Cruise Report: Pacific Northwest 4-Day HAL ms Amsterdam Sept 26-30

Arrival In Seattle, WA Sept 25:

Who: My sister Karen, and myself.

We dedided to fly in a day early as a buffer for possible air delays or
cancelation. Also we wanted to see something of Seattle before the
cruise. Our Northwest flight arrived at 9:30 am local time. We took the
Gray Line of Seattle Shuttle into town. It only costs $8.00 one way,
the driver points out sights along the way. The downside, they stop at
every hotel along the way. It took 2 hours to reach our hotel as it was
the last on the stop.

We stayed at the Alexis Hotel on 1st Ave in downtown Seattle. This is a
top of the line boutique hotel. We wouldn't be staying there at all had
it not for my sister getting a discount. Our arrival was met with
courteous front desk staff and complimentary tea or soft beverage of
choice. We were given warm towels for face and hands.

We had an option to wait a few minutes for bell staff as they were busy
helping a wedding party into their limos. Karen was anxious to change
clothes as it was warmer there then her starting point in Minnesota.
I'm from New Jersey and met up with her in Minneapolis St Paul
Airport. So we wheeled our bags to our room. Wow! Upon entry we were
greated with a desk that could be used as a workstation. Walking down a
rather longish hallway we came to the room proper that is bigger than
some folks livingroom. We had two tripple sheeted queen beds with 5
down pillows each, a down douvet with another full sized desk
separating the beds. Bed linens were silky 500 plus count Egyptian
Cotton. There was a full sized pull-out sofa in the room, a complete
entertainment center.

The bathroom was three steps up from the sleeping / living area. It was
apointed with Avada toiletries, a multi-jet massage shower / bathtub.
It too was larger then the average hotel bathroom.

Next to the bathroom was a changing area with more then enough space.
There were two walk-in closets with real cedar wood hangers, and not the
anti-theft kind.

Every piece of artwork on the walls of Alexis is original art and for sale.

After changing, we walked to Pike's Place Market Place. We watched the
Fish Market fish ******* for a while. I haven't seen such interesting
fish ******* since 20 years ago at NYC's Fulton Fish Market. They
really put on a show and seem to enjoy doing it.

We ate lunch at Lowell's. You pay up front and are given an order
number. Waiters bring your order to table. How they manage this is
truly amazing as the tables are on 3 seperate floors. The floors are
seperated by narrow stair cases. There doesn't seem to be a system of
tracking which order sat at which table, yet your food arrives
promptly! Karen had a clam chowder and sushi. I went for the fish
chowder and grilled jumbo shrimp. Portions were ample, and very tasty
leaving no room for desert.

We strolled among the different stalls, marveling at the size of
produce and the low cost of beautiful flower bouquets. I bought a very
lifelike statuette of an Orca that was hand carved out of Mt. St.
Helen's volcanic ash.

We went down to Pier 56 for dinner. We strolled around and wound up at
The Fishermans with a great view of Puget Sound and Seattle's Inner
Harbour. I had the Fish Chowder again a mix of salmon and halibut in a
tomatoe base. For my entree I splurged $26.00 on a combo of King Salmon
and Dungenes Crab. Karen had the fresh Halibut. My salmon was
excellent as was the crab. I heard no complaints from Karen. Once
again there was no room for desert. After walking about a bit on the
way back to our hotel we stopped at a gellatto place. It was light and
creamy and just enough without being too much.

Sunday Sept. 26:

We had breakfast in Alexis Hotel bistro, The Library. The books are not
just for decor; they're real. You can take a book back to your room, or
read one there if you're dining alone. Breakfast consisted of Fresh
Squeezed Orange Juice, Buttermilk Pancakes Infused With Honey and
Rosemary topped off with warm apples and whipped cream. Sides of Hash
Browns, Link Sausage, or Canadian Bacon were available. The whole thing
was topped off with Cappuccino.

There was time after check out, so we stored our bags with the hotel.
Karen and I browsed around Pioneer Place. Try as I might, I couldn't
get her to visit the Space Needle. Ah well, another time. We went back
to Pike's Market. I found a place that makes nothing but chowders
around a corner from the Athenian Deli. We ate lunch there. Once again
I had the fish chowder, this time it was in a thick tomatoe cream broth
served in a sour dough bowel. You guessed it, no room for desert!

After some more of a walking tour we went back to the Alexis and
retrieved our bags. We then hopped a Grayline Shuttle to the port.
This ride took less time than the one from the airport. It was 3:00 pm
and most people had already headed for the HAL terminal by 1:00 pm. A
3:00 pm boarding was great. All the crowds had already gone ahead.
There weren't any lines. We boarded the ms Amsterdam as if it was our
private cruise. The really cool part is we scooped up an upgrade from a
last minute cancelation.

We unpacked, showed-up for muster then headed for Lido Deck the pool and
whirlpools. We'd be joining Karen's boss and group of travel agents for
cocktails around 7:30 pm and then on to the late seating at the Pinacle
Grill.

I ordered the King Salmon at the Pinacle Grill and found it to be
completely unlike anything I had in Seattle. My order was dry,
overcooked and salty. Maybe they just don't know how to cook fish.
Since I was my sister's guest, and she the guest of her boss I wasn't
going to make a big deal about it. I merely commented that it was
disappointingly dry and salty. They more than made up for the unsavory
salmon with a chocolate cake that was velvety smooth. One thing good
about bad salmon, I had more then enough room for desert!

Sept. 27 Astoria, OR:

We did our own excursions in Astoria. These consisted of the Maritime
Museum, touring the Liberty Theater, the new Hotel Elliot and the Capt.
Flavell House. The Coast Guard rescue exhibit in the Maritime Museum
was most impressive. They drill at the Mouth of the Columbia River's
treacherous sand bar. Forty foot waves are often the end of many an
unsuspecting ship. The Coast Guard train in rescue techniques in this
environment. The exhibit really gives you a "hands on" feeling.

