Westerdam is on its way to Juneau

[Taters]

This article was posted by a trusted Alaska source, The Alaska Landmine, an hour ago.  According to an internal Juneau Borough email, Westerdam is headed to Alaska after stopping in Hawaii.  The ship should arrive into Juneau in mid March where it will be tied up until the Alaska season starts.

 

https://alaskalandmine.com/landmines/ms-westerdam-on-its-way-to-juneau-from-asia/?fbclid=IwAR1nl6lp0nktYyHsHcUv8ckBJA8aqvI4nUFYCAZwxmlhUpGKSFgiuQkwJXk 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Taters

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the info.

[Himself]

Thanks for the information.  Where will she be docked.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for the information.

[Taters]

1 hour ago, Himself said:

Thanks for the information.  Where will she be docked.

I'm not sure at this point.

[Hlitner]

Interesting.  I wonder if they will take off a majority of the crew in Hawaii and move the ship to Juneau with a skeleton crew.  Honolulu certainly offers better air connections for both the Filipino and Indonesian crew.  That being said, after the Philippine government refused to even allow the Filipino's to go ashore in Manilla, one wonders if the crew will be treated as like lepers by their own countries. 

 

Hank

[1ANGELCAT]

It’s going to have to be later than mid March, since she’s only scheduled to arrive in Hawaii on March 16th. 

[oaktreerb]

5 hours ago, Himself said:

Thanks for the information.  Where will she be docked.

The article says the AJ dock in Juneau.  Maybe we’ll be able to see it arrive on the Juneau Harbor webcam!  I was expecting it to end up in Whittier to wait  for the season to begin but Juneau has more dock space.

Edited March 3, 2020 by oaktreerb

[SilvertoGold]

5 hours ago, Himself said:

Thanks for the information.  Where will she be docked.

 

The news story says the AJ Dock.

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Interesting.  I wonder if they will take off a majority of the crew in Hawaii and move the ship to Juneau with a skeleton crew.  Honolulu certainly offers better air connections for both the Filipino and Indonesian crew.  That being said, after the Philippine government refused to even allow the Filipino's to go ashore in Manilla, one wonders if the crew will be treated as like lepers by their own countries. 

 

Hank

 

Sailing the ship with a skeleton crew surely makes more economic sense for HAL than not.  Air connections for the crews' home countries would be more easily arranged and maybe less costly for those crew leaving Westerdam than doing so once in Alaska.  

 

2 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

Maybe we’ll be able to see it arrive on the Juneau Harbor webcam!  

 

Juneau webcam watching may be early this Alaska season!  (I have periodically been watching the cam and they don't seem to have had much snow.)

 

I feel sorry for those guests who booked the Asia cruises that had to be cancelled.  I have friends who were booked on the trans-Pacific from Japan.  They were disappointed.  But, they found two cruises this Winter on Nieuw Statendam and MSC Meraviglia that they chose to book as a replacement.

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Sailing the ship with a skeleton crew surely makes more economic sense for HAL than not.  Air connections for the crews' home countries would be more easily arranged and maybe less costly for those crew leaving Westerdam than doing so once in Alaska.  

 

 

Juneau webcam watching may be early this Alaska season!  (I have periodically been watching the cam and they don't seem to have had much snow.)

 

I feel sorry for those guests who booked the Asia cruises that had to be cancelled.  I have friends who were booked on the trans-Pacific from Japan.  They were disappointed.  But, they found two cruises this Winter on Nieuw Statendam and MSC Meraviglia that they chose to book as a replacement.

We are among those who were booked on that Trans-pacific.   The situation in Japan is so bad that we were relived when HAL e-mailed us that they had cancelled the cruise.  We quickly booked a similar HAL itinerary for next year and are also considering some options for next month.   HAL handled the cancellation very well and we had all of our money refunded within 3 days.

 

Hank

[Donald]

6 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Sailing the ship with a skeleton crew surely makes more economic sense for HAL than not.  Air connections for the crews' home countries would be more easily arranged and maybe less costly for those crew leaving Westerdam than doing so once in Alaska.  

 

 

Juneau webcam watching may be early this Alaska season!  (I have periodically been watching the cam and they don't seem to have had much snow.)

 

I feel sorry for those guests who booked the Asia cruises that had to be cancelled.  I have friends who were booked on the trans-Pacific from Japan.  They were disappointed.  But, they found two cruises this Winter on Nieuw Statendam and MSC Meraviglia that they chose to book as a replacement.

