MS Koningsdam February 19-March 1 AND MS Zaandam March 21 to April 22

[rafinmd]

Day Z16, Thursday, April 6, 2017, At sea, MS Zaandam

 

The Koningsdam is at sea from Half Moon Cay to Ponta Delgada. The Crystal Symphony is on a 2-day call in Fukuoka. The Crystal Serenity is on a 2-day call in Barbados.

 

I was up just a bit before the alarm went off at 5 and was nearing the end of my 5-mile walk when the sun was due to rise but it was never in evidence. It was cool enough early that I was comfortable with my gortex jacket but shed it for the remainder of the walk.

 

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It was an extremely busy sea day. There was a presentation on shore excursions for upcoming ports in the Mondriaan Lounge at 10 but I missed it for a Cruise Critic Meet and Greet in the Crows Nest organized by Cruise Critic member Vict0riann. There were probably about 50 present and refreshments were served.

 

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The joke of the meeting was “How Many Cruise Directors does it take to Change a Light Bulb. We had all 3 present, Mark from the first leg at the far right of the picture, Mario, the left most man with the white shirt, and the CD in training (I think his name was Parker but am terrible with names) holding the mike. I chatted with him briefly and he goes live when the ship gets to Vancouver. He has worked with Club HAL and been a Show Host and has worked on the rollout of the Koningsdam. He immediately connected with the Koningsdam t-shirt I was wearing.

 

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I have not known Holland America to be big on enrichment but this cruise is getting off to a good start. The speaker in the Mondriaan Lounge at 11 was Steven Sloan with “Great Issues in International Affairs”.

 

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I hurried out of Sloan’s lecture about 11:40 to check out the organ. It played for about 3 minutes starting about 11:45, apparently in some kind of automated mode as there was no player in evidence. It is not like a player piano in that the keys and pedals do not move as the organ plays but figures of musicians scattered around the instrument do become animated.

 

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There was a noon luncheon in the dining room for those of us on the Collector’s Cruise (the combined segments Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, continuing to San Diego or Vancouver). It was a fixed menu of Indonesian dishes and the waiters were attired in typical Indonesian dress.

 

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There was a bit of free time after the luncheon until Location Guide Ryan gave his presentation on Lima and Salaverry at 2. He was followed at 3 by another guest lecturer, Dr. Jay Christofferson with “Whales of the Pacific”.

 

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In this holiday season we are carrying a Protestant Chaplain and a Rabbi in addition to the usual Priest. There was a bible study session today but it was at 5:30, right before my dinner seating. For our first Gala night this cruise the menu appeared just about identical to the first Gala dinner of the first segment and I thought the choices then were worth repeating, the fruit plate, rack of lamb, and black forest cake. The couple with the young girl was at dinner and she appeared quite contented.

 

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The evening show was a repeat from the first segment, Classique and I decided not to go again but did spend some time at the Ocean Bar where music is provided by an ensemble of 3 instruments and a vocalist.

 

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We gain an hour for the second consecutive night and will be on Lima time. I hope to wrap up this post early and get a nice long sleep.

 

As a parting shot, I was a bit surprised to see that the baseball season has already started but very pleased to see an Orioles win.

 

Roy

[erewhon]

Great reports, thank you.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just getting caught up.

Great reports and pictures.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Sooo enjoy your adventures!!!!!

Finally caught up this am with my coffee!!!

Thank you

Denise:)

[rafinmd]

Day Z17, Friday, April 7, 2017, At sea, MS Zaandam

 

Thank you Krazy Kruizers, erewhon, and Denise.

 

The Koningsdam is at sea from Half Moon Cay to Ponta Delgada. The Crystal Symphony is on a 2-day call in Fukuoka. The Crystal Serenity is in St. Lucia.

 

It was another morning without any evidence of the sun while I was walking although it did clear up later in the day. Sometime in mid-morning we passed above the northern border of Chile and began sailing off the coast of Peru. In this area we are nearing the northern bulge of South America’s west coast and spent the day far from land. One thing was eerie this morning; there was no deck crew washing down the deck. I have no idea what happened.

 

It was a significantly less busy day than Thursday. The morning talk by Steven Sloan was on Globalization. The organ played briefly soon after his presentation ended.

 

In his noon update Captain Turner explained the concept of nautical mile. It was designed to be equal to the distance traveled when going north or south across 1 minute of latitude; it is now officially defined as 1,852 meters. Knots is nautical miles per hour. “Knots per hour” is very nearly an undefined term although it does have some theoretical validity as a unit of acceleration. Temperatures on Saturday should be quite moderate for our now tropical location (about 14 degrees south), roughly 25C/77F.

 

There were 2 somewhat conflicting afternoon activities. There was bible study at 2:30. My impression was that it was pretty much a 45-minute soliloquy on the Chaplain’s personal theology with an occasional bible verse thrown in where it bolstered his views. I likely won’t be going back. Dr. Jay Christofferson had a 3PM talk on sea birds; I arrived about 20 minutes into his presentation.

 

A good part of my free time went to preparation of my Treasurer’s report for my fire department. The sun was a bit elusive today and now sets pretty early but did produce some nice colors in the sky as I was on the way to dinner.

 

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I think everyone at table 84 did some walking today and has made plans for Pisco. I enjoyed the Peach soup, Lasagne, and Peach Crisp.

 

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The featured entertainment in the Mondriaan Lounge was comedian Rick Corso. I thought he was really good.