Afterwards we toured the Liberty Theater which is an old vaudville
theater a group of preservationists are working to bring back to her
former glory. It's a work in progress and they have a brief
interpretive video and volunteers to tell you about the history of the
place.

Around the block from the Liberty Theater is the Elliot a former
flop-house that has been reborn into a beautiful hotel. I got some
really great shots of the Columbia River from the hotel's rooftop garden.

After touring the Elliot we walked to the Capt. Flavel House. Capt.
Flavel founded the Columbia River Pilot business as a young man in his
twenties. He amassed a great fortune from this and other investments.
The Flavel house was built at the hight of his wealth. It's a fine
example of Victorian Queen Ann archetecture with every modern
convenience of the era. There are some great pictures to be shot in
this historic house. Flash is not permitted so use ISO 800 or a super
fast lens and ISO 400 for the interior shots.

Dinner in the main dining room was a marked improvement over the Pinacle
Grill. Everyone at our table seemed pleased with the service and their
orders.


--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

On 10/09/2004 4:35 PM Brian K plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger and said:

Arrival In Seattle, WA Sept 25:

Who: My sister Karen, and myself.

We dedided to fly in a day early as a buffer for possible air delays
or cancelation. Also we wanted to see something of Seattle before the
cruise. Our Northwest flight arrived at 9:30 am local time. We took
the Gray Line of Seattle Shuttle into town. It only costs $8.00 one
way, the driver points out sights along the way. The downside, they
stop at every hotel along the way. It took 2 hours to reach our hotel
as it was the last on the stop.

We stayed at the Alexis Hotel on 1st Ave in downtown Seattle. This is
a top of the line boutique hotel. We wouldn't be staying there at all
had it not for my sister getting a discount. Our arrival was met with
courteous front desk staff and complimentary tea or soft beverage of
choice. We were given warm towels for face and hands.

We had an option to wait a few minutes for bell staff as they were
busy helping a wedding party into their limos. Karen was anxious to
change clothes as it was warmer there then her starting point in
Minnesota. I'm from New Jersey and met up with her in Minneapolis St
Paul Airport. So we wheeled our bags to our room. Wow! Upon entry
we were greated with a desk that could be used as a workstation.
Walking down a rather longish hallway we came to the room proper that
is bigger than some folks livingroom. We had two tripple sheeted
queen beds with 5 down pillows each, a down douvet with another full
sized desk separating the beds. Bed linens were silky 500 plus count
Egyptian Cotton. There was a full sized pull-out sofa in the room,
a complete entertainment center.

The bathroom was three steps up from the sleeping / living area. It
was apointed with Avada toiletries, a multi-jet massage shower /
bathtub. It too was larger then the average hotel bathroom.

Next to the bathroom was a changing area with more then enough
space. There were two walk-in closets with real cedar wood hangers,
and not the anti-theft kind.

Every piece of artwork on the walls of Alexis is original art and for
sale.

After changing, we walked to Pike's Place Market Place. We watched
the Fish Market fish ******* for a while. I haven't seen such
interesting fish ******* since 20 years ago at NYC's Fulton Fish
Market. They really put on a show and seem to enjoy doing it.

We ate lunch at Lowell's. You pay up front and are given an order
number. Waiters bring your order to table. How they manage this is
truly amazing as the tables are on 3 seperate floors. The floors are
seperated by narrow stair cases. There doesn't seem to be a system of
tracking which order sat at which table, yet your food arrives
promptly! Karen had a clam chowder and sushi. I went for the fish
chowder and grilled jumbo shrimp. Portions were ample, and very tasty
leaving no room for desert.

We strolled among the different stalls, marveling at the size of
produce and the low cost of beautiful flower bouquets. I bought a
very lifelike statuette of an Orca that was hand carved out of Mt. St.
Helen's volcanic ash.

We went down to Pier 56 for dinner. We strolled around and wound up
at The Fishermans with a great view of Puget Sound and Seattle's Inner
Harbour. I had the Fish Chowder again a mix of salmon and halibut in
a tomatoe base. For my entree I splurged $26.00 on a combo of King
Salmon and Dungenes Crab. Karen had the fresh Halibut. My salmon was
excellent as was the crab. I heard no complaints from Karen. Once
again there was no room for desert. After walking about a bit on the
way back to our hotel we stopped at a gellatto place. It was light
and creamy and just enough without being too much.

Sunday Sept. 26:

We had breakfast in Alexis Hotel bistro, The Library. The books are
not just for decor; they're real. You can take a book back to your
room, or read one there if you're dining alone. Breakfast consisted
of Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, Buttermilk Pancakes Infused With
Honey and Rosemary topped off with warm apples and whipped cream.
Sides of Hash Browns, Link Sausage, or Canadian Bacon were available.
The whole thing was topped off with Cappuccino.

There was time after check out, so we stored our bags with the hotel.
Karen and I browsed around Pioneer Place. Try as I might, I couldn't
get her to visit the Space Needle. Ah well, another time. We went
back to Pike's Market. I found a place that makes nothing but
chowders around a corner from the Athenian Deli. We ate lunch there.
Once again I had the fish chowder, this time it was in a thick tomatoe
cream broth served in a sour dough bowel. You guessed it, no room for
desert!

After some more of a walking tour we went back to the Alexis and
retrieved our bags. We then hopped a Grayline Shuttle to the port.
This ride took less time than the one from the airport. It was 3:00
pm and most people had already headed for the HAL terminal by 1:00
pm. A 3:00 pm boarding was great. All the crowds had already gone
ahead. There weren't any lines. We boarded the ms Amsterdam as if it
was our private cruise. The really cool part is we scooped up an
upgrade from a last minute cancelation.

We unpacked, showed-up for muster then headed for Lido Deck the pool
and whirlpools. We'd be joining Karen's boss and group of travel
agents for cocktails around 7:30 pm and then on to the late seating at
the Pinacle Grill.

