah before we head to bed.

 

catching up and beautiful, brisk breeze blowing.

 

nearly feels like a TA! LOL.

 

a great day today.

 

Tomorrow we have decided to try the Canaletto. After all, we should check out everything for the live thread, right?

 

Puerto Vallarta tomorrow. I hate bartering though and am not good at it. uggher.

 

It was fun cheering our medallion winners. As the captain said, they are made from the plumbing of the old Amsterdam, and I know some don't care about the trinkets, but when you are on a cruise with people you care about ....it's a lot of fun.

 

and yes, we got pics. I am still waiting for DH to give me access to his memory card. he is a much better photographer than I and I would really like to share the captain getting the plaque for you all.

 

Oh well, another day,, two days ports to still catch up on and shopping and exploration awaits us tomorrow.

 

I am SO lucky to be with this wonderful roll call. Cheers!

[kazu]

oh thanks 1of4 for reminding me to ask for my tile tomorrow. I did go to the luncheon but I left quickly as I had to be at the cabin crawl host meeting and wanted to check the room.

 

too early for a tile and when DH said I had to leave early, they said only one per passenger. grrr.

 

they are the nice Stephen Card tiles so I definitely want one. On the "to do" list for tomorrow.

Edited April 24, 2015 by kazu

[retired714]

1of4 - the lady that is at our table for dinner was very upset that we were not invited to either of the lunches (which is as ok because DH wouldn't have wanted to go) - but she was going to demand to know why ALL the mariners would not be invited to it since they pretty much have been in the past. [emoji12]. If she gets a response I'll let you know

[erewhon]

The discussion about who receives invitations to various functions is interesting.

Last cruise (34 days) we were invited to a Mariners Lunch, but not to any of the 3 Medallion Ceremonies that were held.

As we received our Medallions via international mail service, we enjoy attending the ceremonies to see others receive their medallions.

Maybe next cruise we will receive an invitation.:)

[dfish]

We had dinner in the PG tonight. It started out lovely. We were seated in the side room in one of the corners. But before our main course could arrive a table of 8 arrived and it took no time for us to feel we were crashing a private party. They were crass, loud and obnoxious. When asked how we were enjoying our meal DH said it was lovely until this party arrived and now we couldn't hear ourselves think. Topics they covered included contents of haggis (and he was wrong in his description of what it was), sucking marrow from bones, comparing escargot to poop, politics and eating the bowel of pigs. By then I had had enough and the manager was kind enough to move us into the main room where we could enjoy each others company and finish our meal in peace.

 

We will request our tiles tomorrow since we were not invited to one of the luncheons.

 

This reminds me of a dinner I had once in Ireland. I was enjoying my lovely salmon until the medical family next to me began to loudly discuss blood gasses, pus filled wounds etc and how to treat such things. Dad seemed to be holding court with the kids and spouses while Mom complained about the food.

[Vict0riann]

I will try to post a couple of crocodile photos from the Tarcoles River in Costa Rica. About 10 of us took the river cruise on Jacqui's tour, which included the zip lines, butterfly farm, etc.

 

Mumsysailor was our croc-spotter, and she did a very good job, better than the guide!

 

 

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