 

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Today’s parting shot has a sad ring to it. It may be old news but the loss of two very different American icons just reached my little news summary today. Rest in peace John Glenn and Don Rickles.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Day Z18, Saturday, April 8, 2017, Pisco, Peru

 

The Koningsdam is at sea from Half Moon Cay to Ponta Delgada. The Crystal Symphony is on a 2-day call in Hiroshima. The Crystal Serenity is in Fort de France.

 

When I went up to the lido for coffee about 5:30, the lights of Pisco were just aft of our starboard side. For most of my 3-mile walk we were on our final approach to Pisco’s port, General San Martin. A large freighter, the Queen Sapphire, was at the dock and it appeared there was not enough space for both of us (I cannot see directly forward from the lower promenade deck) but it turned out there was plenty of room. Directly behind us, the Queen Sapphire was there all day with her clamshell buckets filling a steady stream of corn into an endless line of 18-wheel dump trucks.

 

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Official sunrise was 6:10 but it was 6:30 when the sun made it’s debut above low lying clouds.

 

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General San Martin is little if anything more than a collection of port buildings. The closest town is Paracas, about a 5-mile around the small bay that sheltered us. Pisco was another 5 miles. This is my third visit to the area. I was first here in 2007 before a river cruise on the upper Amazon. On that pre-tour I visited 2 of the areas attractions, the Nazca Lines and the Ballestas Islands, staying overnight in Paracas. When here last year on the Crystal Symphony I had toured the other major attraction, Paracas National Reserve.

 

Having seen most of the areas main attractions I decided on something a little out of character. My tour was called “Thrillseekers Only:Dune Buggy in Paracas”. About 8 of us (including the drummer and bass player from The Band) boarded a Sprinter Van for about a 40-minute drive to an out parcel next to Paracas National Reserve. We were given goggles and loaded up in our buggies.

 

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The buggies, VW Beetle chassis stripped down and replaced by roll cages could hold 6 people each (including the driver). Each time we got in the driver adjusted the seat belts to make them snug. It is not really possible to capture the experience with a still camera but I hope the groups of 4 (each shot in less than a minute) will give a slight hint. I tried to hold the camera level so any angle should represent pretty fairly the tilt we were doing. A couple of the pictures are blurry but that captures our real experience.

 

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In the middle of the ride we got our and had an opportunity for some “sand boarding”. We had the option of sitting or standing, starting out with the sitting position.

 

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Standing was a bit trickier and I didn’t try it. My one time on the board I found the return uphill in the sand very tiring; often once a foot was planted in the sand we lost about 4 inches of our progress as the sand gave way and we sank down hill.

 

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We had about another 20 minutes of driving before returning to the starting point.

 

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Our designated return time was 1PM but traffic was light and we were far ahead of schedule. On the way back we detoured to “Red Beach”, an overlook on the opposite side of our peninsula from the port. We were still back at the ship about 12:30.

 

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Both the Symphony and the Zaandam ran shuttles to Paracas but not to Pisco (I heard comments that Pisco has not recovered well from a 2007 earthquake just 2 weeks after my first visit here). I returned too late from my tour last year to go but spent an hour or so there this time. While there are some modern hotels in the outlying parts of town Paracas itself might best be described as quaint with a lot of small stalls and cafes. I did get an Inca Cola but did not recognize anything from my 2007 visit.

 

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All aboard was 4:30. We had a bit of trouble untangling some of our lines at one spot from the Queen Sapphire’s but were on our way by 5 with a little bit of a detour. On the side of a hill on the back of our bay there the Paracas Candelabra was dug into the sand. We think it is about 500 years old but don’t really understand why it was dug there. I thought it was much better than the Nazca lines.

 

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We were all present at table 84. Dianne had walked around Paracas and liked it. The Rhode Island couple took a boat tour to the Ballestas Islands and saw a lot of wildlife. The sun went down right in front of me a couple of minutes after I ordered.

 

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I went this evening for the fruit plate, melon bisque, turkey roast and triple berry crisp. All were delicious.

 

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The featured entertainment was “Frozen Planet”, the BBC documentary set to live music. It would have been the third time I saw it since boarding the Koningsdam and decided instead to go to the Mix where Lee Strubeck was featuring songs of Neil Diamond. I had not previously noticed that moon rise and set advances with the phase of the moon, and a waxing moon is best seen in the evening; it is nearly full when it sets at a reasonable hour of the morning. It is not quite at that stage yet but was very bright as I returned from the Mix.

 

As I post this it is now Palm Sunday and Passover is either coming or just finished. May your holidays be pleasant and meaningful.

 

Roy

[greatver]

Your blog is as interesting as always!

 

You might be interested in the following book review: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/books/review/ice-ghosts-franklin-expedition-paul-watson.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0. It is about "the epic hunt for the lost Franklin expedition" (through the NorthWest Passage).

 

If this link doesn't work, I'm sure you can access it through one of the computers in the Explorations lounge. It is in today's NY Times book review. Title of book is Ice Ghosts.

[rafinmd]

Day Z19, Sunday, April 9, 2017, Arrive Lima, Peru

 

Thank you greatver.

 

The Koningsdam is in Ponta Delgada. The Crystal Symphony is on a 2-day call in Hiroshima. The Crystal Serenity is on a 2-day call in St. Barthelmey.

 

When I went for coffee at 5:30 we did not appear to be near land. We were headed almost directly into the sun, which appeared briefly on our starboard but came up a little more directly on the port side later in the lap. The first evidence as I walked was a couple of islands and we arrived at our berth about 7:30, pretty much stern to bow with a huge container ship.

