Live from the Westerdam Oct 18 - 29, 2016

Monday, October 17, 2016 - Vancouver

DM and I are off again on another adventure. This time, we're off to Mexico. Our itinerary hits Santa Barbara, San Diego (where we pick up the pax for the 7 day Mexican Riviera portion), Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta before returning to San Diego.

As some of you may recall, we've been sticking a little closer to home for our cruises as the getting to and fro to the cruise presents additional challenges for DM. Fortunately, Vancouver is a short plane ride away; we can cruise more easily out of there. So, the cruise planner amongst us tends to search out cruises to or from Vancouver. This time, we had the added challenges of DM's annual travel insurance expiring at the end of October, and the desire to go see some friends in the Californian desert. So, we booked a four day coastal cruise from Vancouver to San Diego with the intent of renting a car and driving to the desert for a post cruise visit. We booked the cruise on our last cruise to Hawaii in May.

Upon arrival back home in May, the cruise planner (okay, it's me), did some more research and found the Anniversary Sale that HAL had on at the time, was not available for the four day cruise but was available for the 11 day cruise which included the Mexican Riviera. So, vacation day balance at work was checked and found to be good to cover the additional time and we changed the booking accordingly, getting the additional perks of free hotel service charge and $100 in beverage cards. Yippee! We both have been to Mexico before, DM more than I, so we don't actually care if we get off the ship or not in Mexico; we just wanted more days on the ship!

That's a bit of the background as to how we find ourselves cruising to Mexico. Now to departure day.

We've been to Vancouver a few times so wanted to see something that we hadn't seen before in the city. The weather gods seemed to have other plans. The Pacific Northwest has been inundated with rain and wind storms over the past few days and the forecast for our arrival and sailing day was not great. However, we decided that we would wait until we actually got there to see how bad it really is. After all, we're used to incorrect weather forecasts where we live.

Before we could get there, though, we first had to leave our city. And that's where the problems began. There was a thick blanket of fog over much of the city. Not only that, it appeared to be snowing lightly upon arrival at the airport. Boarding was delayed about 40 minutes (basically departure time) and then we sat. And sat. And sat. We were waiting to be de-iced. The pilot initially told us we were sixth or seventh in line to be de-iced. We finally took off two hours late, longer than it takes to fly to Vancouver! The really unusual thing was that I did not hear anyone grumble or complain. That was a pleasant surprise (but could have been due to the fact that we were at the back of the plane and it was not a full flight by any stretch of the imagination).

The flight was uneventful which is always good. After getting our bags, we joined the taxi line. There were taxis there as we joined but they were claimed and then there were none. We waited and waited. Finally I noticed a phone near the head of the line for us to call if there were no taxis. I called and they said it was busy but they were on the way. The lineup by this time was quite long. Fortunately, we were only about fifth in line. Taxis did come and we went on our way.

I got a great deal at the Pan Pacific; it was so much better than my original booking, that I upgraded us to a Premier Harbour View Room. It's quite large and lovely. We were right above where the Westerdam docked the next day. We were able to get our room right away; I had previously called for an early check in, thinking we would be there about 11 am. Since we arrived two hours later, it was not an issue to get our room.

The luggage arrived shortly after we did. We unpacked our umbrellas and freshened ourselves. That's when my back spasms started. Oh, my. Every time I turned, even breathing set it off. Well, between my back and the weather (yes, it was rainy but not really hard), we kiboshed our plans for sightseeing. We still needed some lunch so headed off to Mahony & Sons in the Convention Centre to share a lunch.

After lunch, it was raining harder by then. We came back to the hotel where I iced my back (I never travel without an ice bag!). That helped for a while; it really seemed to help but then I got up. In reviewing the hotel information, I saw that the spa offers chiropractic treatments (with a proper chiropractor). I made an appointment for the next morning.

We stayed in the hotel for dinner and both of us had a lovely Dungeness Crab Cobb Salad. It was quite large, somewhat expensive as hotel meals tend to be, but less expensive than my Lobster Cobb Salad in Bar Harbor a couple of years ago. I have to say, the Lobster Cobb Salad in BH was better but this one was good, too.

After dinner, we went for a walk to a drugstore to purchase some drugs for my back. DM had given me one of hers during dinner and that took the edge off of the pain. The drugstore was a short three block walk; the concierge had directed us to it and it was open until 9 pm. We were back in about half an hour.

Hope the meds and/or the chiropractor clear up your back problems. Looking forward to hearing about your Mexican cruise.

Hope all is better with your back & you can relax and enjoy your cruise.

Sorry about your back. Hopefully tomorrow you will feel better. Looking forward to your review.