I ordered the King Salmon at the Pinacle Grill and found it to be
completely unlike anything I had in Seattle. My order was dry,
overcooked and salty. Maybe they just don't know how to cook fish.
Since I was my sister's guest, and she the guest of her boss I wasn't
going to make a big deal about it. I merely commented that it was
disappointingly dry and salty. They more than made up for the
unsavory salmon with a chocolate cake that was velvety smooth. One
thing good about bad salmon, I had more then enough room for desert!

Sept. 27 Astoria, OR:

We did our own excursions in Astoria. These consisted of the Maritime
Museum, touring the Liberty Theater, the new Hotel Elliot and the
Capt. Flavell House. The Coast Guard rescue exhibit in the Maritime
Museum was most impressive. They drill at the Mouth of the Columbia
River's treacherous sand bar. Forty foot waves are often the end of
many an unsuspecting ship. The Coast Guard train in rescue techniques
in this environment. The exhibit really gives you a "hands on" feeling.

Afterwards we toured the Liberty Theater which is an old vaudville
theater a group of preservationists are working to bring back to her
former glory. It's a work in progress and they have a brief
interpretive video and volunteers to tell you about the history of the
place.

Around the block from the Liberty Theater is the Elliot a former
flop-house that has been reborn into a beautiful hotel. I got some
really great shots of the Columbia River from the hotel's rooftop garden.

After touring the Elliot we walked to the Capt. Flavel House. Capt.
Flavel founded the Columbia River Pilot business as a young man in his
twenties. He amassed a great fortune from this and other
investments. The Flavel house was built at the hight of his wealth.
It's a fine example of Victorian Queen Ann archetecture with every
modern convenience of the era. There are some great pictures to be
shot in this historic house. Flash is not permitted so use ISO 800 or
a super fast lens and ISO 400 for the interior shots.

Dinner in the main dining room was a marked improvement over the
Pinacle Grill. Everyone at our table seemed pleased with the service
and their orders.


I will add the other ports of call on this trip, plus observations,
comments about ms Amsterdam shortly.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

On 10/09/2004 5:13 PM Brian K plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger and said:

On 10/09/2004 4:35 PM Brian K plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger and
said:

Arrival In Seattle, WA Sept 25:

Who: My sister Karen, and myself.

We dedided to fly in a day early as a buffer for possible air delays
or cancelation. Also we wanted to see something of Seattle before
the cruise. Our Northwest flight arrived at 9:30 am local time. We
took the Gray Line of Seattle Shuttle into town. It only costs $8.00
one way, the driver points out sights along the way. The downside,
they stop at every hotel along the way. It took 2 hours to reach our
hotel as it was the last on the stop.

We stayed at the Alexis Hotel on 1st Ave in downtown Seattle. This
is a top of the line boutique hotel. We wouldn't be staying there at
all had it not for my sister getting a discount. Our arrival was met
with courteous front desk staff and complimentary tea or soft
beverage of choice. We were given warm towels for face and hands.

We had an option to wait a few minutes for bell staff as they were
busy helping a wedding party into their limos. Karen was anxious to
change clothes as it was warmer there then her starting point in
Minnesota. I'm from New Jersey and met up with her in Minneapolis St
Paul Airport. So we wheeled our bags to our room. Wow! Upon entry
we were greated with a desk that could be used as a workstation.
Walking down a rather longish hallway we came to the room proper that
is bigger than some folks livingroom. We had two tripple sheeted
queen beds with 5 down pillows each, a down douvet with another full
sized desk separating the beds. Bed linens were silky 500 plus count
Egyptian Cotton. There was a full sized pull-out sofa in the room,
a complete entertainment center.

The bathroom was three steps up from the sleeping / living area. It
was apointed with Avada toiletries, a multi-jet massage shower /
bathtub. It too was larger then the average hotel bathroom.

Next to the bathroom was a changing area with more then enough
space. There were two walk-in closets with real cedar wood hangers,
and not the anti-theft kind.

Every piece of artwork on the walls of Alexis is original art and for
sale.

After changing, we walked to Pike's Place Market Place. We watched
the Fish Market fish ******* for a while. I haven't seen such
interesting fish ******* since 20 years ago at NYC's Fulton Fish
Market. They really put on a show and seem to enjoy doing it.

We ate lunch at Lowell's. You pay up front and are given an order
number. Waiters bring your order to table. How they manage this is
truly amazing as the tables are on 3 seperate floors. The floors are
seperated by narrow stair cases. There doesn't seem to be a system
of tracking which order sat at which table, yet your food arrives
promptly! Karen had a clam chowder and sushi. I went for the fish
chowder and grilled jumbo shrimp. Portions were ample, and very
tasty leaving no room for desert.

We strolled among the different stalls, marveling at the size of
produce and the low cost of beautiful flower bouquets. I bought a
very lifelike statuette of an Orca that was hand carved out of Mt.
St. Helen's volcanic ash.

We went down to Pier 56 for dinner. We strolled around and wound up
at The Fishermans with a great view of Puget Sound and Seattle's
Inner Harbour. I had the Fish Chowder again a mix of salmon and
halibut in a tomatoe base. For my entree I splurged $26.00 on a
combo of King Salmon and Dungenes Crab. Karen had the fresh
Halibut. My salmon was excellent as was the crab. I heard no
complaints from Karen. Once again there was no room for desert.
After walking about a bit on the way back to our hotel we stopped at
a gellatto place. It was light and creamy and just enough without
being too much.

Sunday Sept. 26:

We had breakfast in Alexis Hotel bistro, The Library. The books are
not just for decor; they're real. You can take a book back to your
room, or read one there if you're dining alone. Breakfast consisted
of Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, Buttermilk Pancakes Infused With
Honey and Rosemary topped off with warm apples and whipped cream.
Sides of Hash Browns, Link Sausage, or Canadian Bacon were
available. The whole thing was topped off with Cappuccino.

There was time after check out, so we stored our bags with the
hotel. Karen and I browsed around Pioneer Place. Try as I might, I
couldn't get her to visit the Space Needle. Ah well, another time.
We went back to Pike's Market. I found a place that makes nothing
but chowders around a corner from the Athenian Deli. We ate lunch
there. Once again I had the fish chowder, this time it was in a
thick tomatoe cream broth served in a sour dough bowel. You guessed
it, no room for desert!

