richwmn

April 20th, 2024 – Half Moon Cay, Bahamas This is the last stop on the Canal Transit Cruise. I heard this morning that around 65 Guests are continuing on to Montreal, and I believe that cruise is sold out as well. That mean that around 1,350 Guests checking in tomorrow morning. Another good day to stay on the ship. So for weather today, we have clear skies and a temperature of 73°F / 23°C. The humidity is 71% and winds at 10.4 mph. Looks like a beautiful day for the beach at Half Moon Cay. Yesterday we had a lot going on. We started out with the final time change of the cruise. Some of the highlights begin with the presentation “A City on the Sea”, which is a look at the construction and operation of a ship. The ship shown under construction is Rotterdam VII. Trivia was challenging, and we did well with both sessions. The World Stage presentation was “Classique” by the Volendam Singers and Dancers. The troupe was in very good form last night and the show was really good. This was a repeat from the Grand Voyage, and might have been performed a little better this time. We arrived on time this morning, anchors being dropped around 6am, and tenders available starting around 7. It looks to be a great day at Half Moon Cay, and also aboard Volendam. Today’s activities and menus –

Sunrise over Half Moon Cay

I haven't been keeping up with the progress of Noordam, probably should have been transferred a day or two ago. It's been done now.

Just a note, it would help if the ship is full and there is a wait list. Years ago I was traveling as a solo with two couples. One of the other cabins had someone that couldn't go, so I called and we were able to get me moved into the other cabin, thus freeing up a cabin for the wait list.

April 19th, 2024 – at sea, destination Half Moon Cay, Bahamas Today is our last sea day for this segment. We should arrive at Half Moon Cay tomorrow morning for a nice beach day before heading to Fort Lauderdale to exchange Guests. We are currently headed in a northerly direction at 14 knots and are between Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Under clear skies, the temperature is currently 79°F / 26°C, the humidity is 69% and the winds are at 20mph. The ship is experiencing a little bit of motion this morning. So yesterday was a sea day and went well. I had a few things to do in the morning. We had a meeting yesterday to present medallions, and there were quite a few to present. Our Captain, Rens Van Eerten, and our Hotel Manager, Florin Dragomir, have a great deal of fun with these ceremonies. This occurred at 12:30 and we were all invited to the Main Dining Room for a lunch. My entire trivia team was in attendance and all but one, who was actually presented a medallion, went to the 1pm trivia instead. By the time we got to the Mix for trivia, all the seats were filled. We asked Cliff to put the questions on the screens in the bar area, but he was reluctant to do so. We ended up joining a nice lady who was sitting alone. We did well and enjoyed the session. The 4pm session consisted of all True and False questions. We got more right than we expected. On the World Stage last evening we had the piano talents of Elliot Finkle. As I mentioned the other day, he is a talented pianist and very good speaker. He played a variety of songs, with a story about each. It was an interesting time in the World Stage. Last night was the Orange Party in the Crows Nest. The Ocean Bar played to a packed house. The bar hop was also held, ending in the crows nest for the rest of the evening. Many people had various pieces of orange clothing on to participate in the festivities, and many had on orange wigs. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Last night we did our final time change, so we are now on Eastern time to match Fort Lauderdale. Here we have today’s activities and menus – Daniel

@SusieKIslandGirl Yesterday you posted "Knowing not much about adding things to maps, etc.--would it be difficult to add a red star at the Destination of Day location? Some ports are very familiar but others can be huh, where's that? Thanks! I do appreciate your maps." The fleet locations on the maps are pulled from another website, we only add the ship names. I checked a bit yesterday and couldn't find a site that would give port locations for all ports consistently.

April 18th, 2024 – at sea, destination Half Moon Cay, Bahamas Welcome to the second version of April 18th. It is my 118th day aboard Volendam. As many of you know, it is difficult to keep track of the day of the week, let alone day of the month on long cruises. HAL assists us by placing mats in each elevator showing the day of the week. It won’t be too long until I finally disembark from Volendam and have to head home. Yesterday was an interesting day. I had previously stopped in Cartagena in October, 2014 on Zuiderdam (I didn’t realize it was so long ago). That was at the end of a reposition from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale. At that time I looked off the ship and just didn’t quite feel like entering the city so I stayed aboard. Several people mentioned the bird sanctuary near the port so I determined to at least see that. Also, I saw enough of Daniel’s presentation to know that there were taxi’s at a reasonable price. Armed with that, I left the ship and took the shuttle to the entrance. I was very pleased to find that the exit to the city included a walk thru the bird sanctuary. It was as good as people had said. I got to the end where the cab drivers were waiting, and after a short conversation I found one that was willing to do a one hour ride into the city for a price I agreed on. I am very glad I did it. Cartagena is a nice visit and a study in contrasts. Like many cities there are sections that are new and upgraded, while other areas look like they haven’t been touched for years. I got to see a little of both. I arrived back in time to participate in the 4pm trivia, with the theme of ‘Games’ and was concerned with the board games we have all played. As a group we didn’t feel that we would do very well, but the questions favored us and we did manage to win after a tie breaker. The evening show in the World Stage was the second show by Mario D’Andrea. He did another nice show featuring hits of Tom Jones, Elvis, and others of the same era. He is an excellent singer and guitar player. It was another good show. This morning is a nice smooth ride on the Caribbean. We are headed for our last stop on this segment, Half Moon Cay on the 20th. Then off to Fort Lauderdale to change out most of the Guests for new ones. I know that there are a few other than me that are staying aboard. Today’s activities and menus –

