Live from the Zaandam - Circle Hawaii.....

[SharonN]

[quote name='nobbync']Hello everyone,

I am hope and all is well here. The embarkation was very easy even with 2 ships in. We were off the ship before 10 and we were in the last couple groups. I spent today calling friends and family to make sure they were all okay and I did my shopping, washing clothes and all that good stuff. I will finish my reports in the next couple days. When I woke up about 5:30 I saw all the thick fog. I am glad it was mostly fog because when I first saw it I thought it might be smoke. Overall today was very nice in the Pt Loma area and very little smoke. None of my friends and family lost their homes so that made the trip that much better but I do still send my thoughts and prayers to those that were effected by these fires and I hope and pray they will get them completely under control soon.

Thanks for all the comments and I will start going back and answering your questions after I finish my final reports.

Nobby[/quote]

Thanks so much for your wonderful reports and I'm glad everything was ok when you got home. Your description of the heated chairs in the Thermal Suite has got me thinking about trying them out on the Rotterdam in Jan. I've never done anything like that before but you make it sound very relaxing.

[spottedcamel]

If I wasn't excited about my Hawaiian cruise on the 5th, your reports have made me seriously want to hit the fast-forward button on the next nine days. Thank you for the daily updates.

[nobbync]

[quote name='nobbync']Hello everyone,

I am hope and all is well here.

Nobby[/QUOTE]

OOPS! I wrote this too late last night as that should have been "I am HOME and all is well here..."

Nobby

[nobbync]

Day 15 – at Sea, Ensenada and embarkation…

Today started the same as all the other days. Calm seas and partly cloudy skies. It is really hazy and brown so I can only assume we are seeing some of the smoke from the fires but it is very thin out here. This morning was spent packing and doing our last second shopping. We went to get what photos we wanted but the photo they took last night of the entire table was not there. How disappointing because I didn’t take a group shot last night since they did. We asked the photo department and she said they would check on it. If not we’ll have to take a group shot tonight and then I can send it to everyone.

We are on the last groups leaving tomorrow which is fine for us. It’ll give us a few more minutes to enjoy this cruise. I had breakfast this morning so I decided to skip lunch for today.

The afternoon was spent just looking around the ship and also I had my hour or so in the Thermal Suite. We also put the $100 deposit on a future cruise so now we’ll have to decide where we want to go. I would love to take a Hawaii one again but it’ll be awhile before I can save up 2 weeks vacation again with all the plans I already have. It looks like a Mexico trip on the Oosterdam is on our radar.

Dinner was bittersweet as it was our final night together and then back to reality. The food tonight I really didn’t see anything on the menu I cared about so it was the salmon again which was good as usual. Also had the cream chicken soup with peas which was delicious like all the soups. I had to have one final salad with that really good blue cheese dressing. After dinner we all exchanged addresses and everyone at the table wanted to stay in touch. I have new sisters and brothers all over the country now. Since we couldn’t get the group shot done by the ships photographer yet we decided to take a group shot with my camera and I’ll send a copy to everyone. After dinner the photo department did have the group shots but it looks like mine came out nicer even though we weren’t in our “nice” clothes. It took awhile to say goodbye but I think some of us will run into each other again.

While we were eating we watched us pull into Ensenada. It looked like a beautiful harbor but it was already dark so it was hard to tell. When I was younger I used to drive to Ensenada with friends sampling the tequila and Mexican lobster dinners for cheap but I had no intentions of getting off the ship this time. My mom and I walked the deck a bit and just looked at Ensenada while Cindy went ashore to the little shopping area in front with some of our tablemates. My mom and I then went to the final show. It was the 3 guest performers for the final week and the ship lost some power when transferring to Mexican power so we didn’t have any spotlights or stage lights. After awhile they decided to start the show anyway. They did all three acts including the jugglers but it was a little hard to juggle with low lights but they did it by using the flaming pins. It was funny because as soon as the acts were finished the lights came on.