 

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Our Lima dock is at the port of Callao, about 7 miles west of central Lima. It’s another port where we cannot walk from the ship. We were told that the town of Callao was very dangerous; aside tours the only way to leave the ship was a shuttle to the shopping area of St. Miguel, about half way to Lima.

 

Despite having been here in 2007 and 2016 I booked a “Panoramic” tour of the city. We left about 10 on a smallish bus to drive into central Lima. Traffic was initially rather light on Palm Sunday but it seems to be taken very seriously in Lima. The tour normally would drive through Plaza des Armes but parades closed down some streets and we needed to walk through the Plaza. We entered near the Cathedral.

 

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We crossed the plaza and as we were leaving a group of celebrants on a parade passed right by us.

 

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Driving around town it was hard to get a good photo from the bus but the art museum and the supreme court were very nice. Our final stop was at the Inca market where rows of stalls ran endlessly.

 

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On the way back we drove through Miraflores where the city was on a high (85 meter) hill but there were beaches at the base. As we descended to sea level I was on the wrong side of the bus but got a quick look as we made a hairpin turn on our ascent. We returned to the dock about 1.

 

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After a quick lunch break I took the shuttle into St. Miguel. It was mostly a shopping area and I forgot about taking any pictures but the “mall” was open air. I asked about money and was directed to the Western Union in the basement of the mall and got some nuevo sol. I stopped briefly at McDonalds and it appears that Peru is one of the few places where they do not have wifi, but my diet coke hit the spot. It was about 4:30 when I returned to the ship.

 

It was a bit of a rush to be ready in time for the 5PM Palm Sunday service but I was just in time. I was a few minutes late for dinner where Diane was a no show and the Rhode Island couple had an evening tour so they left just as my entree was arriving. I still enjoyed the fruit plate, cherry soup, spaghetti, and opted for the almond fruit cake for desert. My apologies for the look of today’s menu; the entrees were mis-formatted on the Navigator app so the main page is a mix of the part of the Navigator page that worked and a photo of the menu under glass.

 

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There was a local show in the Mondriaan Lounge at 9:30 with lots of dancers and a few special instruments.

 

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My parting shot will be kind of quick. This is my longest time on a HAL ship to date; I can’t believe that in less than 2 short weeks I will be off the ship.

 

Roy

[Krazy Kruizers]

Once again I have set aside time to read your wonderful review and see all the pictures.

What a great time you are having.

[rafinmd]

Day Z20, Monday, April 10, 2017, Leave Lima

 

 

Thank you Krazy Kruizers.

The Koningsdam is at sea from Ponta Delgada to Malaga. The Crystal Symphony is at sea from Hiroshima to Kobe. The Crystal Serenity is on a 2-day call in St. Barthelmey,

 

I think if I were not out on tours I could almost occupy myself watching the activity in the port. The container ship that had been on our stern when we arrived was gone in the morning and replaced with a slightly smaller one. At our bow there had been a large car transporter. That left and at least 2 additional ones came and left while we were in port. I did not walk on the ship today as I had a walking tour booked.

 

The port seems to have several slips dedicated to bulk cargo and others for containers. We are at the end of the bulk cargo area with huge cranes at our bow and stern; the operator’s compartment for one of the cranes was just outside the aft pool area.

 

My tour “A walk around the Plaza des Armes” left about 9:30. About 10 people were loaded into each of 2 Sprinter vans for the 40-minute drive to central Lima, with an intermediate photo stop at Plaza San Martin where we stopped in front of the Gran Hotel Bolivar and saw the statue of Simon Bolivar.

 

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While the map we were given had our sights numbered we did not quite follow the plan as outlined on the map. We began our walk at what was listed as the 4th stop, La Merced Church, mostly an imposing stone face with red towers on each side and a beautiful interior.

 

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As we walked out guide, Antonio, pointed out a number of stately wooden balconies, one of the features of Lima architecture.

 

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Central Lima boasts a number of beautiful churches and they were a big part of our tour. Just 3 blocks from La Merced our next stop was at St. Peters Church. It is likely among the most beautiful churches of Lima, rivaling the Cathedral, and has an abundance of gold leaf inside.

 

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We paused to admire a number of additional balconies on the way to our next stop, the Franciscan Monastery. I toured this site last year; this time we entered the church but did not go inside the Monastery itself.

 

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From one side of the sanctuary we could get a look into the Monastery courtyard.

 

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The Monastery also served in prior centuries as a burial site and a few grates in the church floor provided a peek into the space.

 

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The tour title “Walk Around Plaza des Armes” can be taken quite literally. We did not see the Plaza until almost the end, circling about 2-3 blocks outside the square itself. As we left the Franciscan Monastery and walked towards the square we passed the library, a very stunning use of the original railroads. Lima has quite a network of railroads but very few now offer passenger service.

 

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Our arrival at Plaza des Armes was by the Governors Palace, the workplace but not the residence of the Governor.

 

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We were given a few minutes to explore Plaza des Armes on our own. One of the most elegant buildings was the Archbishop’s Residence.

 

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We reached the Plaza des Armes at just about the right time for the Changing of the Guard at the Governors Palace. While the iron bars of the fence were a distraction the ceremony was quite spectacular with beautiful music and ever larger numbers of elegantly attired participants marching with high stepping precision.

 

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When the ceremony was over we walked a couple of blocks to a restaurant where we were offered a variety of fruit juices. I opted for strawberry.

