Westerdam Alaska Family Adventure

I love to write long photo reviews , but I may take a bit of time . I like to include comments on our pre-post trip portions as well ( in lesser details ) , so feel free to skip if that doesn't interest you. I am posting lots of photos , but am lazy to do it from my PC ( using my ipad ) , so they aren't as sharp as there are if posted from the PC. I will be happy to answer questions along the way!

Background : family of 5 ( DH and I are 45 , DD 17 , DSons are 10 and 14). One of my dear high school buddies went along as did my sister and her son who is 7. My family of 5 takes at least one " big " trip a year , which involves international travel , usually including a cruise and land portion. I plan a lot and choose itineraries I think will be interesting , beautiful and educational for the kids. We have been to the Med , the Baltics , SA/ Antarctica , Galapagos , Northern Europe ( Norway/ Ireland / Scotland) , the Caribbean and now Alaska. We have sailed RCI , Celebrity , Carnival and this was our second HAL cruise ( the other was on the Eurodam). We are more " sedate" , usually don't stay up late and enjoy relaxing environs on our cruises. Will write a bit more soon!

Looking forward to the full review of your Westerdam adventure.

Love reading about other families of 5 traveling!!

I am looking forward to your review!:)

Looking forward to your report!

We used to travel as a family of 5, too. Now they're all grown up, and just one DD often travels with us, to make sure we behave!:) But beware of Alaska - our youngest loved it so much, she became a pilot and went there to fly!

Will be looking for your review.

The beginning:

As I plan wayyyy ahead , I always look for deals and jump on them when they appear. I happened to come across an excellent price for business class tickets on US Airways in Envoy , which had full lie flat seats and individual suites. We flew from São Paulo , connected in Charlotte then on to San Francisco , where we stayed 2 days with my parents before continuing on to Seattle.

I highly recommend the Envoy suites. Very nice.

DH sleeping on very long flight ( from our house to hotel.... 26 hours of travel!!!)

On our leg from CLT to SFO , we had a bit of a scare on our flight. About an hour into our 5 hr flight , there was an announcement asking if there was a doctor on board. My husband is a physician , but not American. He waited and they made a second announcement. He presented himself to the flight attendant and disappeared for what seemed to be a long while. Happily , after assisting the woman in need , she improved.

We stayed at the Intercontinental in San Francisco. We liked it , but it didn't " wow " us. I am from California , so it was lovely to be in my old state and see my family.

Great start!!

After a couple of days in SF , we took a United flight to Seattle. It was my first visit to Seattle and I loved it !!!!

We stayed at the Fairmont Olympic , which is an exquisite hotel. Really gorgeous. The lobby is stately , the rooms are large , very comfortable and well appointed . The location is excellent as well.

Breakfast in the Georgian Room is incredible . With fresh berries and honey which is from their own apiary . one of our rooms

Oops ...first photo is room , second is Georgian room

In Seattle , we hit Pike Place , the Giant Ferris Wheel and the cherry on top , dinner for 10 at the Space Needle. Sounds touristy , but the service , food and view were top notched. Expensive , but unforgettable!!!

Embarkation Day June 21st-

There was a marathon so we were a bit concerned about traffic. We headed to the ship at around 11:30 by taxi.

Upon arriving , it was fairly calm. We had 3 rooms among our group . 2 Neptune Suites and one Large Inside ( rooms 7072 , 7074 , and 6079)

When we got past security , there was no line in the suite guest line , but a fairly long line otherwise. A woman asked if everyone in our group had American or Canadian passports. I said no and she sent our whole group to the " foreign " line , which was empty. This turned out very well!!! We all were checked in quickly.

We headed straight to the dining room for Mariner's lunch. We got a big table and all sat down to relax.

After lunch we headed to our rooms. Out suite was lovely and very nicely located.... Near the lounge , the elevators , with easy access to the lido and kid's club as well. Wonderful.

Our suite

Some photos of the Westerdam

Atrium area

Artwork in the Stairwell

Aft pool area

Charming Artwork

T

Great review so far, thank you!

I always enjoy your reviews and pics!

Wonderful review. Thank you for sharing the airline pic with us. I will be on vacation starting on Sat. I hope I will be able to keep up with your review.

Thanks for the nice words , happy to have people following along!

June 21st - Embarkation Day cont.

The Muster Drill was easy and uneventful ( thankfully , we escaped the fire scare the following cruise had).

We had open dining . It was not a great experience overall. Spotty service and almost hard to get a table for our big group except at late or very early times , neither of which really pleased us. We had open dining on the Eurodam for a group of nine and it was much smoother overall. Some evenings it took way to long to even be asked what our order was.... But once the food was ordered , it was efficient.

I am not a big food photographer... More into people and nature. But I have all menus and will post them in a little while. I know people are curious about food!!

More Westerdam

images

Funny story ... This whimsical benches with Satyrs ( or fauns? ) were all over the ship. Some of the Brazilians in our group thought they looked evil , lol ! I thought they were cool!

Giant Chessboard

Enjoying your review.

Keith

June 22nd - First Sea Day.....

It was a rocky one! Lots of motion and my nephew got sick. Those more sensitive in out group took Bonine. It was quite choppy.

We spent the day relaxing and enjoying the ship. My DS ( 10) and his cousin (7) really loved Club HAL . Lots of fun games and nice staff.

It was the first formal night , so we got all decked out.

Ah, girl, you should be a salesman....

reading, reading, think of other things while lightly reading review.....then BANG! " I'll post menu's" : you sunk in the hook and you've got me til the end!!

Thank you!

I knew food would get some readers , lol!

First formal night menu ( please bear with me ...I have all menus , but not sure shich night is which! )

First formal night

Desserts