Dave’s Live from Zuiderdam Voyage of the Vikings, July 30 – Sept. 3, 2019

[RetiredMustang]

On 7/31/2019 at 2:51 PM, taxmantoo said:

...If you have the opportunity, could you please find out the names of the piano players in Billboard Onbard?

 

According the friendly and amazingly efficient young lady I asked at the front desk, their names are Justin and Rachel.

Dave

Edited August 1, 2019 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

21 hours ago, erewhon said:

Hello Dave,

Thanks for doing a live review of your cruise, will be following along.

Hope you both have a fantastic cruise.

 

Kia ora! (for others, a rough translation from Maori: aloha!)  Thanks for checking in.  We intend to really enjoy this cruise, partly because some ports and tours are new to us and some  are like visiting old friends.

[RetiredMustang]

2 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

Dave,  always enjoy your "Live Froms". Thanks for taking the time to do them.

I will be on the Zuiderdam for her late September cruise NY to Quebec and am interested in any comments you have as to the condition of the ship. Those new tender boats look quite nice. Friends I am traveling with want to go to the Bar Harbor Inn for the full lobster bake but your choice of the West Street Café looks pretty good to me.

 

Hi!  I'm glad to hear from you again.  A short answer -- Zuiderdam strikes us as recently renovated, and most things seem new or well-kept.  We probably won't tear it up too much 😀.  Long answer -- I have been taking photos here and there about the ship, and will probably do something like a photo tour of the ship later on in the cruise.  

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

12 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

...  Not sure I like the new lifeboats.  Air conditioning is great but no support for the back.

 

KK,

 

There is some back support -- it may not be easy to see, but there are clear plastic/glass risers between the benches.   But, DW and I found that they hit our middle backs somewhat uncomfortably.  So, they are not as back-supportive as the old seating, but I think the trade-offs with ease of entry, comfort of seats, knee room, etc. more than make up for it.  A short, or short-ish at least, tender ride makes it better for us in the new tenders.  Not sure how a real lifeboat situation would do for extended lengths of time, but considering the alternative ...

 

Dave

[Lido deck main]

Enjoying the reports, your lobster sure looked good.  

[erewhon]

Thanks for your updates, good to see photos of the new lifeboats.

The lobster looked tasty.

 

[dada.mv]

Great, thank you for the LIVE.

I've seen on the w&w that there is a texas hold em tournament in the casino, someone knows if there are are poker table in the koningsdam? i thought not. 

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 2, Sydney, Nova Scotia

 

I remember hearing the fog horns during the night, and listened to them after I got up this morning, but we soon got out of the fog bank and are now sailing under a mostly clear sky, tinged with coral at the edges from the dawn filtering through the remaining mist.

 

 

 Here is today’s When and Where:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, here is the ship’s port guide for Sydney:

 

 

 

 

 

We have been in Sydney several times and have taken all the tours that interest us, so we just plan to go ashore for a bit and maybe take a short stroll about.  We have wanted to check out the café in the terminal, so I see at least a cup of coffee in our future (or maybe a beer, depending on the time 😉).

 

More later,

Dave

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 2, Sydney, Nova Scotia

 

Well, I seem to have double-entered an image again, and I haven't been able to figure out how to delete the extra one ... still getting used to the new CC.  Oh well.

 

But, I was able to step out on the balcony and get a photo of the sunrise:

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

11 hours ago, RetiredMustang said:

 

KK,

 

There is some back support -- it may not be easy to see, but there are clear plastic/glass risers between the benches.   But, DW and I found that they hit our middle backs somewhat uncomfortably.  So, they are not as back-supportive as the old seating, but I think the trade-offs with ease of entry, comfort of seats, knee room, etc. more than make up for it.  A short, or short-ish at least, tender ride makes it better for us in the new tenders.  Not sure how a real lifeboat situation would do for extended lengths of time, but considering the alternative ...

 

Dave

 

Thanks for the explanation.  Seems like our most recent tender rides were about 20+ minutes.  Wearing a back brace could be interesting.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Loving the reports.  Thank you for taking the time to answer people's questions.

 

Don't worry about pictures taking more one time.  This site does make it interesting when posting anything.

 

Glad the fog lifted and you have a pretty day ahead of you.

[cat shepard]

Beautiful pic of the sun rising!

 

Thank you!

[dfish]

This isn't an urgent question and perhaps someone else will be able to answer it.  How do you get such good pictures of the When and Where and dinner menus?    Do you take screen shots of the Navigator?   

[RetiredMustang]

9 hours ago, dada.mv said:

Great, thank you for the LIVE.

I've seen on the w&w that there is a texas hold em tournament in the casino, someone knows if there are are poker table in the koningsdam? i thought not. 

 

I'm sorry but I've never been on Konigsdam and can't answer your question.  Hopefully someone else will know and post the answer.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

2 hours ago, dfish said:

This isn't an urgent question and perhaps someone else will be able to answer it.  How do you get such good pictures of the When and Where and dinner menus?    Do you take screen shots of the Navigator?   

 

No.  I used to take photos of the When and Wheres directly, with middling to poor results.  A few years ago, I bought a portable scanner that allows me to scan the pages and save the files either as .pdf or .jpg files.  The scanner can only take a sheet up to about 9 inches wide, which works for the voyage planner, port guides, etc., but I scan each page of the When and Where individually.   CC still only displays image files no larger than 1024 pixels in the longest dimension and will auto-scale larger ones down.  My scanner, even at the lowest-resolution setting, creates files much larger than that.  I edit the files in Paint, cropping as needed and then re-sizing.

