Friday-Saturday 13-14 October 2023

Sailing to Yokohama, Final Days at Sea

How quickly time passes on board a 13-day cruise. Today I will be spending most of the day consolidating and packing my belongings. But it’s now 10am and I am taking a break to attend a presentation about “behind the scenes” life and work on board Westerdam. I will report on that after giving a brief summary of yesterday.

On Friday

Friday's major activity is a "Fun Fair" on the Lido Pool Deck. Since the weather is beautiful lots of folks are out by the pool to watch the festivities. It is a rather feeble affair--at least compared to the major "County Fair" days on Oceania cruises--and the kids on board seem to be the only ones really participating. Perhaps everyone else is resting up for tonight's festivities, which include the "Westerdam Ball" at 9pm and the "Chocolate Surprise" at 9:45.

My plan for the evening is another fine dinner in the Main Dining Room, followed by the final performance of the Step One Dance Company. They perform a new show for the first time, which does not quite live up to the quality of their other shows on board.

Dinner is another serving of escargot, another Caesar salad, and roast duck slices with sautéed red cabbage, crisp potato pancake, and other vegetables. I enjoy another glass of the French rose I had on an earlier night. I skip dessert, thinking that I will indulge in the expected "Chocolate Surprise" toward the end of the "Westerdam Ball." 

I should have had dessert! The "Chocolate Surprise," unlike the magnificent dessert buffets on older HAL cruises, is merely waiters offering trays of tiny chocolate bites and cookies. I guess the thought counts.

On Saturday

After breakfast I take a walk on the pool deck and I am greeted by dozens of towel animals, another HAL tradition, lining all sides of the pool.

I continue my walk several times around the Observation Deck at the top of the ship to enjoy the continuation of warmer weather, bright sunshine, and smooth sailing.

Then, as promised above, I attend the presentation that combines live speakers and interactive videos of the ship’s operations. At the conclusion almost the entire crew appears on stage for a wild round of applause. The captain presents a special bottle of very good Champagne to a young crew woman who saved a passenger's life by administering the Heimlich maneuver in the Lido Market.

By the way, the captain and many members of his crew have been very accessible on this cruise. On several evenings they have mingled with passengers at various events. The captain must have a really good assistant, because he seems to spend more time greeting passengers than guiding the ship. A little while ago I opened my suite door to see if my laundry was being delivered, and there he was leisurely walking down the corridor. Of course nowadays most of the ship’s functions are worked by computer. And at poolside lunch today, the captain and the cruise director are busy serving a special dessert to everyone.

Captain on Left, Regular Waiter in Middle, Cruise Director on Right

But now I must return to packing even on this beautiful day. Unfortunately, the forecast for tomorrow morning is rain--not the best condition for getting from the ship to the train station with luggage.

I will continue writing blogs as I travel in Japan and South Korea, but I’m not sure about how wifi transmission will work. If I can’t send the blogs daily, I will save them all and inundate everyone with emails when I return to Tucson.