Emails from the Noordam Panama Canal Cruise to the Folks Back Home

[cruiservictor]

Hi - my wife and I are on the Noordam 22 day cruise from NYC to Seattle. I put together the following email to the folks back home and I thought I would post it here, too. I'll post a couple of others along the way.

 

 

 

Hello from Holland America Line’s Noordam, anchored off their private island Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. We are in day 4 of a 22-day cruise that started in NYC last Saturday and will eventually end in Seattle on Mother’s Day, Sunday May 13th.

 

Nancy has gone ashore to swim in the beautiful blue waters and I have stayed back onboard, partly because it would be difficult (though not impossible) for me to board the ship’s tenders while using a crutch, and partly because I am not a big sun/swimming person anyway. (Most of you know I have been dealing with some problems with my right hip for the last 8 months or so, and I am using a crutch to get around, but I am managing as best as I can.)

 

As I said, we left NYC on Saturday, spent Sunday and yesterday at sea, and after Half Moon Cay today, we go to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow, then Columbia, the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Guatemala, 3 ports in Mexico, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Seattle.

 

Far and away the best part of the cruise so far, is that our ship, which holds 1900+ people, is only carrying about 800. The rest will be joining us in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow and it will be a full ship for the rest of the trip. We have all enjoyed our “private” ship for this first segment. No lines for anything, seats are always available in the Lido Restaurant and the show lounge, plenty of crew members always available to help with your food tray, never a wait for a computer in the library (although we brought our laptop so that would not be a problem for us). We were kidding around at dinner last night that if we each donated $25 to the captain, maybe he would bypass Fort Lauderdale tomorrow so we could have an empty ship for the rest of the cruise. Wasn’t it the wrestler Ted DiBiase (the Million Dollar Man) who said “everybody has a price”? I wonder what our captain’s is.

 

Embarkation on Saturday was a bit delayed because of problems with the previous cruise. Apparently they were delayed getting to NYC because of weather, and then when they did arrive they went into the wrong berth. Anyway, by the time we arrived at about noon, they were still disembarking people from the previous cruise and were about and hour and a half behind schedule, someone said. We did not have to wait too long to board, though, because of one of the perks we got because we booked a suite – priority embarkation. When they finally were ready to receive passengers, we were among the first to go on board. The cabins were not ready, though, so we went to the Lido restaurant for lunch. It took a bit of time to figure out what’s where, but we did. At about 2PM they announced that the cabins were ready.

 

Ours is very nice with a king size bed, flat screen TV, large balcony, 2 sinks in the bathroom and a tub/shower and a separate stall shower. Also, just down the hall from us is the Neptune Lounge, a private lounge for suite occupants, where they have snacks and drinks (coffee, juices, etc.) available all day, plus a concierge that can help you with any problems or questions you may have. On the night of the first sea day, Sunday night, we had a welcome reception for the suite occupants, where we met the Captain, the Hotel Manager and the Cruise Director. Interestingly, there was a sign outside the lounge that said that due to health regulations there would be no hand shaking. As you may know there are occasional outbreaks of Norovirus on cruise ships and one of the ways it spreads is by hand-to-hand contact. Last thing we need is the Captain getting some kind of stomach virus.

 

We are on the starboard (right) side of the ship and have been getting the afternoon sun on our balcony on the trip south. We are looking forward to using our balcony during the Canal transit. I think we have already used the balcony more in the first couple of days than we did on the Coral Princess on our last cruise, to Alaska last summer.

 

The crew is extremely friendly, one of Holland America’s trademarks. They always smile and say hello and some ask your name and somehow remember it the next day. I, meanwhile, have trouble remembering the names of our dining room tablemates, 5 minuets after learning them. One of the crew members in the Lido even made Nancy a rose out of a napkin and a straw. I have to keep an eye on him……

 

We have a table for 8 in the dining room, which we share with 3 other couples. All of us boarded in NYC and 4 of us are going all the way to Seattle, with the other 4 leaving the day before in Vancouver. The couples are all interesting. So far I have had a conversation with one about the merits of the Boeing 787 vs. the Airbus 380 (the husband is a Boeing employee); with another about the accident the Queen Mary 2 had last year leaving Fort Lauderdale and how the hull of the new Queen Victoria is the same size/shape as that of our ship; and with the third gentleman I had discussion of sports broadcasting (especially hockey since he is the former radio voice of the Vancouver Canucks). The names Marv Albert, Sal (Red Light) Messina, Jim Gordon and Bill (The Big Whistle) Chadwick came up in our conversation. Some or all or none of them may be familiar to you.

 

For a while I have monitored the web site cruisecritic.com. It is a place where you can read/post your opinions or questions about cruising, and get tons and tons of information about cruise lines, cruise ships, ports of call, and just about anything related to cruising that you can think of. One of its features is called a roll call, where you can meet ahead of time other people who will be cruising with you. We have about 45 Cruise Critic members altogether who will be on this cruise from all over the US and Canada. About 15 or so are already on board, with the rest boarding in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. We had a get together with those of us already here on the first sea day, Sunday, and we will have another one on Thursday with the whole group. One of the couples at our table (the Boeing employee and his wife) is coincidentally part of the Cruise Critic group, and another of our members (Connie) was a big star last night when she was called up on to the stage to sing with the evening’s entertainer. She did a great job and at the same time learned the perils of sitting in the front row at a show on a cruise ship.

 

We have had 2 bingo sessions already, with no wins yet. We have quite a few games left, though, and as you may remember we are usually pretty lucky. It has been a small crowd at bingo so far and we are confident that when the rest of the people board the number of participants will grow, which is good because that means the prizes will grow, too.

