"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 1 Flying to Seattle/Embarkation Day September 23, 2017 Saturday Partly cloudy & 70 degrees 51 Pictures

Alaska/Hawaii on the Eurodam with Bill & Mary Ann 9-23-17 to 10-17-17

Well, here we are again……..heading off into the friendly skies on another HAL adventure. This time, we are doing a 7 day Alaskan cruise, followed by a 17 day trip to Hawaii. A little bit of cold or rain, and hopefully, some warm, tropical breezes. Always a welcome way to start the autumn season.

This will be a switch for us, because our fall trips have been on the Amsterdam, and similar type ships in the line. Because the Amsterdam has gone back to doing the Asia/Pacific Grand Voyage, we booked this trip on the Eurodam. Although we have sailed larger ships in the past such as the Star Princess, this will be a size in between. Hope we like it. It will be fun comparing it to the Amsterdam's experience.

This summer has flown by at a rapid pace. In July, we went on a 14 day trip to Alaska, a special reunion cruise with our travel agency. So it seems like we just got back, and here we go again. Catching up with necessary chores around the house and garden has kept us totally busy. It is no wonder that so many folks down-size to accommodate the traveling. We're not quite ready to go that extreme, but the day is coming…..

We were ready to roll this morning around 5am, when our driver was scheduled to pick us up. The main road repairs due to a slide last winter are still in progress. In fact, the job has been extended for one month, because of unforeseen problems. And perhaps because the detour is a bit hairy, our driver decided to take the "one-laner" road to take us to the SF airport, by way of the San Mateo Bridge. Sure it looks good on the GPS screen, but it does not reveal that the road is full of ruts, hairpin turns, and unpassable in sections due to its narrowness. And heaven help us if for any reason, we broke down.

It turned out to be OK, but the ride ended up taking an extra 45 minutes, which we remembered from our last drive over the top back 20 plus years ago. We never saw one vehicle the whole way, but we did spot a cottontail rabbit and a few stray deer. It did remind us of days past, when one of us traveled to Colorado to visit family in Colorado. My dad was always the adventurer, who trusted that the little crooked line on the map could save us hours in driving. Most times, that was wrong, and mom was right. No more short-cuts!

Good thing we had added an extra hour to get to the airport. And since it was a Saturday, traffic was light. SFO is always bustling no matter when you go there, so weekends are no exception. And it seems that every time we fly somewhere, the airlines have changed their check-in process. Recall the days when you stood in a long line, and the agents did most everything for you? Now, you have to navigate most all of it on your own. Lucky for us, a friendly agent was there to help us with the kiosk. Yes, we had already gotten to the point where the luggage tags were being printed. Looking confused as to the instructions to peel off the backing, the agent swiftly did the peeling, then adhered the little tracker tags to each bag. What one of us missed was that she was putting the extra tag on one of the backings. Handing it back, one of us did not notice the three tracking tags on the slip, and efficiently threw what was thought to be trash in the debris bin. This was not noticed until after we went through the security check, which by the way, we both got the TSA-pre check. No way were we going back to "dumpster dive" for the numbers. So we hoped our luggage would end up in Seattle without getting lost. Surely there are ways to track the bags if they go astray, right?

The flight was so fast, that we barely seemed to get comfortable, and we were landing. Or could it be that we might have slept through most of it? Prior to leaving yesterday, we confirmed our flight details on the old-fashioned phone, only to discover that our seats had been switched. We were no longer sitting together. Guess the agent detected a hint of surprise upon finding that out, especially when we booked the flight last May. So we were upgraded to economy plus, free of charge. True, there was more leg room, but not any difference with the width of the seats. Turned out OK, since the fellow in the window seat, curled up and slept the whole way. Oddly, the beverage cart had passed by our entire row, and they failed to provide our snacks and drinks. She did bring our juices and delicious Dutch waffle cookie when we asked later, apologizing profusely.

The network at the airport for all of the cruise lines worked well. The luggage was late in arriving, but arrive…. it did. All three pieces popped out on the turnstile, so now the worry of lost bags was over. One handle, which was on the verge of breaking, finally did. And since it was a long walk to the bus area, we got a cart to push all of it. Since we just did this last July, it was easy to go up one elevator, go across the road, then go down another elevator to the first floor of the garage. HAL/Princess agents were placed along the way, giving directions. An NCL ship, the Jewel, was also in Seattle today, adding to the traffic.