After some more of a walking tour we went back to the Alexis and
retrieved our bags. We then hopped a Grayline Shuttle to the port.
This ride took less time than the one from the airport. It was 3:00
pm and most people had already headed for the HAL terminal by 1:00
pm. A 3:00 pm boarding was great. All the crowds had already gone
ahead. There weren't any lines. We boarded the ms Amsterdam as if
it was our private cruise. The really cool part is we scooped up an
upgrade from a last minute cancelation.

We unpacked, showed-up for muster then headed for Lido Deck the pool
and whirlpools. We'd be joining Karen's boss and group of travel
agents for cocktails around 7:30 pm and then on to the late seating
at the Pinacle Grill.

I ordered the King Salmon at the Pinacle Grill and found it to be
completely unlike anything I had in Seattle. My order was dry,
overcooked and salty. Maybe they just don't know how to cook fish.
Since I was my sister's guest, and she the guest of her boss I wasn't
going to make a big deal about it. I merely commented that it was
disappointingly dry and salty. They more than made up for the
unsavory salmon with a chocolate cake that was velvety smooth. One
thing good about bad salmon, I had more then enough room for desert!

Sept. 27 Astoria, OR:

We did our own excursions in Astoria. These consisted of the
Maritime Museum, touring the Liberty Theater, the new Hotel Elliot
and the Capt. Flavell House. The Coast Guard rescue exhibit in the
Maritime Museum was most impressive. They drill at the Mouth of the
Columbia River's treacherous sand bar. Forty foot waves are often
the end of many an unsuspecting ship. The Coast Guard train in
rescue techniques in this environment. The exhibit really gives you
a "hands on" feeling.

Afterwards we toured the Liberty Theater which is an old vaudville
theater a group of preservationists are working to bring back to her
former glory. It's a work in progress and they have a brief
interpretive video and volunteers to tell you about the history of
the place.

Around the block from the Liberty Theater is the Elliot a former
flop-house that has been reborn into a beautiful hotel. I got some
really great shots of the Columbia River from the hotel's rooftop
garden.

After touring the Elliot we walked to the Capt. Flavel House. Capt.
Flavel founded the Columbia River Pilot business as a young man in
his twenties. He amassed a great fortune from this and other
investments. The Flavel house was built at the hight of his wealth.
It's a fine example of Victorian Queen Ann archetecture with every
modern convenience of the era. There are some great pictures to be
shot in this historic house. Flash is not permitted so use ISO 800
or a super fast lens and ISO 400 for the interior shots.

Dinner in the main dining room was a marked improvement over the
Pinacle Grill. Everyone at our table seemed pleased with the service
and their orders.


I will add the other ports of call on this trip, plus observations,
comments about ms Amsterdam shortly.

September 28 Victoria, BC:

Karen's Boss, Sue set up a tour for the group. We started with a tour /
site inspection of the Empress Hotel. The Empress Hotel is one of the
first things you'll see if you arrive by ferry from Vancouver, BC. There
were free shuttles to downtown from the HAL docking area. The Amsterdam
and another HAL ship (the Zaandam?) were in town.The shuttle bus stopped
directly in front of the Empress Hotel.

Before the tour started, I managed to spend some time wondering about
the area taking pictures. I found an area down by the Empress moorings
where crafts people, artists and musicians were offering their works. It
was a pleasant stroll with none of these artistic vendors getting in
your face. They are content to let you browse, buy or just stroll on
by. I found a reasonable whale watch boat but that would have to wait
until later, if there was time.

I didn't think I would find this interesting but went along as the next
stop on the itinerary was Buchart Gardens. I figure that the tour would
be mostly "agent talk" with our guide, one of the hotel managers. I was
wrong. The Empress has a lot of history and our guide was well versed
on much of it. The hotel has grown in three phases. The earlies was as
a place to stay for passengers of the Pacific - Western Steamship Line,
or something to this effect. That was in the late 1800's. Subsequent
additions were built in the 1920's and the 1950's. It has all the charm
beauty and quirks of a grand hotel. In some parts of the hotel,
elevators only traverse between the 7th and 8th floors. You can only
reach the floor where the Tea Lobby is found from the oldest wing.

The Empress is not a hotel for people who need everything to be uniform
and easy to navigate. On some floors hallways split off in maze like
fashion. Some of the rooms we saw are called "Signature" rooms. More
is charged for these because of unique features such as a stairway
leading to a turret where a cozy reading room with a fantastic view of
the city can be found. We were also shown the wing where the young
Prince Harry recently stayed. Royal Suite rooms come with access to
their own private spa and gardens. The Travel Agents were given info
packets. Since each agent had brought a guest on this cruise, I guess
the info packets had all the "agent talk" in them thereby not boring us
guests.

We then picked up another Grayline bus for Butchart Gardens. The ride
was from 45 minutes to an hour. It was a little slow getting started
because a Japanese tour group's bus was parked in a space reserved for
Grayline. Our bus driver had to have some words with their driver
before we could safely board.

Once our driver could park in a space where we wouldn't have to step out
in traffic we quickly loaded and were on our way. Did you know that the
Center of The Universe is on Vancouver Island? It is we passed it en
route to Butchart Gardens. Apparently, it's some sort of astronomical
observatory center. It is closed to visitors and only open to school
groups, by appointment.

Butchart Gardens was created in a former limestone quarry. Written
words don't do this place justice. What's interesting is like the
Butchart lime quarries, the gardens are self-supporting through on-site
restaurants, wedding parties and the Gift and Seed Shop. We had a
guided tour and it took us more than an hour to see all the different
gardens. We were not rushed at all. I was afraid that we'd be herded
in and herded out. But after the tour was over, we were free to wander
the gardens at our leisure or shop in the Gift and Seed Shop.

I was able to get some fantastic photos of roses and dahlias. I even
was able to identify a rose bush in my garden that's been passed down
the family. While the sunken gardens are breath taking, I liked
strolling in the rose garden There were so many different perfume
scents and each one was better than the next!

