The weather was once again gray and overcast with large swells and plenty of white caps in the ocean. After five days at sea people are anxious to arrive in a port and see land.

The morning show featured the cast of four women who perform as the group called VOCE. They are only a small number of vocalists who perform as the group called VOCE. The entire group consists of about 15 women who perform on ships as well as at community and corporate events around the world. Most of the women come from musical backgrounds like television shows, Broadway/West End shows and commercials and perform with the VOCE group when they are in between gigs. What a wonderful opportunity for these women to all work together.

Ian gave a talk on things to see and do in our port of call Dutch Harbor, Alaska. He spoke extensively about the variety of fishing vessels in the area due to the enormous demand for seafood in the world. The oceans around Alaska are fine fishing grounds for many types of fish and crab including the famous wild salmon.

Spencer in Americas Test Kitchen showed us how to prepare both baked salmon and poached salmon. He made it look so easy to prepare and promised that if we followed the recipe we would have the most delicious and moist salmon.

We have been eating all three of our meals in the dining room as a way of controlling our portions of food. The portions are very reasonable and we have been attempting to make reasonable choices about what to eat so that when we arrive home can still fit into our clothes.

The afternoon included a lecture on the Geo Politics of the Pacific by Michael Hick. He spoke about the games that countries around the world have played over history to control parts of the world or to protect shipping routes.

Mark joined the 5:00 GLBTQ & Friends Meet Up with Kent and several others.  Not too many have joined the hour meeting yet.  We hope others will as time goes by.

The evening entertainment was a young Australian comedian/magician by the name of Bodane Hatten. His act was not particularly new but he was fun and entertaining.

The seas continue to be choppy and at times you need to catch yourself from falling while attempting to walk around the ship. We continued to find fellow travelers with whom we have traveled previously on other extended trips like the 2013 World Cruise or the 2016 Far East Voyage.

The morning show hosted by Jorge, our cruise director, included an interview with Polish performer Kuba who performed on the main stage a couple of nights ago. After the morning show we attended a talk by Ian about the Bush Pilots of Alaska. These small planes are able to take off and land on uneven terrain or even the water in all types of weather making them very versatile in transporting people and supplies to all parts of Alaska.

Guest chef Denise Vivaldo gave a cooking demonstration creating a wilted spinach and arugula salad with an egg on top and a shrimp and corn salsa dish. Both of these dishes looked easy to prepare and the corn salsa was amazingly colorful with red peppers, corn and cheese.

The afternoon included a lecture by Michael Hick about the Pacific Ocean and the many countries and explorers that crisscrossed the Pacific during the late 1800’s. Mark spent a fair amount of time working on jigsaw puzzles in the library listening to lonely elderly women.

After dinner in the dining room we enjoyed the Amsterdam singers and dancers in a performance titled 1000 Steps. The cast of four singers and six dancers did an incredible job as the ship rocked and rolled with the motion of the ocean.

This third day at sea the fog had cleared and we had patchy spots of sunshine throughout the day. The seas were still slightly rough with the ship rolling over the swells and white caps causing you to have to watch your step as you move about the ship.

Mark attended the morning watercolor class painting a small Alaskan landscape scene while Kent read the morning newspaper in the library. Next up was a brief talk by Ian about Alaska’s Iditarod race where we learned that the race was started as a medical necessity to transport medical vaccines for diphtheria to inaccessible areas. Today the race is watched around the world.

The afternoon included a lecture by Michael Hick on Captain Cook and the near mutiny at Dutch Harbor. Cook very accurately mapped all of the Alaskan territory in the late 1800’s while at the same time on a secret mission to find another shorter trade route to Europe.

At 4:30 we attended the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception where the captain introduced the ship’s officers in charge of the different departments onboard the ship. Free drinks and appetizers were plentiful.

The evening was a gala celebration with a black and gold theme. The dining room chairs were covered in gold and black and the dining room staff all wore captains’ hats. The popular surf and turf or steak and lobster were served along with escargot and white chocolate soufflés.

The entertainment for the night was an all woman’s group called Voce comprised of four female vocalists from Europe and Australia. They sang songs from opera to pop and everything in between.

When we returned to our cabin we found yet another small gift had been left for us. This night we received a lanyard with a leather case to carry your ship’s cabin card.

On this second sea day the weather was slightly improved with less fog and random spots of sunshine.

The morning included a lector by Ian, our port lecturer, who gave more detailed information on things to see in the upcoming ports of call in Japan and China. This allowed us to confirm our selections of shore excursions and to book them with the office.

Mark attended the America’s Test Kitchen where guest chef Denise Vivaldo was cooking up a steak and quinoa dish as well as a carrot and ginger soup. Denise has assisted many celebrities with the writing of cook books, worked on television cooking shows, and run a Los Angeles catering kitchen for celebrity events, etc.

In the afternoon we attended a lecture with Michael Hick about Alaska’s Gold Rush in the late 1800’s. He also discussed how Alaska was once called a territory, a region and then finally a state.

For dinner we met up with a woman traveling with the Cruise Specialists group by the name of Clydie.

The night’s entertainment was a multi-instrumentalist and vibraphone virtuoso by the of Kuba. Kuba is from Poland although he currently lives in Nashville. He had an interesting and entertaining show.

Back at our cabin we found another gift. The gift on this evening was a small Moleskin travel journal perfect for making notes in or taking ashore.

