NOT QUITE LIVE! — MS Zuiderdam — NYC to QC

As we left the safety of Sydney’s harbor, the seas got rough. Everyone was walking at an angle or crashing into each other. People were practically running from the dining room. If you were inclined to a few beverages, tonight was a good night to do it because no one would notice.

It must have been loud in the lower deck cabins because we were hit broadside a number of times by some pretty meaningful waves.

Our television programming is back! I watched most of Victoria and Abdul. I really enjoyed it but the motion sickness pill kicked in midway through. My husband missed all of it.

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DAY SEVEN - CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Today’s high will be 46f. This might be a good day to sit in the hot tub on the Lido deck. Here is sunrise:

The Navigator app tells me the high today will be 81f. I can tell you that, most assuredly, it is currently half that amount.

Here is a screenshot of the app with some of the main features circled. If you have a message on “Chat” you will see a number in superscript beside it. Under “Dining” you can find your various options along with menus. “My Account” is handy to check your daily charges.

Sorry to bore the ones who know all this but thought this might be helpful to some.

We are doing donuts in the harbor again. I can see the dock we were supposed to be on as we pass by. It is occupied by the Veendam. The Veendam is now my arch enemy.

In the bottom right-hand corner of the app you can see the “More” button. Here is the next screen when you click on that:

If you click on “Complimentary Sites” in the “More” window you can see what’s available for free.

Here is the Navigator app lying to me about the weather:

Oh dear on your rough seas, Miss G. :(

Hope you were able to get a decent night's sleep (yn)

Guaranteed it is not going to be 27 C in your port today. I don't think it is going to be that temp anywhere in the Maritimes today. Rain is the forecast and cooler weather.

Somebody needs to fix the burp in the Navigator app :'):eek:

Sorry to bore the ones who know all this but thought this might be helpful to some.

 

We are doing donuts in the harbor again. I can see the dock we were supposed to be on as we pass by. It is occupied by the Veendam. The Veendam is now my arch enemy.

 

In the bottom right-hand corner of the app you can see the “More” button. Here is the next screen when you click on that:

 

Miss G: thanks for taking the time to take us along with you, and especially for the photos. I hope the seas calm down.

On the page of the Navigator that you show above, I wanted to flag the "feedback" section for folks who might not be familiar with it. You can use it to send a message, comment, complaint, etc. to Guest Services, with the option of having them respond (by phone) if you'd like them to. It's quite handy if there's something you want to pass along or need an answer to.

Thanks Miss G for some of the interior photos of the cabin. It did just hit me that I am booked in the same cabin in June. If you are willing, hide a note or a quarter somewhere in the cabin and lets see if it is there next June.

Thank you for all the helpful information.

I'm enjoying "following" you, great live-from!

I have a friend who is on board your cruise, she has said that the internet is V E R Y slow. She has a package, not sure which one. Have you had similar problems? She said it took 45 minutes to send one post to FB.

I'm enjoying "following" you, great live-from!

I have a friend who is on board your cruise, she has said that the internet is V E R Y slow. She has a package, not sure which one. Have you had similar problems? She said it took 45 minutes to send one post to FB.

Miss G of course will answer for the current cruise, but we were on the Zuiderdam for the cruise that preceded hers, and, after the first week (we were on a 20-night cruise), the internet was glacially slow, except at around 2-3am (my insomnia period ;p), when it wasn't too bad. We had the "surf" package, which is everything except streaming.

Wow, Miss G, glad I'm not on the Veendam now that she is your arch enemy.

Is your list of enemies long?

How do you get off the list?

p.s. Loving your comments and pictures.

Tickle your husband's nose for me. :evilsmile:

Miss G of course will answer for the current cruise, but we were on the Zuiderdam for the cruise that preceded hers, and, after the first week (we were on a 20-night cruise), the internet was glacially slow, except at around 2-3am (my insomnia period ;p), when it wasn't too bad. We had the "surf" package, which is everything except streaming.

Thank you, that's interesting. We had the surf package on the Rotterdam VOV, and it was quite fast IMO. But when we upgraded to the higher package with streaming it slowed way down.

My friend was told that the new internet packages are working better on the smaller ships....not sure how true that is, but since the Rotterdam is much smaller than the Zuiderdam....it would be good to find out. We're booked on the Niew Statendam and Koningsdam for 2-3 months next year and I'm getting worried. :)

It's been 5 days since we've heard from MissG. I wonder if that's an indication of how slow the internet is right now.

Roy

It's been 5 days since we've heard from MissG. I wonder if that's an indication of how slow the internet is right now.

 

 

Roy

I had the same thought, but am hoping it's really because she's having far too great a time to post! :D

It's been 5 days since we've heard from MissG. I wonder if that's an indication of how slow the internet is right now.

 

 

Roy

I had the same thought, but am hoping it's really because she's having far too great a time to post! :D

And I'm hoping that the seas have calmed for them and that her absence isn't a consequence of mal-de-mer.

