Live from the Volendam - New England & Canada (May 25 to June 1)

[Rubyfisch]

We went to the PRIDE meet up in the crows nest, which got mixed in with the solo/single meet up. It's a lovely space and it was nice to chat with people.

 

We then did some laps on the promenade. We late traditional dining (7:30 pm). The dining room is the quietest cruise ship dining room I've ever been on. We have a nice two top on the rail, on the port side. Deck four looks mostly empty....

[RuthC]

1 minute ago, Rubyfisch said:

Deck four looks mostly empty....

Give it time; it's the first night. Many people are tired from traveling, haven't unpacked, and head to the Lido or eat in the dining room early. 

[Rubyfisch]

39 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Give it time; it's the first night. Many people are tired from traveling, haven't unpacked, and head to the Lido or eat in the dining room early. 

The lido was quiet as well - I'm not sure how full this sailing is. I was chatting with someone who booked on Wednesday.

[RuthC]

8 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

The lido was quiet as well - I'm not sure how full this sailing is. I was chatting with someone who booked on Wednesday.

Wow. That's close in! I'm surprised. Fewer people on the ship isn't a bad thing, though. Service should be terrific, not to mention seating availability at performances. 

[Rubyfisch]

Dinner was good, with food service. It was a pleasant hour and fifteen or so, in part because I got the onion soup, which was served at roughly the temperature of the surface of the sun ....

 

Tomato and mozzarella salad:

 

 

Onion soup:

 

 

Southwest salmon bowl (we both got this and we're very confused with how it looked versus the description, it was good):

 

 

Ice cream and hot fudge (and decaf coffee):

 

[Rubyfisch]

Also, we ran into our assistant waiter from our cruise last year on Zuiderdam - I have no idea how he remembered us (and where we sat - we were in a corner table).

[Rubyfisch]

We listened to a couple of songs - folks seem to be out and about listening to music. We're pretty beat, so we have headed back to the cabin.

[Rubyfisch]

Just going to leave this here ....

 

[Rubyfisch]

We are on deck 6, most of the way aft. Those thrusters will make you up here. We are coming into Bar Harbor, so I grabbed some pictures (before hopefully falling back to sleep):

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

I did fall back asleep, but was woken up again by the start of tendering announcements. I gave up on getting more sleep and went for some pre-breakfast tea ... And had to inspect the pastries ...

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

The pastries were fantastic. The lido was crowded but not unpleasantly so. I was offered water as soon as I sat down and asked if I wanted more coffee (they didn't realize it was tea) when I still had half a cup left. I'll take more pictures on another day (or later today).

[Rubyfisch]

Also, to back track a bit ... I love tracking the number of steps I get on cruise ships. I am someone who generally gets between 10,000 and 12,000 steps a day (ignore my weekly tracker - business travel to hotels without gyms makes getting steps really hard ...). I feel like I did nothing yesterday, but got in over 15,000 ....

 

[Rubyfisch]

I went to the MDR and had the aloo masala. It is very good, but took quite awhile. I feel like they may have had to make it specially for me. It's quite spicy, but again, it's really good.

 

[Rubyfisch]

At 10 am, it's still a 45 minute wait for tenders .... I thought by now, it would be less, particularly because the ship seems completely empty.

 

We have tickets now, and are just waiting around.

[Rubyfisch]

I'd like a word with whomever designed this bathroom. First, you need to step up into the bathroom - I know at some point, right I have woken up, I'm going to forget that. And it's probably about four inches. Next, you need to basically vault into the tub and dismount from the tub - none of which is helped by the fact I'm blind as a bat without my glasses. I don't understand tubs to begin with, but we'll set that aside. The tub is very short, so like, why have it. Next, the showerhead seems to only exist in positions that require you to basically be on top of the controls to be under the water. That being said, the water pressure and temperature and both good, so it serves it's purpose well enough.

 

[Rubyfisch]

From the aft pool deck:

 

[Rubyfisch]

Relaxing in the Exploration Cafe waiting for our tender. It's currently an hour wait from picking up tickets from boarding the tender. I'm really surprised it's going up and not down.

 

[Huskerchick]

2 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

I went to the MDR and had the aloo masala. It is very good, but took quite awhile. I feel like they may have had to make it specially for me. It's quite spicy, but again, it's really good.

 

Hubby had it on our Rotterdam cruise in April and we were told they do make it to order. 

[Rubyfisch]

The tendering process, once our number was called, was very smooth. If you have mobility issues, it might be a bit rough, but I saw plenty of people with canes make it work.

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We tried to walk along the Shore Path, but a lot of it was closed for repair. What we could see was very pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Kitchy, cute stores:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We did a big loop, including walking down to where the sandbar is that you can walk across at low tide (which, of course, it wasn't):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

We then picked up this little fellow:

 

[Rubyfisch]

We got ice cream and Jordan Pond Ice Cream and Fudge on Main St. The mocha Oreo was really good, and the portions (and prices) are large.

 

Very, very randomly, I ran into one of my coworkers and her kids that were in Bar Harbor for the weekend.

[Rubyfisch]

And then we tendered back - it was a very short wait for a tender to arrive. Also, there is a large, cleanish restroom facility right at the tender dock.