**Near-Live Blog of Zaandam Inca and South America Cruise 24 Sep - 3 Nov 2018**

[0bnxshs]

I apologize for the late post of yesterday's activities but CC has been giving me fits today. All other internet activity has been good though.

 

Day 10 (10/2)

 

Happy Birthday to Roger! Today is his birthday and I have the distinct pleasure of sharing it with him and treating him where and when I can around the ship.

 

Today we are in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico for the day. No tours scheduled here today, just planning to go ashore and find a place to sit and have some good Mexican beer. The day started as an overcast but the sun seemed to w burn the clouds away early. Roger was up at his usual time and started his walk on the promenade, 1 hour's worth or 3 to 3.5 miles at his pace. Not bad for an old man. For those wondering, 1 mile equals 3.5 laps, or so the sign says.

 

He found a stow-away on his walk. A lone pigeon was hanging around the promenade deck outside. It spent a lot of them waiting for Roger on the deck until flying ahead of him just as he approached. Then it would take wing and land several yards ahead until Roger got close again, only to repeat the process. When more and more people began to come out and walk though, the pigeon seemed not to know what to do or which way to go and was gone. No one is sure when he came aboard or whether he's still with us although he had opportunity to leave most of the day.

 

We've had a little issue here in the cabin since we boarded that got taken care of today. I was gifted a Bourbon and Coke package and Roger was gifted a Scotch and Soda package and they were waiting for us in our cabin when we boarded. Well, I don't drink any mixers in my bourbon and I certainly don't drink regular coke anyhow and Roger doesn't mix his scotch with soda. So, we wanted to have them all (6 total) changed out for diet cokes. This is usually the beverage department that handles this but we asked Wahoo, our cabin steward about it and he said to call 90 and let them know. So, a day or two got away from us when we found the stweard who handles the mini-bar setups going cabin to cabin to check them. We don't have a cooler in our room so the mini-bar setup sits on the desk under the TV and consists of 6 cans of various sodas. We mentioned our wishes to him and after writing something on his paper picked up all the mini-bar and Roger's 3 soda water cans and replaced them with diet cokes. He was gone before we realized he had left my 3 regular cokes sitting right there next to the now 9 diet cokes. Well, he couldn't be found in the hallway and we had something to go do anyways and figured we'd see him again soon and have the remaining 3 regular cokes replaced. But we never saw him again so I eventually called 90 and a nice young lady's voice answered and listened and said she'd take care of it. Today, nothing has changed. Roger was starting to chafe about it and finally decided he'd call. Mind you, we haven't yet had any of the diet coke that replaced his soda water or the whole mini-bar setup, but it was bothering him anyhow. From what I could tell from the one side of the conversation I heard, the voice told him it had been taken care of already, or so she'd been told. Roger promised her it had not and said it needed to be done! 10 minutes later, a different beverage steward showed up with 3 cans of diet coke and left with 3 cans of regular coke. Problem solved! We still haven't had any. Yes, I do know we probably could have taken the unwanted cans to a bar and exchanged them. Next time, I'll try that. It seems that all the bars have had the fountain soda removed in favor of cans now.

 

We walked along the waterfront of the small bay we were docked at in Manzanillo. It was nice, warm and humid. Just like home. Lots of passengers complained of the heat but to us it was pretty normal. We found a restaurant/bar and had a beer. We walked along the stores and window shopped. We paused at the Naval or Coast Guard station and admired the ocean patrol vessel ARM Baranda (P123) sitting alongside a pier. A couple of hours later we were back aboard and cleaning up for the evening.

 

Having turned in our passports a couple of days ago, we found mail in our cabin with a photocopy of each of ours stapled to a letter from Guest Relations explaining that they recommend carrying it when going ashore in our upcoming ports. Nice touch.

 

Happy hour consisted of a few rounds of "Happy Birthday" sung to Roger over his 2 bird and gingers. He seemed to appreciate it. We then headed off to the Pinnacle Grill and had a most wonderful dinner. Roger had the Caesar Salad and Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, then the double pork chop with a baked potato and mushrooms. I had the Caesar Salad, the bone-in ribeye steak and a baked potato. Prepared medium, I found the steak well marbled, a bit sinewy, but good nevertheless. We started the meal with a cup each of a mushroom cappucino. That was different but ok. Bread was served as usual but without the slim bread sticks I remember. Desert was a chocolate Birthday Cake served by the manager, Peter, and the chef and staff of the Pinnacle Grill. We also enjoyed a bottle of Seven Falls cabernet sauvignon wine which was quite bold and very good. The meal was great and well paced and we lingered over cake and coffee to talk and salute everyone in the Pinnacle.