 

A great feature of this ship that I should mention is the smoke-free casino. This is the first such casino that we have had on a cruise and it is a pleasure to sit at a slot machine or roulette wheel or blackjack table and not have to worry about someone sitting next to you blowing smoke in your face. Time will tell whether they make less money in the casino and whether it can be directly attributed to the no-smoking policy.

 

The Noordam is a very modern ship, having had its maiden voyage just over a year ago. We have noticed video displays that show all the events of the day and other items of interest (as opposed to a copy of the daily program attached to the wall like you might see on other, older ships). Also there is a touch screen display where you can get information about the ship’s officers, the safety procedures, the itinerary, etc. An interesting sidelight to that display – when we looked at it the first day, showed a different cruise director than the one we have on this cruise (Drew Murdock). When we saw Drew at that suite occupants’ reception Sunday night I mentioned that to him and he said he would make sure it gets fixed. When I looked at it again the next morning, it was fixed. I feel I can take credit for that. Just getting the ship ship-shape for the hordes in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow.

 

This ship has wine and drink cards for sale. What they allow you to do is to pay upfront for 10 or 20 glasses of house wine or 10 cocktails and get them at a discount. For example the cocktail card is $56.25 for 10 drinks. The regular price of each is $6.25, so with card when you buy 9 you get 1 free. Not necessarily a good deal for a one-night cruise to nowhere, but definitely a good deal for a long cruise like this.

 

The people on board so far are mainly older, with, I think, 2 kids among them. Someone said there will be a total of 9 kids once everyone else boards tomorrow. Quite a difference for the crew from the cruise a couple of weeks ago during the Easter/Passover holiday when they had to deal with somewhere between 450-500 kids.

 

The Captain is John Scott and in addition to meeting him at the suite party, I have seen him twice on deck – once eating an ice cream cone and the other time this morning carrying his own breakfast tray through the Lido restaurant. I must admit – this is our 24th cruise and it is the first time I have seen a Captain eating an ice cream cone or carrying his own breakfast tray. A true man of the people.

 

They held a galley (kitchen) tour yesterday and at the end of it we got to meet the Executive Chef, Bernie Rius. He seemed to enjoy it when I showed him the daily program from our first Holland America Cruise in 1995, on which he was also the (newly-promoted) Executive Chef. We got our picture taken with him and agreed to meet him again on a cruise in another 12 years.

 

I want to mention this in case I do not get to write again before our transit of the Canal this Sunday, April 29th. If you go to pancanal.com, click on English and scroll to the bottom for web cams, you will see 3 camera views of the action at the Panama Canal. In order we will be going through the Gatun Locks first (around 7-9AM), then under the Centennial Bridge (1-2PM, rough estimate) and then the Miraflores Locks (and the Pedro Miguel Locks which can be seen from the same camera) anywhere from around 2 to 4 or 5. If you keep an eye out on these cameras on Sunday, you may get to see our ship. (We will be the only cruise ship transiting that day, so if you see a cruise ship, that’s us.) (Unfortunately Holland America does not make the bridge cams available on the internet, even though on our TV we do see the view from the front of the ship (from the bridge) and from the rear of the ship.)

 

That’s it for now. Have to get to lunch. Life at sea is so hectic.

 

I will try to write again in a few days.

 

 

Victor and Nancy

[GmaPajama]

Thanks for sharing your email, Victor. Reading these threads is the next best thing to being there in person!

 

[tomc]

Hi you two...

 

Thanks for the detailed report. I see Drew the CD is back; he is one nice guy. The Captain is new; ours must have left the ship in NYC -- going into the wrong berth was not his fault, but that of the shoreside port operators.

 

We had 150 well-behaved children this past cruise. Still kids, but fun. As far as your table for eight, I was at table 119 Lower, just in case you happen to be downing the groceries there. I think Indra was our waiter.

 

Take care; enjoy your cruise. Two unfortunate events kept me from being with you: Not enough money and having to be back at work. Otherwise, I'd have stayed on.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Victor and Nancy, thanks so much for taking us along thru your emails to Folks Back Home:) Since in less than 8 weeks we too will finally get to sail the the beautiful Noordam. Thanks for the info on the times that the Noordam should be going thru the locks. I take it those times you listed were Eastern DST. I hope to watch it thru the Panama Canal Web Cam. Although I doubt I will be up early enough to view Gatun Locks but definitely should be able to catch the Mira Flores. Enjoy your day at HMC. Somehow I doubt that Captain Scott can be persueded by any dollar amount to not stop at FLL;) But hey it's worth a try all he can say is NO:D

[sail7seas]

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

Drew was CD for our Noordam cruise in January and left the ship when we did. Nice, nice fellow. We think very highly of him. Captain Scott also was aboard. He is Noordam's 'take out' Captain. We so enjoyed sailing with him again.

 

Happy to hear all is still wonderful aboard that gorgeous ship. She's a great ship with a fantastic crew.

 

Have a GREAT time.

 

[Wilbo]

We join you tomorrow in Florida for the balance of the trip. Whatever you pay the Captain to skip ft. Lauderdale, I will outbid you.

Happy to hear you are enjoying the trip so far.

[mamaofami]

Victor and Nancy,

 

So glad you are enjoying your time on the Noordam. I saw Captain Scott at the explorations cafe where he was ordering a coffee. I hadn't met him before and asked him what he did on board the ship. I was stunned and embarrassed when he said he was the Captain. Such an unassuming man.

 

By the way, I'm so sorry the Noordam has left New York for a while. I will miss seeing her come into port.

[cruiservictor]

Thanks to all for the replies.

 

tomc - I believe Capt Scott is the Noordam's "regular" captain and I believe the relief captain is Hans Mateboer. He may have been the captain you had. Also, we are at table 119 in the far left hand corner of the lower level.

