35 Days to the South Pacific with The Inside Cabin - Live from the Zuiderdam

[Lido deck main]

Thanks for posting, love following your blogs.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Avalon Tendering.   They had open tendering till about 7:45.  Then you needed tickets.   4/5 star went to BB King for tickets.  3 stars and less to Billboard.   Neptune's , club orange and Presidents clubs received special instructions.  
 

tendering opened back up at 10:45 
 

news to me was club orange getting lumped in with Presidents club and Suite people.  

7 minute ride 

 

Ship at anchor as seen from the Balcony of the casino.   Great tour. 

 

Edited February 28, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[oaktreerb]

49 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Avalon Tendering.   They had open tendering till about 7:45.  Then you needed tickets.   4/5 star went to BB King for tickets.  3 stars and less to Billboard.   Neptune's , club orange and Presidents clubs received special instructions.  
 

 

RE: tendering and Club Orange, they have priority tendering.  

Edited February 28, 2022 by oaktreerb
text

[The-Inside-Cabin]

32 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

RE: tendering and Club Orange, they have priority tendering.  

I didn't realize club orange trumped 4/5 stars.   I thought they would at the sale level as the high stars not the suites.   

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Pete what is your cabin # ??

[Otis1950]

Thanks for posting.  Following along as I hope to be on this cruise in Sept.  Looking forward to hearing all about your ports of call and excursions.  Have a great cruise.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

2 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Pete what is your cabin # ??

8070

[The-Inside-Cabin]

On 2/27/2022 at 6:12 PM, mcase131 said:

Will be following, we are thinking about this cruise for next year.  Can I ask why you had to take two tests?

 

 

On 2/27/2022 at 6:13 PM, Boatdrill said:

One for HAL, the other (in the cruise terminal) for Hawaii. 

We are all taking ANOTHER test tomorrow,,,,,

[jimbri]

Have a wonderful time!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

The When and Where’s  have shrunk!  Can’t remember if others posted the same thing.   Is this the new standard fleet wide?

 

The hang tag breakfast menu has also shrunk.  Pic coming.  

Also, QR codes are gone from the MDR.  Old school Paper Menus in standard folders  provided immediately.

 

Birthday songs in the MDR are back in force.    Nice to hear them again every night. 

 

A new position - the “Beverage Runner” .  That is their official title on their name tags.   They go get your drinks and serve them.    Are these the new “wine stewards light”. 
 

We have been getting standard pillow chocolates every night.  No towel animals.    

 

First Gala night is tomorrow.    
 

 

 

 

[taxmantoo]

8 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

 

Oh joy!!! A new dress code description 😒 WTH is "Festive" attire ???

[jbhcw]

9 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

The When and Where’s  have shrunk!  Can’t remember if others posted the same thing.   Is this the new standard fleet wide?

 

The hang tag breakfast menu has also shrunk.  Pic coming.  

Also, QR codes are gone from the MDR.  Old school Paper Menus in standard folders  provided immediately.

 

Birthday songs in the MDR are back in force.    Nice to hear them again every night. 

 

A new position - the “Beverage Runner” .  That is their official title on their name tags.   They go get your drinks and serve them.    Are these the new “wine stewards light”. 
 

We have been getting standard pillow chocolates every night.  No towel animals.    

 

First Gala night is tomorrow.    
 

 

 

 

just off the Rotterdam... I really liked the new  format of the when and where...chocolates received only on gala nights.

[happyglobetrotter]

On 2/27/2022 at 7:34 PM, rkacruiser said:

Bon Voyage!  Looking forward to your reports!  (Have not understood why Avalon is a port of call, however.)  

They added Avalon to our itinerary when they had to cancel 2 other ports... I am glad they did, for some of us, it was a first time there. This winter we are sailing 139 days with HAL and we only have 3 new ports. So it was good for us, at least. 

 

[happyglobetrotter]

36 minutes ago, jbhcw said:

just off the Rotterdam... I really liked the new  format of the when and where...chocolates received only on gala nights.

 

38 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

Oh joy!!! A new dress code description 😒 WTH is "Festive" attire ???

