richwmn

Stealing this from a friend on FB

39 minutes ago, 57redbird said:

@kazu  what are the odd symbols (instead of letters) that show up in your wine selections?

the odd symbols are characters that don't translate from the web site I copied the wine name from. I can't tell that they are messed up until I see them on the day.

It should show as "Mülheimer", not the umlaut over the u.

They show correctly in some places, but not in others.

Rich

1 hour ago, Bgwest said:

New here. Where can I find the description of FCD availability, cost and rules for use?

I’ve not yet stumbled upon it anywhere on the HAL website.

It would not be on the website. The availability to purchase FCDs is only when you are aboard a ship. I don't have a current brochure available, but you buy one for $100 (or more if you wish) and get a reduced deposit and on board credit. The $100 FCD is good for cruises up to about 21 days. You can 'top it off' for longer cruises.

February 12^th, 2024 – Broome, Western Australia

Super Bowl Sunday on Monday morning aboard Volendam!

With the Super Bowl on the TV in the background, we begin our Monday morning in Broome. The position map shows us to be a little more off shore than we are, but there is a long dock that separates us from the main land. Fortunately, the dock is large enough for the shuttle busses to come all the way to the ship. Because of tides the gangway didn’t open until 7:45, but people were lined up for at least an hour to be the first ones off the ship.

Last night I took another break and didn’t do much other than the two trivia sessions, which both went well. The evening session was pictures of celebrities from years ago that we had to identify. It proved to be very interesting.

I did attend the Port Talk on Groome and Exmouth. Daniel is a good speaker and gave us quite a bit of good information about both ports. If you are so inclined, there seems to be plenty to do, and a good variety, in both ports.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

Some early pictures of Broome –

9 hours ago, Sea42 said:

Did the room service club sandwich always come with Swiss cheese? I thought it was a kind of processed American cheese. Swiss would be a big improvement from what I remember!

I rarely order from room service, and when I do it is just a BLT. Someone else will need to answer this.

Volendam Super Bowl Crowd

On Volendam --

I am currently on Volendam, and we just docked in Broome, WA, Australia.

The Superbowl is scheduled to start at 7am (in just less than an hour) with kickoff at 7:30 and will be shown in the World Stage as well as on Cabin TVs.

The same was true last year on Zuiderdam.

I will watch at least part of the game, but probably not all.

Hakata-Fukuoka City, Japan Fukuoka 08:00 - 23:00

February 11^th, 2024 – at sea, destination Broome, Western Australia

Another nice day aboard Volendam. The temperature is 84°F / 29°C under broken clouds. The humidity is at 81% and the winds are about 10.6mph. We are traveling west at 21 knots to arrive at Broome tomorrow morning at 5:30am.

I already talked about Darwin, so I will continue with the evening. Other than trivia last night, the topic was Europe, I didn’t do much. The World Stage had a move, ‘Moulon Rouge’, and the other venues had the normal performances

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

13 hours ago, RuthC said:

It was memorable for everyone who was there that night. Loads of fun for those who filled the room.

43 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Past experience would tell me that this isn't true but there is no doubt that you really enjoyed the evening because you were part of the show. 

You can't seem to grasp that there might be enough people that like the Piano Bar Concept enough to fill the venue. Each person in the venue has the choice, when seeing the type of entertainment being provided, to stay or leave. This goes for both the Piano Bar Concept and the Two Piano Concept. @BarryFromBoston Barry played for 38 days on my Voyage of the Vikings a few years ago. For most of the 38 days he filled the venue. I talked to some friends earlier today who were also on that cruise and they chose to be elsewhere. Each person makes their own choice and no cruise line can please everyone in every venue. You don't have to like the Piano Bar concept, but please allow those of us that do to enjoy it, just like we have allowed you to enjoy the Two Piano Concept for the past few years.

Current room service menu

February 10^th, 2024 – Darwin, Northern Territory, Australian

Well, it appears I failed to change the date on my post yesterday. Sorry. Today we are in Darwin and have been here for quite some time at this point. Here is today’s weather and location.

The first thing I did yesterday was to listen to Trevor Knight’s third presentation on horses. This one was his way of training horses, and it was very interesting. He also talked a bit about training dogs, which I also found interesting. This is a subject that he is well versed in, and he has a good means of presenting it.

So, to catch up with last night. I had dinner last night in Canteletto last night with several regular Daily posters. We had a nice dinner with good conversation. The service was wonderful and we took about two hours. We finished in time to head to the World Stage show.

The World Stage show last night was the third and last from Trevor Knight. He was in good form and I enjoyed the show. I might have been a bit more pleased if he had a little more singing and less talk, but the mix was really fine.

