We booked this cruise ten days before departure as a spur of the moment decision. I retired in February and we did back to back cruises on the Dawn Princess around New Zealand and then around Australia. We started cruising in 2003 with a two day coastal cruise on the Dawn Princess from Vancouver to San Francisco and absolutely loved it. By the time we decided to do an Alaskan cruise, the Princess cruises out of both Seattle and Vancouver, BC were completely sold out.
Fortunately, our TA was able to book a guaranteed verandah stateroom on the Westerdam. Five days before sail away, our TA called and told us Holland American would upgrade us to a Superior Verandah Suite for a little more than the per day cost of the original fare. So amazingly, we ended up with a SY category Verandah Suite on the port side of deck 6.
Our son drove us down to the Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 in Elliot Bay. We arrived at the terminal at noon which was the rush hour peak boarding time. The Pier 91 Cruise Terminal while plain and very industrial looking, has a very efficient layout. The time from stepping out of our son's car to stepping into our stateroom was only 45 minutes. Our two suitcases arrived at our stateroom 10 minutes later - well done Holland American.