Oh Goody -- a "Live" report.

But oh so sorry to hear about your back. I hope the meds and the chiropractor help you.

Looking forward to your reports.

Hey Clipper! I've been perusing the HAL boards regularly to see if you'd be doing a 'live from' so imagine my delight when I logged on this evening and found it. Woo-hoo! Although I am SO sorry to hear about your back issues. That is NOT a good thing. I'm hoping some chiropractic care will ease the pain a bit and that the meds you got work their magic. No fun to be boarding a ship when you are in pain. Give my regards to Mum, and once you're feeling better, have a mojito (or two....or three....) - that should fix you right up!

Looking forward to reading more of your adventures. Get better quick and enjoy your trip - I'll be reading along and living vicariously thru your stories!

Hey Alberta Quilter:

You kept your "Live From" a secret from us!!!!!!

Enjoy, and see you in San Diego on next leg of your cruise.

p.s. Take good care of your back so you'll be ready for the party-crowd joining you on Saturday.

P.s.s. Who is playing in Piano Bar?

I hope your back gets better so you can enjoy more your cruise with your DM.

Looking forward to your live report.

So glad to see a live from being done.

We are also in the ship, been to our cabin, had lunch, attended the Mariner cocktail reception and checked out the America's Test kitchen. There will be more information about it over the next 2 days apparently. We've unpacked and relaxed in the rain on our balcony and waiting now for the drill at 16:15. Sail away is scheduled for 17:00 hours.

The On Location shows as David being the Piano Bar entertainer if that helps.

I am so glad that you are doing this live thread. We are boarding the Westerdam on Nov 5. I will be reading all your posts.

Looking forward to another live review - thanks for again taking the time and spending the money to do this. Hope your back gets better soon!

So glad to see a live from being done.

 

We are also in the ship, been to our cabin, had lunch, attended the Mariner cocktail reception and checked out the America's Test kitchen. There will be more information about it over the next 2 days apparently. We've unpacked and relaxed in the rain on our balcony and waiting now for the drill at 16:15. Sail away is scheduled for 17:00 hours.

 

The On Location shows as David being the Piano Bar entertainer if that helps.

Thanks!

Enjoy!

This sounds like a nice cruise. I hope your back gets better. Looking forward to reading about it.

We are doing the Mexican Rivera in December so I'm looking forward to your live review!

Hope your back feels better soon.

Hey Clipper! I've been perusing the HAL boards regularly to see if you'd be doing a 'live from' so imagine my delight when I logged on this evening and found it. Woo-hoo! Although I am SO sorry to hear about your back issues. That is NOT a good thing. I'm hoping some chiropractic care will ease the pain a bit and that the meds you got work their magic. No fun to be boarding a ship when you are in pain. Give my regards to Mum, and once you're feeling better, have a mojito (or two....or three....) - that should fix you right up!

 

Looking forward to reading more of your adventures. Get better quick and enjoy your trip - I'll be reading along and living vicariously thru your stories!

Hey AIP! Long time, no chat!! We ran into Ed and June who were on the Amsterdam with us a couple of years ago. They are also on this cruise. I hadn't realized it because they changed their handle since then.

Thanks, everyone, for the good wishes for my back issues. It is better today. I saw the chiropractor this morning and she stretched it out. It was a good long session and well worth the money. I was quite lucky in that she is only in the spa a couple of times a week.

I'll write a full report later but want you to know a few things. We have the full room service breakfast menu!! Not the new, reduced version. Yippee! We also have the unlimited internet packages. But we could only purchase for 24 hours or the 4 days of the first segment. I was a little surpised that we couldn't buy the full 11 day package. 4 days cost $59.99 for the middle package. 24 hours was about $25. There is the Navigator where one can see their shipboard account, book dining reservations, shorex, etc. I was able to make PG lunch reservations very easily for the second segment of the cruise. Only thing was that I could only see my part of the shipboard account, and not DM's, yet I requested only one account for our cabin so that we could both use the OBC. It certainly appears that the account is split because it does not show the full amount of the OBC that we should have on file.

Hotel director is Mark Pells, CD is Sarah, Captain is Captain Mark. You've already been told about the piano man, David.

Glad your back is getting better. Looking forward to your review as I am getting on board the day you get off the ship. My cruise is a full ship adult only charter with a much younger crowd than usually sails HAL. This will be a party all night crowd.

We were also surprised at the Internet package-the anniversary sale was for 100 internet per person. We decided on the 7 day segment only which will start in San Diego which is $99.99. If we wanted it for the full 11 days it was $59.99 for 4 day segment then $99.99 for the 7 day segment. We don't need it the first few days so are happy with this.

