richwmn

45 minutes ago, POA Cruiser said:

Full ship charter by the Royal Bank of Canada.

do you by chance have the itinerary?

It is not published anywhere I can find.

January 14^th, 2023 – Kiritimati (Christmas Island)

Or technically it is January 15^th as we have crossed the International Date Line. However, since we will be crossing in the other direction in a couple of days the Captain has chosen to keep the date this time.

Kiritimati (pronounced [kiˈrɪsmæs], also known as Christmas Island) is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name is derived from the English word "Christmas" written in Gilbertese according to its phonology, in which the combination ti is pronounced s.

Yesterday was a good day on the ship. Both the NFL Wildcard Games were on the TVs and I chose to watch them. Because of that, I missed the first trivia, and the second was about travel and I did pretty well. The World Stage entertainment was a repeat artist with a different show, Instrumentalist Michael Young. I didn’t attend and the reviews from people I talked to were mixed.

This morning we arrived at Kiritimati on time, but it will be a while before the tendering process starts. Since few cruise ships visit this port, they have to make sure the route the tenders will take is safe. It appears that tendering will begin around 10:30. They will also bring locals aboard with some of their arts & crafts to have a local market on the Lido Deck for those that don’t want to deal with the 30 minute tender process.

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6 minutes ago, WVU_Neal said:

Just to be certain here. You are saying that if I have WiFi on the Rotterdam (in less than 2 weeks) and have Airplane Mode On and WiFi Calling On, I will be able to make calls and texts while at sea and not in port. That makes sense, I just wanted to verify.

That is the way it is currently working on Volendam, and should be throughout the fleet.

January 13^th, 2023 – at sea, Destination Kiritimati – eta 1/14

Good morning from Volendam at sea!

On the outside decks the temperature is 79°F / 26°C under scattered clouds. The humidity is 84% with winds at 17 mph. Another very nice day at sea. I was unable to grab a position image this morning, for some reason both my devices want to show us still in San Diego.

Lots of activities going on yesterday. The big activity for last night was the Volendam Ball. This was held in the World Stage and was well attended. For the most part the ladies were very dressy and most men were at least in suits with many in Tuxes. The Ocean Bar band was on the main stage and played for about an hour before taking a break. The band was very good, alternating between an active female lead singer and the piano player as lead. Both singers were good. The dance floor was full for most of the songs and it seems that everyone had a good time. The officers and staff were out in full force, mingling and talking to guests.

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January 12^th, 2023 – at sea, Destination Kiritimati – eta 1/14

Good morning from Volendam, it is again a nice day on board. It is currently 75°F/ 24°C on the outside decks with clear skies 73% humidity and winds a little above 17mph.

Before I start on yesterday, I must go back to Wednesday. In talking about the World Stage entertainer, Impressionist Tyler Bryce, I stated that I left after about 15 minutes because I wasn’t enjoying the show. My trivia partners last night told me that he got better just after I left. They told me that the rest of his show was very good, after he warmed up a bit.

Now for yesterday. We were in Hilo, Hawai’i. We had a pretty day docked in an industrial port. Many years ago I visited Hilo and did the Volcano tour and enjoyed it so I didn’t need to do it again. I did walk out to the port building to see what was going on. A shuttle was provided (free) into town but at the point I was there it involved a 20 minute wait. It didn’t seem that any vendors were set up in the port building, so I headed back to the ship. It was a very nice, relaxing day.

Trivia was at 1pm and 7pm and both were fun. As usual we were just off winning. At the 1pm trivia we had two questions that we discussed and chose the wrong answer, although we considered the correct one. We were supposed to have a trivia dedicated to ABBA at 9pm, but technical considerations kept it from happening.

At 7:30pm I stuck my head into the World Stage to check out the entertainer. We had a singer, Michelle Montuori. When she was singing she was ok, but like the other day – too much talking. I’m not sure why singers have to spend half their time with jokes and history.

After the 9pm trivia didn’t happen I had a nice conversation with Kat the pianist. She is a very nice person and easy to get along with. She also puts on a nice show each day.