 

We stumbled back to our cabin right about 2 hours after starting our great meal, Roger to lie down and digest and me to make sure he made it back to the cabin. Good thing I followed him as, when he finally managed to get headed down the correct corridor, he walked right past it heading who knows where. I steered him back and then went off to find something to occupy myself for an hour or so before finding Roger asleep in his bed with a smile on his face.

 

Morning in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico:

 

A panoramic shot of the cruise pier area:

 

ARM Baranda (P123):

 

Zaandam at the pier:

 

Happy Birthday!:

[0bnxshs]

Rich,

 

We are enjoying your posts and photos. I'm sure you and Roger are having quite an adventure.

 

Peggy and Wes

 

I'm happy you two are enjoying, Wes. Wish you could have come with us. So far, we've had a lovely time. :D

It's already a quarter of the way over!

Edited October 4, 2018 by 0bnxshs

[0bnxshs]

Enjoy reading your posts.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, KK. Today had me in fits trying to get on CC but it seems to be behaving tonight.

[Skipper's Mom]

Happy birthday to Roger! Enjoying your posts.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Forums mobile app

[0bnxshs]

Don’t even think about emailing when you are cruising!

 

The colours will be at peak this weekend but I went out on Sunday. I will try to get out again to take pictures. I will try one here to see if I can get it to work from my tablet. If not I will get on the laptop later.

 

 

I see our flights to Paris and back are arranged for next year. Did you see we're on an A380-800 on the trip over? Really looking forward to that with y'all. :D

[0bnxshs]

Happy birthday to Roger! Enjoying your posts.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Forums mobile app

 

I'm pleased you are enjoying my silly blog, Lynne. :) I'll tell Roger of your birthday wishes.

[kazu]

More great posts, Rich :D

 

Really enjoying you LIVE from.

 

 

I have found CC unco-operative at times too when sailing. Don't worry, we'll patiently wait for your updates for when it co-operates and you have time.

 

 

Happy Birthday to Roger :). Sounds like a great birthday celebration :D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Happy Birthday to Roger.

Loving your reports. Glad you got your cokes straightened out. Wonder if the fountain drinks will be removed fleet wise?

It has been years since we were in Manzanillo -- actually have been there I think 5 times.

Cute story about the pigeon. When we first sailed on the Zaandam in 2000, we went out on our verandah in St Thomas and found a dead bat on the floor.

Love the pictures.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[aliaschief]

Rich I’m enjoying your blog and please pass on a hello and HB to Rodger.

 

B.

[0bnxshs]

To all.... Roger says thank you for the birthday wishes! :D:cool:

 

We're hoping to not encounter any dead bats but will let you know if we do, KK! Yours is a cute anecdote.

[0bnxshs]

Day 11 (10/3)

 

Unbelieveably, it was 7:47 AM before Roger was out the cabin door this morning. For those who know Roger, this is considerably later than usual. He normally is up before 5 AM and has regularly been waking me doing so. I just roll over and return to sleep, occasionally telling him not to fall off the ship while walking his laps. He blamed it on being up all night with agita from the heavy birthday meal he enjoyed but I think it was the wine and the bird that kept him asleep so late. I'm trained by our puppies (they're 2 years old this month but still look like puppies) to be up by 7:30 AM at the latest and have been rising anywhere from 6:30 and 7 AM since we've been aboard.

 

Roger, being the sort of person who has to find something to worry about, has found a leak under our sink in the bathroom. Not sure what he was doing under the sink as we have nothing on the shelf below it. Apparently he's been tracking it for a couple of days now and has even placed a washcloth on the shelf to keep it contained. He showed me the lightly dampened washcloth and where he thinks it's leaking from this afternoon. Knowing there is a crack in the sink that runs from the overflow drain down to the drain in the bottom of the sink, we suspect this is the culprit. Not sure this is fixable until they refresh the entire bathroom like others were during the last dry dock so it's probably not even worth reporting unless it gets much worse than it is already.

