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

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

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

1276 is the count 

[roberts2005]

What is a full ship?

[The-Inside-Cabin]

18 minutes ago, KKZ1923 said:

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!

I think you will be good.  More here with detailed drawing.   I will verify later. 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

4 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

What is a full ship?

1916 with 2 people per cabin.   2272 if every room filled to max 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

The Polynesian cultural team is on board thru Tahiti.   We made leis today.   
 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

They tested 100 pct of the passengers today with the Antigen test in about 3.5 hours.    That's our third COVID test in less than a week. 

[Nymich]

Appreciate you giving all this helpful info.  Thank You

[The-Inside-Cabin]

First Gaia night today.   Here is the menu 

 

 

[Cruise Junky]

9 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

First Gaia night today.   Here is the menu 

 

 

This might seem like a strange request. Can you report back if they used real crab or fake crab?  I had an “exchange” with HAL over them passing off fake crab as real and I’m curious if the practice has continued. Thanks. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Changing today to masks recommended but no longer required.     Masks still required in Casino, main stage theater, tenders, terminals. And HAL cruise excursions, medical.     I may have missed a few others.   
 

No more masks required in Lido, bars, dining room, hallways etc etc.   
 

This change was announced by the Captain at his noon talk.   Will post the new written policy when I can find it.  

[0106]

I talked to the chef about the crab meat last week on the Zuiderdam.  I’m from Md and love blue crab, particularly in crab cakes.  I can’t understand why people love the crab cakes at the Pinnacle were mostly filler. He explained that I didn’t like because it was west coast crab meat.  I believe it was actually crab meat but never very much.  The crab eggs had a few flakes, my husbands steak only had about a teaspoon of crab on it.  The also served a crab cocktail that was mostly baby shrimp.

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

First Gaia night today.   Here is the menu 

 

Why do they do this?  😀   Two great starters:  Escargots and Proscuitto with Manchego Cheese.  The starters are more interesting to me than the Mains.  

[happyglobetrotter]

On 3/1/2022 at 3:54 PM, albingirl said:

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?

There are just tooooo many 4 and 5 stars. HAL had a lot of loyal customers. 

 

[rkacruiser]

17 minutes ago, happyglobetrotter said:

There are just tooooo many 4 and 5 stars. HAL had a lot of loyal customers. 

 

 

More reason for another step or more in the Mariner Society between 5 Star and the President's Club.  

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Here. Is the latest mask policy.  
 

 

 

[happyglobetrotter]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

More reason for another step or more in the Mariner Society between 5 Star and the President's Club.  

And we would not mind another step above president club, my husband and I have now twice the days required for PC...(i.e. 2,800 days+) I heard someone mentioning Elite President Club. If HAL listens to every request, it will become quite complicated.  We had over 900 days when they introduced the star system. Before 900 days meant 900 days of sailing. We had nothing to show except bragging rights and 3 medallions. No free laundry, no specialty dinner, no priority, etc. With close to 5 millions mariners, it is hard for HAL to keep everybody happy.   

 

[happyglobetrotter]

31 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Here. Is the latest mask policy.  
 

 

 

A bit surprised that they do not mention elevators and Lincoln center where social distancing is not possible.

 

[0106]

16 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Two great starters:  Escargots and Prosciutto with Manchego Cheese.  The starters are more interesting to me than the Mains.  

I ordered both last week.  The appetizers are tiny portions.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Last nights entertainers - Strings Alive - an Australian Couple on their first show after the restart - things are starting to slowly get back to normal

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Tonight's Menu

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I am posting more detailed updates on my blog with additional photos - I organize the blog for use as a reference and this is more real time and responsive.   

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Won the Texas Hold'em tournament this am!   Yeah!

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Tonight's Menu

 

There are many items on this menu that I have never seen on any HAL menu! 

[Cruising Is Bliss]

On 3/2/2022 at 4:49 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

Why do they do this?  😀   Two great starters:  Escargots and Proscuitto with Manchego Cheese.  The starters are more interesting to me than the Mains.  

Good time to have lots of starters plus dessert for dinner?  🙂

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Here is my blog post from Avalon - looks a lot better on the website - I am going to see if I can find a size photo that may work on cruise critic .   The website automatically resizes photos - for now your best experience is to go to www.theinsidecabin.com....

