San Diego to Montreal in 134 Days

[richwmn]

December 23^rd, 2023 – Afternoon

Just a quick note on the activities so far today.

 

11:30 – Mariner Society Reception. This was in the Crows Nest for about 45 minutes. We had a good crowd and a pretty good turn out. Everyone, of course, was festive and several Staff members introduced themselves. Sparkling water flowed. I met several nice people and had a good time.

 

12:20 – Lunch in the lido. I don’t think that I have mentioned it yet, but Volendam still has a nice taco bar beside the Dive In. I had a nice quick lunch there between other activities. It was well stocked and everything was very good. It was nice to see it and I wish the Taco Bar was available on the other ships.

 

1:00pm – Cruise Critic M&G. I followed the roll call but I’m not sure I ever posted on it. I knew when the M&G was so I showed up. There was a nice turnout, not real big and I saw a couple of people I knew. I enjoyed the M&G and I’m glad I showed up.

 

1:50pm – Wine Tasting. This is something I never thought of attending until last year. For background, I am not much of a wine drinker. In 2019 on the Trans Pacific Cruise to Australia a couple of people included me in a private wine tasting during which I gained a bit of an appreciation for wine. Since then I attended two wine tastings on last years World Cruise and the one today. It is interesting to find out the information and learn a bit more about the wines included. Both presenters were very accomplished speakers.

 

More later!

 

[Cruising-along]

11 minutes ago, richwmn said:

I don’t think that I have mentioned it yet, but Volendam still has a nice taco bar beside the Dive In. I had a nice quick lunch there between other activities. It was well stocked and everything was very good. It was nice to see it and I wish the Taco Bar was available on the other ships.

Good to hear!  I've missed it on other ships.

[Navybikermom]

Zaandam has the taco bar, which I made use of quite a bit since it was much less crowded than the Lido. 

[0106]

The Oosterdam has a taco bar.  We enjoy it when returning from excursions after the Lido has closed for lunch.

Edited December 24, 2023 by 0106

[Cruising-along]

21 minutes ago, Navybikermom said:

Zaandam has the taco bar, which I made use of quite a bit since it was much less crowded than the Lido. 

 

2 minutes ago, 0106 said:

The Oosterdam has a taco bar.  

All of our cruises lately have been on Pinnacle class...maybe they're the only ones without the taco bar (?) 

[WriterOnDeck]

12 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

 

All of our cruises lately have been on Pinnacle class...maybe they're the only ones without the taco bar (?) 

Zuiderdam has a setup behind the counter in the Lido restaurant, not the separate DIY like on the Zaandam, etc.

[WriterOnDeck]

Rich, it sounds like my kind of cruise! If I weren't on the world I would be joining you. Great job of stringing the cruises together. Have a wonderful time.

[richwmn]

December 24^th, 2023 – Christmas Eve at sea

 

Good morning from Volendam.

 

I think I covered yesterday’s activities pretty well with updates during the day. For right now I will just add today’s activities. It is 6:30 and about time to head to breakfast.

 

 

 

[kazu]

I think the opening page of the Sommelier packages covers the Mariner discount question.  (Circled in yellow).

 

 

I see that the same rule is there I saw on another cruise about not using the package in other bars or lounges.  I’m hoping that rule isn’t too strictly observed for when I join you on the Volendam 🤞 

 

[mame42]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

I think the opening page of the Sommelier packages covers the Mariner discount question.  (Circled in yellow).

 

 

I see that the same rule is there I saw on another cruise about not using the package in other bars or lounges.  I’m hoping that rule isn’t too strictly observed for when I join you on the Volendam 🤞 

 

Same here, although if one wanders into the Ocean Bar with a glass in hand, who is to know where it came from?  See ya'll on 3 January!

[richwmn]

Christmas Eve Dinner in the Main Dining Room

 

 

 

[BabsinTX]

Thanks for posting the menus.  We've booked our first Holland America cruise for September 2024 to Alaska, and we don't know what we don't know yet.  I hope our menus are as good as yours appear to be!

[kelliebiz]

Thanks for documenting your trip! I’ll be joining you in April for the Panama Canal portion, and looking forward to reading your experiences aboard Volendam. Thanks especially for photos of the Daily activities list. I’ve never sailed Volendam so it’ll be really nice to see your impressions. Have a great time, and Merry Christmas 

[POA1]

Merry Christmas, Rich! Thank you for taking us along.