I hope everyone is well and is looking forward to a good weekend.

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3 hours ago, CGinMTL said:

I was looking at the next week schedule and notice you are crossing the international date line 3 times

Curious how the ship will handle this

Will you stay on " ship date" for the first two

Yes, we are ignoring the first two crossings, it is only one port. The final crossing will be where we change the date.

This arrived a few minutes ago. Nice touch.

This arrived a few minutes ago. Nice touch.

January 10^th, 2023 – Hilo, Hawai’i until 1/10 at 4:30pm

Good afternoon from Hilo.

After a nice day in Honolulu yesterday it was a nice evening on the ship. As usual we had trivia at 4pm and 7pm, and both were fun. As has been the case for this entire cruise, my team was a runner up. At the early trivia we tied for the normal questions and lost in the tie breaker. The trivia host is very good and will be with us for the entire Grand Australia / New Zealand cruise.

After the late trivia I stopped by the World Stage entertainment. The entertainer was Tyler Bryce, billed as an Impressionist. I stayed for 15 – 20 minutes and listened. He has a pretty good voice and I suppose for the type of act he has, he is pretty good. It is just not something I enjoy. While he did a decent job of singing in the style of several well known singers, he chose to mess with the lyrics of the songs in an attempt to make them funny.

I have been sleeping very well since I boarded the ship. My cabin is very comfortable and my stewards are excellent. I know I have mentioned this several times, but on the whole the entertainment is good. The house entertainers usually have a bit of a crowd and put on a good show. They also seem very friendly.

This evening we will head south and begin the big portion of the cruise. I am really looking forward to several of the ports.

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1 hour ago, shadow 123 said:

How did you download the MDR for your particular ship? I'd like to do that as well. Thank you

One place you can find the dining room maps is halfacts.com, and they have been recently updated. Chose the ship class then the individual ship.

1 hour ago, TiogaCruiser said:

Rich, did you get a refund? I hope so.

I paid for it with an excursion credit, which was refunded. Unfortunately it was so late in the cruise that there weren't any replacement excursions to book.

January 10^th, 2023 – Honolulu, Hawai’i until 1/10 at 5pm

Good morning from day two in Honolulu. Despite early forecasts of bad weather while we have been here, it has been nice so far. The temperature has been nice, and while it has rained, it hasn’t been much. The current temperature is 74° with the temperature cooling off over the course of the day.

Yesterday and to some degree today I have been dealing with a couple things. Being able to deal with them from wherever the ship is allows me to take these long cruises, so I can’t complain. It helps that I have been to Honolulu twice before. The first time I took Holland tours and saw the tourist spots. The second time I got together with local residents who took me to local places. Quite a few of the Guests have used this stop to shop in basically the same stores they would have at home, but were unable to bring things on the plane to San Diego.

I did manage to get to both trivia sessions yesterday. The early session was general knowledge and was difficult. We got, I believe, 13 out of 17 and the winning team go 15. The 7pm session was about Hawai’i and was fun. We did a little better but still didn’t win. All the entertainment venues were operating with nice crowds.

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5 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Navigator allows no direct communications with the shore excursion staff.

 

That was a problem we had when we last minute decided to not go on some paid-for excursions, due to being under the weather. We knew we would lose the payments, but we were sorry we could not communicate with the staff at the dock on the Navigator to tell them not to wait for us. 

Call the front desk. they are in contact with the tour leaders. In October of 22 I bought a shore excursion using the app the night before it was to go. The instructions said to meet at the World Stage. I looked around for people and found no one. I called the front desk and they contacted the tour leader and found the meeting place had been moved to the terminal, but they didn't notify me. Although I went to the terminal as quickly as I could, they still left, and I am ok with that.

1 hour ago, mskitty1 said:

I'm thinking of booking the Volendam for April 21, 2024-Ft Lauderdale to Montreal.  Just a little nervous as it would be my first cruise without him by myself.  Actually, I'm a pretty independent person, but need some advice from you solo widowed cruisers. 