 

 

Our original schedule had is going straight to Hawaii, but with changes necessary due to certain ports being unavailable in the South Pacific, they added Avalon as our first port.

The anchor splashed into the water abour 7 AM on 28 Feb 2022 and the tenders were soon in the water.

[caption width="1919" id="attachment_16896" align="alignnone"] Zuiderdam Tenders getting ready for the day[/caption]

All aboard was 3:30 pm for a 4 pm departure.

Avalon is a tender port. There are three categories of tender priority of this cruise. The Neptune Suites, Club orange, and the President's Club have a special process that was not publicly announced.   I speculate that they don’t require tender tickets but can proceed directly to the tender platform and then join the existing line using their room key as their “ticket”. Four and five-star Mariners require tickets that are available in the BB King lounge. Everyone else gets her tickets at the billboard onboard lounge.

For the early birds, they announced that until 745 am tendering would not require tickets. This is a nice option as it makes it easier for people with early privately arranged shore excursions to get off the ship promptly without having to queue very early in a tender line. From 745 until about 1045 tickets were required and then after 1045 due to low demand tender tickets were no longer necessary.

We arranged for a behind-the-scenes tour of the casino which started at noon. More information on the casino tour is HERE.

After they announced open tendering, we proceeded to the tender platform around 11 AM. The tender ride to shore was smooth and took about seven minutes.

The weather today was gorgeous. Sometimes it can be a little chilly in Avalon in February, but not today.

The casino is on the other end of the harbor, accessible via a sidewalk, about three-quarters of a mile from the tender pier.

[caption width="1280" id="attachment_16897" align="alignnone"] Avalon Map[/caption]

Why is the Avalon Casino called the Casino if there isn’t any gambling – from the Visit Catalina Website

 “Dominating the Avalon landscape from its regal perch on the edge of Avalon Bay, the Casino exemplifies the style and romance of Catalina Island. It gets its name from the Italian language, where “casino” means a gathering place. There has never been gambling at Catalina Casino.”

The casino behind-the-scenes tour was FANTASTIC!   Highly recommended.   Our Docent led us through an amazing 90-minute journey of the entire building, starting the wonderful movie theatre,  and taking us thru the dressing rooms, projection rooms, meeting areas, and finally the circular ballroom on the eighth floor.  Outside the ballroom is a circular balcony with views of the village and harbor.

[caption width="1919" id="attachment_16895" align="alignnone"] Avalon Casino[/caption]

After a quick bite to eat we headed back to the tender pier and we made the last tender without 10 minutes to spare.   On the way we stopped by Leo’s drugstore and picked up a bag of Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels.

On other visits to Avalon we have enjoyed playing miniature golf – more HERE 

If you have never been to Catalina, it’s a fun day trip if you are visiting Los Angeles and are looking for something different.

[caption width="1920" id="attachment_16899" align="alignnone"] Judy and Pete in Avalon[/caption] [caption width="1918" id="attachment_16898" align="alignnone"] Big Burger near the Green Pier[/caption]

The water off Avalon is very deep (over 200 feet) and the ship used a lot of anchor chain.   The Captain said It would take about 30 minutes to weigh anchor.

Back in our room we chatted with our room steward for a bit and learned that they are responsible for 32 staterooms.

The When and Where said there was going to be a Sunset Party at the Seaview pool around sunset – we stopped by and discovered we had the whole deck to ourselves.   It was a little on the chilly side, however…

Dinner was wonderful as always – service is very good and there were zero growing pains you sometimes experience when you start a cruise with a new batch of passengers.   I suspect that most of the passengers on this cruise are experienced so you don’t have as many people that need a little more hand-holding on the first few days.

[caption width="1919" id="attachment_16900" align="alignnone"] Pete and Judy at Table 29[/caption]

On the World Stage, tonight was the Step One Dance Company’s final performance of “Humanity” on their contract.   They will leave the ship in Honolulu.   Not sure who will replace them.

We absolutely LOVE this show – I have seen it over 6 times on various ships and will often go twice on the same night.

[caption width="1919" id="attachment_16902" align="alignnone"] Step One Dance Company [/caption]

Here is a video someone posted on YouTube that is almost a complete performance   If you haven’t seen the show – it's worth a look.