richwmn

March 11^th, 2024 – Napier, New Zealand

Good morning from Napier. We have been cleared to go ashore and there will be shuttles into town. The last shuttle back to the ship will be 3:45pm.

Yesterday was a rather normal day. Two rounds of trivia that went well, nothing going on at sailaway, and a party in the Ocean Bar in the evening. Because of the party, no event was scheduled on the World Stage.

In Wellington I stayed aboard the ship. I had two nice visits here in ‘19 and last year and got a lot of things taken care of. With the Gala Night last night, I enjoyed a restful evening.

Today’s activities and menus –

March 10^th, 2024 – Wellington, New Zealand

Today is another beautiful day in New Zealand. I have been to Wellington twice before and managed to take the same excursion both times, first alone then with a friend. The weather is nice and I’ll go ashore shortly.

Yesterday was another nice day. The tender to the port was a bit long at about 25 minutes, but Akaroa is a nice little town. It is another port that I have visited before, in 2019, and is worth another walk around. It seems like a resort town as it has a nice assortment of restaurants along the waterline.

Back on the ship for the normal day of trivia. Both sessions were nice, with the late session being ‘Broadway’. Only three of us showed up for various reasons, not the best three for this category. We did manage to get twelve points which we believed was a good showing.

After the first trivia I went to the Sea View Pool where Sailaway was supposed to be very nice. The staff had set up everything for a sailaway party but due to the chilly weather not many guests showed up so the party consisted of more staff than guests. Those who were there did have a good time and the scenery was great. The party did end around 5:30pm, before the ship actually started moving.

Then there was the show last night. They were billed as ‘Carpe Idiotus Presents: The Mime and The Musician’. It was an interesting concept but not particularly good. The musician didn’t play much and the mime talked. For the most part, the mime did some movements inside a big round flexible tube. It was mildly entertaining but not really something I would go out of my way to see.

Today’s activities and menus –

29 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Different ship, maybe?

8 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Probably, but that's frustrating  - policy should be policy. We all know how HAL is w/consistency. 

Not going to keep me away, but it's annoying. 

For me, Volendam this year, Zuiderdam last year, and other previously but I don't remember which ones.

I installed the stockperks app back in January and loaded an image of my statement with account number mostly blacked out, along with anything else I didn't think they needed (the same things I used to black out to fax/email). After seeing the post yesterday that OBC had been authorized until Dec 31st, I logged into stockperks yesterday and requested OBC for a September cruise. I received an email a few minutes ago that it was approved. I didn't have to load a current statement.

I don't know why my experience is different than @Crew News and @Haljo1935 but on several B2B cruises, including the one I am currently on, my OBC (both refundable and Non Refundable) has carried from cruise to cruise. I have had nothing refunded until my final exit from the ship. I can currently look at my account on Navigator and see charges and credits back to when I first boarded the ship, and as I mentioned in my previous post, the credits due to the second cruise were added on the first day of that cruise. I do know that my reservations were / are linked, I don't know if theirs were.

2 hours ago, shippmates said:

The OBC and shore excursions are only good to be used on each segment.

I would agree with you on the shore excursion credits, but not the OBC. If your reservations are linked you will not clear your account until you leave the ship and OBC will carry forward. Any OBC will be credited to your account when each segment begins.

March 10^th, 2024 – Akaroa (Christchurch), New Zealand

Good morning from an anchorage off Akaroa. We are here and the tenders are in the water, but at 8:20am they haven’t started service yet. It is currently 54°F / 12°C with few clouds. The wind is calm at about 4mph, and the humidity is at 81%.

Yesterday was a nice day off the ship in Timaru. The locals had a nice market set up where the shuttle let us off which included a display of vintage vehicles. Included was a MG B, a Buick Roadster, and a Suzuki 850 Motorcycle with sidecar. I had an interesting conversation with one of the volunteers for the display since a friend had a MG of the same vintage and I used to own a Suzuki one year newer than the one on display. It was a beautiful day for a walk around the small town.