I've missed Miss G's posts, too. I hope all is well with her!

I have a friend who is on board your cruise, she has said that the internet is V E R Y slow. She has a package, not sure which one. Have you had similar problems? She said it took 45 minutes to send one post to FB.

45 minutes to send one FB ate up 45 minutes of your friend's Wifi plan on the Zuiderdam? Yikes!!! Quite the ca$h cow for HAL. People would have to buy more Wifi minutes than one would normally need. I will be sure to stay off FB when I'm on that boat!

Good to know about the Zuidy's slower-than-dial-up internet. Could it be old technology on an old boat? Hubby will have to use email for his work (a must) while we are on the Zuiderdam next year, and there are sometimes attachments. He might have to use public Wifi (w/VPN) while in ports, instead.

Fortunately, the Nieuw Amsterdam's Wifi had a reasonable speed.

45 minutes to send one FB ate up 45 minutes of your friend's Wifi plan on the Zuiderdam? Yikes!!! Quite the ca$h cow for HAL. People would have to buy more Wifi minutes than one would normally need. I will be sure to stay off FB when I'm on that boat!

 

Good to know about the Zuidy's slower-than-dial-up internet. Could it be old technology on an old boat? Hubby will have to use email for his work (a must) while we are on the Zuiderdam next year, and there are sometimes attachments. He might have to use public Wifi (w/VPN) while in ports, instead.

 

Fortunately, the Nieuw Amsterdam's Wifi had a reasonable speed.

As I noted above, we were just on the Zuiderdam. The wi-fi packages are no longer sold by minutes. They are unlimited packages, with a flat rate for the cruise (or per day). There are three levels of packages: social media only (no emails), surf, and streaming (the last is the most expensive). We had the surf plan, and sending an email with an attachment definitely took much longer than sending one without. (I was sending photos. A plain Word doc might have been much faster.)

As I noted above, we were just on the Zuiderdam. The wi-fi packages are no longer sold by minutes. They are unlimited packages, with a flat rate for the cruise (or per day). There are three levels of packages: social media only (no emails), surf, and streaming (the last is the most expensive). We had the surf plan, and sending an email with an attachment definitely took much longer than sending one without. (I was sending photos. A plain Word doc might have been much faster.)

Thank you for the clarification, Turtles06 :halo: We had a "minutes" package on the NA, IIRC.(I could be wrong. Hubs took care of all that, since it was more crucial to his cruise experience than it was to mine :cool:)

Just got caught up.

Love the elevator story. In fact, I love all your reports. Great pictures.

And I'm hoping that the seas have calmed for them and that her absence isn't a consequence of mal-de-mer.

I hope it is not Mal de Mer (yn)

Having tried to do a few of these live blogs, I confess that there are busy port days, dinners, etc. And a lot of fun, If iternet doesn't cooperate when you have time, it's not hard to fall behind.

Somehow I think (and hope) that Miss G is having a great time and jsut too busy to post.

and that's a good thing too ;)

Sorry everyone! I ran out of steam the last few days so I have been remiss in my posting! I think I could have done with a few more sea days between ports. This vacation business is pretty exhausting! We are now in Quebec City and will be disembarking tomorrow. I hope to get caught up soon.

Thanks Miss G for some of the interior photos of the cabin. It did just hit me that I am booked in the same cabin in June. If you are willing, hide a note or a quarter somewhere in the cabin and lets see if it is there next June.

I will try to remember! I will also post a few more pics of the room and balcony at some point.

I'm enjoying "following" you, great live-from!

I have a friend who is on board your cruise, she has said that the internet is V E R Y slow. She has a package, not sure which one. Have you had similar problems? She said it took 45 minutes to send one post to FB.

Using the Navigator (free) I have noticed that it is sometimes excruciatingly slow. Luckily, I have a North America plan so, when we are in port, I turn on my hotspot and have been posting from there.

Don't you worry about a thing. It can be hard to keep up, especially when you are busy and hopefully having a great time. I know internet can be havoc too at times when you finally get a minute.

We'll happilly wait until you have time but sorry to hear that your cruise is coming to an end :(.

Disembarkation day is so sad ;)

Let’s see. Where did I leave off? I think it was Day Seven... continued:

Captain Vaartjes comes on to apologize for the surprise weather last night. They were not expecting high winds and waves. That weather was predicted to be further north than us. I am guessing they get their weather from the same guy who predicted it was 81f yesterday.

It was quite cool and drizzly when we took the tender to shore.

Wow, Miss G, glad I'm not on the Veendam now that she is your arch enemy.

 

Is your list of enemies long?

 

How do you get off the list?

 

 

Hahahaha Puppy. I decided that maybe the Veendam needed that dock to take care of people with medical needs so they are back on my friends list. I have no idea if that is true or not but I’m sure there was a very good reason they needed it.

Here is a random shot because I don’t know what I am doing anymore.