Our last stop as a group was back at the Empress Hotel for "High" Tea.
My sister's boss Sue is British and claims that there's no such thing as
"High Tea, it's just Tea." Yet our server greeted us with "Welcome to
Empress's High Tea..." Maybe in Canada it's High Tea and in Britain
it's just Tea. Whatever you call it, I've never done it before and
found it to be a nice light something in the afternoon. The tea served
was excellent, and a blend I've never had before. It's the Empress
Hotel's special mix. Firstly we were served finger sandwiches, one for
each person seated in our group of 5 - 6. There was a salmon one, a
carrot one, cucumber, and egg. I liked the salmon most of all. Then we
were served a selection of chocolates and pastries on a multi-tier
server. The chocolate truffles went in a snap. The rest we swapped
amongst each other as some of us liked certain goodies over others.

After this we were on our own time. It was too late for whale watching
but we had comp tickets to the BC Royal Museum Egyptian exhibit from the
Royal British Museum in London. This was something both my sister and I
enjoyed. There was artwork and artifacts in media that I haven't seen
in NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art's holdings. Very lifelike and
beautiful were nude statues carved from wood. It seems that it was the
thing in the Old Kingdom if you were royal or rich to have a statue done
of yourself naked. I don't know if it had something to do with the
afterlife or, Egyptians simply had no hang-ups about nudity.

The exhibit had a self-guided audio tour. You could view the exhibit in
numeric order or any way you wanted. I liked this because I could
linger in front of some things of the exhibit and move more quickly at
others. There was the pre-requisite mummy case, but there was so much
more. In addition to jewelry, there were everyday artifacts that would
be needed in the afterlife. The narrators of the audio were very good
at humanizing the exhibit. The result, I did not feel like I was
viewing excavated funerary objects so much as having a glimpse into life
thousands of years ago in Egypt.

Time went by quickly. Before we realized it, it was time to return to
the ship for our pre-dinner dip into the Lido pool and whirlpool.
Afterwards we met the rest of the group at the Crow's Nest for drinks
before dinner.

After dinner, Karen and I went for a stroll on the ship's wrap-around
Promenade deck. We did so with better success than the previous night
when the ship exited the Columbia River. The wind was rather gusty, the
ship had a definite pitch and roll. The Port side of the Promenade was
wet with ocean spray. By comparison it was only a little breezy and
cool. We noted a sign that stated 3.5 times around the Promenade was
equal to 1 mile. We decided to do it to walk off the flaming deserts we
had.

I found that the more time spent in any given location on a ship, the
more details can be noticed. I always wondered how and where the crew
gained access to the life boats. It sort of blended in with the white
sides of the ship, but there are ladders. If you look up there are
white signs with red letters identifying these as means of reaching the
life boats for release.

Sept. 29 Vancouver:

I skipped the morning tour of the city. I wanted to sleep-in. Karen
and I agreed to meet 12:30 by the Lido Pool. I didn't chill in our
cabin, but got 2 hours nap time at the Lido after a light breakfast.

When Karen returned we had lunch by the pool grill. Hot Dogs,
Hamburgers, Cheese Burgers and make your own Tacos were on the grill
menu. Then we went into the Lido Buffet to pick up some beverages, fresh
fruit and desert.

Karen has been to Vancouver several times. So after that sumptuous
lunch, she took me on a walking tour of the town. The tour wound up in
Gas Town which is very close to Canada Place and our ship. "You must
see the steam clock", my sister said to me. Whatever my preconceived
notions may have been, the steam clock was a treat indeed. It looks
like any grandfather clock except there's steam venting out of the top.
On the hour it chimes Westminster chimes, only it's not chimes but steam
whistles. It sounds endearingly goofy, kind of like a circus calliope.
I was really in heaven in Gas Town.

There are all kinds of buildings and alley ways that caught my
photographer's eye. I like to abstract images from all sorts of things,
cracks in sidewalks, archetectual elements of buildings and shadows. It
was really nice of Karen to give me an individualized tour after having
just been on a tour herself.

When we got back to the Amsterdam, we changed into swimwear and made a
b-line for the Lido Pool. The whirlpool felt really good on our tired
feet. At 5:00 pm the ship began to pull-out. We went a ways up the
harbor and then the ship came to a full stop. I wondered was there
trouble? Then we experienced something that doesn't frequently happen
on a cruise ship full of passengers.

The Captain came on the intercom and announce that the ship would be
"resetting the magnetic compass". For the next hour or so we'd be
rotating in circles. There was no cause for alarm. Then we got a
demonstration of just how manoverable ms Amsterdam is. Using the ship's
thrusters only we made 360 degree rotations on the central axis of the
ship! As someone who has piloted much smaller pleasure craft, I took
some sites. The central axis of the ship did not move one nautical inch
from it's original location while rotating. Now, that's what I call
manoverable.

Dinner was the unavoidable Dutch Night with those goofy hats. I feel
sorry for the women, their hats look really silly. This is the one
night that I'm not crazy about HAL dinner choices. It's ether something
Dutch or something Indonesian. I ordered something with an
unpronounceable name that was some kind of seafood. That's exactly what
I got. I had no idea what I was eating and was thankful for the spicy
treatment. Thank God for Dutch Chocolate deserts! Those were excellent.

Sept. 30 Seattle, WA

This is where my sister and I would split up. Her group would be touring
HAL hq and catching later flights back to Minneapolis St. Paul. I had
an earlier flight arriving in Newark, NJ at 11:10 pm EDT after a brief
lay over in Detroit.

My HAL package included a voucher for transport back to SEATAC via
Grayline of Seattle. This time it didn't take forever to get to the
airport. Transport was quick and courteous. The driver worked really
hard loading and unloading everyone's luggage. Only a few people tipped
him. I was one of them. I didn't see any "no tipping" signs, and
figured he more than earned a tip.

My flight via Northwest was uneventful except for the usual overbooking
games that NWA plays. I would have taken a bump in Seattle but they
couldn't provide me a connection in Detroit to Newark. I didn't want to
get back to my car at Newark Liberty Airport from New York or
Philadelphia airports.

