LAFFNVEGAS LIVE to Alaska on the HAL Westerdam August 25, 2024

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good Morning, this very early morning in Las Vegas. We have a very early 6:00AM flight hoping all goes well since we are arriving the same day as the cruise.

When I start these Live From threads from home the Old Mamas and Papas song goes through my head about Leaving on a Jet Plan

This will be our 16th cruise to Alaska, they have been a mixture of leaving from Seattle and Vancouver and just one of those cruises was on the NCL Bliss the rest HAL. But this is the first time we are departing in the month of August. Up till now we have sailed every month with the exception of August and October. We last sailed the Westerdam last year to Alaska. The exception was it was a week later leaving in September and we went to Hubbard Glacier. This year the ship is going to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. This will be our first time to this destination for glaciers.

 

For those that have followed my past Live From's  I encourage readers to participate each evening with  "What's for Dinner?" I will post the menus for the evening where we are dining and let you choose what you would order.  Our first night (tonight) we are actually dining in the Pinnacle Grill just so you have a heads up

 

Tom and I are in fact traveling with Dobiemom aka Marcia, her stateroom is down the hall from us. We have found over the years we travel quite well together and have lots of fun.

 

The Westerdam cruise today is the last 7 day Alaska cruise for the season, when we disembark those embarking will be sailing on a 52 day round trip voyage to Japan, To say I am envious would be an understatement. Although as much as I would love this I am just not sure I could be gone from home that many days at one time. I will be pushing it January 28th through February 15th doing a Trans Atlantic on the NCL Bliss from Southampton to Miami stopping in France, Spain, Portugal and Ponta Degada Azores.

 

I will sign off for now so we can head to the airport soon but will be checking in several more times today. You may even get to dine with us in the Lido for some Peanut Butter Silk Pie

[StLouisCruisers]

Have a great cruise!  We will be keeping up with you each day. 😊

[albingirl]

Bon voyage! Love your travels and I'll be following.

[Roz]

Have a great cruise,  @LAFFNVEGAS and @dobiemom!

[puppycanducruise]

Looking forward to reading all about your cruise.  Hope it's great.  

[travelnap]

Thanks for taking us along with you and Tom, Lisa.  Look forward to following along with your voyage.

[Love the beach]

Bon Voyage!

[GTVCRUISER]

[Seasick Sailor]

Bon Voyage! We will be embarking in Seattle on Sept 1st for Japan. 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[POA1]

Have a great trip!

[canadianbear]

Looking forward to reading about your adventures!  Have a blast @LAFFNVEGAS and @dobiemom

[ger_77]

Hi Lisa, hoping you, Tom and Marcia have a wonderful cruise!!

[luvteaching]

Have a great trip Lisa, Tom and Marcia! @LAFFNVEGAS@dobiemom

Karen

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Have a great cruise.

[atexsix]

5 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Good Morning, this very early morning in Las Vegas. We have a very early 6:00AM flight hoping all goes well since we are arriving the same day as the cruise.

When I start these Live From threads from home the Old Mamas and Papas song goes through my head about Leaving on a Jet Plan

This will be our 16th cruise to Alaska, they have been a mixture of leaving from Seattle and Vancouver and just one of those cruises was on the NCL Bliss the rest HAL. But this is the first time we are departing in the month of August. Up till now we have sailed every month with the exception of August and October. We last sailed the Westerdam last year to Alaska. The exception was it was a week later leaving in September and we went to Hubbard Glacier. This year the ship is going to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. This will be our first time to this destination for glaciers.

 

For those that have followed my past Live From's  I encourage readers to participate each evening with  "What's for Dinner?" I will post the menus for the evening where we are dining and let you choose what you would order.  Our first night (tonight) we are actually dining in the Pinnacle Grill just so you have a heads up

 

Tom and I are in fact traveling with Dobiemom aka Marcia, her stateroom is down the hall from us. We have found over the years we travel quite well together and have lots of fun.

 

The Westerdam cruise today is the last 7 day Alaska cruise for the season, when we disembark those embarking will be sailing on a 52 day round trip voyage to Japan, To say I am envious would be an understatement. Although as much as I would love this I am just not sure I could be gone from home that many days at one time. I will be pushing it January 28th through February 15th doing a Trans Atlantic on the NCL Bliss from Southampton to Miami stopping in France, Spain, Portugal and Ponta Degada Azores.