 

laffnvegas - Yes the Canal transit times are EDT, but are based solely on past experience and not on anything that has been said yet onboard. I will try to post the "official" times when we are given them. I believe the Canal is one hour behind EDT at this time of the year. And, no, we could not persuade Capt. Scott to bypass FLL today. The difference onboard is striking, as you might expect.

 

mamaofami - Another Capt Scott sighting today - getting yogurt from the Lido at breakfast this morning.

[SparklPlenti]

Victor and Nancy, thank you for the update and the panama canal times! My folks and my in-laws are on-board Noordam with you, but have yet to get around to emailing us back home...no big surprise there. I'll pass along the info to the entire family and we'll all be watching. Be sure to wave! :-)

 

Enjoy,

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I hope that Victor can come back into this thread yet today and tell us if he has heard exact times when the Noordam should be going thru the locks tomorrow:) I would enjoy watching her transit thru the locks to the west coast.

[TBear416]

I hope your Captain Scott is as good as Hans. Have a great cruise. I'd love to go back on the Noordam next year. The Noordam is a great ship with a first rate crew.

[cruiservictor]

LAFFNVEGAS, better late than never, here is the second email to the folks back home, including the info you requested.

 

 

Just 7 short days ago, we boarded the MS Noordam at the Passenger Ship Terminal in New York City. Had this been a normal 7-day cruise, we would be home doing laundry. However, since it is 22 days long, we are 2444 nautical miles from NYC, en route from Cartagena, Columbia to the Panama Canal.

 

It is Saturday evening and since I last wrote, we picked up 1100 passengers in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, had sea days Thursday and Friday and a port call in Cartagena today.

 

This was the second time Nancy and I have been in South America – the first time being the first port of call (Caracas, Venezuela) on our very first cruise (on the Cunard Countess) with a bunch of NY Yankee players in 1987. Ah, to be young again.

 

Far and away the biggest news of the last few days is that we finally got off our bingo schneid. We actually switched sides of the Queens Lounge because of our bad luck, and it paid off. I have won twice - $97 yesterday on my birthday and $118 more today. Well, it pays a little of the internet bill.

 

Since we left Fort Lauderdale, we have had to alter our behavior to what is needed on a large cruise ship – look for seats in the Lido Restaurant before going for food, get to the Vista Lounge early if you want any kind of decent seat (what’s with all those pillars?), allow more time for dinner, etc. The Lido definitely requires patience at lunch when many people arrive at the same time, for example when a lot of tours all end around lunchtime. That happened to us today in Cartagena and the Lido was a madhouse when we got there. By the time we finished, though, things had quieted down considerably. Like they say, timing is everything.

 

A couple of confusing moments in Fort Lauderdale…. First involved the immigration check we all had to do and the second involved the lifeboat drill that afternoon. Regarding immigration, since we were arriving in the US (Fort Lauderdale) after calling at a foreign port (Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas), everything aboard the ship had to report to US Immigration officials first thing Wednesday morning before anyone could get off or on the ship. That was clear – what was not clear was how/when we would be called down to see them. One document said we would be called beginning at 7AM by deck, starting at the bottom of the ship. That was OK with us because there are 4 passenger decks below us and only 1 above. The other document, however, said we would be called alphabetically – not as good for us, “E” being the 5th letter in the alphabet. It did turn out to be alphabetical, so we got up early enough to be ready at 7AM. (We had to be up early anyway, since we had a tour leaving at 9AM and we had to have breakfast first.) The other confusion involved the lifeboat drill and the question was did we 800 already on board have to go again having just had the drill a few days earlier in NYC. It did not say one way or the other in the daily program but we asked around and were eventually told that it was for newly embarking passengers only. We were able to sit on our balcony and watch them on the promenade deck below with their orange lifejackets on. I was glad we did not need to participate – it was very crowded and very warm out there.

 

Our tour in Fort Lauderdale was a combination bus ride and boat ride and the most interesting part of the whole thing for me was when we sailed up in our little tour boat alongside our ship, the Noordam. It was the first time I had seen the ship since we boarded. It has a very dark blue almost black hull and much of the superstructure above it is dark, too. It is not the prettiest ship around (IMHO) but it is very nice inside. Our tour was, according to the itinerary, supposed to end with everyone going back to the ship by about 1:30PM. However, at the last minute they threw in a shopping stop that would have gotten us back about an hour later. I decided to be brave and proposed that they drop off at the mall the people who wanted to go shopping, take the rest of us back to the ship, then go back and pick up the shoppers at the appropriate time. Surprisingly, this was quickly accepted by the tour guide and driver, and everyone was happy – we who wanted to go back to the ship could and those who wanted to go shopping could. The main seated behind me was in the former category, because he patted me on the shoulder and thanked me for speaking up. Anything to oblige.

 

At lunch in Fort Lauderdale, Captain Scott announced that the US Health Department had performed its semi-annual surprise inspection of the ship that morning and that they had received a perfect score of 100. This is quite a feat, actually, and was met with a round of applause. He sounded very proud of his crew.

 

Several more Captain Scott sightings, by the way, from carrying his yogurt through the Lido restaurant, to eating an ice cream cone (he does like his ice cream), to eating several times with a woman, who turned out to be his wife. It was kind of cute this morning – just at the moment we were docking in Cartagena, Mrs. Scott was eating breakfast at the table next to us and a steward asked where her husband was. She smiled and explained he was a bit busy at the moment.

 

Our departure from Fort Lauderdale was delayed by over 2 hours, as several dozen passengers were delayed in arriving due to bad storms in the Midwest. As far as I heard, everyone did make it before we departed, a reason to book your flights though the cruise line. If you did, they will hold the ship for you (within reason). If not, you are on your own.