Back on the ship was a lazy day. Enough people were off the ship so that those who were aboard had no lines. It was a very nice day both ashore and aboard the ship.

At 4:00pm we had the early trivia session. Since all aboard hadn’t been called yet, it was a small session but good. The 7:00pm session had a ‘Rock & Roll’ theme and stuck to music trivia. As a team, we managed to be the only one to get all the questions right. Although there are currently no prizes awarded, it is still fun to win.

The show last night was Maori Tenor Benjamin Makisi. This gentleman is a very good singer and does a very good show. He started off with a song that he introduced as a Maori song of welcome. He then went thru several types of music, and did each well. The show was full of singing with only enough talk to describe what he was singing. I did enjoy the show very much. He will sing again in a few days.

Today’s activities and meals –

Coming into Akaora this morning.

Coming into

March 8^th, 2024 – Timaru, New Zealand

It looks to be another pretty day in New Zealand. We have arrived and the ship is in the process of tying the lines and preparing for us to see the area.

Yesterday was a very pretty day in Port Chalmers. The temperature was good for a nice walk out in the city. As with other places, as soon as I stepped off the ship I recognized the area. The local people I talked to were all very nice and helpful.

Back on the ship I had a nice lunch, then proceeded to catch up on a few things. Time flew and I realized at 4:30 that I had missed the early trivia. The late trivia had a theme of ‘Capitals’. While on the surface, that may seem to be either state or national capitals that was not totally the case. One of the questions – what words have capital letters? Another was – Which city has a NHL team named the Capitals? Most of the rest were the capitals of countries, some a bit obscure.

The show last night was the Grand Repertory Company presenting ‘Boogie Wonderland’, a high energy song and dance routine. The group consists of a total of eight people. Four of the people, it seems, are solely dancers. There are a pair of lead singers, and a pair of backup singers – each male and female. The dancers are also split two male and two female. The lead singers each are very good and have a wide vocal range. All of the singers are also good dancers. The choice of songs was great, and the show moved quickly with no pauses.

The ride last night from Port Chalmers was very smooth. That made for a very good night’s sleep.

Today we have two shuttles to get us into Timaru. One will go to the information center in town, the other to Carolina Bay. Several people mentioned last night that this would be a beach day. The last shuttle will head to the ship at 5:00pm.

Today’s activities and menus –

March 7^th, 2024 -- Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

Good morning from New Zealand, we finally made it. After three rough days at sea, we are now berthed at Port Chalmers. The view from the aft pool deck this morning was gorgeous. We will be in New Zealand for about a week before heading back toward San Diego.

Last night we had the normal trivia schedule, with sessions in the afternoon and evening. Both sessions were good, with the late session having a theme of ‘TV Shows’. This was a description of a show and we were supposed to identify the show. We again tied for the lead with several other teams. The tie breaking question was ‘What year was the Guiness Book of World Records’ first published. The winning team hit it right on the nose with 1955. We were quite a bit off.

The schedule for yesterday lists Katie Clarke, a pianist, for the World Stage. I didn’t attend, and I’m not sure she played.

Last night the ship started the task of settling back into a normal routine. We had a Happy Hour with a free drink between 4pm and 5pm yesterday as compensation for missing Milford Sound. Everyone was out and about and having a good time. This morning the Lido was back to normal for breakfast.

Today’s activities and menus –

Coming into Port Chalmers this morning –

March 6, 2024 – at sea destination Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

Volendam is still steaming toward Port Chalmers, and the seas are still a bit rough. We had quite a bit reorganized yesterday but things are returning to normal. We are pretty much on time to reach Port Chalmers on schedule.

The ship is still heading Southeast, now at 16 knots. The temperature outside is 57°F / 14°C under overcast skies. The humidity is 79%, and the winds are a little under 17mph.

As I mentioned, last night’s schedule was rearranged a bit to account for the motion of the ship. The show last evening was replaced by another movie, the new release of “The Color Purple”, with one showing. We still had the Cocktail Piano Player, and Ocean Bar Band, along with both trivia sessions. The late trivia was supposed to cover the 1920’s to go along with the canceled ‘Gatsby’ night, but that got changed as well. The topic was facts about music, and we did well, losing by our typical 1 question.

The ship had settled enough that I had another good night’s sleep. The Lido this morning was still exercising care by not having anything other than utensils on the tables until someone sat there. There were only small stacks of dishes around the serving areas. Despite the extra work, everyone seemed to be taking things in stride.

Today’s activities and menus –

as @Mary229 said, behind the TV on Volendam (and probably Zaandam). This is a picture of behind the TV in an outside cabin on Volendam. The European power strip was already there with only the TV plugged in. The other two plugs are in use by my laptop, and a USB charger

March 5, 2024 – rocking and rolling on Volendam, destination Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

It is a bit later in the day than I usually make this post. Lots of reasons involved, but partially just being lazy. As many of you know, my cabin is all the way forward on the promenade deck. It took a while to fall asleep last night, but I did sleep soundly once I did. We also had another time change last night, but we won’t have another one for over a week when we leave New Zealand.

So, currently we are at sea heading for New Zealand. The sea is still very choppy, with large swells hitting the ship. The outer decks are still closed. We are moving southeast at 15 knots, still expecting to reach Port Chalmers on time Thursday. According to an announcement the seas should get smoother in a few hours. We currently have overcast skies with a temperature of 59°F / 15°C. The winds are 22mph and the humidity is 68%.

With the motion of the seas last night, the scheduled show on the World Stage was changed to a movie, and even though things were open, many people stayed in their cabins and relaxed. We did have two trivia sessions, but both had fewer participants than normal. The late trivia involved identifying national flags. Our team got 11/22 with the winning team only doing a little better with 12. With no show on the stage, I turned in early.

As mentioned, not many people are moving around on the ship this morning. Here are the scheduled activities and menus.

10 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

I wasn't aware Captain Bart was on the Volendam. I'm glad to hear that as he was at Seabourn the last I heard. 

Capt Bart was on Volendam for about 2 months as a relief Captain. He will be on Westerdam in Sept/Oct for the Majestic Japan cruise beginning Sept 1

43 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Those programs, like the Carnival StockHolder Benefit, will probably (almost certainly) be re-approved at the stockholders' meeting in I believe April, for the fiscal year starting end of July. Note, that will be for mid-24/mid-25 sailings, with 2026 waiting for the NEXT board meeting.

 

My observation is that these items are rubber-stamped.

The stockholder benefit is the only one that will be or needs to be approved at the stockholder meeting. That benefit is provided by Carnival Corp, not HAL. The others are approved / negotiated by HAL itself and can run for whatever time frame HAL and any sponsor (AARP) decides.

5 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Rich are you sure you meant to say 5-foot swells? 😀

The broken glass in our cabin says otherwise. 😀😉

When he spoke yesterday he said 5 - 8 foot swells, his announcement this morning mentioned having had 18 foot swells.

BTW, you should have heard the water hitting the bow this morning around 2am, very loud bangs.

March 4^th, 2024 – at sea destination Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

Good morning from a rocking and rolling Volendam. Last night the Captain mentioned that we would be having five foot swells while we crossed the Tasman Sea. The sea has lived up to its advance billing. We are currently sailing Southeast at 16 knots. The temperature is 64°F / 18°C under broken clouds. The wind is almost 30 mph and the humidity is 56%. The outside decks are locked off at the moment due to the wind and swells.

During our visit to Sydney we had a change in Captains, our current Captain is Rens Van Eerten, who has been with HAL for 30 years and at sea for 44. He lists his home as being Canada; California, US; and Canterbury, UK.

Something that I knew about before, but never participated in happened yesterday. Those of us who purchase items in port pay taxes that are sometimes refundable. I have never purchase enough to worry about it. On this trip I did. For most of the day, Australian Border Patrol had a desk set up where we could get the tax refunded. It started at 11:00am in the terminal building. Those who wanted a refund first met in the Atrium where we were told to make sure we had our passports (had to retrieve from main desk) and the items we had purchased. Then we proceeded off the ship and were processed. Since I only had one item it went very quickly. I then proceeded to get on the shuttle and go back into town. Later in the day they moved the desk to the ship and stopped requiring that we present the actual items.

Yesterday we had a very nice sailaway from Sydney, passing under the Harbour Bridge and getting a good view of the Sydney Opera House. No band was playing, but a good selection of music was being played over the PA system. A good crowd enjoyed the great weather and beautiful view.

The evening trivia was another round of logos. My group missed one and that was our downfall. One team got them all. The one we missed we discussed the right answer and decided that ours was correct but it wasn’t.

After trivia most of the team went directly to the World Stage for the second show of Rebecca Kelly. This show was a tribute to Carole King, and was very good. With more music than talk, Rebecca gave a good history of Carole and the music factory in New York of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.

After the show I called it a night knowing we had a time change, the first of two, of an hour forward to eventually match the time in New Zealand. The Kiwis use only one time zone so we won’t have another time change for almost two weeks!

This morning was a day to sleep in, so breakfast was a bit later than normal. It appears that we will continue to rock & roll for most of the day today. Today will be little movement and a lot of staying where we are.

The Captain is currently announcing that we will miss our scenic cruising in Milford Sound and will be going directly to Dunedin

Today’s activities and menus –

March 3^nd, 2024 – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (day 2)

Good morning from day 2 in Sydney. It is another pretty day, we have had good weather most of this cruise. Azamara Onward left last night, so we are alone this morning.

Yesterday we had an interesting day. For various reasons I stayed on board until 11:30, then took the shuttle into town. This year the shuttle went to King Street Warf instead of Darling Harbour last year. While both locations had plenty to do within walking distance I think I prefer Darling Harbour. It has been an interesting day.

I made sure to be back on the ship in time to see the presentation by Gus Antorcha, president of HAL. Like last year on the World Cruise, he gave a good overview of where the company is and what is happening going forward. Our group didn’t have as many questions as the World Cruisers, both last year and this, so our session was shorter.

After an overnight, we are in Sydney for another day, leaving at around 4:30pm. That will give us another good day and there is still plenty to do. In just a couple of hours we will be able to have Australian tax we paid refunded. This is the first time I have spent enough to go get the refund so we will see how that goes.

Today’s activities and menus –

17 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

On our roll call, we are struggling with finding a first meeting location for our budding book group - maybe 6-10 right now.  Where can we best gather and have a small group conversation?

Did you consider calling Ship's services and possibly asking about one of the Meeting Rooms (Kings's, Queen's, Hudson)?

March 2^nd, 2024 – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (day 1)

So this morning we pulled into Sydney, passing the Opera House around 6am and under the bridge shortly after that. It has been a beautiful day in Sydney with the exception of some very scattered rain while I walked around.

So yesterday afternoon was nice. We had a total of three trivia sessions. The early, normal, general knowledge session was held at the sea day normal 1pm. We had a pretty good session. At 7pm we had the normal themed trivia, and the theme was ‘ABBA’. We had an interesting set of questions and again did well. Finally at 9pm we gathered in the Explorers Lounge to hear snips of Beatles songs and identify them. Along with quite a few others, we identified all the songs.

The entertainment last night on the World Stage was the second round of Geoff Boyz. He was not one of my favorites the first time but I gave him another chance. It didn’t start off well, and I didn’t stick around. Tonight the World Stage will have a movie.

This morning I had to spend with things going on at home, but I finally got out into Sydney around 11:30am. I got on the shuttle and we were off. I expected to be dropped off at the same place as last year, but I was a little disappointed. We were dropped of at Kings Warf rather than Darling Harbour. I did walk around a bit and it was very nice. The disappointment was mostly that the humidity was very high and it sprinkled a bit.

Today’s activities and menus --

Bruce's ship -- Azamara Onward -- from Volendam.  White Bay Terminal, Sydney, NSW, Australia

4 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Sounds like you will be on Majestic Japan, Rich -- I'll look forward to sailing with you again!

