Live from the Volendam - please join the Merry Widows on their cruise 😊

[Dismomx5]

26 minutes ago, kazu said:

A lazy morning. We were too late for the Pinnacle Grill breakfast so had to hit the Lido.  We both decided on a splurge and a real “healthy” breakfast.

 

 

The sticky buns on the ship are really good.

I love the sticky buns. 😋  I like to think of mine as healthy since I always have some protein added aka pecans 😂.

[BetsyS.]

Jacqui - Good luck at bingo!!!!!!    😊

[EVNKEEL]

On 4/20/2024 at 2:46 PM, kazu said:

 

Good afternoon from lovely, warm Florida.

 

For the first time since I lost DD DH, I’m not travelling solo.   I have invited a friend to join me - also a widow.

 

We are  boarding the Volendam tomorrow for a nice relaxing 13 cruise to Montreal, Canada.

 

It’s been very challenging  to get here with a lot of last minute hiccups but here we are and we are going.  The story is too long and I won’t bore you - let’s just say that I didn’t know until Thursday morning if I could go or not, flight delay got us in at midnight starving since we only got water and either a package of sugary/salty snacks on our flight.  We were starving so by the time we checked in, got some food and wound down it was close to 2 AM FLL time.  But we’re here and happy that we are 🙂 

 

there will be food porn, (of course) a where /what is for dinner and other tidbits hopefully not repeating Rich’s thread for his 134 day cruise.  Question is - will two very good friends of many years still be friends after sharing a hotel room and cabin for 15 days?  😂. It’s her birthday on this cruise as well as her DD DH’s so I am hoping to make it as joyful as I can for her.  🤞 

 

Looking forward to boarding tomorrow and hope those of you interested will join us.

 

This is our itinerary before it got changed from one port to Portland.

 

 

 It’s all good - nice spots  & someone else is doing the cooking 😉 We plan to enjoy and hope we don’t create too much havoc on board 😂  We will do our best to behave 😂 

 

 

Hi Jacqui! Bon voyage to you both. Safe seas and fun times.
     Greetings from Stavanger as we continue our 21-day “Voyager Collection “ crossing from Lauderdale to Rotterdam. 
     Looking forward to seeing you in October on the Oosterdam. 
    Hugs

 

[1of4]

I would be interested in the name of the restaurant you dined at in Halifax. DD may be close by. She moves to Charlottetown this weekend for 2 months so I will tell her to pack some woolies. 

[C 2 C]

20 hours ago, kazu said:

No sail a way pics - at least not now.  It’s too flipping cold to stand out there.  I feel sorry for the poor guys working the Seaview Pool. 
 

Here is a picture worth a couple of words anyways.  

[HELENPSL]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

Just because I know how very important it is to some - I managed to score a pic of the bread puddings before they were dipped into.

 

 

 

Thank you.  My favorite!

Helen 😍

[Bluenoser3]

Jacqui, you have no idea how happy it makes me to read this! 😀

[CGinMTL]

So sorry you missed the port today.

 

Can't wait to board in 4 days.

Love the food porn.

[kazu]

4 hours ago, EVNKEEL said:

Hi Jacqui! Bon voyage to you both. Safe seas and fun times.
     Greetings from Stavanger as we continue our 21-day “Voyager Collection “ crossing from Lauderdale to Rotterdam. 
     Looking forward to seeing you in October on the Oosterdam. 
    Hugs

 

nice Maria 👍

 

enjoyy 😊. Sea you soon &looking. Forward to it

[57redbird]

6 hours ago, kazu said:

A lazy morning. We were too late for the Pinnacle Grill breakfast so had to hit the Lido.  We both decided on a splurge and a real “healthy” breakfast.

 

 

The sticky buns on the ship are really good.

I'll take mine with nuts, please.

[kazu]

3 hours ago, 1of4 said:

I would be interested in the name of the restaurant you dined at in Halifax. DD may be close by. She moves to Charlottetown this weekend for 2 months so I will tell her to pack some woolies. 

Sorry, ho special one.  We ate at the Westinghouse close to the waterfront.

 

it wasn’t that expensive and the food was really good

[1of4]

45 minutes ago, kazu said:

Sorry, ho special one.  We ate at the Westinghouse close to the waterfront.

 

it wasn’t that expensive and the food was really good

Thanks for the name. She lives close to the waterfront so I’ll give her the name. She said it was only 4 degrees today. 

[Haljo1935]

9 hours ago, kazu said:

Just because I know how very important it is to some - I managed to score a pic of the bread puddings before they were dipped into.

 

 

 

Ooh Heaven in a pan! When are they going to address the Smell-O-Vision? Mine is broken.

[terrydtx]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

Sorry, ho special one.  We ate at the Westinghouse close to the waterfront.

 

it wasn’t that expensive and the food was really good

Thanks we will have to give it a try in August when we are there.

[kazu]

23 hours ago, BetsyS. said:

Jacqui - Good luck at bingo!!!!!!    😊

 

Thanks!  No luck yesterday but today is a new day.  LOL.