 

On Thursday afternoon we had our Cruise Critic meeting. There were about 40 or so people there, and it was interesting to put faces to the names, especially when the names had been “handles” like Rustaroo and General Max. Thanks to Richard (Rustaroo) for putting this together, and for the name tags, and especially for getting the Captain, Hotel Manager, Environmental Officer and Cruise Director to attend. We had to leave early for bingo, but I went back afterwards and the party was still going on.

 

We spent the whole day Thursday cruising southeast along the coast of Cuba and Friday sailing due south across the Caribbean where we arrived this morning at 8AM. (By the way we turned the clocks back an hour last night and are now on Central Daylight Time. We have a clock in our cabin and I manually turned it back one hour last night, only to find it had turned itself back another hour during the night. Even though it is in our cabin, it is apparently connected to the ship’s clock system.)

 

We took a tour of Cartagena today called the City Tour. It was marked in the brochure as being one with light activity in terms of walking, and we chose tours like that in every port because of the problem with my leg/hip. Boy was that symbol wrong. The first stop we made was at a fort, and the walk to the top was up a very steep, uneven incline, in very hot/humid conditions. Nancy and I only made it up halfway before going back down to the bus. The second stop was at a monastery which was so crowded that our bus could only make it halfway up the hill, and the passengers were let out there to walk up the road to the top. We did not even get out of the bus there. Then there was a walking tour in the heat of the middle of the day through the Old Town area. Brutal. I filed a comment form with my suggestion that this be marked as a more strenuous tour with the Shore Excursion desk. It will be interesting to see what, if any, kind of reply I get.

 

The dress code has been changed on the cruise and none of us was informed of this before we left home. Holland America fleet-wide used to have 3 categories – formal, informal and casual. There was apparently a lot of confusion about the “informal” category so they have eliminated it, leaving just formal (tux or dark suit or jacket and slacks for the men) and casual (shirt with collar, no jeans, T-shirts, etc.). Well a lot of us brought along informal clothes, Nancy especially. Now none of it is needed. It can still be worn, of course, on the casual nights (of which there are 17), but it would have been nice to have known this before we left. It had been announced that this change would take effect in May, but there was no indication it would be in effect for our cruise, which spans April and May.

 

We have used the ship’s laundry and dry cleaning services, which are complimentary for us as another one of those perks for booking a suite. They seem to have done a fine job. My underwear looked even better than usual, and then I realized that they even ironed it, which, I must admit, I don’t take time to do at home. There are no self-serve laundromats on this ship, and they do have various packages available for people who do have to pay. I think there is a pay-one-price for the entire cruise, that type of thing.

 

Yesterday was my 50th birthday and Nancy arranged for balloons on the cabin door plus a sign that said happy birthday. Also, she had the dining room bring a cake and the waiters and tablemates all sang happy birthday to me. The other people at the table also gave me a card, a picture of me that they bought at the photo gallery and a Yankee cap, which I actually wore today in Cartagena.

 

One of my favorite places onboard is the ice cream area in the Lido Restaurant. It is open from lunchtime up through midnight. They have vanilla every day, plus a rotating variety of other flavors, both “hard” and soft serve. I have taken to ordering a waffle cone each time with 2 scoops of vanilla surrounding one of the flavors of the day. Hey, I’m on vacation.

 

Overall I would have to say the seas have been very smooth the entire trip so far. There have been occasional moments of movement, but overall I think it has been very smooth. (Nancy may disagree.)

 

Late this evening, we have received the approximate times of our transit of the Panama Canal tomorrow. I mentioned the last time the pancanal.com web site that has web cams where you can watch our ship. All the times I give here are Eastern Daylight. Gatun Locks – arrive at 7:45AM, depart 9AM. Passing the Centennial Bridge at 1:30PM. Arriving at the Pedro Miguel Locks at 2:30PM and departing at 3:30PM. Arriving at the Miraflores Locks at 4PM and departing at 5PM. Again these times are approximate and I hope you will be able to see our ship at some point during the day.

 

That’s it for now. I will write again some time next week.

 

 

Victor and Nancy

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Victor Happy Belated Birthday:)

Thanks so much for the times not sure what I can catch being here on the West Coast bust sure going to give it a try. Have fun tomorrow.:cool:

 

Thanks again.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Did anyone by chance catch the Noordam this morning at the Gatun Locks? It was a bit early for me here on the West Coast. The passing under the Centennial Bridge I may also miss because I will leave for church then. I do hope to be home in time to catch the Noordam going thru the Miraflores Locks.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Victor, just wanted to let you know I caught the Miraflores show:) I got home just time time to watch the Noordam go thru, I would have loved if the camera would have been angled down more to see more of the ship but at any rate I still watched.

I am sure it has been a long but fun day. Welcome to the Pacific Coast:D

[ElizabethxoNoel]

Hello,

 

Just wondering the name of your dining steward and cabin steward? On our recent cruise, the hotel manager shared with us that we had two of the best crew on staff. He was right! Thanks in advanced.

 

Elizabeth

[cruiservictor]

Our cabin steward is Ramses and the waiter is Vincent. Ring a bell?

 

And LAFFNVEGAS, saw all the great pictures on the other thread. My sister and a friend of ours also sent us pictures from the webcams. It was a great day, even if it was very hot and muggy.

[ElizabethxoNoel]

=[ Nope. Our cabin steward was Ecko and our dining steward was Iyan. They were both wonderful. I don't know if you'll recognize this name, but Peter in the Lido? He usually hands out trays and is great. Also Vladimir in the spa.. If you or your wife are considering going to the spa, try and book with Vladimir. He is simply the best. I know it's alot of people, but there so many people that made our cruise so special. I miss them all so much! =]

 

I hope you both are have a wonderful time!

 

Elizabeth

[gizmo]

I enoyed reading your posts.

 

Thanks

Giz

[cruiservictor]

Here is the latest email to the folks back home at about the midpoint of our cruise.

