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Journey with Bill & Mary Ann on the 2016 fall Tales of the South Pacific - 53 days

WCB

By WCB,
in Holland America Line

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lagunaman

lagunaman

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Just want to wish you as great a cruise as we all enjoyed last year !

 

Leave Marbella next month for 41 days on the Koningsdam,though unsure

how I will like such a big ship and feel sure that the Amsterdam will continue to be my favourite:)

 

"Bon Voyage"

John

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LouChamp

LouChamp

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Have a healthy, safe and fantastic voyage. Look forward to reading about your voyage. We enjoyed a similar journey to yours and loved the South Pacific. Have fun!

 

 

56 Cruises and Counting! Bon Voyage to my fellow CC's and smooth sailing.

Planning a vacay is almost as much fun as the vacay itself!!!

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WCB "Live from...." Rare

WCB

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Report # 2 Enroute to the ship and the sail away September 25, 2016 Sunday Sunny & 80 degrees 43 pictures

 

Our journey began even earlier than expected when we had a knock on the front door at 4:30am. Yes, it was our driver, who decided to get a quicker start, since he had another couple headed for the Oakland Airport. Lucky for them, we were ready to roll. Despite their complaining, they arrived right on time for their flight, and so did we by the time we reached SFO. Of course, it helped that today was a Sunday, and the traffic was light.

 

The domestic terminal at the SFO airport has had some significant remodel work done in the last year. We did not recognize the kiosks, where check-in was almost 90% guest activated. Even the luggage tags were printed for us to attach to each bag. The good news was that we both got TSA approved check-in. Even the security area was completely new, and surprisingly quick.

 

We had plenty of time for a nice breakfast with lots of hot coffee. Then it was time to board by 8:15am. The almost fully loaded plane left on time and landed in Seattle shortly before 11 am.

 

This time the HAL rep actually had a sign with our name on it at the baggage carousel. That was a nice feeling to be led to a waiting bus for the transfer to the pier. We found it curious that only a handful of us were on that bus. But we would soon realize why that was the case.

 

Lucky for all of us the day was close to perfect weather wise. Once the clouds cleared away, Mt. Rainier stood tall on the horizon, covered with snow and glaciers, according to our chatty bus driver. And it is still an active volcano, making it even more imposing and potentially dangerous.

 

At the pier, we did not have to lug our bags into the terminal. They were taken directly to the ship, where they would go through xray, then delivered to our room later. We had filled out the mandatory health form on the way over, so after passing through the terminal security, we were led to the check-in desk. This was where we found out that many of the passengers boarding today were only sailing for one night to Vancouver or three more days to San Diego. Tonight, there would be a total of about 550 guests onboard. By San Diego, the ship will be fuller with a total of 1200 passengers. So we guess tonight will be “hardy-party” time for many.

 

Once on the ship, it was like coming home. Gerald B., the Mariner director, greeted us, along with Henk, the hotel director, and his wonderful wife, Christel, the guest relations manager. We also met the new dining room manager. Gerald went in search of the cameraman, but had no luck. He promised he would catch us on the next cruise.

 

Even though it was only noon, our room was ready for us. Really ready this time. Head housekeeper, Shiv, had seen to it that our every request had been met. Even nicer, one of our room stewards, Alim, from the world cruise, was still here. He was knocking on our door minutes after we arrived, making sure we had everything. In addition, we had gifts…..lots of them. For President’s Club amenities, we had been gifted a beautiful flower arrangement, two bottles of liquor, champagne, and additional shipboard credit from Captain Fred. Henk, Christel, and Captain Fred had sent a personalized card as well. Our travel agency added another bottle of sparkling wine, a 7 x 10 complimentary photo, a Pinnacle Grill lunch, dinner, and a Canaletto dinner for two. This was part of the perks for this particular voyage. Yep, this is going to be a nice cruise for sure.

 

Since the luggage had not shown up yet, we headed off to a gathering in the Piano Bar, hosted by our travel agency. How nice to see many familiar agents, especially our agent Debra. We spend hours on the phone every year, but seldom get to visit in person. The hour went by all too quickly. They all had to leave when the muster drill was announced for 3:15pm.

 

Drills are run differently compared to the past. Now we have to go to our room, and wait for the proper call to our muster stations. By now, the luggage had been dropped off, so that gave us something to do while we waited. It’s so easy to unpack for this trip than a grand voyage. Finally, we have cut back enough that we had tons of space left over in the closets. We had run into our British buddies that we see on most every world voyage. They admitted that they brought one bag each, and intend to buy new things along the way. That’s going to be a lot of fun, since they are staying onboard from now until next April.

 

The drill went by quickly, as Captain Fred expedited the process. He is a take-charge fellow. The only other ship in port, the NCL Pearl, left ahead of us, and we followed in their wake. The back pool deck cleared fast when we began to hit those stiff cool breezes.

 

We did not dare indulge with a cocktail before dinner, because we never would have made it. The upper dining room was practically empty at 8pm, as was our table for eight. Another couple from Alabama joined us by the names of Annie and John. The four of us had a very nice dinner with excellent service from waiters we already knew. The only thing we need to remember is to order our soup very, very hot. Even though they serve the broth separately, it was still lukewarm. Good, but not hot enough.

 

Dinner was over by 9:30pm, and we headed straight for the room. It had been a very long day, and we had run out of steam. Vancouver is such a wonderful walking city, we needed to rest up for the hike tomorrow.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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Fred321

Fred321

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Good to hear that you are back aboard. Hope you have a safe and happy trip and we'll see you when we get aboard in January for the world cruise. Haven't forgotten that I owe you two pizzas.