Tonight the bags needed to be in the hall by 1 am and we had all ours ready by about 10 and then it was time for bed. American citizens only have to go through customs when walking off the ship. Non-American citizens had to report to the Hudson room at 6 am and my mom was one of those so we had to get up early. I didn’t sleep good as I thought about the cruise in general so 5:30 came by fast.

When I woke up I looked out the window and I couldn’t see a thing. I was wondering if that was smoke or fog and it turned out to be fog. As we came in some I could start to see the lights of North Island and as the sun was rising I could see the fog clearing. At least we had a city to come back to and with the wind shift the sky wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

We were tied up at the pier at 6:15 am and my mom was done with immigration by 6:40. It didn’t take long at all and then we went up to have one last meal onboard. While we were eating we watched the Summit pull in and I thought it was going to be a mess getting off. Our number and color was finally called about 9:15 I think and we were off very fast. The only delay in getting off was getting a porter. With two ships I guess they didn’t have that many so there was a long line to get a porter. Still it was very fast and we were home by 10:30 or so. I don’t remember the exact times.

I am ready for another cruise… Next up will be my final thoughts.

Nobby

[nobbync]

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don’t really know where to begin other then to say this was the best cruise to date for me. As I said in previous posts this is my 4th cruise. One RCCL, one Princess and my second on HAL.

The ship was clean, great crew and great itinerary. What more could we ask for? For those that think 5 days at sea each way is too much, well, I feel it was too short. There was plenty planned on sea days and lots of relaxing. I read and relaxed and watched TV and just enjoyed it. I know a lot of people don’t care for that much slow time but I enjoy it as a getaway from my everyday life. I am not ready to go back to work but I am refreshed so that is good.

What I felt really stood out on this cruise was the crew. The crew simply was the best. What I found great was they were genuine real people that enjoyed their work. I’m sure there were not so friendly crew but I never saw any. I leave this cruise with very fond memories of a wonderful and friendly crew. I also can’t say enough about my fellow passengers. It was also a treat to be on this cruise as I met so many wonderful people. Also I couldn’t ask for better cruise partners then my friend Cindy and my mom. I am happy I am able to take these trips and enjoy them with my mom while we still can.

For an outside cabin these were huge. I have had 3 outsides and one Verandah in my 4 cruises and this was the biggest room I have been in. It is well laid out and I have some photos I will post once I get them organized. The bathroom was the first bathroom on ship that didn’t feel cramped. I don’t read in the bathroom like many men but if I did I’d feel comfortable to do that. The tub is deep but small and yet I was still able to take a bath a few nights and I am 6 foot and 205 lbs. There are 6 closet sections and 3 drawers along with the 2 end tables so if you can’t fit everything you have in these closets you are bringing too much. The TV is a LG flat screen and I think it’s 19” which is the largest I have had. DVD players are in the room as well. DVD’s are for rent but we brought our own. There is a hair dryer built into the wall in the bathroom but also a portable one in a bag in the closet. If you need your shoes shined they have complimentary shoe shining. You just need to put your shoes in the basket and give it to your room steward. They also have a safe that is activated by your credit card or room card. They don’t charge you but it reads your name. Water was delivered daily from room service and we just called when we wanted it. It was always here very fast. Our room steward filled the ice bucket twice a day and if you needed more he was easily available. The room also had a full size sofa on one side and a separate chair for the desk/make up table on the other. Water is in the rooms for purchase as well as sodas. No refrigerator in the rooms but I really don’t mind. It’s not like we need to save any food for later since we can get it fresh anytime. Fruit was always in the basket and they had a paper you can fill in to tell your steward what fruits you wanted. Overall the room was a great home away from home.