 

I will sign off for now so we can head to the airport soon but will be checking in several more times today. You may even get to dine with us in the Lido for some Peanut Butter Silk Pie

Following.

 

On the silk pie, since I live here, perhaps a rendezvous in a row boat below your stateroom?  Just drop it in 🙂

[atexsix]

5 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Good Morning, this very early morning in Las Vegas. We have a very early 6:00AM flight hoping all goes well since we are arriving the same day as the cruise.

When I start these Live From threads from home the Old Mamas and Papas song goes through my head about Leaving on a Jet Plan

This will be our 16th cruise to Alaska, they have been a mixture of leaving from Seattle and Vancouver and just one of those cruises was on the NCL Bliss the rest HAL. But this is the first time we are departing in the month of August. Up till now we have sailed every month with the exception of August and October. We last sailed the Westerdam last year to Alaska. The exception was it was a week later leaving in September and we went to Hubbard Glacier. This year the ship is going to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. This will be our first time to this destination for glaciers.

 

For those that have followed my past Live From's  I encourage readers to participate each evening with  "What's for Dinner?" I will post the menus for the evening where we are dining and let you choose what you would order.  Our first night (tonight) we are actually dining in the Pinnacle Grill just so you have a heads up

 

Tom and I are in fact traveling with Dobiemom aka Marcia, her stateroom is down the hall from us. We have found over the years we travel quite well together and have lots of fun.

 

The Westerdam cruise today is the last 7 day Alaska cruise for the season, when we disembark those embarking will be sailing on a 52 day round trip voyage to Japan, To say I am envious would be an understatement. Although as much as I would love this I am just not sure I could be gone from home that many days at one time. I will be pushing it January 28th through February 15th doing a Trans Atlantic on the NCL Bliss from Southampton to Miami stopping in France, Spain, Portugal and Ponta Degada Azores.

 

I will sign off for now so we can head to the airport soon but will be checking in several more times today. You may even get to dine with us in the Lido for some Peanut Butter Silk Pie

I could have sworn the restart sailings to Alaska minus Canada were in August, but nope, I went back and looked, it was July 24th I believe and we sailed with you and Marcia on Sept 4th. 

 

Best cruise to Alaska ever!  Wish that could have been a permanent change.

[Hogladyrider]

All signed up to follow along this GREAT adventure!

 

Safe travels today and BON VOYAGE!

[Mary229]

Bon Voyage

[BermudaBound2014]

Hi there, just in case you are not aware, there is a cyber attack happening in Seattle. Right now it's reported as effecting the airlines more than the cruise lines, but they are saying it could last for days. Thought you might want to be aware.

 

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/major-cruise-port-suffers-outages-from-possible-cyberattack/142817

 

 

 

[julia]

Have a great cruise Lisa, and report back on the crowds if you can?

[Niagarawine]

Bon voyage!

[Mtn2Sea]

Bon Voyage - hope you have a GREAT cruise!  Looking forward to hearing about your time aboard.

[SharonN]

Have a great trip! Hopefully they've got a new Cruise and Travel Director since the one we had in Jun/July on the 28 Westerdam Alaska Cruise was really bad. The rest of the crew was great though. 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Greetings from the beautiful MS Westerdam. 
Getting to this point went very well with little to no hassles. 
We walked across the gangway at 11:24am

Our flight into Seattle was a bit bumpy but not horrible. Alaska Airlines does a good job.

i will say the SeaTac airport is a crazy mess. By far worse than I have ever experienced in the past 20 years of coming up here.

so much construction and lacking in organization.

We have had lunch in the Lido, yes had Peanut Butter Silk Pie and a Mango Margarita. I had a Cobb Salad , and a bit of Beechers Mac and Cheese. 
After lunch we went to check out what table we were assigned. Although tonight is Pinnacle Grill.
Then went to check into our Muster Station. We will probably go in a few minutes to the Billboard on Board for the Welcome Reception. 

I could sure use a nap, probably only got 2 hours of sleep last night since we got up at 2 am.

Our stateroom is nice deck 8 Signature Suite.

@SharonNUnfortunately it the same as earlier and my understanding is she is disembarking at the end of our cruise.

Signing off for right now.

 

[hummingbird_206]

I love live threads!  Thanks for starting this one.

 

Who/where did you check with about your table assignment?  

 

Sounds like you didn't get impacted by the Port of Seattle SeaTac internet hacking snafu, so that's good.  It probably contributed to the mess you noted at the airport.

 

Have a wonderful trip!