B T B help,please

[Quendryth]

We will be sailing 9-12 & 9-15 on Westerdam to Alaska. We were unable to secure the same stateroom for both legs so we are forced to move on the second cruise. Any suggestions on what to do or expect when it is time to pack up & move on? We will be on the same deck(thank goodness) about 4 staterooms apart. Can we expect help from our room steward or will they have a rack for hanging the clothes or carts, etc. If we are to be out by 8:00 a.m. where will we go with all our belongings if the new stateroom isn't quite vacant or cleaned?

 

I'm sure someone of you have been thru this & have answers, please. We have done BTB but never had to change staterooms before. It is kind of disconcerting 8 months out!!!

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Faith & Larry (mostly Faith):confused:

Edited January 16, 2015 by Quendryth

[Crew News]

We will be sailing 9-12 & 9-15 on Westerdam to Alaska. We were unable to secure the same stateroom for both legs so we are forced to move on the second cruise. Any suggestions on what to do or expect when it is time to pack up & move on? We will be on the same deck(thank goodness) about 4 staterooms apart. Can we expect help from our room steward or will they have a rack for hanging the clothes or carts, etc. If we are to be out by 8:00 a.m. where will we go with all our belongings if the new stateroom isn't quite vacant or cleaned?

 

I'm sure someone of you have been thru this & have answers, please. We have done BTB but never had to change staterooms before. It is kind of disconcerting 8 months out!!!

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Faith & Larry (mostly Faith):confused:

 

Our one changing room experience is that you will not have to vacate your room until the other occupants are departed. That might be early or late. Your Room Steward will let you know what time you will be moving since they will know when the new room will be free. You will be asked to pack lightly as the Room Steward will provide a bell-captain's cart to transport all of your personal effects.

 

With your stuff moved to the new room, you will leave your new room and go to the designated waiting spot (usually by the Front Desk since not many folks do B2B in Alaska) while the Room Stewards clean your new room. The Front Desk will give you your new room key. When directed, you will leave the ship with your passport, new room key, and Transit Card for the HAL terminal Waiting Area.

 

HAL will let you know when you can return to the ship (usually half an hour but only after all of the other passengers have left the ship). You can go to your new room and it might be ready. If you wish, you can stay in the room as it is cleaned around you but I usually take the free time to get lots of photographs of the ship while there is few others in the way.

 

We have done B2B on almost all of our cruises as well as our upcoming Alaska cruise.

 

FWIW we sailed the Westerdam to Alaska B2B last summer. Here are the On Locations (daily activities) from that cruise: http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/?page_id=1643

 

Here is a link to a tour of the Westerdam to include dining from last summer: http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/?page_id=1561

 

Here is a link to the MDR and Lido Restaurant menus to give you an idea of what is to eat: http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/?page_id=1625

 

Hope this helps.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Crew News

[take us away]

When we had to move cabins, it was very easy as the drawers were exchanged, a hanging rack (bellman's cart) was used to move all the closet things, we just dumped the bathroom and miscellaneous stuff into our carry ones, wheeled them down the wall and into the next assigned cabin. As the departing passengers had all their stuff cleaned out, we were able to move the drawers and closet stuff right after breakfast - the departing passengers even helped a bit with exchanging the drawers. The room stewards will assist as much as you want from moving everything to nothing. Remember they are very busy on the turn-around day so talk with your cabin steward a few days ahead of the move and ask what he recommends.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I noticed that you mentioned that your new cabin will be about 4 cabins away.

Check with your cabin steward to see if he/she is servicing that cabin.

On the last full day of the cruise you will get a letter indicating what time to meet and where to go through immigration in Seattle. Also on that last full day of the first cruise, if you do know that you will have a different cabin steward/stewardess, go and introduce yourself to them and explain that you are staying on for another cruise and would appreciate it if he/she could get the cabin ready as soon as possible. Only once many years ago we moved cabins and the stewards were great in helping us.

[USN59-79]

On 9/12 Westerdam leaves Seattle. On 9/15 it will be in Glacier Bay.

[Quendryth]

On 9/12 Westerdam leaves Seattle. On 9/15 it will be in Glacier Bay.

Whoops! We are swimming to Seattle if we go on the 15th! I meant the 19th!

 

Thanks for pointing out my ignorance & lack of typing ability!

 

Faith

[Krazy Kruizers]

Don't worry about it. We all make typos.

[Quendryth]

To all of you for all the info you provided! It has been very helpful in our planning & to know we don't have to sit in the hallway until our new stateroom is ready!

 

Thanks again & I hope to meet all of you on a future cruise somewhere! We are 3 star mariners so we are not new to HAL -just new to sailing on her ships again!:o

 

Best wishes

 

 

Faith & Larry:D

 

quendryth

[Crew News]

To all of you for all the info you provided! It has been very helpful in our planning & to know we don't have to sit in the hallway until our new stateroom is ready!

 

Thanks again & I hope to meet all of you on a future cruise somewhere! We are 3 star mariners so we are not new to HAL -just new to sailing on her ships again!:o

 

Best wishes

 

 

Faith & Larry:D

 

quendryth

 

Glad I could help.

 

In my previous post, I stated that half an hour would be the waiting time in the Transit Lounge. When you are escorted off of the ship at 10:00 AM, you may be lucky enough to be the last two that are disembarking. In that case, you may be sitting for as few as five minutes before being released to return to your new room.

 

There have been occasions where passengers oversleep, forget to disembark, are in the shower, or just not in any hurry. If that is the case, Ship's Security well be conducting a passenger hunt and you might be sitting for an hour. If you are the only ones doing the B2B (which is usually the case for Alaska cruises), bring a book to read. Last July, the Westerdam Hotel Director came to visit with us while we were waiting.

 

As I posted, you will probably be the only ones doing a B2B and will have free run of the ship to take unobstructed pictures for at least one hour.

 

If you purchased any liquor from the Shops during your first week, it will be delivered to your stateroom the night before all of the other passengers depart.