Yesterday, in his port talk, Daniel said that we would have an orderly process thru immigration today. In truth, it went a lot better than he imagined. It was only a few minutes after he called for deck 1, that he called for deck 2. Very shortly after that he called for deck 1, 2, & anyone ready. Another very short wait and he said anyone who was ready could proceed, and I went. I got into the terminal and walked quickly to the shuttle and got on. I was off the shuttle in Downtown Darwin very quickly.

After I walked about Downtown Darwin for a while I went back to the shuttle stop, and might have headed back to the ship except that the HOHO bus was sitting there so I went over, bought a ticket, and got on. I went around most of the route of the bus and saw the sights with some good commentary. I got off at the cruise terminal stop, the last one before completing the circle, and was walking back toward the ship when I ran into @Cruising-along Carolyn & Henry. They were waiting for what they thought was a different HOHO company, but when the next one from the company I had been on came by, she asked and they were on. I joined them for another round and found that the section between the cruise terminal and the starting point was very interesting and I would have missed it. We continued back to the cruise terminal, and returned to the ship.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

8 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I have no desire to attend a performance where you or any other guest is part of the performance and listen to you or any other guest play games.  I'm sure it was memorable for you but not so much for the other guests.

While you claim to speak for 'the other guests', you really don't. If you don't like the piano bar as defined by @BarryFromBoston Barry, Striker, and others there are plenty of people that do. I have sailed with Barry several times, and each time his piano bar was the last venue open in the evening with a sizeable crowd.

Also, if you don't like 'sing-a-long', you shouldn't attend many of the performances on the World Stage. Just a few minutes ago I left the World Stage on Volendam where Trevor Knight was the performer and encouraged the audience to sing with him. Annie Francis has done several shows and also encouraged the audience to sing. There have been plenty of others.

Many people enjoy the sing-a-long aspect of shows. If you don't, you have the option to avoid that venue and go to another type of entertainment.

February 8^th, 2024 – At Sea, Destination Darwin, Northern Territory, Australian

Another day at sea, and another good day. It is currently 82°F / 28°C with 77% humidity and winds at almost 16mph. The skies are overcast. The ship is moving east at 11 knots toward Darwin, where we are expected to arrive at 5:30am. Our schedule changed due to predicted tides. We will be leaving Darwin at 3:30pm.

After breakfast yesterday I attended a presentation by Trevor Knight on horses. In addition to being a good singer and story teller, he is very knowledgeable about horses and put on another good presentation. He will be doing one more shortly, and performing again tonight. Lunch in the lido, followed by general knowledge trivia. We then had a matinee performance by Annie Francis, and she did not disappoint. She had a nice variety of songs and the chatter between songs was short. Not too long after her show, it was (of course) time for dinner, trivia, and the evening show which was another round of the Biddies. That show was also good and ended a busy day.

We did change our clocks last night by 30 minute to match the time in Darwin. I had a good nights sleep, and a good breakfast again this morning. It looks to be another pretty day aboard Volendam.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

Since I am dining in Cantaletto tonight, here is that menu.

February 8^th, 2024 – At Sea, Destination Darwin, Northern Territory, Australian

It has been a very good day so far. I slept in a little bit due to a time change last night. Breakfast was good, like always. It is currently 84°F / 29°C under broken clouds on the outer decks of the ship. The humidity is 73% and the winds are almost 8mph. We are headed southeast at 13knots which should get us to Darwin on time.

As always, the trivia sessions were good last night. We didn’t win but were close to the top for each. The early session is always general knowledge, the late session yesterday was Inventions. The questions covered a large area and were good.

As I mentioned last night, the Lido was set up for a special Indonesian meal. I didn’t participate but those who did said that it was excellent.

The show last night was another performance by the Grand Cruise Repertory Company, or at least part of them. The singers did a show highlighting the hits of Broadway. Each singer had a solo song, the two women did a duet, and the rest were performed by all the singers. Their voices are good, and there was a minimum of dancing. The World Stage was packed and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

Tonight the Lido is set up for a special Indonesian Meal

February 7^th, 2024 – Komodo Island, Indonesia

Today we are sitting in Slawi Bay, Komodo Island. We arrived on schedule at 7am and began the task of lowering the tenders. This port has restrictions and only those with excursions can go ashore, but it doesn’t have to be a HAL excursion.

The temperate is currently 82°F / 28°C with 75% Humidity. The wind is low at 5mph, and the sky has scattered clouds. We are sitting in a protected by and the view is beautiful.

Yesterday was a sea day, the last of several. After spending the day here we will head back to Australia with another 3 sea days. As I mentioned before, sea days fall into a routine. Breakfast, doing this report, any lectures that seem good, lunch, trivia, entertainment, dinner, trivia, show, music. Each of the musicians seems to have a following and each continues to have a bit of a crowd.