 

I am tempted to start answering those Volendam / Zaandam "bait posts" - you know the ones - with "*Full Blown Taco Bar*."😁

[SUESEABE]

Merry Christmas! Late to the party but following along. Have a great cruise.

[richwmn]

December 24^th, 2023 – Christmas Everyone

 

It is late on Christmas evening aboard Volendam. On the east coast of the US it is already Christmas Day. It has been a fun, full day on the ship as we move into Christmas Day. The ship has been festive, both Guests and Staff.

 

We had three sessions of trivia today -- 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm. I joined up with a couple and their son for all three sessions and we did ok. The first was identifying logo images with the company name removed. About half were easy, a couple more were ok, and several were downright hard. At 4pm it was general trivia and at 7pm we dealt with Christmas Carols, but it wasn’t listening and identifying it was facts about the carols and identifying the song from the fact. Tom joined us for the final one, and we did ok but didn’t win. There’s always tomorrow.

 

At 9pm there was a comedian, Tyrone Hawkins, who was pretty good. The theater was pretty full on both levels. He got quite a few laughs and a good reception from the audience.

 

At 11pm we are going to have three choral groups made up crew members. That will conclude the evening aboard the ship. Santa will arrive tomorrow morning at the same time we arrive in Cabo.

 

[aliaschief]

Merry Christmas Rich and thanks for sharing your cruise experience. B.

 

[erewhon]

@richwmn  Merry Christmas Rich.

Appreciating your reports, thank you.

[dfish]

Merry Christmas to you, Rich!

 

 

[richwmn]

December 25^th, 2023 – Christmas Day in Cabo

 

It is 7am in Cabo and the tenders are being lowered. Tender service is supposed to begin at 8am, along with the arrival of Santa for the kids aboard.

 

Our position at 7am is:

 

Some images of Cabo just before day break

 

 

 

 

 

Our activities for today

 

 

 

And something I haven’t seen for a while, a port map

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by richwmn

[richwmn]

December 25^th, 2023 Christmas in Cabo

 

Today is a tender port so I waited a while to even attempt to go ashore. When I did the wait was pretty short. It was a quick tender ride to the marina where, despite it being Christmas, pretty much everything was open.

 

Here are some picture around the marina, and from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are tonight’s menus for the Main Dining Room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

December 25^th, 2023 Christmas in Cabo

 

Today is a tender port so I waited a while to even attempt to go ashore. When I did the wait was pretty short. It was a quick tender ride to the marina where, despite it being Christmas, pretty much everything was open.

 

Here are some picture around the marina, and from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are tonight’s menus for the Main Dining Room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

6 hours ago, richwmn said:

And something I haven’t seen for a while, a port map

 

 

Wow!  And Yay for Volendam 🙂. there certainly wasn’t one for Cabo on the Koningsdam.  Nice to see 🙂 

 

[POA1]

DW's dad would be supremely pleased to see both ham and turkey on the dinner menu. If you give him those two proteins, he'd be merry & bright. (If there was some leftover apple cobbler, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, to go with the pumpkin tart, he'd be thinking "Christmas miracle.")

[richwmn]

December 25^th, 2023

 

It is late in the evening on what has been a very full Christmas Day. In addition to being Christmas Day, it was also the first port day on this cruise. Today was Cabo and I did tender ashore for just a bit. The area around the marina was active with only a few businesses closed. The weather was comfortable and the tender ride fairly short.

 

The 4:00pm trivia was challenging for two oldies. We got 8 points out of a total of 17. A couple of the questions I know most younger people would have been able to answer. Speaking of younger people, I know we have a bunch aboard but they are being kept busy and I haven’t really noticed them.

 

After trivia I grabbed a bit to eat and relaxed a bit. Trivia again at 7pm with the full team I have had for many of the sessions so far. We did better with four people and a span of ages, but still didn’t come out on top. It was still enjoyable, for the company as much as the competition.

 

Shortly after trivia ended I headed to the World Stage. Tonight’s show was Cantare, a four piece vocal group. They did an active show of group songs featuring the Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Abba, and others. The show was very good and kept the audience.

 

 

 

After Cantare I walked the full deck and listened to the band playing in the Ocean Bar for a bit. The Ocean Bar had a good crowd with a lot of people dancing. The five piece group had a good sound and the lead singer had a good voice. Everyone appeared to be having a good time.