cgolf1

Yup we are. That and the supper clubs we go to that imo make some of the fancier steak houses look bad and overpriced.

When we got out of the terminal, they had Taxi vans, so space was not an issue. It appeared to be a flat rate to get down by the port, but not sure if that was based on the number of people or not. If there are say 2 people and a car worked, it may be cheaper. We were in get us to the hotel mode and the number stated seemed reasonable so we went for it.

Day 2 Activities and Supper One thing I do want to comment on is the lack of detail on the daily program. They list the activities and even highlight some. Unfortunately they don't provide any background information on any of these activities. Maybe we are spoiled by other lines that do this, but it does help us to make decisions about what activities we want to do each day. The activities for the day were walking around the city and once we were back onboard we played some cards, relaxed, and caught the dance sho In Tandem on the world stage. This show surprised us in that we all enjoyed it quite a lot. We did try to go out for the Pickelball basic instructions, but it was so windy at that point that we headed in for Happy Hour, which you will notice was 50% off house brands and cocktails from 4-5 in the crows nest and ocean bar. This happened nights 2-7 and was great. For the 4 of us, 4 brandy old fashioneds came to just under 25$ total each night. We weren't going to drink more than 2 drinks each this cruise but couldn't pass this up lol. Supper for me was the shrimp cocktail and the rack of lamb, and I really enjoyed it. My wife did the crab and artichoke dip, said the crab wasn't noticeable so she loved it, the cheese ravioli which she also enjoyed. Added a couple of sail out pictures too. We went to bed relatively early because we usually are up and getting ready at roughly 6 each day. We also fell into a routine pretty early in the cruise too.

There was a hair dryer in the top drawer, but we didn't use it, so no idea how effective it was. Hopefully someone else has used it and can comment.

We found that odd as well. My wife is a very picky eater, but has been branching out as time goes on. We never saw any always available options, but perhaps if you ask they are still available. We always watch the plates delivered to nearby tables and I thought one night someone had salmon when it wasn't on the main menu.

In the future we will know now. Too bad they don't kick out an email when you note that on the reservation to order it pre cruise. We had so little time to get ready for a new line that it was like cramming for a test in college:) Too bad you couldn't just carry a gallon or half gallon on with you.

Complaint number 1 - DI Water cost. First they do a gallon, which is always too much, a half gallon for a would be better. I even used it as water to take my medicine morning and night and didn't even use 1/2 of the gallon. Then the cost, just under 6 bucks is kind of crazy, especially when this is the first time we had to use it. I get up charging drinks because that is something people choose to purchase, the DI water, we CPAP users don't have a choice. IMO that should be offered near cost with a small amount of profit added. Knowing it is around a 1$ here, they have a huge markup on it. We did note that we needed it on our initial reservation, but likely missed that there was a specific spot to purchase it pre cruise. We thought what we did would have got us the water with the charge when we got to the room. Lesson learned.

The Room Wow how did I forget about this. The room was very nice. Lots of storage, honestly way more than we can use, and the bathroom was a decent size too. The only annoying or nice thing was the lights underneath the drawers by the bed and by the bathroom that light up by motion. Nice at night for getting to the bathroom, but bad in that they lit up by my CPAP tubing so that I needed bunch it up on the nightstand which isn't ideal. The power strip in the room was a nice touch.

Day 2 Quebec City Since the weather was overcast with the threat of rain, I left the DSLR onboard and we walked around a bit and took a ride on the Funicular to see the Le Chateau Frontenac. The Chateau was just amazing looking and not sure that there are words that can really describe it. I understand why we don't make buildings like this anymore, but wow we should. That could go for most of the buildings that we have seen so far. We also walked along the Governors Promenade for a while too, which had lots of steps. This will be the last post of the night:)

Exploring the Ship, Daily Planner, and the MDR Menu from Day 1 It was really exciting to finally be on the ship and to explore some. Really like the design of the ship and surprised it has 3 sets of elevators. Deck 5 was a bit weird to navigate, but we got used to it. We rarely walked past the pinnacle grill on deck 4 during the trip. Funny thing is we thought the sports deck would be a lot of fun with the shuffle board and the pickle ball. Obviously with the cold weather and the high winds we didn't make it back out there much at all. The library area was huge which was nice and the Hudson room looked like a nice place to play cards. Night 1 we played cards in the library. We didn't watch the Origin Story about the 150 years of Holland America. For supper I did the Crab Seafood cocktail and the New York Strip. The appetizer was enjoyable and the steak had good flavor, but had a couple of tough spots. My wife did the cod slider and really enjoyed it and Spiced Roasted Chicken which she also liked. Overall an enjoyable meal.