My experience, although it has been a while, is that if you walk to another elevator bank the service is a lot quicker. Most people congregate at the elevators right where they board the ship.

April 18th, 2024 – Cartagena, Columbia Today we are still a couple of hours away from our stop at Cartagena. I was here once before and it is another container port with a shuttle provided. It is currently 86°F / 30°C under scattered clouds with the humidity at 74% and 9 mph winds. The ship is moving North at 3 knots. Yesterday was a busy day going thru the Panama Canal. I posted the Canal images yesterday, so scroll up to view them. I would always like for a Canal transit to include a port day in Panama, but it generally does not happen. I have been fortunate to have Fuerte Amador as a stop twice and would enjoy another stop. Because of the Canal transit, the early trivia was not scheduled. The 4 pm session was themed ‘Panama Canal’ and my team did well without me. I was by the Sea View Bar taking a few pictures, and reliving memories. I passed on the late trivia again because I didn’t want to miss the first few minutes of the first show. Speaking of the show, the ‘Grand Voyage Repertory Company’ (AKA Volendam Singers and Dancers) for a reprise of their show ‘Boogie Wonderland’. The group has been a very welcome addition to the past few months and have always put on a good, energetic show. They are all good dancers, and the singers have good voices. The entire troupe puts a lot into their performance and also seems to enjoy themselves. This morning we are proceeding to Cartagena, and a late afternoon / evening stop before Half Moon Cay and our turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale. Here are today’s activities and menus –

Leaving Panama and the Canal, the Atlantic (Caribbean) side bridge. This is the newest bridge over the Canal, having been finished in 2019.

April 16th, 2024 – Panama Canal Day It is very late in the day, as there is something going on starting very early. We started our approach to the first lock at 6:30 this morning, and quite a bit has been happening all day. I don’t have the temperatures for this morning, but it has been hot and humid. At 2:30 in the afternoon it is 84°F / 28°C, a bit cooler than I thought. The screen says light rain, but I haven’t seen it. Humidity is 68% and 10mph winds. We are currently not moving, waiting for the lock to clear with a slightly North heading. Typical trivias yesterday. We did well on the earlier session and better on the late session with a theme of “Food” and a good selection of questions for each. Last night I finally ate in the Main Dining Room, sorry no pictures. I had a nice salad, salmon, and a dessert. The food was good and the company was nice. The meal took about an hour, so not too bad. After dinner I went to the show in the World Stage. This was a show I was looking forward to. The performer was Elliot Finkel, a piano player / humorist that I have seen several times in the past on other ships. His brother, Ian, who passed away a few years ago was also a staple on HAL ships and was very good. His father, Fyvush Finkel, was an accomplished actor most known for the show “Picket Fences”. True to form, Elliot put on a very good show last night, and I enjoyed it tremendously. As I said, this morning started at 6:30. The bow of the ship was opened and plenty of people were out there taking pictures of the approach to Miraflores Locks and the Bridge of the Americas. We entered the locks around 7:30 and it was again a very good experience. Shortly after leaving Miraflores, we went thru the Pedro Miguel Locks. During this time we also went under the Centennial Bridge. For the next few hours we passed thru the actual canal portion of the trip. It is very scenic and is a good place to sit and watch the world go by. We are currently in the Gatun Locks, ready to make our way into the Caribbean Sea. Well, it is late in the evening and I’m finally getting this posted. It has been a long, but mostly good day. Activities and menus are here –

Leaving Centennial Bridge Going forward toward Culebra Cut Change in schedule, Gatun Locks at 1:30pm, about 20 minutes later than previously stated

Centennial Bridge from Miraflores Pedro Miguel Locks

From the standpoint of the PVSA there are "near" and "distant" foreign ports. In order for a ship to do a round trip (Seattle to Seattle) it needs to do a "near" foreign port. In order for a passenger to go from one US port to another US port, they need to do a "distant" foreign port. In order for a port to be a "distant" foreign port it has to be outside North and Central America. The ABC islands are considered part of South America thereby being considered "distant".