 

 

 

Hello again, this time from off the Pacific coast of the Central American country of Nicaragua. We are at the approximate midpoint (time wise, anyway) of our 22 day cruise. Since I last wrote, we have transited the Panama Canal and visited Costa Rica, in addition to enjoying 2 sea days, the second of which was today, Wed 5/2. I thought I would write now since the next 3 days are all port calls – Guatemala tomorrow, Huatulco Mexico on Friday and Acapulco on Saturday.

 

The big news (that I know you have been waiting for) is that, yes, we have more bingo wins to report. This time they were both Nancy’s - $114 a couple of days ago and $135 this afternoon. I just did the math and we have paid $500 in to bingo and between us have won $464. Not too shabby. They might cancel bingo altogether if everyone was that lucky – not enough profit margin for the cruise line.

 

The transit of the Panama Canal on Sunday was the maiden one for the Noordam, and the day started early. I got out to our “secret” viewing area in the front of the gym at about 6:15AM and found out that it was no longer a “secret”. The entire deck rail from port to starboard was filled, but only about 1-2 people deep all the way around. I found a good spot to stand and planned to be there a little while as we approached the Gatun Locks. However, I quickly realized that the commentary being done over the ship’s PA system that was supposed to be heard on all the outside decks was not being piped out to where we were standing. We could hear that he was saying something from what was being piped on to the other decks, but could not make out exactly what he was saying. I went inside and called the front deck and reported it and went back outside. After another 5 or 10 minutes of missed commentary, I decided to go back into our cabin and watch for a while from our balcony, where we could hear the commentary.

 

One of the reasons we had booked this cruise was because on our previous 2 transits we did not have a balcony and had to stand out on deck amongst the crowds to see what was happening. This time I spent most of the day on our balcony and saw a lot because, fortunately, there was a large container ship (4600+ containers) immediately to our right and we were able to watch what was happening to it in terms of raising and lowering and know that is exactly what was happening to us. Each lock of the Canal has two lanes and, depending on the traffic at the time, there could be two-way traffic at the lock or one-way traffic (both lanes being used in the same direction). Every time we went through one of the 3 locks, we were in the left-hand lane, with the big container ship in the right lane. We really lucked out that we were able to see so much activity from our balcony the whole day. Also, because it was so steamy there, we frequently came back into our cabin from the balcony to cool off.

 

After we cleared the first set of locks, there was a roughly 5 hour period of sailing across to the Centennial Bridge and the other 2 sets of locks. During that time I went out onto the actual bow of the ship, which they opened as an additional viewing area during the transit. It was the first time I had been on the bow of a cruise ship, which is an area normally open to crew only. I got some nice pictures looking up at the ship, including one of the narrator on the bridge.

 

At the last set of locks there is a visitor’s center with a viewing platform which was crowded with hundreds of Panamanians watching our transit. We were particularly interested in seeing this area because 4 years ago, when we went through the Canal the last time, we took a land tour of this visitor’s center and viewing platform the following day. This time we enjoyed seeing from the ship where we had visited previously. As the crowds were waving to us, I took off my Yankee hat and pointed to it and yelled “Mariano, Mariano”, in tribute, of course, to Mariano Rivera, a native of Panama. Nancy, of course, pretended she did not know me at this point.

 

A couple of nice touches – during the transit, the ship’s crew came around with iced tea and cold towels. They were appreciated in the wilting heat and humidity. It was neat to get a couple of emails from my sister with screen prints of the pancanal.com web cams with pictures of our ship as we went through. At the end of the day, we sailed under the Bridge of the Americas and turned right and headed for Costa Rica.

 

Most of the ship is comfortably cool, maybe too much so for Nancy’s taste. The lounge in which we play bingo is called the Queen’s Lounge and is always very cool, even cold. One morning, bingo was “sponsored” by the spa onboard and we were asked to wear the bathrobe from our cabin in exchange for an extra bingo card. Nancy kept the bathrobe on for the whole session. Our corner of the dining room was comfortable for the first couple of nights but then started to get uncomfortably warm. You could feel it as you walked in or out of the dining room – our section was much warmer. When I realized it was not just me that was feeling it but everyone at our table (even the waiter), I spoke to the head waiter and I was pleasantly surprised the next night when the problem had been resolved. Note to self – give him a big tip at the end. We have found a cool spot in the Lido restaurant where we frequently eat breakfast and lunch. Right near the door, surprisingly close to the outdoor pool, is an area that must be near some air conditioning vents or something, because it is always comfortable. Walk through the Lido and you encounter wide ranges in temperature from cool to warm.

 

By the way, the area we sit in is also frequented by Captain Scott. Yesterday he was having lunch there with 2 attractive female officers. Mrs. Scott must have been off shopping. When he finished his lunch I saw him leave again with an ice cream cone. When I went up for mine, the crew member assigned there agreed with me that the captain does like his ice cream.

 

Something we have noticed about this ship is that they don’t have laundry carts lining the halls in the morning and evening when the rooms are being done. On other ships, they were always there and we would sometimes grab an extra chocolate or 2 at night as we walked by. Here there are no carts and our room steward explained that is mainly for passenger safety. It can be hard to get up and down the corridor on ships that have laundry carts. Here the steward needs to get his supplies from a special area located on each deck. It does require more walking for him, but it is safer for us to get around and it looks nicer, too.

 

We have already changed time zones twice so we are now 2 hours behind New York. When I heard that later in the cruise we would be moving forward 1 hour (even though we continue to travel west/northwest) I decided to try to figure out what is going on. I will try not to bore you with too many details (as I did Nancy, I think) but we went/will go from Eastern Daylight Time for NYC, Half Moon Cay and Fort Lauderdale, back an hour to Eastern Standard Time for Cartagena and the Panama Canal (they don’t observe Daylight Saving Time), back another hour to Central Standard Time for Costa Rica and Guatemala (ditto), ahead one hour to Central Daylight Time for Huatulco and Acapulco, back one hour to Mountain Daylight Time for Cabo San Lucas and back one final hour to Pacific Daylight Time for LA, Vancouver and Seattle. The bingo caller said we were zigzagging time zones like this because of the way the Central American coast bends. That did not sound right to me so I decided to pursue it further and I felt like I had made a scientific breakthrough when everything fell into place.

