Come along with Judy and Pete on the Zuiderdam’s Canada & New England Cruise

Day 0, Quebec City, Quebec

There isn’t much that is more fun than combining two of our favorite activities – cruising and knitting. We also enjoy Canada and New England, especially this time of year when the trees have their fall colors on full display.

When we spotted this itinerary a while back it looked perfect, especially with the repositioning aspect as the Zuiderdam is leaving its summer home in the north east and heading down to Fort Lauderdale to start the Caribbean season and Panama Canal cruises.

This cruise starts in Quebec City and arrives in Fort Lauderdale 12 days later. Check out the blog at http://www.theinsidecabin.com for the complete schedule and more photos

The best flight we could get to Quebec on Delta involved a connection thru JFK complete with a 6 hour layover. With all the travel issues elsewhere in the country as a result of Hurricane Matthew, we felt somewhat lucky that we had beautiful flying weather and no delays. We fly enough with Delta and are members of the Sky Club and we enjoyed our layover in the wonderful Sky Club in JFK’s Terminal 4. This was our first time in this Club and it is very nice. Delta has really upgraded the food offerings in most of their clubs and this one in particular. Time flew by as we enjoyed the Club’s amenities and at 8pm it was time to head down to the gate to catch our flight up north.

Everything was on time and we were soon climbing out over NYC on our way to Quebec City. We were one of the last flights to land at YQB but the immigration folks still had all the immigration positions staffed so clearing into Canada didn’t take very long. After we gathered our bags we cleared customs quickly and found plenty of taxis ready to take us to our nearby hotel. Taxi fares from the airport are fixed rate by zone. We were going to the nearby Grand Times Hotel so the fare was $15 CD. If you were going further into the city the fare is $34.25 CD.

The Grand Times Hotel was a good choice for our one night stay. The rooms were clean, quiet and had comfortable beds. Breakfast was included and was very basic – milk and cereal, a little fruit, coffee and bread. Fortunately there was an A&W restaurant right across the parking lot and we were able to get something a little more substantial and brought it back to the room.

After we checked out we took a taxi to the cruise terminal. Our driver took us along the Saint Laurent Seaway which was a beautiful blue and was a wonderful contrast to the colorful trees along the other side of the road. This is a holiday weekend in Canada (Thanksgiving – October 10th) and many people had today off so the bike paths and parks along the way were crowded with everyone enjoying a wonderful fall day.

We arrived at the cruise terminal around noon and our taxi was able to drop us off immediately next to the porters who quickly loaded our bags into waiting containers for transfer to the ship.

Once inside the terminal we filled out the health questionnaire and proceeded to our first line on the ground floor– which was actually a line to avoid everyone from bunching up on the escalator before we got into a second line on the upper floor leading to the security screening checkpoint. After about 30 minutes we were thru security and on our way to the counters where we would check into the ship. We were able to use the 4 Star Mariner line which probably saved us another 15 minutes and we were soon on our way to the ship after a few minutes checking in and having our cruise card photograph taken.

Our cabin is on deck four, all the way aft with a verandah overlooking the stern. We have never been in one of these aft facing cabins and when we saw that one was available we decided to book it and give it a try.

The muster drill was at 4:15 on the promenade deck and they used hand held scanners to record attendance which was a first for us on Holland America. This did avoid much of the shouting out of cabin numbers that we have experienced before. Unlike other lines, you leave your life vest in your cabin instead of bringing it to the muster drill.

There are about 45 people in the knitting group and we had our Welcome Aboard Meet & Greet and Cocktail party in the Crow’s Nest from 4:30 to 5:30 pm. We had a wonderful time meeting our fellow cruisers and after some announcements about coming activities we were on our way to the dining room. Our group is assigned to a block of tables in the upper dining room, all the way aft with wonderful views out the rear windows.