 

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Our bus picked us up at the Dominican Convent for our ride back to the ship arriving about 2. I skipped lunch in favor of a scone at afternoon tea in the Ocean Bar.

 

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All Aboard was 4:30. The container ship at our stern got away a little before us but we were on our way about 5. As we left we passed a row of about 6 freighters in various stages of loading and unloading as well as a large fishing fleet anchored just outside the breakwater.

 

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Diane stopped at the dining room briefly to advise us she was experiencing a little bug and would not be joining us. I enjoyed the fruit cup and prime rib as well as the blackberry sundae.

 

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The featured entertainment was a clarinet virtuoso, Woytek. It is the first time I have seen him and he was quite good.

 

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As today’s parting shot it is Tuesday as I post this and the Daily Navigator claims it is Passover (although they also claim it is Thursday). May those who celebrate Passover have a wonderful day.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Day Z21, Tuesday, April 11, 2017, Salaverry, Peru

 

The Koningsdam is at sea from Ponta Delgada to Malaga. The Crystal Symphony is in Kobe. The Crystal Serenity is in Samana, Dominican Republic.

 

When I went on deck about 5:30 and rounded the bow of the Zaandam the almost full moon was shining brightly on our port side although somewhat diffused by light clouds. At the time we still had about 40 miles left to get to Salaverry.

 

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Salaverry is quite a small town and primarily a port for bulk cargo. I watched later in the day as the Isla Chincha came into port and a crane unloaded a huge number of bags of something into waiting flat bed trucks. I had noticed on my morning walk that the bags of stuff appeared to be sitting loose on the bed with no tie downs.

 

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We arrived in port about 9 and were cleared a little before 10. Since my tour met at 11:30 I had time for a short walk into Salaverry, one of the few ports where we can walk away from the ship. It was about a half mile to the port gate, and Salaverry was perhaps a mile long and maybe 4 to 6 blocks deep. There were tuk-tuks in abundance, and most of the ocean side of the front street had a blue wall. It didn’t seem consistent with what looked like waste land but our guides later told us that the wall served as a warning that it was off limits to squatters. The town square was a block back from the front street and a block from the port entrance, with a Catholic church at one end and a Mormon one at the other.

 

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Just inside the port gate as I returned there was a small chapel and an old locomotive.

 

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The area was the prime site of the Moche civilization, a culture that inhabited the area almost 1,000 years before the Incas. When here on the Crystal Symphony I visited one of the Moche sites, El Brujo, about a 1 ½ hour drive. For this visit I stayed a little closer and visited some nearby sites in the Moche Valley.

 

Our group of about 30 had 2 guides. It appeared that Tila was the primary guide but I found the “assistant”, Orlando much more helpful, especially with his far better English skills. We drove to and (for a short distance) on the Pan American Highway before turning inland for another 5 miles or so on very narrow, winding roads. We got off the bus at a small town and walked perhaps a quarter mile down a very narrow street to the home of a Moche farmer. Orlando explained that what looked like a hill we were approaching was actually an archeological site although it was just recently discovered and had been used as a dirt bike site and blocks had been removed by people for their houses.

 

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The farmer seems quite enterprising. In addition to the crops we saw, the “patio” of his house appears to be sort of a night club with a band stand. He showed us a number of typical Moche art forms and demonstrated a simple Moche game.

 

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It was a short drive from there to the area of the Moshe temples. We stopped first at the museum (no photos allowed) which had some artifacts and a lot of descriptions of the Moche culture, including a penchant for human sacrifice.

 

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It was a very short ride to the temples. The Temple of the Sun is not open to visitors but we toured the Temple of the Moon with Tila taking one group and Orlando the other. After climbing 45 meters to the rooms of the temple, Orlando gave a bit of information about each one. He told us that most of the construction involved adobe blocks. The blocks were given to the ruler by the people, each engraved with the “mark” of the donor family. A temple served only one ruler; when that ruler died a new temple was built on top of the previous one, with the art work of the earlier temple preserved under a layer of mud before the next level was built.

 

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At the main altar Orlando explained that this alter was the only one that served all the different versions of the temple and it was here that the human sacrifices took place. Orlando explained that the sacrifices would have been very painful but the people were dosed heavily with hallucinating drugs before the ritual was started.

 

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Before our final stop Orlando directed us to a vantage point where we could see the Temple of the Sun in the distance, with the site of the original town of Moche sitting in between. The original town is the site of a lot of current archaeological exploration.

 

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On our way to the original entrance of the temple there were 3 Moche in period costumes playing original instruments, 2 with a sort of horn and the third with a conch shell.

 

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The entry to the temple was a tall wall with several stacked layers with varied designs. Apparently, the original entry was via a ramp along this wall. We returned to the ship about 3:30. Between the heat, walking, standing, and climbing I was pretty well done in.

 

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All aboard was 5:30. As I was walking to dinner at 5:45 one of the tour buses was just arriving at the dock. We seemed to start moving about 6:15 to 6:30. I think when people boarded in Valparaiso a bug may have come aboard also. Dianne was a no-show at dinner for the third day. We were joined by a lady from the next table whose sister is also under the weather. Hopefully the situation is under control as there has been no notice of a special alert. Today I decided on the strawberry bisque, lamb chops, and banana ice cream.

 

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The featured entertainment was Bailamos, a group of 3 very energetic singers from Canada,. I dozed a bit and missed the first few minutes of their show.

 

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My parting shot will be a wish for those currently dealing with the bug for a speedy recovery and for the rest of us to be spared.