Now for some negatives. The internet wi-fi service is the worst I have ever had. I usually wrote my reports off line and just logged in to go to Cruise Critic and cut and paste my daily journal and (this is not an exaggeration) it would take me 10 minutes to do it. Pages wouldn’t load all the way, I would get disconnected or I’d hit post and nothing would happen. I had to buy 500+ minutes and I hardly did anything other then posting the living reports and reading my email. I also sent my wife an email everyday but I also wrote those off line and just sent it. I have worked on computers all my life and this is about as bad as you can get. I am not sure if they do this to make more money or the wi-fi is just terrible. I know on a ship it will be slow anyway but not like this. It was slower then dial up and many pages wouldn’t even load. I did post asking for information on the fires because I couldn’t get to most of the news websites because it was just too slow. Signonsandiego.com was so slow I really didn’t want to waste all my time trying to get on there. It was cheaper for me to call my brother on my cell phone. Also this is something that took me a few days to figure out. When you login make sure you read that start page because it tells you to type in [url]http://1.1.1.1[/url] to logout. I really didn’t think about that and I would just disconnect from the internet. Unfortunately it does not disconnect for about 5 minutes so I lost about 40 minutes of my time just from that. I know in the end it was my fault but it really wasn’t easy to see.

Another negative is the show lounge. It is small and if you have early seating and you don’t get there at least 15 minutes ahead there are usually no seats left. It fills up fast. Since we eat at 6:15 the seating that starts at 5:30 already has 75% of the chairs before we are even done eating. Also I’m sure these shows are more crowded because of all the sea days. Also almost all the bottom seats are one level so if you’re not in the first couple rows it is hard to see with tall people in front. I am 6’ and I also block many people behind me. I heard people grumble after I sat down but what am I going to do? They were there first and could have taken the closer seats if they wanted.

Those were about the only complaints. The food was good overall and not great but a few items were very tasty. Almost all the soups were delicious but I only tried the hot ones and not the fruit soups. I know some people at our table at the fruit soups daily and said they were really food as well. Overall I had better on Princess but this was still very good. The food that does shine is the Lido Deck compared to other Lidos. I still feel the food on the Lido on Hal is very good for a buffet style restaurant. The taco bar leaves a lot to be desired but the pizza is good. What amazed me the most is I weighed myself this morning and I lost 3 lbs! I tried not to eat everything but I still enjoyed the food, had dessert everyday and at some bad foods but overall I ate healthier then I ever did on a cruise. I also walked everyday and when my mom wasn’t with me I’d take the stairs. I think I had bread pudding everyday but I used very little sauce and had small portions. I am happy that I know I can spend 15 days on a cruise ship and not gain 10 lbs…

I hope this is the second of many more cruises for me on HAL. I like the product and the size of ships. I don’t think I ever want to try those huge ships that some companies have now so as I said before I hope HAL doesn’t keep getting larger and larger like they are doing now. Build more ships around this size and don’t go the way of every other cruise line. Also one of the reasons I went on HAL in the first place is because I want to support any businesses that help out the San Diego economy. HAL has had a strong presence in San Diego for years. More ships from all companies keep coming here but HAL has the strongest presence and the most ships home ported here and for that I will support them as well as long as the product stays good like it has on my two HAL cruises. Plus I love being 15 minutes from the ships as travel is very easy.

What can I say about the ports? It was Hawaii so not much is needed to say. It was beautiful and a great place to spend 5 days. I would have liked going to Kauai but 2 days in Honolulu was also special. Because of the overnight we were able to book an independent tour from KOS Tours and had a 7 am pickup the second day. I don’t like always going on those standard tours. I love the chance to get out and do something different. The Hummer was very comfortable and Ed Kos was a great tour guide. Since I am a huge fan of the TV show Lost it was good to combine Lost filming locations with all the standard Hawaii locations for Cindy and my mom so they wouldn’t be so bored. It was just a fantastic day with Ed and a day we will never forget.