 

Today is a sea day again. We did have some thunder and lightning during the early hours of the morning and it was very lightly raining around lunchtime but nothing seemed to dampen the spirit of the Mexican Ambassadors who were still about as they again performed folkloric dances at the Lido pool and had afternoon craft lessons later. The group of young latin singers called "Bailemos" is still on board as well and did another set of performances in the Mainstage tonight. We also had lectures in the afternoon on Monarch butterflies by Jim the stargazing geo-chemist, Ancient American Civilizations: The Mayans by Charles and one about William Walker, one-time President of Nicaragua by Tom, so we are becoming quite knowledgeable too. We didn't go to the Watch and Jewelry auction or the digital camera introductory class (although both of us could benefit here but we already own cameras....) There is no lack of things to do on a sea day on this voyage.

 

Dinner found Roger going by himself to the Lido at a bit past 5 PM (he hates being late to meals) while I stayed in the cabin and cursed a blue streak first at the internet in general and then at Cruise Critic in particular, which seemed determined that I was NOT going to post to my blog yesterday. I gave up finally and went upstairs to find Roger eating.... you guessed it, chicken, but this was the oven roasted variety again that I'd found good and this time, so did he. He couldn't pass by the pasta station either where he gets whatever kind of pasta is available (bowtie, rotini, macaroni, etc.) and has red sauce poured over it. If it's got meat in the sauce he's really happy. He has found that he needs to ask for a "pinch" of red peppers as chef's interpretation of a "little" is way too much for Roger. The same holds true for garlic. Sometimes the garlic odor in the Lido is almost too much. We talked with newly made friends for a bit and then I came down and finally got my post finished.

 

Cloudy all day but the sunset was beautiful in its own way.

 

Clouds still resting on the hills in the morning:

 

The cracked sink in our bathroom:

 

A cloudy sunset:

[62countries]

Happy to have y'all following! I hope I can give you some insight into the ship and ports that will help you planning your cruises. :D

 

Are there any updates since September 20th? I am going on this ship around Cape Horn in December

[wrahn2002]

Day 11 (10/3)

 

Unbelieveably, it was 7:47 AM before Roger was out the cabin door this morning. For those who know Roger, this is considerably later than usual. He normally is up before 5 AM and has regularly been waking me doing so. I just roll over and return to sleep, occasionally telling him not to fall off the ship while walking his laps. He blamed it on being up all night with agita from the heavy birthday meal he enjoyed but I think it was the wine and the bird that kept him asleep so late. I'm trained by our puppies (they're 2 years old this month but still look like puppies) to be up by 7:30 AM at the latest and have been rising anywhere from 6:30 and 7 AM since we've been aboard.

 

Roger, being the sort of person who has to find something to worry about, has found a leak under our sink in the bathroom. Not sure what he was doing under the sink as we have nothing on the shelf below it. Apparently he's been tracking it for a couple of days now and has even placed a washcloth on the shelf to keep it contained. He showed me the lightly dampened washcloth and where he thinks it's leaking from this afternoon. Knowing there is a crack in the sink that runs from the overflow drain down to the drain in the bottom of the sink, we suspect this is the culprit. Not sure this is fixable until they refresh the entire bathroom like others were during the last dry dock so it's probably not even worth reporting unless it gets much worse than it is already.

 

Today is a sea day again. We did have some thunder and lightning during the early hours of the morning and it was very lightly raining around lunchtime but nothing seemed to dampen the spirit of the Mexican Ambassadors who were still about as they again performed folkloric dances at the Lido pool and had afternoon craft lessons later. The group of young latin singers called "Bailemos" is still on board as well and did another set of performances in the Mainstage tonight. We also had lectures in the afternoon on Monarch butterflies by Jim the stargazing geo-chemist, Ancient American Civilizations: The Mayans by Charles and one about William Walker, one-time President of Nicaragua by Tom, so we are becoming quite knowledgeable too. We didn't go to the Watch and Jewelry auction or the digital camera introductory class (although both of us could benefit here but we already own cameras....) There is no lack of things to do on a sea day on this voyage.