 

Roy

[Krazy Kruizers]

Once again I am catching up.

I love your review and all the pictures.

Thank you for taking time out from your cruise to do this "Live" report.

[rafinmd]

Day Z22, Wednesday, April 12, 2017, At sea, MS Zaandam

 

Thank you Krazy Kruizers. I had mentioned in my "comparisons" my internet being better than on the Rotterdam. I think that must have been the kiss of death.

 

The Koningsdam is in Malaga. The Crystal Symphony is in Shimizu. The Crystal Serenity is in Grand Turk.

 

Some sea days are busier than others and this was quite busy. When I went to the lido for coffee around 5:30 the moon was shining brightly overhead and we were still off the coast of Peru, approaching the westernmost tip of South America. Sunrise was officially 6:25 but the sun stayed hidden under clouds near the horizon for at least another 20 minutes.

 

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There isn’t usually much in the way of shipboard activities usually before 10 but today we had Ryan’s presentation on Manta at 9. I had picked out a potential tour if needed but based on the information have decided to just spend a little time ashore on my own. There will be 2 shuttles, a free one to the port gate and a paid one to a shopping area. Ryan’s information indicated that there should be enough available near the port gate that’s all I will need.

 

I skipped the 10AM shore excursion talk but returned to the Mondriaan Lounge for Luciana’s Future Cruise talk. I don’t think there was anything new there but I’m still hopeful that 2019 Grand Voyages will be announced before San Diego. In his noon update Captain Turner was optimistic about the weather for Manta.

 

Lunch today was mostly pizza. I’ve had better on some other ships, notably the Prinsendam, but it was good. The afternoon started off with a Q&A with Captain Turner. He indicated Holland America is trying to increase the consistency of things across the fleet which I think has both advantages and disadvantages.

 

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My planned activities concluded with a talk by Dr. Christofferson on life under the sea.

 

We were back at 3 again at table 84. We have heard that Dianne is now taking antibiotics and hopes to be back in action Thursday. The fruit cup, apricot soup, chicken salad and blueberry crisp turned out to be a winning combination.

 

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The featured entertainment was the Zaandam Singers and Dancers in “Variations”. I’ve seen most of the production shows but this one was new to me. It featured a wide variety of musical styles from some pretty sophisticated ballet to quite popular songs with one number I would characterize as a comic dance and I thought it a winner. Getting a bit drowsy I hope to be in bed early tonight.

 

I think it is fairly rare when there are concurrent reports on Cruise Critic from the Zaandam and all of it's R-class sisters but this is happening now. In addition to my reports we have several threads on the Amsterdam World Cruise, btimmer on the Volendam's trans-Pacific from Asia to Vancouver, and kazu's reports on the Rotterdam transatlantic. With relatively modest internet access the only one I've really been following is the Rotterdam but I've found it interesting to compare some of my observations with kazu's.

 

She commented on the footwear the deck crew is wearing, with crocs becoming a new standard. That hasn't happened yet on the Zaandam; both the deck hands washing the decks each morning and the stewards working with the lounge chair cushions have been wearing standard safety shoes.

 

She also mentioned the stairs. I believe she said that the stairs were carpeted with a contrasting material on the top and bottom steps on each flight. That's partially true on the Zaandam. The midship stairs are that way, both the main staircase and the extra one between decks 3 and 5. Both the forward and aft staircases have a contrasting color on the bottom step of each flight but not the top and the stairs in the atrium only have a different shade on the center landing.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/zaandamstairs.jpg

 

I'm not quite sure what the rationale is but there are 2 Mariner tiles for the R-class ships, one for the Amsterdam and Rotterdam and the other for the Volendam and Zaandam. I would have guessed it would be the Rotterdam vs the other 3 given the modifications to the Rotterdam's aft deck but that's not the case.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/zaantile.jpg

 

She also noted the format of the menu for Gala nights as a 4-panel card form. That appears to be fleet wide as I've seen it both on the Koningsdam and the Zaandam. I kind of like the new format; it does a nice job of printing to a pdf from the new Navigator app.

 

One thing that appears to be better on the Zaandam, at least for this cruise, is the internet. It was poor this afternoon but has generally worked reasonably well.

 

My parting shot today will be a wish for a peaceful, safe, and meaningful end to this Holy week.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Day Z23, Thursday, April 13, 2017, Manta, Equador

 

The Koningsdam is in Alicante. The Crystal Symphony is on a 2-day call in Tokyo. The Crystal Serenity is at sea from Grand Turk to Key West.

 

I visited Manta, our only call in Equador this cruise, about 14 months ago. Almost exactly 1 year ago the city suffered a devastating earthquake killing 2,000 of the 250,000 inhabitants.

 

On my prior visit I had taken the most popular of the tours. I had a potential alternative tour picked out but decided just to go into town on my own. Our arrival was very early and we were docked when I woke at 5am and breakfast was already being served for tours leaving as early as 7AM.

 

I don’t think I was actually aware of the earthquake until my tablemates mentioned it at dinner. I don’t really remember the dock very well from last year but was surprised to see a Bailey Bridge connecting the concrete dock to the breakwater which carries the road to the mainland. I suspect that is there because of damage from the earthquake.

 

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This is (and was last year) another port where walking off the ship is not allowed. There were 2 shuttles, a free orange bus that just went to the port gate and a paid one that went to a shopping plaza.

 

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The dock was at just the right height that at high tide (early morning and late afternoon) the gangway was forward on A-deck while most of the day a midship hatch I’ve seldom seen used on deck 1 was employed.

