Live From The Last Frontier: 6/18-25 Westerdam R/T From Seattle

[jackinelgin]

[ACorgan]

Today was my salmon fishing excursion in Ketchikan. We had an early meet up time (7:15 am), so just grabbed a quick breakfast from the lido buffet. I didn’t take any pics, but was pleasantly surprised by how few people were at the lido at 6:30am. There was no line at all for the eggs Benedict station

 

Once we all boarded the bus to the fishing pier, they walked up the aisle handing out slips of paper with boat names, so pay attention to what seat you select since the people around you may be on your boat for the next few hours 😉 It was about a half hour drive to the docks and there was narration about the sights on both the ride there and back

 

My fishing boat had 6 passengers, 2 of which were children. I’m not going to lie, I was a little concerned about ending up on the one boat with kids, but they both were extremely well behaved and were a delight to have on our fishing boat. The weather was sunny, but a tad bit chilly first thing in the morning, so was glad I brought a warm coat. Other people had on stocking caps and one person donned gloves, but I was fine without those. We saw several whales spouting in the distance throughout the morning, had several interested sea lions come check out boat out, and saw many bald eagles.

 

Now for the fishing report - this was the only negative for today 😞 Our boat caught three kings, but they were all too small to keep. Here’s the one I reeled in:

It sounds like the fishing just wasn’t great today overall. On the whole bus of almost 40 people, sounds like only 2 people got keepers. Not sure if it was just bad timing/luck for today or if it’s just too early in the season to have many salmon around yet? We saw all kinds of “bait pools” (schools of herring) around, so seemed like likely locations to fish. Although bummed about not having any fish to ship home, it was a pleasant day and I was impressed with the captain of our boat. This is a tour I’d consider doing again

[SusieKIslandGirl]

DH caught a salmon in Sitka and had it shipped home. It was expensive and we could tell he didn’t get the entire fish. He was a commercial fisherman during college summers so knows his fish.

[ACorgan]

At the start of the comedy show last night, the cruise director kept emphasizing that although all aboard was 12:30 for today, she strongly, strongly encouraged people to be back in line by noon since it takes awhile to get everyone on the ship. Also mentioned that they had left several people behind in Ketchikan a few weeks ago. Since the bus from our excursion didn’t even get us back to the ship until a little after noon, I headed straight for the gangway, leaving shopping for some other trip. There was another HAL ship, the Noordam, berthed right next to us

At this point, I was ready for lunch, but felt a little grubby from fishing, so didn’t want to go the the MDR. I headed up to the lido, but this was a very popular option. There were people everywhere and I heard several people complaining that there were no open tables on either side. I jumped in the shortest food line I saw, which was the international station, and took the food back to my room to enjoy on our veranda during sail away

Although the food wasn’t quite as warm (Indian food) or cold (sushi) as I would have liked it due to the trudge through the lido and trek back to my room, everything was flavorful, and it hit the spot 

[mowogo]

17 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

At the start of the comedy show last night, the cruise director kept emphasizing that although all aboard was 12:30 for today, she strongly, strongly encouraged people to be back in line by noon since it takes awhile to get everyone on the ship. Also mentioned that they had left several people behind in Ketchikan a few weeks ago. Since the bus from our excursion didn’t even get us back to the ship until a little after noon, I headed straight for the gangway, leaving shopping for some other trip. There was another HAL ship, the Noordam, berthed right next to us

At this point, I was ready for lunch, but felt a little grubby from fishing, so didn’t want to go the the MDR. I headed up to the lido, but this was a very popular option. There were people everywhere and I heard several people complaining that there were no open tables on either side. I jumped in the shortest food line I saw, which was the international station, and took the food back to my room to enjoy on our veranda during sail away

Although the food wasn’t quite as warm (Indian food) or cold (sushi) as I would have liked it due to the trudge through the lido and trek back to my room, everything was flavorful, and it hit the spot 

That 12-1 window is crazy since pretty much everyone is trying to get back on in that one hour and I think they want to try and depart by getting people in line at 12 instead of 12:30.  Can’t blame them since Ketchikan is such a short stop people try and maximize their time which can mean delays and I’ve already seen some Princess cruises having their Victoria stops shortened due to speed regulations which could then stack the problems with Victoria being the most important stop legally for the round trip US trips.  

[ACorgan]

We made it downstairs a little early for dinner, so took advantage of the nice weather and strolled on the promenade deck. We spotted some animals swimming next to the ship. I think they might have been dolphins, but not sure.