Sail out pictures. Yes I love to take lots of pictures lol.

That building is on Saint-François-Xavier street.

Embarkation So we kind of ignored our 12:20 time slot, but it was mostly because checkout time was at 11. We walked down to the port and when we got there it didn’t take long to get checked in and get through security. They had us sit in rows in an area they have setup. Once the ship was cleared to board, the priority guests were allowed to board first and then they started calling off the rows and we were onboard. It was a fairly painless process. Once we got onboard we dropped our carry ins off in the room and grabbed our key cards. Next order of business was off to the MDR for the gluten free pre order and lunch in the buffet. Will post the daily and the MDR menu soon.

Montreal views before embarkation. I did confirm that it is a 9 minute walk from the hotel on google maps. The architecture is just amazing in the older part of Montreal! The deck over the cruise port allows you to get an up close look at the ship. This is very unique and something I have not seen before.

It was very walkable. I would guess it was around a 10 minute walk at a leisurely pace. It is through a beautiful part of the city, so you may slow up to take some pictures. Or you could pre walk it in the morning to see the sights.

The only activity I know of in the crows nest was the trivia during happy hour. I will be posting the daily sheets for each day. I know because of the port intensive cruise the CD said that they were adding some activities at night to make up for the lack of sea days. There was shuffleboard up on the sports deck, deck 9. Yes there were wooden loungers with cushions on the promenade deck. My wife thought there were quite a few. Unfortunately it was so cold and windy this cruise we weren’t out there much.

We just debarked yesterday and wanted to add that there is a roughly 3" lip to step over to keep the water in the shower area. Not sure if that is of any concern. Thankfully our cabin was well maintained and we encountered no issues. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the lip on the floor. I believe we had the older style bathroom.

Also any questions about any specifics, I will answer as best I can or perhaps someone else that was also on the cruise will have an answer.

Getting there and the Hotel Since we booked this cruise so late we were lucky to find both fairly cheap flights and really good price on a hotel close to port. The only issue with the flights down were that it left after 4PM putting us in Montreal at around 10:45. They also took us from WI to Charlette and then up to Montreal, because that makes sense;) Also that airport is insane in Montreal. It felt like we taxied forever. I don't know where we had to go, but it was the longest I have experienced from landing to the gate. We stayed at the Embassy suites on 208 Saint Antoine Quest, Montreal Quebec and it was a 50$ Canadian with a 10$ Can tip to get the 4 of us to the hotel from the airport by taxi. We got there around midnight and got settled in and attempted to sleep. The only issue with the hotel room was the light switches were difficult to figure out. We would stay at this hotel again. The breakfast was free in the small dining area and they made proper omelets for you with the bits you wanted in them. Probably the best free hotel breakfast I have ever had. Later today I will talk about Montreal and hopefully the first day on the ship:)

How did you make out with the cruise? I saw that you were sick prior. Hopefully you were able to enjoy the cruise.

