richwmn

Sunset over the Pacific headed toward Sydney

February 08 – At sea toward Sydney Sea day yesterday, nothing special during the day. Trivia sessions were fun, I have a good group with me. Last night the Zuiderdam Singers & Dancers did a show entitled ‘Your Song’. This was a tribute to Sir Elton John. The singing and selection of songs were very good. The dancing was energetic. It was a very good show. It’s nice to have a group of singers and dancers aboard. Today has been a very good day at sea. The weather has been beautiful and temperate. Everyone seems to be having a good time. So far everything has been going well.

Don't know, menu hasn't been provided yet.

We will be NZ next year on Volendam for the Grand Australian starting Jan 3, 24

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Add me to the list of those having trouble sleeping last night. I saw that Sandi had started the Daily and read the first few entries before I was able to get to sleep around 2am here.

February 06 – at sea destination Sydney As opposed to the previous two nights, last night was a little bit light on the entertainment. Billboard, Rolling Stone, and the Ocean Bar had their musical sets, 3 sets of 45 minutes each. The Main Stage, now called the World Stage, showed a movie “Whaledreamers”. Trivia sessions at 4:00pm and 6:30pm were both challenging and fun. We didn’t win but we have a good group and had fun with it. Today I settled back into the Sea Day Routine. Actually, a little different since I failed to read the card last night and didn’t reset my clock. As a result I was awake at 5:00am and got some things done before breakfast. I was going to walk a bit, but the Promenade Deck was closed off due to rough seas. Dinner tonight will be with friends in the Pinnacle Grill. I hope everyone has had a great day.

Thanks for the questions. I’m going to answer them in a different order. As far as being on the ship that long, I am not having a problem with that. I have already passed my previous long cruise of 40 days by almost a week. When I boarded the ship it was with the mind set that I would be in the same cabin for 140 days. That proved to change as I got an upgrade when the World Cruise started, but none the less I knew I would be on board for a long time. I have really enjoyed the on board experience. You asked how many of the ports I have been to before. I think between cruises and a wonderful two weeks in Europe several years ago I have been to about 1/3 of the ports of the World Cruise. For the two Caribbean ports I stayed on board since I have been to each several times. Past that I think I have gone ashore on all but 1 stop. Sometimes just to walk around, sometimes to try and see things. In Wellington I took pretty much the same excursion I took 4 years ago. It was still enjoyable. Each port has the opportunity to see things that were missed in previous ports. I have enjoyed this cruise thus far, and it has the possibility of it getting better.

Call me crazy! I have the following booked on Volendam Dec 22, 2023 - Jan 3, 2024 - Mexico - Holiday Jan 3 - Apr 6, 2024 - Grand Asia Australia Apr 6 - Apr 21, 2024 -Transcanal - Winter/Spring BTBTB

You will. I always have without a problem but some have mentioned having to check with Guest Services about it. I have easily ordered 6 or 12 at a time and received the 4* Mariner Pricing.

Yesterday's menus (a little late)

The other day Bruce ( @aliaschief ) asked me - Is it everything you thought it would be? This is something that I have been thinking about pretty much since the cruise began. To answer that, I think it must be broken down into different expectations. The first expectation is that I will be aboard a Holland America Ship aka BHB for 128 days. Today is day 33 of the cruise, so that expectation is being met day by day. The next is condition of the ship. Zuiderdam appears to be clean and well kept up. I think that I might have had an expectation that she would be kept up better than the other ships. This was partially based on the recognition that while Amsterdam was the ship for the World Cruise and while Prinsendam was part of the fleet, the crew recognized the special position those ships had in the fleet. Zuiderdam was only chosen as the ship for the World Cruise a short time ago, and is scheduled for the WC again next year. Past that is not yet known. The next consideration is the Guest Facing Staff. Everyone has always talked about the staff on the World Cruise being ‘the best of the best’, and I’m sure that was the case in the past and was the intent this year. Like all businesses, HAL lost a lot of good employees during the shut down. While starting back up HAL has had to hire a lot of new crew that just doesn’t have the same experience. While I think that the current crew is up to overall standards, maybe not quite what I have read was the previous level. I must say that most of the restaurant, bar, and cabin staff is calling a lot more guests by name, so that is a nice thing. Now to the ports. I have been to several of the ports before. My impression from previous people who have commented on the World Cruise was that the ports considered the WC as something special as well with many ports providing entertainment during the port call or at sail away. So far, only the Kingdom of Tonga has done so. Our stops at places I visited in 2019 were treated just the same now as then. Entertainment is the next thing to consider. Here I have to admit that being on the holiday cruise for 12 days prior to the WC comes into consideration here. For the first week or so of the WC we had the same entertainers as the holiday cruise. I went to one comic during the first week of the holiday cruise and thought he was pretty good. After turnaround in Fort Lauderdale he was again the entertainer and I went and found he was doing the same act. Then the first week of the WC, the same jokes again. I would have hoped he had more material. Further into the cruise we changed entertainers, but they were basically the same as we would have had on a regular cruise. When I did the Trans Pacific from Vancouver to Auckland in 2019 we changed entertainers four or five times, and the last group were from Australia. On the WC we have had several changes, but the only Australian entertainer was picked up in New Zealand and told us in a chat that she was a last minute addition. Her show was probably the best we have had. The next night we had Cantaré, a group HAL put together over a decade ago and is actually very good. From my standpoint the enrichment lectures have been a mixed bag. One of the presenters was a retired Navy Commander talking about ships and Nautical topics. He was a pretty good speaker and knew his subjects very well. But it is evident that he has presented the same lectures many times. He bills himself as ‘the Ship Guy’ and wears shirts saying that. The other presentations were on geology, physics, and languages. While interesting subjects, maybe the lectures were more suited to graduate level college courses than entertaining the guests on a cruise ship. The last person I want to talk about is the Master of the Ship, Captain Frisco Kramer gezegd Freher. One of the things I have noticed over the past many years is that the staff officers have been largely absent from the guest areas. Captain Freher has been out and about regularly and has been very easy to chat with. Along with his wife, he is seen regularly in the Lido and on the Music Walk. His announcements have been a good mix of information about the voyage, and general maritime knowledge. To sum it up, so far the World Cruise has been mostly just a longer version of a regular cruise. I feel sure that part of the problem is the overall state of the world. Maybe that will change over the rest of the cruise. Once HAL, and the other cruise lines for that matter, get another full year of operations under their belt next year will be more special, as the ones prior to 2020 were.