By 1pm, we were being loaded into the buses for the ½ hour ride to the pier. The drivers in Seattle are the best, as they make the ride entertaining. Since we are sailing the last cruise for the season, our driver mentioned that he will be going home to Sitka, and will be driving the HAL buses from that pier to downtown Sritka. He promised to look for us. We shall see…..

The Ruby Princess, one of the big ones, was docked across from the Eurodam, which is big enough for us. That probably put around 6000 people going through the cruise terminal today. And that was just the ones boarding. As long as you have your ID and boarding passes to show security, the process went smoothly, despite the crowds. Lots of help here.

We got the royal reception when we showed our papers to the greeter, who directed us to the priority lane. We are not aware that there are any other President Club members on this cruise, but this sure triggered a response. Checking in was a breeze, then we were escorted by a staff member to board the vessel. A large group of visitors (100 or more) were exiting the ship as we climbed the gangway. They were part of a group called the Bablou's, we think, a club headed by Orlando Ashford, the President of HAL.

On the ship, we were escorted to the fancy atrium elevators by the Guest Relations gal, Christine, who brought us to our veranda room on deck five. Eventually, we were greeted by the head housekeeper and our room stewardess, Ayu, making sure all was to our liking. What is there not to like? We'll get into room and ship details later.

A nice touch was getting a daily newsletter handed to us upon embarking. Taking that a step further, all the info we needed was in our room. Such as how to log onto the internet, makes dining reservations (with costs included), and tiny details you normally have to search for elsewhere. We do appreciate the little things that help make your trip seamless.

Since the ship was scheduled to leave at 4pm, the muster drill was held at 3:15pm. This is when we realized how many people were on this ship. Lots, compared to the Amsterdam. There are 2104 passengers, with 876 crew members on this ship. It is 86,273 gross tons with 8 restaurants and cafes. There are 12 lounges and bars, and was launched in 2008. We understand the ship is completely sold out. By the way, the drill was short and sweet with all attending. Only the captain spoke. His name is Werner Timmers, who we have not had the pleasure of meeting yet.

We had been reminded by our Seattle coach drive to make sure we all eat every two hours while onboard. It is a mandatory hint to keep up the energy for cruising. Yeah, sure. Good idea………look for lunch, which by now, we had missed in the dining room. No wait….there was no lunch there today. This forced us to find the Lido and more important, the New York Pizza station. We were in heaven after we ordered their version of the Margherita pizza. In less than 15 minutes, we had the whole pizza cooked perfectly. Not individual dried-up slices of leftover pizza. This will be our favorite spot for sure.

We did a little exploring on our way back to the room. By now all three pieces of luggage had arrived. Discovered that one had been searched at SFO. It was not the one with the plug strip and extension cord as we thought it might be. There was one advantage to last minute packing………nothing was wrinkled.

This veranda room is smaller than the balcony rooms on the Amsterdam. More boxy-looking, it has a shorter desk (no drawers), and three closets. Ample enough for a 3 week cruise, it would be difficult on a longer voyage. Nice touches include a newer large flatscreen TV on the wall at the foot of the bed. On demand movies and documentaries will be most appreciated this trip. The 2 drawer nightstands have USB ports, but no plugs. More ports are in the desk area, as well as three more plugs. Didn't really need the plug strip this time. After an hour, all of our stuff was stashed away with room to spare.

Dinnertime for us was at 8pm, fixed with a table for two on the deck three railing. Several waiters stopped by, welcoming us back to a DAM ship. All of them had worked on the Amsterdam at one time or another. Wonderful to see familiar faces. Despite being totally exhausted, we enjoyed a dinner with soup, salad, appetizers and good entrees. Of course, we had to try the desserts. There was no real show, but a preview of the entertainment for the next 7 days. It was over by the time we finished dinner. The show lounge was huge and built on three levels. Steep enough for all to see without any barriers.

We had so much more to do, but it could wait until tomorrow. Bedtime was never so sweet. So was trying our best to watch some of the on demand BBC series. Excellent. We need to remind our room stewardess that we don't need the towel animals. It does save some time for them, and we have seen them all more than once.

Until tomorrow,

Bill & Mary Ann

Historical building in downtown Seattle