HAL's cost to keep one waiter or cabin steward onboard the ship (ALL costs including air fares) is just over US$10 per day.

Adding another round trip air ticket to send him home and the fly him back again is more costly. Keeping him onboard to perform cleaning and maintenance chores on an empty ship makes more economic sense. 

[Taters]

The latest from Anchorage Daily News/Associated Press: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020/03/04/cruise-ship-turned-away-from-asia-ports-over-coronavirus-is-headed-to-alaska/

[rkacruiser]

44 minutes ago, Taters said:

The latest from Anchorage Daily News/Associated Press: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020/03/04/cruise-ship-turned-away-from-asia-ports-over-coronavirus-is-headed-to-alaska/

 

Thanks for this news.  The Westerdam ought to be the most thoroughly well maintained ship with a crew now even more eager to provide the "Signature of Excellence" experience that we expect when her Alaska season begins.

[acis]

According to Hawaii port information, Westerdam is tentatively scheduled to arrive in Honolulu 8 am on March 16 then depart at 5 pm on the 17th.  

 

Since our April cruise to Japan was cancelled, I guess we can try to stow-away from here. 🤫

 

Aloha,

Wanda

[haolenate]

I unfortunately will be on the Encore when she comes into town, but I'll ask my roomie to get some photos of her.  She will be docked at the AJ Dock since Juneau has a team of Holland America Princess staff in Juneau (regional ops) so it just makes sense.  There's also a fleet of busses to run crew members to Costco/Fred Meyer/Airport, etc. I bet they are all wanting some well deserved rest.

 

The comments by some of my lovely fellow Juneauites on social media, are, well.. making me feel like I live in a land full of unintelligent folk.   Some people are throwing up pitchforks & whatnot, and its quite sad.  

[Taters]

22 minutes ago, haolenate said:

I unfortunately will be on the Encore when she comes into town, but I'll ask my roomie to get some photos of her.  She will be docked at the AJ Dock since Juneau has a team of Holland America Princess staff in Juneau (regional ops) so it just makes sense.  There's also a fleet of busses to run crew members to Costco/Fred Meyer/Airport, etc. I bet they are all wanting some well deserved rest.

 

The comments by some of my lovely fellow Juneauites on social media, are, well.. making me feel like I live in a land full of unintelligent folk.   Some people are throwing up pitchforks & whatnot, and its quite sad.  

I agree.  Folks are just plain ignorant.

[rkacruiser]

20 hours ago, haolenate said:

 

 

The comments by some of my lovely fellow Juneauites on social media, are, well.. making me feel like I live in a land full of unintelligent folk.   Some people are throwing up pitchforks & whatnot, and its quite sad.  

 

Not familiar with the social media to which you are referencing, but the lack of scientific literacy that has developed in the American citizenry truly alarms me.  "Fake science facts" are too often accepted as being 100% true when they really are not.

[Aquahound]

21 hours ago, haolenate said:

The comments by some of my lovely fellow Juneauites on social media, are, well.. making me feel like I live in a land full of unintelligent folk.   Some people are throwing up pitchforks & whatnot, and its quite sad.  

 

I have friends and coworkers in Juneau and they told me some locals are planning a boat blockade of the ship in order to try to prevent it from docking.  Of course, the USCG and police are aware and such actions won't end too well for the blockaders.  

 

[haolenate]

Latest:

 

City working through ‘what ifs’ as the Westerdam — and cruise ship season — makes its way toward Juneau

 

When Juneau residents learned that Holland America’s Westerdam would be arriving in Juneau early to wait for the start of the summer season, the reaction was immediate.

City leaders say they received hundreds of emails and phone calls from the public. People wanted to know why the ship was coming here, what it would do once it arrived and how the city could be sure there were no cases of COVID-19 on board.

 

 

https://www.ktoo.org/2020/03/11/city-working-through-what-ifs-as-the-westerdam-and-cruise-ship-season-makes-its-way-toward-juneau/

[haolenate]

Thank god my community is finally stepping up.

 

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Girl Scout Troop 4077 would like to raise $2,500 to bring cookies to the crew of the Westerdam.

The effort is called Spread Cookie Kindness in Juneau.

 

https://www.kinyradio.com/news/news-of-the-north/girl-scouts-collect-for-westerdam/