Service was wonderful, as usual on Holland America, and we enjoyed the familiar layout of the menu after our recent voyage on the QM2. Judy had the Pork Rib Roast and I enjoyed the Shrimp, Andouille and Grits. Everything was served piping hot and was quite tasty. We shared a chocolate cake for desert and enjoyed meeting our traveling companions which is always the highlight of any meal.

There was a single show at 9:30 tonight in the Vista Lounge which was a wonderful introduction to the various entertainers we will be able to enjoy over the next 12 days. In addition to the Zuiderdam singers and dancers we were able to experience performances from Adagio, Michael from the Piano Bar and the Zuiderdam orchestra. Our cruise director, Linda Minninkin, introduced the rest of her team and the first night’s entertainment came to a close.

Here is a picture of Mike from the Piano Bar

Afterwards we walked thru the casino and discovered that they have a computerized Texas Hold’em table. I will miss having a live dealer, but I will enter the first tournament on the first sea day and see how it goes.

Northern lights, the disco DJ area was empty as usual, but the BB King Blues Club in the Queens Lounge was hopping and we enjoyed a few songs before we headed back to our cabin.

We will be in Saguenay tomorrow where the forecast calls for rain but maybe we will get lucky and have a dry day.

Menus and On Location guides on the blog HERE

We were just on the September 7th sailing. You will have a great time. If you are stopping in Sydney, be sure to rent a car.

Say hello to Anthony in the casino.

Robert

My sister and cousin (and their two husbands) are on board, along with another couple related to my sister's husband. So I'm going to enjoy your day-by-day along with their Facebook posts.

Hope you and they enjoy Zuiderdam as much as we did on last April's Canal Cruise.

Hope you do have nice weather. Thanks for posting - looking forward to more!

Looking forward to your daily reports.

I'll be checking your review. This would be a terrific cruise. Enjoy your cruise!

Hope you see lot's of whales and other wild life today. You will be in prime area. Tadoussac is known for whale watching. Also if the cruise ship is going up the fiord the scenery is amazing. Have been in the area both by cruise ship and have driven there by car as well to spend a week in the area doing sightseeing. Always love your blog. How many sea day's total will you have for 2016? Must be quite a bit.

Following along, since this itinerary is one on "the list" ;) Enjoy!

Looking forward to reading your reports as we are taking this cruise next year on the Zuiderdam and really enjoyed your reporting from your world cruise. Also, you wife does such beautiful knitting. :)

Have fun

Gloria

I've always wanted to try this itinerary, so thanks for posting!

Looking forward to another one of your great blogs. Hope the weather cooperates!

Yeah! You are in my "home and native land" being that I grew up in Quebec (the province, not the city). I am doubly anxious to read your blog as we booked this cruise from Boston to Montreal next summer.

Bon Voyage!

following your blog! would love to do this cruise one of these days...thanks for all the great info ahead of time:D

We were supposed to be on this cruise but had to cancel so we could do our Asia cruise in Feb. Hoping to book this for next year. Thanks so much for doing the blog.

Helen

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Yippee, another cruise blog to follow! It makes the waiting for ours that much easier.

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

The Zuiderdam sailed about 150 miles from Quebec City down the Saint Lawrence Seaway until we reached the Saguenay River where we turned left for another 75 miles until we arrived at La Baie a little before 8 am. Although the port call is advertised on the itinerary as Saguenay, the actual town where we moored is called La Baie which is about 10 miles from the actual town of Saguenay.

Saguenay is also the name of the region. They have their own flag, which is proudly displayed alongside the Quebec provincial flag and the Canadian national flag. Saguenay was formed in 2002 by combining the cities of Chicoutimi, Jonquiere, La Baie and Laterriere.

Today we went on the private Craft Cruise tour to a nearby Alpaca Farm and then to an Angora goat farm. We met our group at 8:15 am in the Ocean Bar. There was a chance of rain in the forecast, but when we left the ship the skies were clear. There were some clouds on the horizon which would bring the rain later in the day.