It is to celebrate Mardi gras. I guess they are referring to beads and the like. Today is Mardi gras... 

 

[Skipper's Mom]

47 minutes ago, jbhcw said:

just off the Rotterdam... I really liked the new  format of the when and where...chocolates received only on gala nights.

On the NA last Fall, we got chocolates EVERY night with turn-down.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I did one lap around the promenade deck but got credit on Strava for over a mile since the ship was moving!  
 

the time is right, but the distance, not so much.  
 

windy and cool.   
 

[Nymich]

5 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I did one lap around the promenade deck but got credit on Strava for over a mile since the ship was moving!  
 

the time is right, but the distance, not so much.  
 

windy and cool.   
 

Pretty good time for 1.1 miles!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

2 minutes ago, Nymich said:

Pretty good time for 1.1 miles!

I know!   I broke the 4 minute mile!   A new personal best!!!!   My Strava stats will never be the same! 
 

Once it gets warmer I will do 10 miles before breakfast.    Then it's time for a triple cheesecake.! 

Edited March 1, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I know!   I broke the 4 minute mile!   A new personal best!!!!   My Strava stats will never be the same! 
 

Once it gets warmer I will do 10 miles before breakfast.    Then it's time for a triple cheesecake.! 

It's important to share your expectations, politely, in real time and on the post cruise surveys.    HAL will deliver the level of service that passengers accept.   If you accept less, you will continue to get less.    If HAL chooses to set a different service standard going forward, there will be other lines that will want to cater to those people.   
 

We are trying Viking Ocean in April for 8 days.  
 

Still a big HAL fan...but hoping they retain the service standards that makes them special to me. 

[dmcfad2]

@The-Inside-CabinHave you heard what the passenger count is yet?

[The-Inside-Cabin]

6 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

@The-Inside-CabinHave you heard what the passenger count is yet?

I think about 1,200.   But I need to confirm.  

[0106]

Just off the Zuiderdam Panama Canal Cruise on 2/13.

 

Where and When was a normal sized tri-fold.  Breakfast room service menu was it's usual size.

4 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

A new position - the “Beverage Runner” .  That is their official title on their name tags.   They go get your drinks and serve them.    Are these the new “wine stewards light”. 

I didn't like the "beverage runner" position in the main dining room.  They simply dropped off drinks, you couldn't order from them.  We had an excellent one most of the time named Michelle.  Other times drinks were dropped off by a variety of people who seemed to have no idea who ordered what and often one drink was forgotten.  Would have loved to talked to someone about the bottles of wine but since no one was available, I just ordered glass using muy have it all package.

 

Towel animals are no great loss for me.  We had an excellent room steward who serviced our room morning and evening.

 

I was most impressed with the customer service in all departments; the standards remain high.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

55 minutes ago, 0106 said:

Just off the Zuiderdam Panama Canal Cruise on 2/13.

 

Where and When was a normal sized tri-fold.  Breakfast room service menu was it's usual size.

I didn't like the "beverage runner" position in the main dining room.  They simply dropped off drinks, you couldn't order from them.  We had an excellent one most of the time named Michelle.  Other times drinks were dropped off by a variety of people who seemed to have no idea who ordered what and often one drink was forgotten.  Would have loved to talked to someone about the bottles of wine but since no one was available, I just ordered glass using muy have it all package.

 

Towel animals are no great loss for me.  We had an excellent room steward who serviced our room morning and evening.

 

I was most impressed with the customer service in all departments; the standards remain high.

Agree, The service by individual crew members  remains the best in the industry. 

[albingirl]

20 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I didn't realize club orange trumped 4/5 stars.   I thought they would at the sale level as the high stars not the suites.   

I find it hard to agree with HAL on this.  I would think 4 and 5 star people might naturally be questioning this. Doesn't do much for loyalty, does it?

[KKZ1923]

18 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

8070

Pete—We will be on the Jan 2023 world cruise in a Zuiderdam veranda room. Can you tell me how much room there is for under the bed luggage storage? I think my nested bags need about 13” height clearance. Thanks in advance!