 

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I left the ship about 7:40 and took the free shuttle to the port gate. Surprisingly, right outside the port there was a fairly decent beach.

 

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My laptop has been trying to download an operating system and it seems to be slowing the machine down drastically. I was hoping to find good wifi to get the job done but didn’t have much luck in my walking finding a good place. In my walking Manta did not really seem a very pretty place.

 

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I did see in my notes from last year that there was free wifi in the town square. It was not very good but it had been sufficient then to install an update with a little patience. I headed for the spot again and at first things looked promising but after my update was about 15% loaded the wifi wouldn’t budge any further.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/mantasquare.jpg

 

I walked some more before heading back to the ship. On my return journey I passed Manta’s iconic tuna sign (It calls itself the Tuna Capitol of the World) as well as an anchor placed right in the middle of the sidewalk. I was back at the ship about noon. I understand that several hotels along the ocean front boulevard were flattened by the earthquake but did not remember the area well enough to notice. The one thing I did notice was some extra wide gaps in the expansion joints of an overpass I crossed.

 

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The port was something of a beehive of activity. There does not appear to be much cargo activity (a few large hoppers for transferring grain to trucks but no freighters in evidence) but the fishing boats are quite large. There were several cranes busy at work taking huge net loads of fish out of the boat holds and placing them into what looked like open top shipping containers. There were at least 4 or 5 fishing boats unloading their catch as well as refueling.

 

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In addition to that we took on some fuel and unloaded several truck loads of trash and recycling goods. I watched the trash and the fish until it was time to head to the Ocean Bar for tea and scones.

 

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All aboard was 4:30 and we had backed up almost enough to have the bow at the end of the dock by 5. We are really leaving South America behind tonight. The coast now runs to the northeast and we are heading northwest to Costa Rica.

 

We missed Diane for the 4th straight night. I decided on the fruit cup, Aroza con polla, and the Triple berry sundae.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/dishes13.jpg

 

 

The featured entertainment was comedian Tony Daro. He was pretty funny but not quite enough to forestall my drowsiness. I had actually planned to leave early to be watching my GPS when we crossed the equator but missed my planned time and got to the deck just a very few moments past that magic moment.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/equator.jpg

 

It’s a happy coincidence that tonight we not only have the Filipino Crew show at 11 but also set our clocks back so we essentially lose no sleep. It was the usual great show, especially the candle dance and the bamboo dance.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/bamboo.jpg

 

Today’s parting shot will be a wish for a continuing recovery for people suffering for a year now from the earthquake.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Day Z24, Friday, April 14, 2017, At sea, MS Zaandam

 

The Koningsdam is at sea from Alicante to Rome. The Crystal Symphony is on a 2-day call in Tokyo. The Crystal Serenity is in Key West.

 

With the hour we gained overnight, sunrise is now quite early. We have fallen into something of a weather rut of clear morning skies overhead but a pretty heavy band of clouds on the horizon. When I started walking around the bow the sun was not yet up, but it had officially risen by the time I walked back along the port side and went up the stairs to the lido. While the sky was fairly bright the moon at the time was still quite visible. I started feeling a bit of knee pain in Manta and limited today’s walk to about 2 miles. On about lap 4 the sun finally started to come out visibly.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/dawn0414.jpg

 

After my walk I struggled with the internet. Windows 10 says it does not load updates when on a paid connection but that is not what I am experiencing. Trying to face the issue head on I tried to bite the bullet and actually load the update. After 35 minutes it had downloaded only 17% of the file and the internet was virtually useless for anything else. I finally gave up, transferred the files to my Win8 backup machine, and completed my essential work and updated my antivirus software in 25 minutes. With the time lost on this debacle I will defer posting menus and programs until I know I can spare the wifi time; they may not be posted until San Diego.

 

There were 3 program items of interest to me today. Ryan had his talk on Puerto Caldera at 10. I’ve been there once before, embarking at the start of a Panama Canal cruise on the Crystal Symphony in 2002, but then all I did was transfer from San Jose and sail away. There is no town at the port; the town of interest is about a 25 minute drive (there is a free shuttle). We are in port 9-6; I have a tour 12:30 to 6 and don’t think I would try to go into town in the morning and be back in time for the tour. The good news is there is a terminal with free wifi; I may get that windows update done.

 

Jay Christofferson had a talk on Tropical Rain Forests at 11; I left after about 20 minutes to get in line with the techspert. It turns out there is a way to stop the automatic updates in Windows 10 but even she had to search some to figure it out. It involves going to settings, network, wifi, manage known networks, selecting a network (like Zaandam-Guest), selecting properties, and then “set as metered connection”. Not simple but I am hopeful it will help.

 

We are sailing pretty much a direct northwest course, almost one side of an equilateral triangle and are far from land. I did not hear the speaker very well but Captain Turner indicated we were near an environmentally sensitive area, possibly requiring an adjustment of our nearly beeline course. For Costa Rica we are likely to see rain but this day turned out beautiful, a perfect day for either lounging or dining by the midship or aft pools.

 

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The afternoon presentation was Dr. Steven Sloan with “The Impact of Globalization on Selected States in Latin America”. I was a bit surprised that there was no King Neptune ceremony after crossing the Equator overnight but there was a certificate on my bed after dinner.

 

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With sunrise earlier in our new time zone sunset is as well. It went down just as I was walking to the dining room for dinner.