Saguenay is known as one of the friendliest cruise ports and they take great pride in maintaining that distinction. As soon as we left the ship we were greeted by several groups of locals, in period costume, handing out various small souvenirs. One of the big highlights of our arrival was getting a slice of the complimentary blueberry pie served up by some locals along with a small glass of blueberry juice.

After sampling these wonderful treats, our group boarded our bus and headed out toward out first stop: The Alpaca Bersi Farm.

On the way to the farm, we drove through downtown Saguenay where we came across a large scoreboard size flat screen with a live “webcam” view of the Zuiderdam so everyone downtown could see what was happening down at the wharf at La Baie. Pretty amazing, but no one was sitting in front of the screen watching.

The Alpaca Bersi Farm is run by a husband and wife team. They have over 25 Alpacas and a small shop where yarn from the resident Apacas is for sale. The skeins of yarn are named after the Alpaca that provided the fleece that was ultimately spun into the incredibly yarn. We all had a wonderful time visiting the alpacas who were all very friendly and allowed everyone a chance to interact up close if desired.

Next up was the Angora Goat farm, Le Chevrier du Nord, which was about a 45 minute drive from the Alpaca Berri Farm. The farm has been in the family since 1960 and produces wonderful yarns on site using the fleece from the Angora goats and manufactured into yarn using their own mini-mill located on the premises.

Many of our group bought some of the luxurious yarn before we headed back to the ship. As we arrived at the cruise terminal around 12:30 the rain started and showed no sign of letting up. We shopped for souvenirs and postcards in the terminal and then decided to head back to the ship well before the 4:30 All Aboard.

The terminal has free Wi-Fi, but as usual with free Wi-Fi, it was OK for email and not much beyond that. National Car Rental had a booth in the terminal with cars available – so this would be a nice option if you wanted to explore the area on your own.

Back on the Zuiderdam we stopped by the Lido deck for lunch. We had some wonderful Fish and Chips and I had to try the Beef Stroganoff. Everything was fantastic. I noticed that the beverage machines were exactly the same as the machines we found on our recent QM2 voyage. I suspect that the Carnival Corp is working to standardize certain items across their lines. The machine offered Lemonade and Iced Tea.

On the way back to our cabin, I took a detour by the Dive Inn and grabbed a crisp beef taco. This is always a nice choice for something quick.

We spent the afternoon relaxing in our cabin. We haven’t had a chance to use our extra-large veranda due to the poor weather, but we are looking forward to spending some time out there was we get further south.

Dinner was a joy as always. For the starter I had the Fairbanks Seafood Platter and the Andouille and Swiss Chard. Both were Excellent. For the main course Judy and I both had the Prime Rib which was very good. Prime Rib can be tricky to produce in the mass quantities, but Holland America always manages to pull it off and tonight wasn’t any different. One of the features we like about Craft Cruises is that we are able to change tables every night and sit with different people, but still part of our larger group. It is a nice compromise between fixed seating and totally open seating – especially when everyone in the group shares so many common interests.

After dinner Judy spent some time with the knitting group up in the Lido while I worked on the blog posts. Even though we are eating at first seating, we still enjoy going to the 10 PM show. Comedian Glenn Hirsch was on the main stage tonight and he put on a wonderfully hilarious show. He perfectly blended his New York wit with some cruise ship observations and contrasted California living vs. living in the Big Apple. A wonderful evening.

Tomorrow is our first sea day and we are looking forward to taking it easy.

More pictures on the blog at http://www.theinsidecabin.com

You're a travelholic now!!

Have a great trip.

We will do New England but not this year...still enjoying being home after World. Apparently no more Arts and Crafts or Watercolors except on Grand World! Happy traveling!

P.S. SewEasy is Judi

Enjoying your live report. Following.

Day 2, Sailing the St Lawrence seaway to Charlottetown, PEI, CA

Today was our first of three sea days as we continued sailing toward Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Canada.

Judy was off to her first knitting class with the Craft Cruise instructor Ann Budd who would be teaching “Shadow Knitting”. The classes are held in the Hudson Room on Deck 3 forward.