Tipping on Amsterdam:

I figured out how much I'd tip the various staff for a four day cruise
and it came out exactly to $10.00 a day. I left the auto-tipping in
place. As long as the ships servers, housekeepers et al get their fare
share, I don't need to hand them an envelope and hear them say "Thank
You". Since the initiation of the auto-tip on HAL ships I haven't
noticed any drop in service. If anything our Steward and Dining Room
wait staff seemed even more cheerful and eager to serve.


--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

On 10/09/2004 5:13 PM Brian K plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger and said:

On 10/09/2004 4:35 PM Brian K plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger and
said:

Arrival In Seattle, WA Sept 25:

Who: My sister Karen, and myself.

We dedided to fly in a day early as a buffer for possible air delays
or cancelation. Also we wanted to see something of Seattle before
the cruise. Our Northwest flight arrived at 9:30 am local time. We
took the Gray Line of Seattle Shuttle into town. It only costs $8.00
one way, the driver points out sights along the way. The downside,
they stop at every hotel along the way. It took 2 hours to reach our
hotel as it was the last on the stop.

We stayed at the Alexis Hotel on 1st Ave in downtown Seattle. This
is a top of the line boutique hotel. We wouldn't be staying there at
all had it not for my sister getting a discount. Our arrival was met
with courteous front desk staff and complimentary tea or soft
beverage of choice. We were given warm towels for face and hands.

We had an option to wait a few minutes for bell staff as they were
busy helping a wedding party into their limos. Karen was anxious to
change clothes as it was warmer there then her starting point in
Minnesota. I'm from New Jersey and met up with her in Minneapolis St
Paul Airport. So we wheeled our bags to our room. Wow! Upon entry
we were greated with a desk that could be used as a workstation.
Walking down a rather longish hallway we came to the room proper that
is bigger than some folks livingroom. We had two tripple sheeted
queen beds with 5 down pillows each, a down douvet with another full
sized desk separating the beds. Bed linens were silky 500 plus count
Egyptian Cotton. There was a full sized pull-out sofa in the room,
a complete entertainment center.

The bathroom was three steps up from the sleeping / living area. It
was apointed with Avada toiletries, a multi-jet massage shower /
bathtub. It too was larger then the average hotel bathroom.

Next to the bathroom was a changing area with more then enough
space. There were two walk-in closets with real cedar wood hangers,
and not the anti-theft kind.

Every piece of artwork on the walls of Alexis is original art and for
sale.

After changing, we walked to Pike's Place Market Place. We watched
the Fish Market fish ******* for a while. I haven't seen such
interesting fish ******* since 20 years ago at NYC's Fulton Fish
Market. They really put on a show and seem to enjoy doing it.

We ate lunch at Lowell's. You pay up front and are given an order
number. Waiters bring your order to table. How they manage this is
truly amazing as the tables are on 3 seperate floors. The floors are
seperated by narrow stair cases. There doesn't seem to be a system
of tracking which order sat at which table, yet your food arrives
promptly! Karen had a clam chowder and sushi. I went for the fish
chowder and grilled jumbo shrimp. Portions were ample, and very
tasty leaving no room for desert.

We strolled among the different stalls, marveling at the size of
produce and the low cost of beautiful flower bouquets. I bought a
very lifelike statuette of an Orca that was hand carved out of Mt.
St. Helen's volcanic ash.

We went down to Pier 56 for dinner. We strolled around and wound up
at The Fishermans with a great view of Puget Sound and Seattle's
Inner Harbour. I had the Fish Chowder again a mix of salmon and
halibut in a tomatoe base. For my entree I splurged $26.00 on a
combo of King Salmon and Dungenes Crab. Karen had the fresh
Halibut. My salmon was excellent as was the crab. I heard no
complaints from Karen. Once again there was no room for desert.
After walking about a bit on the way back to our hotel we stopped at
a gellatto place. It was light and creamy and just enough without
being too much.

Sunday Sept. 26:

We had breakfast in Alexis Hotel bistro, The Library. The books are
not just for decor; they're real. You can take a book back to your
room, or read one there if you're dining alone. Breakfast consisted
of Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, Buttermilk Pancakes Infused With
Honey and Rosemary topped off with warm apples and whipped cream.
Sides of Hash Browns, Link Sausage, or Canadian Bacon were
available. The whole thing was topped off with Cappuccino.

There was time after check out, so we stored our bags with the
hotel. Karen and I browsed around Pioneer Place. Try as I might, I
couldn't get her to visit the Space Needle. Ah well, another time.
We went back to Pike's Market. I found a place that makes nothing
but chowders around a corner from the Athenian Deli. We ate lunch
there. Once again I had the fish chowder, this time it was in a
thick tomatoe cream broth served in a sour dough bowel. You guessed
it, no room for desert!

After some more of a walking tour we went back to the Alexis and
retrieved our bags. We then hopped a Grayline Shuttle to the port.
This ride took less time than the one from the airport. It was 3:00
pm and most people had already headed for the HAL terminal by 1:00
pm. A 3:00 pm boarding was great. All the crowds had already gone
ahead. There weren't any lines. We boarded the ms Amsterdam as if
it was our private cruise. The really cool part is we scooped up an
upgrade from a last minute cancelation.

We unpacked, showed-up for muster then headed for Lido Deck the pool
and whirlpools. We'd be joining Karen's boss and group of travel
agents for cocktails around 7:30 pm and then on to the late seating
at the Pinacle Grill.

I ordered the King Salmon at the Pinacle Grill and found it to be
completely unlike anything I had in Seattle. My order was dry,
overcooked and salty. Maybe they just don't know how to cook fish.
Since I was my sister's guest, and she the guest of her boss I wasn't
going to make a big deal about it. I merely commented that it was
disappointingly dry and salty. They more than made up for the
unsavory salmon with a chocolate cake that was velvety smooth. One
thing good about bad salmon, I had more then enough room for desert!