 

For dinner, we had the apple and cucumber salad and the jumbo shrimp cocktail as appetizers. My salad was quite good and the apples were very crisp and sweet, as apples should be 

The club orange special was pork belly. I decided to roll the dice on that one since most of the other mains came with green beans, which I don’t care for. Joke was on me though, because the pork belly also came with green beans (hidden under the meat in the pic). They must have had a surplus they were trying to dispose of. Other than the vegetables, the dish was good. The pineapple had some kind of crust/coating, so it was more like a dessert, but the sweetness worked well with the pork. Mashed potatoes and gravy are a weakness of mine, so hard to go wrong with those. My table mate got the steak

Dessert was my normal fruit plate and a chocolate lava cake, which were both good ends to our respective meals

 

 

[ACorgan]

Tonight was the “chocolate surprise” event. I had forgotten about it until I was walking back to my room through deck 2. In the music walk hallways there were people lining both walls waiting to mob any waiter who came by with a tray of sweets. By the time I weaved my way through to the mid-ship elevators, there were way less people and tons of waiters (that’s where they were coming out from the kitchen with the trays). I didn’t stick around, but on the trays I passed, it looked like they had chocolate cupcakes, white chocolate covered raisins, chocolate macaroons, and something that might have been either chocolate covered almonds or just some kind of small truffle.

 

Since it was the second gala night, there was a cute towel animal and more chocolate waiting for us in the room

[Florida_gal_50]

You’d think that people never ate before.  I wish I had the metabolism to do that even though I get plenty of exercise.  I love green beans so I’d take yours.  They must have other vegetables if you asked for a substitute.

[ACorgan]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

You’d think that people never ate before.  I wish I had the metabolism to do that even though I get plenty of exercise.  I love green beans so I’d take yours.  They must have other vegetables if you asked for a substitute.

I’m sure they had over veggies and would happily have given me something else. My traveling companion isn’t a huge fan of the MDR and hates lingering there, so I try to avoid any special orders since it might make things take longer. Our servers are very efficient and most dinners only take us 45 min from us sitting down at the table to leaving 

[Florida_gal_50]

13 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

I’m sure they had over veggies and would happily have given me something else. My traveling companion isn’t a huge fan of the MDR and hates lingering there, so I try to avoid any special orders since it might make things take longer. Our servers are very efficient and most dinners only take us 45 min from us sitting down at the table to leaving 

Have you asked?  I’m not speaking of a special order.  I can’t eat corn in any form but there is no way that they would know that.  I’ve been able to substitute pretty easily.  That said I don’t eat in the mdr often.  Just trying to be helpful.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Florida_gal_50

[ACorgan]

Today was our last full day on the ship and we lost an hour last night getting back to PST. We decided to take advantage of our vacation day and sleep in, so no Pinnacle for breakfast. Instead, we hit up “The Alaska Brunch” in the MDR. I went with the smoothie and with the biscuits and gravy with reindeer sausage. The smoothie was a very beet-forward flavor. I don’t actively hate beets, but they just taste a little like dirt to me, so I don’t go out of my way to eat them. If you enjoy beets, though, this smoothie is for you. The reindeer sausage served with the biscuits and gravy was very good; texture reminded me of an Oktoberfest sausage. It wasn’t at all dry and had good flavor

My dinning partner got the salmon chowder and the monte cristo sandwich and said booth were tasty

One thing I’ve been pleasantly surprised by here on the ship is the wide availability of decaf tea. I try to avoid caffeine, but am not a huge fan of camomile, so always appreciate when there is a decaf black available and they’ve been plentiful on the ship

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Have you asked?  I’m not speaking of a special order.  I can’t eat corn in any form but there is no way that they would know that.  I’ve been able to substitute pretty easily.  That said I don’t eat in the mdr often.  Just trying to be helpful.

Agree substitutions are not special requests and don't add extra time. I frequently ask for green beans or broccoli when I don't care for the vegetables. Especially easy when you get something from one of the other dishes offered on that night's menu. Food for thought...

Have you considered listing corn as a food allergy? Then they would know not to serve you corn and, when you do eat in MDR, you would get the next night's menu in advance.

[Haljo1935]

Is Alaskan Brunch served on the last day on every AK cruise regardless of ship? We haven't seen it before and my DH would love the biscuits w/reindeer gravy.

[Ken the cruiser]

You wouldn’t be able to post the Daily (or whatever HAL calls it) associated with your final sea day. Just curious what HAL now offers for things to do on sea days, as we haven’t cruise with them since 2019.

[ACorgan]

19 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Is Alaskan Brunch served on the last day on every AK cruise regardless of ship? We haven't seen it before and my DH would love the biscuits w/reindeer gravy.

I think it’s a fairly new offering (ie, just in the last few weeks). I don’t know about all the Alaska ships, but thought I remembered seeing someone on a different ship post about it, so it’s likely 

[ACorgan]

11 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You wouldn’t be able to post the Daily (or whatever HAL calls it) associated with your final sea day. Just curious what HAL now offers for things to do on sea days, as we haven’t cruise with them since 2019.

Technically not a sea day, since we go to Victoria tonight, but functionally, we’re spending most of the day at sea:

[Florida_gal_50]

42 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Agree substitutions are not special requests and don't add extra time. I frequently ask for green beans or broccoli when I don't care for the vegetables. Especially easy when you get something from one of the other dishes offered on that night's menu. Food for thought...

Have you considered listing corn as a food allergy? Then they would know not to serve you corn and, when you do eat in MDR, you would get the next night's menu in advance.

No I haven't bothered because it's not an allergy just a strong sensitivity so it's easy for me to ask. Hal seem to love to put things on a bed of cornmeal for some strange reason. I don't love when they don't list corn as one of the ingredients.  I do eat at specialty restaurants quite often so that helps some too 

[ACorgan]

The captain just came on the loud speaker to announce that we’re having an issue with one of the pieces of equipment (already forgot what it was). Supposedly it doesn’t impact the safety of the ship at all, but does limit us from going top speeds. As a result, we’re going to be late into Victoria and some shore excursions may be cancelled. Those impacted will be receiving a note at their doors. We should still be on time for Seattle tomorrow though.

I’m fairly confident that my Butchart gardens tour will be impacted, since timing was already tight for it, but we’ll see what the official word ends up

being 😞

 

[Florida_gal_50]

I do like beets.  One of the few people I'm sure.  That said, I don't want them in a glass.  That's just weird. Everything else looks good.

[Florida_gal_50]

2 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

The captain just came on the loud speaker to announce that we’re having an issue with one of the pieces of equipment (already forgot what it was). Supposedly it doesn’t impact the safety of the ship at all, but does limit us from going top speeds. As a result, we’re going to be late into Victoria and some shore excursions may be cancelled. Those impacted will be receiving a note at their doors. We should still be on time for Seattle tomorrow though.

I’m fairly confident that my Butchart gardens tour will be impacted, since timing was already tight for it, but we’ll see what the official word ends up

being 😞

 

Azipod maybe?  I hope you get to the gardens.  I'm not a garden person but they are beautiful.

[Haljo1935]

Fingers crossed @ACorgan that you make it to the gardens; I'm hopeful we'll be seeing some beautiful pictures later...

Safe travels tomorrow.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I hope you can get to Butchart but agree if they have to cut the speed unfortunately you are not going to make it for that excursion. It does sound like it is azipod problem.

I have so enjoyed your pictures I check the menues daily as I am following along, the only items I am not seeing is the Club Orange items so do really appreciate your information and pictures. I have actually been impressed with your pictures and items that I am seeing are definitely improvement over what I have had in the past 2 years. For instance we were last on the Rotterdam in July last year and the Jumbo shrimp cocktail was 3 much smaller shrimp, yours looked much larger and there are 4. The salad looked good and not skimped on the apples and cranberries. On the Brunch pictures I take it the bread bowl is the Salmon Potato Chowder. That looks good as well. I need to watch my breads, sugars and carbs of course all the things that attract me are the breads, sugars and carbs 😂  

[omago4th]

I've enjoyed your posts, I will be boarding next Sunday, packing tomorrow.

 

 

 I read recently there could be a Sunday brunch on Sunday sea  days. I always enjoy them.

 

 I will for sure try the beet smoothie, I do like beets.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

5 minutes ago, omago4th said:

I've enjoyed your posts, I will be boarding next Sunday, packing tomorrow.

 

 

 I read recently there could be a Sunday brunch on Sunday sea  days. I always enjoy them.

 

 I will for sure try the beet smoothie, I do like beets.

For the Westerdam they do the brunch on Saturdays while in Alaska. Go into your Navigator App and look at Lunch in the Dining Room for Today and you will see the Brunch menu.

[omago4th]

 great to read that, I will be waiting for it.