Trivia for the early session is always general knowledge. For the early session my group split into men vs women. Just to let you know, we have a group of 10 or 11 and we split up differently each session based on who/how many show up. The men won our internal contest by 1 point. For the evening session the topic was board games. We did rather well and ended up tying with 4 other groups. Of the 5 groups, we tied with one other in the tie breaker, so we ended up as co-champions.

The show last night was a second show by Trevor Knight. This was a tribute to John Denver and was really good. Trevor seems to have known John and has many stories about him. He is also very good at singing John Denver’s songs. The time went by quickly and we were out for the evening.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

Komodo Island

24 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

I'm happy to hear about how HAL is trying out new things to improve the experience.  I realize that you are on a Grand Voyage, but I'm hoping that the successful programs/food items will be integrated into the "regular" itineraries.

 

Thanks Rich!

 

~Nancy

We had a night like this at least once on the World Cruise last year. It is a nice alternative.

February 6^th, 2024 – At Sea, Destination Komodo Island

Aboard Volendam it is currently 82°F / 28°C. We have overcast skies with a humidity of 77% and at about 18mph. We are moving in a westerly direction at 17 knots to arrive at Komodo Island tomorrow morning at 8am.

Yesterday we had two good trivia sessions, winning one. The Lido continues to provide good meals and very good service. The staff is always very eager, but not pushy. To me, the ship has been comfortable, but I hear other guests complaining here and there. The seas have been relatively calm so it has been a good ride.

There was no show on the World Stage last night, instead we had a night of music around the ship. The various performers teamed up and mixed up to provide a little bit different entertainment. This comprised Deck 5, Ocean Bar, Mix, and Piano Bar. In addition we had another time change so we had an extra hour to participate.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

February 5^th, 2024 – At Sea, Destination Komodo Island

Today is our fourth day at sea (including the Great Barrier Reef) on the way to Komodo Island. It is currently 82°F / 28°C outside with winds at about 13mph and 88% humidity. We have scattered clouds and a generally nice day.

The show last night was ‘The Biddies’, a group of three ladies with a comedy and singing act. They come out resembling Mama in ‘Mama’s Family’ and do a nice routine of jokes and songs, maybe a bit off color, but funny. Their singing voices are pretty good and they play off each other well. The show goes by quickly and everyone seemed to be entertained.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

February 4^th, 2024 – At Sea, Destination Komoto Island

Good morning, over night we left the Great Barrier Reef and the pilot left the ship at 2am. It is currently 82°F / 28°C with 15mph winds and 84% humidity and a few clouds. Our position at 7am was -

Last evening the late trivia session was all about the TV show ‘Friends’. Questions included the name of Ross’s monkey, the last names of all the characters, which character had a twin, and many others. As a team we only missed one question. As usual, there was a team that did one better and got them all right.

After trivia I went directly to the theater to see the second installment of Stevie Jo, a comedian and reasonable singer. He was again funny and kept the audience laughing. Part of his comedy is alternate lyrics to several songs, one to begin his show and another to end it. It was an enjoyable show and someone I would go to again if he has another show.

Today’s activities –

Today’s menus –

2 hours ago, 0106 said:

Rich requested my revised itinerary after I posted about the change in December.  I emailed him the new itinerary at that time.  

Can I blame being on a cruise???

I went back to my emails and found 2 updates from you, and I thought they were both the same. Sorry. I did a tentative update a few minutes ago and will complete it after breakfast.

Rich

2 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Tina, is there any way for you to email this itinerary to Rich @richwmn?  I bet he'd like to be able to update the Halfacts.com/daily so that we don't see the wrong itinerary all month.  His email is his screen name at gmail dot com.  Some of the dates of your ports look to be different than cruisetimetables.com has and you know more about it than any of us do.

If you, or anyone for that matter that gets an itinerary update, could email the itinerary pages of the pdf I can update it easily. @0106 -- I didn't notice where you mentioned the change.

1 hour ago, Moriah said:

A couple other questions came to me - did all of you have your B2B cruises on the same booking number?  Mine are booked as two separate cruises, because I decided later to add on the second one.  I wonder how this will affect anything, although I was told they are 'linked'. 

Last year my B2B was two different booking numbers. When I boarded the first I could see the itinerary for both because the two cruises were linked. This year I have four cruises b2b, each with different booking numbers, and the first three were linked before boarding. I can see my itinerary until the end of the third. Last year I didn't settle my account until the end of the second. This year I am on the second and haven't settled my account yet. I will say that I talked to someone who was also on the last cruise and thought they were linked but had to settle their account on the last day of the previous cruise. Also, if they cruises are linked, your cruise card will show the end date being the finish of the final linked cruise.