Sept. 27 Astoria, OR:

We did our own excursions in Astoria. These consisted of the
Maritime Museum, touring the Liberty Theater, the new Hotel Elliot
and the Capt. Flavell House. The Coast Guard rescue exhibit in the
Maritime Museum was most impressive. They drill at the Mouth of the
Columbia River's treacherous sand bar. Forty foot waves are often
the end of many an unsuspecting ship. The Coast Guard train in
rescue techniques in this environment. The exhibit really gives you
a "hands on" feeling.

Afterwards we toured the Liberty Theater which is an old vaudville
theater a group of preservationists are working to bring back to her
former glory. It's a work in progress and they have a brief
interpretive video and volunteers to tell you about the history of
the place.

Around the block from the Liberty Theater is the Elliot a former
flop-house that has been reborn into a beautiful hotel. I got some
really great shots of the Columbia River from the hotel's rooftop
garden.

After touring the Elliot we walked to the Capt. Flavel House. Capt.
Flavel founded the Columbia River Pilot business as a young man in
his twenties. He amassed a great fortune from this and other
investments. The Flavel house was built at the hight of his wealth.
It's a fine example of Victorian Queen Ann archetecture with every
modern convenience of the era. There are some great pictures to be
shot in this historic house. Flash is not permitted so use ISO 800
or a super fast lens and ISO 400 for the interior shots.

Dinner in the main dining room was a marked improvement over the
Pinacle Grill. Everyone at our table seemed pleased with the service
and their orders.


I will add the other ports of call on this trip, plus observations,
comments about ms Amsterdam shortly.

September 28 Victoria, BC:

Karen's Boss, Sue set up a tour for the group. We started with a tour /
site inspection of the Empress Hotel. The Empress Hotel is one of the
first things you'll see if you arrive by ferry from Vancouver, BC. There
were free shuttles to downtown from the HAL docking area. The Amsterdam
and another HAL ship (the Zaandam?) were in town.The shuttle bus stopped
directly in front of the Empress Hotel.

Before the tour started, I managed to spend some time wondering about
the area taking pictures. I found an area down by the Empress moorings
where crafts people, artists and musicians were offering their works. It
was a pleasant stroll with none of these artistic vendors getting in
your face. They are content to let you browse, buy or just stroll on
by. I found a reasonable whale watch boat but that would have to wait
until later, if there was time.

I didn't think I would find this interesting but went along as the next
stop on the itinerary was Buchart Gardens. I figure that the tour would
be mostly "agent talk" with our guide, one of the hotel managers. I was
wrong. The Empress has a lot of history and our guide was well versed
on much of it. The hotel has grown in three phases. The earlies was as
a place to stay for passengers of the Pacific - Western Steamship Line,
or something to this effect. That was in the late 1800's. Subsequent
additions were built in the 1920's and the 1950's. It has all the charm
beauty and quirks of a grand hotel. In some parts of the hotel,
elevators only traverse between the 7th and 8th floors. You can only
reach the floor where the Tea Lobby is found from the oldest wing.

The Empress is not a hotel for people who need everything to be uniform
and easy to navigate. On some floors hallways split off in maze like
fashion. Some of the rooms we saw are called "Signature" rooms. More
is charged for these because of unique features such as a stairway
leading to a turret where a cozy reading room with a fantastic view of
the city can be found. We were also shown the wing where the young
Prince Harry recently stayed. Royal Suite rooms come with access to
their own private spa and gardens. The Travel Agents were given info
packets. Since each agent had brought a guest on this cruise, I guess
the info packets had all the "agent talk" in them thereby not boring us
guests.

We then picked up another Grayline bus for Butchart Gardens. The ride
was from 45 minutes to an hour. It was a little slow getting started
because a Japanese tour group's bus was parked in a space reserved for
Grayline. Our bus driver had to have some words with their driver
before we could safely board.

Once our driver could park in a space where we wouldn't have to step out
in traffic we quickly loaded and were on our way. Did you know that the
Center of The Universe is on Vancouver Island? It is we passed it en
route to Butchart Gardens. Apparently, it's some sort of astronomical
observatory center. It is closed to visitors and only open to school
groups, by appointment.

Butchart Gardens was created in a former limestone quarry. Written
words don't do this place justice. What's interesting is like the
Butchart lime quarries, the gardens are self-supporting through on-site
restaurants, wedding parties and the Gift and Seed Shop. We had a
guided tour and it took us more than an hour to see all the different
gardens. We were not rushed at all. I was afraid that we'd be herded
in and herded out. But after the tour was over, we were free to wander
the gardens at our leisure or shop in the Gift and Seed Shop.

I was able to get some fantastic photos of roses and dahlias. I even
was able to identify a rose bush in my garden that's been passed down
the family. While the sunken gardens are breath taking, I liked
strolling in the rose garden There were so many different perfume
scents and each one was better than the next!

Our last stop as a group was back at the Empress Hotel for "High" Tea.
My sister's boss Sue is British and claims that there's no such thing as
"High Tea, it's just Tea." Yet our server greeted us with "Welcome to
Empress's High Tea..." Maybe in Canada it's High Tea and in Britain
it's just Tea. Whatever you call it, I've never done it before and
found it to be a nice light something in the afternoon. The tea served
was excellent, and a blend I've never had before. It's the Empress
Hotel's special mix. Firstly we were served finger sandwiches, one for
each person seated in our group of 5 - 6. There was a salmon one, a
carrot one, cucumber, and egg. I liked the salmon most of all. Then we
were served a selection of chocolates and pastries on a multi-tier
server. The chocolate truffles went in a snap. The rest we swapped
amongst each other as some of us liked certain goodies over others.

After this we were on our own time. It was too late for whale watching
but we had comp tickets to the BC Royal Museum Egyptian exhibit from the
Royal British Museum in London. This was something both my sister and I
enjoyed. There was artwork and artifacts in media that I haven't seen
in NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art's holdings. Very lifelike and
beautiful were nude statues carved from wood. It seems that it was the
thing in the Old Kingdom if you were royal or rich to have a statue done
of yourself naked. I don't know if it had something to do with the
afterlife or, Egyptians simply had no hang-ups about nudity.