 

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Dianne has finally gotten well enough to be back at table 84 for our second Gala night of the voyage. It appeared to be the same menu as the second one on the first segment but this time I opted for the Fillet Mignon instead of the lamb.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/dishes14.jpg

 

The featured entertainment was the second performance from the singing trio Balimos. They will leave the ship in San Jose and soon pick up the Oosterdam. I dozed off at my desk and missed most of the show.

 

I stopped off briefly at the Mix for a diet Coke after the show. Lee Strubeck was just starting a numbers trivia with songs like “One”, 76 trombones, and 3 times a lady. I did not stay long and plan to be in bed early,

 

While I do not normally pay much attention to pro football my parting shot will be a sad rest in peace for Dan Rooney. Thank you for your efforts to open the sport to full participation to women and minorities.

 

Roy

[Krazy Kruizers]

Loving all the pictures and reporting.

We have been to Manta -- many years ago when we did A PanAmerican cruise on the Ryndam.

[rafinmd]

Day Z25, Saturday, April 15, 2017, Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica

 

Thank you Krazy Kruizers.

 

The Koningsdam is Rome. The Crystal Symphony is at sea from Tokyo to Honolulu. The Crystal Serenity is concluding her World Cruise in Miami.

 

When I went on deck about 5:20 we were still about 30 miles from Puerto Caldera. While the sun had not yet come up it was fairly bright yet the moon was still shining behind us. On the first lap of my walk the sun became bright on our starboard side as I rounded the stern. I walked about 7 laps before returning to my room for some internet activity. The knee feels fine today but I decided to reduce my walk at least 1 additional day.

 

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I resumed walking about 7:30 as we approached the port. The Eurodam was already docked in Punta Arenas, about 7 miles west of Puerto Caldera. When I made my way up stairway oscar for breakfast about 8 we were clearly close to the dock as a massive crane was peeking up along our starboard side.

 

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I do not remember this much development at Puerto Caldera from 15 years ago. There are 2 warehouses; a section of one is designated as a “cruise terminal”, essentially a waiting room with some shops, displays, and wifi that wasn’t working. We were cleared about 8:45 and I went off to use the wifi about 9 with no success.

 

 

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I really can’t account for my morning except that I did spend some time watching the loading of supplies (again) onto the ship. A small fork lift unloaded the trucks and put the pallets near the hatch. Then heavy straps were fastened around the base of the pallets and huge forklift picked up the pallets and dropped them down to the level of the hatch where they were picked up by an onboard fork lift. There were 5 trucks (plus a smaller truck with fresh fruit) lined up in the morning; another arrived as I returned from my tour; I expect more came and left while I was on tour.

 

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My tour was a combination. We left on a bus at 12:30 and drove for about 45 minutes, mostly on rough gravel roads to a landing where we boarded a small boat for a jungle cruise. On the way our guide picked up a cashew nut and talked about the roasting process which is quite time consuming.

 

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We saw a variety of life, crocodiles, birds, iguana and monkeys but the only one that left me with a view in camera range were some monkeys.

 

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When the cruise ended (about an hour) a snack of fresh pineapple and watermelon

 

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It was about a 45 minute drive to our second time off the bus. A railroad was built in the 19th century to carry produce to the Caribbean. It looks like the railroad gets little use today but there is an excursion train. Ours was a locomotive, caboose, and 2 open coaches.

 

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We passed jungles, farms, back yards, sometimes with people waving at us. Our top speed was about 10mph on our hour ride. We stopped in a narrow cut where howler monkeys were scurrying around on trees overhead.

 

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When our ride ended we were under 2 miles from the port and returned about 5:10. We made it through the day without any rain, although the weather was quite hot and humid.

 

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The sun came down as I made my way to the dining room for dinner.

 

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There was an unwelcome but not totally unexpected change in the dining room. Apparently the numbers of sick people has reached the stage where there is no bread on the table, it was served by the waiters. Despite that it was a nice dinner with pear soup, linguini, and butter pecan ice cream for me.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/dishes15.jpg

 

The featured entertainment was Dance, the high energy show from the onboard cast. I skipped it and instead went to “Call My Bluff” (a.k.a. Liars Club) with a panel consisting of Alice from the Culinary Arts Center, Cruise Director Mario, and Cruise Director Designate Jordan, and with show host Mario as the MC. The scoring was by applause as “Audience vis Panel” with 2 wins each for the panel and the audience. We lost an hour as we retreated to the equivalent of US Central time.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/bluff.jpg

 

Today’s parting shot will recognize that I normally post the day after I report. By this time it is Easter Sunday. Wishing a happy Easter to those who celebrate it.

 

Roy

[AV8rix]

There was an unwelcome but not totally unexpected change in the dining room. Apparently the numbers of sick people has reached the stage where there is no bread on the table, it was served by the waiters.

 

Roy, is she now just in code orange or full code red (no salt and pepper shakers, pools closed, etc)? Curious because, as you can see from my signature, after you disembark in SD she'll be heading north and I'll board in Vancouver. Well, I suppose she'll undergo deep cleaning in SD if there really is a situation that triggers CDC action. Hope you and the other passengers stay healthy. Glad to see that your tablemate has fully recovered.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I really like Puerto Arenas better than Puerto Caldera.

Sounds like your ship is in Code Red.

Great reporting and great pictures.

[shipfriend_max]

Hey rafinmd,

 

Since I'm booked on Koningsdam for Aug 2017, I am really glad about your great Koningsdam blog - thanks for the detailed work, very helpful to me. :)

 

According to the daily programs, in the afternoon between 02:00 and 04:00 pm there's "selected" stations available in the Lido Café - can you tell me which ones?

