richwmn

18 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

I have found my wine package for in-cabin -- but what am I missing here? -- "Save up to 25% (what about 4 & 5-star 50% off wine packages?  

2 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Great start to your cruise, thank you!  

Rich @richwmn did you see my question yesterday about the wine packages?  It says "Save up to 25%".  I hope that's a misprint (even though it states 25% in several places).  

Happy to see they have Pine Ridge and Wairau River wines. 🙂  

I did see this yesterday, but I took it as a rhetorical question. I assume that we still get the proper discount, but will ask at the wine tasting (hic) at 1:50

Gingerbread Village in Atrium

Sea outside on a beautiful day

Good morning from Volendam off Baja California.

Everything has been going just fine, the ship looks wonderful and I settled right in.

I don't look at the halfacts version of the Daily very often and didn't realize that the wrong ships were listed in the Eastern Hemisphere, I corrected that a few minutes ago.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend leading to Christmas Day on Monday.

December 23^rd, 2023 – Notes after breakfast.

I had a very good night’s sleep last night and woke a little after 6 local time. Everything seemed familiar for some reason. Breakfast started at 7, so I did a few things around the cabin and headed to the Lido right at 7. I enjoyed my typical breakfast with the normal great service. Right at opening the Lido restaurant is generally pretty empty and easy to get around.

Today at 11:30am the Mariner Society is having a reception for 3,4, & 5 Star Guests in the Crows Nest. That is scheduled for 45 minutes. The Cruise Critic M&G is scheduled for 1pm, also in the Crows Nest. At 1:50 pm I have an invitation for a complimentary wine tasting in the Main Dining Room.

So far I have had no problems other than my card not working in my door right away yesterday. While I was getting that taken care of I overheard the interaction between Guest Services and another Guest. The Guest is in an outside cabin. She was under the impression that she had a balcony. She was trying to get Guest Services to ‘correct’ the problem. Guest Services was trying to tell her that she needed to contact whoever booked the cruise for her, but she wasn’t having any of it. The ship, of course for the holidays, is full. I was able to leave before she did.

On another note, I ran into Scooter tom last evening. I met him on Nieuw Statendam last October. Very nice guy and had a nice conversation with him.

December 23rd, 2023 -- Good Morning

I didn’t post the Schedule for yesterday – Notice that it is called THE DAILY

and here is today’s schedule

December 22^nd, 2023 – Good night!

Just a quick note before calling it a night. The ship has been lively tonight. The entertainment has been pretty good. I sampled each and was pleasantly surprised. First, the Main Stage did the ‘Origin Story’. I have seen it and it is worth seeing. Next we have the Ocean Bar with a combo playing danceable music. Then we have The Mix with a single pianist. Both the combo and the single pianist were pretty good. I also stopped in for a music trivia, and the presentation and content was pretty good. The combo and the pianist each had three sets. A cocktail pianist also played two sets, but I wasn’t around for that. Tomorrow there will be a classical duo in the Explorers Lounge. The Casino had a moderate crowd.

I did run into a couple of people so far that I have met on previous cruises.

December 22^nd, 2023 – On Televisions and hookups

A common question on this board is “Can I hook up my (insert device) to the tv in the cabin?” While it is not something I would want to do, I am going to discuss the possibility in my cabin. Please understand this only applies to Volendam HH3300. Most likely the other outside and maybe inside cabins are similar.

The TV sits on a shelf above the desk and is easy to view from the bed or the love seat.

Behind the TV is a rather large area containing 4 European style outlets. Only 1 of the outlets is in use for the TV. I am using 2 of the others for my laptop and a European type USB charger.

The back of the TV looks to contain only two connectors, one of which is an ethernet (network) connector. The other I am not sure of.

On the side of the TV it appears that it has 2 hdmi connectors and 1 usb connector.

It appears that a hdmi cable or usb drive could be attached with little or no trouble. I do not have a remote of any type to test the TV with. The one in my cabin happens to be an LG model.

The main menu on the screen looks identical to that I saw on Nieuw Statendam and Zuiderdam last year. Current Channel lineup is EWTN Holiday Programming Schedule, NFL Games, NCAA Games, BBC News, MSNBC, FOX News, Prime One, Prime Favorites, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Bow Camera, and Aft Camera. I haven’t checked but I believe ships announcements are on Bow Camera. There is a group of programs designated TV On Demand which includes 6 Ocean Originals and One ‘Other’. There are also three music channels – The Beach, Plaza, and Classical.

The remote is very basic and is designed only to access the necessary HAL functions.

27 minutes ago, lakedweller64 said:

Hi Rich we will join you in San Diego on the 6th of April for the Fll trip.Really looking forward to your posts. Room 3327 so we will be neighbors.We did this trip last year on the Zaandam and loved it.

Glad you got everything straightened out and are able to join us. We had a good sail away today and everyone is in a festive holiday mood.

Whoever said you were out of compliance didn't look back far enough. Finally, someone did. Glad you will be joining us.

(Sent from Volendam)

And the (lengthy) Wine List

Tonight's dinner in the Main Dining Room

December 22, 2023 – Aboard ms Volendam

I checked out of the hotel right at 11:00am. A cab came within 5 minutes and we were on the way to the port. We didn’t have any traffic problems, and got to the port quickly. When we arrived the porters took my bag, and I headed inside. From that point I basically didn’t stop walking for more than a minute until just before boarding the ship. There was quite a backup. But even that didn’t take long. I dropped my carry on bag in the cabin and headed to the Lido, after being reminded that on this ship it is on Deck 8. My Dive In burger came and I noticed that it had been just 45 minutes since I left the hotel.