 

I mentioned in my previous email the problems I had with the tour in Cartagena and the way the level of physical activity had been, in my humble opinion (IMHO), mislabeled. After a couple of contacts with less-than-helpful members of the Shore Excursion team, I did have a nice meeting today with the Assistant Manager of the team, a woman named Doreen. She did say that they have forwarded my comments on the physical activity level to the main office in Seattle. We also reviewed the remaining tours we have booked and they all seem to have reasonable amounts of walking. Yesterday, for example, in Costa Rica we took a tour that was a combination bus, boat and railroad trip that was labeled as having minimal activity (like our tour in Cartagena was). I was happy that yesterday’s tour was just as advertised and I was able to handle it very well. We have booked tours in our remaining ports of Guatemala, Huatulco, Acapulco and Cabo San Lucas (all Mexico), Los Angeles and Vancouver. Let’s hope they all are also as advertised.

 

In my first email I mentioned that we attended a welcome reception for suite guests, hosted by the Captain and Hotel Manager. Today, on the day that marked the midpoint of the cruise, we attended a “farewell” reception for suite guests in the Crow’s Nest, the lounge at the top of the ship all the way forward. The Captain and the Hotel Manager greeted us at the entrance again (still no hand-shaking) and they had an open bar and large buffet spread for an hour. I asked the concierge about the use of the word “farewell” when there is still so much time left, and she explained that many passengers are disembarking a week from today in LA (while we are continuing on to Seattle the following Sunday) and that with 4 port calls coming up in the next 5 days, today was the last chance for a farewell gathering for all the suite occupants. She promised there would still be at least one more gathering for us before we head home.

 

Tonight I tried to find out some more info about the TV offerings. We have CNN and ESPN and have had them from day 1. However, they are not the versions we get back home – they are the “international” versions. So virtually all we get are soccer matches on ESPN and very little US coverage on CNN (although CNN International does simulcast Anderson Cooper 360 from the American CNN and one of tonight’s guests was Al Sharpton talking about Imus. There is no escape.). I asked the concierge about it and she said it has something to do with the satellites in international waters and as soon as we approach LA in a week, they should switch us back to the US versions.

 

Our very smooth seas continue and one can only hope it stays that way. Nancy asked her doctor for a couple of boxes of those patches you put near your ear that are supposed to reduce/eliminate the effects of seasickness. (In fact, she asked for so many that he asked her whether she was joining the navy.) Nancy and I are both happy to report that she has not used one patch yet. Let’s hope that the second half of the cruise is as smooth as the first.

 

That’s it for now. Have to get to bed. We have an early tour in Guatemala tomorrow morning. We will write again in a couple of days.

 

Victor and Nancy

[SakeDad]

Victor,

I plan on printing your posts so my mom can read them and get even more excited about our Noordam trip than ever!

THANKS:)

[Love Cruises]

Victor and Nancy --- thanks for the great updates of your trip. They are very enlightening and well written. We will be doing this cruise in reverse from Seattle to NY in late September, early October. Reading your thread makes the time go that much faster until we are on the beautiful NOORDAM again!

[cruiservictor]

Thanks to all who are enjoying my emails. Here is the latest:

 

 

 

We are now into the homestretch of our long vacation. It’s Tuesday, a sea day, and the last day before we arrive in Los Angeles (actually Long Beach). Something like 800 people are disembarking tomorrow (with another 800 getting on), 1300 are getting off in Vancouver Saturday with another 1300 boarding then, and then virtually everyone, including us, will be getting off Sunday in Seattle.

 

We have just wrapped up a busy 6 day period – 4 ports and 2 hectic sea days.

 

When I last wrote, we were approaching Guatemala. We arrived in the port city of Puerto Quetzal on Thursday morning. This was the first time Nancy and I have been to this Central America country. (Columbia is the other country we have visited on this cruise that we’ve never been to before. We had previously been to Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico.) The weather was hot and humid, as has been true for every port we have visited so far (at least up until yesterday). There was some brief confusion getting off the ship. We were supposed to have docked at 8AM and our tour was to have left at 8:30AM. However, due to some kind of miscommunication on the pier, they had a problem getting the gangway set up. So, hundreds of us (it seemed like thousands) were crammed in to the area near where the gangway was supposed to be, and we waited and waited. It got very warm after a while. Finally they straightened the mess out and we left the ship about a quarter to nine. The Security Officer happened to be stationed near the gangway and some passengers were not shy about telling him what they thought of the situation. Bet he was glad to be assigned there at that moment. Our tour took us to the Chapin Auto Safari where we drove, in our air conditioned bus, through an animal preserve that reminded me of the Bronx Zoo, in that the animals were all free to roam in an area that I suppose is supposed to be similar to their native habitat. At the end of the bus ride, we could walk around a bit to see other, smaller animals whose pens were accessible only by foot. Then we ended the tour with a snack of French Fries (Guatemalan Fries?) and a beverage. We chose bottled water. (By the way – we have had bottled water on virtually all of our tours and have had no problems or repercussions. No visits from Montezuma’s Revenge or anything like that.)