 

Thanks in advance!

[rafinmd]

Day Z26, Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017, At sea, MS Zaandam

 

Thank you all. I'll try to think about answers offline and post later.

 

The Koningsdam is on a 2-day call in Rome. The Crystal Symphony is at sea from Tokyo to Honolulu. The Crystal Serenity is in Key West.

 

I think the time change caught up with me. When the alarm went off at 5 I shut it off and hung in bed for almost another hour. When I did go on deck about 6 it was quite windy and I reduced my morning walk to about 2 ½ miles. The knee pain is gone but I did not want to take a chance with it and did walk more after the winds diminished a bit, completing the last quarter of my five miles after the noon update. The sun, which has been a bit elusive recently, came through quite brightly as I came around the stern on my second lap.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/dawn0416.jpg

 

There were not really a lot of Easter decorations on the ship but there was a nice display of colored eggs on several of the counters.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/easter.jpg

 

After my late start it was well into the morning when I finally was prepared to go online. When I did it was not good. My nephew lives in San Diego and has twins now less than a year old. My brother had planned coming out from Des Moines as well but on Saturday he had a mishap on the Golf Course and now has a broken leg that will require at least 6 weeks of limited activity. I am also concerned about the possibility of a virus on the ship and the possibility of transmitting it to the twins who were born prematurely and I think are still quite fragile. We will assess that situation as our arrival gets closer. For several years now the lido on the Veendam has had automated hand washing stations. Until this year I had not seen them on any other ship but they have been on both the Koningsdam and the Zaandam. I was not thrilled with them on the Koningsdam as they totally replaced the sanitizer dispensers. While I believe the machines are better in theory, it appears to me that many people will not take the time to use them and end up doing nothing to clean their hands. I am pleased that the Zaandam offers both the new machines and the standard sanitizer.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/handwash.jpg

 

My key morning activity was a talk by Jay Christofferson on life deep under the ocean. It ended just before the organ started playing. While it played I noticed one of the pieces of art in the Atrium. Most Holland America ships are named after cities in the Netherlands and the Zaandam is no exception. I actually passed through Zaandam after my last Prinsendam cruise, and today noticed the Zaandam city coat of arms on the aft wall of the Atrium.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/zaandam.jpg

 

After lunch I spent some time on line checking some Fire Department business. I noticed on the TV bridge camera a bird perched on the forward mast. It was still there (or back or another one took it's place) after I attended Ryan’s talk on Puerto Chiapas as and spent a little time in the hot tub.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hitcher.jpg

 

The Interdenominational Easter Service was held at 5 in the Mondriaan Lounge. Communion was served. While it was a Smart Casual evening there was a special menu in the dining room much the style of a Gala Night. The Gazpacho, steak, and especially the Key Lime Pie were excellent.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/dishes16.jpg

 

The featured entertainment was a singer new to me, Amy Edwards. She was quite good.

 

https://aroundamericabitbybit.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/edwards.jpg

 

My parting shot is a personal one. Roger, be a good patient. Follow the Doctors’ orders, and when the time comes for rehab it will be difficult but will yield great benefits.

 

Roy

[shipfriend_max]

Der rafinmd,

 

it's me again, I still have one issue - sadly the MDR breakfast menu PDF does not work, if you will have time, maybe would you try to post it up again, please? :)

 

Otherwise I really love your reports, and I keep on reading!!

[rafinmd]

Av8rix, it is/was code orange. The salt shakers were always out and I never saw the pool closed. The lack of bread may actually have been a positive as one of my tablemates is prone to gobbling up bread and leaving his appetizers sitting forever. The unkindest cut of all for me was the containers of syrup and sprinkles were not out at the ice cream bar. They were back on the counter this afternoon so I am hopeful the situation is improving. I hope to know more at dinner.

 

I’m afraid I did not pay much attention to what was open in the Koningsdam Lido in off hours but I suspect it’s pretty much the same on all HAL ships. I walked through the Zaandam lido today and what was open was the pasta bar, a salad section, pre-made sandwiches/breads, and ice cream/deserts. I would expect the same on the Koningsdam but can’t guarantee it. The one thing that might be different would be the ice cream bar since there’s a paid gelato stand. Based on what I saw today, if I wanted a late lunch I would skip the lido and head either to the Deli/Pizza bar, Dive-In, or Dutch Café.

 

shipfriend_max, it may take me a while but I'll check that MDR breakfast menu.

 

Roy

[StartrainDD]

I would expect the same on the Koningsdam but can’t guarantee it. The one thing that might be different would be the ice cream bar since there’s a paid gelato stand.

Roy

 

Our Koningsdam experience is that Roy is exactly right. 'Ice Cream' hours were limited to the main lido lunch and dinner hours. The Gelato is good and not expensive, but we still felt it was "Not right" to have the option for the 'standard' ice cream taken away.

[AV8rix]

Av8rix, it is/was code orange. The salt shakers were always out and I never saw the pool closed. The lack of bread may actually have been a positive as one of my tablemates is prone to gobbling up bread and leaving his appetizers sitting forever. The unkindest cut of all for me was the containers of syrup and sprinkles were not out at the ice cream bar. They were back on the counter this afternoon so I am hopeful the situation is improving. I hope to know more at dinner.

 

Thank you, and sorry to be a bother. Glad that, whatever the bug was, it did not cause too many passengers grief and, if they put out the self-serve condiments at the ice-cream bar, it surely must be improving. Your "live-froms", as always, are a delight!