In closing this was a very special trip. I got to enjoy it with a good friend Cindy and with my mom. I don’t know how many years or more trips we’ll be able to do together but spending 15 days with her now will be a remembrance of a lifetime. Hopefully we will be able to take more trips like this in the future but life is very fragile and we have to enjoy it when we can. Hope you all enjoy your next cruise and if you’re thinking of doing Hawaii from the mainland, do it… It doesn’t matter what ship but you’ll never know if you can put up with all those sea days unless you try it…you might like it…

Thanks for reading and now I will try to go back and answer any questions I may have missed. If you do have questions feel free to ask as now I have good internet service with unlimited minutes… :D

Photos might not be ready till next week as I shoot everything in RAW. If you don’t know what RAW is it is unprocessed photos. I have to use software to process every photo for viewing and trust me when I say I took a lot. I will be busy all week.

Nobby

[the2ofus]

Nobby,
Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us. I am another of the group from Voyage of the Spammed and your reports brought back so many great memories. I hope we both have many more opportunities to cruise on HAL ships.

Glad that the fire situation is improving and that help is arriving for those who suffered losses. You and your fellow citizens are in my thoughts.

[CrystalLady]

Nobby - your posts have truly been a joy to read. Thank you for sharing your cruise with us. May you enjoy many, many more! I'm much more a lurker than a poster on CC, but I tried to make it a point to come here each day in search of your wonderful travelogue.

Welcome home - I hope the tragic fires didn't impact you or your friends.

[Krazy Kruizers]

[B]So glad you had a wonderful cruise.

I did the same thing on my last cruises. Wrote up my report off line and then copied and pasted on line. Saved a lot of time. I did remember about the "1.1.1.1" thing.

[/B]

[HALFans]

[quote name='nobbync']The internet wi-fi service is the worst I have ever had.[/quote]

Nobby, these are great posts! We're doing the same cruise/ship on 04 January 2008.

Re: the Wi-Fi... on our last cruise on the Oosterdam, there were just 'hot-spots' and they were pretty fast. Just the Internet lounge and the Lido Pool area. I was amazed to even get a signal in the stateroom and it WAS as you described, terribly slow.

Where were you accessing the internet from? Your stateroom or the hot spots?

Thanks again for the great posts!

[nobbync]

[quote name='HALFans']Nobby, these are great posts! We're doing the same cruise/ship on 04 January 2008.

Re: the Wi-Fi... on our last cruise on the Oosterdam, there were just 'hot-spots' and they were pretty fast. Just the Internet lounge and the Lido Pool area. I was amazed to even get a signal in the stateroom and it WAS as you described, terribly slow.

Where were you accessing the internet from? Your stateroom or the hot spots?[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the comments. I was using the internet in both the stateroom and hot spots. The hot spots were a little faster but not by much.

Hope you enjoy the cruise! Wish I was going again...

Nobby

[nobbync]

As I process my photos here is a few to give you a sneal peak...

The first is a panorama of Waikiki...

[IMG]http://nobbync.smugmug.com/photos/214288641-L.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a shot of the Aloha Tower where we tied up in Honolulu.

[IMG]http://nobbync.smugmug.com/photos/214288666-L.jpg[/IMG]

One of the many rainbows...

[IMG]http://nobbync.smugmug.com/photos/214288672-L.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for looking...

Nobby

[tootiesmom]

What kind of camera do you use ?? These are wonderful :D I can't wait to see all of your pix when you finally are able to get them processed.

Thank you again for all of the detailed reporting you did. I do have a question though.... Did you by any chance keep a copy of the "day event papers" they put in your cabin at night so that you'll know what will be offered on board the next day? I know on Carnival they are called the Carnival Capers....don't know what they are named on HAL.

tootiesmom

[nobbync]

[quote name='tootiesmom']What kind of camera do you use ?? These are wonderful :D I can't wait to see all of your pix when you finally are able to get them processed.

Thank you again for all of the detailed reporting you did. I do have a question though.... Did you by any chance keep a copy of the "day event papers" they put in your cabin at night so that you'll know what will be offered on board the next day? I know on Carnival they are called the Carnival Capers....don't know what they are named on HAL.

tootiesmom[/QUOTE]

Hi, I use a Nikon D80 DSLR with various lenses. All the shots I posted were taken with a 10-20mm zoom so it's very wide angle.