The Cruise Critic Meet & Greet from the Roll Call was at 10 am in the Crow’s Nest. About 40 people showed up of the 80 passengers who RSVP’d. My experience with Meet & Greet attendance is that you will get between 50% and 75% of those who RSVP. Future roll call planners should probably reduce the expected attendance accordingly to save the ship from bringing up too much food.

Annette, the event manager, was on hand to ensure our group got off to a good start and that all of our arrangements were in order. The ship did a wonderful job of setting aside space in the Crow’s Nest and providing Coffee, Tea, Water and pastries. A big “thank you” to Don, aka “Capt and Teach” and Cathy and Rick aka “Herkimer18” for setting everything up and doing the name tags.

There were two Texas Hold’em tournaments scheduled today, the first at 10:30 and the second at 1PM. Both were $60 buy ins. As I mentioned earlier, they use the “Poker Pro” automatic poker table. I have never used one before so I was a little apprehensive about how it would affect the game.

Once you log onto the system, the game recognizes your name and lists the amount of chips available for betting next to your name, along with the stakes of everyone else in the game. One benefit I noticed right away was it very easy to track how much money each player had left, along with their names. Remembering your fellow players names was much easier, although you still had to remember if someone listed as Robert, actually went by Bob etc.

The games starts by dealing one card to each player to select the initial DEALER position and then the first hand is dealt. Since there isn’t a live dealer, the game action is much faster and there aren’t any misdeals or mistakes. Another benefit is that they don’t raise the blinds as quickly or as much as they do with the live game. The blinds in the live game will reach $3200 after about 45 minutes. In the live game, the casino wants to wrap up the game in less than an hour so they can maintain their dealer rotation, which may be good for the casino employees, but does detract from the game. With the computer game, the casino could care less as to how long the game lasts, which does make for a better game as they are no longer pressurized to wrap up the game in less than an hour. All in all, the Poker Pro table is fine once you get used to it.

My first game went very well and I ending up tying for first place after the other finalist and I keep going back and forth for 10 minutes.

After the Texas Hold’em tournament I couldn’t resist playing in the Blackjack Tournament. Today was a qualifying round and I managed to finish in third place and have a decent chance to make it into the finals on Oct 17th. Stay tuned.

Judy had an acupuncture appointment after lunch and in the afternoon, ahe attended another knitting class on “Intarsia in the Round” which lasted until 4:30 pm.

Tonight was our first Gala Night with most of the men wearing sport jackets and ties, and a few people wearing the bare minimum – colored shirt and long pants. I was one of probably 5 people wearing a tuxedos at early dinner seating. They are so rare that you stand out in a nice way and everyone is very impressed by men in tuxedos. I was on the QM2 a few weeks back and their informal dress code is more formal than HALs. Nevertheless, everyone on the Zuiderdam did dress up from their normal attire and the night was still fun. I am happy to know that Cunard is probably the final cruise line that still offers a traditional formal night and taking a Crossing on the QM2 is something every cruiser should experience at least once.

After dinner we found a photo spot across from the Front Desk to have our picture taken. We were surprised to find people lining up to have their photo taken with the Captain, Jeroen van Donselaar, and the Hotel Director, Michael Hiereth. We joined the line and apparently we were the last people who were interested in getting a photo which gave us some time to chat with the Captain and Michael. We were pleasantly surprised when they invited us to the Pinnacle Bar for a cocktail and some more conversation. The next 15 minutes was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about their interesting backgrounds, Holland America and life at sea. After we finished our drinks they headed off to other duties and we were left with a nice photo and some wonderful memories and insight.

The Pinnacle Bar is right across from the Pinnacle Grill which is being managed by Rick who the assistant Dining Room Manager on the Amsterdam toward the end of the World Cruise when he took over for Presti in preparation for the Panama Canal Cruise and subsequent Alaska Season. We were able to catch up for a bit with Rick and had another opportunity for a picture.

