Rare Btimmer Posted September 25, 2022 #1 Share Posted September 25, 2022 This post was recognized by LauraS! "Another from Btimmer! Thank you for generously sharing your time at sea with everyone at Cruise Critic!" Btimmer was awarded the badge '"Live from...."' It's time again to head out on another cruise adventure. We plan to board the Westerdam in Seattle on Sunday, 10/2/22 with a scheduled departure time of 3pm. I'll be doing my customary "Almost Live" thread from the ship for our 64 day voyage (B2B2B). We've done this trip a couple times before, but what makes this one special is that this Westerdam cruise marks us cruising on the last Holland America ship in the current fleet that we've not sailed on previously. During the past year, we were able to sail on the previous last three (Rotterdam VII, Zuiderdam, and Noordam). The projected route will take us to Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, a loop around New Zealand and finishes up with a Sydney round trip to Tasmania and out to Kangaroo Island. We've had a number of itinerary changes in the past few months, and we may have some more ahead of us. We've got our snorkel gear packed and are looking forward to lots of snorkeling. We're doing this trip in our customary inside aft cabin. I'm hosting the Meet & Greets after each embarkation port on 10/3, 11/9, and 11/25. These will be held in the Billboard Onboard area. As has been my custom, I'll post pictures and limited commentary in this thread. Feel free to ask questions in this thread, and I'll attempt to answer them. I will record a daily blog with much more detail at https://timmer2022du.blogspot.com. That link won't become active until 10/2 or after. And, yes, this will be our longest cruise by 2 days. It beats a 2016 B2B Maasdam cruise from Seattle to Sydney and an Australia circumnavigation that was 62 days. 12 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianbear Posted September 25, 2022 #2 Share Posted September 25, 2022 Looking forward to following along. Sounds like an absolute amazing cruise! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 25, 2022 Author #3 Share Posted September 25, 2022 Here's some maps of our itinerary: https://www.hollandamerica.com/map/itineraries/P2S51A/images/en_US_P2S51A_mobile_1x.jpg 7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare The-Inside-Cabin Posted September 25, 2022 #4 Share Posted September 25, 2022 Bon Voyage! Looking forward to your reports! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 25, 2022 Author #5 Share Posted September 25, 2022 1 minute ago, The-Inside-Cabin said: Bon Voyage! Looking forward to your reports! Pete,Thanks. Still doing it with one roll on (albeit larger)! 😉 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare The-Inside-Cabin Posted September 25, 2022 #6 Share Posted September 25, 2022 3 minutes ago, Btimmer said: Pete,Thanks. Still doing it with one roll on (albeit larger)! 😉 Here were my bags for my longer cruise - there's a carry on in their somewhere.. 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare WriterOnDeck Posted September 25, 2022 #7 Share Posted September 25, 2022 Time, I, too, can't wait for this cruise to start! And it's always good to hear that someone else will be posting along the way! I'll be blogging at www.WriterOnDeck.com. Do you know if anyone else on the cruise is blogging? See you soon! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 25, 2022 Author #8 Share Posted September 25, 2022 8 minutes ago, WriterOnDeck said: Time, I, too, can't wait for this cruise to start! And it's always good to hear that someone else will be posting along the way! I'll be blogging at www.WriterOnDeck.com. Do you know if anyone else on the cruise is blogging? See you soon! Offhand, I don't know if anyone else who is blogging. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farawaygal Posted September 25, 2022 #9 Share Posted September 25, 2022 Are you flying home standby or did you book a flight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 25, 2022 Author #10 Share Posted September 25, 2022 12 minutes ago, farawaygal said: Are you flying home standby or did you book a flight? Standby. We'll be staying in Australia for a couple weeks visiting close friends. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilty964 Posted September 25, 2022 #11 Share Posted September 25, 2022 Bon Voyage! Looking forward to your adventures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kplady Posted September 25, 2022 #12 Share Posted September 25, 2022 @BtimmerTim, looking forward to following along on your cruise. Your posts are always so informative, and we'll be doing something similar in March-April 2023 (Melbourne-Sydney then Sydney-NZ-American Samoa-Tahiti-Hawaii-San Francisco). Have a wonderful time!! Laura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted September 25, 2022 #13 Share Posted September 25, 2022 I am looking forward to your well written and interesting reports. Of the four Vista Class ships, Westerdam is my favorite. (Have not sailed on Oosterdam.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeniEncinitas Posted September 25, 2022 #14 Share Posted September 25, 2022 🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺 @Btimmer Tim, I have followed along on all your journeys and so look forward to this one! Have an awesome cruise! Enjoy your time with your friends in Australia too! 🌺Denise😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Is Bliss Posted September 26, 2022 #15 Share Posted September 26, 2022 Looking forward to your posts. Thank you for taking us along! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radbooks Posted September 26, 2022 #16 Share Posted September 26, 2022 Oh, I look forward to following along on your blog! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSegars Posted September 26, 2022 #17 Share Posted September 26, 2022 We will be following along as well as hoping to meet you on the ship. See you at the M&G. Lance and Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbri Posted September 26, 2022 #18 Share Posted September 26, 2022 Sounds like a wonderful cruise. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinteach2 Posted September 26, 2022 #19 Share Posted September 26, 2022 Looking forward to following along! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BetsyS. Posted September 27, 2022 #20 Share Posted September 27, 2022 Tim - My stepfather and I met you and your wife on 8/3 when we had to wait an hour before entering the Boston terminal. We were in front of you in the line. You made the wait better - we enjoyed talking to you both. I'm sorry we didn't see you for the rest of the trip, but we hope to see you on another HAL cruise in the future. We still did not get our guest surveys. I emailed Guest Relations and gave our cabin numbers and dates of cruise. Since we had adjoining rooms, we should have received 2 surveys. Have a great cruise! I'm glad you will see your friends in Australia. Bon Voyage! Betsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 27, 2022 Author #21 Share Posted September 27, 2022 1 hour ago, BetsyS. said: Tim - My stepfather and I met you and your wife on 8/3 when we had to wait an hour before entering the Boston terminal. We were in front of you in the line. You made the wait better - we enjoyed talking to you both. I'm sorry we didn't see you for the rest of the trip, but we hope to see you on another HAL cruise in the future. We still did not get our guest surveys. I emailed Guest Relations and gave our cabin numbers and dates of cruise. Since we had adjoining rooms, we should have received 2 surveys. Have a great cruise! I'm glad you will see your friends in Australia. Bon Voyage! Betsy Betsy, Thanks for reaching out! We enjoyed the conversation as well. There was another couple from Seattle on the cruise that we flew with to Boston that we never saw in the cruise. So don't feel alone. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bookited Posted September 29, 2022 #22 Share Posted September 29, 2022 On 9/27/2022 at 9:23 AM, Btimmer said: Betsy, Thanks for reaching out! We enjoyed the conversation as well. There was another couple from Seattle on the cruise that we flew with to Boston that we never saw in the cruise. So don't feel alone. Tim Tim, That was us, Ed and June. We were a bit concerned that possibly you were quarantined because we never saw you after getting off the plane. Bon Voyage and safe travel. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 30, 2022 Author #23 Share Posted September 30, 2022 We're now 2 days before embarkation and it looks like a fantastic weather day will bless our departure. The temperature is expected to be 80f. Antigen covid tests are about to be taken. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 30, 2022 Author #24 Share Posted September 30, 2022 We've passed our covid tests and the Verifly APP says we're ready to sail. I guess I should finish packing. . . 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakridger Posted September 30, 2022 #25 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Aw come on Tim…..what’s the rush? 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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