legalslave
May 27th, 2009, 01:32 AM
Arrived in Seattle Saturday 5/16. We stayed the night at the Fairmont Olympic through the HAL special offer. The hotel is beautiful and elegant. Our room was quite small with twin beds. The bathroom was large. Friends we made on cruisecritic, Ken & Sue, had arrived on the 15th and had a rental car. They picked us up at our hotel, carted us to the grocery store and joined us for dinner at Ivar's on Alaskan Way. I highly recommend Ivar's, which was recommended by many of the Seattle cruisecritic locals. Best darn clam chowder we have ever experienced! Thank you Ken & Sue!!!! There was a deli across the street from the hotel, a Starbucks less than a block away and a Subway also less than a block away.
We did not use the HAL shuttle to the pier on Sunday, as we wanted to arrive early to meet up with those on our roll call. If by chance you are taking a taxi from a downtown hotel to Pier 91, only take a Yellow taxi which is the company contracted for Pier 91. As others have stated, other drivers hate to go there as it is a hassle for them and they are not allowed to pick up fares at the pier. We found this out the hard way! We arrived around 9:30 at the pier. We did not have to wait long before we were allowed to check in. We were the 2nd ones to check in and not many passengers had arrived at that time. As time went by, we were able to meet some on our roll call and have lunch together in the Lido. Boarding began between 11:30 and 11:45. The announcement advising the cabins were ready, came a little after 1:30.
We were in cabin 7062, across from the Neptune. The cabin was perfectly clean with everything where it should be. DH had 1 previous cruise on the old Westerdam in 1999. Needless to say, he was impressed with the SA and loved the balcony. The ottomans on the balcony are looking a bit tattered but they have been well used. He enjoyed being near the Neptune for his iced tea and I had plenty of Latte's. The Concierges, Faye & Ida, were extremly professional and were happy to help in any way they could. We never ordered room service as the Neptune was so convenient. We attended the cocktail party for suite guests on the first night in the Crow's nest. We did not make it to the suite luncheon or other cocktail party as we had plans with our cruisecritic friends.
Captain Haris was scheduled for this sailing. I was surprised when Captain Henk Keijer was our welcoming voice from the Bridge. Captain Harris did join us later in the week. Our Meet & Greet was the first sea day at 11:00 am. The officers who attended were Hotel Manager Ron Bontenbal, Culinary Manager Andrew Brown and Beverage Manager Premkumar Kannan. They were very informative and quite personable. I will say, we had the best looking officers ever on a cruise! Since we missed the galley tour, which was scheduled at the same time as our Meet & Greet, a private tour was scheduled for us later in the cruise. The tour was personally given by Executive Chef Andreas Noemayr and was enjoyed by all of us. We were all very appreciative of the time they gave us as we all know their duties on the ship keep them very busy.
The Cruise Director who was scheduled to join this cruise became ill and was not able to be on the cruise. It was quite a surprise when Julie Barr & Joel Mason introduced themselves as our Cruise Directors on the PA system. At first, I thought it was a joke as anyone who has met Julie, knows this is something she might do. They really were the Cruise Directors for our sailing and they did an excellent job, in addition to their regular roles as entertainers. This is the end of part 1.
Diane
We did not use the HAL shuttle to the pier on Sunday, as we wanted to arrive early to meet up with those on our roll call. If by chance you are taking a taxi from a downtown hotel to Pier 91, only take a Yellow taxi which is the company contracted for Pier 91. As others have stated, other drivers hate to go there as it is a hassle for them and they are not allowed to pick up fares at the pier. We found this out the hard way! We arrived around 9:30 at the pier. We did not have to wait long before we were allowed to check in. We were the 2nd ones to check in and not many passengers had arrived at that time. As time went by, we were able to meet some on our roll call and have lunch together in the Lido. Boarding began between 11:30 and 11:45. The announcement advising the cabins were ready, came a little after 1:30.
We were in cabin 7062, across from the Neptune. The cabin was perfectly clean with everything where it should be. DH had 1 previous cruise on the old Westerdam in 1999. Needless to say, he was impressed with the SA and loved the balcony. The ottomans on the balcony are looking a bit tattered but they have been well used. He enjoyed being near the Neptune for his iced tea and I had plenty of Latte's. The Concierges, Faye & Ida, were extremly professional and were happy to help in any way they could. We never ordered room service as the Neptune was so convenient. We attended the cocktail party for suite guests on the first night in the Crow's nest. We did not make it to the suite luncheon or other cocktail party as we had plans with our cruisecritic friends.
Captain Haris was scheduled for this sailing. I was surprised when Captain Henk Keijer was our welcoming voice from the Bridge. Captain Harris did join us later in the week. Our Meet & Greet was the first sea day at 11:00 am. The officers who attended were Hotel Manager Ron Bontenbal, Culinary Manager Andrew Brown and Beverage Manager Premkumar Kannan. They were very informative and quite personable. I will say, we had the best looking officers ever on a cruise! Since we missed the galley tour, which was scheduled at the same time as our Meet & Greet, a private tour was scheduled for us later in the cruise. The tour was personally given by Executive Chef Andreas Noemayr and was enjoyed by all of us. We were all very appreciative of the time they gave us as we all know their duties on the ship keep them very busy.
The Cruise Director who was scheduled to join this cruise became ill and was not able to be on the cruise. It was quite a surprise when Julie Barr & Joel Mason introduced themselves as our Cruise Directors on the PA system. At first, I thought it was a joke as anyone who has met Julie, knows this is something she might do. They really were the Cruise Directors for our sailing and they did an excellent job, in addition to their regular roles as entertainers. This is the end of part 1.
Diane