We still prefer the late show and that gave us time to stop by the Craft Cruise open knitting session held in the Lido.

On our way to the show, we ran into Willy, who was the Beverage Manager on the 2016 world cruise. It is always nice to see familiar faces and Willy did a wonderful job on the Amsterdam.

The Holland America Singers were on the main stage tonight performing a wide variety of Broadway hits. They were very good and we enjoyed the show a lot as we are big fans of Broadway musicals. They sang some tunes from West Side Story, Hairspray and Cats. We would have worked in some songs from Phantom and Les Miserables but the show was outstanding regardless and the entire cast sang beautifully.

We are scheduled to be in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, tomorrow around 8 AM. The forecast is cold temperatures, high winds and rain. Maybe the forecast will be wrong.

more on the blog at http://www.theinsidecabin.com

I see that Craft Cruises has a knitting group on the Valentine's day 2017 Westerdam to Hawaii, from your home town. Any chance you two are sailing on that one?

Great to have some special time with ship's personnel. Enjoy!

I see that Craft Cruises has a knitting group on the Valentine's day 2017 Westerdam to Hawaii, from your home town. Any chance you two are sailing on that one?

 

Great to have some special time with ship's personnel. Enjoy!

We are not currently scheduled to go on this cruise. We sailed this route a few years back and had a wonderful time

We woke up at 7 am to torrential rain, high winds (50 knots plus) and heavy seas. It certainly didn’t look like we would be in port in less than 1 hour and sure enough – the Captain came on the public address system at 7:30 and made what was pretty apparent by looking out the windows official – Charlottetown was cancelled and we would proceed directly to our next port of Sydney and hope that the weather would improve in time to permit a safe arrival.

Charlottetown is home to the site behind the character in the novel Anne of Green Gables and is quite popular with many tourists and surprising to us, Japanese tourists. We learned on our last visit here a couple of years back that the Anne of Green Gables books are quite popular in Japan and are required reading in many of the Japanese schools.

Although disappointed that we would miss our scheduled Craft Cruise tour to the Belfast Mini Mill, it did feel a little like when they would declare a snow day and cancel schools back when I was in grade school. I have to admit it was nice to crawl back in bed and get a little more sleep.

While many passengers were catching up on sleep and staring out the windows at the terrible weather, the ships staff was busily putting together a new schedule of onboard activities to fill in the gaps of the normally light in port on board activities. Within an hour, new programs were posted in all of the elevator lobbies that filled up the day with the activities that are typical for a scheduled sea day.

After a bit I wandered around the ship and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. There weren’t any long lines at the front desk nor did I pick up on anyone claiming their cruise was “ruined” because we missed Charlottetown. The fact that the weather was absolutely horrible around the ship made it obvious that even had we managed to get into port, the day ashore would have been a miserable experience regardless.

I took a little time to check out the Lido Breakfast. Very nice setup as usual. I took a few pics that you can see on the blog. We still get room service breakfast every day and have been using the standard menu. No sign of the new and “improved” menu they are experimenting with on other ships. Hopefully they will leave this area alone. If all cruise lines adopt all the same policies then I guess we will all select cruises based only on price. I like the enhanced room service menu as compared to other lines in addition to the best disembarkation process on the high seas. (You can get room service on the final day and stay in your cabin till you get off) If HAL “enhances” these two areas, then the difference between Princess and HAL and others will continue to shrink. The day may come where a cruise cabin is a commodity and everything is ala carte like at a land based hotel.

The casino on the Zuiderdam is much larger than the one on the Amsterdam. They have a crap table that doesn’t see a lot of action in addition to plenty of slots. There is one Black Jack Table with a $10 minimum which pays 3 to 2 on blackjack. The other Black Jack table has a $6 minimum but only pays 6-5 on blackjack. Why $6 – not $5? They REALLY want you to place a $1 side bet on the “Lucky Ladies” (The $1 Lucky Lady side bet has a 25% house edge for most variations – ouch!). The house edge on a 6-5 blackjack table is significantly higher than on a 3-2 table which translates to almost 3 times the loss rate on a per hour basis. Don’t play the 6-5 tables even if they are single deck – not a good deal. If you can play the basic strategy perfectly you will lose less on a $10 table over 80 hands than you will on the $6 table over 80 hands. There are plenty of books and websites that describe the Blackjack “Basic Strategy” – a little research before you leave will save you some money in the casino.