[kazu]

13 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Thanks we will have to give it a try in August when we are there.

 

Oops sorry - I didn’t see the typo (auto correct).  The Westin. Just the little restaurant off the lobby.

[kazu]

16 hours ago, 1of4 said:

Thanks for the name. She lives close to the waterfront so I’ll give her the name. She said it was only 4 degrees today. 

 

 

Name correction - Westin.  

It is truly colder on this cruise than at home.  It’s around 4 degrees on the St. Lawrence.

[kazu]

Good morning from the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  No whales yet (right whales are pretty rare - endangered species).

 

Scenery would be beautiful if the sun was out.

 

Just realized I haven’t taken pics of our room and must do that today to send them to halfacts.com.  

 

Speaking of our room, there is a huge standing fan in it.  A few nights ago we came back to a weltering room.  think sauna heat.  turned the temp down as low as it would go and the heat continued to pour out.  Called maintenance and they came up lickety split with a fan and offered to send people up.  Uh no - not at that time.

 

We managed to get some sleep and spoke to the concierge who said they were already working on it.  I was told it was adjusted and to give the cabin an hour.  So I did and went back and said nope.  It’s still as hot as Hades.

 

Adjusted again.  Nope.  Concierge came to the cabin and agreed.  Success on the 3rd adjustment.  

 

People we were chatting with complained about the cold.  We told them it was because all the heat was going to our room.  LOL. It was fixed by 2 PM but we decided to hang onto the fan “in case”.  So far, so good.

[kazu]

Here is our menu from the night before last.

 

 

 

What would you have wanted?

 

I knew what I was getting - and it turned out Deb did the same.  Peruvian chicken.

 

I had the port to plate starter

 

 

and Deb the cauliflower soup.  She was concerned it would be too spicy but it wasn’t and she said it was very good.

 

 

And we both had the Peruvian chicken.  One was a small plate & the other the regular.  Posting both so you can see the difference.  first is the small plate.  A bit too close, sorry.  it was mine.  2nd is the regular one.

 

 

 

 

We both had the crisp for dessert.  I believe Deb is a crisp convert.

 

 

I am really corrupting her.  first it was the casino and now it’s the crisps.  Maybe it’s anything that starts with a C?  😂 

[kazu]

Last night’s dinner was good but I hit a shocking surprise.

 

Deb started with the orange shrimp

 

 

and I the watermelon and feta salad (so good).

 

 

salad (yes we had TWO appetizers last night)

 

 

Deb had the veal parmesan - very good.

 

 

And I had the3 jambalaya

 

 

It WOULD have been good if dimwit me had realized that it was a hot chili on top.  I took a bite and YIKES.  My mouth was burning for a few minutes.

Oka said it was a poblano chili but if it was I’ll eat my hat.  It was way too hot for a Poblano.  

 

And for dessert we both had….

you guessed it - the peach crisp.

 

[kazu]

We are constantly amazed by the people who arrive at the Lido before breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It’s amazing how people are lined up so early when they just ate a few hours ago.

 

I guess I shouldn’t talk sine we are going to lunch in the PG today LOL - but we did eat a very light breakfast.   Does that excuse us?  LOL 😂 

[BetsyS.]

Jacqui - I hope your room temp remains ok.  Thanks for all the updates and 

food pictures! For dinner, I would have had a Cosmo (or 2) followed by chicken, ham croquette. For the main I would have ordered the Artic char. I've had it on HAL and it was very good. For dessert, I would have ordered cherry crisp and tea.  I like all of the crisps! 

        Enjoy your PG lunch!

        Good luck today at Bingo! 😊

 

[Cruising-along]

Good idea to hang onto that fan.  At the beginning of the Grand Australia we had the same problem with our cabin (Vista Suite deck 7).  It took them at least 3 times before it finally was a comfortable temperature (and that was only when we had the setting at the coolest possible setting).  We hung onto that fan until the end of the cruise LOL.

[Cruise4food]

33 minutes ago, kazu said:

And for dessert we both had….

you guessed it - the peach crisp.

Peach crisp, my favourite for a long time, until one meal when I tried the Strawberry/Rhubarb crisp.

[terrydtx]

45 minutes ago, kazu said:

Here is our menu from the night before last.

 

 

 

What would you have wanted?

 

I knew what I was getting - and it turned out Deb did the same.  Peruvian chicken.

 

I had the port to plate starter

 

 

and Deb the cauliflower soup.  She was concerned it would be too spicy but it wasn’t and she said it was very good.

 

 

And we both had the Peruvian chicken.  One was a small plate & the other the regular.  Posting both so you can see the difference.  first is the small plate.  A bit too close, sorry.  it was mine.  2nd is the regular one.

 

 

 

 

We both had the crisp for dessert.  I believe Deb is a crisp convert.

 

 

I am really corrupting her.  first it was the casino and now it’s the crisps.  Maybe it’s anything that starts with a C?  😂 

I assume that Peruvian Chicken was the CO entree special. We had it on the Koningsdam last Fall and it was delicious.