Dec 15, 2016: At Paradise Rock, Westy Wrap Up

The ms Westerdam is a sister ship to the ms Noordam which we cruised with in the summer, they are not exactly the same but do have very similar floor plans. Okay, similar but different, the library for instance in is a better central area on the Noordam, it is in the Crow's nest on the Westerdam. The Noordam also has suites on the tenth floor while the Westerdam does not. That said, all the other restaurants, bars, show lounges are on the same locations. Loved the Westy for our week on board. Great suite, great dining room staff, great front desk, in fact cannot see one problem or situation to comment badly about. So, for the ship all good. I do have comments regarding some the HAL changes and this comes from a several year repeat cruiser. No Captain champagne reception at the beginning of the cruise, no dessert extravaganza and no staff recognition parade in the dining room at the end of the cruise. These were all staple events on all past cruises, perhaps on this ship they are trying a new format but for a new cruiser it is nice having these as features and events. It really did feel like a holiday cruise in that many of the notices and announcements didn't take place, what used to be a manditory assembly in the main show lounge by at least one member of each stateroom for instructions on disembarkation did not take place. Your package was delivered and that was about it, you simply had to read it. This I am absolutely good with. I think the front office may have had to deal with many more inquiries but for us this was good. Let's see, new changes, iPads or tablets are in place in the dining rooms, this is pretty cool - your waiter punches in and the order goes straight to the kitchen, pretty slick. The Culinary Art Centre is now, America's test kitchen, okay whatever, I preferred the former. Can't say I am a huge fan of the Internet package changes, just give me good reliable internet and minutes rather than restrictive packages. I worked around it but this was one of the reasons the blog did not work for me, I had the social package, which included, facebook, instagram, snapchat, twitter etc. For another $30.00 plus dollars I could have email, which is how I load the blog. My work around was good unrestrictive 24 hour social internet onboard and email at the ports. Worked okay for me with the exception of the blog as they (the blogspot people, not HAL) changed the iPad version of the app, which is no longer supported (?). The new app you have to pay for does not work for me, not that you have to pay but the version available does not allow you to upload pics from the iPad. Oh, there is an option to upload from your phone (?) but hey I download my pics to the iPad for blog selection and the app just does give me an option to tap into them, huh. So back to work around should I wish to only travel with my iPad. This includes, logging into blogspot using a surf engine, creating my dialogue such as I am doing now, then saving. The in order for me to drop in pics from the iPad I open the unsupported blogger app and call up to edit my post, this then allows me to access my iPad pics and no I can't enter dialogue here as it kicks me out (?). It does allow me to post though. As long as this works this way, I will continue the blog rather than shutting it down and just run everything through FB. I would prefer not to as the blog is my go to when planning trips, I am able to keep all the travels separate to access later. Speaking of which, stay tuned for our announcement after Christmas reagarding where we will be spending New Years. So to complete this wrap up, it was wonderful travelling with Jeff and Sunny, never a dull moment. It was great having two full days in San Diego prior to the cruise, this we will make sure we do on a go forward basis, at least two days prior to any cruise. All in all we loved the Westy and all that was offered, great meeting a new cruise director for us, Carlos Mendosa - very nice and personable. Also great meeting and having at the helm, Captain Mark Rowden as well as the rest of amazing crew that keeps us coming back to HAL. God willing we look forward on getting aboard another Dam ship in the near future. My pic is of the stained glass piece I picked up in Cabo San Lucas. When we sailed through here in 2014, I saw it but thought it too big for the intended window. When we decided to join this cruise, I measured the window and searched this piece out in the market after our tour but the vendor moved out of the main market and into a store front in the old town. With some bad directions we or should I say Jan found the store, anyway here it is, I think it fits the window pretty good. It has many of the things I love all in one spot and us located in a spot I see every day I am here at our Paradise Rock. Life is good. Stay tuned...

Dec 09, 2016: At Sea

Wow, final day already... short and sweet but very happy and thrilled we were able to do this with Jeff and Sunny. All and all a great trip and a great day as we wrap up our first adventure with the Westerdam. Final day highlights include a wonderful lunch in the Pinnacle with Stryker PianoMan , getting last minute deals in the shops and using our one day pass in the thermal suite - very nice capper. Jan did also manage a one hour massage, nice. Our blog will include my usual summary which will be completed once I sort out the new app using better internet. Here are a few pics of our last day, hope you enjoy...

Dec 08, 2016: At Sea

Mariner appreciation day here on the Westy. Very nice presentation with our Cruise Director, Carlos and Captain Mark. Strange going up as the second highest days cruised people onboard. Nice but strange. Great day, great lunch followed by the always entertaining Indonesian Crew Show. Sunset pic on the veranda, with wine and cheeses of course, followed with another Pinnacle ponch dinner - all good. Great cast show tonight with of course capping the night in the Piano Bar with friend Stryker PianoMan. Last day tomorrow before heading back to, snow??? Maybe I should talk to the Guest relations people to see if we can stay on board for another week, lol.

Dec 07, 2016: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Visited here a few times over the years, so today we took Jeff and Sunny around to all our favourite parts of this wonderful tourist town of about 250,000 inhabitants. A $5.00 taxi to the Malacon (main boardwalk) and we were off on our trek. Many funky statues along our route here including four acrobats performing a great act of twirling down some fifty feet while playing instruments. Checked out the market on the river, visited the Cathedral of Our Lady Guadalupe, then went up the big hill to see if an old friend was around. Barry was in and it was so wonderful to see him again. He toured us around and showed us the changes made to his hotel and restaurant here at the Hotel la Siesta. Great visit. Back into town for lunch before some retail therapy. Cab back to ship in time for some R and R before sail away. Great day capped off with drinks with Captain Rowden and the officers of the Westerdam. Great dinner after along with a great show in the main show lounge. Nightcap with Stryker PianoMan before calling it a night. Now two days at sea, looking forward to this time on board. Loving sea days...