richwmn

1 hour ago, mahi mahi said:

Once onboard we hit a wall with the elevators and there were some frayed tempers from people forced to wait as long as 20 minutes! We really noticed how the absence of those 4 glass elevators added to crowding on a full ship.

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 18^th, 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 16^th, 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

I know some Canadian ports do not count as "foreign ports" for the purposes of PVSA from my own experience - that's why I said always check with the cruise line first.  . . . .

I cancelled the entire trip instead but learned a lesson about PVSA!

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

 

7 hours ago, ATC said:

What time do you enter the 1st locks Tuesday?

Estimated times:

Miraflores -- 7:30am

Gatun -- 1:10pm

Panama Time is 1 hour earlier than eastern

 

https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/Webcams/miraflores.html

 

49 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

That is strange.  PVSA is about where you first board the ship and where you disembark.  In your case you boarded in San Diego and would disembark in Boston, but the PVSA would be satisfied by a multitude of distant foreign ports.

 

I think HAL tries to look at any combination of cruises and deny on the thought that someone may skip one of the legs and end up in violation of the law. 

 

Roy

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.

 

1 hour ago, Real NHDOC said:

Some cruises violate the PVSA if booked consecutively and sometimes this isn't discovered when the bookings are made.  Ask me how I learned this. 

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 15^th, 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 --

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

34 minutes ago, kelliebiz said:

I’ll try again with the photos, I see just a black screen instead of any pics. And yes I did introduce myself to Rich one night. We didn’t really talk  but we did meet. It’s always nice to put an actual person with an online presence 👍🏼

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 14^th, 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, kazu said:

Sigh’. I just love a thankless job 😔 

 

I will make note and try to change if necessary.  the Fleet Report is not under my control.

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 13^th, 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 –

 

On 11/6/2023 at 9:44 PM, Suncitycruiser1925 said:

For your second sailing, maybe customer service will help you print your docs. on the ship.

 

On 11/5/2023 at 11:42 AM, Lakesregion said:

Good to know. I will plan on the extra line as I do not own a phone that allows apps and my computer is too old to get apps either.  PLus for the second half of my trip that was booked as aeperate booking will not be available until I am on board for the first lap. May be my last cruise if the powers to be do not allow a simply boarding process. Some times if it isn't broken trying to fix it really is not the answer, though it does keep people that have no real job employeed.

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.

 

1 hour ago, kazu said:

thanks Ann.  I confess, I didn’t look at it today.  Colin let me know about the new port yesterday and was able to reach Rich @richwmn (who likes his records absolutely correct 😘) and  I understood he  had fixed it.  I’ll watch it tomorrow and manually change it if need be.

I corrected it as a port but didn't think to correct it as a destination, brain fart.

It will be fixed for tomorrow

April 12^th, 2024 – Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

It is 7:30am and we are not due into port until 10am, so a bit of travel to finish this morning. We are headed East and slightly North as we head into Puerto Quetzal. Volendam is making 17 knots. We are currently under clear skies with a temperature of 77°F / 25°C with a humidity of 74% and winds at just under 7mph.

 

 

Yesterday was a very nice day aboard Volendam. After a nice morning stroll thru Huatulco I got back to a nice lunch. We had our typical three trivia sessions. The second was themed ‘Animals’ and had a nice selection of questions about the animal kingdom. My group managed to win that session. The late music session featured songs by the Beatles. We had a nice selection of 10 songs and a bonus. Although almost all groups got everything right, the selection contained both popular and less well known Beatles songs.

 

We got out of trivia in time to make it to the World Stage in time to see the beginning of the show. Last night Lisa Harmon returned to the stage, the fifth time in the last couple of weeks. She is a very talented singer and puts on a good show.

 

This morning was a bit different. I woke up and realizing today is a ‘port’ day. However, since our time today starts at 10am, the Lido was observing ‘sea’ day hours and not opening until 7am. Cereal and Juices were out, so my breakfast this morning was a very satisfying bowl of Cereal and some Juice.

 

Our hours today in Puerto Quetzol are 10am to 5:30pm so it will be a good day to visit. Our activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 11^th, 2024 – Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

 

I’m sure y’all are a bit tired of my comments on the wonderful weather I have been having since boarding Volendam, but I really haven’t had a bad day. Some might have been a little warm or cold, but in general, very nice. Today is another nice day in a small beach town. I don’t remember stopping here before, my only real memory of this area is in 1976 during a drive to Panama.