 

By the way are you planning on being aboard in Fort Lauderdale or are you joining the world cruise in San Diego?

 

Rich and Peg

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wander

wander

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QUESTION - on your westbound cruises to Australia and/or Asia, do you have a preferred side (port or starboard) for you plants to grow? What I am really asking - assuming the sun is shining, which side has less direct sun entering your windows on the average? THANK YOU for your response. (Answers by others welcome as well, you just have the most experience.)

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giltedge

giltedge

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My husband and I are getting on in San Diego for this cruise. We are disagreeing about your comment regarding how many people will be getting on board in San Diego. Can you clarify your numbers? Are there 1200 on board now and if so how many will be getting on in San Diego? Or will there be a total of 1200 when we leave San Diego? Thanks

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WCB "Live from...." Rare

WCB

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Report # 3 Vancouver, British Columbia September 26, 2016 Monday Partly sunny & 70 degrees Part # 1 70 Pictures

 

 

Today’s port in Vancouver, Canada, served two purposes. Having come from Seattle, Washington, the ship needed to make a stop in a foreign country before traveling to Hawaii. Secondly, it is a wonderful city to visit.

 

We had received a detailed letter on today’s customs and immigrations procedures for this morning. To say the least, it was most confusing. Some folks were disembarking, while many like us, were intransit. Some were on organized tours, and a few folks did not want to go off of the ship. However, everyone had to see the officials at one point or another. All aboard had been printed for 4pm, but it was a misprint. We all needed to be back by 3:30pm, while the newly-embarked guests had to be on the ship by 3pm to attend the muster drill. Confused yet? Many were as we witnessed while at the front desk early this morning.

 

Although the dining room breakfast was not listed in the newsletter, it did open at 7:30am. That’s our favorite spot for breakfast. And we found new menus, great entrees, and good, hot coffee. Most of the waiters remembered us from the world cruise, always a nice feeling.

 

With most of the people off of the ship, we thought it may be a good time to open up our internet account. What we did not remember was that there were two other large ships in port today….the NCL Pearl and Sun. If we understand it correctly, we all share the same “footprint” for internet, using the same system. As a result of that, it was slow, and we were running into problems logging in. Fortunately the girls at the front desk helped us figure out the roadblocks, and we successfully logged on.

 

So we did not leave the ship until 11am, after we received a reminder call that we needed to go off of the ship. We needed to take an intransit card along with our passports and room keys. The ship was docked at Canada Place, along with the other two ships. Lucky for us, we were shuffled around the lines, and would deal with US customs on the way back.

 

Although it was mostly overcast with rain clouds, it never did rain. There was a chill in the breeze, but that makes for perfect walking weather. We made our way around the busy waterfront with restaurants, cafes, boat marinas, yacht harbors, and float plane docks. For a Monday, it was pretty busy. One nice thing is that the sidewalks are divided for walkers and cyclists much of the way.

 

We reached Stanley Park, and sure would have liked to walk more of it, but we had to watch the time. It took us over an hour to reach the park, but it was worth it to see the local wildlife. Seabirds were abundant, especially the great blue herons. Deeper into the park, we passed the Vancouver Rowing Club, where we spotted a young gal practicing kayak racing. Next was the staging area for the park carriage ride with two massive working horses. Specifically, they use Clydesdales, Belgians, and Percherons breeds. Their hooves are the size of large frying pans. They are advertised as “organically powered” as each horse consumes about 60 pounds of food and 100 liters of water a day. An hour’s coach ride ran around $36. For seniors over 65, but a nice way to see the park which was created in 1888.

 

We had been advised not to wait to the last minute to go through customs, because the lines could get long. For that reason, we decided to head back and bypass lunch in the Gaslight District, and order room service on the ship. It took over an hour to reach Canada Place, and another ½ hour to get back onboard, although we were expedited around the longest of the lines. There were about 5,000 people boarding the three ships today, so it was busy.

 

The room service menu has remained the same. We ordered salads and sandwiches, but did have to wait almost an hour. The muster drill suspended guest services for that extra ½ hour. It was worth it, because the food was excellent when it did arrive. Dinner will have to be light, we’re afraid.

 

Sail away was well after 4pm. Some guests were still being summoned to see the officials, and we would not leave until they were cleared. Since it was so cool outside, we did not expect to find many folks at the sail out of the harbor. Much to our surprise, the aft pool deck was full of guests. It is a scenic sail out and under the bridge, and would be fine if you wore the proper clothing. All we had were light jackets and sweatshirts, so we went down to deck seven aft to escape the bite of the wind. The two NCL ships raced us out of the port with helicopters and float planes landing all around us all. Very exciting. By the time we reached the open seas, we retreated to the comfort of our room to work on photos and catch up on news.

 

Dinnertime in the dining room was well-attended with the new passengers. We added one more guest, Vicky, from Los Angeles. She will be on until San Diego. All of the tables for two on the railing were filled this evening. And more than once, we heard birthday celebrations happening down stairs at the open-seating venue. We heard that there are a total of 850 passengers onboard now until San Diego. Some will leave there, but we will increase our population to a whopping 1400. Will have to verify that, because that is really a full house.

 

We had some more gifts waiting for us in our room. Our travel agency had given us two logo bags and a calendar for the 53 days. And HAL gave us one, only one, blue shopping bag. That always makes us laugh, when there are two of us that could easily use a bag. We estimate they cost about $1.00. Perhaps we can ask our room steward for one more.

 

It is nearing midnight, and we can hear the foghorn sounding off every 2 minutes. Yep, there is pea soup fog off the coast, so we bet tomorrow will be a chilly day. Better enjoy it, because the further south we go, the warmer it will get.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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