 

For menus, in the past I would take photos and usually have to re-type them.  Now, the dinner menus are posted on the Navigator.  It is easy to open the dinner menu, right-click on it and hit "save as" to save it to my desktop as a .jpg file. These files I also edit and re-size in Paint.

 

The Navigator does not list the dessert menus except as part of Gala night menus.  What I tried earlier in this blog was to take a photo directly from the stateroom's interactive TV.  It seems to work well enough to just use the image instead of trying to re-type.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 2, Sydney (Cont.)

 

The weather cleared even more as we made our approach down the channel toward Sydney – the houses across from the town were bright in the morning sun:

 

 

 

We arrived and were moored at the Sydney cruise pier before 8 a.m.:

 

 

 

We were lucky that our cabin faced the port.  The landmark giant fiddle could be easily seen from our balcony (this shot was taken later in the morning than arrival):

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 2, Sydney (Cont.)

 

We waited to go ashore until about 10.  The weather was great – sunny, clear and temps of about 68F/20C with a soft breeze coming off the water; perfect for a stroll.  Sydney has a very nice waterfront boardwalk that runs from the cruise pier south about 1.2 miles/2km:

 

 

 

 

 

We took a leisurely walk along the path, pausing first to take a photo (that probably 1500 others took today as well) of Zuiderdam at the cruise pier:

 

 

 

We also stopped at the monument to the Canadian Merchant Marine.  Sydney was a key assembly point for merchant convoys resupplying Allied troops in Europe in World War II:

 

 

 

A local visitor center staffer gave us a map as we went ashore, and we referred to it now and then.  We passed a few buildings along the way, including a Holiday Inn hotel and the Cambridge Suites hotel.  We also passed a glass and red brick building that the map identified as the Sydney City Hall:

 

 

 

This caught my eye, not because it is striking architecture or imposing or massive or such like things.  It’s a nice, modern building that I am sure the city government enjoys.  What struck me is what is an integral part of the building.  Here is a close-up in case you missed it in the previous photo:

 

 

I believe a city that puts a pub in its city hall has its priorities right!

 

More later,

Dave

 

 

 

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 2, Sydney (Cont.)

 

Speaking of places to get something to eat and drink, the café I mentioned earlier was just opening as we got back – it is called Flavour on the Water, and it is upstairs in the cruise terminal.  The sign looked like the word “Flavor” was spelled without a “u” but the “o” is stylized so that it includes the “u” as well (I think).

 

 

 

Here is a photo of the interior:

 

 

 

I had mentioned earlier that I had foreseen a beverage in our future.  Well, it turns out, I was right!  (I seem to sense a pattern developing here):

 

 

 

The mussels were in a thick shallot and cream sauce that was excellent.  After lunch we browsed a bit in the little shops before coming back on board the ship.

 

 

More later,

Dave

 

 

 

 

[Vict0riann]

I'm enjoying your Live From, Dave.  Thank you for all the trouble you are going to, scanning menus, etc.  I was wondering, also, about the new position of Cruise and Travel Director.  I imagine that means the CD does the port talks?

[dfish]

1 hour ago, RetiredMustang said:

 

No.  I used to take photos of the When and Wheres directly, with middling to poor results.  A few years ago, I bought a portable scanner that allows me to scan the pages and save the files either as .pdf or .jpg files.  The scanner can only take a sheet up to about 9 inches wide, which works for the voyage planner, port guides, etc., but I scan each page of the When and Where individually.   CC still only displays image files no larger than 1024 pixels in the longest dimension and will auto-scale larger ones down.  My scanner, even at the lowest-resolution setting, creates files much larger than that.  I edit the files in Paint, cropping as needed and then re-sizing.

 

For menus, in the past I would take photos and usually have to re-type them.  Now, the dinner menus are posted on the Navigator.  It is easy to open the dinner menu, right-click on it and hit "save as" to save it to my desktop as a .jpg file. These files I also edit and re-size in Paint.

 

The Navigator does not list the dessert menus except as part of Gala night menus.  What I tried earlier in this blog was to take a photo directly from the stateroom's interactive TV.  It seems to work well enough to just use the image instead of trying to re-type.

 

Dave

Oh, my gosh.  I never realized how much work it was for those who do this type of blogging.  It makes me so much more appreciative of the efforts you make to do this.  Thank you!!

Edited August 2, 2019 by dfish

[fatbob66]

Thanks Dave! Really enjoying your photos and commentary.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing..

[travelingla]

So happy you are doing this!  We have friends on your cruise -- it is their FIRST cruise!  I look forward to the next month following along with you.  🙂

Edited August 2, 2019 by travelingla

[RetiredMustang]

4 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

I'm enjoying your Live From, Dave.  Thank you for all the trouble you are going to, scanning menus, etc.  I was wondering, also, about the new position of Cruise and Travel Director.  I imagine that means the CD does the port talks?

 

Sorry, I haven't had time to pursue this issue.  It is a new one to me.  We don't usually attend the port talks, but I will endeavor to figure out what is actually going on with them, who does them, what this is all about, etc.  It may take a while, what with the lunches ashore and happy hours and such  😁.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

2 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Thanks for sharing..

 

Hi Gail and Marty!  Long time no see, but a lot of time of sea for all of us (especially for you, although we are doing our best to catch up now that i am retired).