 

Our next stop (after springing forward an hour from Central Standard Time to Central Daylight) was a small town named Huatulco, Mexico. Our tour (again on an air conditioned bus) was a basic “city” tour of the area, including a couple of shopping stops. We like to take a tour in each port we visit to at least get a taste of the area. There was minimal walking involved, which was the way it was supposed to be. (I believe I mentioned in an earlier email that I had a lot of problems on the tour in Cartagena and how it should have been labeled as having more physical activity. I did meet with the Assistant Shore Excursion Manager and we went over all the tours we had left and determined they all should have a manageable amount of activity. She thanked me for letting them know about the problems in Cartagena and said she would inform the home office in Seattle, as they are the ones that produce the brochures that show home much activity each tour has.) One thing I remember from the tour is that the driver did not left a finger to help me (or anyone else) get on and off the bus. Blew a tip, at least from me.

 

Acapulco was next, on Saturday. This was a much more pleasant visit for me than the last time we arrived in Acapulco. Then, 4 years ago on the QE2, I came down with a case of what I am sure was that ship virus you hear about once in a while. I was sick as a dog for about 12 hours. Fortunately a visit to the medical center got me through it. No such problems this time. Here we took a city tour but in a 9 passenger minivan, which was advertised as being a more “intimate” experience. It was. A much smaller group than the 40 or 50 you would get on a big bus. I sat up front because of the difficulty I would have had climbing in and out of the back of the van. This tour was described as having “moderate” activity and it did – there were a lot of steps but I made it through most of it. The driver, in this case, was very helpful to me in seeing that I was OK. The first stop was to see the famous cliff divers at a place called La Quebrada. We had a pretty good view. There were about half a dozen young men who jumped, one of whom could not have been more than 12 or 13. Then, after a shopping stop, we stopped at a famous hotel, the Flamingo, for a beverage and some conversation. Then we took the van all the way to the other end of Acapulco Bay. (Every time I hear the phrase “Acapulco Bay”, I think of the song “Come Fly With Me” by Frank Sinatra in which he sings “say the word and we’ll hop that bird down to Acapulco Bay, come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away”.) There we visited the Chapel of Peace located high on a hill next to a cross more than 100 feet high. (We could actually see this cross from the ship docked many miles away at the other end of the bay.) There was a brief stop in the church itself, but there were so many steps the driver wisely suggested I not attempt it. Then, we headed back to the ship, making a brief stop across the street from the pier at Fuerte San Diego, which also contains a museum on the history of Acapulco. Frankly, by that time all of us in the van were getting hot and tired and were anxious to reboard the ship, which we did in time for lunch.

 

Sunday was a sea day as we headed for Cabo San Lucas, but it was a very busy day. It’s funny – sometimes we actually find very few activities that interest us on some sea days, but this day was the exception to that rule.

 

In addition to 2 bingo sessions, there was a party for the Mariner Society members, people who have sailed with Holland America at least once previously and have totaled at least 25 days (and with this cruise being 22 days that was most of the ship). The invitation said it was to be an “elegant” gathering and some took that to mean they were supposed to dress up. But since it was at 10:30 in the morning we decided to go casual. Nancy was a bit concerned when we saw some people at breakfast who were all dressed up, but as it turned out most people did come casually but neatly dressed. There were some brief remarks by the captain and cruise director followed by a 20-minute or so piano concert by the ship’s musical director. There was a separate luncheon later in the day for Mariner members who had sailed more than 50 days with Holland America. We now have 44, so I suppose if we do another cruise with Holland America, we will be invited to that party.

 

After lunch, I attended the “Captain’s Corner”, a Q and A session with the ship’s captain, John Scott. He spoke for 5 minutes or so about his career at sea, and then took questions for the rest of the hour. Many of them were very interesting. When it got to be my turn, I said we see him out and about at various locations on the ship – the Lido restaurant, parties, etc. – but his job cannot be all fun and games. What is the most difficult aspect of his job? He answered that it was probably when a crew member had to be terminated for violation of some kind of policy. It weighed heavily on him that this person probably had family back home and the money he/she was making on board was far more than the average wage-earner made in their home country. But, rules were rules and it had to be done.

 

That was followed by a talk on the space program. The gentleman who did the narration as we transited the Panama Canal worked for NASA 40+ years ago and gave a presentation on the early space program. The Captain’s Corner ran long so I only saw the last 10 minutes or so of this talk, but I enjoyed what I heard. One of the very early astronauts (not sure offhand if he was one of the original Mercury 7) had just died that day or the day before. Wally Schirra was his name and I remember him most for the “color commentary” he did sitting next to Walter Cronkite in CBS’s coverage of the moon landings.

 

The busy Sunday ended with a presentation by the ship’s Environmental officer on what the cruise line is doing to protect the environment. Things like recycling, reducing emissions, properly handling spills, etc. I asked 2 questions – how he deals with any kind of resistance he may get from the more veteran sailors to this new program, and what happens to the thousands and thousands of photographs that are not purchased at the end of the week. In answer to the former he said he has the full backing of the corporate office and what he enforces are the company’s policies and nothing more. In answer to the latter, he said unfortunately the unused photos are burned and destroyed. The photography department is an outside contractor and he said they may consider using a contractor in the future who does do some kind of recycling of unused photos. Did I say there are thousands and thousands of them?

 

At dinner Sunday night, they had the traditional Baked Alaska parade at dessert time. This is when they turn the lights down and the waiters come marching through the dining room carrying chunks of Baked Alaska with sparklers in them. Baked Alaska is vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream baked into a cake form with whipped cream and meringue. No calories when you are at sea. They use this opportunity to introduce the chefs who have cooked all the great delicacies we have enjoyed. We have actually not seen this parade in several cruises because they only do it when everyone is eating dessert at the same time, and for a while we have had the “eat any time you want” format where everyone is eating different courses at different times.