The exhibit had a self-guided audio tour. You could view the exhibit in
numeric order or any way you wanted. I liked this because I could
linger in front of some things of the exhibit and move more quickly at
others. There was the pre-requisite mummy case, but there was so much
more. In addition to jewelry, there were everyday artifacts that would
be needed in the afterlife. The narrators of the audio were very good
at humanizing the exhibit. The result, I did not feel like I was
viewing excavated funerary objects so much as having a glimpse into life
thousands of years ago in Egypt.

Time went by quickly. Before we realized it, it was time to return to
the ship for our pre-dinner dip into the Lido pool and whirlpool.
Afterwards we met the rest of the group at the Crow's Nest for drinks
before dinner.

After dinner, Karen and I went for a stroll on the ship's wrap-around
Promenade deck. We did so with better success than the previous night
when the ship exited the Columbia River. The wind was rather gusty, the
ship had a definite pitch and roll. The Port side of the Promenade was
wet with ocean spray. By comparison it was only a little breezy and
cool. We noted a sign that stated 3.5 times around the Promenade was
equal to 1 mile. We decided to do it to walk off the flaming deserts we
had.

I found that the more time spent in any given location on a ship, the
more details can be noticed. I always wondered how and where the crew
gained access to the life boats. It sort of blended in with the white
sides of the ship, but there are ladders. If you look up there are
white signs with red letters identifying these as means of reaching the
life boats for release.

Sept. 29 Vancouver:

I skipped the morning tour of the city. I wanted to sleep-in. Karen
and I agreed to meet 12:30 by the Lido Pool. I didn't chill in our
cabin, but got 2 hours nap time at the Lido after a light breakfast.

When Karen returned we had lunch by the pool grill. Hot Dogs,
Hamburgers, Cheese Burgers and make your own Tacos were on the grill
menu. Then we went into the Lido Buffet to pick up some beverages, fresh
fruit and desert.

Karen has been to Vancouver several times. So after that sumptuous
lunch, she took me on a walking tour of the town. The tour wound up in
Gas Town which is very close to Canada Place and our ship. "You must
see the steam clock", my sister said to me. Whatever my preconceived
notions may have been, the steam clock was a treat indeed. It looks
like any grandfather clock except there's steam venting out of the top.
On the hour it chimes Westminster chimes, only it's not chimes but steam
whistles. It sounds endearingly goofy, kind of like a circus calliope.
I was really in heaven in Gas Town.

There are all kinds of buildings and alley ways that caught my
photographer's eye. I like to abstract images from all sorts of things,
cracks in sidewalks, archetectual elements of buildings and shadows. It
was really nice of Karen to give me an individualized tour after having
just been on a tour herself.

When we got back to the Amsterdam, we changed into swimwear and made a
b-line for the Lido Pool. The whirlpool felt really good on our tired
feet. At 5:00 pm the ship began to pull-out. We went a ways up the
harbor and then the ship came to a full stop. I wondered was there
trouble? Then we experienced something that doesn't frequently happen
on a cruise ship full of passengers.

The Captain came on the intercom and announce that the ship would be
"resetting the magnetic compass". For the next hour or so we'd be
rotating in circles. There was no cause for alarm. Then we got a
demonstration of just how manoverable ms Amsterdam is. Using the ship's
thrusters only we made 360 degree rotations on the central axis of the
ship! As someone who has piloted much smaller pleasure craft, I took
some sites. The central axis of the ship did not move one nautical inch
from it's original location while rotating. Now, that's what I call
manoverable.

Dinner was the unavoidable Dutch Night with those goofy hats. I feel
sorry for the women, their hats look really silly. This is the one
night that I'm not crazy about HAL dinner choices. It's ether something
Dutch or something Indonesian. I ordered something with an
unpronounceable name that was some kind of seafood. That's exactly what
I got. I had no idea what I was eating and was thankful for the spicy
treatment. Thank God for Dutch Chocolate deserts! Those were excellent.

Sept. 30 Seattle, WA

This is where my sister and I would split up. Her group would be touring
HAL hq and catching later flights back to Minneapolis St. Paul. I had
an earlier flight arriving in Newark, NJ at 11:10 pm EDT after a brief
lay over in Detroit.

My HAL package included a voucher for transport back to SEATAC via
Grayline of Seattle. This time it didn't take forever to get to the
airport. Transport was quick and courteous. The driver worked really
hard loading and unloading everyone's luggage. Only a few people tipped
him. I was one of them. I didn't see any "no tipping" signs, and
figured he more than earned a tip.

My flight via Northwest was uneventful except for the usual overbooking
games that NWA plays. I would have taken a bump in Seattle but they
couldn't provide me a connection in Detroit to Newark. I didn't want to
get back to my car at Newark Liberty Airport from New York or
Philadelphia airports.

Tipping on Amsterdam:

I figured out how much I'd tip the various staff for a four day cruise
and it came out exactly to $10.00 a day. I left the auto-tipping in
place. As long as the ships servers, housekeepers et al get their fare
share, I don't need to hand them an envelope and hear them say "Thank
You". Since the initiation of the auto-tip on HAL ships I haven't
noticed any drop in service. If anything our Steward and Dining Room
wait staff seemed even more cheerful and eager to serve.


--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

"Brian K" wrote in message
On 10/09/2004 4:35 PM Brian K plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger
and
said:

Arrival In Seattle, WA Sept 25:

Who: My sister Karen, and myself.

I really enjoyed your trip report... even saved it for future reference.
Thank you for taking the time to share the details.

Cheryl

"Brian K" wrote in message
On 10/09/2004 4:35 PM Brian K plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger
and
said:

Arrival In Seattle, WA Sept 25:

Who: My sister Karen, and myself.

I really enjoyed your trip report... even saved it for future reference.
Thank you for taking the time to share the details.

Cheryl

Excellent trip report. Thanks
Sean

Excellent trip report. Thanks
Sean