Sept 1, 2024

I woke up this morning with a fever.  I suspect it was a reaction to having gotten two shots yesterday, flu and COVID.  So it was a slow start.   The Norwegian line berths its ships right in front of our hotel.  Watching the process, it was chaotic.  Alaskan Way is down to one lane because of road works and yet cars insisted on stopping, running their flashers, and waiting for people to get off.  There were long lines to get on the ship but fortunately it was sunny and not Seattle Rain.

Watching scenes like this reinforces my resolve to arrive at a ship later than most people, but not too late.  We took a van from the hotel at 2 PM.  There was no line, our room had already been made up.  Easy and smooth.  And at what cost?  We missed lunch.  I will have many lunches on Westerdam in the next two months.

After shoehorning our supplies for two months into a stateroom designed for two-week cruises (We cut it down to three suitcases and there is a lot of room under the bed) we headed for the lifeboat check-in and the sail away party.

The sail away party seemed much more “active” and “young” than it has on previous HAL sail outs.  More line dancing and MCs that were more like cheerleaders than MCs.  One wag said the line was trying to “youthanise” their clientele.   It added a certain festiveness, but I spent most of my time watching us sail out of Elliot Bay.  I mean I can dance anytime but I don’t always get the chance to savor a sunny Seattle sail away. I used to do this sail out a lot when the Alaska Ferry terminated in Seattle, but it has not done that since the mid 80s.  In stead it leaves from Bellingham. 90 miles up the sound.

The coolest thing about the sail out was the Seattle Fireboat that circled Westerdam while Westerdam was rotating in place, calibrating it magnetic compass. (It’s called “Boxing the Compass.”)  As we rotated the fireboat circled us, all guns spraying in the air.  I don’t know why we were chosen, the other two ships that left Seattle that day did not get this honor.  Perhaps it was because we are on a long cruise, perhaps because Holland America is headquartered in Seattle, or perhaps the line decided to give us a special treat.  I kept looking for the bagpipers.  (The Seattle Fire Department has a bagpipe band that comes to Sitka twice a year, for Alaska Day and mid-winter for the “Guinness Toast where they play in bars and pipe all of us crazies into the ocean for our Polar Dip.) No bagpipes on the fire boat.

By the way, the Seattle Fire Department has the coolest shoulder patches.  Jimi Hendrix for one fire station.

We had dinner, watched a beautiful sunset and, because I was still feeling the effects of the COVID/Flu one two shots was in bed before10.