I also did a quick walk around the Promenade Deck. As usual, the deck hands were out washing everything. To me, everything looked great. My baggage has arrived in my cabin, and I met one of my stewards. I watched the video, and now need to head out to have my card scanned at the muster station.

9 minutes ago, woodworker&knitter said:

Good morning interested in the name of the hotel  please. 
Have  a wonderful cruise

Comfort Inn North Harbor, sorry should have mentioned it before

1 minute ago, jimdee3636 said:

By the way, what category of cabin do you have?

Fully obstructed outside (HH3300). I have this cabin by choice.

December 22^nd, 2023

Good morning from San Diego!

Today, in about 5 hours or so, I will board Volendam for the holiday cruise, the first of 4 back to back. So far this morning it has been overcast and rainy. Hopefully it will clear up a bit by the time I move toward the dock.

Yesterday I took care of a couple of last minute items. I also had a meal at a nice little Mexican restaurant near the hotel. It was very good and convenient to the hotel, easy walking distance. There is also a Denny’s and a Ralph’s Supermarket within about a block of this hotel. I have had a feeling since I checked in that I have stayed here before but I can’t pin point when. Maybe it will come to me.

The hotel has the normal, complimentary breakfast bar and it has been good yesterday and today. It is clean and the staff is nice.

Everything is in order, now I just need to pass the time until 11am, checkout time and the time I can start the boarding process on the ship. My assigned time is 12:40. I will arrive about noon and see what happens. I’ll just have to see what 5* Priority Boarding means in San Diego.

@kazu you may as well add the FLL => Montreal leg for future postings

It is almost 6am in San Diego. In about 5 hours I will leave for the port to board Volendam. I hope everyone has a great weekend and holiday season.

Since no one has posted the cruises involved, I believe OP is talking about Volendam sailing from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale (Apr 6 - 21), Fort Lauderdale to Montreal (April 21 - May 4) then Montreal to Boston starting May 4.

This itinerary stops in Carteghena, Columbia which qualifies as a Distant Foreign port for the PVSA.

52 minutes ago, retird said:

But the OP can start in San Diego and end in Fort Lauderdale?   I understood the OP was departing FLL and visiting various ports on the way to Montreal and ending in Boston.   Wouldnt Montreal and the other ports visited qualify as foreign ports under PVSA?

Refer to post #12. In order for a foreign flagged cruise ship (all but 1 currently) a ship must stop in a DISTANT foreign port before she can transport a passenger from one US port to another US Port. SD -> FLL, or SD -> FLL -> Montreal -> Boston. Carteghena, Columbia satisfies the requirement for both. No other port visited satisfies the requirement. His itinerary is legal and should have been allowed.

edit: posting at same time as @Shmoo here

Sorry you had to cancel as the itinerary IS legal under the PVSA. If you want to do the cruise as you booked it, get in touch with someone during the day tomorrow.

23 minutes ago, Bill B said:

Same room on all four legs?

Same cabin until I reach Fort Lauderdale. I just booked the final cruise this week and Guarantee was the only thing available. I have been told that it is possible that I will get the same cabin for that cruise as well.

13 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Wow!  A great trip indeed.  I wonder how this 134 day trip compares cost wise to the World Cruise?  

In general terms, about the same. However, you have to realize that a large part of it is a 'Grand Voyage' so that is part of the deal.

1 minute ago, kazu said:

You have an amazing adventure ahead of you, Rich 👍. Looking forward to all of your posts and even more, joining you on April 21st 🙂 

 

I hope you have an absolutely fabulous time.  Bon Voyage!

 

Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of months

16 minutes ago, lakedweller64 said:

On this cruise I board in San Diego stop in a number of foreign ports and end in Boston.Hal states that they consider this one continuous cruise per there email.

That is correct, but according to the terms of the PVSA in order to go from one US port to another you must stop at a DISTANT foreign port which is defined as one basically outside North America and the Caribbean. The port that qualifies is Cartagena, Colombia which is South America. The ABC islands also qualify as they are considered to be part of South America.

I realized after my first post that my spacing was off, just like the beginning of last year where I copied the style. I moved down in my posts from last year to get the spacing that worked best.

My travel this year actually started on Tuesday. A friend volunteered to take the 90ish mile trip to take me to a hotel near the Atlanta Airport. I have no interest in getting up at 3am in order to get to the airport two hours early. I stayed at a hotel I have used before that is nice and only about 10 minutes from the terminal. Not much can go wrong in 10 minutes, but there is still a chance.

When I checked into the hotel, I asked for a 7:30am shuttle, and they suggested that 7:00am might be better so I took that. From the time I left the hotel to arrival at the gate took me about an hour and a half. I was surprised at how close some people were pushing their arrival. In the shuttle I talked to two ladies who were flying to Los Angles a day late after missing their flight the day before due to problems with TSA.

When I left the hotel the Delta App said my gate would be A29. When I checked in, it had been changed to B37, no problem. I got to the gate plenty early and was checking Cruise Critic when I realized that it was about time to board and they were still boarding another flight at B37. I checked the App again and the gate had been changed – I never heard a notice. Luckily the new gate was B31, very close. I was one of the last to board. After we boarded there was an announcement that our flight time would be about 4 hours rather than the scheduled time of over 5. That put us into San Diego about noon. Since I was in no hurry, I didn’t arrive at my hotel until about 1, and they did have a room available for immediate check in. I recognized the hotel as one I had stayed in before.

So far I have had a good nights sleep and have made up 2 hours of the time difference. I woke up at 4am. Hopefully a little better tomorrow. The included breakfast was good and the San Diego weather is messy today and expected to stay the same.