Please consider joining the roll call

you will not be the only solo cruiser, and actually not the only recent widow.

January 10^th, 2023 – Honolulu, Hawai’i until 1/10 at 5pm

Good morning from Honolulu. After a long segment at sea, we are tied to a dock

Yesterday was fun. It was a relaxing day at sea and everyone is settled into a routine. The staff has been wonderful. Trivia at 1pm was good, and had a nice level of difficulty.

Dinner yesterday was with friends at Pinnacle, the Tamarind popup. Because we were enjoying the company, the meal took right at 3 hours, our fault not the restaurant’s. The food was very good and I left satisfied. After dinner we had a bit of a different show on the World Stage. It is titled “The Grand Voyage Repertory Company: In The Mood”. It consisted of eight singers / dancers in an energetic show. We were told that this group will be aboard for the entire Grand cruise and will present 14 more different shows.

Each of the other groups was out in force and all were enjoyable to listen to.

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You can also go to navigator.hollandamerica.com using a browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) when connected to the ship's WiFi and get the same information as the app gives you. I have always done this on my laptop, and I just verified that it works on my tablet which won't load the app.

January 8^th, 2023 – At Sea, Destination Honolulu eta 1/9

It is a little before 10am on Volendam, less than 24 hours away from Honolulu. The temperature is 73°F / 23°C under clear skies. The humidity is at 77%.

Today is the last sea day of this string, but coming up we have one sea day between the overnight at Honolulu and Hilo, then another three sea days heading for the Fanning Islands.

Lots of activities yesterday. Trivia at 1pm was a general knowledge trivia and my group of four managed to win. This was the first time in a while I have been on a winning team. The 7pm trivia was about Landmarks and was satisfying. My team got 14 points out of 17, so not too bad but not a winner.

At 8pm around the Lido pool we had an Island themed party. Prior to the party, those who had been taking Hula lessons performed a couple of songs. Then the Ocean Bar Band set up and played for the evening. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and the area was not overcrowded.

I found out last night that there is another band on board, called the “Dance Band” that plays in the Crows Nest each evening. They played in the Ocean Bar last night and are pretty good as well. That makes five different “house” bands that play at varying times during the day. All are good musicians and seem to do well with their crowd.

Today will be trivia along with a popup Tamarind with Carolyn & Henry (@Cru ).

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35 minutes ago, retird said:

Yes I understand that but what I’m asking is if I purchase the multi device plan, can my wife be signed on her Ipad at the same time that I am signed in on my Ipad? Or do we both have to buy the $291.99 plan to do that? 

If you have the multi device plan up to 4 devices can be signed into the internet at the same time under the same credentials. If you have the single device package, one device at a time can use the internet, but many devices can be logged into the Navigator account. Right now I have the single plan with three devices logged into Navigator, but only one has the internet enabled.

additional updates

1 hour ago, retird said:

Question?   My wife and I have a 25 night cruise booked.   Price for premium internet pre cruise is $291.99 for one device or 459.99 for multi devices.   
 

the details for the multi device says:

” The plan can be activated on up to 4 devices at a time, but all must be using the same Navigator credentials, “

So if we both want to have internet access at the same time, do we each purchase the $291.99 or does one of us purchase the $459.99 plan?   I didn't know what “ but all must be using the same Navigator credentials” meant.

Thanks

You must both sign into Navigator using the username / password of the person who purchased the package in order to share it.

3 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Single device pre-pay for 14-day shoulld be 207.99 (typo or mis-read 6 for 0).

Additional prepurchase prices (from this thread) added

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

Your headers are off by a tab's worth as displayed on CC.

I have added the purchase ahead prices that I have access to, if anyone wishes to add others please respond here or email me.

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

OK I did the Multi columns and they are A-OK... but the link you posted to Zelker has several errors, at least in the Surf Multi column.

 

I  never posted a link, that was @Crew News, thanks for confirming that my transcription was correct.

I believe I have transcribed everything correctly, please let me know if you see any errors.