Sail Away on the Eurodam!

 Saturday, April 30 - Embarkation

I was afraid I would wake up at 4 am with the two-hour time change, but managed to sleep until 6:30 am. I dressed and went down to the hotel lobby to get some breakfast, but more importantly...coffee. There was a coffee maker in the room, but that is always my last resort.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that scrambled eggs and sausage were being offered. I am on a low carb diet and figured the buffet would be all pastries, cereal and bread. The gal at the front desk told us they had just gone back to a hot breakfast buffet two weeks ago after doing grab and go items throughout the pandemic.

I was pleased with our hotel choice, the SureStay Plus SeaTac by Best Western. There is a second hotel by the same name, but the other one is designated SureStay Plus North. I did a lot of searching online and tried to find somewhere that had a nice balance between price and good reviews and found this place. The hotel is brand new so the furnishings were in great shape. Our room had a king size bed, couch and comfortable chair along with a microwave and fridge. What impressed me most about the room was how well the temperature could be controlled. I had the room quite cool while we were sleeping but the temperature could be adjusted to be comfortable while we were awake. The fan noise was very minimal and yet you could feel the air circulating in the room. The hotel is adjacent to the airport but the jet noise was very minor. The light rail track went right past our 4th floor window but I didn't realize it until I saw a train going by. No noise in the room at all.

Bob left me to shower and get ready for the day while he went for a walk. Normally he would go for three miles or so, but his walk was cut short when it began to rain. The skies were forecast to clear by afternoon and I had my fingers crossed for a dry sail away.

Around 9 am I suggested that Bob check and make sure all of his apps needed to board the ship were in order and ready to go. When he logged into the Verifly app he got an error message. The same thing had happened to me when I first downloaded the app so I told him to just delete it and start over. BIG mistake. When he tried to re-input the vaccine and testing information, he got a message saying it was too late and the data had to be entered BEFORE 8:00 am that morning. Ugh. From all reports, Verifly was the app that was going to let us bypass the long lines at embarkation and whiz into the terminal with no wait.

I had considered taking an Uber from the hotel to the port, but after a little research decided on the Seattle Express shuttle instead. I was slightly apprehensive because it would mean sharing the ride with others, but the positive online reviews convinced me to give it a try. 

Bob and I checked out of the hotel and then waited in the parking lot. At exactly 10:45 (as arranged) the van arrived. While the driver loaded our bags into the back of the van, another lady took our money and got us checked off her list. Our round trip fare was $30/person to get from the hotel to pier and then on our return from the pier to the airport. One other couple was already in the van and then we made three more stops at nearby hotels before heading to Pier 91. Along the way, the driver pointed out places we were passing such as the T-Mobile Arena, Port of Seattle and Starbucks corporate offices. As we got closer we got a glimpse of the Space Needle.

The commercial shipping port is a very busy place in Seattle.

T-Mobile Arena

Seattle Space Needle

Our first glimpse of the Eurodam.

When we arrived at Pier 91, a long line had formed that zigzagged through queues near the terminal building and then stretched out through the parking lot. I got into the line while Bob rolled our large checked bags over to where the porters were collecting them. 

I could see a representative standing by a separate door holding a Verifly sign and watched as people would walk right into the building, completely by-passing the long line we were in.

I kept checking my watch and it took us a half-hour to get to the point where we were almost ready to enter the terminal building. A lady was checking to make sure we had all of the correct documents before entering and I mentioned that I had the Verifly app, but Bob's had crashed. "No problem", she said. As long as he had completed the information and gotten approval before the app crashed he could go in with me and skip the rest of the line...or at least some of it. 

Once inside there was still security to go through and then another line to have our photo taken and passport scanned. Once that was done, we were able to board the ship, an hour after arriving at the port. Had we begun the process with Verifly, the line would have been much shorter and we would have entered at least 30 minutes earlier.

This is the part of the line we skipped by using Verifly.

We went straight to our cabin after boarding and our checked luggage was already waiting by the door. We did a little unpacking as we watched the safety briefing on TV. Prior to the pandemic everyone would have been required to assemble shoulder to shoulder on the promenade deck to listen to the safety lecture. Now once you have viewed the safety video on TV you just report to your assigned lifeboat station and have your name checked off a list.

The lido buffet was much more crowded than my comfort level could handle so I quickly grabbed a salad and took it outdoors by the aft pool. (This was the first time we had been in an indoor restaurant since the pandemic began!) Bob did what he always does at a HAL buffet...he went to the Asian station. 

The morning rains and clouds had given way to a beautiful sunny afternoon and sitting outdoors was quite pleasant. Before starting on my salad, I put in an order at the New York Pizza station and was given a pager. By the time my buzzer went off, Bob had joined me (and he was happy to share the pizza!) The pizza was delicious and I decided it would be my goal to sample as many different kinds as possible during the week!

Our lunchtime view of the Seattle skyline.

Marina on the opposite side of the ship.

After sending Marco Polo videos (a video texting app) to our family from the aft deck overlooking the Seattle skyline, we went back to the room to finish unpacking. I had requested extra hangers and our steward already had them in the closet. I was also able to call and talk to Devon at Ketchikan Kayak Company to give him a heads up about our shortened port times. (We had booked the E-Bike and Hike tour with him.) I am pretty sure he doubted what I was saying because the Alaska cruise ship calendar still showed the Eurodam in port until 1 pm on our stop at Ketchikan. 

Two people in a cruise ship cabin trying to unpack at the same time is never a good idea so Bob left to give me some space. Once everything was put away, I went back up to the aft deck (so handy when it is just one floor above our room!) I took a few photos, but the place was packed with people enjoying the sunshine and happy to be on a cruise. When I realized the ship had started moving, I went back to the room and Bob soon followed. We enjoyed sitting on the balcony until the ship picked up speed and it got chilly.

The sail away time had been moved up to 3 pm, but by the time we left it was around 4:15. An invitation had been left in our cabin for a Mariner reception from 4:00 - 5:00 but I totally forgot in the excitement of watching sail away. The timing seemed odd but we probably wouldn't have attended even if the event was held at a more convenient time.

Leaving Pier 91. The Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas still docked.

Hillside homes in Seattle. What a view they must have!

The Norwegian Bliss at Pier 66 downtown.

Passing by a lighthouse. With my zoom I could see a couple taking wedding photos.

Luckily we made it past this pirate ship without being attacked.

An interesting cave.

Neither one of us were in the mood to change to go to the main dining room. After checking the menus on the Navigator app, we realized most of the same items from the dining room were also being served at the buffet. Going shortly after the buffet opened was probably not a great idea because the lines were long, but once we got our food we were able to easily find a table that was semi-isolated. (My anxiety over being in crowded situations got much better as the week went by!)

After dinner we went to the Main Stage Theater for a 150 year recap of Holland America's history. It was actually quite interesting! The timing of the show was good because it finished right before sunset. We spent some time walking on the promenade deck (3) and then went indoors to walk through Deck 2 where most of the evening entertainment venues are located. 

Golden hour!

Our bodies were telling us that it was two hours later than what the clocks showed and our room steward had left a card on the bed telling us that we were to turn back the clocks another hour when going to bed. 

Bob watched the beginning of the movie "Field of Dreams" with Kevin Costner before going to sleep. He loves movies and will enjoy the movies-on-demand on the Eurodam. Most of our Holland America days have been on the Zaandam which still has the old style TVs with a DVD player. The Zaandam has a large library of DVDs that can be checked out but we have discovered many are damaged and don't work. 

Tomorrow will be a sea day with no specific plans in mind...