 

 

 

Yesterday was a bit of a mixed day. A nice relaxing day at sea and no real problems. We had the typical three sessions of trivia, and we did ok at the first two. The second session was on ‘Movies’ and we only missed one, tying for the win but losing (again) in the tie breaker. The 7pm session seems that it will always be music. Last night the song or artist had to begin with the letter ‘C’, and we did terrible. I will say that session is a bit frustrating. The previous trivia host made sure to have trivia end in time to get to the World Stage in time for the show to start. Cliff mentioned last night that he made sure to be finished by 7:30pm (doesn’t always happen) which gets us to the stage after the show starts. In giving the answers he plays more of the song than he needs to and that puts us late.

 

The show last night was the first show this cruise by what has been known as ‘The Grand Voyage Repertory Company’, but might have a different name now since we are no longer on a Grand Voyage. Last night we had ‘In the Mood’ which was one of the shows we had on the Australia New Zealand Grand. It was again very good. The group is very energetic and the show is fun to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 10^th, 2024 – at sea, destination Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

 

Good morning! Volendam is currently off southern Mexico heading Southeast at 19 knots. We reach our next stop tomorrow morning. Under broken clouds, the temperature is currently 75°F/ 24°C with a humidity of 80% and winds at almost 12mph.

 

 

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Puerto Vallarta, and very relaxing on the ship. This was another repeat port for me on this cruise as we visited on December 29^th, prior to Grand Australia & New Zealand. I had some things I wanted to do so I remained on board and got quite a bit done. It is always nice to remain on board at ports because everything is wide open and easy to use.

 

For trivia there were three sessions scheduled, but I only made two of them. For the 4pm session, the topic was ‘Mexico’. Most of the questions were relatively easy and we did well. The evening session was an unusual topic. Each song had a letter ‘B’ and either the name of the song or the name of the artist. The songs covered several eras and genres. As a result Tom and I only got 17, with the winner getting 20.

 

Now to the entertainment. Mike Robinson was the World Stage entertainer last night. As with Lisa last night, he is a hold over from the last week or so of the Grand Australia cruise. None the less, I hurried to the World Stage after trivia to see his show. I was slightly disappointed. The audience was packed, good for the performer. I stayed for a minute and saw the first bit of the same show I saw two weeks ago. If the venue had not been packed, I would have stayed and enjoyed it again. Because I didn’t have an easy view of the stage, I left. I also didn’t return for the late show although it wouldn’t have been as crowded.

 

 

It is a very nice day aboard the ship this morning. Plenty of activities scheduled and a very relaxed day. Here is our schedule –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 9^th, 2024 – Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico

 

Good morning from another repeat of a Christmas Cruise port. Today is another nice day in Mexico. We have continued to have nice weather since I boarded the ship in December. I overheard some people talking this morning that have been aboard Volendam about a month longer than I have.

 

 

 

Yesterday was an interesting day in Cabo. Between the fact that Cabo is a tender port, the Christmas Visit, previous visits, and the eclipse I decided to stay aboard, along with quite a few others. I got a few tasks taken care of with my Chrome book by the mid ship pool. A little before 11am the area started to get a bit of the crowd, with about half having glasses to look at the eclipse with. Those of us that had glasses shared and everyone got a look at the eclipse.

 

We had three trivia sessions yesterday. The early one at 1pm was general knowledge, and we did ok. For the 4pm session the theme was ‘History’ and we did somewhat better, but still didn’t win. The music session at 7pm was ‘Motown’. We got everything right up until the last song, got the right artist but wrong title. We tied for first with another team that made the same mistake.

 

Lisa Harmon was on the World Stage last night. For me, this was the fourth appearance in about two weeks. She started off with two good songs, one vocal only and one with the piano. At that point I left because I had a couple of things on my mind. However, I’m sure it was another good show.

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, it is another pretty day here, but it will be a bit short. All aboard is 2:30pm as we make our way further South again.

 

Here are today’s activities and menus –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

thanks - not much I can do about it now.  Where ae you tomorrow?  I will check the report tomorrow and with luck will remember to change it if it is incorrect.

 

this is all pre-programmed so unless I am aware of a change I cn’t make it.

Volendam is in Puerto Vallarta tomorrow so the schedule should be correct

Volendam is in Cabo San Lucas MX today, I'll have to check the schedules for Volendam & Zaandam going forward.

We will have 95% eclipse in about 15 minutes