I think I'm losing my Fido connection so saying goodbye for a few days!!

Instead of starting another live from, I'll just tack my 2 cents on here :)

For those who were watching our luggage drama our missing bag showed up in our stateroom at about 3:30. Yay- we have dress clothes! The Vancouver port staff at the airport were like pit bulls getting our bag for us- they are the greatest. We got a call while in customs from them telling us our bag was in their custody and would be delivered to the ship.

Great Dinner in Pinnacle Grill. Prawn cocktail, seared scallop over pumpkin puree, rib steaks with mushrooms and asparagus and lemon sorbet. Just passing Port Angeles now heading out to Pacific. Getting a little bumpier- some have said that tonight and Wednesday may be bumpy. Tem more PG dinners to look forward to. Great PG staff- Gabor is PG Manager.

Our toilet in our deck 5 aft wrap is doing the 5 minute delay thing tonight- hopefully not a bad sign.

Hope you both have a great cruise!

Good news about the full breakfast menu, even better news about your back doing better!

Have a great cruise, will be following. Last time I sailed the Westerdam was when I met you and your DM :)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

so glad for you that the treatment for your back has worked. I hope it feels great for the entire cruise and you have a great cruise.

Frank - good to hear on your luggage.

Strange on the internet package, but yay on the unlimited Internet and the room service menu :)

It's always nice to see another "Live From" thread happening here. I understand the back spasm thing - I had that happen to me while we were in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida). I lost an entire day due to the pain, alternately icing and heating while the rest of my family were off touring. I hope the meds and your chiro work their magic!

Frank - I can also identify with your lost luggage, only ours didn't arrive until our first port of call 3 days later. When we arrived after our shore excursion at Istanbul, there it was, sitting on the dock. I couldn't have been happier!

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Instead of starting another live from, I'll just tack my 2 cents on here :)

 

For those who were watching our luggage drama our missing bag showed up in our stateroom at about 3:30. Yay- we have dress clothes! The Vancouver port staff at the airport were like pit bulls getting our bag for us- they are the greatest. We got a call while in customs from them telling us our bag was in their custody and would be delivered to the ship.

 

Great Dinner in Pinnacle Grill. Prawn cocktail, seared scallop over pumpkin puree, rib steaks with mushrooms and asparagus and lemon sorbet. Just passing Port Angeles now heading out to Pacific. Getting a little bumpier- some have said that tonight and Wednesday may be bumpy. Tem more PG dinners to look forward to. Great PG staff- Gabor is PG Manager.

 

Our toilet in our deck 5 aft wrap is doing the 5 minute delay thing tonight- hopefully not a bad sign.

Not surprised to read about your toilet. As I had posted on the Oct 22 Roll Call, Westy toilets tend to be finicky. My suggestion is to scope out the nearest public toilet to your cabin in advance of problems......just in case.

Oh....one more thing. If your toilet is out of order and isn't repaired in a reasonable amount of time, it helps to post a sign on the hallway side of the door that reads.

"TOILET DOESN'T FLUSH"

Always got results for me.

Instead of starting another live from, I'll just tack my 2 cents on here :)

 

For those who were watching our luggage drama our missing bag showed up in our stateroom at about 3:30. Yay- we have dress clothes! The Vancouver port staff at the airport were like pit bulls getting our bag for us- they are the greatest. We got a call while in customs from them telling us our bag was in their custody and would be delivered to the ship.

 

Great Dinner in Pinnacle Grill. Prawn cocktail, seared scallop over pumpkin puree, rib steaks with mushrooms and asparagus and lemon sorbet. Just passing Port Angeles now heading out to Pacific. Getting a little bumpier- some have said that tonight and Wednesday may be bumpy. Tem more PG dinners to look forward to. Great PG staff- Gabor is PG Manager.

 

Our toilet in our deck 5 aft wrap is doing the 5 minute delay thing tonight- hopefully not a bad sign.

I'm so glad you got your bag before sailaway! And thanks for chiming in with your thoughts here! Always great to have other cruise experiences since we all don't do the same thing.

I'm still working on yesterday's report. I was writing it last night when I decided to ice my back. Well, then the spasms started again and I was down for the count. Took some more ibuprofen at 2 am and put on my seabands because of the rocking and rolling (I really should have been more prepared for that since it was not unexpected!). Honestly, we're like the blind leading the lame here. DM lost a crown while eating a croissant this morning! Fortunately, she has it and it can be glued back on again. Maybe we'll see a dentist in Mexico. Any recommendations for a particularl dentist in Cabo, Mazatlan or PV?