I did keep all the days events from the Zaandam and the paper is simply titled DAILY PROGRAM. If you want to know anything about the Daily Program feel free to ask.

Thanks!
Nobby

[Krazy Kruizers]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Great pictures!![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Love the one with the rainbow!!![/SIZE][/FONT]

[takemewithyou]

Nobby,
I am going on this cruise next OCT. Can you tell me - did you stop in Kauai and did you use tenders or tie up somewhere? How long did you stop in each port?

How is the condition of the Zaandam? No a/c problems? No plumbing problems?

Thanks!

[nobbync]

[quote name='takemewithyou']Nobby,
I am going on this cruise next OCT. Can you tell me - did you stop in Kauai and did you use tenders or tie up somewhere? How long did you stop in each port?

How is the condition of the Zaandam? No a/c problems? No plumbing problems?

Thanks![/QUOTE]

Hello,

Our cruise went to Hilo, Kona, Honolulu and Lahaina. We did not go to Kauai and it was never on the schedule. We were in port almost exactly what the schedule said so maybe you should look at your schedule to see if you are going to Kauai and unless the weather is really bad I assume you'll make it. Instead of Kauai we were in Honolulu for 2 days which is what I wanted. If I recall correctly we were in Hilo and Kona from 8 am to 6 pm each day. Hilo we tied up at the pier and Kona we used Tenders. Honolulu we got in at 7 am on Thursday and we did not leave until just before midnight on Friday and we were tied up to the pier. Lahaina was a tender port and we were there from 8 am till 5 pm I think.

I felt the Zaandam was in great shape and very clean. I was in room 1859 while my mom and Cindy were next door in room 1861. We did not experience any AC or plumbing problems and did not know or hear anyone else exeprience it either. I like my room cold and I actually couldn't turn down the AC all the way or I froze. Also the days in port the AC doesn't work as good using shore power but while on ships power we had no problems.

Enjoy your trip!

Nobby

[takemewithyou]

Thank you, Nobby, for the reassuring words about the Zaandam. The reason I asked about her condition is because I just finished a trip on her sister ship, the Volendam, and we did experience some plumbing and A/C problems. Glad to hear things were good for you.

I just checked and we are still showing that our cruise goes to Kauai. We have just one day in Honolulu. I have heard sometimes they cancel Kauai and substitute another day in Honolulu. Something to do with it being a tender port, etc. May depend on weather conditions, too. Not sure. Anyway, it doesn't matter to me because we have been to all those ports before so whatever happens is OK with us.

Thank you for your wonderful reports and pictures. It was wonderful cruising along with you.:)

Where are you off to next? Did you book anything while onboard?

[nobbync]

Hello again... Hopefully you will not have any plumbing or AC problems but it is a ship and as they say ship happens... And for the plumbing we were probably lucky to not have anyone in our area not flush something in the toilet that shouldn't be. For the AC if it is running anywhere near as good as it was for us you will be fine.

[quote name='takemewithyou'] I have heard sometimes they cancel Kauai and substitute another day in Honolulu. Something to do with it being a tender port, etc. May depend on weather conditions, too.

Where are you off to next? Did you book anything while onboard?[/QUOTE]

My guess in Kauai is just as you stated, the weather and seas for the tenders. Even in Lahaina on this cruise the seas were a little rough and at times it got bad on the tenders. While we were waiting for the boat ahead of us when we were going back to the ship I saw someone fall pretty hard. One of our tablemates fell as well on the tender in Lahaina.

We put a $100 deposit for our next cruise which will probably be the Oosterdam to Mexico around this time next year. I'd like a longer cruise but next year my vacation will be thin because I am saving time for a 3-4 week vacation in the spring of 09 driving to Alaska and taking the ferry system around with my father. So cruises will be limited to 7 day ones once a year for a couple years which is okay by me.