So the gluten free, which outside of the main dining room was not the easiest I have had on a ship. I think because the Zaandam was such a small ship, it was harder for them in the buffet. General Buffet I would definitely ask for a chef to walk you through the buffet. The servers told me some things like the mashed potatoes had gluten and the chef corrected them. So it is important to have a chef walk you around. That said I generally found the options for lunch in the buffet to be lacking for the gluten free diet. Towards the end I would get mashed potatoes and a dessert, usually one option with two options on one or two days, and then get a burger or hot dog from the Dive in. Buffet Breakfast This was the easiest for me. I did the omelet most days or smoked salmon. I also ate the bacon and the sausage patty with no issues. Even after the experience before the cruise we didn't ask about the bacon or the sausage patty, so in your case I would definitely verify they are gluten free. The omelet bar was marked as GF and it had bacon, so that should have been fine. Buffet Lunch This was the challenge. They did have a pasta section, with gluten free available, but I didn't try that. I am not a huge pasta fan. I also don't know if they did gluten free pizza. I did try some of the salmon which was very good and one of the sushi rolls was gluten free. Some of the meats that they cut were gluten free and I would get a slice of them. Once I found the Dive in I only used the buffet a little bit for the stuff I mentioned above. I was going to get a salad one day, but we were so busy towards the end I didn't get to it. I will say that all the buffet food I ate was really good and I never went hungry. We are just spoiled by Celebrity that has labels for all the foods with the allergens listed. I can go through the buffet like my wife would. On HAL, RCCL, and Disney I have my plate finally when everyone is almost done, which makes me rush when eating. Dive In This was great. Unfortunately I waited to try the hot dogs until the last day. The one with the cheese sauce and jalapenos was great. This wasn't perfect though. The first day the bun was bread, and then for three days it was a bun. On the fourth day they were out of GF hamburger buns and I took no bun. My wife overheard a lady ask for it with GF bread, but she was told that would be an hour wait. The hot dog on the last day did still have a GF bun. For the hamburger bun, it was a typical fall apart bun, so I would eat it wrapped in the foil paper it comes in to keep it together. Unfortunately they said the nacho chips were not gluten free. That was a bummer because there are so many cheap corn based chips available. If you have family with you that are non GF the fries are supposedly incredible at the Dive inn, just not for us gluten free folks. Dinner First day I did my preorder when we got on the ship and was told one item couldn't be changed because they bought it premade and warmed it up, so I was worried. I really shouldn't have been. They did a great job with the meals and all were very good. I of course didn't ask for items I knew they would be a stretch for them to make, but I was extremely happy with the choices and the flavor of the food. They would bring me the next nights menu and they have you circle what you want. If I knew I was ordering something that would challenge them, I would circle a second item and label them option 1 and option 2. I think I always got my option 1. If you want bread it will always be toasted white bread. I asked once when seated and never got it, but did get it when I wrote it on the preorder menu and circled it. Too me it was tasteless and I only ordered it the once. We do Canyon breads at home and they are tasty and hold up to almost anything without falling apart. Celebrity does use Canyon breads, not sure what HAL uses though. Drinks I have no idea about beer. I may have noticed Strong Bow on the menu, but won't swear to it. We drank Brandy Old Fashions at happy hour each night. In Sidney the Island folk cider house has some amazing ciders. We did a flight there and were very impressed. Since being GF I have enjoyed trying the different ciders and these were up there as some of the best that I have tried. Don't be concerned by the above. I was never hungry and all of the food I ate was very good to exceptional:) The only thing you may want to do is potentially have a little snack item if you need one. We never noticed snacks being out during the day that much and the dessert section wasn't the best stocked section of the buffet, except when it opens. If you are at the buffet towards its closing time you likely would not get a GF dessert.

We would have done fixed dining, but when we booked open was all that was available. I know Celebrity does anytime, but lets you reserve a tie each night and somehow that has always gotten us the same servers. I mostly feel bad for the open seating servers that are missing out on extra tips from people that get to know them over the week.

I will get to the gluten free in a bit, need to do some outside work in the beautiful weather here, but I will say that we never had the same table. We had notified them before the cruise as well, and we were very surprised we were always moved around. For 5 of the seven nights we had a set 5:45 reservation. On other lines we always have the same service team, even with anytime dining. This was one of the complaints about the cruise was the moving to different tables each night. It didn’t allow the servers to set a routine with us, and also limits the extra tips they get. We generally tip our servers above and beyond, but in this case we didn’t because we never got to know any of them. I feel for the dining room crew in this case.

So I want to start this with we will definitely be sailing HAL again, but I want to give our 100% honest feedback about everything, including the bad stuff. We started sailing Disney and got sucked into the Disney is magical thing, and once the cutbacks happened with the price increases, Disney used to be very thrifty, we branched out to RCCL and our eyes were opened wide once we realized that Disney isn't the best at everything. We then branched out to Celebrity and they have become our gold standard, especially with how they handle the gluten free experience. That said we have never had a perfect cruise, and we will be chasing it for a long time. Every cruise has its bumps in the road. I even had a bad cruiser moment when we had a reservation for the 4 of us and it sounded like we would be seated with another couple. I complained while walking up the steps, not loudly, but was essentially in panic attack mode. I get along very well with people I know, but when in a social situation with people I don't know, I say very little, and probably come off as rude. I just don't have the social gene in me. So if that couple is reading this and overheard my freak out, I do apologize. Not proud of it, but I said that I would be honest and that includes me having that moment. That said we did have a lovely couple from Halifax added to our table one night that were very easy to talk to and gave us lots of good intel on Halifax. We did have some bad matches in the past on Disney, so that is why we like to eat alone whenever possible.

What made this worse was that wheat was the second ingredient on the label. We are always very careful, but got in a spot where we each thought the other read the label and neither of us had.