Blackduck59

So we are in Saint John New Brunswick, happy to be home in Canada. It is a foggy day and much cooler than where we have been. We have a shore excursion here which is supposed to include the reversing rapids. Hopefully the timing works out that we can see that. It depends on the tides. Apparently the dining situation and the entertainment don't meet up to at least one fellow passenger who posted a comment on my observations thread. Oh well you can't please everyone.

It's a foggy day in Saint John. We have an excursion booked, and it a short day in Port today.

So we put a rather stuffed full bag of laundry in at almost exactly 0900 yesterday. The clothes were back in our cabin when we returned around 2000 hrs. Those things we wanted on hangers came in a nice garment bag, the folded things came wrapped in tissue.

After dinner I changed my shirt and we made our way to the World Stage for the Captain's welcome with senior crew introductions. They passed out sparkling wine as we walked in and the speach ended with a toast. After that a few words from the cruise director and then the Step One Dancers performance of "Humanity" started. It was a very enjoyable show, Lynn was especially impressed. There are no branded music venues on Zaandam, there is Ocean Bar where a piano player performed before dinner and later on a mixed music cover band played. They are quite good and not too loud. The piano bar is called Mix and there was a guy playing piano in there tonight, we were quite tired so didn't linger long enough to listen too much. I'll have more on the piano bar another time but if anyone who was there to listen wants to pipe up, feel free. We lose an hour tonight with the time change so I'll be hitting the rack soon.

We enjoyed our MDR dinner. Lynn started with the crab and artichoke dip and I had the jumbo shrimp (isn't that an oxymoron?) Louis cocktail. For the main course Lynn had the sole (hold the tomatoes) on rice. I chose a surf and turf of beef tenderloin and those same jumbo shrimp which a suspect had "Old Bay" seasoning on them. The portion size seemed small and I wanted to try the mushroom ravioli, so I ordered that too. Lynn enjoyed the (no sugar added) cheese cake, I wasn't that fussy for the Dutch style apple pie. I wasn't keen on the raisins in the pie and the ice cream had ice crystals in it. It was a good meal, about what I expected for included in the fare dining.

So evening observations. We had dinner in the MDR it was "dressy night" most people seemed to take the "whatever" attitude 🤔. Most men wore slacks and a button down shirt, some wore ties, very few wore jackets. There were a few ladies in evening gowns and I saw one man in a tux. None of these people seemed to be in the "as you like" dining room. I suspect they were in traditional fixed dining.

There are no "Branded" venues on Zaandam. We are in Ocean Bar and there is a piano player now. The "Piano Bar" is Mix. Tonight "Step One" is doing Humanity. I think we'll probably go.

Today was Portland Maine. We did a bus tour out to the Fort & Lighthouse. I'm not really comfortable on bus tours (it's worse than flying coach) the commentary was informative and constant. We got some good photos at the lighthouse but I'm probably not the best commentator for this tour maybe some other members can give a proper comment on this tour. We have met some nice folks so far.

Thanks @CruiserFromMaine for that great photo. So we are sitting in the Ocean Bar listening to some lovely piano music. It's dressy night. Some are more dressy than others and that's okay. I will wear my dress slacks and a button down shirt (no tie, no jacket) Lynn is wearing a simple dress. We'll see if we get "the look" from the fashion police 🤔😉.

There is a piano bar, I think I read on the daily that it starts tomorrow, also there was something about classical music. I don't have it right in front of me now.

We are booked at LHotel, I will let give my impressions once we're there.

Thanks Les always nice to hear from you. Live life full mate.

Sunset

So back to sail away, we had a small get together with some CC members from the roll call. There was one couple who recently celebrated their 50th anniversary and 2 of us having birthdays we raised a glass and enjoy the sail away. Of course this silly duck left his Tilley hat in our cabin. I hope my bald pate is not too burned. The air show was outstanding with several plane on final approach to Logan Airport flew very low overhead. The afore mentioned A/C problem seems to have sorted itself out.

We are watching the sunset from our veranda. We chose to enjoy our Pinnacle Grill dinner which was part of our Have it All fare. The service was top notch, Lynn & I both ordered the crab cakes to start. Lynn chose the Baked Halibut for her main with mashed potatoes and beets for the sides. I chose the grilled pork chop with mashed potatoes, mushrooms and grilled asparagus and hollandaise sauce. Desert was Key Lime pie for Lynn and the not so classic baked Alaska for me. The food was wonderfully prepared, well presented and we certainly enjoyed this for my birthday dinner. That being said I don't know if I would pay the tariff if it wasn't included in our fare.

Thanks Uncle Les, we are so happy to hear from you. I have a thread running on the Holland America board but will post here from time too. Take care mate, live life full.

I suspect it is because we are alongside and they are running the engines at reduced power. Right now we're just relaxing in the explorers lounge.

Found her, she was wandering around doing her muster station check in, leaving me twisting in the wind. So now we're both checked in.

This is a big observation, the A/C is totally inadequate so far. Perhaps this is because we are alongside still but this ship is uncomfortably warm. So far this is the first disappointing thing, hopefully it will settle down once we're underway.

We found the stand for Specialty dining reservations at the forward end of the main pool deck. We got our lunch reservations in Pinnacle grill for the sea day between Halifax and Cornerbrook. I made this reservation at the urging of several CC members (hopefully I have not been led astray) at least it's not a very expensive bill to find out. Lynn has abandoned me in the Ocean View bar, I dare not leave until she returns. That being said we need to check in at our muster station

We found the stand for Specialty dining reservations at the forward end of the main pool deck. We got our lunch reservations in Pinnacle grill for the sea day between Halifax and Cornerbrook. I made this reservation at the urging of several CC members (hopefully I have not been led astray) at least it's not a very expensive bill to find out. Lynn has abandoned me in the Ocean View bar, I dare not leave until she returns. That being said we need to check in at our muster station and she is nowhere to be seen.

We got to our cabin the key cards were in the mail slot by the door. This "Vista Suite" located port side midships is actually just a standard veranda cabin. We were well aware of this when we booked it. We didn't linger long ,so I don't have any cabin observations yet. I think there had been talk on CC that the MDR served lunch on boarding day (perhaps I misunderstood). We had lunch in the Lido Market, there was a good selection and the food was good. I will have more observations as the day progresses.

What a difference Uber makes. We scheduled a pickup for this morning. I can't remember the the "type" we booked is comfort a category? The driver showed up exactly on time in a beautiful BMX x5 everything perfect. Drop off was uneventful, we arrived at the perfect time just as they were opening the check in process. Check in was smooth then the wait until they opened the brow. That made for some interesting people watching. 🤔 once the brow was open boarding was okay except for some very illogical and rude shoreside staff.

Happy Anniversary, I know I'm a day late there but if you were here 😉

A little of both I think