 

Dinner found Roger going by himself to the Lido at a bit past 5 PM (he hates being late to meals) while I stayed in the cabin and cursed a blue streak first at the internet in general and then at Cruise Critic in particular, which seemed determined that I was NOT going to post to my blog yesterday. I gave up finally and went upstairs to find Roger eating.... you guessed it, chicken, but this was the oven roasted variety again that I'd found good and this time, so did he. He couldn't pass by the pasta station either where he gets whatever kind of pasta is available (bowtie, rotini, macaroni, etc.) and has red sauce poured over it. If it's got meat in the sauce he's really happy. He has found that he needs to ask for a "pinch" of red peppers as chef's interpretation of a "little" is way too much for Roger. The same holds true for garlic. Sometimes the garlic odor in the Lido is almost too much. We talked with newly made friends for a bit and then I came down and finally got my post finished.

 

Cloudy all day but the sunset was beautiful in its own way.

 

Clouds still resting on the hills in the morning:

 

The cracked sink in our bathroom:

 

A cloudy sunset:

 

 

Rich,

 

Must have been the cholate cake the Ellen didn't make that messed up hisNORMAL routine.

 

I can see him being worried about the electric stuff, but not the plumbing.

 

We hope you’re having a great time.

 

Wes

 

 

:)

[1of4]

Loving the reports (cracked sink and all) and the pictures. Thanks for being late to dinner in your efforts to share your cruise with us. It is very appreciated!

 

Flights: check

Pre-pre hotel: check

Pre-hotel with you and DW: check

Alerted powers that be that the person they had sailing in my cabin was not, in fact, the man I married and am set to celebrate our anniversary with! :eek: Oh the problems of having a common name! That is being fixed. Somewhere in North America is another man with DH’s name that thought he was getting a mighty fine trip next year. :p

 

Keep enjoying.

[erewhon]

Great reports and photos, thank you.

Belated Happy Birthday wishes to Roger.

[0bnxshs]

Are there any updates since September 20th? I am going on this ship around Cape Horn in December

 

Nothing that I am aware of has changed since I've been aboard. If I see anything different though I'll make note of it. Did notice tonight that the Crows Nest is "closed until further notice", whatever that means. Very mysterious. :confused:

[0bnxshs]

Rich,

 

Must have been the cholate cake the Ellen didn't make that messed up hisNORMAL routine.

 

I can see him being worried about the electric stuff, but not the plumbing.

 

We hope you’re having a great time.

 

Wes

 

 

:)

 

I'm still blaming the bird and wine for messing his normal schedule up. We had calm seas last night but he still weaved to and fro down the corridor right past our cabin.

 

We are having a terrific time!

[0bnxshs]

Loving the reports (cracked sink and all) and the pictures. Thanks for being late to dinner in your efforts to share your cruise with us. It is very appreciated!

 

Flights: check

Pre-pre hotel: check

Pre-hotel with you and DW: check

Alerted powers that be that the person they had sailing in my cabin was not, in fact, the man I married and am set to celebrate our anniversary with! :eek: Oh the problems of having a common name! That is being fixed. Somewhere in North America is another man with DH’s name that thought he was getting a mighty fine trip next year. :p

 

Keep enjoying.

 

Well, they have almost a year to straighten it out. Perhaps it'll be long enough. ;)

[0bnxshs]

Great reports and photos, thank you.

Belated Happy Birthday wishes to Roger.

 

Thanks, erewhon, for the nice comments. I'll pass along your BD wishes to Roger. :D

[alibabacruisers]

Hi Rich and Roger! This is the first time in a long time reading a HAL blog and I must say you write beautifully and I can just imagine that I am there on your cruise! The GoPro pictures are amazingly colorful and beautiful! Thank you for allowing me to travel with you on HAL and to South America. We normally cruise on Cunard, although have travelled on the Volendam once roundtrip Sydney as we live in Australia. I would love to travel more on HAL! I also find that HAL cruisers tend to discuss their cruises more as well as write very good and informative blogs so thank you very much for writing yours! Happy Belated birthday to Roger as well. You two sure make a great travelling pair and get along well and that adds to the creativeness of your blog too!

 

I look forward to hearing more!:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

I know what you mean by the over powering smell of garlic in the Lido -- it does hit you at times.

Glad Roger enjoyed his birthday so much that he slept in.

Hopefully that crack in the sink doesn't get so bad that the sink will have to be removed before a dry dock.

Love the pictures.

[0bnxshs]

Day 12 (10/4)

 

Huatulco, Mexico is a very pretty little resort along the southern coast of Mexico that seems almost out of place along the remote looking shores. It's a very small cove that hosts a few hotels and a resort, some condos and a marina which is surrounded by bars, restaurants and shops. There is a beautiful sandy beach that is only a few steps off the pier and lots of taxi drivers and shop keepers who are sure they have just the right ride for you or the most lovely jewelry. One of the shop keepers even called out that he had all the things you didn't need to take home.