February 05 – Wellington, New Zealand Yesterday evening was full of activity. The normal trivia sessions at 4:00pm and 6:30pm went well. The later session was all about sports, not my strong suit but we did come close to winning. One more answer to tie, two more would have won. Well, there is always tonight. After trivia I sat and talked for a few minutes and when I got to the Main Stage I heard some familiar songs so I looked in. The show for last night was Cantare and they put on a very good show. Many familiar songs with a little choreography. The seating was packed on both floors so I left, determined to come back early for the late show. Since I missed the first show I had a few minutes until the 8:30pm Cocktail Chat with Debora Krizak. She is the singer that put on a very good show Friday evening. She told us a little more about herself and her career in music and comedy. It was interesting to find out she was a last minute addition. She told us she got a call from her agent, agreed to the terms, and had 24 hours to get to the ship. She is from Sydney and had to make it to Auckland. It was a nice chat and I’m pleased she made it to the ship. This morning we arrived in Wellington on schedule. Cruise ship docking in Wellington is currently at an industrial port, and we had to take a shuttle to the downtown area. Once we started leaving the port area I started recognizing things from my visit in 2019. Along with a friend from trivia, I went to the tourist information area and we bought tickets to a two hour excursion thru the city. It was very similar to the one I took in 2019. The two hours went quickly and we took the return shuttle to the ship.

Zaandam and Volendam are the only two ships left that don't have a fridge in the inside and outside cabins. Any cabin with a verandah has a fridge. All other ships have a fridge in all cabins. For Zaandam and Volendam there is a small charge for the fridge, but really no good place to put it.

Room stewards are responsible for stocking the fridge now. They have been very helpful in keeping a supply of Cokes in my fridge, both on NSDM in October and so far on ZUID. All priced with 4* now 5* discount

I see now. I just looked and the RCI version has 3440 pages and P&O has 1700. We have one as well with about 20 pages. When Covid first started the hosts started those pages for all lines, probably to keep up interest. The Daily was well established at that time, so ours didn't take off. Some of the forums still have them, some don't.

Good morning to all from (almost) Wellington NZ. It is another overcast day today and a bit chilly. The entertainment for the last two days has been very good. A singer from Australia, Debra Kitzah and Contare a group of 4 singers. A bit of a request, and I don't really know who to direct it to. On several occasions there have been posts to the Daily mentioning similar threads on other lines, most recently RCI and P & O I think. I have never been able to find them. I'm just interested in seeing what they are. If someone could point me to one I'd appreciate it.

February 04 – Gisborne, New Zealand After a nice walk in Tauranga yesterday the evening on the ship was very nice. We had trivia at 4:00pm and 8:00pm. The session at 8:00pm was scheduled to be Rolling Stones music but a problem with the file caused a change to CCR music. My group of 4 won with a total of 14 out of 17 points. We were promised that the Rolling Stones file would be fixed and used on a later date. The show on the Main Stage last night was an Australian singer named Debora Krizak. The show consisted of songs by women singers, including Adele, Helen Reddy, Dolly Parton, and maybe one more. With a very good voice and range, she performed a good selection of songs and the talk between songs was entertaining. One of the best shows we have had since the World Cruise began. Gisborne is a short day and a tender port. Because of that I chose to stay aboard Zuiderdam today. The weather is very good and I’m sure that those who went ashore had a good time.

I did walk around the area a bit. I saw the Ice Cream Shop but it was early. It was a very comfortable day for walking today. Hope y'all are well.

I have a primary source for the days to recognize. Take a Cruise Day was not on it. The list I go to when the primary list is short has about 20 days to recognize today including: National Take A Cruise Day International Golden Retriever Day American Painters Day Doggy Date Day Four Chaplains Memorial Day National Wear Red Day National Missing Persons Day National Patients Recognition Day National Wedding Ring Day National Women Physicians Day

It looks like Park'n'fly has recently closed and they are referring people to Park'n'Go. No reason for the closure, but it was also a good place to park. https://www.pnf.com/airport-parking/fll-fort-lauderdale-airport-parking/park-n-fly-ft-lauderdale

I am not an iPhone person but know many that are and they have had no problems with iMessage over the ship's internet connection but I'm not sure if it is just the premium package which they had. Using the yahoo website is not a problem for receiving and sending email, I do that regularly and should work with any package as I think yahoo is an allowed site for the social package.

I should also mention I did one cruise years ago that we left from Terminal 26 and returned to Terminal 4, quite a distance away. That was the last time I parked in the Midport Garage. It took quite a bit of time for the shuttle to fill enough to move from the terminal to the garage. If I had been parked at one of the off port services I would have been on the road 30 - 45 minutes earlier. However, that rarely happens.

It has been a while, but I have have used both Park'n'go and Park'n'fly, both right outside the port. I had no problems with either, Park'n'fly had to help me around a dead battery, but I think either would have.