Bridge of the Americas, I first drove across this bridge in July of 1976

For those who are interested, Volendam's Panama Schedule today - Estimated times: Miraflores -- 7:30am Gatun -- 1:10pm Panama Time is 1 hour earlier than eastern https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/Webcams/miraflores.html

Estimated times: Miraflores -- 7:30am Gatun -- 1:10pm Panama Time is 1 hour earlier than eastern https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/Webcams/miraflores.html

I believe the email was automatically sent to anyone booking the FLL=>Montreal Cruise. In my case, the PVSA was blown totally out of the water due to visiting the South Pacific and I could book on to Boston, but that would take a manager's review, particularly since my FLL=>Montreal was not initially linked to the previous cruises.

HAL is doing a better job of letting people know about this now. When I booked FLL=>Montreal in October(ish) I immediately received an email that booking the following cruise to Boston was not allowed due to PVSA.

April 15th, 2024 – at sea, destination Panama Canaletto This morning we are off the coast of Panama and it is a beautiful day. Tomorrow morning we will enter the Panama Canal for the transit to the Caribbean Sea and Fort Lauderdale. The transit and the canal is always a wonderful sight. We are currently headed Southeast at 14 knots. The temperature is 82°F / 28°C under scattered clouds. The humidity is 69% and the winds are a little over 10mph. Yesterday was a nice, but hot day in Costa Rica. Puntarenus is a nice port town. While the walk from the ship is rather long, it is not really too bad. Once we got into town there was a rather large market set up, with vendors selling cigars, jewelry, and clothing. Everything appeared to be well made. I didn’t inquire about prices but of course was told ‘best prices anywhere’. Back on the ship, we had our normal trivia sessions at 1pm and 4pm. I didn’t attend the 7pm ‘Music’ session because I didn’t want to miss any of the stage show. While we didn’t win the trivia sessions, we did well. The 4pm session had a theme of ‘Beverages’, and we talked before about how broad a topic that is. The questions were moderately hard and no one got a perfect score. We changed our clocks again last night so we are in sync with Panama. We are still one hour off Fort Lauderdale and the east coast. Only six more days until the end of this segment. Here are today’s activities and menus --

Sorry we didn't talk more, hope to run into you again before Fort Lauderdale. If you want to call, I'm in 3300.

April 14th, 2024 – Puntarenus, Porta Caldera, Costa Rica Good morning from our last port on the west coast of North & Central America. We are sharing the port today with the Carnival Spirit, and the pier is so narrow that our gangplank almost touches the other side and so does Spirit’s. From the ship to the shore is about a 500 meter walk. Yesterday was a very good sea day. I only attended two of the three trivia sessions. The afternoon session was themed ‘Travel’ and the questions were pretty hard. We did well with both. I didn’t attend the ‘Music’ session at 7pm because I wanted to see the entire show in the World Stage. The show was a singer/guitar player named Mario D’Andrea. As with a lot of the musical acts, he used a recorded background, but he played several songs without it. The show was very good and it seemed that everyone in the packed audience enjoyed it. He has a very good voice and is a very accomplished guitar player. Today in Costa Rica will be very hot and humid. We have to be back on board at 5:30pm so we have one of our longer days in port. Here are today’s activities and menus.

I am in control and I am embarrassed, I usually don't mess up the ship I'm on! Sorry about that. I have checked and Volendam is now correct to when I get off in Montreal. Rich

April 13th, 2024 – at sea, destination Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera), Costa Rica We are heading South toward Panama, but tomorrow we will stop in Costa Rica. After leaving we will have one more time change before entering the canal. We are currently headed Southeast at 14 knots which is about what was announced that we need in order to make our next port on time. The temperature is currently 84°F /29°C under scattered clouds. The wind is at 22 mph, and the humidity is 71%. Yesterday was a very nice day in Puerto Quetzol. As seems to be the case with many ports on longer cruises, we were at a container port with a long walk from the ship to any chance of seeing anything. There is nothing within sight of the ship. For various reasons, including a long ago visit to the area, I stayed on the ship. We continue to have three trivia sessions a day, doesn’t matter sea or port. The early or 1pm session is always general knowledge, the 4pm session is themed, and at 7pm we have music, also with a theme. We have a group of 6 that plays the first two sessions together. On Thursday one of our members had our seats ready for us when two people sat in them. When told that we had a full team on the way, they said ‘Do you expect us to move’, and were upset when they were told yes. As to the trivia itself, we did well for the first two. The Music trivia was supposed to by ‘Disco’, but about half the songs came out during the period but were not really disco. We did not do well with this theme, getting only 11 out of a possible 24 points. The show on the World Stage last night was the second show by the ‘Latin Devos’, a nice group of three singers. Each gentleman has a good voice and they sing together well. The proportion of singing vs talk is good and they have a nice stage presence. It has been a nice morning aboard Volendam, and looks to be an enjoyable day. Here are the activities and menus for today –

For your second, and subsequent, cruises on the same ship you do NOT have to print any documentation or have it on your phone. Everything you need to continue will be provided to you in your cabin several days before turnaround day.