BTimmer's Almost Live - Zuiderdam 1/2-30/22 -San Diego to Florida RT

[Btimmer]

We are booked on the Zuiderdam's 2nd voyage since Sailings resumed.  We plan to fly to San Diego on Friday and board on Sunday.  As I've done in the past, I'll give frequent commentary, share pictures, and be able to answer your questions.  We're tickled to have Captain Frank van der Hoven as our Captain.  He was our last pre-pandemic Captain on a cruise on the Volendam to the Amazon.
 

I'll also do my daily blog.  I'll post the link later in the week.

 

Thus trip should be a sharp contrast to the foot of snow where we are near Mt. Rainier for the Christmas holiday.

[oakridger]

I'm looking forward to following along.  The Zuiderdam was my first HAL cruise way back in 2006.  I went from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale.....I love the Panama Canal experience and you are doing it twice!

 

~Nancy

[Lido deck main]

Looking forward to your review.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for posting .

[Mtn2Sea]

Looking forward to your review and photos.  Hope you have a wonderful cruise.

[IPB4IGO]

We will be joining you. We are flying down from Oregon on Friday.

[cruisinteach2]

We were with you on Volendam in 2019. Excited about following along on your new adventure. Loving the snow outside in Seattle area,, but would be so nice to be in sunshine onboard a HAL ship! Safe travels!

[farawaygal]

Where and when are you doing your Covid test? Almost everywhere is closed for testing over New Year's weekend where we live.

[canadianbear]

Will be following along living vicariously through all on board!

[Btimmer]

4 hours ago, farawaygal said:

Where and when are you doing your Covid test? Almost everywhere is closed for testing over New Year's weekend where we live.

We are using the Abbott Labs Home test (proctored).  We've used it on two previous HAL cruises. We'll test on Friday morning before we fly south.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Btimmer

[SilvertoGold]

Wonderful!   Hope you are lucky enough to have Hotel General Manager Colin Jacob :)  

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, Btimmer said:

We're tickled to have Captain Frank van der Hoven as our Captain.  He was our last pre-pandemic Captain on a cruise on the Volendam to the Amazon.

 

Captain van der Hoven was at the helm for my 2019 Christmas/New Year's Cruise on the Volendam.  A guest friendly Master who was "out and about".  His wife was with him on that cruise and she was quite a dancer during the New Year's Eve Party in the Main Lounge.  

 

I will be traveling virtually with you and thank you so very much for doing your posting!  

[Btimmer]

7 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Captain van der Hoven was at the helm for my 2019 Christmas/New Year's Cruise on the Volendam.  A guest friendly Master who was "out and about".  His wife was with him on that cruise and she was quite a dancer during the New Year's Eve Party in the Main Lounge.  

 

I will be traveling virtually with you and thank you so very much for doing your posting!  

Yes, he's very guest friendly and that's what I really like about him.

[0106]

I am looking forward your live reports.  We depart on SuperBowl Sunday.  My husband is very interested in where he will be able to watch the game.  

[Btimmer]

4 minutes ago, 0106 said:

I am looking forward your live reports.  We depart on SuperBowl Sunday.  My husband is very interested in where he will be able to watch the game.  

We've been on several SuperBowl Sunday cruises including a sister ship of the Zuiderdam.  There was more than ample coverage including in the Queen's Lounge and in the bars.

[Btimmer]

I've started my daily blog and the address for that is:  https://timmer2022sdrt.blogspot.com  It'll be mainly words on a daily basis, but I'll put pictures here depending upon how friendly the CC website is (I've had lots of issues with CC on my iPhone during my past two cruises.  I've tried the various browsers with mixed success.  And now if I could get them to change my email address.  They've confirmed receipt of my request, but no reply after two weeks.).

[erewhon]

Thanks for taking us with you on your cruse.

Bon Voyage!

[Hogladyrider]

Thanks for sharing your blog post....following!

 

Safe travels!

[Btimmer]

We're down to the day before flying to San Diego.  At the start of the week, I had real concerns about being able to fly out of Seattle given the weather and flight cancellations at SEATAC airport.  Fortunately our noon flight still appears to be good.  So we'll do our Binax Home covid tests in the morning and make our way to the airport.  Today, Thursday, it's once again snowing and we have 6" on the ground; but it's supposed to taper off.

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review and photos.  Enjoy!

[Skipper's Mom]

On 12/27/2021 at 4:06 PM, Btimmer said:

We are using the Abbott Labs Home test (proctored).  We've used it on two previous HAL cruises. We'll test on Friday morning before we fly south.

That test worked for us before our NS Panama Canal cruise in October.  Easy peasy!

[Btimmer]

1 minute ago, Skipper's Mom said:

That test worked for us before our NS Panama Canal cruise in October.  Easy peasy!

Yup, same here.  We were on that cruise as well.

[Btimmer]

The test queue is quite long.  I was on hold for an hour today 12/31/21 at 8:15am PST.

[SailorMarg]

2 hours ago, Btimmer said:

The test queue is quite long.  I was on hold for an hour today 12/31/21 at 8:15am PST.

We tested online this morning around 0800 Central Time, so 0600 PST, and waited 5 minutes.  Glad we didn’t wait until after coffee.

[Dismomx5]

Happy to tag along! Safe travels!