You are correct, It will be good to see you again as well.

March 1^st, 2024 – At sea, destination Sydney, New South Wales, Australian

Good morning from Volendam. We are currently moving at about 17knots in a generally northern direction. We are due to arrive in Sydney tomorrow morning at 8am. We currently have clear skies with a temperature of 66°F / 19°C and humidity at 74%. The winds are a little over 19mph.

Today is our last day with Captain Bart Vaartjes. He has been aboard for the last two months and has been very approachable. He is out and around the ship most days and I have enjoyed his announcements. I was happy when he told me he would be the Captain of Westerdam when I board in September.

Yesterday was a good day. I didn’t go ashore, it was a long tender and a repeat port. It was very relaxing on the ship and I actually got quite a bit done. It was a beautiful day. We headed toward Sydney on time.

We did have two trivia sessions and both were fun. The early session we did well but didn’t win. The evening trivia was all about Holland America and we were the only team that managed to get all the questions right. Questions included the ‘theme’ of Zaandam, the oldest ship in the fleet, GodMother of Volendam, number of years sailing in Alaska, and many more. It was a lot of fun.

Dani was good to hurry the evening session because Captain Bart was scheduled for a farewell speech at 7:15, and we managed to make it. He gave a very nice speech thanking his staff, the crew, and the guests for making this a memorable cruise for him.

The World Stage entertainer last night was Chris Powley. On the schedule he is listed as a comedian, but his act was more as a singer, and a very good one at that. Like other singers that appear on the World Stage, he did do a bit of comedy. I would have liked a little more singing, but overall it was a good show.

Today will be a lazy day at sea, with plenty of activity scheduled. Here is the schedule of activities and meals.

February 29^th, 2024 – Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia

Our second stop in Tasmania is a tender port and only a short distance away. We are now in Port Arthur and tendering has begun. It is currently 72°F / 22°C outside under Overcast Skies. The winds are at almost 19mph and the humidity is 72%.

Yesterday was a good day in Hobart. It is a nice port city that has some place to visit within easy walking distance. There is also a HoHo bus, that I barely missed. It was a very nice day.

I managed to miss the 4pm trivia session, time just seemed to go by quickly and the next thing I knew it was after 5pm. The 7pm session was pictures of Landmarks to identify. My team did pretty well, 15 of 17, but two teams did better.

The World Stage show was a comedian, Geoff Boyz. He came out strong and was moderately funny. Like all performers, he asked where everyone was from and had a comment about each location. Geoff stated that he is from Scotland and had a couple of comments about that. In sum, he got some laughs, but has some room to improve for his second show.

Everything is going well this morning. Here are some scenes approaching this morning

And today’s activities and menus –

February 28^th, 2024 – Hobart Australia

Today will be a very long day in Hobart. We are staying here until 4am tomorrow. It is a very short run to our next stop in Tasmania, Port Arthur. This is my third visit to Hobart, having visited both in 2019 for the trans Pacific and last year on the World Cruise. It is another nice day, the temperature is 64°F / 18°C under broken clouds. The winds are about 10mph and the humidity is 70%.

The only trivia yesterday was at 7:00pm and had a theme of ‘the 1960’s’. We had an interesting set of questions with one duplicate from about a week ago. Dani mentioned the duplicate and apologized before reading the question. My group only missed one question and that one we could have gotten correct but chose a different answer. Our score of 16/17 tied for first and we won the tie breaker.

After trivia the World Stage was dark as we had a theme night of ‘Once Upon A Time’. This was basically the same setup as last year on the World Cruise. The area around the mid ship lido pool was set up with references to stories, mostly children’s, and we were encouraged to wear sleepwear which only a few other than staff did. The Dance Band played for about an hour, followed by a couple of people telling bedtime stories slightly modified for an older crowd. The ship’s senior staff was available and mingled with the crowd. This event was not as well attended as the previous theme nights.

Today’s activities and menus –

Volendam --

At Sea (today)

In Port (yesterday)