 

Monday was perhaps the nicest port, at least in terms of the weather. We anchored off the coast of Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. The weather that had been hot and steamy for what seemed like weeks was replaced by warm, pleasant conditions. And in the shade with the breeze blowing, it was even a bit cool. Like Half Moon Cay 2 weeks ago, this was a tender port. This means that the ship is too big to dock and it anchors out in the harbor and lowers its larger lifeboats, called tenders, which run as a non-stop shuttle to and from shore. This is never a pleasant experience as at best it is time-consuming and at worst can be very uncomfortable if the seas are rough and the tenders bounce up and down. This day all went smoothly, though. We had very little wait at the ship to go ashore or at the pier ashore to return to the ship. The ship’s crew helped me get on and off the tenders and I even found an elevator to go up one deck from the tender platform to the security check-in when coming back aboard. The tour we took was a 2 hour boat ride of the area (like we haven’t done enough boat riding in the last 2 and a half weeks, something more than 5000 nautical miles). Anyway the tour was very nice, had an open bar, took us to the Land’s End rock formations and the famous arch and even came upon a mother whale and her calf heading up the coast to Alaska.

 

Monday afternoon, back onboard, we had another bingo win. This time it was me (Victor) for $48. The actual prize was $144, but 2 other people also won and we split it 3 ways.

 

We have run into our first problem with the onboard laundry. They have lost one of my dress shirts. I have been told they are searching for it. They asked if I knew the brand name of the shirt. I had no idea. They have 4 more days to find it. I could check everyone coming to dinner on our next formal night and see if someone is wearing it. It may have been sent back to the wrong room by mistake and who knows, it may be nicer than anything they had and they may have kept it.

 

I think I mentioned in the last email that we had been getting, for several days, the international versions of ESPN and CNN, not the versions we are used to seeing in the states. I am happy to report that as of our day in Acapulco, the American versions of the 2 networks were back on the air. Nancy did not care much except that when I am happy, she is happy.

 

Today, Tuesday, started with us being awoken by the sound of the ship’s foghorn. When we opened the curtains we saw why – we were socked in. Could not see anything out our balcony or forward or aft on the TV channels. It cleared up after a couple of hours.

 

Another Captain John Scott sighting in the Lido Restaurant at lunch today. He and Mrs. Scott were sharing a big plate of French Fries. So not only do we know he likes his ice cream, we now know he likes his French Fries, too. A man after my own heart.

 

Today also featured a lot of “end of cruise” activities, even though 1100 of the 1900 of us are not getting off the ship tomorrow. However, they did the traditional disembarkation talk by cruise director Drew Murdock, followed by a nice performance from the crew in which they brought many waiters (including ours), cabin stewards (including ours), chefs, bar staff, etc., on stage for a farewell song. They also handed out a questionnaire in which they asked us to rate all the aspects of the cruise. We were reminded several times by our waiter and cabin steward and others that they really want/need us to give them the highest possible grade. This did not sit too well with me. Not that they don’t deserve it – they do, and we planned to give them high grades and did. Just don’t keep reminding me about it. Like a tip to a tour guide.

 

This afternoon they held a win-a-free-cruise lottery. One chance for $10, 3 for $20. We entered but did not win. Word has it that it was a voucher for a Caribbean cruise for 2, to be used in the next 18 months. I do not know for sure but my educated guess would be that you provide your own transportation, and you don’t get a fancy suite, either. You could probably upgrade from what they provide for free, if you would like. It also, most likely, does not include any onboard expenses, which we have been reminded this cruise can really build up.

 

After the lottery, they held another bingo session, advertised as offering a $25,000 bingo jackpot in the fourth and final game. It turns out that the $25,000 would be yours if you got all 24 numbers on your card in just 46 numbers called- possible but very unlikely. And as it turned out, no one won it. But one woman did win the “consolation” jackpot of $5000. I should be so consoled. This is not the traditional cruise where everyone is getting off at the same time and they have one big end-of-cruise jackpot. As I said earlier, around 1100 of us are staying aboard for several more days, so they are going to have some kind of smaller bingo snowball jackpot build up in the 4 sessions we will play Thursday and Friday.

 

The last event before dinner today was one we always enjoy – it was Meet the Cast time. About 10 members of the show cast, both dancers/singers and behind the scenes staff, sat down in the Vista Lounge for a Q and A session followed by a behind the scenes tour. It’s always interesting to hear them answer questions about their lives and then to see the very small areas backstage where they do their quick costume changes.

 

Tonight at dinner the waiters did a farewell song which was introduced with something to the effect of “now your cruise has come to an end”. Everyone at our table yelled “not for us”. There are 8 of us. Two couples are getting off Saturday in Vancouver. We and the 4th couple are disembarking Sunday in Seattle.

 

So that’s it for now. What is left is 4 full days on board the Noordam. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are in the LA area (technically docked in Long Beach, which should mean we will be able to see the original Queen Mary), Thursday and Friday we are at sea sailing north and Saturday we will be in Vancouver. Saturday night we will pack and Sunday morning we will disembark in Seattle. We will be staying overnight Sunday and then fly home on Monday to face 17 days of mail, mounds of laundry and 2 cats that we hope remember us and don’t hold it against us that we left them for so long. (They are being taken good care of by our faithful pet sitters from Animal Care Company, Angie and Joanne).

 

Thanks for reading. I will send one more email, a wrapup at the end of our trip.

 

 

Victor

[Copper10-8]

Victor, thanks for taking the time and effort to write your Panama Canal cruise review! Been enjoying it! Planning to visit the Noordam in Long Beach tomorrow. If you happen to see a cop and a black & white down below on the pier, don't be a stranger and come say hi! Gonna attempt to have Captain Scott sign/autograph my Stephen Card "HAL Spotless Fleet" book.

[Seago2]

I'm loving your emails! I have to laugh because mine were full of Captain Scott sightings as well. Does something for the trip, doesn't it?

 

Keep em coming-