 

It was very warm and very sunny in the morning and it just kept getting warmer and sunnier as we decided to step out and explore and look for a place to buy a beer. Unlike the last time I was here there was not a large military/security presence, only 2 marines at the gate armed to the teeth who seemed to ignore everyone and 2 'policia municipal' who checked cabin cards. Oh, and a very friendly retriever working dog who was trying hard to stay cool in the shade of her master's chair.

 

We stopped and had a beer at one of the bars and made friends with the young man who was tending bar. He was an artist from Mexico City whose English was only nominally better than our Spanish. Nevertheless, the three of us had a warm conversation about life which ended in hand shakes and fist bumps all around. It is so easy to make friends with nearly anyone anywhere so long as you have a genuine smile on your face, a warm song in your voice and act with humble kindness.

 

Upon reboarding Zaandam, we watched as a little event unfolded at the gangway. Obviously, the tide coming in had changed the angle the gangway drooped to the dock to the point that it had to be propped up now. It was interesting to watch as first one attempt then another attempt to use the "Buenos Aires Ramp" seemed to fall just short enough of perfect to need to be re-done. It was finally decided that it was good enough when the Captain refused the request to move the ship a little away from the dock and aft some. I guess Mexican docks and Argentine ramps don't quite mesh exactly.

 

We had to leave this little paradise behind early, at 1 PM, in order to make our next port tomorrow on time. Not long after we did the winds picked up to gale force off land which made getting to everything on the port side of the ship an uphill climb. It was blowing hard and the Captain said it was to last until midnight or so. It was a bit strange to look out the port side and see only the sky while looking out the starboard side one could only see water. Again, the promenade deck remained open and everyone not paying attention while on the port side of the ship got a soaking from the spray off the whitecaps.

 

Tonight was Mexican Dinner night at the Lido Market as we'd already spent an enjoyable 2 days there and were now leaving for Guatamala. We both had only salads tonight as we'd each eaten at the Dive In for lunch; me a hot dog with fries and Roger a hamburger with fries. That dog was still barking at me so I decided I'd feed it as lightly as possible. Later, I walked up to the Crows Nest only to find it closed. Not just roped off for something like a private party; no, the fire doors were closed and sported very serious looking signs about it being closed until further notice. I plan to investigate further in the morning to see if I can find out what's going on.

 

We've received forms tonight to be filled out for both Peru and Chile. I think that the Peruvian forms are because we are doing the overland tour to Machu Picchu for 2 nights as we the last time we were here we didn't and they're called "Baggage Declaration" forms. The form for Chile is a little less forthcoming as to its purpose but in filling it out it appears to be for customs declarations. We are to keep the Chilean form on our persons but must turn in the Peruvian form to Guest Relations.

 

Met friends on the secret balcony at the stern on the Navigation deck to watch the sunset again. We've already begun to talk about how we've seen nicer ones on the cruise, so I guess we have been on board long enough to notice. Tonight's sunset was still beautiful though.

 

Sunrise in Huatulco:

 

Short walk into town to the beach:

 

The "Buenos Aires Ramp":

 

Leaving Huatulco:

 

Closed Crows Nest!:

Edited October 5, 2018 by 0bnxshs

[0bnxshs]

Hi Rich and Roger! This is the first time in a long time reading a HAL blog and I must say you write beautifully and I can just imagine that I am there on your cruise! The GoPro pictures are amazingly colorful and beautiful! Thank you for allowing me to travel with you on HAL and to South America. We normally cruise on Cunard, although have travelled on the Volendam once roundtrip Sydney as we live in Australia. I would love to travel more on HAL! I also find that HAL cruisers tend to discuss their cruises more as well as write very good and informative blogs so thank you very much for writing yours! Happy Belated birthday to Roger as well. You two sure make a great travelling pair and get along well and that adds to the creativeness of your blog too!

 

I look forward to hearing more!:D

 

Barbara, thanks for your most kind words! We'll do our best to continue in the manner we've started. :) Roger says "Thanks!" for the birthday wish.

[0bnxshs]

....

Hopefully that crack in the sink doesn't get so bad that the sink will have to be removed before a dry dock.

Love the pictures.

 

I promise more photos if it does get worse! :eek: