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

[erdufylla]

1 hour ago, ACorgan said:

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.

I had that smoothie on my cruise, and I agree — it is incredibly beet forward. I’m someone who adores beets, and I couldn’t finish it. Mine looked identical to yours, very dark in color and very thick. No one at my table finished theirs. As we were walking out of the MDR, I saw servers carrying trays with smoothies that were lighter in color (and fuller glasses), and I wondered if they hadn’t left out an ingredient in the morning’s first batch of smoothies — yogurt or milk or something that would tone down and balance out the beet flavor a bit.

[ACorgan]

42 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

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 😂  

I was reading your post to my traveling companion and he let me know there were actually 5 shrimp; one was just hidden in the picture 😉 You are correct that the brunch salmon chowder came in the bread bowl. When I had ordered it at a dinner in the MDR, it was just a normal bowl, so guessing the bread was unique to the Alaska brunch. I feel your pain trying to avoid carbs. At the start of the cruise, I had the lofty goal of never eating from the breadbasket at the start of dinner. That only lasted the first two nights and by the third night, I’d broken down and sampled some of the rolls. They’re just so good 😋 We rarely have any bread products at home other than some occasional whole wheat English muffins or whole wheat bagel thins, so all the fresh baked goodness on board is hard to resist

[LAFFNVEGAS]

10 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

I was reading your post to my traveling companion and he let me know there were actually 5 shrimp; one was just hidden in the picture 😉 You are correct that the brunch salmon chowder came in the bread bowl. When I had ordered it at a dinner in the MDR, it was just a normal bowl, so guessing the bread was unique to the Alaska brunch. I feel your pain trying to avoid carbs. At the start of the cruise, I had the lofty goal of never eating from the breadbasket at the start of dinner. That only lasted the first two nights and by the third night, I’d broken down and sampled some of the rolls. They’re just so good 😋 We rarely have any bread products at home other than some occasional whole wheat English muffins or whole wheat bagel thins, so all the fresh baked goodness on board is hard to resist

That is great about the number of shrimp. You reporting has definitely made me a bit more excited.We are just 9 weeks away from heading to Seattle.

Oh I so feel what you are going through on the carb temptation and am afraid I will break down as well. Of your pictures of that Shrimp Fettuccine that was a Club Orange item I immediately said Oh NO lol that one could be my weakness. That Pork Belly looked good as well. 

Enjoy your last night on board and have a safe drive home!! Thanks again for the great Live From.

[ACorgan]

We went to the Pinnacle for lunch today. Right after we took our seats, I saw an orca swimming off the side of the ship. It wasn’t there long, since it was going the opposite direction from us (and they are FAST), but great to see it, although briefly. For starters we got the tomato broth and the crab cakes. The tomato broth was excellent, but quite spicy, so be prepared for that 🌶️

Mains were the burger and the tenderloin with Oregon blue cheese

I tried the table side gin and tonic. It’s an interesting concept and tastes ok, but it’s a bit challenging to drink between the ice cubes and free floating whole spices

Dessert was the strawberry pavlova and the fresh berries with sabayon. I had the berries and they were phenomenal! Easily the best dessert I’ve had on board. Granted, I’ve mostly had fruit plates and some off bites of cheesecake and chocolates, so not a huge range of things to compare it to 😂 The wafers were delightfully crunchy with a hint of vanilla, the berries were sweet, the whip cream was a good consistency, and the sabayon was delectable. I could have just eaten a pot of the sabayon and been a happy camper

When we returned to our room, we had the dreaded notice of our tour being cancelled 

We’ll just have to go back to our original plan of wandering along the waterfront towards town.

Next, I’m off to participate in the On Deck for a Cause event. I definitely need to walk that 5k since all we’ve been doing today is eating 

[ACorgan]

Just finished our last dinner on the ship 🥲 We were back at the Pinnacle grill and started with a wedge salad and more of the crab cakes (my table mate really enjoyed them at lunch, so went for round two)

Mains were the chicken and a NY strip with sides of creamed spinach, mushrooms, and mashed potatoes 

Dessert was chocolate soufflé and baked Alaska

Our ship made better time than expected, so they hope to have the gangways ready by 8:30, rather than the 9:15 they anticipated this morning. That just puts us 30 min behind our original scheduled arrival time of 8pm, so makes it that much more of a bummer they canceled most of the excursions. Still plenty of daylight here and temp is 60 degrees F, so not a bad evening for an outdoor stroll 

[ACorgan]

No idea why some of the pics posted twice. Ship wifi strength seems to plummet whenever we’re in port and my AT&T only has one bar at the pier, so might be due to connectivity issues 

[ACorgan]

Last stop was Victoria. It’s a little over a mile walk to the Empress hotel, so if you have any mobility concerns, well worth taking a shuttle or a taxi. We have three big ships in port all next to each other and all with people spilling out of them, so it was a slow walk to town as there were many groups with strollers and small children that made sudden stops and blocked the sidewalks. We just walked far enough to take some pictures of the Empress and headed back. From leaving the ship to returning from our walk took us an hour and 15 min. The neighborhood we walked through was very picturesque with cute old buildings and gardens. They also had crossing guards at busy intersections, so felt very safe walking. I’m sure it would have been lovely to explore town a little more, but I just ran out of steam. Already thinking about the early morning wake up tomorrow 

[TwinMommyByGrace]

@ACorganThank you for taking us along this week and for such thorough and informative posts! We board the Westie tomorrow! Looking even more forward to it with your lovely preview! Safe travels home and thanks again for all the information!

[Haljo1935]

Thoroughly enjoyed your posts and pictures - thanks for letting us tag along.

Safe travels!

[Florida_gal_50]

That gin and tonic just looks odd.  That said I’d rather eat dessert than all the sugar that comes in tonic water.  I’ve enjoyed your thread and the wonderful pictures you posted.  Sorry to hear your tour was canceled. 

[BetsyS.]

Thank you for taking the time to share your cruise. I enjoyed reading your posts and your pictures are beautiful! Safe travels home!

[BetsyS.]

Thank you for taking the time to share your cruise. I enjoyed reading your posts and your pictures are beautiful! Safe travels home!

[ACorgan]

Today is going home day. When I woke up at 6 am, we were already docked. A little after 7, we headed down to floor 2 to join the queue. It’s surprising so many of us are in such a hurry to end our vacation, but we want to beat the traffic home and several were trying to catch earlier morning flights. They started letting us off the ship at 7:20. We scanned our key card one last time while leaving, took a ramp off the ship, went down an escalator and then just quickly showed our passports. Very efficient and easy. From there, walked right out to a waiting shuttle to the parking lot and were in our car on the road by a little after 7:30. 

Overall, it was a great trip 😎

[mowogo]

11 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

Today is going home day. When I woke up at 6 am, we were already docked. A little after 7, we headed down to floor 2 to join the queue. It’s surprising so many of us are in such a hurry to end our vacation, but we want to beat the traffic home and several were trying to catch earlier morning flights. They started letting us off the ship at 7:20. We scanned our key card one last time while leaving, took a ramp off the ship, went down an escalator and then just quickly showed our passports. Very efficient and easy. From there, walked right out to a waiting shuttle to the parking lot and were in our car on the road by a little after 7:30. 

Overall, it was a great trip 😎

Not end the vacation, but rush to get to exploring Seattle.  With a 1:30 flight, a 7:30 disembarkation is perfect to get a little sightseeing in before the flight.  Especially since Port Valet handles the checked bags. Based on my cruise timing last year I was able to get the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens in before I needed to head to the airport.  

[Mermen]

Thank you so much for your live posting. We really enjoyed going through your cruise with you and all of the pictures were icing on the cake! We are going to be on the Westerdam on October 1, from Seattle to Tokyo. We are also in a SA  Neptune suite. We are not familiar with Club orange in the main dining room, and we’re wondering if you had any thoughts on this? We were previously on Rotterdam and had a separate club orange dining room. Did you find the service or menu different? Was there a particular side or portion of the dining room that was carved out for suite or club orange guests?

 

Thank you again for everything! Safe travels home. 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Wonderful report. Thanks for sharing every day!

[ACorgan]

4 hours ago, Mermen said:

We are not familiar with Club orange in the main dining room, and we’re wondering if you had any thoughts on this? We were previously on Rotterdam and had a separate club orange dining room. Did you find the service or menu different? Was there a particular side or portion of the dining room that was carved out for suite or club orange guests?

If you have a fixed dining time (floor three), like we did, there is no separate section for club orange. There is a separate menu, but it’s identical to the normal one except for the addition of one more main option. The very first night, we had to remind our server that we were club orange, but they remembered after that. Neither of the two gala nights had a club orange menu printed, but the waiters verbally told us the bonus club orange entree.

If you are doing As You Wish dining (floor 2), there is a separate check in podium for club orange. We never did this option, so not sure if people are seated in a distinct section or not. It did sound like they had a much shorter line and wait to get a table than the non-club orange people, though 

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, mowogo said:

Not end the vacation, but rush to get to exploring Seattle.  With a 1:30 flight, a 7:30 disembarkation is perfect to get a little sightseeing in before the flight.  Especially since Port Valet handles the checked bags. Based on my cruise timing last year I was able to get the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens in before I needed to head to the airport.  

Oh goodness - I want to be you when I grow up!! 😊😎

When we have a 2:00ish flight, even though we use Port Valet, we sit at the airport. I want to be brave enough to see anything other than the airport and the highway leading to it. 🤔🙄

How do you get there - Uber? I definitely want to try next time. 

[mowogo]

6 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Oh goodness - I want to be you when I grow up!! 😊😎

When we have a 2:00ish flight, even though we use Port Valet, we sit at the airport. I want to be brave enough to see anything other than the airport and the highway leading to it. 🤔🙄

How do you get there - Uber? I definitely want to try next time. 

Figure it is 40 minute light rail ride from west lake to the airport.  You can Uber to Seattle Center fairly easily and it is under 15 minutes from the port.  I have Clear and Pre-Check so getting through Security isn’t an issue so I don’t need to get there 3 hours before my flight.  

Edited June 25, 2023 by mowogo
Phrasing clarity

[Kiwifan56]

3 hours ago, ACorgan said:

I

If you are doing As You Wish dining (floor 2), there is a separate check in podium for club orange. We never did this option, so not sure if people are seated in a distinct section or not. It did sound like they had a much shorter line and wait to get a table than the non-club orange people, though 

First up thank you so much for your detailed report, it really felt like we were with you along for the sail. 
 

We did the circumnavigation around Aus last year on the Noordam and through our suite had Club Orange. We ate in the MDR every night except our free one night Pinnacle and one paid Canaletto. Check in was always prompt and Christine and Putri knew our names and cabin number from day two. (How do they do that?) We didn't have a separate area for dining so got to meet some wonderful folk from around the world. I think there would only be three or four folk who we didn’t really hit it off with and one night we were with a couple who didn’t speak English which was awkward for both couples. 
 

Once again thanks for all of the photos and tips as we will be on her in March 2025. It’s not that long, lol.