It was the first of five days at sea until we reach the port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands chain. By early morning the ship’s fog horn began sounding, alerting us that the weather outside was not especially bright but instead a heavy fog. The fog, clouds and light rain persisted throughout the entire day.

Mark attended the first day of watercolor class although it was just a short introduction with no painting involved. There was a morning show hosted by Jorge the cruise director on each of the sea days. At the show Jorge interviews members of the crew aboard the ship. On this day the guest was a gentleman from England by the name of Ian that is the onboard port expert. Ian lectures about each port that we will be stopping at to give guest ideas about things that they may want to see, things to shop for, as well as local cuisine and places to eat.

We attended America’s Test Kitchen cooking show hosted by a young man by the name of Spencer. Spencer showed us how to prepare garlic shrimp, a Spanish Tortilla which is a potato, onion and egg dish similar to a frittata and cooked in a skillet. We also learned how to make Sangria so that we are all set for a Spanish Tapas party when we return home. We have not watched the cooking show on television but the test kitchen folks spend extensive time researching and perfecting the perfect dishes. In this case they were very specific about the limited amount of olive oil, the best potatoes to use and how to crush the garlic.

We did attend the first of Ian’s lectures where he did a quick introduction of the ports that we would be visiting up to Sydney, Australia. Ian shared a lot of facts and information about the upcoming ports and will elaborate on each of them further in the coming days and weeks.

The afternoon was filled with a lecturer speaking on the history of Alaska and how it was that the United States was able to purchase the vast land from Russia in 1867 for the sum of $7,200,000:  not particularly a lot of money by today’s standards but a sizeable amount at the time. We will be visiting the small town of Dutch Harbor in the coming days which still today has a large Russian Orthodox Church and most of the residents are members of the church.

We had all of our meals in the dining room hoping to limit our food intake rather than going to the buffet upstairs in the Lido where the food is limitless. We had reasonable sized meals but still too many desserts and certainly more food than we would eat at home.

The evening’s entertainment was a comedian by the name of Bud Anderson. He was funny and told some interesting stories about his family and life.

When we arrived back in our cabin after the show we found two messenger bags on our bed to be used while going ashore on our trip. On Grand Voyages like the one we are on; the ship typically leaves small gifts like these in your cabin along the trip.

L.A. Sail Away Party

Kent at the Sail Away Party

This morning we boarded a bus at 10:00am for a thirty-minute ride from the Westin hotel at LAX to the port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, where we boarded Holland America’s Amsterdam. This would be our home for the next 82 nights as we visit ports of call in Asia and across the Pacific.

By 11:30am we had boarded the ship and began settling in to our cabin. Several weeks prior, we had received a notice from Holland America stating that we could upgrade our standard outside cabin for a veranda cabin with a balcony for a fee. Having never traveled in a cabin with a balcony we decided to upgrade our cabin to a higher floor with a balcony. The cabin is very pleasant with a large sofa and coffee table, a desk with nine dresser drawers for storage and a decent sized balcony with two chairs, two ottomans and a small side table. Waiting for us in our cabin were several gifts from our travel agent including a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne and a $50 shipboard credit. The ship was in dry dock earlier this year and so most of the carpeting, drapes and upholstery had been recently replaced or refreshed. The entire ship looked fresh, clean and inviting.

Along our travels of checking in and having lunch we ran into several friends from previous cruises who were sailing on the ship. We saw Bryan, Jim and Gayle, Elaine, Heidi and Andres and some whose names we didn’t know, but recognized their faces. Always fun to catch up with old friends and get reacquainted.

From 1:30pm to 2:30pm most of the ship’s guests enjoyed complimentary welcome aboard drinks and snacks poolside. After the mandatory lifeboat drill we attended the sail away party poolside. At the sail-away party they served up unlimited drinks and endless passed trays of appetizers like lamb chops, samosa’s, empanada’s and hummus. A live band performed cover songs from years gone by.

We enjoyed a nice dinner in the dining room with a Dee and Ken from Alabama. After dinner there was a variety show on the main stage where they gave us a sampling of the entertainment available onboard like the pianist from the piano bar and the trio that plays dance music in the Ocean Bar. The cast of singers and dancers performed as did the Amsterdam band. Jorge from San Antonio, Texas, is our cruise director for the voyage. The cruise director mentioned that the ship has onboard about 870 guests from 19 countries which we found of interest.

After weeks of planning, we began our next adventure this morning by renting a car in San Diego bound for the Westin Los Angeles International Airport Hotel. There we met up with a group of folks who had booked their Holland America Grand Asia and the Pacific Cruise with a travel company called Cruise Specialists based out of Seattle. Cruise Specialists had arranged for us to join our fellow travelers for a bon voyage cocktail party and dinner at the hotel.

Cruise Specialists had about six representatives from the company to make sure we had a good time and that we all got onboard the ship with no issues.
There were about sixty fellow travelers staying at the Westin for the night who participated in the cocktail party and dinner event. At the cocktail party we exchanged pleasantries with other travelers while enjoying an open bar and a spread of grilled vegetables, cheeses and assorted thinly sliced meats like salami and prosciutto. For dinner we were served a wonderful mixed greens salad topped with fresh berries and walnuts. The main course was an enormous chicken breast breaded and baked accompanied by broccolini, carrots and a mushroom risotto. An apple strudel with raisins and whipped cream completed the meal. After dinner we went straight to bed to prepare for our voyage.