Thanks!

Nobby

[ekerr19]

Nobby -

Thank you so much for taking the time to keep us posted. :) It felt like we were right there with you and I enjoyed your writing style, comments and observations immensely.

I cannot wait to see all your photos. The three you posted are simply lovely.

Thanks again - welcome home, hope to see you back on a HAL ship (keeping us posted!) soon. :)

Warmest regards,
Laura

[billroddy]

Enjoyed your post. It was a great cruise. My favorite port was Maui, and least favorite was Hilo.
Took lots of pictures and will have them on my web site shipboard.net soon.
Right now there is a photo of smoke from the fires seen from the Zaandam. We were 50 miles from Ensenada.
Bill
ps Should not have used my web site to show smoke image.
Sorry

[KAYEF]

nobbync
Oh, you just sent me straight to Alaska. We'd go there every year.
Once we drove our MH up to Prince Rupert, boarded a Marine Hiway Ferry there and got off at many places before ending in Haines and driving all over AK before driving back home (Portland, Oregon).
Other times, we've flown to Anchorage, rented a car and used the ferry system to get to Sitka, Juneau and Skagway (boarded in Haines)............
Love that Ferry System but it can be really difficult figuring out the schedule so you don't get stuck somewhere for several days until there's another ferry.;)
I really had to WORK on our "schedule" and reservations before we left.
Those ferries are WONDERFUL and they have Park Rangers on them doing education, etc.
You will have such a GRAND TIME with your Dad.:)
You sound like my SIL; after we took him on their first cruise he said he was "ready to retire" so he could travel more. He's not even forty so he has a way to go.:p

[nobbync]

Hello Everyone... I am still working on my photos..... This is where a point and shoot would have done wonders but since I shoot in RAW I have to process every photo... Then it's a tough choice of what to post... Anyway, please bare with me and I enjoyed all your posts and soon we'll have photos...

Hello KAYEF,

I am already dreaming about the Alaska trip with my dad. I really can't wait and I know what you mean about that ferry schedule. You'd think they'd have an easier way to look at it. I consider myself a world traveller and I can figure out most things but it really took me a few days to realize what I was looking at with that schedule... Maybe you can please give me some hints about using the ferry system or places in Alaska that you think we have to do. My email is nobbync at that yahoo dot com address...

Nobby

[KAYEF]

nobby
I surely will do that.................in a few days...............my SIL got bucked off his horse today and we've been at the hospital all day and half the night..................
Could have been worse, but he's still "in"..............
There are lots of little ins and outs with the Ferry System. Have you used it before? Those ships are much like cruise ships............very clean, great food, excellent views, wonderful people..............just don't get stuck somewhere for ten days between ferries!!
More later, I promise.;)

[lstrong]

Nobby, you will love Alaska!! We spent 18 days there (land tour only) end of May to early June 2007. We flew to Anchorage, rented a car and had a wonderful time. We did make reservations for Ferrys and lodging. We planned this trip on and off for about a year, but well worth it. Check out Budget Queen's posts on the Alaska board. She has spent a lot of time in Alaska and has lots to share and we used many of her suggestions/recommendations. We are looking forward to our Hawaii Zaandam trip in March. Your postings have been fun to read and we can't wait to see your pictures! Laurie

[dlhays2]

Thanks for your daily posts. My wife, Margie and I will be on the same cruise Dec.5 2007. You have helped us made better decisions.
Now for advise for your Head pain. Our daughter was advised that the best place for help was a hospital in Chelsa, Michigan run by Dr. Joel Saper. She was a patient for 15 days.Treatment was unbelievable. She still has migraines but has better control and now to avoid triggers.
There was patients from Seattle, Louisana, Kansas, and New York and many others that I meet while visiting her on two weekends.
I suggest you google "Joel Saper" for information.
Your pictures are exceptual. I am enivious and can hardly wait for further posting.