I got a Bloody Mary while playing Texas Hold’em and discovered that the red thing in one of the olives that I thought was a pimento turned out to be a red hot chili pepper. Pretty hot.

I wasn’t in the money on either of the 2 Hold’em games today – so far I have been in the money in 1 game out of 4. We have 7 hard core Hold’em players. Everyone is friendly and the games are fun and social.

After the Hold’em game I had some good luck on the Video Poker machine and won $50 when I hit 4 of a kind on one spin.

With the unscheduled day at sea, Judy was able to get an appointment for a massage and facial in the Spa. The massage was so relaxing and the facial was a treat. She was very refreshed when she came back to the cabin.

Since it was Canadian Thanksgiving today they served some Turkey and stuffing which was very good. I also tried the Yankee Pot Roast which was also excellent. While perusing the wine list, I spotted a new entry: Orlando Ashford’s “Presidents Blend” wine ($49) and I couldn’t resist ordering a bottle. Pretty good, but I am not much of a wine connoisseur so judge for yourself. Judy had the molasses lamb chops which she enjoyed very much. For desert we shared a delicious slice of Pumpkin Pie.

While we were enjoying dinner, the Captain broke in over the ships public address system to announce that he made the decision to cancel our scheduled visit to Sydney tomorrow because of continuing high winds and heavy seas. He went on to warn us that we could expect extremely high winds tonight and would experience a noticeable list once we rounded the tip of Cape Breton Island’s north coast and turned to the south which would shift the relative wind from our bow to our beam until we could settle on a more southwesterly course.

Everyone took the news in stride as it was evident by looking outside that venturing out in this horrible weather while inport was nothing we wanted to experience.

After dinner, I took a picture of channel 40 on our TV which gives an update of our position and current weather. Please note that it says the wind was 88 miles per hour! The ship handled itself fairly well and was moving around pretty good at times. Our cabin, all the way aft, experienced more of a sideways shimmy rather than the noticeable pitching we experience while in a more forward cabin.

Pianist Hyperion Knight, from New York City, was the headliner in the Vista Lounge and he was fabulous. During the first few moments of his show he explained the origin of his unique first name, Hyperion, by remarking that he was raised in Berkley California – nuff said. Hyperion is the name of a Greek God, one of the 12 Titan Children of Gaia.

During his show he played a series of Rhapsodies ranging from Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” to the “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. While playing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody he reached inside the open piano with his right hand to pluck some of the strings individually using a guitar pick while playing the keys with his left hand which produced an amazing effect. Throughout his show, he discussed with the audience the background and some insight into the origins and inspirations of the various songs he would be performing.

Once we were back in our cabin, we noticed the ship was listing and glasses would slide across the table. Before heading to bed, we put everything on the floor that could possibly slide off the desks or table.

We are looking forward to another sea day tomorrow and some better weather in the afternoon.

More on the blog

Great blog, and thank you for posting it! We saw you guys (well, not personally, but your ship) in Quebec City- you guys shoving off for your adventure and ours winding down to an end.

Sorry about the weather too- It looked like it was a bumpy ride for sure when looking at the winds and sea reports...

Oh no, so sorry about skipping Sydney, too! My sister and cousin were disappointed to miss their Anne of Green Gables tour on PEI.

You have a good attitude since of course the Captain does not decide to divert without good reason. Hope the weather improves soon. Your craft tours sound so enjoyable.

Sorry to hear about your missed ports. Sydney has no tugs, and in windy/rough weather, turning around can be tricky with no help standing by.

I guess it just means more time to knit and "donate" at the casino! ;)