richwmn

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)

February 27^th, 2024 – at sea, destination Hobart, Tasmania, Australian

Today is another beautiful day. We are headed for two stops in Tasmania which are close to each other. We are currently moving South at 12 knots and the ride is calm. The current temperature is 64°F / 18°C under overcast skies. The humidity is 68% and the winds are a little over 17mph.

Our stay in Melbourne yesterday was very nice. The day was beautiful and I had a very nice walk down the waterfront. Last night was a formal night with very good food in the Lido.

The evening trivia last night was about slogans. We were presented with sixteen slogans, some no longer used, and asked to identify the company involved. As I previously mentioned, I am part of a group of about ten people that splits off into two teams with different makeups each session. Yesterday both teams got the same score (15/17) and missed the same two questions.

The show last night was performed by the Grand Voyage Repertory Company featuring only the lead singers and the dancers. It was a very good show and highlighted the range of the lead singers. This group has been a very nice addition to the cruise.

And now to the activities and meals for today:

sorry, the quote got cut off again --

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. -- C. S. Lewis

Greetings from Australia, on the way to Tasmania!

3 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Any word yet on the hull cleaning process, Rich? I hope it doesn't affect your NZ ports.

2 hours ago, richwmn said:

Nothing yet, we are supposed to know the first of the month just before leaving Australia

When I replied earlier I was doing so from memory. I just looked at the letter that we got again and here is the portion that applies:

"We anticipate we will receive our official feedback from MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) by Monday (today) and we are hopeful we will be approved to sail in New Zealand as scheduled. If more work is required, we will conduct that following our call to Melbourne, Australia, and will advise you at that time on the impact to our onward itinerary."

So it appears we will have a more definitive answer later today.

February 26^th, 2024 – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (pt 2)

As I mentioned this morning, I did the HoHo bus thing in 2019 when I was here before. I chose today to walk out of the terminal and walk along the waterfront. The day was very comfortable for a walk and I ended up walking about 2k from the entrance to the pier. The beach was gorgeous, and unused. There is a walking path, along with a bicycle path, running along the beach front that quite a few people were using. Many people were out walking a variety of dogs. There were also quite a few interesting buildings on the other side of the street with beach views from their balconies.

1 hour ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Any word yet on the hull cleaning process, Rich? I hope it doesn't affect your NZ ports.

Nothing yet, we are supposed to know the first of the month just before leaving Australia

February 26^th, 2024 – Melbourne, Victoria, Australian

We arrived in Melbourne this morning on time. When I finished breakfast I looked out at the terminal building and it looked very familiar. I checked back and just found that this was a stop on my 2019 Vancouver to Auckland repositioning cruise. I had a very nice day then and will probably walk around a bit today.

Yesterday we only had one trivia session for some reason. It was at 7pm and the theme was ‘Celebrity’. We had one team member that got most of the answers right, so we managed 15 of the 17 possible points. Of course, two other teams got sixteen. Dani always uses a year as the tie breaker. We did get that right although it didn’t matter.

After trivia almost everyone moved to the World Stage to see the show. Last night we had a singer, Rebecca Kelley. In her self introduction she said she is from London. While she is a very good singer, she spent a lot of time trying comedy which I don’t think she was as good at. All in all a good show. She promised to do a tribute to Carole King for her next show, which should be good.

Looking at the aft camera on the cabin TV I see two large trucks pulling up, and what looks like a fueling barge. Looks like we are receiving a good amount of new goods today.

For those who are interested, here is a link to what I posted in 2019.

http://travel.wa70.com/pacific/day13/

February 25^th, 2024 – At sea, destination Melbourne

Today is another day at sea, headed toward Melbourne tomorrow. We are headed southeast at 14 knots, to arrive tomorrow morning at 8:00am. It is currently 63°F / 17°C outside with a humidity of 77%. The winds are from the SW, at 8.5 mph.

Yesterday was a nice visit to Adelaide. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but it happened that the train to the city was there so I got on and rode into Adelaide. When I got there the first thing I noticed was that a little place that we got snacks last year was closed. Not intentionally, I headed out of the station in a different direction and saw a different part of Adelaide than last year. It was very much a case of old (last year) vs new (this year). Both parts of the city are very pretty.

The train ride back was uneventful, and the day as a whole was very nice. The weather was beautiful. A late lunch then trivia. The World Stage had a movie last night that I didn’t care to see, so it was a very laid back night. I listened to the band in the Ocean Bar for a while, then went to the Crows Nest for the Dance Band. Both groups contain some very talented musicians and played a good set.

Today we have to do our monthly safety procedure at 1pm, but other than that a regular sea day. I must say that for some reason, after a rough start I slept very soundly last night and ended up sleeping very late this morning.

Today’s activities and menus –

also, the combined spending for everyone in the cabin applies to bonus points for each of the first two passengers in the cabin.